News and Views

The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy has come out with a report that outlines the State Budget featuring 38 new taxes and fees.

Josiah Bartlett Report – Click Here for PDF File

From May 21, 2009
Goffstown News Editorial

So far this year, Town Meeting in Bow has lasted for four hours. During that time, three articles were discussed and voted on. And there still are 21 more articles to go.

This is a perfect example of why the town of Bow needs to adopt the official ballot law, or SB-2.

For many people, it is difficult to set aside even one evening to vote on items that will affect their tax bills. Now the town heads for round two on May 27 at 7:00 p.m..

The official ballot law would allow people to set aside a half hour during the day to vote on articles at their convenience in the privacy of a voting booth. Gone would be the days of two and three day meetings where fewer and fewer people show up for each.

When Town Meeting comes around next year, do yourself a favor and vote for SB-2.

As administrator of this website I strive to keep my opinions out of the fray while maintaining order. However, I have been getting a lot of inquiries as to what would cause anyone to be banned from posting here, after the banning of the user ‘publius’. The owners of this site strive to give voice to all opinions so it was not an easy decision. However, after ignoring what seemed to be a clear attempt at pretending to be for the ‘other side’ so he could discredit them, the decision to ban him was made only when that turned into what could only be called over-the-top spamming.

The situation is that this individual signed up with two usernames. In one persona ‘publius’, he expressed disagreement with SB2 and other tax issues that have support here. In another persona, ‘bowandarrow’ he acted as if he was on the side of the BCC with regard to supporting SB2 and other issues that are discussed here.

Over time it became apparent that the posts of ‘bowandarrow’ became increasingly over-the-top, sarcastic, and frankly, looking not to be serious but rather to make mockery of the BCC website.

Eventually the other users figured out that he was one and the same person when he accidentally posted using the wrong name… still in a thread on the blog. Other posts done in apparently the ‘wrong name’ never made it to the screen because they were spam.

Still signed in under the ‘wrong’ name (publius) but thinking he was signed in as ‘bowandarrow’ he attempted to disrupt with several posts; here is one copied verbatim:

“Pubby is a moron!!! Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!Pubby is a moron!!!”

It was at this point that ‘publius’ was banned.

During this time he claimed that his account was hacked. Upon investigating this, I found that it came from the exact same source, so it would have been impossible unless the hacker was sitting in the very same chair.

And now we come to the real ethical question that came from all of this; all this activity originated from the Franklin Pierce Law Center.

Posting from this location tells me he could be a janitor a the facility, or a law student, or perhaps worse, a practicing lawyer or law professor. If any of the latter is the case, then I have serious concerns about someone going into or already in the ‘law’ business who attempts to use such shady tactics to discredit honest people trying to get a fair vote for the people of Bow.

If this is the kind of tactic a lawyer or would-be lawyer thinks is acceptable, I would have huge reservations about the lawyers he was defending, the ones currently in place as your own town officials.