They're hiking the gas tax up in NH too.

Hilarious!

Tina, there will be more jobs in the tax-collection department of your favorite bureaucracy.

The idiom "skin the cat" means "hanging by the hands from a branch or bar, drawing the legs up through the arms and over the branch, and pulling oneself up into a sitting position." And by half cat, Patrick meant getting stuck midway -- like one leg caught on a branch.

It's a pretty good metaphor, because that is what progressives do: they come up with these neat gymnastic tricks, don't quite pull them off, and then blame someone else because they are now stuck in a tree.

Tina: few points.
There are thousands of people that will use the rail line from New Bedford to Boston, for jobs , commerce and shopping, tourism. Opens up jobs both ways. Beats car commute to work that is impossible, 25 dollars to park a day , traffic jams in the morning, couldn't get close to Boston in the morning under 2 hours, $50 more for gas a week. Traffic analysis has been done . It's good for commerce. The fact that you will not use it is irrelevant.
The education points you state are fine . They need to be complimented by advanced curriculum , texts , teachers, programs- that is why MA is #1 in secondary education in the country. Reading to your kids won't do it.
Side note : if we did not spend 2 trillion ( direct & indirect costs) on 2 unpaid wars , there would be more money for infrastructure. We are now paying for those wars by letting our infrastructure dilapidate.
Jobs are the purvue of the private sector, not government. Governors do not run companies , CEOs do. Your question should be put to the CEOs who are cutting salaries , hiring part-time, doubling the work load, healthcare and shipping jobs and moving facilities overseas , deferring and hiding cash in Swiss bank accounts . Please talk to the private sector. The business groups are actually in favor of more infrastructure and rail lines.

Tyler, I do love your bright enthusiasm and naivete. They said the same things about the Green Bush line which saw less than 50% ridership than projections. They also said the Big Dig would end traffic jams in Boston. Ask anyone who sits on 93 South about how that worked out! It is a boondoggle we cannot afford and will NEVER pay for itself!
You are right about jobs and the private sector. The one and only thing government can do is to create a tax climate equitable for a business to increase payroll. If I don't know what taxes and regulations will be coming down next year, I will not take the risk of increasing my payroll. It is that simple. Cut business taxes (they never really pay them anyway) and stop the over regulation and tax revenues will go beyond even the current record of $2.7 TRILLION which is being wasted.

Tina, it just goes to show what a real "dog" of a governor we have!

Kind of unrealistic from a govenor who has no clue what the average person here has to do just to survive day to day. If you want him to understand you would have to put him on a $500 a week salary and make him get by on it. Even that I am not sure he would get it. Even his own dem peers are not buying this.

Mr.G. , Amen ! You criticize the Media. Which type ? The Globe type or the Herald type? The TV stations ? The media are in Democratic back pockets and corruption continues !

I could not agree more than with Dana Banana. They don't care, they have no morals.

To paraphrase Ron Paul, if you elect people of character to office you don't have to worry about corruption. We have a HUGE character/morality deficit amongst elected officials.

What state are you living in Tim? Apparently we are fools. We keep electing these hack Dems for these offices in landslide victories. The gimme crowd has won here in Mass already and they have just won nationally. As soon as amnesty hits conservatives are done. GSUA

Sam: quantify "the gimme crowd"- category and rough dollars. Heard the rhetoric so long , but no one backs it up, and don't just quote a total dollar budget line . Thanks.

Great plan , Governor . Excellent example of fine tuning the tax code and bolstering the MA economy to make the revenue side more effective. We need to invest in infrastructure and education not hide under a rock. That is where the emphasis should be. I like it

@ Tyler Jozefowicz. The Governor needs to get his house in order before he begins to even think about raising taxes. Here is a report from Hot Air
posted at 3:21 pm on February 6, 2013 by Mary Katharine Ham : The state’s embattled welfare chief was forced to step down yesterday in the wake of a shocking internal report that found that a staggering 47,000 families receiving taxpayer-funded benefits are unaccounted for — and nearly $30 million in food stamp money went to recipients who were not eligible.

The shocking report, released to the Herald last night, found that the Department of Transitional Assistance has lost track of 47,087 households on welfare — or one out of 10 of the total 478,000 who received DTA mailings.
The welfare department also admitted that it overpaid federal food stamp recipients by a whopping $27.8 million since 2010.
So Deval needs to clean up his household before he taxes my household

@ Tyler... here's a little more food for thought: In mid-January state Auditor Suzanne M. Bump said examiners with the office’s Bureau of Special Investigations found evidence of $1,334,019 in fraudulently obtained public assistance benefits and services.

Yeah; does it make you think of somebody else . . on a bigger scale?

Mike they are an "authority" and basically have autonomy (until they are out of money and need us to bail the out). Last I saw, there were something like 400 authorities in Massachusetts that we pay the bill for. Get rid of these and we will save billions a year.

Whats wrong with wanting to keep more of what you make?
I dont mind paying but when I see rampant corruption and waste in the governmnet, then yes I do not want to add more to it. Clean up the mess we currently have, then see where we are and adjust revenue accordingly.

Yep, it's mine. I earned it. Government wants an ever bigger piece of my earnings. It takes enough. Starve the beast until it gets in shape.

yeah, only republicans want to keep more of their money. idiotic thing to say

Kurt,
Hypocrisy, thy name is Democrats. Look at our previous Senators. Neither one ever saw a tax they wouldn’t vote for yet did their best to avoid taxes. Kennedy had his mother claim residence in Florida to avoid inheritance tax, Kerry doesn’t live in RI yet registers his boat there to avoid MA tax on it.
Republicans are at least open about not wanting to pay more in taxes. Democrats want more taxes and then do their best to avoid paying those taxes.

Kurt, It is OUR money! The state gets their money from fees and taxes. There is no such thing as state money. It is our money that they take from us.

Want to know how much a particular democrat makes? Ask him/her which tax bracket should see increased rates. Whatever response the liberal gives, subtract 10-20% and thats the likely income.

Ex: "Everyone who makes above $80K per year is rich and should have a tax hike." That particular liberal likely makes $65K per year.

Charge more? What? It cost $11.00 per day plus parking (another $2.00, plus $3.00 more if you pay on the train inbound) to take the commuter rail round trip Melrose to North Station, or $173.00 a month plus parking with a rail pass. There's a garage near my workplace on Atlantic Avenue that's $15.00 all day.

Dave,
Why should I, your next door neighbor or the person out in Springfield help pay for your ride to work?
I pay my own way to work. I assume that when you took the job you did what everybody else does and did the math on how much it would cost you to work there. If it costs you more once I a while then welcome to the club. It costs me more to get to work every time the gas price goes up.

The MBTA is a complete fiscal disaster. The best thing they could do is to pull a Reagan and fire everybody, write a new contract with benefits and retirement equal to what you would get in the private sector. Then rehire everybody that wants the job back at the same pay they had before (still above average), pay more into benefits (like all us people in the private sector) and then get your pension at 65 (like all us in the private sector)
However the MA politicians, that are bought and paid for by the unions, don’t have the stones to do it.
Instead they will try and make the whole state pay for this mismanaged system instead of fixing it.
If the MBTA was a private business, it would be out of business if it was run the way it is now.

You seem outnumbered. Could it possibly be that the good folks of Massachusetts are finally waking up to the real money-grabblers, the endless pension funds set up by endless unions. Massachusetts needs an overhaul not more 'investments'. If that concept is boring to you, so be it.

Progressive ideas are fine (on paper). The main problem I find with those ideas is 99.9% of them cost money. Money, in a tight economy most people do not have. There are appropriate times when some of those ideas may be put in place. Now isn't the appropriate time.

Really, It's easy to be in favor of an income tax hike and lob barbs at those who oppose it when your income is a pension that is exempt from that same income tax.

I guess progressive-ism endorses fraud, waste and crony-ism.

Yeah, you bet I'm anti-progressive, they hate our Constitution, think everyone owes them something, are destroying our country with welfare households now receiving more than the median income of working households and they have no moral compass with which to define their "principles".

Same old anti-anti-progressive spew spewing from the same old spewers: complaining about the way things are and blaming it on someone else. The only thing missing is the proposed tax increase on the 1 percent.

Since when was putting our government further into DEBT defined as common "good"? The government that governs LEAST is the one that governs best - proven over and over again.

Jo-Ann, actually a member of the 5% that makes a little over HALF of what your VP makes (not including his wifes salary) yet gave 2.5 TIMES the amount to charity.
But you keep living in your dream world!

You have it backwards - we are some of the most generous folks. We choose to live in a state that has the third highest tax burden in the country.

I actually have to agree with Mr. G., the reason that states like MA wind up at the bottom of charitable giving lists is because the citizens of the Commonwealth pour in far more tax dollars toward human services than in Backwards Dixieland - where churches dominate the social service sector (and do so ineptly). I would much rather my tax dollars support high-quality publicly-funded services than the scattershot, free-market, give-to-charoties/churches-and-hope methodology that results in social sinkholes like you find in so many southern and plains states. Let them crow about how "charitably generous" they are while their medically and socially vulnerable populations languish from inadequate support (which, of course, leads to the need for more long-term services and more public resources in the long run, but who cares about economics - people should pull themselves up by their bootstraps or rot and die, right?).

I am not a Republican -- I am registered to vote as "Unenrolled," which means independent and unaffiliated with a political party. I hate the description "Unenrolled," because it sounds like "apathetic." I am far from apathetic in my opposition to Governor Patrick's proposed tax increase, and I am not a member of the elite 2%. Rather, I am disabled and surviving on Social Security, so every dime counts!

ROTFLMAO! So being anti-tax is immoral? You are funny! Remember the 10 commandments? "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house" House meaning ALL possessions! Pro-tax is immoral!

Free market greed is .. one of the only two proven means that can produce a surplus, (="wealth"). The other is SLAVERY. Name another...?

The USA has the highest corporate tax rate in the world but democrats have never seen a tax they didn't want to increase no matter how high it is. Which will cause a company to try to sell more stuff at a lower cost in order to compete - letting them keep 60% of their profit or letting them keep 100% of it? (Hint - taxes do NOT create jobs...)

So no, greed is not any kind of sin - it's natural. Not only that, free market capitalism is what built the USA and now socialists want to step in and rape the wealth it produced.

Truth hurts? Having views makes people Klan like? What a moronic comment.

Hey...why dont you do a little research on the father of your beloved progressive party...George Bernard Shaw...before you bash anti-progressives. Everyone...take a peak and let us know how you feel about progressives, obama, and deval afterwards.

Dem Playbook Chapter 2, Item 3:
"When you cannot defend an inept Governor who has mismanaged spending, public health inspections, probation, welfare, the crime lab, public safety, secure communities, and the EBT program, etc., always throw out the KKK - Klan Card. Don't get into a discussion without it."

The race card! Took longer than I thought!

Oops, missed that one yesterday. Somebody help me out, is the 'race card' is worth 2 shots or 3 when you're playing liberal apologia bingo?

I object to Mr. Naughton's needless demonizing and gross insults!

"Have you no decency, Sir?"

Mike, 2 because he didn't double up with anti-immigrant. 4 if he played sexism with it!

Only one thing you left out, the Democratic Party has sold this successfully to their constituency. Without the help of the media and the Dems., most of their followers would have to think for themselves, and probably not vote the way they do now.
It's all about the vote for power! The Dems. Screw things up for us all, and it takes conservatives to fix their mess!
This has been going on for decades in both this state and our country.
You think at some point people would learn from past history.
The problem is that we bring people of need into this country instead of educated successful people, and we are now paying a price for this action.
( thank you Ted Kennedy )! Your legacy is crushing the working class, and the results are here to stay until we stop voting for the Democratic Party, and turn this mess around.

Michael Fleming: the right wing blogs have taught you well. I like the part about "this disease we call socialism...". The only thing left out of the tea party playbook that you forgot was the arming against a tyrannical government that is coming to take our guns, freedom and liberty, shredding the Constitution and what our forefathers said. Besides that you covered all the far right talking points.

Michael,

Thank you. That was the most intelligent writing posted in the last year. It was unbiased, unashamed, and uniform in completion....but more importantly honest and fair.

God bless.

It's class warfare. It's sold by the highest income earners in both parties to keep the middle class and poor pissed off and pointing fingers, and ignoring the politicians who keep picking your pockets.

Michael Fleming: the prose laurate of Patch. Great, accurate, & truthful writing!

Jerry and Cecil
Thank you for kind replys (below).
I try to stay as clear eyed as I can, what with all this fog being belched forth into the atmosphere from the government mouth pieces.
Stay strong

Wind, great point! Last year I heard only something like 200 people in Massachusetts checked that box. Very telling!

@ Steve marino. the real question is. did he buy it with his EBT card?

Simple question Banks.
If we cut defense by 350 billion (I agree we could do that, will sting though) and then redistribute that cash to all 50 states as you suggest.
Where exactly would savings be? Cutting spending here and sending the money there is not saving, that is keeping the same unsustainable status.

As for this state, what about the illegals getting welfare (Obamas Aunt for one) and the 19,000 missing welfare recipients that continue to receive their money? What about the money paid out to double dipping pensions? 70K a year to toll collectors plus benefits? I could go on and on but these are just a few that popped into my head.

This country/state does not have a revenue problem, we have a SPENDING problem.

Banks,
I just gave 4 examples of waste and fraud in the State. If you don’t see that as waste or fraud then there is no point I having this discussion.
All you did was decide we spend too much to protect ourselves, take that money and send it elsewhere for a total spending savings of $0.00. But you feel better about yourself because it is not going to evil defense contractors. And defense spending is federal not state.
What about all those hard working civilians that would be out of work with a blanket 350 billion cut to defense?

Leave a message if you come up with something other than the standard Democrat mantra of only cut defense or raise taxes.

Time to go outside and enjoy this nice day.

LOL so to you Banks, ALL defense spending is waste and fraud? Do you know Gov. pensions are a larger piece of the US budget (back when we actually had one pre Obama) than defense? Gov. HC is 1% less? Nah no waste and fraud there! 47% of the budget!

With a name like Banks you'd think he would be better at math. Last I checked, half of $535 billion is $267.5 billion, not $350 billion. But it's a false argument that does not require debate.
Led by the messiah they worship, the Federal Government's own CBO admits there is at least $112 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse every year. And we know how accurate their estimates are. The mayors of simpleton that abound refuse to acknowledge this despite the constant streams of news articles that expose it, even from the state run media, which under Bush ran regular stories about the fleecing of America. But apparently all that waste, fraud, and abuse stopped 1/9/2009.

Banks, It really doesn't matter to you what we say, or how many examples of how many dollars are wasted where, and what could be cut. For whatever reason, affixed firmly to the public nipple, low information voter, trust funder, whatever, you're simply not interested.

You've been given examples. Read a newspaper, listen to the radio, or google online news services. Try some other sources beside MSDNC, The Globe and the NYT.
It's not Bob's or my job to do your work for y....oh that's right. I forgot....as a liberal, that's just what you expect from everybody.

How about cutting the money dropped into buying 8.5billion hollow point rounds of ammunition for domestic use? How about cutting the $450million going to Egypt, and countless more to other countries who are going to use our money to try to kill us? You want me to be pissed off about food stamps, you damn well better cut those expenses first.

Janet, thanks for the link to the U.S. debt clock, which I had never seen before.
Here's another link, showing that our military expenditures exceed (by far) those of all the other countries in the world: www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/spending.htm
I remember President Eisenhower warning us to beware the military-industrial complex. Ike was right. We should have taken his advice.

And guess which political party objects to the presence of a debt clock display in Congress?

http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/26/democrats-complain-about-presence-of-debt-clock-on-capitol-hill/

Aren't all they all just precious?

Interesting that we will cut down on waste and fraud by committing fraud - that is, by entering into pension agreements with public employees, and then changing the terms of disbursement midstream. Isn't that the definition of fraud, telling someone that they will have X dollars on Y date, then saying "no, that money is ours until Z date, and then you only get it if we decide you can have it because maybe we'll pick a new later date, and we'll collect interest on that cash in the meantime, screw you if you can't take a joke."

Avon,it happens every day in the real world. Polaroid and many other companies filed for bankruptcy and walked away from those obligations. Not great but when there is no more money you have to re-negotiate. The good news is that unlike those in the real world who lost all their pensions, public employees would only be asked to take a 10 or 20% cut.

Thanks for the history lesson that I already knew. Just because it's been done wrong in the past is no reason to commit the same crime in the present and future. And when you work for a private company, you take on certain market-driven risks that are mitigated (or eliminated) when you work for the government. The obvious give/take is that private companies offer the opportunity for greater compensation, while public work involves greater security. While nobody looks forward to it, many private companies will go bankrupt and burn their employees/stockholders in the aftermath, the government is held to a higher standard in this regard. If the State of Massachusetts starts screwing over people on pension agreements, where does it end?

And before the idiocy starts by some of the folks here born with chromosomal defects, I've never been a public employee a day in my life.

Avon, that use to be the case! 40-50 years ago public employees made @60-70% of the private sector. Now they make 120% and still get the 80% of their best 3 years. They also retired after 20 years and got HC for life! Look at the salaries of state and federal workers median versus private now.
THERE IS NO MORE MONEY! The well is tapped and like it or not, it has to stop!

The whole "public employees make 120% of what the private sector makes" is a ridiculous lie based on one flawed analysis that compares non-comparable jobs. It was published a few years ago and people like you keep bringing it up (and citing it like it's fact) despite how ludicrously inaccurate the study was (and how easily it was debunked). Seriously, if the study had any merit whatsoever I would agree with you, but it doesn't. In fact, the study has "whatever is the opposite of merit."

FYI, welfare is already limited to 2 out of every 5 years.

Avon,
Go to the Boston Herald website, scroll down and click on your tax dollars at work.
Entire payroll for the state is listed there.
$323,722.49 for a teacher in Boston?
$761,314.30 to a UMass employee?
Try find a state police officer pulling in under 150K
Take a look through that and then say that state employees are not paid more than private sector.
And then to get ridiculous pensions on top of that before retirement age?

If Avon Barksdale truly knew as much as he claimed, he'd be smarter than Einstein.

Jerry, I'm sorry that you know so little that you compare my subject knowledge to Einstein's. I do love anti-intellectuals, the people who scream bloody murder and get out their torches with little to no actual knowledge of what they're screaming about, and then when someone tries to provide actual information, rather than listen and analyze (which they can't do, usually due to a lack of mental capacity) they turn their torches on them.

"Go to the Boston Herald..."

Yeah, no.

Funny, I googled "highest paid Boston teachers" and found out that there are two teachers in Boston who made over $300k in 2012 ... and both of them have base salaries under $100k (one of them makes like $29k) but they are receiving lump-sum payouts from lawsuits. It took me about 30 seconds to learn this, and that their 2012 payments should in no way ever be used to compare their "salaries" to those in the private sector. But how much easier is it to just remain ignorant and repeat the same ignorant screeching over and over again? I guess we'll have to ask Rob C.

And yet you refuse to go to the newspapers website and examine the payroll of the state. Who wants to remain ignorant of the facts?
The entire payroll is there, 150k for an administrative assistant?
The research has already been done for the entire state. The waste is right there for you to see but yet you choose not to go look at it.
78k to sit in a tool booth? essentially the same job as a parking garage attendant. Google me one parking garage attendant that makes 78k then we can talk.

The Herald is not the only site that publishes the data, ace.

Yes, there are many examples of overpaid state employees. The idea that this translates into "state workers earn more than private workers" is such a flimsy argument that it borders on retardation.

OMIGOD I FOUND A FEW OUTLIERS this must mean everything is broken

If you don't like it then get the hell out of Mass. You would fit right in in Alabama or Mississippi and we won't miss you.

JT's remark illustrates the degree of sincerity liberals have for their principles of inclusiveness and tolerance.

Right, JohnnyMass. And the reason is two-fold: they won't learn because they don't want to learn; AND they fervently believe the baloney that the left-leaning pols and party "care" more for them than the other party, every time. Karl Marx won Mass., less than 150 years after his death.

Geat Comeback JT! thanks for the thoughtful and intelligent insight. How do you know he would fit right in? Did you live in either state?

Ahh! censorship at it's best!

Meh. I've seen better.

"is defamatory, abusive, obscene, profane or offensive;"

May I suggest that the last term, "offensive", be stricken or modified because it is simply too subjective. Most political commentary is bound to offend the senses of someone of the opposite political persuasion.

There's an old saying - if it's too hot for you, get out of the kitchen.

"Hold the phone". If Andrew Sylvia is the editor for high-falutin' towns Nawth a heah, why is Andrew Sylvia posting here? Let him post on his own "turf".

Hi Jerry,

This and several other articles are posted regionally on multiple Patches.

You're new here "wiley coyote," so let me repeat for you.

Westford readers have repeatedly asked me to enforce the comments section as strictly as possible under the terms of use. As said above, I probably could go further, but I would prefer not to.

This is a regional piece, published in several towns, including Westford.

This is a privately owned service. If you do not like the terms of use, I suggest you go elsewhere. I will do what my readers request of me whenever possible, until they say otherwise.

P.S. -- More comments have been deleted due to terms of use violations.

Censorship has been fully condoned by the existing administration by passing legislation to limit your First Amendment rights. Better get used to it...if you don't like what it says, claim it is offensive and delete it.
(Some will see this as offensive, too, you know.)

Amber,

The First Amendment doesn't, and has never, extended to forcing the speech of some onto others, especially in regard to privately owned property.

It'd basically be like saying someone has the right to go to the house of a private resident and start a protest on their lawn without their permission.

Patch is a company, no different than that house. If you go to someone's house and they tell you to take off their shoes, you should take off your shoes or leave.

Yeah, it's private censorship, which is actually permissible.

Andrew: that's what I said. Play by their rules or take your ball and go home. Or in this case, they'll kick your ball out the door and send you home, tossing your shoes out the door behind you. ;)

Gotcha, Amber

We already pay hefty taxes for the upkeep and new roads and bridges. It's too bad that money gets diverted into other places where it does not belong. Guess who controls that? As for broadband access (and many other things), the government need not interfere.

And as far as "labor" goes, they are in it for themselves and nobody or nothing else. After nearly 20 years being a part of organized labor, I know how it works.

It's past time to "dump the Coupe deValle".

Remember Mike "Dump the Duke" Dukakis? Same ol', same ol'.

Agreed, but what is considered a violation? things said let's say on Lexington patch fly fine, but the same thing here is a violation. The editors need to get together and decide what they consider a violation and they all must abide by that. Every patch seems to have different standards. If they cannot set a standard, then they are limited in waht they can censor.

Hi Wiley,

Please see above. I can't speak for other towns, but I am the editor in Westford and Chelmsford and I follow the standards of Westford and Chelmsford readers.

Readers in different towns may have different expectations. Every town is different.

Andrew,
As a reader in Chelmsford I really would like to know how it is determined that something is offensive. I have seen you delete posts that I find in no way offensive but yet they are gone (particularly this article). I read some that I do not agree with but that does not make them offensive. If somebody says something to me about my thinking, I am a big boy and can answer the comment myself if I feel the need to. I cant remember seeing another editor’s name pop up on any comments that there have been deletions.
Take a look at posts on CNN, MSN, Yahoo, Boston.com and Boston Herald. There are posters there that are extremely offensive but yet they are still allowed up and they have the same “rules” as Patch has.

So as a Chelmsford reader I would like to request that you ease up on what you deem to be offensive. Or maybe just patrol your particular section of the Patch. The emails I get for this post are from Sharon, pretty far away from Chelmsford and Westford.

To the Westford and Chelmsford people that don’t want to read anything offensive, might I say, lighten up. If you get that worked up over simple political back and forward don’t read the comments or read the Disney site. (or is that offensive and worthy of deletion)

Hi Rob C.

Generally I try to limit it to either comments that include obscenities (or abbreviations of obscenities) or instances where users are directly attacking each other, and even then I try to stay out of it when I can, and I also e-mail users asking them to back off if things get really out of hand.

Happy to ease up on Chelmsford specific stuff. Excuse me in advance if I forget sometimes, occasionally the two towns merge together in my brain at this point.

Posting under a pseudonym, wiley, is a violation. You might want to read the agreement you signed when you joined.

The following words are not permitted on this site: ####, ####, ####, ####, ####, #### #### ####, ####, and ####.

Hi Ron,

It used to be, but not anymore. Here's the language in there now

"We encourage, but do not require, that the user name you provide be your real name."

And on that note, to build on what Rob C. said, I'm much more likely to give the benefit of the doubt to someone who uses their real name.

And swears are subjective. Sh- of F-bombs, okay. But I'm not sure ass or damn it are any more offensive than saying camel or rethuglican or moonbat. But apparently most Patch readers are genteel souls with pristine sensibilities. :)

And why does my Westford Patch homepage say Danielle Masterson is the editor? Is that a misprint or do we have new blood policing boards in Westford?

Amber,

Michelle is the new Community Director, she's now in charge of user generated content (events, local voices columns, announcements, etc.)

Congratulations and sympathies to her at the same time. :)

1. What motivation to change for a 200-seat legislature that gets re-elected at a 97% rate? How would you like such odds at not losing your job?

2. It comes down to philosophy: who knows what's better for you, you or some lefty politician . . . which permeate this state like sand at Horseneck Beach. Unless and until Dems start losing heavily in TAXachusetts, it'll never change. Hint: why are New Jersey residents leaving the Garden State in droves? High cost of living,
INCLUDING TAXES.

3. How optimistic can a neutral-leaning voter be when the 'ultimate liberal',
Ed Markey, is leading the race for the Democrat nod for Senate? How much more evidence does anyone need . . . for those willing to SEE, that is.

Just doing my job.

If you can't follow the terms of use, you can head elsewhere.

Why waste tea? Tossing the Governor in would seem more fitting!

I see what you did there.

Avon, my fondest Patch dream is that they'd delete any post that calls a politician by any "witty" alternative to their actual name. That would leave approximately 80% of the deadweight with nothing to say.

Yes' Michael Fleming, i would have everyone from MA. meet at the dock of the US Constitution and toss all their tax bills into the Boston harbor! "We would all "most likely" get tickets for littering!"

<sarcasm>AP Breaking News: The Boston Harbor Litterers, a New England domestic terrorist group, will be taken out with hollow points by DHS officials and any remaining will be tortured and denied due process, as is custom for terrorists of their caliber. </sarcasm>

Amber, not to mention Boston police would pelt us with deadly rubber bullets and tear gas us all!

Or tasers, until they can get their hands on better technology from Raytheon.

I can't seem to find the translation for that. Does it mean "spreading bull" or do you want more people to keep guessing ? :)

Just doing my job Wiley,

Well, my job is actually being a reporter, I'm only required to come in here and babysit you guys every now and then because people I know keep on telling me at Starbucks or Town Hall or wherever that things keep on getting out of control and I keep on having to get you guys in line or they won't come and read the articles.

Nothing would please me more if you guys just behaved yourself and I didn't have to worry about those other people feeling uncomfortable.

Andrew, next time those people walk up to you in Starbuck's, ask them "well why don't you just not read the comments?" Also, people who get all indignant about decorum on comment pages keep on coming back, clicking "refresh," and saying "WELL I NEVER." Angry, confrontational comment sections are good for business, if they weren't then Patch wouldn't allow comments. No news site makes money off of people chatting about recipes or cub scout meetings.

That being said, what passes for debate and/or humor here is pretty dismal and depressing. Lots of dunderheads repeating the same stupid political "jokes" over and over again and patting each other on the back because they are SO controversial. If you heard people muttering this stuff on the streets, you'd assume they were among the homeless mentally ill. So I can see why you'd remove some of it, but dear lord don't pass it off as some kind of morality-patrol "service" to your precious, innocent, loyal readers around town.

It may depend on how high up the food chain the Westford complainers are. After all, they managed to shut down the old town forum by bullying and threatening the owner. It was only when we got an impartial person to administer a new one that we were able to post freely again.

I do take offense to you saying you have to babysit a group of people having political conversations though. As I said I have no quarrel my comments were not deleted, But then again, I didnt say much this weekend,

Earnhardt, Stop acting like a child taking a tantrum! Maybe then you wouldn't need a baby sitter!

Time out, no. Tear gas and rubber bullets, maybe. :D

If my dentist told me they decided to stop reading the Patch, I'd take it pretty seriously.

Mike, I was kind of on his side this morning, Until the "babysitiing" remark. Now I agree with you. Like I said, he was the one left behind this weekend, Some kid with big credentials, has the need to "babysit" UGH!

Michael,

You're entitled to your opinion, but in the end, like I've said above, if the readers in Westford want a strict interpretation, that's what they're going to get.

P.S. -- And here I was feeling old after all these constant 7 day/60 hour work weeks.

And ill eagles are never, ever eligible for any of them ;)

whoa theres some more of that Patch humor woo that so edgy

Vinny, what was on Fox News tonight? I have a paper to write on media ethics [oxymoron], so I missed all of the good stuff. :p