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August 21 – It’s a beautiful day in old Po’town, but the first Iron Butt Rally riders to arrive at Federal Cigar said their first dry pavement began about fifty miles back. They left St. Louis, MO yesterday about 10:30 a.m. Rob Nye, said to be the “biggest techno geek” of the bunch, is shown here on Market Street, aboard his gadget-laden BMW. Inside Federal Cigar, Bob Torter, Rob Nye, and Bob’s wife Sylvie dig into free brioche. Federal is also offering free cigars for Iron Butt riders today, but these three weren’t takers. Bob and Sylvie are shown here heading down Market Street, on …

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Monday, August 20 — The 2007 Iron Butt Rally began in St. Louis, MO yesterday. Tomorrow, some of the participants will be coming through Portsmouth to earn bonus points by picking up a copy of the New Hampshire Gazette at Federal Cigar on Ladd St. The Iron Butt Rally is an eleven day, 11,000 mile-plus endurance event for motorcyclists. The Iron Butt Association, the body which organizes the Rally, calls its members The World’s Toughest Motorcycle Riders. We are certainly not going to argue the point. These riders are not the posturing, over-the-hill wannabes who think violating noise ordinances will make up for their lack …

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Friday, August 17 — “You shall know a man by the company he keeps,” wrote Aesop long ago. So, what do we know about Senator John Sununu, based on this photo published in the August 10 issue of The Messenger? Well, we know that Senator Sununu (at left; R-NH) looks fairly relaxed, comfortable, and happy considering that he’s having his picture taken while sitting next to a convicted forger and sex offender. Of course, Leigh Bosse (right) is a Republican. Perhaps if he was a Democrat, Mr. Sununu would feel differently about him. On February 28, 2007 Bosse was found guilty of two felony counts …

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Friday, August 10 — Come and get ‘em, folks. The Shopping Cart is clicking right along, the mailing crew is fired up … we got us a system here. It’s too late to get your hands on any of this batch right here, of course. These guys are already on their way to readers in forty-six states and Washington, DC, guarded by uniformed representatives of the U.S. Government. Which reminds us. We’d like to be able to boast that we’re in all 50 states. But before we can do that we need subscribers in IN, MN, MS, and ND. We’re going to begin by concentrating …

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Wednesday, August 7 — So, how we doing on that regular posting thing? Oh, yeah … Well, here’s our excuse: Almost done: sixteen pages of truly free press; due at the printer’s on Thursday afternoon, and on the streets the next day, multiplied by about 5,500, given away free, supported by small advertisers and subscribers. No grants, no non-profit nervous nellies worrying about who’ll be offended, no IRS 501 (c) 3 fine print to dance around. Our Starving Artiste, Mike Dater, just now alerted us to a stirring rant by John Pilger on how desperately the world needs real journalism. Here Pilger talks mostly about …

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Monday, July 30 — Well, folks, we’re pretty well out of excuses. We may have to get into the habit of posting something here on a daily basis. That is not to say that we intend to run a normal sort of a blog here. Not if a blog is expected to provide daily flashes of brilliance that move the public dialogue forward and demonstrate the author’s superior intellect. All we really plan to do here is make one point, over and over again: in this fairly desperate time, when our already imperfect democracy is in imminent danger of going completely to hell for good, …

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