This is surreal. Casino supporter Hal Brown, who has compared opponents to the Ku Klux Klan, and Middleborough selectman Adam Bond, who has compared them to Nazis, are going to talk about “the sociopathology of internet abusers and why they feel compelled to do it” at 11 a.m. today on Bond’s radio show, “Coffee Shop Talk,” on WXBR Radio (AM 1460).
It seems that Bond and Brown are very excited over this story in the Taunton Gazette about Michael Quish, a limousine-company owner and casino supporter, who whines that he’s been harassed online. Hey, it’s a tough world out there. I’m not condoning the kind of behavior he describes, but it’s endemic to the medium, and the Gazette could have cited just as many examples on the other side. Quish, by the way, will be joining Bond and Brown.
Should be an interesting hour. You can listen live, and I’m going to try to do just that.
Update: Well, there’s an hour of my life I’ll never get back.
Discover more from Media Nation
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
Middleboro Review
Dan,Your addressing the gestapo tactics of the casino supporters is appreciated.As you know, some pretty offensive and vicious comments have been posted on the site administered by Mr. Quish.For whatever reason, Mr. Q is convinced that he can post offensive comments and simply excuse himself by proclaiming they will be removed if someone asks him to do so. This person has successfully convinced himself that his comments are merely SATIRE and thereof excusable. (Don’t quit your day job!)Although he denies having made email threats, he acknowledged last week (May 1, 2008): I have got Pissed at times and threatened too but never went through with it. Remember that. What is perhaps more objectionable is the support and participation of a Middleboro Selectman, Adam Bond, who is an attorney and recently posted the following on his radio show blog:By the way, has XX reported you to the Jewish Anti-Defamation League yet? I think not. Has she called any persons with whom you have business relations yet to indicate that you are somehow an anti-semite? Imagine that, an antisemitic jew.This represents the second time Mr. Bond has made a comparable statement. Both the ADL and the JDL have been contacted regarding this comment and both indicated that there has been no contact. The balance of the statement is untrue.As you are aware, Mr. Bond’s comments pertain to the offensive analogy that Mr. Bond drew between the Nazis and those who opposed Sovereign Rights for Native Americans.Mr. Bond raised that analogy after raising the racism issue.Apparently Mr. Bond can find no other way to distort or defend casino gambling other than to continue to attack based on non-factual issues or outright lies.Mr. Bond also made the statement during his program that 50 or 60anonymous and questionable comments were made on a blog regarding one of the candidates.If you review the comments, you will discover that Mr. Bond either has a difficulty with facts or with counting. Facts is facts.It might seem that if casino supporters desired to tone down the rhetoric, they need to consider their accusations first.Jessie
Anonymous
It seems that Mr. Bond is more distressed about anonymous criticism than several restrained comments that have been made about him.There are a great many voters in this town who fear retaliation should we step forward to voice our opinions. Some of us have followed the comments and they’re pretty tame and fair on all sites except the owner of the offensive site who spoke on the radio program today.Maybe someone should begin a site called ‘Bondisms’ similar to ‘Bushisms.’Remember this is the man who said voters were stupid before an open mike, told a Globe reporter that casino opponents were braying mules, said of convicted rapist and serial liar Glenn Marshall ‘Everyone has skeletons in their closet,’ and many other stupid comments that were ill-considered.
Anonymous
No one has a problem with a public discussion forum that restricts itself to facts, but the casino supporters have instead resorted to vicious attacks, name-calling and continuous threats to sue. On the front page of the site that Mr. Q. defended as the poor sad victim, he has called others pedophiles, terrorists, racists and other offensive names. Mr. Quish’s story changes with the wind – first he says he never named names, then he posted someone’s name and phone number on the Taunton Gazette site, not once but twice. He also ranted about others not involved in the article or the issue at hand. Mr. Hal Brown, who also was on the radio program was posting on the offensive site amidst all of what he described as ‘flaming,’ and denied having seen any of it ???The whole bunch have a problem with the truth.
Gladys Kravitz
Thank you Dan for writing about this. I was especially offended (though who could be surprised) by Mr. Bond inviting He Who Shall Not Be Named (…or else he’ll target you) onto his radio show. And as for Hal Brown, a mental health professional, how completely irresponsible. HWSNBN has threatened me with actual violence, ran a contest with a cash prize to publicly humiliate me on the internet, took out the domain name of MY real name and currently holds it for ransom, and had a tantrum at a public hearing in Middleboro during which he call me a liar. And he has been escalating since September! On the night the Gazette article appeared, on the front page of his supposdely innocuous well moderated web forum, was, in giant 180 pt. bright blue font, my (real) name, and another blogger’s name in a statement that we wanted him killed. OMG. I’ve never asked him to remove anything from hims site or forum and in fact, I stay as far away from him as possible. I’ve never called or e-mailed him or posted on his forum. The only time his name is on my blog is when he uses it in comments – which he only does to flame people – so I have stopped publishing them. It continues to boggle my mind to the extent the Mr. Bond attempts to protect his vanity. In case people think his casino is out in the sticks somewhere, think again. There are many homes and several distinct neighborhoods and historic sites this thing will loom over. Blogging has never been Mr. Bond’s problem. The problem was rushing an agreement to become host a casino and a sovereign nation in only three months time and without any education forums for citizens to become aware of the potental costs and impacts. He was the main crusader at the head of this casino campaign, as I’ve documented on my blog since last June. The other members of the Board were practically comotose.Bloggers can’t make policy or sign multi million dollar intergovernmental agreements. I wish he’d remember that when his ego gets in the way.Many people, and their families have been hurt by his actions, yet Bond seems clueless to any problems but his own.Imagine… people actually becoming upset over that. Go figure.
Tim
As you know, a number of us retained the irrational rants emanating from Raynham that changed several times each day. Surely labelling a person BY NAME as a PEDOPHILE on the front page of your site falls within Hal Brown’s definition of unacceptable. And both Hal Brown and Adam Bond think this is acceptable? Get real!
helen
CFO is only being attacked because they were effective. It must have shocked the international investors who are well organized, paid out of town hecklers to call casino supporters names and make ugly comments, wave signs, spy on CFO, visit homes of union members for intimidation and much else that a small group could organize against their $$$$ effectively.A small, somewhat ragtag group defeated casino gambling in the House by providing the facts. What a novel approach?Their efforts to silence won’t cease and this is more of the same.
carverchick
Dan, I too thank you for blogging about this. What Gladys says is correct. She never blogs about He Who Shall Not Be Named, nor has she done or said anything to attack him -she is afraid to because he has always harrassed and taunted her on his forum. Satire? No. He doesn’t like her blogs, they make him angry….it is that simple. I was a poster on his site for a short time and I read the posts on his site until the day it was shut down. Every single time Gladys put out a new blog, he would start a new thread on her…at first I really thought he was trying to be funny in his own weird way. I know better now…it may have started as a joke in his head but it got worse and worse. He went on full mode attack when Jessie Powell ran for Select(wo)man and tried very hard to discredit her campaign and her name. Is that not harrassment in and of itself? I have personally read some of his threatening emails to Gladys….she has every reason to be afraid of this man. She did the right thing going to the police. Reading those threats to her made me and my husband wonder about his true motive for sending me a graphic video about child abuse and daring me to blog about it. My response to him was rational and nice. I should have listened to Gladys and never responded…all it got me was my personal information and private emails posted on his website and him calling me mentally challenged. Yeah, he’s the victim. Real nice for Adam Bond to actually support these allegations. What a piece of work these guys are.
Doris
My husband and I supported the casino with additional mitigation $$$ which of course, we’ll never see. We’ve lived in Middleboro our entire lives and never seen anyone more capable of tearing the town apart than Mr. Bond. If this is leadership, he can take it back to New York. He insults anyone and everyone who disagrees with him. Everyone fears retaliation for speaking out against him. His attacks have been as vicious and inappropriate as the guy who now pretends to be a victim, but Mr. Bond carefully words them in a veneer with the venom dripping.He’s divided the town because he doesn’t know how to play nice. Too much ego to hear what anyone else says. God! We can’t wait until his term expires.
NEU2008
When exactly does his term expire? The town meeting is coming up (may 13th if my memory serves me correctly) and anyone and everyone should really turn out.
David
neu2008, Mr. Bond was re-elected in April 2007 so we are forced to endure 2 more years of his tantrums, venom and dividing the town into enemy camps, but he’s certainly creating a negative name for himself around the state. Be forever appreciative that he isn’t town manager. Can you even imagine? When voters allowed Aunt Bea to be elected, the casino supporters defined their narrow focus. The poor lady is sadly out of her league, has no idea about how town government functions, fails to do her homework. Her incompetence is embarrassing and painful to watch.Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse….guess what it did!That’s what happens when voters don’t get off their couches and participate.
Anonymous
The article you cited in the Taunton Gazette added nothing positive to the debate, only further dividing our beleaguered community, and I was upset that the editor allowed the supposed “victim’s” sniper fire in the commentary to go on as long as it did. Mr Bond, rather than demonstrating an example of restraint, further enabled the verbal carnage via his radio show, apparently undaunted by requests from local residents on both sides of this issue to return the level of discussions to a higher tone. Apparently it matters little to him that real people in this town he serves continue to be hurt. And he wonders why people have become frightened to openly oppose him for fear of retribution that they must run for the cover of anonymity to make their voices heard?
Karen
Three blind mice….See how they run!!
Dante Writing from the Inferno
My mother often told us there were two fields of pursuit that could lead us into the temptation of abuse of power and loss of integrity–politics and the law. Seems that the combination of the two can pack a double whallop. Although the Age of Innocence is lost in Middleboro, I still believe in the possibility of personal redemption. I respectfully request that Mr. Bond examine his choice of words and actions over the past year, profess his mea culpas, and make the commitment to set a better example to those he represents.
Dan Kennedy
I have been contacted by Mr. Quish, who objects to the anonymous criticism directed his way here, and who wants me to call him. Since he did not leave me an e-mail address, I will post a message to him here.1. Although there are indeed two anonymous comments here critical of you, there are also three of your critics who posted by name. They say pretty much the same things as the anonymous posters. I don’t know who Carver Chick is, but I do know who Gladys Kravitz and Middleboro Review are, and so do you. These are not anonymous attacks. If you have something to say, why don’t you respond to them here?2. I will not be taking you up on your invitation to call or visit you. I’m not all that interested in the flame war that’s going on. There is no getting to the bottom of such things. Many people behave badly online. My interest is in keeping casinos out of Massachusetts, and out of Middleborough.
betty
dante, a reward is offered to anyone reporting the changes you seek.
Anonymous
Mr Quish has been goading the members of casinofacts for months. This is a well orchistrated campaign to lower the anti-casino debat to the gutter, which is exactly where Bond wants it, so he can cry fowl and victim. Poor Adam…. I wonder what his TRUE motivations are. He is VERY concerned about the casino. It’s as if HIS future depends on it.????? He will be out at the end of his term, and the casino will most likely never happen in Middleborough. If it does the down will be left paying the bill for the billionare investors. Theis casino has allready corrupted Middleborough, and it hasn’t even been built yet. What a shame!!
J. Wyman
None of us involved in the anti-casino efforts expected that in taking such a stand we would become subjected to the personal rancor of those we disagreed with vis-a-vis the internet. Unfortunately, as Marshall McLuhan predicted, the medium (rather than the issue) became the message. This is indeed surreal. Don’t have the answer except to say that internet abusers ought not to cry abuse.
Bellicose Bumpkin
Let’s not drag Dan’s blog into the scorched earth that is Middleboro. I think the point has been made and that we should all move on.
Sarah
Dan, Posting your comments about Mr. Quish’s comments began our day with a laugh!A good joke is always appreciated!The man seems to need a good therapist. Anyone know one?
Anonymous for Good Reason
Mr. Bond has posted on his website http://www.coffeeshoptalkam.blogspot.com that anonymous internet postings often amount to legalized libel. MiddleboroReview has published on her blogsite an example of Mr. Bond’s publishing a personal email to him by someone who disagrees with him. And he wonders why people feel the need to protect themselves with a shield of anonymity??? Puh-lease, it’s not safe to oppose this man.
Anonymous
Thanks Dan for your support. My feelings are as follows.#1 Mr Bond and the board of selectmen did not perform their due dilegence when dealing with the investors and the tribe, which led to the sale of the land which put Middleboro in a no win situation. This is not a race or class issue.#2 Mr Bond, and the board of selectmen rushed the acceptance of an agreement for no reason, without giving townspeople time to investigate the potential impacts. This is not a race or class issue.#3 Mr Bond and the board of selectmen made a bad deal that instead of helping the town financially, will hurt the towns character and most likely will also lead to further financial problems due to the inadequate impact payments. This is not a race or class issue#4. Mr Bond and his divisive, race baiting, arrogant behavior has done more harm to our community than any budget deficeit ever could. His postings on several blogs have been just as insulting and unprofessional as anything he complained about on his radio show.This is not a race or class issue, unless Mr Bond or Mr Brown decide to make it so. Mr Quish is just a sad figure that should not be taken seriously.We need to come together and our leaders are constantly stirring the pot to try and divide us. We all, Pro and Anti-casino alike should be questioning the casino deal. We do not need a casino in our town for any social or educational reasons. The ONLY reason that anyone should want a casino is if it will benefit us ALL financially. This debate is not about race or class or who said what on a blog. It is about Middleboro and how we can best serve our neighbors.In my opinion what is best for Middleboro is NO CASINO. H.A.
Gladys Kravitz
Adam doesn’t want you to oppose him. This is why he has latched on to this person. He’s scary. As in, read my lips – ‘scary guy is my new friend.’As for me, thank you Dan for venturing into the ‘scorched earth that is Middleboro’ – a place I will continue to do my to keep a casino out of.
richard
Dan,You truly have no idea how vicious the attacks have been on casino opponents in Middleboro, that’s why anonymity is truly important. And it goes beyond what the named bloggers have endured. There’s big money at stake for the casino investors and it sometimes feels like guerilla warfare.Carefully worded accusations of racism emanate from officials and spokespeople like Hal Brown and Adam Bond.The likes of Mr. Quish is just verbal diarrhea and a pretense to silence casino opponents.The agreement stinks. Casino gambling stinks. I’m glad the House listened. Maybe the Governor will wake up someday.
vera from plympton
When the Aquinnah proposed a casino in Plymouth, the Selectmen held informational forums, bringing the elected officials from the communities surrounding the mega-monster in CT, Foxwoods, to Plymouth to answer questions.And Middleboro?They didn’t want to air the facts, listen to the impacts or consider that the communities surrounding Foxwoods are teaching +30 different foreign languages in their public school systems. That isn’t racism, but a real cost Foxwoods isn’t paying for. Indian casinos are profitable because they’re exempt from taxes and controls. They don’t pay their fair share. The tactics employed by casino supporters in Middleboro are a template of tactics used elsewhere: insult, intimidate, threaten, stiffle criticism in any fashion possible, divide the town, create opponents as enemies to progress, threaten to sue whenever possible.It’s ugly, but it’s about well-financed investors with mega-bucks to loose.
Dan Kennedy
Barring something unexpectedly worthwhile, I’m closing this thread. I just rejected two more anonymous comments from anti-casino folks. I don’t doubt some of the stories I’m hearing, but I’m not going to let Media Nation be used as a forum for a fight I’m not part of and know little about.In the meantime, if you’re looking for an entertaining read, let me suggest Casino-Friend.com. Our pal Hal, in an attempt to walk away from his KKK editorial of last year, has now filled up practically his entire front page with — you guessed it — stuff about the KKK.