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They did. They are not. In fact, they say just the opposite. The links helped them understand how dangerous going fast in a boat can be and how widespread the problem is. It helped them appreciate how special last summer was on Lake Winnipesaukee. Or at least that is what every legislator I have talked to except one has said to me. The recent vindictiveness started when one of your group blasted me in a hate-filled and unprovoked attack for sic'ing a spelling error in a report I linked, and wrongly criticized my grammar, calling me "smarmy" while making a comical grammatical boner himself. It continued with my justly angry response and your unprovoked personal follow-up attacks. It did not start "after" your follow-up. Your follow-up exasperated it. You had no cause to jump into that fray and cannot disown your contribution now. We sure do. And some of us will not see the truth so long as it interferes with their selfish desire to have fun at the expense of the rest of society. Most fatal collisions involve at least one boat that was going too fast. And being drunk is not a good excuse for driving too fast. Boaters should be limited to safe speeds whether they are sober or drunk. Several of your group are boasting openly on this forum about their law-breaking and several of the others are "thanking" them for it. I've not seen a single case where one of you has chastised your buddies and said "While we might not agree with it, it is the law of the lake right now and we should respect it until the matter is finally resolved...otherwise we are looking just like the unruly cowboys they say we are". Being silent towards (and afraid of?) the reckless cowboys that brought this problem on you seems to be what you guys do best. Amen Just be careful if your alliance includes the scofflaws who have been bragging about their disobeyence of the law on this forum. I will be the first to publicize any alliance of the MP and a group of the very law-breakers they are supposed to be policing. It will make a great series of letters to the local editors. The public tends to want its law enforcement agencies to be allying with the law-respecting side of society, not with the criminal side. I hope and expect that we all have looked at the links I have been providing, even those staying silent. I believe that any impartial reader of reasonable intelligence will come away feeling that boats going very fast are dangerous and that we can't just leave it up to every pilot to decide for himself what speed is appropriate, because there are just too many out there who have proven incapable of making that decision properly, and it is usually the innocent bystander who pays the price. Good rant. I’m sure your version of diplomacy helped make up a few minds in Concord. Our legislators are citizens and were elected by citizens. What other form of government do you prefer? The vast majority of NH citizens recognize the sense of reasonably limiting boat speeds on a crowded lake and would vote for the SL. So we'd likely have one even in the pure democracy you espouse. But unfortunately for you and your feathered friends, you are in a minority on this issue. Please show us just one of these many posts where I claim the majority of the boats on the lake are GFBL owners. In fact, I've pointed out over and over again that those boats that can exceed 45MPH represent a tiny fraction of the boats on Winnipesaukee. It just seems like there are more of them because they are so loud, scary, and oftentimes obnoxious. Exactly. Cars have brakes. Cars have rubber tires that give traction with the road. Highways have lane markings. Highway surfaces are flat and unchanging. All the cars are going in the same directing and going almost the same speed. Cars have headlights, brake lights and directionals, etc, etc, etc. If anything, it is far more sensible to have speed limits for boats than for cars. Go back to your illegal fishing thread if you want to see lies and fear-mongering. Those many legislators I've spoken with (except one) have said they felt that the lack of tickets agrees with the witness accounts that the lake was much slower and more civil last summer and that the SL had the intended result. They say they have seen enough already to make the SL permanent and don't need to bother seeing another year to decide. They now recognize the glitch in the legislative process that the 2-yr provision overlooked and realize now that the law must be made permanent during this session...all except for one rep so far. I think they are listening to most of them, they are just not listening to the tiny fraction that feels boating at unlimited speeds is right for a crowded lake. The sky is falling!...The sky is falling! The citizens did not seek a SL on only Winnipesaukee. The original bill was for all lakes. It was the House Committee that amended to Winnipesaukee-only as a COMPROMISE, to appease the GFBLers on the other lakes. Wrong again. The citizens “pushed for” a permanent SL on all lakes. The committee COMPROMISED it down to 2-yrs on just Winnipesaukee. We, the people of NH, have always held that a permanent SL on any crowded lake is simply a matter of common sense. But if the residents of other lakes don’t want to fight, then why should we fight for them? Speeding was not an issue last summer. That's the point. Only one speeding ticket had to be written. Most boaters respected the law. The Speed Limit worked. Many laws, maybe most, are passed based on “feelings”. It took a lot more than one or two legislators, in fact, a landslide majority of legislators passed the law, then the Governor signed it. They all agreed that it had EVERYTHING to do with safety. Winnfabs wanted a permanent SL on all lakes. The 2-yr COMPROMISE came from the House committee. Arguments based on a defective premise are defective by definition. And the summer of 2009, where only a single boat was caught exceeding 45MPH, proved that a speed limit is the right thing, is effective, and is obeyed. Apparently, only the few of you ignored the law and chose to exceed the limit. Shame on you. But it was still a great summer anyway.