'Windbag': Reader No. 1 writes in to report a certain Hyannis vacationer trying to score ideological points on Katrina:

"Windbag - RFK Jr hardly seems likely to change many minds about global warming (or contemporary liberal temperment) with these remarks tying Katrina to Kyoto.

"Of course, he's not having much luck changing minds on one (too?) visible alternative energy source locally, to judge by this account of a recent pleasant sail down the Cape. Presumably he will let us know the best site for windfarms at some point in time (my guess is, somewhere in the Red States)."  ¶ 8:35 AM

'My alma mater blew it big time': Wave Maker isn't happy with the heavy-handed way Phillips Academy dealt with a charter school in a poor part of New Orleans. ... FYI: The incident happened before the hurricane. Maybe Phillips Academy -- and others -- will chip in more considering the devastation in the Big Easy. Sure sounds like the N.O. school will need more than a few thousand dollars to change signs.



The nation needs you, New Orleans, Part II: I find myself genuinely depressed about New Orleans and Mississippi. It's not just that New Orleans is such a great town. It's that the destruction is so much worse and deadly than feared. It's going to take a long, long time for the region to recover. ... John and Adam have good local links and comments on the disaster. ... Talk of broken levees and post-storm water inundating New Orleans caused flashbacks to the Mississippi flooding in the early '90s. Most of the damage then wasn't done in dramatic fashion -- with gushing water crashing down on small towns as heroic workers tried to plug leaks by throwing sandbags into breaches. Instead, it was just a slow, steady, surreal rise of water that no one could do anything about. ... I heard New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin interviewed by phone last night on CNN. I don't know if he's a hack or hero. But I was struck how calm and blunt he was about the magnitude of the city's woes.



Trachsel to Sox? Part II: Looks like the Sox won't get Steve Trachsel. Jon writes in to say that's fine with him:

"Steve Trachsel???? Heaven help us. Theo must have been on the phone with Dan Duquette, who surely remembers the gems that Stevie T. threw while wearing a D-Rays uniform and opposing Pedro. Throw out those legitimately terrific perfomances, and Trachsel isn't even non-spectacular. I guess Jeff Suppan wasn't a poor enough late season addition, we need to up the ante."  ¶ 7:31 AM

‘The Cult of the General Manager’: Neal Pollack bemoans the growing idolatry of sports general managers (Theo is pictured and mentioned prominently). … Reminds me of Reader No. 1’s observation the other week: “I keep waiting for a NESN-spin on the HBO series 'Entourage' featuring Theo and his crazy gang of 20-something assistant GMs, madly trying to make deadline deals while keeping their MAXIM subscriptions away from the Yawkey Way veterans in the mailroom.”



Trachsel to Sox?: Please, please, please. ...



'Look out Charlie Baker,' Part III: The vacationing Charlie received Kerry's signal all right. ... Of course family considerations played a role in Baker's decision not to run for governor. But it's obvious he would have run if the GOP primary could have been a coast and less disruptive to his family. ... Mitt hip checks Jane. Kerry hip checks Charlie. There's a gender analysis in there somewhere. Or maybe it just shows that candidates play to win before, during and after primaries, no matter what their gender. ... Healey, needless to say, looks more formidable by the day. But I do think contested primaries sharpen up candidates. Christy Mihos and James Rappaport probably can't win the GOP nomination, but they can drive Healey crazy -- Mihos with his loose-cannon mouth and Rappaport with his West End money. ...

... Jesse Helms tells all on Bill Weld. Looking back, it really was stupid of Weld to take on Helms. Makes you wonder how much he really wanted the Mexico job -- like other jobs he's sought or held. ...



'Destined for failure': Here's a classic What the Hell is Going On in Iraq contradiction: Paula Broadwell, an Army captain, writes convincingly of the screwed up training of Iraq police while Michael Yon reports tremendous improvements in Iraqis' fighting capability (see his 'reality check' assessment and the role Iraqis played in 'The Devil's Foyer'). Broadwell can't easily be dismissed as a liberal foreign correspondent slanting her news coverage. Yon isn't making up what he sees.

Update -- The CSM reports on an area where Iraqi security forces appear to be holding firm. ... And John has more.



'Hooray for the student right': You have a young liberal student who welcomes informed debate with the right and you have Daily Kos trying to excommunicate members of the DLC. You tell me who has the best long-term strategy and tactics for Democrats. My money's on those who reject the exhausted sermons of the academic left and, as put by others before, actually respect the views of the first 100 people listed in the Cambridge or Amherst phone books.  ¶ 6:10 AM

The nation needs you, New Orleans: Name a city or region in the U.S. and you can find detractors. Boston? Capital of Blue State liberal Massachusetts to some. Dallas? A God-awful suburbanite-like Red State monstrosity to others. New York, San Francisco, LA, Atlanta, Las Vegas etc., etc. You know all the insults. ... But I've never heard somone really bad mouth New Orleans. It's America's lovably decadent, corrupt, care-free Big Easy with a great mischievous attitude toward life and living. Watching the hurricane bear down on the city, you can almost hear a collective nationwide sigh, 'Not the French Quarter!' ... And they say we're a divided nation.



MFA strikes again: The Musuem of Fine Arts has a bit of Antioch history tucked away in it. ... Actually, not tucked away. Right in the open as they restore the ancient mosaic.



Michael Yon, Part II: The show went quite well last night and Michael Yon was the star. ... Kevin and Gregg, hosts of WRKO's 'Pundit Review,' will be posting a stream of the show later today on their site. They've really found a niche by using the old media (radio) to focus on issues raised by and talked about by the new media (blogs).  ¶ 7:56 AM

Michael Yon rules the blogoshere -- and airwaves: Local blogger sensation Michael Yon will be tentatively on WRKO tomorrow night along with yours truly, 9 p.m.. He gets to talk about his incredible blogging from Iraq. I get to talk about, er, my blogging from Beacon Hill. Hmmm. ... I'm psyched just to talk to the guy.  ¶ 10:32 AM

Thinking of the Celts in August?: Danny Ainge deserves this much: There are at least some of us thinking about the Celts in August, even as the Sox enter the September stretch and the Pats limber up for another title defense. ... I'm actually looking forward to the season.



'I can't believe I saw him die ...', Part II: What a sad story. John P. Gagliardi Jr., RIP. You deserved better. As one woman put it: "These are people who obviously need some help." That's the real issue, after all, as we all know deep down. It's not about a photo journalist. Nor obnoxious pontificators like myself. Nor proper attention from politicians and cops to drug use in the Boston Public Garden. John Gagliardi was by the sound of it a decent man with, as it turns out, a fatal problem. ... I tend to think of the corny but still apt last line of Bartleby the Scrivener when tragic personal tales like this pop up. ... Quickie note: An open apology to Carpundit. I reacted yesterday to what I believe was a cheap shot at a friend and colleagues with a cheap shot of my own. Not one of my finer days. I'm sorry. ... John Wilcox has more here. ... Roundups and reacts here and here and here and here.  ¶ 8:35 AM

'I can't believe I saw him die ...': John Wilcox and I bumped into each other at Foley's early last evening. After exchanging pleasantries, he said he just needed a drink and apologized if he appeared a bit 'traumatized.' He then told me this story. Traumatized indeed. ... Right in the Public Garden? Maybe I'm naive. Completely out-of-their-minds winos stumbling along downtown sidewalks is nothing new. But casually sitting down in the most public of Public Gardens and shooting up only a few yards from kids, the swan boats and the Make Way for Ducklings statue? It's an 'ongoing' problem?

Update -- This is one of those cases when Carpundit is way, way off base. John did do something. More than others in the park who surely must have seen something and surely more than those who have apparently seen it happen in the past. And his actions just might put a stop to an 'ongoing' problem that police obviously haven't put a stop to -- yet. ... 'Detached' my ass. ... FYI: I'm a Herald business reporter. I don't know who the hell Carpundit is. He prefers to throw ethical thunderbolts at others from his anonymous comfort.  ¶ 7:55 AM

'De Yankees Zuigen': The Sox are trying to ban -- or discourage -- the wearing of 'Yankees Suck' t-shirts at Fenway. I've never been a big fan of the phrase. But I love De Yankees Zuigen (Dutch). ...

Oh pleasssssse. The Sox' Charles Steinberg says the team thought of promoting possible alternative slogans, but decided not to. "That would reek of some phony, synthetic corporate construction and would be rejected, as perhaps it should be," he said (my emphasis). This from the same PR-obsessed Sox ownership that put on one of the gaudiest Opening Day ceremonies in sports history last spring. Sooner or later the team is going to Jump the Shark. Arguably they did with the Queer Guys stuff. But the team is playing rather well right now. Still, sooner or later ... FYI: The story credits Boston magazine for the scoop, but I can't find it on its site.

Update -- Nigel Powers: "There are two kinds of people I can't stand in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and the Dutch."  ¶ 7:05 AM

'Look out Charlie Baker,' Part II: Hmmm. Kerry 'Cha-Ching' Healey.' I like it! ... Tom Reilly may not be a millionaire like Cha-Ching. But he has his own stash of money to dip into. No wonder 'no comment' on Kerry.  ¶ 6:44 AM

Send in Hans and Scott: So government scientists from the same countries that thought Iraq had WMD are now having second thoughts about what Iran is up to on the WMD front. Considering their lousy track record, we should all be nervous. So let's send in Hans Blix and Scott Ritter, who got it right on Iraq. (I can't believe I wrote that last sentence, but it's true. They did get it right.) ... Keep in mind: Abdul Qadeer Khan is involved with Iran, the same character Seymour Hersh has written about.  ¶ 8:01 AM

'Look out Charlie Baker': While Charlie waits for the formality of Mitt's announcement he's running for president, Kerry Healey is acting like the starting gun has already been fired. ... Hello? Charlie? Are you there? Kerry's sending you a signal. ...  ¶ 7:44 AM

1948 MG-TC rules: Hub Blog was in Maine this weekend and stumbled upon the Seal Cove Auto Museum. ... My goodness. What a find. Stunning. ... But it didn't have an MG-TC, right-hand drive, like the one my father used to own and wisely sold just before his numbskull sons came of age (or at least four-fifths of them). ... For $5, the museum was much better than the recent MFA exhibit. Here's the list of cars on display, though it doesn't link to a photo of the '32 Caddy I was drooling over.

Update -- Here's a shot on a different web site. ... There we were, Walter Mitty and I, protecting our damsels and fending off the scum of the earth ...  ¶ 9:54 PM

Advertising God: The Episcopal Church is starting to get it in terms of reaching out to people. ... I've written before here and here about the decline of New England's old-line churches. At least they're finally doing something.



'Not being represented at other film festivals': Good for Roxbury for starting its own flick fest because minorities are 'not being represented at other film festivals.' ... You mean, affluent hipsters don't include people unlike themselves at their exclusive posh hip events? I'm shocked. ... Film festivals are now just a dime a dozen. Just another thing on the Hip Checklist, along with outdoor cafes, flea and farmers markets, specialty cheese stores, So(Fill in blank) neighborhoods, etc. etc. etc. ... Someone alerted me that Philly is fighting back against alleged hip-artist encroachment from New York. Philly, the freedom fighters of New England stand by you!



'Funds are presently needed': Gee, this is a nifty idea. While trying to raise private funds for the new Rose Kennedy parkway, city officials are now eying a separate past private donation as a source of revenue for the project. Think this will encourage citizens in the future to donate money, artifacts and property to the city knowing it probably won't be used for the stated purpose? ... Recall the Mass Turnpike's attempt to use Citizens Bank's advertising sponsorship dollars for a completely unrelated Boston Pops concert. How many corporate sponsors did the Turnpike scare away with that fiasco? ... Somehow, the city should find a way to preserve the open-space property donated (and accepted) in the 1930s while maximizing its potential value to the citizens of Boston. Perhaps a sale of the Burlington property -- with clauses protecting the land's use, as intended in the will -- to the state, local towns or a private trust for parklands there? Maybe it won't raise as much money. But it would be 'honorable.'  ¶ 7:50 AM

'The Sixth Borough Conspiracy,' Part II: Josh writes in about all those free-spirited, open-minded hipsters who want to hang out with, well, people just like themselves:

"The most annoying thing about this whole 'phenomenon,' I think, is that these folks talk about being 'priced out' of Brooklyn, when really what happened is that they were priced out of hip, white Brooklyn. They spend some time in Williamsburg, swear that they're Brooklyn-to-the-core without ever getting to know the unique neighborhoods all around them (as a Brooklyn native, I say this with some knowledge), then go to a new place and try to import that same cookie-cutter hipness without really getting to know that place either. It's just like those people who want to create mini-Williamsburgs in Boston - they're so sure that they know what the right way to live is that they miss out on all the good, unique stuff that's indigenous to the city they're in."



'Meanwhile, in Pawtucket ...': Boston Dirt Dogs are being just brutal on Bellhop. I mean, Bellhorn. ... The middle photo is my favorite. ...  ¶ 6:07 AM

'Chain of Command': Just finished Seymour Hersh's 'Chain of Command' and highly recommend it. Not wild about Hersh's negativity and where he takes all the facts. But sometimes you have to read something from a different perspective and gleam what you can from it. In that regard, here are a few observations:

The positives:

-- Anyone who reads Hersh's chapters on Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and is not persuaded the abuses were the result of policy -- albeit deliberately deniable policy -- is just in partisan denial about the denials. Hersh has all the goods: the memos, the working policy drafts, executive orders, the reports, the thoughts about the Geneva Convention, etc.

-- The administration was rightly worried about WMD -- and that worry was the main reason for the Iraq war. Period. One of the reasons they probably didn't plan for a post-war occupation (and democratic nation building and fighting a possible insurrection) is that administration officials were fanatically convinced Saddam had WMD. The war would have been instantly justified if they had found them. But they didn't find WMD. Now they have a far more ambiguous and harder task to justify this war.

-- But, along the line of the point immediately above, Hersh describes how Libya caved and turned over its WMD data to the U.S. and U.K. Libya' capitulation has to be one of the most underreported and underappreciated victories of the Bush administration -- and it's tied to the invasion of Iraq. (That's more of my observation than Hersh's.)

-- Pakistan is one scary country and Dr. A.Q. Kahn, father of Pakistan's bomb, may go down as one of history's most notorious figures if terrorists get their hands on nuclear weapons, as Hersh shows. The administration's failure to clamp down on Pakistan arguably negates its Libya triumph -- and the clambdown failure is also tied to the invasion of Iraq, as Hersh also shows.

The negatives:

-- Hersh spends seven pages rehashing the bogged-down first week of the Iraq campaign, pointing out flaws and criticism of the invasion plan. But then he only spends one paragraph describing how the next two weeks led to the smashing early success of taking Baghdad.

-- Ditto the Afghanistan campaign. Lots of rehashing of Hersh's New Yorker piece about a botched Ranger raid early in the Afghan war, and then precious little about how the campaign quickly unfolded and led to the ouster of the Taliban, though Osama wasn't captured. Next thing you know, he's talking about drug-selling Afghan warlords. ... Are you noticing a pattern here?

-- Hersh wrote an afterward to the paperback edition in April 2005 with no mention of the successful Afghan and Iraq elections. The voting clearly wasn't as decisive as some prowar supporters say. But not even a mention by Hersh?

All in all, despite the frustrating flaws, you have to recommend a book written by a truly awesome reporter and a book you can't put down. So a big thumbs up.  ¶ 11:52 AM

'Be brave, Jerry Remy ...': Reader No. 1 wrote in last night during the Sox game amid fears that heightened Sox craziness could lead to more forced enthusiasm from ownership:

"I liked your Red Sox-themed post the other day (especially the Tuscan Kitchen) and agree that the town is Sox-crazy (especially in this household), but fear that publicity-crazy Lucchino and Werner will run with them. I keep waiting for a NESN-spin on the HBO series 'Entourage' featuring Theo and his crazy gang of 20-something assistant GMs, madly trying to make deadline deals while keeping their MAXIM subscriptions away from the Yawkey Way veterans in the mailroom.

"Oops, another sign of inevitable doom from Lucchino and Werner, a member of the 'Desperate Housewives' cast just turned up in the broadcast booth... be brave, Jerry Remy..."

Update -- 'Matt Clement Enjoying Psychic Ability Since Being Hit in Head.'



The Sixth Borough Conspiracy: Here's the NYT article that Philebrity and Adam were dreading the other day. Verdict: It's as bad as they expected. ... Can you imagine your hometown suddenly getting inundated by hordes of whiny hip-artist types from New York? It's a fate I don't wish upon any neighborhood or city (except maybe Wellesley). ... I'm telling you, New England has got to draw a line in the sand soon. Jersey, Philly, Connecticut and large swaths of Vermont have already fallen under New York's colonial sway. Now they're eyeing Rhode Island. We can fight them now, or fight them later. It's your choice, New England.  ¶ 7:35 AM

'Spitting image of the North End': So lawmakers are moving to control eminent domain. Good for them. But they're only fifty years too late in Boston. Check out these awesome photos of 'Medieval Boston.' It's probably the best site with the best commentary and best photos of what the 'urban planners' did to Boston and other cities. ... I was riding in a taxi the other day when I asked the old-timer driver what the West End used to look like. "Oh," he sighed. "It was a spitting image of the North End." ... BTW: The best images of the West End in the above link are about 7/8th of the way down. A photo of Leonard Nimoy in the old West end is about halfway down. ... Other great shots of Bowdoin and Scollay squares throughtout. ... Did you know that, before the elevated Central Artery, there was an elevated train down roughly the same route? True. Didn't know that. Photos (one-third down) show it. ... Just scroll away.

One last thing from the comments section of the site: "Thanks for sharing. Its amazing that Boston is still one of the most historic, pedestrian friendly big cities in the US despite all of its urban renewal demolition. Some of your pictures look like Berlin after the war." ... Boston should feel lucky. Chicago, Philly and others were hit much harder by 'urban renewal.' Fortunately, Boston put a stop to the madness relatively early.



Couch potato heaven: Champs Town was in full bloom last night with the Sox on one channel and Pats on another. ... I was lying on my couch last night, toggling back and forth between the games, with a plate of Sicilian pizza next to me and Brighams Ice Cream tucked in the freezer. Can it get any better? Yes! When it's fall, late September, cool weather, and the Champs are battling for real. Last night was just practice.  ¶ 4:33 AM

'A lounge act in terms of politics': Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is suffering a very bad case of the fourth-term blues. ... There's a cautionary tale somewhere in here for Tom Menino. ... Strange but true: I was talking about Daley and long-term mayors just last night with someone. Then this piece. ...  ¶ 6:50 AM

It is the concrete!: Possible worst-case scenario is now coming into focus over at the Big Dig. ... 'I do, I do, I do hope it's not the concrete.'  ¶ 6:59 AM

'Quench that thirst for more and more': The Herald's Tony Massarotti is writing up a storm on the paper's new Red Sox blog. ... Is this town crazy or not about the Sox? Next up: 'Tuscany recipes from Sox kitchens.' Or: 'Where Sox stay and go when on holiday in Britain.' ... Hey, I happened to like Brian's column the other day. Is Terry really moving to Boston full-time? I didn't know that.

Update -- Or: 'Sox postfuneral meals.'  ¶ 8:16 AM

'Too close to reality?': Reader No. 1 sends in a link to Call of the Green Monster with the simple observation: 'Too close to reality?'



'Red' and 'black' fascists: Another intriguing discussion at neo-neocon about the psychological make-up of some liberals whose typical reaction is to excuse the actions of terrorists and lambaste those of the West, etc. ... But I'm still not buying into the notion that an entire class of people's opinions can be explained away by emotional and psychological profiles. There's a combination of an intellectual belief system and groupthink at work here as well -- similar to what we see regularly on the right. Humans still have the ability to make rational sets of decisions, as irrational as those rational decisions may appear to some. ... Via GB at Instapundit.

Update -- Don't forget the storm of indignation on the right after professors released a psychological study -- 'Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition' -- with assertions about 'fear and anger' explaining right-wing thought. Backpeddling, the authors and defenders later had to admit: "We readily acknowledge that identifying the motivational underpinnings of a belief system does not constitute a valid argument in a political debate any more than it does in scientific debates. What counts is the cogency of the political arguments and the degree to which they fit with independently verifiable facts and reasonable assumptions."  ¶ 8:06 AM

'He's been there and done that': Looks like Ty Law is headed to the Jets. ... I'd be upset if it wasn't for the fact the Pats have dumped other stars to division rivals without losing their winning ways.



'I believe it cost me $5': A fun story with a happy ending (with a slight Boston broadcast intrigue angle to boot). ...



'I will continue to do the broadcast': He didn't give one of those long, self-absorbed network good-byes. He just vowed to come back. He never did. Peter Jennings was a good man.  ¶ 6:09 AM

'A global federal union': There I was, all set to write a post about an op-ed piece penned by two gentlemen whose institutions don't pay taxes and who complain they want a Cadillac and not a Yugo health-care system -- endorsing a ballot question that one of the authors appears to have signed in an official capacity but isn't mentioned in the op-ed, though I'll stand corrected if it's a different gentleman with the same name -- and, I was wondering, whether Health Care For All is still clearly not mentioning that it's supporting a "single-payer system" (i.e. government-run health care -- and it's not), when, lo and behold, I stumbled upon the HCFA blog and found a link to the attorney general's office that provides the actual wording of proposed ballot questions (see Health Care For All, Version A for said genteman's name) and -- WHOA!!! -- I see a ballot question for the creation of a GLOBAL FEDERAL UNION that would be established to "insure international tranquillity and safeguard human rights," though there's no mention of going where no man has gone before. Cool.

Update -- Reader No. 1: "I'm continuously struck, though not surprised, by how our local culture simultaneously engenders calls to 'let the debate begin' by men of peace, and calls for 'unity' by take-no-prisoners partisans."

He adds: "Hey, easy on Mark Bellhop. He broke the hitless streak last night and he DID NOT STRIKE OUT ONCE this afternoon ... and Roberto Petagine had a big hit today ... not to mention Edgar Renteria getting 3 hits... it's enough to make you forget how many runs our pitching staff surrendered to the Royals and Twins this past week. Prediction: Kevin Youkilis plays 1st base in September and however far we get into the playoffs."

FYI - I altered the update a bit after finding a link Reader No. 1 couldn't access.  ¶ 3:04 PM

'What I saw in the Beacon Hill Pub blew me away': I couldn't believe the photos either. ... A clean and well-maintained bathroom in the Beacon Hill Pub? ... Can't wait till The Restroom reviews public accomodations at the Alewife Station. ... Via Adam.  ¶ 10:20 AM

'I've been trying to figure out why': David Brooks celebrates all the good societal stats (low crime, low teenage births etc.) But I have a feeling Mickey Kaus or someone else (might as well be me) will point out the absence of any mention of welfare reform in his column. ...  ¶ 6:35 AM

'109 strikeouts in 283 at-bats': It speaks for itself. ...

Update -- Don't know what prompted this Dave Roberts story, but I can't get enough of Dave Roberts stories. My favorite ex-Sox Immortal Twenty-five. ... OK, I'll lay off Bellhop, I mean, Bellhorn.  ¶ 7:15 PM

'Gale force windbaggery,' Part II: Just read the Duke's lament on the T (and see Reader No. 1 below). The Duke's criticism of advertising is almost Puritanical, his shots at a governor with his eye on the presidency is hypocritical, his claim that transportation is the most important issue is silly, his failure to mention the biggest multibillion-dollar road boondoggle in state history (the Big Dig) is glaring, etc.

Now here's a few points where I agree with him: I'd love to see train service to Hyannis. I think it'd go a long way toward relieving traffic on the Cape, though I'd definitely push ahead with the Sagamore bridge/rotary repairs. The half-mile Siliverline bus tunnel is going to be a horror show. I also think the widening of the Route 128 South roadway is ludicrous. Here's my big idea (and I think I've mentioned this before): Why not spend money to create a 128 Commuter Rail? Use that extra lane they're now building for cars and instead use it for trains. One of the T's biggest problems is that it's a mid-20th Century system geared toward getting people to and from work in Boston -- not to and from work in an age when more people both live and work in the suburbs (and don't forget people traveling to visit relatives and non-work destination points outside the city). Time for the T to join the 21st Century.

Three last points: 1.) The long-term cutback in train service and expansion of bus service has been a disaster for the T. The general population will support train service. They won't support or ride a massive bus system that mimics crowded roadways. 2.) I cut out references to the economy in Reader No. 1's item. But he made excellent points. How many people moved out of Massachusetts during the recent recession? Weren't most of them the least able to afford high prices here and the ones who typically took the T more often? Peak T ridership is down by 100,000 over the past five years. I think there's probably a strong correlation between the economy's health, the state's declining population and T ridership, not to mention a non-T-riding aging population that's due in no small part to how expensive it is here for young and middle-class families. There's also a lot more at-home workers and fewer riders heading into town post-FleetBoston/John Hancock mergers. 3.) Not enough is being said about expensive union contracts.

Update -- John has his own thoughts. ... Reader No. 1 likes my non-city centric idea, but believes a Route 128 Rail Corridor would be too expensive, too difficult (overpasses etc.) and too 1980s-centric, i.e. the population has shifted again. Probably all true. But the need for more rail -- and focused on where people live and work, such as the New Hampshire border area -- is an idea worth thinking about.



'Gale force windbaggery': Reader No. 1 on a certain former governor's comments about the T:

"The original Massachusetts Liberal Fogey is at it again. Dukakis makes some good points: trains and stations should be clean. But of course he makes some truly silly ones: the Romney administration did not invent ads on MBTA vehicles (I know, I took them for 20 years). Incidentally, what's wrong with 'bleach' advertising? (Perhaps this is a veiled reference to the P&G takeover of Gillette.) Moreover, even a university professor might suggest the connection that MBTA ad revenue could be used to keep the stations clean (it would be worth finding out whether those ads are treated as general revenues to keep the MBTA retirement plan soft and fluffy).

"Not that we needed further proof of Duke's urban provincialism, but we got it anyway: fighting traffic backups at the Cape (a vacation magnet!) and 128 South is the wrong thing to do. Governor Dukakis, people are not going to take the Silver Line to Falmouth. ...

"Finally, the Politician-Engineer-Scold works up to gale force windbaggery: "Nothing is more important to the Commonwealth's economic future than a first class transportation infrastructure." Oh really? How about maintaining and improving K-12 education; creating more affordable private housing; keeping college costs affordable? Don't get me wrong: I hate potholes and traffic jams. But putting the transportation infrastructure first on the list is the kind of thinking that got us the Big Dig (which interestingly goes unmentioned in this article, despite it having gotten underway during the Dukakis administration in the 1980s).

"Governor Dukakis, Brookline Village is a fine place but it is not the entire universe."  ¶ 8:22 AM

"It's very serious": Serious indeed if true Iran is now shipping deadly arms to Iraq.  ¶ 4:50 AM

'Lowe was frequently spotted ...': It's been hinted at, but now it's finally out. ...  ¶ 7:11 AM

'When I heard the news ...': Click on this story and look at the accompanying photo of the new 'Gates of Peace' statue in Hiroshima. Remind you of a certain memorial here in Boston? Now look at the headline with the words 'never forget' (words not used in the article, BTW). Remind you of a certain phrase associated with the certain memorial here in Boston? ... Think they're trying to draw a moral comparison without coming right out and saying it? ...

The thinly reported article is annoying from beginning to end. Maybe the quoted Hiroshima survivor and now anti-nuke activist, who seems to blame America's reaction to 9/11 for North Korea and Iran's nuclear-weapons programs, should reread his own words and figure out why the bomb was used. After awakening 40 days after the bomb was exploded, the survivor-turned-activist recalls, "When I heard the news, I could not believe it. ... I shouted, 'No way Japan could lose.' " ... No way Japan could lose. ... He didn't shout curses at the Hiroshima tragedy. He shouted disbelief that the war was over -- and that Japan lost a war that it started. ... One would have to be a heartless monster to say he or she has no moral regrets about Truman's use of the atomic bomb. But when you think of the greater horror and fury unleashed by Germany and Japan, and the fact so many fanatical Japanese, in particular, would have fought to the bitter end, you realize what an awful but correct decision Truman made to end World War II. ... FYI: I had an uncle on a troop ship headed for the Pacific when the bomb was dropped. ...

Update -- Here's yet another story on the dropping of the bomb and the possible reasons for Truman's decision. OK, so Truman was also worried about the Soviet Union entering the war if the conflict wasn't ended quickly. So: A.) he didn't want millions more to die in a land battle for Japan and B.) he didn't want one of the history's greatest mass-murdering dictators to have a say in how post-war Japan was run. ...

Update II -- Another we-need-to-examine-ourselves piece. You see, we spend too much time celebrating D-Day and not enough on what the Japanese think of Hiroshima. North Korea and Iran are also building bombs because we're all but forcing them to. And don't forget: The Cold War was a bogeyman.  ¶ 5:27 AM

‘Here’s my theory …’: Armchair Gen. Savin Hill, who really likes the new TV series ‘Over There,’ has a theory about all the criticism of the program, which has been getting mixed reviews on the blogosphere:

“Ah. Here's my theory. Hollywood and the entertainment world will try to kill it any way they can - and entertainment writers will go to any lengths to give it bad reviews. First of all, there's only been 2 episodes, and I've seen them both. I haven't seen any ‘brutality’ and I haven't seen any patrolling. So - beware of whatever some reviewer says. They're just afraid that if they give it a good review they won't get invited to any more cocktail parties thrown by their lib friends. Last night ‘civilians’ did get shot at roadblocks - but it was clear the insurgents were using them as decoys, or they were willing decoys (or maybe unwilling). Ooops - moral amgibuity. Can't have that in a TV show. A liberal can't have a knee-jerk reaction in that case.”

Hub Blog’s response: Ah, the vast Hollywood left-wing conspiracy. … I have no desire to see the show. I’ll wait until I can borrow someone’s future DVD collection.



‘How Nomar Pierce will fit in …’: Reader No. 1 on the quiet departure of Antoine and the Bruins’ surprising, albeit perhaps short-lived, ability to make noise:

“It certainly says something that Antoine's first departure and return were such big news and his second departure is a non-topic on sports radio. I have mixed feelings. Antoine was one of the few people who actually WELCOMED playing in Boston so I will miss him - and he certainly provided a spark at the end of last season. I do not understand why he stopped going to the basket after his first two games back here in February. I also wish he hadn't melted down in game 3 of the Indiana playoff...

“As to Trader Danny's latest direction, I look forward to seeing fresh faces on the court, with only two caveats: (a) the kids will surely make a lot of mistakes, (b) how will Nomar Pierce fit in with all of the new folk?

“I do think somehow the Bruins crowded out the remaining air bubble in the sports world, although I don't know any Bruins fans. (I don't think I know any Celtics fans either, come to think of it...) I also doubt this is going to last once teams get back on the ice. New England baseball doesn't leave much oxygen for anyone else -- not just at Fenway, but look at how much we already know about the Pawsox and Portland prospects. Roberto Petagine's recall today is a real 'congratulations and what took so long?'”



'He's been a good soldier': Hub Blog finds myself in a odd situation: I'm actually following the Bruins in the offseason. I've never been a big hockey fan. But there's a spectator egalitarianism about this coming NHL season; all the teams are starting from scratch. Fans like myself can actually watch and follow teams being built from the ground up. ... Alas I'm not sure the Bruins have gotten over their historic caution in the free-agent market. They may have planned well for a post-lockout season. But they're not executing all that well. ... All together (again): Good-bye Antoine. Danny on 'Toine: 'He's been a good solider.' ... The Celts are also not wowing me in the off-season. We'll see. ...

Hey, Herald colleague Tony Massarotti is a fellow Tufts grad. I knew the guy was smart. But not that smart. Bumped into him yesterday and he said his new book, "A Tale of Two Cities," co-authored with John Harper, is selling very well. Judging by reviews at amazon (admittedly all of them crazed Sox fans who can't get enough of 2004), I think I have yet another book to try to squeeze into my summer reading plans. ...  ¶ 5:12 AM

‘Only serve to annoy residents’: Fine them. Tow them. Boot them. Annoy them. Anything to make motorists move their damn cars so we can finally have cleaner streets, I bravely say. … Of course I don’t own a car. Carpundit has a different opinion. …  ¶ 5:53 PM

'On looking at it in the morning ...': Instapundit replaced a post (in effect spiking the old one) in which he took a minor swipe at Andrew Sullivan. It was nicely handled and explained by Glenn. ... I'm against rules in general for the blogosphere. But if you're going to eliminate a post due to something you regret writing (and we've all been there before), then it's best to simply own up to it while cutting away. ... I do subscribe to the personal notion that late-night blogging can be dangerous. I also subscribe to a variation of the five-second rule for kids (the one in which, say, a hot dog is dropped on the ground and you tell a child, 'Quick! You have five seconds before the germs get there!' -- that way you don't sacrifice a perfectly good hot dog). I.e., I reserve the right to tinker with an item a bit after I've posted and seen how it looks in non-coded script. Hey, it's my blog and I'll cry if I want to. ...  ¶ 7:46 AM