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The Boston Herald

May 11, 2005 Wednesday  
ALL EDITIONS

SECTION: FINANCE; Pg. 036

LENGTH: 237 words

HEADLINE: iRobot abhors knockoffs; 
 Its vacuum has copycat by Chinese

BYLINE: By JAY FITZGERALD

BODY:
iRobot Corp. is getting into a legal rumble over its Roomba vacuum cleaner, saying Chinese knockoffs are infringing on its robotic patents.
The Burlington-based firm announced at yesterday's RoboBusiness Conference in Cambridge that it's suing the former Canadian distributor of Roomba - the hit robot that wheels around rooms vacuuming up dust without a homeowner lifting a finger. 
iRobot filed suit in U.S. District Court in Boston.
Colin Angle, iRobot's co-founder and chief executive, said Ontario's Koolatron apparently started selling knockoff Roombas earlier this year.
Koolatron, whose spokesman did not return calls seeking comment, distributed Roombas for iRobot from March 2003 until May 2004.
Angle said Koolatron's Roomba wannabes are apparently ``closely studied reproductions'' of iRobot products, but made in China.
``We're going to defend our patents,'' the CEO said in an interview.
iRobot has sold more than 1.2million of the small, disk-shaped Roombas since the devices hit the market in late 2002.
Costing about $280 each, the cute mechanical wonders have won an almost cult-like following - even appearing in ``Saturday Night Live'' skits.
iRobot also makes the PackBot, a robotic reconnaissance vehicle used by the military to hunt terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq.
iSUE: The Roomba, a vacuum-cleaning robot by Burlington's iRobot Corp., is at issue in a patent dispute. STAFF FILE PHOTO BY FAITH NINIVAGGI 

LOAD-DATE: May 11, 2005

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The Boston Herald

May 10, 2005 Tuesday  
ALL EDITIONS

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 003

LENGTH: 284 words

HEADLINE: Jane battles back, wins over BU crowd

BYLINE: By Laura Crimaldi

BODY:
An adoring Boston University crowd hissed away a man who attacked Jane Fonda last night for her protests of the Vietnam War.
``You were on the side of the killers,'' the man said. ``The question becomes . . . are you rooting for the bad guys to win in Iraq?'' 
Fonda, who has said she regreted her tour of North Vietnamese military positions during the conflict, responded, ``Well, I'm sad that you still don't get it. I did not root for the bad guys to lose. I'm not even deciding who the bad guys are in this case. The war never had to happen.''
Immediately after the man walked away from the microphone Vietnam veteran Joe Bangert of Brewster got up to welcome Fonda to Boston.
``She was my pinup girl,'' said Bangert, a machine gunner in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969 who marched with Fonda in Philadelphia with Vietnam Veterans Against the War in 1970.
The Academy Award-winning actress vowed to ``smash the patriarchy,'' recalled using sign language to accept her Oscar for ``Coming Home'' and doled out love advice during her appearance and book signing at the Tsai Performance Center.
Fonda has recently published her memoirs ``My Life, So Far''' and is starring in a new movie with Jennifer Lopez called ``Monster-In-Law.''
A lovelorn Andy Kwong, 30, a cashier from Boston, asked for dating advice in the feminists' era from Fonda, who has been divorced three times.
``If you don't boss women around, then they're not going to start bossing you around,'' said the ``Barbarella'' star, who champions feminist causes.
Told that she should run for public office, Fonda responded, ``We need women in the White House. I will not be one of them.'' But she added, ``It's not like I have any more skeletons in my closet.''

GRAPHIC: STAR TURN: Jane Fonda gestures during her Boston University appearance last night. Staff photo by Renee DeKona

LOAD-DATE: May 10, 2005

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Copyright 2005 Boston Herald Inc. 
The Boston Herald

May 9, 2005 Monday  
ALL EDITIONS

SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 020

LENGTH: 691 words

HEADLINE: Letters to the editor

BODY:
Penalty flawed
The Herald's editorial supports the irrational flaw of a revenge-based value system (``Death penalty foes will exploit flaws,'' May 2).
The moral value our society learns when the government takes a man out of a cell and kills him is that killing is OK. Since the United States is the only major civilization in the world that supports the death penalty, your newspaper perpetuates a way of thinking about killing that makes us the most violent nation in the world. 
Francis Bacon said, ``In taking revenge, a man is equal to his enemy, but in passing it over, he is his superior.''
- Tom Larkin, Bedford
Torture is no answer
It is not often that I question the sanity of a member of the press, but columnist Cal Thomas' suggestion that mistreatment of prisoners of war as a legitimate policy for a civilized country boggles my mind (``Terrorists deserve tough war tactics,'' May 4).
He not only ignores the Geneva Convention, he ensures that American P.O.W.s receive treatment in kind, or worse. I can only surmise that Thomas has never been in combat, or he would never suggest such foolhardy policy.
From World War I to Korea to Vietnam, the U.S. engaged adversaries who paid scant attention to civil norms in their treatment of our P.O.W.s, yet we did not lower ourselves to the level of barbarians. This is what separates us from barbarians, and must always stay so.
- Jim DuBois, West Wareham
Sharansky shows bias
I was surprised and pleased to read your editorial regarding President Bush's muse, Natan Sharansky, and his total failure to notice the plight of the Palestinian people while he enthusiastically advocates for what really should be called a racist Jews-only democracy (``Democracy for Gaza too,'' May 3).
Such blatant and blind racism is the epicenter of the violence and despair throughout the Holy Land. The ramifications at the cradle of civilization, including what happens in Iraq, are widespread.
No one is winning. You can't win a racist war.
- Anne Selden Annab, Mechanicsburg, Pa.
Columnist skirts issue
Columnist Margery Eagan blatantly misquoted me in her whining rant against those of us who have the nerve to oppose the same-sex marriage ruling (``Activist, scribe hide-and-seek is labor of love,'' March 6).
Eagan quotes me in her article as saying I once spent time cruising gay bars, witnessing unspeakable acts, hanging around transvestites and other bizarre things. I certainly did not say that.
I've said many times in public that I once knew people who were engaging in those activities. It's a very sad existence, and unfortunately, some of them are now dead.
Apparently, my real quotes don't serve Eagan's purpose, so she has to doctor them. It's a cheap way of attempting to demonize me personally rather than discuss the issue.
- Brian Camenker, Newton
I.D.'s key to safety
I support Rep. Tim Toomey and Sen. Dianne Wilkerson's bill to license undocumented immigrant drivers (``Safe-streets initiative is licensed immigrants,'' April 26).
The immigrants I have encountered come to this country to share the same freedom that our ancestors once enjoyed. They come here to do what is best for their families, and they are better able to provide for them here than in their native lands.
Since they are not being deported, we must take legislative action to ensure the safety of the public. We must make sure that they are eligible for insurance, driver's education and proper licensure through legal channels. Licensing and insuring every motorist on the road is without question in the best interest of every motorist.
- Paul P. Donovan, East Boston,
Addicts not real victims
Your story regarding OxyContin abuse almost brought tears to my eyes - not so much for the morons who claim it ruined their lives, but more for the poor people who need it and may soon have to go without (``For addicts, pills pave a precarious path,'' May 4).
OxyContin didn't ruin the addicts' lives, they ruined their own lives. Derek Surette said, ``No one ever asks to be a drug addict. We were just born into a time - it's like one of the worst drug episodes ever.'' The addicts should stop acting like victims.
- Rakesh Khetarpal, Brookline

LOAD-DATE: May 9, 2005

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The Boston Herald

May 8, 2005 Sunday  
ALL EDITIONS

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 010

LENGTH: 423 words

HEADLINE: follow-up; 
 What's new in last week's top news stories

BODY:
Plymouth police continue to defend their position that arresting the father who used a belt to discipline his son for lost homework was a precautionary measure against potentially escalating domestic violence.
``I don't want to be the police department who goes to the house two months later when the kid loses an eye because the buckle hit him,'' said Plymouth police Capt. Michael Botieri. ``We're not disagreeing with what he says - that he did it out of love. Our task is clear in that if we're going to err, we're going to err in protection of a 12-year-old child.'' 
Richard ``Shannon'' Enloe, 42, said he does not have a criminal record and was just trying to properly discipline his son.
``This is not a question of abuse, it was a question of discipline,'' Enloe told the Herald. He is due back at Plymouth District Court June 1.
Despite outrage from parents of a 7-year-old special-needs student who was handcuffed after throwing a tantrum his first day at a Fall River elementary school, police continue to maintain they did the right thing.
``The Fall River Police Department supports the actions of the officers in this instance,'' read a statement released by Fall River Police Chief John M. Souza. ``Officers utilized the most readily available method of restraint (their handcuffs) to prevent the child from further assaultive behavior and to protect him from causing harm to himself or others.''
On his first day of school at Coughlin Elementary, Adam Joseph Torres allegedly assaulted three teachers, trashed the principal's office and punched a responding officer in the groin.
His mother, Stacey Bernier, said her child was mistakenly placed in a mainstream classroom that did not account for his special-needs status. She blamed police for failing to control her son without humiliating him and said she would seek advice on whether to sue the school district.
South Boston representatives are calling for a meeting with the Navy to determine whether special operation forces should use the neighborhood for Pentagon war games.
And Homeland Security guru Carlo Boccia will meet with the Navy this week.
The Navy has requested that Mayor Thomas M. Menino sign off on a plan that would allow them to use Drydock and Kennedy avenues at the Black Falcon Terminal to practice sniper fire with paintballs and perform hostage rescues. The Navy is also interested in using Southie to land helicopters, simulating wartime rescue missions in Iraq.
U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch has told the Herald that he is in favor of the Pentagon's request.

LOAD-DATE: May 8, 2005

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The Boston Herald

May 8, 2005 Sunday  
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SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 020

LENGTH: 331 words

HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Can you say that in Farsi?

BODY:
The Defense Department is mounting a major effort to increase foreign-language ability in the military. Our only criticism of this long-overdue initiative is it took two years to get off the ground after the first memorandum was floated in the Pentagon.
Among other things, the department says it will require certain language abilities for promotion to general or admiral. It will increase assignments of junior officers to language study and service with foreign militaries. It also will expand recruitment to Reserve units made up of foreign-language speakers. 
The pre-Sept. 11 war on terror was hampered by a backlog of untranslated intelligence, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq likewise have been hampered by a shortage of translators. If fighting were to break out tomorrow against North Korea, Iran or China, the same shortages undoubtedly would be apparent.
History is full of dreadful events that were the result of clumsy translations. The atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945 may have been one. The British Navy's attack on the French fleet at Oran in 1940 may have been another. Yet each new conflict finds global armies, not just the American military, scrambling for help in understanding an unexpected enemy - or an unfamiliar ally.
We hope the military will revive public interest. Language study in American colleges long has been in decline: In 1960, 16 percent of students were taking at least one foreign-language course; in 2002 the figure was 8 percent.
``Conflict against enemies speaking less commonly taught languages, and thus the need for foreign language capabilities, will not abate,'' noted one of the Pentagon's background documents. The military needs fluency in European languages less than fluency in Arabic, Pashto (a major language of Afghanistan), Farsi (Iran), Urdu (Pakistan), Chinese and many others.
Word to the wise: People who know two of these languages will be able to write their own tickets in the military and civilian worlds for years to come.

LOAD-DATE: May 8, 2005

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May 8, 2005 Sunday  
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SECTION: THE EDGE; Pg. 051

LENGTH: 546 words

HEADLINE: Engagements

BODY:
SPEARIN and THOMPSON
Paul Thompson of Pembroke, Maine, and Veronica Thompson of Norwood announce the engagement of their daughter, Jennifer Lynn Thompson of Norwood, to Brad Spearin of Randolph, son of Susie and Wayne Spearin of Taunton.
The future bride is employed at Jordan's Furniture in Avon. The future bridgegroom is employed as a UPS driver based in Brockton. 
A June 2006 wedding is planned.
LANGLOIS and HUGGINS
Robert and Carol Langlois of Lynn announce the engagment of their daughter, Christine Angela, to Mark Huggins, son of Kerrie Burggren and Clifford Huggins, both of Lynn.
The future bridge is a graduate of Lynn English High School and attended Salem State College in Salem. She received her certification from the Bryman Institute. She is employed at Massachusetts General Hospital.
The future bridegroom is a graduate of Lynn Classical High School in Lynn. He is employed at Centra Software.
A September wedding is planned.
TARRIS and MULVEY
Edna and Richard Tarris of Hull announce the engagement of their daughter Julie Tarris, also of Hull, to Brian Mulvey of Roslindale, stepson of Roger and son of Tracy Bullock, also of Roslindale.
The future bride is a graduate of St. Clare High School in Roslindale and attends Regis College in Weston.
The future bridegroom is a graduate of West Roxbury High School in Boston. He is a private first class in the Army and is currently deployed in Iraq.
A November 2006 wedding is planned.
BIRTHS
Burrey
Julie and Michael Burrey of Plymouth announce the birth of their daughter, Eliza Leigh. She was born Jan. 16 at Jordan Hospital in Plymouth.
She is welcomed by her brother, Jacob.
Her grandparents are Jeanette and Jack Burrey of Kingston and Ann and Robert Letendre of Vernon, Conn.
Her great-grandparents are Florence and John Consolati of Lee.
Dailey
Kristen Moitoza and Matthew Dailey of Taunton announce the birth of their daughter, Madison Ann. She was born Jan. 21 at Jordan Hospital in Plymouth.
Her grandparents are Cheryl and Peter Moitoza of Taunton, Marilyn Dailey of Plymouth and Robert Dailey of Foxboro.
Her great-grandparents are Natalie and Robert Moitoza of Taunton and Dorothy Dailey of Foxboro.
Cullivan
Anna-Marys and Nicholas Cullivan of Plymouth announce the birth of their daughter, Jasmine Marie. She was born Jan. 23 at Jordan Hospital in Plymouth.
She is welcomed by her sibling, Bailey Joseph.
Her grandparents are Dianne and Daniel Cullivan of Middleboro and Maria and Johnny Torres of Florida.
Her great-grandparents are Eilleen and Pellegrino Tulimieri and Norma and Lawrence Cullivan, all of Weymouth.
Zupperoli
Jennifer and Paul Zupperoli of Plymouth announce the birth of their son Jonathan Antonio. He was born Jan. 24 at Jordan Hospital in Plymouth.
He is welcomed by his brother, Nicholas.
His grandparents are Gene and Dennis Tibbetts and Dorothy and Vincent Zupperoli, all of Plymouth.
His great-grandmother is Barbara Tibbetts of Plymouth.
Mulcahy
Kristen and Robert Mulcahy of Falmouth announce the birth of their daughter Bree Kathryn. She was born Jan. 25 at Jordan Hospital in Plymouth.
She is welcomed by her siblings, Ethan and Caitlin.
Her grandparents are Sharon Mulcahy of Falmouth, Robert Mulcahy of Florida and Carolyn and Frank Rusignuolo of Falmouth.
Her great-grandfather is Fred Hahn of Florida.

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The Boston Herald

May 7, 2005 Saturday  
ALL EDITIONS

SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. 046

LENGTH: 632 words

HEADLINE: BASKETBALL; 
 NBA PLAYOFFS; 
 No excuses, it's time for Pierce, Walker to lead way

BYLINE: By MICHAEL GEE

BODY:
Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker took refuge behind a bulletproof cliche.
``We got to do whatever it takes to win the game,'' Pierce and Walker said separately before yesterday's Celtics practice.
A splendid idea, fellas. Here's a suggested first step toward triumph both of you could take in tonight's seventh and deciding game against the Pacers. Try to remain eligible to play for all of it. 
NBA lifers swear they've never seen a series as bizarre as the one Indiana and Boston have put on so far in the first round. Here's a dissenting view. There's a simple explanation for the constant ebb and flow of their six games, and the eerie way both clubs have squandered every advantage as soon as they created one. The Celtics don't have enough collective maturity to finish off a playoff foe, and the Pacers have much too much.
Reggie Miller is 39. He proved it down the stretch in Game 6 by playing like Jack Benny. We've had two wars with Iraq since Dale Davis was a rookie. Go into the Pacers locker room before a game, and instead of watching tape of their opponent, they're tuned in to a C-Span forum on Social Security.
Undefeated Father Time gives the Pacers a better excuse than any the Celts can muster for their erratic performance. Boston should have won this series almost a week ago. The Pacers' main men are either elderly or injured. If there's one thing the Celtics have, it's a plethora of young, strong, fresh bodies.
But ``should'' is a word that's not in the Celts' dictionary. This team cannot be relied upon to do anything expected of it. They can be brilliant, but the Celtics are not sound. Forced to pick a one-word description for them, go with ``unreliable.''
Kids in their first NBA playoff are supposed to be unreliable. Nobody's kicking Kendrick Perkins for missing those two free thows Thursday night, or taking swipes at Al Jefferson for not turning in six games as good as his last one. Ricky Davis is no kid, but he's never been under this large-caliber gun either.
Pierce and Walker are the team's leaders and best players. This is the fourth straight year in the postseason for both of them. They don't have an excuse for their wayward foolishness. Since teams take cues from stars, the vets are why the Celts remain stuck in the Terrible Twos, sometimes lovable, sometimes intolerable. Until they grow up, the team won't.
Walker was suspended for a game the Celts had to win. Pierce blew a chance to clinch an elimination game and was ejected for its overtime with a rockheaded fit of temper. Neither was a picture of remorse after their folly.
``Last night was last night,'' Pierce said. ``A silly play. Time to move on.''
Ordinarily, I'd agree with Pierce. Idiotic violence is a playoff staple. Kevin McHale's clothesline tackle of Kurt Rambis in the 1984 Finals would draw a 25-game suspension today. He didn't even get T'd up.
But this was no isolated incident. Pierce has let foul moods effect his game for several seasons now. He's given out more cheap shots than he's gotten. Walker has to know refs regard him as a pain. Why can't he ignore them for just one game? Their counterproductive, childish behavior is of a piece with the premature celebrations at which both men excel and the Celts' dysfunctional half-court game. In the heat of battle, these two stellar talents too often forget the team's best interests.
Maybe Pierce and Walker weren't meant to be partners after all. Minus Walker in Game 4, Pierce had one of the top performances of his career. After Pierce's ejection in Game 6, Walker was the hero of overtime. They saved each other's bacon, as long as they weren't in the same room.
Boston's coach has the right nickname for his team. But Doc Rivers needs another assistant with the same one as his. Dr. Phil. Or else Drs. Howard, Fine and Howard.

LOAD-DATE: May 7, 2005

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The Boston Herald

May 7, 2005 Saturday  
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SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 014

LENGTH: 272 words

HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Tony Blair wins solid third term

BODY:
The instant analysis of the British election seems to be that Prime Minister Tony Blair is in for political trouble because, though his Labor Party won a majority of at least 60 seats in Parliament, that's a reduction from his previous majority of 161.
Well, don't bet on it.  
Blair's 60 seats will be a larger majority than those enjoyed by nine of the 16 administrations since World War II.
In addition to confirming the old rule that swings to the extremes tend to reverse eventually, Thursday's voting provides new support to the old saying: You can't beat something with nothing.
Instead of exploring the real issues that face Britain, such as whether to join the European currency and ratify the proposed European constitution, the main opposition party, the Conservatives, ran an incoherent campaign. (Ducking future issues seems to be common in large modern democracies.)
The Conservative leader, Michael Howard, constantly accused Blair of lying about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to justify his - in our view, courageous - enlistment in the American invasion. Yet the Conservatives supported the war, and Howard said, he would have done so even if he had known there were no WMDs. (We rest our case on the incoherent charge.)
Early on, Blair forced the Labor Party to drop socialist provisions from the party constitution, and Labor's policies since then have let the country enjoy an unexpected phenomenon produced by the Tories under Margaret Thatcher: the best economic growth in Europe. In fact, one British wag called the election ``Margaret Thatcher's seventh victory,'' a line we wish we had thought of.

LOAD-DATE: May 7, 2005

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May 7, 2005 Saturday  
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SECTION: FINANCE; Pg. 017

LENGTH: 293 words

HEADLINE: USA Today reporter quits amid plagiarism charges

BYLINE: By GREG GATLIN

BODY:
A USA Today Pentagon correspondent was forced to quit after editors said he lifted quotes that had appeared in another newspaper - the latest flap to hit the journalism world.
Tom Squitieri, a 16-year USA Today veteran, resigned in the face of evidence he'd borrowed quotes from a May 7, 2004, story in the Indianapolis Star about the Army falling behind in ordering armored Humvees for Iraq. 
A quote Squitieri used in his story from Brian Hart of Bedford, whose son was killed in the war, had appeared verbatim in the Indianapolis paper.
Squitieri's resignation came 16 months after disgraced USA Today reporter Jack Kelley quit after an inquiry revealed he embellished, plagiarized and completely fabricated stories.
Squitieri's departure also comes on the heels of several local journalistic failings.
The Herald reported this week that the Christian Science Monitor in Boston had banned freelancer Jonathan P. Decker for lifting material from an online journal.
The Boston Globe also recently severed ties with a freelancer after the paper published details of a seal hunt in Canada that didn't take place.
Additionally, MIT's Technology Review cut ties to a freelancer whose stories couldn't be corroborated. And the Worcester Telegram & Gazette fired sports reporter Ken Powers in February after discovering he'd lifted parts of a column written by Sports Illustrated's Peter King. (Powers later filed a grievance citing wrongful termination.)
Bob Steele, director of the Poynter Institute's journalism ethics program, said the most noteworthy fact is that many of the plagiarism incidents involved veteran journalists.
Earlier in his career, Squitieri, 51, worked as Washington bureau chief for the Boston Herald.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

LOAD-DATE: May 7, 2005

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The Boston Herald

May 6, 2005 Friday  
ALL EDITIONS

SECTION: THE EDGE; Pg. e06

LENGTH: 372 words

HEADLINE: Music; 
 Griffin dares to `Dream'

BYLINE: By CHRISTOPHER JOHN TREACY

BODY:
Patty Griffin knew she wanted her latest disc, ``Impossible Dream'' (ATO), to resonate a certain way.
``I was walking along Town Lake,'' she said - this is in Austin, Texas, which she calls home - ``and I got this idea to go to the record store and get the `Man of La Mancha' soundtrack.
``The themes conjured within that story, and the song `Impossible Dream' in particular - nobility and self-sacrifice - I don't hear those being discussed or prized very much these days,'' she continued. ``I knew I wanted that to be the glue for this disc. The way it ended up, with a clip of my parents singing it, is like raising a candle, as if to say there's still hope. It's a heavy record.'' 
Griffin's currently on the road with a three-piece band, and she's trying out a bunch of brand-new songs. She admits to craving the aggressive feel of 1998's ``Flaming Red'' (A&M); the follow-up to that disc got shelved when the label said it wasn't accessible enough. Now on the Dave Matthews-owned ATO Records, she's earned a devout, alt-country-enthused fan base with the mellow tones of her last two studio discs. But she's poised for a change.
``I think with this tour, I'm finally putting that rock 'n' roll energy back to work again. I have no idea what I'll end up doing on my next disc, but we're really trying to give the songs a lot more room to evolve.''
``Impossible Dream'' has been interpreted by many as a reaction to the war in Iraq, and though Griffin admits that may partially be true, she doesn't view the collection as a political statement.
``The war is just a small part of this disc. The cultural place we're in right now is not particularly tolerant. And it really needs to be, or we're not going to make it. But there are so many other people who are better at political songwriting than I am. I'm not trying to affect anybody's opinion in that arena. I'm sure some of this stuff is seeping in through my pores, and maybe I'm sending it back out. But I deal with my own world in my songs. My music is my church.''
Songstreet Productions and Planetary Groove present Patty Griffin at the Orpheum, Boston, tonight at 7:30. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster and the Orpheum box office. Call 617-628-3390 for more information. 

LOAD-DATE: May 6, 2005

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The Boston Herald

May 5, 2005 Thursday  
ALL EDITIONS

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 005

LENGTH: 583 words

HEADLINE: GUERRILLAS IN OUR MIDST; 
 SEALs plan war games on Hub waterfront

BYLINE: By Michele McPhee

BODY:
Boston's waterfront will look like a battle zone - with military gunfire, circling choppers and Navy SEALs on the attack - under a Pentagon war-games plan that has the support of a high-powered Southie pol but is still under review by the mayor.
``We need to do this. It's part of the training for our troops,'' U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-South Boston) said yesterday. ``The Navy wants to put its special ops forces through realistic situations, an approximation of what they might face in a major city, what they might face in Iraq.'' 
But Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday he has not signed off on the idea of having Boston look anything like downtown Baghdad.
``I don't know about any live fire, that's for sure,'' Menino said. ``We're still looking at all the details. We don't want the lives of the people of South Boston and East Boston disrupted by this.''
Some 50 elite Navy SEALs would practice sniper fire with paint balls and perform hostage extractions, water landings, sea-mine evasions and other urban combat maneuvers from June 6 to June 18 as part of the exercises to be conducted by the Naval Special Warfare Development Group.
The Navy is also hoping to land helicopters in urban areas and take advantage of the city's narrow streets to simulate combat situations in labyrinthine neighborhoods, according to Pentagon requests delivered to the city.
The Navy hopes to take over Drydock and Kennedy avenues at Black Falcon Terminal, as well as the Reserved Channel along the Boston Inner Harbor, for the ``urban military training'' games.
Lynch is urging the city to welcome the Navy, saying the military's presence will boost the city's economy and security. On Monday, he wrote to Naval Special Warfare Commander Capt. E.G. Winters, saying he supports efforts to give commandos ``techniques and training necessary to defend themselves and our nation's interests around the globe.''
Navy Special Warfare Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Levitz said the training will not ``cause any problem for local residents.''
The snipers will fire paint balls, and the area the SEALs take over will be confined to the Black Falcon neighborhood, Levitz said. He would not be specific about the exercises, citing homeland security concerns.
``We are training the SEALs in what they need to do overseas,'' he said, adding that similar simulations have been conducted in other cities around the country. ``Every city gives us a different look, and Boston is a great city.''
The city's homeland security director, Carlo Boccia, said he will meet with Navy officials in the coming days to negotiate their proposal. After inquiries from the Herald, Boccia said one thing the city will demand is that live sniper fire and explosives are not part of the Pentagon war games.
``Tentatively, we will not allow any live fire, not allow any explosions,'' he said. ``If they do conduct exercises, it will be in relationship to the port. We would like to get this done as soon as possible, but we are not going to do it unless it satisfies the city's requirements.''
GRAPHIC: Southie invaded by Navy
According to a letter from the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, the Pentagon wants to conduct ``urban warfare training'' for Navy Seals in Boston at Black Falcon Terminal and in the waters off South Boston. The training would include:
Urban combat
Live fire (paint ball)
Mine evasion and detonation
Helicopter landings
Hostage extraction
Mechanical and explosive breaching
Staff graphic by Sarah Dubois; Staff photo by Mark Garfinkel.

LOAD-DATE: May 5, 2005

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May 5, 2005 Thursday  
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SECTION: FINANCE; Pg. 037

LENGTH: 409 words

HEADLINE: RETURN OF THE 30-YEAR T-BOND? Feds weigh options as the red ink grows

BYLINE: By Scott Van Voorhis

BODY:
In a sign that Uncle Sam may be crying uncle when it comes to reining in ballooning federal deficit, officials yesterday said that they are considering bringing back the 30-year Treasury bond.
Economists said the move signals an acknowledgment by the U.S. government that big deficits - just a few years ago believed to be a thing of the past - are back to stay.
The U.S. Treasury stopped issueing the benchmark bond back in 2001, when surpluses were king and there was talk of federal budgets being in the black. 
But times have changed.
The government's budget gap swelled to a record $412 billion last year.
The wars in Iraq and against terrorism, plus increased spending to spark a sluggish economy, have played a major role in the deficit run-up. President Bush also won $1.85 trillion in tax cuts.
``This is sort of throwing in the towel,'' said economist Nicholas Perna, of Perna Associates in Ridgefield, Conn. ``The idea of seeing a significant budget surplus in the not-too-distant future is remote.''
There is also some fear that the return of the so-called ``long bond'' could have a negative impact on home buyers and sellers.
Economists acknowledge the possibility that the resumption of 30-year-bond sales could provide competition for money that had been flowing into mortgage-backed securities.
Any such dropoff of investment in the mortgage-finance sector could, in theory, lead to higher consumer mortgage rates.
But David Berson, chief economist for mortgage giant Fannie Mae, told MarketWatch.com that he doesn't think the Treasury move will affect mortgage rates.
``Mortgages were not priced off 30-year Treasuries when they were in the market before,'' Berson said. ``Should they be reintroduced, it would have no impact on mortgages.''
However, reviving the long bond would help the Treasury finance deficits at long-term interest rates.
Prices on existing 30-year bonds plummeted yesterday after the Treasury said it is considering new sales of the bond, which had been a benchmark for the $4 trillion government-debt market for more than two decades.
While the Treasury said it will make no decision until Aug. 3, some observers consider the move a done deal.
``Treasury has completely reversed its message to the market,'' said Merrill Lynch & Co.'s Kevin McKenna. ``When the world's most important borrower changes anything about its message, it's important. I'm thinking they're going to do it.''
Herald news services contributed to this report.

LOAD-DATE: May 5, 2005

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May 4, 2005 Wednesday  
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SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 007

LENGTH: 270 words

HEADLINE: Kerry's expenses: That's the tickets

BYLINE: By ANDREW MIGA

BODY:
WASHINGTON - Sen. John F. Kerry tapped campaign funds for Red Sox tickets and to pay nearly $300 in overdue Boston parking tickets in March, records show. 
Kerry's Senate campaign committee wrote a $287 check to the City of Boston Parking Clerk on March 31, 2005. The Bay State senator listed ``travel expense'' as the purpose for the expenditure.
Kerry leased a car for campaign-related travel in Massachusetts that was cited for about a half-dozen parking tickets in Boston.
Most of the tickets were issued in October and November 2003 and not paid until more than 15 months later in March 2005 after accruing penalty fees.
``They were leftover tickets we only found out about when we closed out the lease,'' Kerry spokeswoman Jenny Backus said. ``The car was used for the Senate campaign by staffers and volunteers.''
Kerry, meanwhile, used presidential campaign funds for a $3,150 tab for Boston Red Sox tickets in July when he threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park before the Democratic National Convention.
A Federal Election Commission spokesman said congressmen are entitled to pay for parking tickets and other expenses from their campaign funds as long as they were ``campaign-related.''
Other members of the Bay State congressional delegation also reported some novel spending this year.
U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston) spent $1,231 on makeup services during a two-week stretch in March, according to his most recent FEC report.
``Congresssman Lynch had a pretty intensive round of TV interviews due to the baseball steroid hearings, the Big Dig hearings and his Iraq trip,'' Lynch spokesman Matt Ferraguto said.

LOAD-DATE: May 4, 2005

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April 29, 2005 Friday  
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SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 007

LENGTH: 375 words

HEADLINE: BUSH STICKS TO HIS GUNS; 
 Makes public pitch for Social Security revamp, energy policy

BYLINE: By NOELLE STRAUB

BODY:
WASHINGTON - President Bush issued a challenge to Congress to overhaul Social Security and made a long-term pledge to combat escalating gas prices in a rare prime-time news conference last night.
``Social Security is too important for politics as usual,'' Bush said from the East Room in his first prime-time press conference in more than a year. ``We have a shared responsibility to fix Social Security and make the system better.'' 
Bush reiterated his support for voluntary private retirement accounts, a plan that has outraged Democrats who say investing in the stock market would create too much risk.
But he also proposed changes along the lines of a plan developed by Democrat Robert Pozen, a former economic adviser to Gov. Mitt Romney, that would cut benefits while protecting lower-income workers.
Instead of tying benefits to wages, Pozen's plan would link them to prices, which historically rise more slowly. But the lowest income workers would be exempt from the change.
Bush largely steered clear of specifics, instead saying he would work with Congress on any ``good faith proposal that does not raise the payroll tax rate or harm our economy.''
Despite Bush's cross-country campaign, polls show Bush largely failed to convert the public to his plan.
His approval ratings have also plummeted since his second inauguration in January.
Addressing the growing crescendo of complaints about rising gas prices, Bush pledged to protect American consumers and pushed Congress to pass by this summer his long-stalled energy plan. ``My administration is doing everything we can to make gasoline more affordable,'' he said.
Asked about the war in Iraq, Bush said ``good progress'' has been made in the country but refused to set out a timeline for withdrawal.
``All that will do is cause the enemy to adjust,'' he said.
The president weighed in on the hot controversy over his judicial nominees and whether Senate Democrats should be able to filibuster them, insisting, ``They deserve an up or down vote.''
The president also defended John Bolton, his controversial pick as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. ``John Bolton is a blunt guy,'' Bush said. ``Sometimes people say I'm a little too blunt. John Bolton can get the job done at the United Nations.''

LOAD-DATE: April 29, 2005

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April 28, 2005 Thursday  
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SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 034

LENGTH: 695 words

HEADLINE: Letters to the Editor

BODY:
Card: Soul of a rep
White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card Jr. might have a high-level job, but he still has the soul of a Massachusetts state representative (``Power jobs: Cards hold 'em,'' April 26).
Several of his relatives have fed at the public trough with high-paying government jobs, but how many of his relatives have government jobs in uniform fighting President Bush's war for ``freedom'' in Iraq?
- Rich Latimer, Falmouth 
Buffett a bad example
Poor Warren Buffett (``Buffett looks for stock answer,'' April 26). He has $43.4 billion in cash but can't find a good place to invest it. Apparently he has never heard of helping the poor, homeless, sick or lonely.
Buffett is not someone to admire; he should be pitied.
- Phyllis Muzeroll, Claremont, N.H.
Test motives all wrong
Thank you to columnist Peter Gelzinis for showing how a myopic focus on MCAS scores means low-income students get drilled in test prep until too many of them leave school (``Hub teachers, students learn international relations lesson,'' April 13). Standardized testing may be valued by politicians and bureaucrats, but it is not valued by stakeholders such as teachers, parents and stressed-out students.
How can schools encourage creativity, critical thinking and love of learning - qualities that can't be tested by MCAS? Who would want to teach, particularly in urban schools?
- Ruth Kaplan, Brookline
The writer is a member of the Brookline School Committee.
Tuition breaks no good
The proposed state budget seeks to grant illegal immigrants in Massachusetts the same in-state tuition rates paid by residents (``House budget errs on policy change,'' April 19). Although I recognize that many illegal immigrant children are victims of their own circumstances, there are serious consequences if this proposed section is passed.
If we continue to provide benefits to illegal immigrants by enabling them to obtain driver's licenses, as proposed by some, or by allowing illegal immigrants to pay the same in-state tuition rates paid by students living legally in our state, we will continue to encourage illegal immigration to Massachusetts.
Further, it is likely we would be admitting illegal immigrants to our state colleges at the expense of out-of-state legal citizens. These same U.S. citizens pay tuition at a rate significantly higher than those in-state and provide more education dollars to our system.
Forcing Massachusetts's taxpayers to fund a tuition break for illegal immigrants is not sound fiscal policy. Nor does it make sense to encourage illegal immigration. Adding more government programs, particularly those that encourage illegal activity, will further burden an already stretched state budget.
- Rep. Daniel K. Webster, Hanson
So-called Catholic irks
I'm bothered when columnists like Mike Barnicle say they were raised Catholic (``Pontiff's challenge: Convincing Catholics,'' April 21). Has he outgrown Catholicism, or any religion for that matter, because he thinks it is weak or simple-minded?
He reminisces with false nostalgia about worshipped priests, but backstabs the church with references to Catholic guilt and Sen. Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist agenda. He reports the election of Pope Benedict XVI as a bag job, because the new pope is conservative.
The election scares people like Barnicle because their agendas will once again be defeated. All his liberalism and relativism cannot change what is immutable - the church.
Millions of people flocked to John Paul II's funeral because he stood for the truth without compromising the church's beliefs.
- Sal Auditore, Medford
Alien I.D.'s off-track
As a grandson of legal immigrants from West Cork and Sicily, I commend Congress for being ready to overturn laws in those states that allow illegal immigrants to drive (``Safe-streets initiative is licensed immigrants,'' April 26).
And as a police officer, I am not buying into Sen. Dianne Wilkerson's and Rep. Tim Toomey's belief that we will have the names and addresses of undocumented drivers in a state database. How verifiable would any information obtained from illegal immigrants be? ``Undocumented'' is just a kinder, gentler term for ``illegal.''
- Sal J. Giarratani, Quincy

LOAD-DATE: April 28, 2005

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April 24, 2005 Sunday  
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SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 007

LENGTH: 518 words

HEADLINE: FROM BEACON HILL TO BAGHDAD'S HELL; 
 Romney deputy serves country in Iraq

BYLINE: By Dave Wedge

BODY:
With mortars soaring overhead on his first day in Baghdad, former state Rep. Brian Golden could not be farther from his job as a top Romney administration deputy and the cozy confines of the State House.
``I have only been here for (a few) days so things remain a bit overwhelming,'' the Allston Democrat told the Herald in an e-mail interview last week. ``Adjusting to a radical change in environment makes it difficult to feel much of anything. You're busy learning the rules of life at a frenetic pace. You're busy learning things like - when do you wear body armor and when can you take it off? When is the gunfire or mortar fire hostile, as opposed to merely training fire at a range?'' 
Where just weeks ago Golden was working as Gov. Mitt Romney's commissioner of telecommunications and energy, today he is stationed on the front lines at Camp Victory in Baghdad. A 40-year-old U.S. Army major, Golden left on Easter Sunday and arrived in Baghdad last week.
His deployment, which is expected to last six months, comes during some of the bloodiest fighting of the Iraq war as insurgents have methodically unleashed daily deadly car bombings and helicopter attacks.
``There was a mortar attack on my post my first day in Baghdad. No one was hurt, but you sit up and take notice,'' he said.
Golden, an attorney, is serving with the Army's Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps of lawyers, traveling the wartorn region to monitor detainee issues. The unit is part of the Multi National Force-Iraq, which is in charge of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
``I think the nation benefits when people from all walks of life play a role in national defense,'' he said. ``I want to do my part to make this a safer, more humane world for my kids. I also think that the strongest nation in the world should use its influence to bring hope to people in some of the most tortured places on earth.''
Golden got married in January to Boston Public Health Commission spokeswoman Kristin Golden. The couple have a 3-year-old daughter, Abby, and are expecting another child in November.
``We're OK. We're surviving. It's sort of a roller coaster,'' Kristin Golden said. ``It's much harder to read the news now because it's much more real. I know now that when I'm reading the news now, Brian's living it.''
Abby draws pictures that she sends to her father and understands that ``Daddy's far away and we can't drive there,'' Kristin Golden explained. She also tells her mother, ``Daddy will be home when the new baby comes.''
``I tell her that he is helping people and that he's gone for a little while and that he misses her,'' Kristin Golden said. ``We try and keep in touch with him a lot through e-mail.''
Golden served four terms as an Allston representative before taking the post in the Romney Cabinet in January.
Despite missing her new husband and being a temporary single mom, Kristin Golden said she is proud of her husband for the ``sacrifice he's making.''
``How many of us would make the same sacrifices?'' she said. ``He's putting himself in danger and he's away from all the people he loves. It's really hard on all the soldiers.''

GRAPHIC: WAITING GAME: Kristin Golden, above with daughter Abby, says she's proud of the sacrifice her husband, Brian Golden, a Romney administration deputy and former state representative, is making. Golden, at top, is serving in Iraq with the Army's judge Advocate General's Corps of lawyers. Staff photo by David Golden

LOAD-DATE: April 24, 2005

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April 24, 2005 Sunday  
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HEADLINE: Seize the day

BYLINE: By Sean L. McCarthy

BODY:
Have a Sunday event to share? Send the info to slmccarthy@bostonherald.com or call 617-619-6429.
My name might be Irish, but I haven't forgotten this is the first day and second Seder night of Passover. Happy Passover to all who observe. Also on the calendar today are these groovy events . . .
8:30 a.m. - REGISTER, RAMBLE, RUN
You have until 10:55 a.m. to register for the 22nd running of the James Joyce Ramble 10K, because the read-and-run begins at 11 a.m. in front of the Endicott Estate, 656 East St., Dedham. If Joyce's prose wasn't confusing enough, you'll pass by actors in period costume reading selections from six different works along the route. So keep your story straight and your feets in front of you. This year, many runners' bibs will be assigned names of soldiers who have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Proceeds benefit the Barr Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Info: 781-686-1500.
11 a.m. to 5 p.m. - QUINCY MARKET
Want to be an official Faneuil Hall Marketplace street performer? Compete with entertainers from around the world - juggling, performing magic tricks, singing and who knows what else to keep the crowd's attention and wow the judges. Each act gets 15 minutes to impress. Worthy winners get a spot on the active summertime roster. Auditions end today! FREE.
11:15 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. - INDIE FILM
The Independent Film Festival of Boston wraps its third year of production today with screenings at the Brattle, Coolidge Corner and Somerville theaters as well as the Museum of Fine Arts. Plenty of interesting cinema, including a paintball comedy (``Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story'') with Rob Corddry, DJ Hazard and members of the Upright Citizens Brigade and entries by directors Don McKellar (``Childstar'') and Hal Hartley (``The Girl From Monday''), plus documentaries including ``Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth,'' ``Stolen'' and ``Buddy.'' The Coolidge Corner schedule: 1 p.m., ``Popaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English,'' 3:15, ``Abel Raises Cain,'' 5, ``Amazing Grace: Jeff Buckley,'' 5:45, ``Filmic Achievement,'' 8, ``The Hole Story.'' Other details: www.iffboston.org. Tickets: $8.
1 p.m. - GOSPEL BRUNCH
The world-famous Harlem Gospel Choir performs a matinee today (and May 1) at the Regattabar at the Charles Hotel, One Bennett St., Cambridge. Tickets: $15. Call 617-661-5000. Brunch is available at Henrietta's Table after the show. Call 617-661-5005 for reservations.
3 p.m. - MAGIC MAN
Nothing up my sleeves . . . Le Grand David and his own Spectacular Magic Company keep pulling rabbits out of hats in a world-record 29-year residence in Beverly. The magic shows continue each Sunday (except May 8) at the Cabot St. Cinema Theatre, 286 Cabot St., Beverly. Tickets: $18 for adults, $12 for children 11 and younger. Info: 978-927-3677.
3 p.m. - ALVIN AILEY
My friends know I'm a dancing fool. In a good way, naturally. But you'd be a fool if you missed out on the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which has its final performance today at the Wang Theatre. Today's performance includes the dance selections ``Vespers,'' ``Caught,'' ``Shining Star'' and ``Revelations.'' Tickets: $32-$67, available at the box office, 270 Tremont St. or by calling 800-447-7400.
7 p.m. - LAST COMIC STANDING
All my John Heffron stories involve way too much booze, strippers and handcuffs - and not in the right order. But Heffron emerged as NBC's ``Last Comic Standing.'' And I agree with their selection. He also makes people-watching more fun with his card game, ``That Guy!'' His last show of the weekend is tonight at the Comedy Connection, on the second floor of Faneuil Hall's Quincy Market. Tickets: $22.50. Info: 617-248-9700.
9 p.m. - UPTEMPO JAZZ
A new restaurant and club in Waltham is offering jazz Sunday nights with The Ron Murphy Quartet. Murphy, former entertainment director of Limbo, looks to take that cozy vibe with him to Waltham. For starters, he brings keyboardist Jonathan Singleton, bassist Tony Vaughn and drummer Tony Vaughn. Find them at Tempo, 474 Moody St., Waltham, from 9 to midnight Sundays. Info: 781-891-9000.
IN THE CLUBS: Two shows appear to be sold-out (that'd be the Lenny Kravitz/Nikka Costa show at the Orpheum and the Fluttr Effect/Dresden Dolls gig at the Paradise). But don't fret. Other options tonight include catching Karyshma at the Middle East downstairs ($10, 18-plus, 617-684-3278) in Cambridge or attending a scholarship fund-raiser in memory of Victoria Snelgrove at Mantra ($20, 617-723-0382).

LOAD-DATE: April 24, 2005

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April 24, 2005 Sunday  
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HEADLINE: CLIPS; 
 `Amityville' dad fails to sell his possession

BODY:
THE AMITYVILLE HORROR
Rated R
One and a half stars (out of four)
It's 1975, and Kathy (Melissa George), her new husband (Ryan Reynolds) and Kathy's three children have moved into a new house on Long Island. They learn that a year earlier six members of the DeFeo family were wiped out when their oldest son went on a rampage. This dumbed-down remake is an unpleasant collection of cheap thrills. The children of the cast upstage the more seasoned actors, as George doesn't have the chops for big emotional scenes, and Reynolds fails to convey that evil forces have possessed his character. (At the AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - JAMES VERNIERE 
THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES
Rated PG
Two and a half stars
The nostalgic soccer story ``The Game of Their Lives'' tells how the United States won ``the greatest upset in World Cup history'' in Brazil in 1950. Patrick Stewart narrates the story of the only American reporter to follow the team on its remarkable journey. He highlights the players' identities and strengths, and gives play-by-plays of the team's losing preliminary games prior to its unbelievable upset against the dominant English squad. ``The Game of Their Lives'' lacks passion and emotional arcs, but brings a forgotten chapter of sports history back into the spotlight. (At Loews Fresh Pond.) - STEPHEN SCHAEFER
THE INTERPRETER
Rated PG-13
Two stars
``The Interpreter'' is one of those lamentable movies that has virtually everything going for it, except a script. United Nations linguist Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) inadvertently overhears an assassination plot and becomes the target herself. New York Secret Service agent Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) is assigned to investigate whether the threat Silvia overheard is legitimate, and is naturally attracted to her. Romance blooms. Unfortunately, the weak script hobbles the performances and Penn and Kidman's talents are wasted. (At Lowes Boston Common, AMC Fenway and suburban theaters.) - J.V.
KUNG FU HUSTLE
Rated R
In Cantonese with English subtitles
Four stars
When a couple of morons pretending to be gangsters get their butts kicked, the stylish Axe Gangsters must avenge their honor and wipe out Pig Sty Alley, a huge tenement and the only area not under their control. Problem is, several kung fu masters live there, leading lives of ordinary poor people. The martial-arts-comedy-cum-quasi-musical-romance features mind-blowing fight scenes and cleverly reworks themes and gags from cartoons and various film genres. It's the first must-see movie of 2005. (At the Kendall Square Cinema and suburban theaters.) - J.V.
A LOT LIKE LOVE
Rated PG-13
Two stars
``A Lot Like Love'' is a lot like a lot of other romantic comedies. Familiar and occasionally dimwitted, the film co-stars Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet as a young man and woman who are ``perfect'' for each other, but every time they meet, circumstances conspire to keep them apart. The otherwise appealing actors lack chemistry and do not convey a sense of their characters' identities. ``A Lot Like Love'' is a lot like a reason to see ``Fever Pitch'' again. (At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - J.V.
TURTLES CAN FLY
Not rated
In Kurdish with English subtitles
Three and a half stars
Bahman Ghobadi's shocking drama is a portrait of a land and its children literally being ravaged by warfare. The film suggests that in rural Kurdistan, it's reality for children to harvest land mines to sell on the black market. Through its memorable images, ``Turtles Can Fly'' magically transforms modern-day Kurdistan into a grotesque wonderland and the raw material of the bloody conflict in Iraq into a fairy tale that is tragic, haunting and often oddly beautiful. (At the Kendall Square Cinema.) - J.V.
UP AND DOWN
Rated R
In Czech with subtitles
Two stars
``Up and Down,'' a Czech ensemble comedy-drama, is built around a baby accidentally left behind in a truck used to smuggle immigrants into the Czech Republic. The baby goes up for sale on the Prague black market, in turn introducing a series of characters who meet through their involvement with the baby. Pull certain scenes out of context, and they're very entertaining. But stitch together the entertaining and not-so-entertaining sequences and ``Up and Down'' struggles to maintain interest. (At Kendall Square Cinema.) - PAUL SHERMAN
Boston Herald film clips complied by Heather V. Eng.

LOAD-DATE: April 24, 2005

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April 23, 2005 Saturday  
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SECTION: THE EDGE; Pg. 027

LENGTH: 460 words

HEADLINE: James Joyce Ramble lets runners think on their feet

BYLINE: By HEATHER V. ENG

BODY:
The James Joyce Ramble is two challenges in one: running and reading the late Irish writer's difficultprose.
The annual Dedham road race allows pavement pounders, literary aficionados and those who are a bit of both to bond ina 10K run as actors in period costumes read aloud from Joyce's works.
``It's the only theatrical event where the actors stand perfectly still and the audience is moving constantly,'' said Ramble founder Martin Hanley. 
Twenty-one years ago, Hanley and some friends were running races and growing tired of hearing loud rock music blaring from roadside speakers. At the same time, Hanley was struggling through ``Finnegans Wake.''
``We wanted an event a little more compelling. Why not name a running event after James Joyce?'' he decided.
The first Ramble was a five-mile course that drew 244 runners. Limited resources forced Hanley to scrounge for water stations and route markers, but the Ramble proved successful and became an annual tradition.
Hanley added actors three years into the race.
``One of our participants, about two years into the event, went out with a well-thumbed copy of `Ulysses.' I saw him on the course turning around and reading to the runners - he was running backwards. I never found out who he was,'' Hanley said. ``I thought maybe I could prevail upon some of my actor friends to dress up in period costumes and have them stand on apple boxes (and read).''
Today, 40 actors take to the course, reading designated Joyce works for each mile: ``Finnegans Wake'' at the first one, ``Ulysses'' at the second mile, ``A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' at the third, ``Exiles'' at mile four, ``Dubliners'' at mile five and, fittingly, ``The Dead'' at the sixth mile.
``(Some of the runners) will catch the end of a phrase and yell it back at you as they go by,'' said Jim Cooke, an actor who has read at the Ramble for almost a decade. ``Now and again there will be people who will gather where you're reading.''
Since its inception, the Ramble has raised more than $300,000 for the Claudia Adams-Barr Program at Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and each race is dedicated to an author who was unjustly imprisoned. This year, each runner's bib will bear the name of a United States soldier who died in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The Ramble's after-party at Dedham's Endicott Estate boasts a 2-ton pasta meal, literary trivia and a performance by singer-songwriter Dennis Brennan, but the connection between the runners and actors remains the main attraction.
``The reaction of the runners may be most gratifying,'' Cooke said. ``Running is a basically inherent silly thing to do - you wear silly little shorts and run and get out of breath. Runners are reassured to see someone doing something sillier than they're doing.''

LOAD-DATE: April 23, 2005

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April 22, 2005 Friday  
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SECTION: THE EDGE; Pg. e23

LENGTH: 487 words

HEADLINE: Movie Review; 
 Kurdish tale mines harsh reality of war

BYLINE: By JAMES VERNIERE

BODY:
``Turtles Can Fly.''
Not rated. In Kurdish with English subtitles. At the Kendall Square Cinema.
Three and one-half stars (out of four)
Imagine Lewis Carroll's lost boys as a band of Iraqi children ``harvesting'' land mines in the deadly fields of Kurdistan, and you'll comprehend the eerie power of ``Turtles Can Fly.'' 
Like most films made in countries lacking resources, Bahman Ghobadi's shocking drama is a throwback to Italian neorealism. It was shot on digital video near the border between Iran and Turkey using a cast of nonprofessional locals.
The result bears almost no resemblance to America's star-powered, technological marvels. But the film achieves a power completely out of proportion to its means. ``Turtles Can Fly'' is both a modern-day ``Lord of the Flies'' and a portrait of a land and its children literally being ravaged by warfare.
Satellite (Soran Ebrahim) is a scrawny young man with oversized spectacles, a treasured baseball cap, quick tongue and knowledge of antennas and satellite dishes. In rural Kurdistan, where the most common crop is antipersonnel mines, dishes are the only way to receive TV signals and everyone in a Kurdish village is on tenterhooks because of the looming U.S. invasion.
Trouble is, no one in the village speaks English well enough to understand what is being said on Fox News, and the vigilant village elders are on the lookout for ``prohibited'' channels (i.e., those depicting dancing or any form of immodesty).
In a teeming, nearby refugee camp, a pretty little girl (Avaz Latif) feeds both a baby and her armless older brother (Saddam Hossein Feysal), a fierce, supposedly clairvoyant young man who lost both limbs harvesting mines to sell on the black market.
If you can't imagine a country in which children are desperate enough to risk limbs for a few dinars, think again. ``Turtles Can Fly'' depicts a reality so foreign to us, it might as well be set on Mars. Yet the film suggests this is reality for many children in this part of the world.
In one memorable sequence, Satellite goes to a bustling marketplace where automatic weapons are strung up for sale like sausages. In another scene, an infant makes a toy out of a gas mask. The film contains recurring images of another child standing shakily on a cliff trying to work up the nerve to commit suicide.
In the merciless universe of ``Turtles Can Fly,'' the first casualty of war is innocence. Kurdish filmmaker Ghobadi's previous credits include the Robert Bresson-like ``A Time for Drunken Horses'' and the more recent ``Songs of My Motherland,'' in which Kurdish musicians from Iran search for a legendary singer in war-torn Iraq.
In ``Turtles Can Fly,'' Ghobadi magically transforms modern-day Kurdistan into a grotesque wonderland and the raw material of the bloody conflicts in Iraq into a fairy tale that is tragic, haunting and often oddly beautiful.
(``Turtles Can Fly'' contains disturbing war-related images.)

GRAPHIC: LORD OF THE `FLY': Avaz Latif plays a little girl struggling to survive in a refugee camp in `Turtles Can Fly.'

LOAD-DATE: April 22, 2005

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April 22, 2005 Friday  
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LENGTH: 613 words

HEADLINE: Folk/Blues; 
 Prine's past, present `Square' off at last

BYLINE: By DANIEL GEWERTZ

BODY:
Singer-songwriters sometimes claim they think of their albums as their children. John Prine stopped producing recorded offspring of new songs at the exact point he began producing his flesh-and-blood children.
Prine has not created a CD of new material since ``Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings'' in 1995. That hiatus is about to be broken with ``Fair & Square'' (Oh Boy), in stores Tuesday. 
``The only thing I can think of to explain those nine years off is that it coincides with the births of my children,'' said Prine from his Nashville home this week.
``I didn't start having kids until I was 49. The first one was born when I was out touring with `Lost Dogs.' Ten months later we had our second kid, and my life was radically changed in a good way. The kids have grounded me. They're better than everything.''
Prine, who sings tomorrow night at Symphony Hall, easily admits that the regular life of a family man often has eclipsed his creative muse.
``There's so much stuff to do with the kids,'' he said. ``And a song doesn't come to me while I'm between the house and Blockbuster going to rent the latest animated DVD. Nowadays, I actually get up in the morning and go to bed at night, just like other people. Before that, I was up all night, and I'd wait for lightning to strike, and a song would come along. For this new album, I had to consciously make an appointment with myself to go write. If I didn't, I wouldn't get it done.''
Prine made appointments not only with himself, but with a bunch of other writers as well. Seven of the 12 new songs are collaborations. The best may be Keith Sykes' ``Long Monday,'' a disarming, wit-laden bit of wordplay. It's a modest, delicious ode to the longing and joy of a long-distance love affair.
Modest is a key word for this delightful yet limited album.
``I wrote these songs very slowly, not necessarily carefully,'' he said. ``I have to make a concentrated effort with the writing now.'' And the fact that he has put in that effort, that he has slowly, honestly crafted a pleasing batch of Prine-ology, made him call the album ``Fair & Square.''
OK, so there's nothing here to compare to 1990s gems such as ``Lake Marie,'' ``Ain't Hurtin' Nobody,'' ``The Sins of Memphisto'' or even ``It's A Big Old Goofy World.'' And expecting Prine to match his 1970s masterworks, such as ``Angel From Montgomery'' and ``Hello in There,'' is almost like expecting Bob Dylan to write another ``Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall.''
Yet ``Fair & Square'' is still, in a smaller way, satisfying. Its clear, frisky sound and droll, easy lyrics still can make you sit up and grin. ``Safety Joe'' is prime Prine daffy wisdom. ``Glory of True Love'' and ``She Is My Everything'' are lively odes to love affairs without end.
There's also ``Some Humans Ain't Human,'' the closest thing to a big statement. Though it starts off as a typically offhand bit of unforced whimsy, a few hypocritical churchgoers and ``some cowboy from Texas'' who's started ``his own war in Iraq'' sneak into the song as prime examples of nonhuman humans.
``I was in Ireland when I wrote it. Bush had just made a visit. He never saw the thousands of demonstrators, he just saw shamrocks, leprechauns and politicians,'' Prine said.
At 58, the Grammy winner is so respected, he was invited to read and discuss his lyrics with U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser at a Library of Congress stage last month. And Prine can still write a sly, wise line with a goofy, big-hearted style all his own: ``You and me sitting in the back of my memory/Like a honeybee/Buzzin' round a glass of sweet chablis.''
John Prine, Leon Redbone, Symphony Hall, Boston, tomorrow, 8 p.m. Tickets $34.50-$44.50. Call 888-266-1200.

LOAD-DATE: April 22, 2005

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April 21, 2005 Thursday  
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SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 025

LENGTH: 225 words

HEADLINE: Granite State kin await hero's remains

BYLINE: By Tom Farmer

BODY:
Consumed with both pride and grief for his service to the nation that claimed his life in Iraq, the family of Army Sgt. Angelo Lozada Jr. clustered in Nashua yesterday to await their hero's flag-draped return to New Hampshire. 
``I think all of us are in shock. We just want him home,'' said Lozada's brother, Antonio. ``We are a very close family and we want some kind of closure.''
Angelo Lozada, 36, was killed Saturday with two other soldiers when their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in Ramadi.
A father of three who recently became a grandfather, Lozada was scheduled to return home to Nashua in two weeks. The joyous celebration planned by his family will be replaced by a solemn, tear-filled military funeral.
``I miss him already,'' said Lozada's son, Michael. ``I would give anything to be able to talk to my dad again.''
The family last heard from Lozada when he telephoned Wednesday with the news he was coming home. Their euphoria was shattered several days later when New Hampshire National Guard officials came to the door to tell them his homecoming would be tragically sooner.
Capt. Greg Heilshorn said the New Hampshire National Guard is assisting with the return of Lozada's remains and the Army Reservist will be buried with full military honors.
Lozada was one of six sons and two daughters of Angelo Sr. and Angela Lozada.

LOAD-DATE: April 21, 2005

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April 20, 2005 Wednesday  
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LENGTH: 489 words

HEADLINE: HOTLINE; 
 Iraq, `Episode III' at Cannes fest

BODY:
An Iraqi film will compete at the Cannes Film Festival for the first time. Iraqi Kurd Hiner Saleem's ``Kilometer Zero'' broaches the difficult subject of Kurdish-Arab relations in Iraq. Among U.S. entries at the May 11-22 fest: the directing debut by Tommy Lee Jones, ``The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada''; ``Sin City,'' co-directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez; and Jim Jarmusch's ``Broken Flowers.'' 2003 winner Gus Van Sant (``Elephant'') returns with ``Last Days,'' a tale of a tormented musician inspired by Kurt Cobain. Woody Allen's ``Match Point'' and George Lucas' ``Star Wars: Episode III _ Revenge of the Sith'' will be shown out of competition. 
Walk this way to meet Joe Perry
Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry will be at Newbury Comics' 332 Newbury St. location on May 3 to autograph his self-titled solo CD, released that day. Entry to the 6-8 p.m. event is via a wristband received with purchase of the CD. A wristband gains a spot in line, but does not guarantee fans will meet Perry. A limited number of wristbands will be issued, first-come, first-served. Details: 617-236-4930. - LINDA LABAN
Concerts I: Summer Jam, Macca tix
The annual ``Summer Jam'' concert sponsored by WJMN-FM (94.5) is set for June 4 at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, with scheduled acts T.I., Mashonda, Brooke Valentine, Amerie, Busta Rhymes, Pretty Ricky and two hip-hop superstars TBA. Tickets, $25-$94.50, go on sale tomorrow at 11 a.m. at Ticketmaster, 617-931-2000 and www.ticketmaster.com.
Also, we have ticket info for Paul McCartney's Sept. 26 FleetCenter show: Tickets go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. at the box office and Ticketmaster. No word on prices. - DEAN JOHNSON
Concerts II: Stevie, Don, Lyle, Em & Fiddy
** Stevie Nicks and Don Henley, June 8, Tweeter Center. Tickets, $29.50-$125, on sale Monday at 10 a.m.
** Rascal Flatts, June 16, Tweeter. $30-$43, on sale Saturday, 11 a.m.
** Lyle Lovett, July 22, Bank of America Pavilion. $35-$55, on sale Monday at 10 a.m.
** Big Summer Classic 2005 with the String Cheese Incident, Keller Williams, Michael Franti & Spearhead and more, July 23, Tweeter Center. $35, on sale Saturday at noon.
** Tom Petty, July 29, Tweeter. $27.50-$55, on sale Friday, 10 a.m.
** Eminem and 50 Cent with G-Unit, Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz, D-12 and more, Aug. 10, Tweeter Center. $56-$81, on sale Saturday at 10 a.m.
Tickets for the above shows are available at Ticketmaster outlets, 617-931-2000, www.ticketmaster.com orwww.teapartyconcerts.com.
** Aimee Mann, June 9, Orpheum, Boston. $37.50-$42.50, on sale Friday at 10 a.m. at the box office and Ticketmaster.
** Angelique Kidjo, May 14, Somerville Theatre. $26.50-$43.50, on sale now at the box office and Ticketmaster.
Bat signal over Superman's town
During the May 18 season finale of WB's ``Smallville'' viewers will also see an eight-minute preview of ``Batman Begins,'' starring Christian Bale.
Compiled by Joel Brown from staff and wire reports.

LOAD-DATE: April 20, 2005

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April 19, 2005 Tuesday  
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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Claiming a bit of history

BODY:
Every Boston Marathon is special - just ask anyone who has ever crossed the finish line. But Catherine Ndereba of Kenya proved they don't call her Catherine the Great for nothing.  
Her fourth consecutive first place finish made history. Her grace and her graciousness, attributing her win not to her training and her own hard work but to God, won hearts in addition to that laurel wreath.
In the men's race, Ethiopia's Hailu Negussie showed you don't have to be Kenyan to win in Boston (Kenyan men have won 13 of the previous 14 races). And Alan Culpepper of Lafayette, Colo., with his fourth place finish gave new hope that American runners might be contenders again. His was the best finish for an American man since 1987.
Ernst Van Dyk of South Africa and Cheri Blauwet, of Palo Alto, Calif., both repeat winners in the wheelchair division, are always a source of inspiration.
So too those 1,100 runners who ran for 15 different charities, raising an estimated $7 million. Now those folks were winners before they ever crossed the finish line.
And while the always problematic Boston weather was a little too warm at the start and a little too breezy at the finish, just imagine what it took to run in the first Iraq/Boston Marathon organized at Base Camp Adder, south of Baghdad, where the temperatures ranged from 90 to 100 degrees at race time.
Some 250 soldiers took part in the event - some as part of relay teams. Oh, and they began not with a starter's pistol, but a blast from an M-16.

LOAD-DATE: April 19, 2005

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April 17, 2005 Sunday  
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LENGTH: 366 words

HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Advice for the intel chief

BODY:
In his preparation to take over as the nation's first director of national intelligence, well-wishers of John Negroponte reportedly are urging him to do something dramatic to establish his authority. As one of them put it, Negroponte must ``win the first turf battles even if they're about the table napkins.''
This is generally good advice, especially coming as it does from a draftsman of the law that created his job, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), but it goes just a tad too far. Yes, Negroponte must win the first battles, whether over turf or something else. But he must make sure the first battles are over something important. 
A career foreign service officer whose last post was as the first ambassador to the new provisional government of Iraq, Negroponte doesn't need advice on the tactics of bureaucratic infighting. He needs to think and fight strategically.
Strategically, his institutional adversaries are going to be the CIA and the Pentagon. Having cleaned house, the new head of the CIA, Porter Goss, can be counted an ally for a little while (but not for long, because in Washington, where you stand depends on where you sit). That leaves the Pentagon to worry about first.
The Pentagon would guard turf jealously no matter who led it, but in Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the defense establishment has a bureaucratic fighter of proven effectiveness and little regard for collegiality. In Vice President Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld has an ally with unparalleled clout. Odds are that Negroponte will not have to pick a fight; they will do it for him.
In the end it will come down to President Bush. Whom he backs wins. Negroponte must be sure of having Bush on his side in the clinches. That means that Negroponte must make sure that Bush sees the success of his second term in jeopardy if Negroponte loses a big fight. In other words, the new director must not be afraid to resign on principle, and the president must know that.
Negroponte would do well to remember what Secretary of State George Marshall told the first head of the department's policy planning office, George Kennan, when Kennan asked whether the secretary had any special instructions. Only one, said Marshall: ``Avoid trivia.''

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April 15, 2005 Friday  
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HEADLINE: BABY'S MEMORY INSPIRES NEW HUB COPS

BYLINE: By MICHELE MCPHEE

BODY:
Police Academy class 41-04's flag, bearing a Superman logo emblazoned with the name of a 16-month-old boy, waved softly yesterday after 39 rookie cops collectively raised their hands to be sworn in as Boston's finest.
The superhero's emblem is an appropriate one for the boy it honors: Kaiden Audette-Burroughs, who was so courageous during grueling cancer treatments, nurses nicknamed him ``Superman.''
Kaiden died of a brain tumor last Oct. 27, just weeks after his father, Evon Burroughs, began his training at the Police Academy. 
Burroughs' fellow recruits gave Kaiden a police inspector's funeral, of sorts, with all 39 of them passing the tiny casket with a silent salute.
``Kaiden is the guardian angel of 41-04,'' class President Timothy Lehane said during the graduation ceremony at Hyde Park High School.
Burroughs, who alternated his time between Kaiden's hospital bedside and the academy, received the class Motivation Award, giving ``new meaning to the word strength,'' said Lehane.
But Burroughs insisted that any motivation came from a combination of his classmates' support and his son's spirit.
``I know Kaiden is looking over our class, looking over me,'' said Burroughs, who is assigned to District 14 in Brighton. ``There were days we were tired and worn out and the clouds opened up and there was my son.
``Kaiden has changed me,'' he said. ``It will make me a better police officer.''
Police officer Paul Downey, an academy drill instructor, said every 41-04 recruit was forever altered by what Burroughs endured.
``To be able to bury his son and not miss a beat,'' Downey said. ``It was inspiring.''
Downey said the rookie cops who graduated yesterday were a collection that cut across ethnic and economic lines and included a former truck driver, a Victoria's Secret store manager, a custodian and several military men.
One Navy sailor, Patrick Byrne, could not attend yesterday's ceremony after he was called to duty and sent to Iraq while in the Police Academy. Still, his family cheered when his name was read on the list of 39 who make up the finest's newest members.
``This class was remarkable, very unique'' said Superintendent John Gallagher, the former Police Academy commander. ``They all pulled together to support each other. It brought a real sense of cohesion to the class.''

GRAPHIC: `GUARDIAN ANGEL': New Boston police officer Evon Burroughs pauses as he speaks about his son, 16-month-old Kaiden Audette-Burroughs, whose courage in his losing battle with cancer as inspiration to Police Academy class 41-04. STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GOLDMAN

LOAD-DATE: April 15, 2005

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April 15, 2005 Friday  
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HEADLINE: ATLANTIC MONTHLY TO MOVE; 
 Hub-based mag ships out D.C.

BYLINE: By JOHN STRAHINICH

BODY:
Get ready to call it the MID-Atlantic Monthly.
The venerable Boston-based magazine - which once flew such lofty Brahmin names as James Russell Lowell and William Dean Howells atop its masthead - is bolting town for Washington, D.C., Atlantic President John Sullivan wrote in a staff memo made public yesterday.
The news of the move comes just one day after the 147-year-old monthly copped a prestigious National Magazine Award for fiction writing, which - in an ironic twist - the periodical will cease publishing on a regular basis. 
Cullen Murphy will stand down as managing editor once the move is completed and the magazine shutters its Hub headquarters early next year, the memo said.
The Atlantic's departure leaves Boston without a major national magazine to call its own. Two other homegrown monthlies, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine, moved to New York in 2003.
Washington businessman David Bradley bought the Atlantic from New York developer Mortimer Zuckerman in 1999.
Zuckerman, who once owned Fast Company as well, runs Boston Properties, which owns the Prudential Tower and shopping complex.
Bradley reportedly made his fortune when his strategic consulting firm, the Advisory Board, went public in the 1990s.
Cullen, a 20-year Atlantic veteran, succeeded Michael Kelly as the magazine's top editor. Kelly - who was killed two years ago in Iraq - had stepped down to return to writing.
Once one of the most influential magazines in the United States, the Atlantic lost ground to the likes of the New Yorker during the 20th century's last half.
But under Bradley's ownership and Kelly's aegis, the Atlantic saw a resurgence in recent years.
Even so, the magazine has remained a notorious money loser.
Indeed, its relocation comes on the heels of a 14 percent plunge in the magazine's circulation. According to the Atlantic's latest audit, circulation now averages just under 425,000 copies per issue.
The Atlantic was founded in 1857 by some of the 19th century's greatest literary figures.
Gathered in the Parker House Hotel, the group included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Oliver Wendell Holmes.
The magazine boasts of having printed the first short stories by a slew of major literary figures, including Mark Twain and Henry James. And it published, in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr.'s ``Letter from Birmingham Jail.''

GRAPHIC: DEPARTING HUB: The Atlantic Monthly magazine plans to leave its offices at 77 N. Washington St. early next year. STAFF PHOTO BY STUART CAHILL

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April 14, 2005 Thursday  
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SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 018

LENGTH: 566 words

HEADLINE: Ceremony reminds us it's time to stop, remember the heroes

BYLINE: By Mike Barnicle

BODY:
As usual, David McPhillips was at his desk yesterday in the Hertz office off McClellan Highway near the airport. But he won't be there this morning; he's taking the day to go to Emerson Hospital in Concord.
``Is your wife going with you?'' he was asked.
``I don't think so,'' he answered. ``It's very hard on her right now. Tougher than the rest of the time. On me, too, actually.'' 
Today, at 10 a.m., the hospital is dedicating a conference room to Julie and David McPhillips' son Brian. He was born in Concord 27 years ago. He was killed in a firefight exactly two years ago at a place named Tuwayhah in a country called Iraq. He was 25.
Brian McPhillips was a splendid, handsome young man. He went to BC High and Providence College before joining the Marine Corps after graduation.
He was not unlike David Connolly, a Suffolk County Assistant DA, who went from Boston College to the United States Army, got a law degree, became a captain in the Reserve and died last week when a CH-47 helicopter crashed onto the floor of another battleground, Afghanistan.
To most of us, this war - any war - is an abstraction, an occasional headline or a clip on TV news. We have ball games to attend, gas prices to worry about, traffic to cope with, tuition costs to consider, places to go and jobs to keep.
No sacrifice has been asked or demanded by the president. Gas is well over two bucks a gallon. Casualty lists can barely be found in the paper. And the only Americans asked to pay a price are people like Julie and David McPhillips and Dave Connolly's widow, Debra.
But folks seem instinctively to know something is wrong when so few are sent to fight a war that began beneath a tissue of political lies. That all of these brave, noble men and women were killed for a cause that history will have to explain because it sure seems the country had other options, powerful and lethal ones too.
On the day Brian McPhillips was buried two years ago, I was driving north on 128 in Waltham.
There was a motorcade. A long one. More than 100 cars. It was led, directed - protected really - by more than two dozen state police cruisers as it wound its way through traffic. Many of the troopers were there on their own time, an unpaid contribution of devotion to a young man whose duty cost him his life.
What struck me about that day was the number of people who pulled to the side of 128, got out of their cars and stood to salute or place a hand over their heart as this splendid boy was carried home to the town where he had been born.
Yesterday, David McPhillips showed me a letter his family just received from a Marine major who was a few yards from Brian the day he was killed. It took the major two years before he was able to write but he told the family: ``He (Brian) was there watching out for me. He was my guardian angel that day and he saved my life after he had given his.''
So this morning, Brian's life and service will be recalled in the same hospital where breath began and his heart first beat. It's been two years since he died, a hero to those he served with and a son to the parents who still carry their grief into every day.
There are a lot of people like Lt. Brian M. McPhillips, Capt. David Connolly, too. It's just that they don't get the attention they deserve because we're all too busy with other things.
Mbarnicle@bostonherald.com. Barnicle's radio show airs weekdays at 10 a.m. on 96.9 WTKK-FM.

LOAD-DATE: April 14, 2005

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April 14, 2005 Thursday  
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SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 028

LENGTH: 257 words

HEADLINE: House Dems add bill to keep combat pay for wounded

BYLINE: By Tom Farmer

BODY:
House Democrats have added a bill named for a Saugus Marine to a proposed addition to the GI Bill of Rights that would end pay cuts to service members wounded in combat.
U.S. Rep.  
Edward Markey (D-Malden) announced yesterday that the Crosby-Puller Wounds Compensation Act, which he introduced last year in honor of Lance Cpl. James Crosby, has been added to the GI Bill legislation which would significantly boost benefits for Americans in the armed forces.
``I'm very happy it was added to the GI Bill,'' said Crosby, who lost the use of his legs after being wounded in a rocket attack last year in Iraq. ``If this can go through, at least the troops will be sure that they will be taken care of and it will map out what they will receive. I hope it will receive bipartisan support.''
The proposal named for Crosby and Marine Lt. Gen. Lewis ``Chesty'' Puller, would keep wounded service members at their higher combat pay until they return to duty or are discharged. Other features of the ``GI Bill for the 21st Century'' include:
- Improvements in health care for veterans and blocking increases in prescription drug co-payments and enrollment fees.
- Enhancing GI Bill education and job training programs.
- Improving health and educational benefits for the National Guard and reservists.
- Providing a $1,000 bonus for those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
``We must celebrate, honor and remember these courageous and faithful men and women through this new GI Bill, as we have done after each major military conflict in the past,'' Markey said.

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April 13, 2005 Wednesday  
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SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 008

LENGTH: 268 words

HEADLINE: DA praises prosecutor killed in Afghan crash

BYLINE: By David Weber

BODY:
Suffolk County prosecutor David S. Connolly, an Army Reserve officer who died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan last week, was remembered yesterday as a man dedicated to helping victims of injustice.
``In those few months he worked with us, he impressed us with his work ethic and compassion for victims,'' Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said yesterday after receiving official confirmation of the 37-year-old man's death. 
Raised in Newton and a graduate of Boston College, Connolly was married and lived with his wife, Deb, in the North End. He already had served a tour in Iraq when he was called back to reserve duty late last year.
Boston College spokesman Reid Oslin said he'd been in contact with Connolly's family and that they had not decided whether to make a public statement.
Connolly's mother and three of his six siblings also graduated from B.C., Oslin said.
``Before he went to Afghanistan, they had a big tailgate party at a B.C. football game,'' he said.
Connolly, following in his brother Joseph's footsteps, entered the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps at B.C., Oslin said. He graduated in 1994. Joseph Connolly graduated in 1985. Joseph administered his brother's commissioning oath in 1994.
David Connolly served on active duty as an Army Ranger and graduated from Suffolk Law School in 2003.
``You only had to speak with David for a few minutes to know this soft-spoken, serious-minded young man was a leader,'' Conley said, adding that he was driven by a desire to ``improve the lot of others and make the world a better place.''
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

GRAPHIC: CRASH CASUALTY: Suffolk County prosecutor David S. Connolly. AP photo

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April 12, 2005 Tuesday  
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SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 026

LENGTH: 239 words

HEADLINE: State lawmakers vow fight for vets' aid

BYLINE: By TOM FARMER

BODY:
Saying the federal government is not doing enough for the nation's veterans at a time when they need it most, members of a new state legislative committee vowed yesterday to lead the charge for better benefits and compensation for Massachusetts' service members.
``If veterans and veterans' services are not No. 1, what the hell should our No. 1 priority be?'' asked state Sen.  
Stephen Brewer (D-Barre), one of the chairmen of the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs.
Testifying before the committee, U.S. Rep. Martin Meehan (D-Lowell) slammed the Bush administration for submitting to Congress a 2006 budget request that provides a ``paltry'' 0.5-percent increase for veterans programs.
``I think the reason why re-enlistments are down is because of the way our veterans are being treated,'' said Meehan, a member of the House Armed Services Committee.
James Crosby of Saugus, who was severely wounded while serving with the Marines in Iraq, said one of the biggest problems facing returning veterans is navigating the miles of red tape to secure benefits and services. ``The most important part of it is getting the right information to these returning veterans,'' he said.
Crosby, who lost the use of his legs after being wounded in a rocket attack last year, lobbied for the passage of the federal Crosby-Puller Wounds Compensation Act to provide wounded soldiers with combat pay until they are discharged or returned to duty.

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April 11, 2005 Monday  
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SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 032

LENGTH: 433 words

HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Bolton at U.N. just what it needs

BODY:
On the one hand, opposition is said to be strong to the nomination of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Yes, this rare individual who actually thinks the U.N. is in need of reform and isn't shy about saying so, still faces a rocky confirmation process.
On the other hand, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, the man who presided over the Oil-for-Food scandal and punted on the war criminals responsible for the genocide in Darfur, this alleged leader who should have been history ages ago, continues to dodge the bullet of responsibility. 
What's wrong with this picture!
Bolton is scheduled to go before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today. One of its Republican members, Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island - a U.N. cheerleader, if ever there was one, has toyed with the idea of voting against Bolton. Assuming a party-line vote in committee, that would throw the nomination into a tie. However, a conversation with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice seems to have assuaged Chafee for the moment.
``Doctor Rice made it very clear that he will be working for her,'' Chafee said. ``And she made it clear that we are going to be more respectful of these international institutions than maybe we were in the past.''
Oh, terrific! Just what the U.N. needs - more ``respect.''
Annan has remained in total denial of the need for a thorough housecleaning even in the wake of the Volcker Commission report on the Oil for Food program. He insists the Volcker report ``cleared me of any wrongdoing.''
Not even close.
That there was corruption in the $21 billion program that was supposed to provide humanitarian aid to Iraq's people is clear. Who was corrupted - even after a $3 million investigation and a 90-page report - remains only marginally more clear.
Two U.N. officials connected to the program already stand accused of at the very least conflict of interest and violating procurement regulations.
The really, really big winner in the Oil for Food scam was Cotecna, a Swiss company that just happened to put under contract the secretary-general's son, Kojo Annan. When the contract for some $485,000 came to light in 1999, Kofi Annan ordered an ``investigation.'' It was ``completed'' in one day.
A clean bill of health for Annan? Hardly!
No private-sector CEO would ever survive the kind of scandals that have erupted under Annan's regime.
The choice now before the U.S. Senate as it considers the Bolton nomination is whether this nation is prepared to continue to wink and nod at U.N. corruption or whether it ought to send to that body someone prepared to help reform it from within.

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April 10, 2005 Sunday  
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SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 006

LENGTH: 159 words

HEADLINE: BOOK BONUS; 
 Behind the scenes at Iraq's Iwo Jima

BODY:
In an ``Iwo Jima moment'' destined to be engraved in history, joyous Iraqis aided by U.S. troops pulled down a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad two years ago yesterday as the world watched in awe - symbolically ending the dictator's vicious regime. Gunnery Sgt.  
Jack Coughlin, the Marine Corps' top sniper, was in the thick of it. In this exclusive excerpt from his spellbinding new book, available in book stores at the end of this month, the Waltham native describes how he and quick-thinking comrades defused a tense behind-the-scenes conflict that threatened this historic moment.
Excerpted from the upcoming book ``SHOOTER: The Autobiography of the Top-Ranked Marine Sniper,'' by Gunnery Sgt. Jack Coughlin, USMC; and Capt. Casey Kuhlman, USMCR; with Donald A. Davis, available in book stores at the end of this month. Copyright ¯ 2005 by the authors. Printed with permission from St. Martin's Press.
See Boston Herald microfilm for complete excerpt.

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April 8, 2005 Friday  
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SECTION: THE EDGE; Pg. e07

LENGTH: 707 words

HEADLINE: Folk/Blues; 
 Ellis Paul puts spin on `Fables'

BYLINE: By DANIEL GEWERTZ

BODY:
On his new album, ``American Jukebox Fables,'' Ellis Paul has written a tribute to the late patriotic hero Pat Tillman that also manages to be an anti-war song.
``Kiss the Sun (A Song For Pat Tillman)'' is inspired by the professional football star who volunteered to fight in Afghanistan, but it is also influenced by some letters Paul received from a fan of his who was working as a guard at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
``He got to the prison after the scandal. I wrote it from his perspective, but the attitudes come from my own mind. I feel for the reservists, the weekend soldiers who believed in protecting their country after 9/11, but who didn't sign up for a war like Iraq,'' Paul said. 
Some might call ``Kiss the Sun'' a canny attempt at having it both ways: right and left, patriotic and anti-war. Yet for Paul, that dichotomy is where the song's legitimate drama lies.
``Like any songwriter, good or bad, I stretch the truth to be dramatic. But you don't have to search too hard to find the patriotic/anti-war perspective. I was at a florist shop near Quantico (the Virginia Marine Corps base) and I heard a funeral director say that half the dead coming back from Iraq are suicides,'' Paul said.
Paul, remarried and a father, now lives in the Washington, D.C., area. But this leading light of Boston's contemporary folk movement says he'll eventually move back to New England. Paul plays an album release concert at the Somerville Theatre tomorrow night, with Amelia White opening. (Call 617-628-3390.)
The new CD (on Philo/Rounder) is Paul's first solo studio effort in three years, and his 11th CD in 12 years. ``I just turned 40. I'm no longer the up-and-coming guy. But my audiences are still growing. My ability to make money is still increasing. I do 150 to 200 gigs a year. 
``I'm at a good spot. I recognize I could keep this career going until my 60s. For a musician who's not gonna have a Top 40 hit, that's the trophy: Do it till you drop,'' said Paul.
The CD title, ``American Jukebox Fables,'' sounds grandiose, but Paul didn't arrive at the phrase glibly. Such iconic American images as highways, trains, juke joints, and small towns inhabit the songs, and such names as Jack Kerouac, Lenny Bruce, Woody Guthrie, Johnny Cash and Martin Luther King Jr. dot the album's lyrical landscape.
Though there is no overriding message here, the album is aware of the role fables play in American media and art. ``America knows how to tell a story, stretch the truth and make it entertaining. You see it in the news and in movies,'' he said.
Paul is also aware of the myth-making tendency in his own writing. One of the album's lesser songs, ``Bad Bad Blood,'' is about a rural crime spree, and though it questions media infatuation with such violence, the song is also part of the same romanticization.
Though the overall sound will not shock Paul's longtime folk fans, the album does flirt with modern pop, electronica and even hip-hop. It's a new sonic vein for Paul. ``The album was produced by Flynn, and we worked with his computer-chemistry set of sounds, including all the loops and funky backwards stuff. It's his European pop, disco, techno world meeting my American folk-rock world. I came in with the accordions, banjos and mandolins. The experience got me more excited than I've been for a long time in the studio,'' he said.
Paul no longer dreams of jumping from Rounder to a major label, a move he explored a couple of times since the early '90s. ``I remember playing one show in New York where there were just eight guys in the audience, but they were from eight different major labels. I was completely nervous and I fell on my face. I decided after that that it was all up to me. I need to get this music out, and bust my ass on the road and see where it takes me.
``It's taken me to a good career. And I still feel like a kid. I've gotten better, and I still have a long way to go. It's great to be 15 years into this and every song I write still has something to teach me.''
LIVE & FAVORED: Battlefield Band at the Somerville Theatre tonight . . . Ricky Skaggs at Tremont Temple in Boston and Louise Grasmere at Arlington Center for the Arts, tomorrow . . . Chris Smither and Tim O'Brien at Club Passim in Cambridge, Thursday.

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HEADLINE: HOTLINE; 
 Peabody winners include WGBH

BODY:
CBS News won a Peabody Award yesterday for its report on abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, a story anchored by Dan Rather and produced by Mary Mapes, who was later fired by CBS for her role in the story about President Bush's military service. Comedy Central's Jon Stewart won his second Peabody Award, for his ``Daily Show's'' satiric take on the 2004 election campaign. HBO's western ``Deadwood'' also won.
Boston's WGBH (Ch. 2) was honored for ``American Experience: Tupperware!'' - a documentary about why a plastic food container has become not only a ubiquitous product but a cultural icon. 
The George Foster Peabody awards, for broadcasting excellence in both news and entertainment, are given by the University of Georgia. Thirty-two awards will be handed out at the ceremony May 16.
GARDNER I: HUNTINGTON ORDERS PLAY
The Huntington Theatre and Yale Repertory Theatre have co-commissioned a play about Boston art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner's journeys to Japan. This new play, by California playwright Naomi Iizuka, will not only explore Gardner's attraction to Japanese culture and art, but also examine the cultural exchanges between the United States and Japan during the Gilded Age.
The play is scheduled to be finished in 2006.
Currently, the Huntington Theatre is performing Iizuka's play ``36 Views'' at the Boston University Theatre. Go to www.huntington
theatre.org to learn more. TENLEY WOODMAN
GARDNER II: MUSEUM PREMIERES MUSIC
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum presents the world premiere of ``Three Portraits of Isabella,'' a piano piece by composer and museum artist-in-residence Daniel Ludwig, on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Pianist Jeremy Denk will perform the work, which was inspired by - you guessed it - portraits of the museum's founder and patron-in-perpetuity. The complete chamber music program also includes other music by Ludwig and by Schumann. Tickets: $20 (discounts for student, seniors and museum members). Call 617-278-5156 or go to www.gardnermuseum.org T.J. MEDREK
COMEDIANS SET BENEFIT FOR KNOX
Comedians will unite Sunday to hold a benefit for one of their own. The Kevin Knox benefit show features Jim Lauletta, Steve Sweeney, Tony V, Paul Nardizzi, Mike Donovan and Paul D'Angelo. Proceeds will benefit Knox, who has been diagnosed with a lymph node-related cancer. The show will be at 6 p.m. at the Comedy Connection, Faneuil Hall, Boston. Tickets are $50. For more information, call 617-248-9700.HEATHER V. ENG
HAMMERING IT HOME
ABC has renewed ``Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' for another season.
KISS-108 CONCERT TIX ON SALE TODAY
Tickets go on sale this morning for the May 21 Kiss Concert at the Tweeter Center. The concert sponsored by WXKS-FM (107.9) features Will Smith, Gwen Stefani, Black Eyed Peas, the Backstreet Boys, Gavin DeGraw, Jesse McCartney, Howie Day, Akon, Bowling for Soup and more. Tickets, $35-$200, go on sale at 10 a.m. at any Ticketmaster outlet, by calling 617-931-2000 or going to www.ticketmaster.com.
WINE-SOAKED `SIDEWAYS' DRINKS IN CASH
After wowing critics and crossing over from arthouse favorite to mainstream hit, the wine-soaked road comedy ``Sideways'' is off to a strong start in the home video market.
The small-budget film, which grossed $70 million at the domestic box office, sold more than 1.5 million DVDs and VHS copies combined on Tuesday, its first day in release on home video, industry sources said.
Starring Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church as two pals traveling through California wine country at the peak of their midlife crises, the Fox Searchlight film is on track to sell about 3.5 million combined units, making it a huge success for a title that grossed less than $100 million in theaters, industry sources said.
CORRECTION
A handbag was misidentified in yesterday's Sense of Style column. The striped bag was by Lambertson Truex, not Diane von Furstenberg.
Compiled by Joel Brown from staff and wire reports.

GRAPHIC: RATHER

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HEADLINE: MUSIC; 
 Homeland insecurity; 
 Josh Rouse had his reasons to leave

BYLINE: By LARRY KATZ

BODY:
America: Love it or leave it.
Josh Rouse wasn't loving it. So he's left.
Last September the singer/songwriter - who headlines the Paradise tomorrow night - packed his bags and relocated from Nashville to Altea, a picturesque Spanish fishing village that overlooks the Mediterranean. 
Not a move you'd expect from a guy who's something of an all-American boy. Born in rural Nebraska, the clean-cut Rouse spent the last 10 years living in Music City U.S.A. - and ``Nashville'' is the title of his new CD.
Rouse's ``Nashville'' is not country music, though, despite the occasional wisp of pedal steel guitar. His sound stems from the classic born-in-America pop of sunny, sensitive Southern California singer/songwriters and sweet '70s soulmen.
So why leave his homeland for Europe?
``I wanted to get out of Nashville,'' Rouse says. ``I was bored. And I split up with my wife a year ago. It's uncomfortable where you know the same people and have the same friends. Better for me to get out of there.''
The many critics calling ``Nashville'' Rouse's best work to date hear it as a musical kiss-off to both the city and his wife.
``That isn't right,'' he says. ``That's just what it looks like. But I had already finished the record before I said, `I think I'm going to move.' Really, some of those songs are 3 or 4 years old. They were written before my breakup.''
Rouse's songs place him among the current slew of young, guitar-strumming James Taylors-come-lately that includes John Mayer, Jack Johnson, Gavin DeGraw and Jason Mraz. What sets him apart is the sheer catchiness and variety of his music. As with his previous album, ``1972'' (his birth year), Rouse evokes the hooky pop/rock of yesteryear without mimicking the past.
Which begs a question: If his music fits glove-tight with current trends, why split for Spain now?
``It doesn't make that big a difference where I live,'' he says. ``I'll be doing the same amount of touring. I was never a big socialite. It's not like I'm going to have to stop hanging out with Paris Hilton. And, to be honest, my career has always done better in Europe. So why not base my life there?''
Plus, Rouse says Mayer, Johnson, et al. actually have made it harder for him in the United States.
``There's only room for two or three people who do really well on your Clear Channel playlists,'' he says, ``and they're usually on a big record company that has a lot of money behind them for greasing palms. That's tough. I've got great fans and I'm happy with how I do in the States, but in Europe I play bigger venues and sell more records.''
Rouse speaks of more than musical discontent in the ``Nashville'' track ``Winter in the Hamptons.'' ``Americans seem such a bore,'' he lashes out, before proclaiming, ``Sick of living here, we're such a mess, 'cause the government, they're all liars.''
``I didn't move to Spain because of the government,'' he says. ``That's just a line in a song. But it was difficult being in Europe after Bush won. Everyone's asking, `What's wrong with your country? Who would vote for that guy?' I'd say, `Don't look at me.' When you live over there you get a much different perspective on the Iraq war and things. But it didn't have that big an effect on my move. America is just not very interesting to me as a culture.
``Right now,'' Rouse says, ``I'm in Michigan and, wow, everything's a corporate chain. All the characteristics that make a place interesting are gone. Turn on a TV and you get pharmaceutical ads for depression sandwiched between reality shows. The media doesn't seem to want to give people anything fulfilling. It's just trash.''
Are you saying you moved to Spain because the TV is better?
Rouse laughs. ``The difference in Spain is that most people only have five channels,'' he says, ``so they don't spend as much time watching. Yeah, they have their `Big Brother' show, too. But the weather's pretty nice so they spend their time having long meals with their families. It's just a lifestyle that fits me better.
``But I haven't been there that long. Talk to me in three years. I might be missing a big ol' McDonald's cheeseburger.''
Josh Rouse and Massachusetts native Amy Correia play tomorrow at 9 p.m. at the Paradise, Boston. Tickets are $15. Call 617-562-8800. 

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April 7, 2005 Thursday  
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SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. 090

LENGTH: 528 words

HEADLINE: War hits home with Izzo

BYLINE: By Michael Felger

BODY:
Patriots Super Bowl rings have wound up in some unusual places the past four years. Linebacker Tully Banta-Cain left his in a bathroom in Providence. Former cornerback Leonard Myers put his up for sale on eBay. 
And Larry Izzo nearly lost his in the desert of Afghanistan.
Unlike the other two cases, Izzo's mishap came in the midst of a noble endeavor, as the Pro Bowl special teams ace recently completed a week-long trek through the war zones of the Middle East as part of a USO tour.
It was during Izzo's stop at the opening of the Pat Tillman Center in Afghanistan that he started tossing a football with some soldiers. The next thing Izzo knew, he looked down at his hand to find one of his two championship rings missing. Before Izzo could get on his hands and knees, a soldier approached and handed it to him. It had flown through the air and hit him in the shoulder.
It turns out Izzo's rings were prime attractions.
``In the future I just might send those,'' said Izzo.
That was just one of dozens of stories Izzo told yesterday during an hour-long conference call from Kuwait City. Izzo's late father was a decorated Vietnam veteran (Purple Heart) and a career military man, and his brother was also in the military. The trip clearly hit close to his heart.
``It's definitely changed me,'' Izzo said. ``Every hand I shook I just said, `Thank you. Come home safely.' ''
Izzo left for Frankfurt, Germany, on March 30, just hours after he and his wife, Maura, had returned from an 11-day vacation in Argentina. He was joined by Atlanta running back Warrick Dunn, and from there it was on to Kuwait, Qatar, Afghanistan and Iraq. Izzo visited several camps, where he met troops returning from, and heading into, action.
Izzo flew in C-130 planes packed with troops, and twice rode on a Blackhawk helicopter in and out of the ``Green Zone'' in Baghdad.
``At any given moment you feel like you could be under attack,'' he said.
At one point, he rode in a plane carrying four coffins draped with American flags. Izzo wondered if he had met the dead soldiers earlier in his trip.
Izzo was due to fly home to Boston last night, and he planned to be back at the Patriots' offseason conditioning program by tomorrow. He was looking forward to sharing his experience with his teammates, although he knew his reason for going was a simple one.
``The number one goal was to meet the (troops) and say thank you,'' said Izzo.
Pats notes
The one-year deal signed by receiver David Terrell includes a $700,000 base salary, a $200,000 signing bonus and performance incentives. Terrell's base salary is not guaranteed, so if he doesn't work out, the Pats will only be responsible for his signing bonus against the cap. The minimum salary for players of Terrell's experience (fifth year) is $540,000. . . .
A team spokesman confirmed an ESPN report that Tedy Bruschi is not scheduled to travel with the team to the White House for its meeting with President Bush. Bruschi will be one of more than a dozen players not to make the trip, which ESPN said will be next week. ESPN also reported that Bruschi has not been training at Gillette Stadium every day, as Bill Belichick had inferred last week.

GRAPHIC: IZZO: Rings shine in Afghanistan.

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HEADLINE: Kerry: Publicize benefits for vets

BYLINE: By Andrew Miga

BODY:
WASHINGTON - Sen. John F. Kerry, moved by the ``heartbreaking'' story of a cash-strapped North End veteran who lost both legs in Vietnam, is urging state officials to better publicize a little-known benefit to disabled vets. 
Kerry was struck by the case of Paul Bartell, a Marine left legless after stepping on a booby trap in Vietnam in 1967 and whose plight was recounted in a column by the Herald's Mike Barnicle yesterday.
Bartell has been eligible since 1968 for the annual $1,500 disability annuity, according to the state. But he was not aware he qualified until three years ago - and because the benefits are not granted retroactively, he lost out on $13,000 over the years.
``I'm just glad the Herald exposed how veterans are falling through the cracks,'' Kerry said. ``This is a test of our values as a state. We should be working across the aisle to make sure every veteran in our state gets every penny they deserve for putting their bodies on the line for our freedom.''
In a letter to Gov. Mitt Romney, Kerry (D-Mass.) urged state officials to promote the annual $1,500 payment to 100 percent service-connected disabled veterans, Gold Star Parents and surviving spouses who have not remarried.
``It makes your blood boil to think we'd have disabled veterans getting lost in the shuffle, counting every last dime, choosing between putting food on the table and paying the bills, all because the government hasn't made sure they know what benefits are owed them,'' the senator said.
``With so many of our young men and women returning home from service in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is more important than ever before that we show our veterans that we will keep faith with their sacrifice to our country,'' Kerry said.

GRAPHIC: HEARTBREAKING: Disabled Marine veteran Paul Bartell wasn't aware he qualified for a $1,500 annuity until three years ago, losing out on $13,000 over the years. Staff photo by Mike Adaskaveg

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HEADLINE: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

BODY:
A great loss
In a century of scientific genius and giants such as Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II towered above them all (``The legacy of John Paul II,'' April 2).
He was the greatest man of the 20th century. In fact, I think it is no stretch to call him one of the greatest men in human history, and the greatest religious leader the world has known since the Prophet Mohammed from the seventh century. 
- James A. Nollet, Billerica
Motley pass a loss
We read with great sadness that the search committee for a new chancellor at the University of Massachusetts-Boston may not choose the interim chancellor, Dr. Keith Motley (``A leader at UMass-Boston,'' March 31).
UMass-Boston has nearly 700 student veterans - many active reservists subject to call-up. From the time he became interim chancellor, Motley has spoken at nearly all the veterans functions and comforted the family and friends of an alum who was killed in Iraq. His deeds leave no doubt with vets on this campus that they have a friend in the chancellor's office.
The four of us cumulatively have more than 80 years at UMass-Boston, and we all came here after military service. No previous chancellor, in our opinion, has approached Motley's level of support.
- Kevin Bowen
Director, William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences
- Barry Brodsky
Director, Veterans Upward Bound
- Louis Colon
Director, Veterans Center
- Augusto St. Silva
Director, Veterans Affairs
Favoritism in courts
Jay Fitzgerald's column regarding pay raises in the court system raises concerns about how Chief Justice Robert Mulligan is running the trial court (```Poor' court raised wages,'' April 4).
The ``politically entitled'' (those who are related or friends of senators and state representatives) are continuously given large raises, while the ``grunts'' (court officers and probation officers) are not even given cost of living raises. Should the court system be run like corporate America with an ever growing disparity in salaries between management and workers? At least CEOs have to show a profit and are not ``gifted'' their positions.
It is equally disturbing that Mulligan will not even agree to language in collective bargining that prohibits discrimination based on race, age, sex or disability. I guess when your deputy legal counsel is named Chris Bulger, nothing less can be expected.
- Robert Brennan, Braintree
Teitell's `all girl'
A week or so ago I began reading Beth Teitell's column (``Johnny's furniture shopping tale sure rests on some wobbly legs,'' March 30). I was intrigued because, like my wife, she's all girl. And at age 76 I'm still trying to understand girls. Beth: You go, girl.
And Boston Herald, thanks for the diversity in your columnists and editorial writers. It's a refreshing breeze compared to the heavy, leftist pedantic writing in your rival publication.
- J.P. Vetrano, Franklin
T boxes slow process
The good news about the new MBTA fare box is that I no longer have to run for buses (``Success not in the Charlie Cards; Riders blast automated ticket,'' March 6). With the new fare boxes on the Silver Line, it takes so long for passengers to board that I can saunter toward the bus without fear of it leaving me.
Last week in the rain, the bus door opened, but the line didn't move. We waited outside, soaked. On another day, a driver waved our passes through, explaining that they take too long. Funny, she was referring to a brand new machine. A ride on the Silver Line takes two to three times longer than it used to take.
- Alison Barnet, Boston
Like it or leave it
First, the Catholic Church is not a democracy (``A stronger laity for a solid future,'' April 5). One does not have a vote for what they can or cannot believe. Thank God the church has maintained its core beliefs for thousands of years. Those who disagreed founded their own church, perhaps with the best of intentions. If you don't agree with the church's teachings about celibacy for priests and the lack of ordained women, then look for another church but don't claim to be Catholic.
I dislike the terms ``conservative'' or ``liberal'' Catholic. There should be no adjectives. Either you're Catholic or you're not.
- John R. Kiely, Acton

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 He'd prefer bamboo sticks

BODY:
This is the kind of torture everyone ought to favor. Saddam Hussein and top aides yesterday were subjected - in their jail cells - to televised coverage of the election of a new interim Iraqi president, according to an Associated Press account. 
That the Iraqi parliament chose Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani was particularly sweet. Talabani has literally spent his life fighting for freedom for the oppressed Kurds in northern Iraq, a minority which Saddam had viciously, mercilessly targeted.
``This is the new Iraq, where no sect or minority controls the whole country,'' parliament Speaker Hajim al-Hassani said. ``It is an Iraq where all the people are unified.''
We trust the clicker was kept out of Saddam's reach.

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HEADLINE: Shift gears with car/collapsible bike combo

BYLINE: By Mary Jo Palumbo

BODY:
U.S. Marine paratroopers use it to sneak into remote locations under the radar.
Hey, anything sturdy enough for parachute jumps should be a match for the craterlike potholes in Boston. 
Or not.
It's the collapsible bicycle, a full-size lightweight aluminum road bike that folds up to fit neatly in the trunk of a car.
Developed by Cambridge-based Montague Corp. under military funding, the bicycle is being used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It's also used by commuters who toss it in the trunk, drive within several miles off the office, and bike the final few miles into work.
This week I gave the folding bike - and the park-and-cycle commute - a try.
On Tuesday, I drive to Alewife, pull the Montague High-Performance X-Bike out of the trunk, snap on the quick-release wheel and lock the quick-release frame into place. It takes about three minutes.
Presto. Instant bike.
(Confession: my swift assembly comes after a few slower test attempts.)
My commute is a smooth one. Not only do I luck out with an incredibly sunny day, but I get a ``nice bike'' comment when riding along the Memorial Drive bike path.
I arrive in 45 minutes, one of my best times for that seven mile commute.
Once in the office, the bike folds up and fits in a corner.
Mission accomplished.
The version of the bike used by the military is a dull, greenish grey. Mine is a bright, shocking blue.
Paratroopers prefer the muddy color when sneaking behind enemy lines. I like the fact that manic Boston drivers can see my Day-Globike.
Folding bicycles priced from $450 to $1995 are available at www.montaguebikes.com

GRAPHIC: STOW AND GO: Montague Corp.'s collapsible bicycle gives more options to commuters.

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LENGTH: 327 words

HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Key intel reforms look to the future

BODY:
``The analysts who worked the Iraqi weapons issues universally agreed that in no instance did political pressure cause them to skew or alter any of their analytical judgments.'' - Presidential Commission on Intelligence
**** 
Where there's no smoke, there's no fire. The Bush administration did not twist intelligence to support the invasion of Iraq. It got - and acted on - bad information. Professional Bush-bashers are just going to have to learn to live with that, even as they try to avoid acknowledging the remarkable impact freeing Iraq is having on the rest of the Middle East.
Some partisans such as The New York Times will continue insisting that because the bipartisan Presidential Commission on Intelligence failed to pin the blame on President Bush, its report has ``mainly negative value.''
But others, such as Sen. John Kerry, focused on the most important conclusion of the report. ``This report is much more than a wake-up call. Not only was the intelligence dead wrong about Iraq, but with growing threats in Iran and North Korea we must take deadly seriously the commission's conclusion that we know disturbingly little about the weapons programs of hostile nations,'' Kerry said.
Many of the recommendations would strengthen the hand of new Director of National Intelligence-designate John Negroponte, others would improve the nation's technological capability to detect biological threats. Also proposed is a reorganizing of the Justice Department, because ``its anti-terrorism and intelligence support offices are as scattered as they were on Sept. 10, 2001.''
The president has ordered aides to implement the recommendations but cautions, ``Our collection and analysis of data will never be perfect, but in an age where our margin for error is getting smaller, in an age in which we are at war, the consequences of underestimating a threat could be tens of thousands of innocent lives.''
Bush and Kerry are focused on the right thing - the future.

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HEADLINE: MASS. GI HONORS SERGEANT'S HEROIC LAST STAND

BYLINE: By Jules Crittenden

BODY:
Derek Pelletier credits Sgt. Paul R. Smith, the first recipient of the nation's highest honor in the Iraq War, with getting him and his squadmates home alive.
``He was a hero,'' said Pelletier, 25, of Fall River, a 3rd Infantry Division engineer who was one of 16 soldiers Smith led against as many as 100 Iraqi soldiers trying to overrun their position and a nearby medic station in Baghdad on April 4, 2003. Smith was mortally wounded in the bitter fight. 
Pelletier was at the White House yesterday when President Bush presented the Congressional Medal of Honor to Smith's 11-year-old son.
Outnumbered and exposed as the Iraqis advanced, Smith maneuvered a .50 caliber machine gun into position and stayed at his gun, holding them back and killing as many as 50 until he was killed. Pelletier and a handful of others fought from positions around Smith.
``Sgt. Smith looked at me and said, `We need to stay right here until we get support,'' Pelletier recalled. ``If they would have come over that wall, it would have been hand-to-hand combat. Then, they would have been at the aid station and after that, the command post.''
``If it wasn't for Sgt. Smith and the discipline he instilled in us, I'm sure half of us would have run,'' Pelletier said. ``But because he stood there in the face of imminent death, we stood.''
Smith, 33, was born in El Paso, Texas, and raised in Tampa, Fla. He and his wife, Birgit had two children. Birgit Smith called her husband a ``very tough and passionate soldier'' and said, ``Paul's action two years ago speaks louder than any words ever could. For that was simply the man Paul truly was - always putting others before himself.''
Pelletier said he was both glad and saddened by the ceremony that honored his sergeant.
``I watched his 11-year-old son accept that award for his father. No award can make up for a boy not having his father anymore,'' Pelletier said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

GRAPHIC: HEROIC SACRIFICE: Sgt. Paul R. Smith was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously in a White House ceremony yesterday.

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Yushchenko's courage

BODY:
In the midst of winter, the sight of orange flags and banners and handkerchiefs being waved in the streets of Kiev warmed the hearts of freedom-loving Americans. Hope is a beautiful thing to watch as it unfolds and takes hold of a people who understand its promise.
Today Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko will receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in recognition of his leadership and the calm and steady resolve that encouraged his own people and much of the civilized world to demand a second - and honest - election. That victory wasn't just Yushchenko's. It was a victory for his people and for the rule of law. 
``Our ideals are simple and eternal,'' Yushchenko said yesterday at the White House. ``We want democracy and freedom.''
But he also indicated that he realizes none of that will come easily. After all, when the banners are tucked away and the ``Orange Revolution'' is but a memory, the tough job of governing and of transforming an economy must be dealt with.
``The legacy we inherited is a very difficult one,'' Yushchenko said. ``The rule of law did not exist'' during the previous regime, ``the number one problem is corruption'' and poverty is also a ``huge problem.''
The Ukrainian president is here to lobby for aid, for investment and for U.S. support in joining NATO. To prove his viability as a ``strategic partner,'' Yushchenko has engaged in some painful truth-telling - providing information on the freedom-threatening misdeeds of his predecessor Leonid Kuchma, including a body of evidence that the Kuchma regime sold cruise missles to Iran and to China and radar to Iraq.
Times change, leaders change and as President Bush said yesterday in a joint news conference with Yushchenko, ``freedom is spreading.''
This year it spread to Ukraine in large part because of the courage and the inspiration Viktor Yushchenko provided. It is an honor to have him in our city.

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April 4, 2005 Monday  
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SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. 080

LENGTH: 357 words

HEADLINE: O'Brien rolls with the punches

BYLINE: By Mark Murphy

BODY:
Jim O'Brien could have booked his honeymoon in Baghdad this season for all of the fallout.
His Sixers have played in fits and starts, players have surfaced and disappeared in the rotation, and the team's big-ticket acquisition - the oft-injured Chris Webber - has meshed with the seamless quality of a car wreck.
Perhaps it comes with the territory, but the boos have become a chorus, and two Philadelphia columnists have already questioned whether their native son deserves the boot this summer. 
But at least one condition has remained constant in O'Brien's life.
Yesterday's 97-93 Sixers win over the Celtics was O'Brien's third of the season over his old team, with one game left on April 12.
As Philadelphia fights to hold onto the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, with perhaps an outside shot of catching the Celtics for the division title, O'Brien has dug in.
He knows how to duck - an important skill at this time of year.
``Does it surprise me?'' O'Brien said of the criticism. ``I have the same attitude that I had when I was here. I don't read the papers and I don't listen to talk radio.
``You're going to get criticism. Whether it's in the pros or in college, you have to be open to it. It just is what it is. I've been open to it for 31 years now. No one said that people wouldn't shoot darts at you.''
Yesterday's win over the Atlantic Division leaders, without Webber even in the building, at least created a little space. Thanks to New Jersey's loss to Orlando Saturday night, the Sixers now lead their divisional rivals by 1 1/2 games for the last playoff spot in the conference. Orlando, however, remains a game behind.
``Our guys are battlers,'' said O'Brien. ``We're trying to win games when Chris is banged up, and Allen (Iverson) is dragging himself onto the court every day. Allen seems fine, and I can't dwell on the number of injuries he has right now, which has been well documented.
``But I think training camp will really help us in trying to work Chris in better,'' he said. ``We had a run of seven games with him where I thought we really played well offensively. We started to really come together.''

GRAPHIC: O'BRIEN

LOAD-DATE: April 4, 2005

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HEADLINE: POLS & POLITICS; 
 Pipsqueaks roar

BODY:
Score one for the little guys in the local political arena. State senators voted on the hotly debated stem cell bill last week. The mayor and governor had their own press events. But it was the lowly City Council, which usually gets a collective yawn from the press, that grabbed headlines with its, uh, interesting bid to charge commuters tolls on downtown streets. 
``It was the top news story,'' one City Hall staff member said with astonishment when news of Councilor Paul Scapicchio's idea hit the papers. ``I came in and found (a reporter) sitting in my chair.''
Mitt's faux pas
Gov. Mitt Romney should learn to give local leaders a heads up before having a press event in a Boston residential neighborhood - even if it's to bring good news.
After choosing a Mattapan home to hold a press conference announcing a new senior-tax-break bill, Romney and his staff were scolded by local community activist Mable Graham, who had no idea he was coming.
``I just like to be informed,'' Graham, longtime member of the Mattapan Civic Improvement Association, told Romney afterward as his staff, reporters and nearby neighbors looked on. We bet she's in the Rolodex now.
Barney's frank
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank has been a point man for the Democrats on the Terri Schiavo case, taking sharp aim at conservatives and the GOP congressional leadership's meddling in the case.
Asked about an alleged GOP memo boasting the party could score political points on the issue, Frank said he wasn't offended. He explained that congressmen are, after all, political animals. ``It's like getting mad at a lion for eating meat,'' said Frank. ``It's the nature of the beast.''
Finneran keeps quiet
Former House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran is absent from the debate over stem cell research, which he opposes personally but now favors professionally as head of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.
A biotech council staffer delivered letters to House lawmakers last week before the critical vote on the bill that Finneran thwarted when he was in charge, noting to one lawmaker that Finneran is still fond of his title as speaker.
``He still answers to that,'' she said of his former title.
WHO'S HOT ... The Rev. Jesse Jackson
The reverend confounded conservatives and befuddled Democrats when he joined the Schindler family in their unsuccessful bid to get their daughter Terri Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted.
WHO'S NOT ... John Kerry
The Bay State senator, who has had no problem grabbing the spotlight on issues such as Iraq and Social Security was nowhere to be found in the controversial Schiavo case. He just ducked.
Ann E. Donlan, Dave Wedge, Andrew Miga, Kimberly Atkins and Noelle Straub contributed to this column.

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April 2, 2005 Saturday  
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LENGTH: 295 words

HEADLINE: POPE JOHN PAUL II; 
 The world prays for John Paul

BYLINE: By ANDREW MIGA

BODY:
WASHINGTON - With solemn praise and heartfelt prayers, the nation's capital joined the rest of the world in honoring the life and work of Pope John Paul II.
``The outpouring of love and concern from so many, including millions of Americans, is a testimony to his greatness,'' White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. ``During this time, His Holiness is in the thoughts and prayers of us all.'' 
President Bush and wife Laura prayed for the spiritual leader of the Catholic church and closely monitored developments at the Vatican throughout the day, receiving updates from Chief of Staff Andrew Card.
Leaders from Washington and across the globe praised the 84-year-old pontiff's moral leadership and deep faith during his 26-year reign.
``I know he really loves people,'' Italy's minister for European affairs, Rocco Buttiglione, told an Italian interviewer. ```When I first met him, I touched his hand and he gave me the impression that he would give up his life for people.''
Bush has met with the pope three times. Although they agreed on moral hot-button issues such as abortion, stem-cell research and the recent Terri Schiavo case, the two men sometimes sharply differed.
The pope expressed outrage to Bush last year over the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in which Iraqi detainees were abused. John Paul II also publicly opposed Bush's invasion of Iraq.
Bush awarded the pope the Presidential Medal of Freedom last year.
John Paul II was the first pope to visit the White House, making an official visit in 1979 to the nation's capital. He has met every president since Jimmy Carter.
Theodore Cardinal McCarrick of Washington said because of the pontiff's close ties with the United States and the respect he was paid by U.S. leaders, ``In a certain sense, he was American.''

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LENGTH: 259 words

HEADLINE: Hub square honors fallen soldier who lived dreams

BYLINE: By JESSICA FARGEN

BODY:
Being a soldier was the only thing Danny Londono wanted to do even as far back as the tender age of 4 when he asked his dad for Army boots.
``It took my brother the longest time.  
He didn't know where to get boots for those small feet,'' said Lucia Londono Depineda, Londono's aunt. ``Since he was little, his idea was to go to the Army.''
Londono went on to become an Army sergeant, foot soldier and paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne before being killed last March in Iraq.
Yesterday, in a funeral-like ceremony attended by friends, family and every major political player in Boston, Sgt. Daniel J. Londono Square on East Cottage Avenue and Dawes Street, two doors down from his mother's home, was dedicated.
It would have been his 24th birthday.
``When you pass this way by Hero Square, remember the young, handsome soldier who grew up on East Cottage,'' said Heather Butler, Londono's girlfriend.
The son of a Colombian father and a Polish mother, Londono joined the Army after high school with an eye on getting money for college and stashed away extra cash for his sister's college education.
``Everything he did, he did for his family,'' said Staff Sgt. Matthew Fitch, who served with Londono for four years in Kosovo, Afghanistan and then Iraq.
Londono was killed March 13, 2004, when a Humvee he was riding in was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq. He left behind his parents, Iwona and Bernardo, and his sister, Diana.
Twenty-four white balloons were released into the air yesterday, and birthday cake, Spanish empanadas and Polish stuffed cabbage were served.

GRAPHIC: HERO'S PLACE: Mayor Thomas M. Menino looks on as Iwona Londono and her daughter, Diana, place a wreath at the corner of East Cottage and Dawes streets, newly named Daniel Londono Square in honor of her son who was killed last year in Iraq. STAFF PHOTO BY JON HILL
LONDONO: Army sergeant was killed in Iraq March 13, 2004.

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March 31, 2005 Thursday  
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HEADLINE: Lynch: I saw a stabilizing Iraq

BYLINE: By Noelle Straub

BODY:
WASHINGTON - Returning from Iraq with a much brighter assessment than two of his fellow Bay State congressmen, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch extolled improvements in security, infrastructure and relations with Iraqi citizens. 
``Everything I saw, without exception, was better than my previous visit,'' said the South Boston Democrat, who last toured Iraq in May 2003.
In a helicopter convoy from Baghdad to Tikrit and back, Lynch saw large groups of children running underneath the helicopters' path waiting for crews to throw down candy and toys.
``It just showed me the way these kids and families view the American military, and this was in a pretty tough area,'' he said. ``It was very uplifting.''
The visit left Lynch with ``cautious optimism, but optimism.'' By contrast, U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Malden), who also just visited Iraq, said only someone wearing rose-colored glasses could ``reach a conclusion that the situation in Iraq is stabilizing.''
And U.S. Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester), who accompanied Markey, said he was ``very troubled'' and ``frustrated by the lack of candor'' by U.S. officials.
But Lynch cited increased supplies of electricity, a ``dramatic, dramatic drop'' in the number of battle-related casualties, fewer attacks by insurgents and a greater Iraqi presence on the streets. ``If you talk about stability in those terms, and I guess that's how I see it, the indications are all that there's greater stability,'' he said.
He added that Gen. George Casey, the U.S. commander in Iraq, said it would be ``at least 18 months before the Iraqis would be able to take over security operations in Iraq. . . . That sounds like a basic timeline to me.''

GRAPHIC: `CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM': U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch speaks with reporters at Logan International Airport yesterday after returning from his first trip to Iraq since 2003. AP photo

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HEADLINE: Congressmen unimpressed after visiting unstable Iraq

BYLINE: By Noelle Straub

BODY:
WASHINGTON - Despite administration rhetoric, Iraq remains unstable and too few Iraqi security forces have been trained to allow the United States to withdraw anytime soon, Reps. Edward Markey and James McGovern said after their recent visit. 
``Only if you were wearing rose-colored glasses could you reach a conclusion that the situation in Iraq is stabilizing,'' Markey said.
The pair visited Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq in a week-long swing organized by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
``The Iraq forces the United States is training are not ready by any stretch of the imagination to take over, and they won't be for months or years,'' Markey said.
He added that he saw ``no indication that the United States planned to withdraw any troops for at least a year and probably longer.''
McGovern said U.S. officials told the lawmakers that 147,000 Iraqi troops were trained but admitted that only ``a fraction'' of those were actually ready to patrol the streets.
``We need to accelerate that process and we need to get American troops home,'' he added.

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HEADLINE: `I wanted my son to be remembered'; 
 Family pays tribute to slain soldier

BYLINE: By Jessica Fargen

BODY:
Sgt. Daniel J. Londono won't eat the cake or see the 24 balloons sail into the sky in his honor, but his family hopes that at least he'll be remembered.
Londono, whose 24th birthday would have been Friday, was killed March 13, 2004, in Baghdad, Iraq, when the unarmored Humvee he was riding in was hit by a roadside bomb. 
A Hero Square in his honor will be dedicated at 11 a.m. Friday on East Cottage Avenue and Dawes Street in Dorchester, just two doors down from where he grew up and where his mother still lives.
``When I come out from my house, I can see it any time,'' said Iwona Londono, who is from Poland. ``I wanted my son to be remembered. He deserved to be remembered. He was a wonderful person.''
There will be cake, balloons, a bagpiper and traditional Polish food such as golompki, and Mayor Thomas M. Menino will speak. Londono was attached to the 504th Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division and also served in Kosovo and Afghanistan.
Ed Crowley, a Dorchester resident and event organizer, promised the family he'd help.
``At the wake, I made a commitment to his father that his son wouldn't be forgotten, that was more of a father-to-father thing,'' said Crowley, whose own son, Craig, is returning from Iraq.
Londono, a 2000 graduate of Archbishop Williams High School in Braintree, promised his sister, Diana, he would help her pay for college.
Diana, a senior at Fontbonne Academy in Milton is going to Bay State College next year.
The family wants Londono's unused GI Bill money to go to Diana, but Iwona Londono said she's been told that's not possible.
State Sen. Jack Hart (D-S. Boston) has filed a bill that would allow siblings of fallen soldiers to be eligible for the state's military service scholarship fund.
The fund provides free tuition to state colleges and universities for the spouses and children of fallen soldiers.

GRAPHIC: HERO'S HONOR: Iwona Londono holds a photo of her son, Sgt. Daniel J. Londono, next to the memorial square that will be dedicated in his honor Friday in Dorchester. Daniel Londono was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad last year. Staff photo by David Goldman

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HEADLINE: Wife goes to bat for hubby nabbed in Web love scam

BYLINE: By J.M. Lawrence

BODY:
The wife of a Hyannis man accused of a $176,000 Internet love scam tried to help the feds trap her husband into confessing on tape but now says the federal wire fraud case against him is ```absurd.''
``He would never do anything to hurt anyone.  
He's the kindest, most gentle man I know,'' said Wendy Mailloux, whose husband, Rob Mailloux, 50, was arrested yesterday morning at their home.
She said she let investigators tape a phone call where she quizzed her husband about the Internet romance he allegedly kindled in 2002 with a woman identified in an indictment only as ```Ms. H'' of Virginia.
``I asked everything they wanted,'' Wendy Mailloux said. But her husband said nothing incriminating about his financial dealings with the 50-year-old alleged victim and never showed any signs of having wealth, said Mailloux, who married Rob Mailloux two years ago.
Federal prosecutors claim Rob Mailloux wove a web of lies to convince Ms. H to hand over her credit card and wire him cash. He later posed as his own mother in May 2003 to tell Ms. H that he had been killed in Iraq while assisting the military in computer operations, the government says.
His attorney, Jeffrey Higgins, told a federal magistrate yesterday that Mailloux spent 17 years in the military. Mailloux began shaking uncontrollably yesterday after the judge ordered him held pending a bail hearing today. Wendy Mailloux said her husband has claimed he is a former U.S. Marine who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam and suffers from bipolar disorder.

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March 29, 2005 Tuesday  
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HEADLINE: Feds: $176G scam as woman no match for Hyannis con artist

BYLINE: By J.M. LAWRENCE

BODY:
A Hyannis Don Juan conned a woman he met through an online dating service out of $176,000 before posing as his own mother to claim he was ``killed in action'' in Iraq, said federal prosecutors.
Federal investigators were searching yesterday for Rob Mailloux, 50, of 135 Pitcher's Way, to arrest him on a indictment charging eight counts of wire fraud.
The victim, named in court papers only as ``Ms. H'' of Virginia, met Mailloux through matchmaker.com, a top online dating service, in November 2002. 
Mailloux, who also uses the name Oscar E. Mailloux Jr., allegedly told a string of whoppers beginning with claims he owned a $1 million house and a small software company. He later claimed that Gen. Tommy Franks had awarded him two Purple Hearts in Iraq.
``In fact, as defendant Mailloux well knew, he did not own any house or company, and was a man with very limited financial means,'' according to the indictment unsealed Friday.
Neighbors of Mailloux described him yesterday as a ``nice guy'' who drives a truck with veteran's plates and is married to a nurse.
A month after his first contact with Ms. H via e-mails and phone, Mailloux convinced her to wire him $2,132 to buy a new laptop by claiming his assets were ``frozen'' in litigation against his company.
Mailloux promised Ms. H he would come visit her. But when he never showed, the victim got a message from his ``mother'' claiming her son had been ``stabbed by gang members and robbed of his computer'' on his way to Virginia.
The victim bought the story and mailed him her L.L. Bean credit card on Jan. 6, 2003, after he claimed he needed a loan to pay an attorney handling his company's lawsuit.
Mailloux allegedly ran up $82,779 in debt on the card in four months before he announced he was ``called to the Pentagon to work on computer operations'' and had to go to Iraq.
He also spun a sob story about needing to pay his employees, and convinced the woman to wire him $45,433 from her IRA with promises to make her a partner in the company, the government claims. In May 2003, he convinced her to pony up another $30,000 for his ``corporate taxes'' and mortgage while promising to pay her once the lawsuit was settled.
Later that month, he posed as his own mother to report that he was missing in Iraq. A week later, ``mom'' told Ms. H her son had been killed, but then claimed he had been reclassified as missing, and later classified again as a prisoner of war.

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HEADLINE: Obituary; 
 Rev. Joseph LaBran of Weston, at 89, Jesuit, teacher

BODY:
The Rev. Joseph J. LaBran of Weston, a Jesuit priest, died Wednesday at Campion Health Center in Weston. He was 89. 
Born in Lynn, Father LaBran graduated from Lynn Classical High School in 1934. He attended Holy Cross College for two years before entering the Jesuit order in Lenox. He completed theology studies at Weston College and was ordained in 1944. He then completed a year of advanced ascetical studies and pastoral service in Pomfret, Conn.
Father LaBran taught English, math, physics and religion for two years at Holy Cross. He then taught in the New England Jesuits' secondary school in Baghdad for nine years. In 1958, he returned to Holy Cross as director of the Student Christian Life Community, a student counselor, director of the Lay apostolate and director of campus ministry.
Father LaBran was involved in many social justice issues and student life on campus. A zealous chaplain and mentor to the students, he conducted weeklong retreats several times a year in Rhode Island.
He is survived by a nephew and many nieces.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Chapel of the Holy Spirit, Campion Center, Weston.
Burial will be in Jesuit Cemetery, Holy Cross College, Worcester.
Arrangements by Brady & Fallon Funeral Home.

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March 28, 2005 Monday  
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SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. 098

LENGTH: 614 words

HEADLINE: BASEBALL; 
 Trot off and running; 
 Nixon has healthy outlook after injuries

BYLINE: By JEFF HORRIGAN

BODY:
FORT MYERS - When Trot Nixon reflects on the memorable ride of 2004, he may be the only member of the defending World Series champions who thinks of a car drive rather than the end of an 86-year title drought.
After all, the Red Sox right fielder missed nearly three-quarters of last season due to the repercussions of a fateful ride to spring training from his North Carolina home that forced him to skip most of the main course of the historic season before finally being allowed to savor the dessert.
Just days after agreeing to a three-year, $19.5 million contract extension, Nixon suffered a herniated disk in his back during his drive to training camp then hobbled through a nagging quadriceps strain and two stints on the disabled list totaling 102 games. Even though he returned in September and ended up playing in 13 postseason games, the ordeal made a lasting impact. 
``I think I would have felt cheated if I didn't have the opportunity to play in September and the postseason,'' said Nixon, who went 2-for-4 with a double in yesterday's 8-7 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at City of Palms Park. ``I learned that you have to put things in proper perspective and deal with it the best you can.''
When he began to dwell on his misfortune and mope about the injuries last season, Nixon said he just took a look at the world around him to recognize his good fortune.
``Things happen in the course of people's lives that you have no control over,'' he said. ``I'm out there worrying about trying to play baseball games while others are dealing with life-altering situations like cancer and things like that. You just pick up the paper or turn on the news and see what's going on. You see what the men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan are going through every day, and here I am worried about being on the DL.
``When I got upset and wondered, `Why is this happening to me?' I had to stop and realize that I'm very blessed being able to do what I do. It dawns on you that there are people going through a whole lot worse than you.''
Nixon, who played an average of 136 games from 1999-2003, took action to safeguard himself against more injuries by trimming his weight from 235 pounds last year to 217 this spring.
``I could carry (235) but I felt overweight,'' he said. ``When you're a certain weight and you start losing weight as the season goes on, sometimes you lose energy. Hopefully, that won't happen to me.''
Nixon's only pain this spring has been the mental anguish he inflicted upon himself Saturday, when he committed a couple of fundamental defensive mistakes that led to two runs in a 4-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. When Julio Lugo rounded first base too far after poking a two-out single to right field in the third inning, Nixon threw behind the runner to first base, allowing Lugo to race safely into second. Later in the inning, Alex Sanchez grounded another single to right and Nixon neglected to pay attention to lead runner Travis Lee, who scored from first when the ball was thrown in to second base.
``I'm human and I make mistakes just like everyone else,'' Nixon said. ``It was just a brain cramp. I'm just glad it happened here and not in the regular season, but I was extremely upset with myself. I'm still upset with myself. If I could put things behind me a lot quicker, like other people, I'd be better off.''
Innocent mistakes not withstanding, the Sox are in agreement that they are better off having a healthy Nixon back in the lineup.
``You can tell by the way he showed up this year - he's in great shape - that he's going to do good,'' manager Terry Francona said. ``It's almost like signing a free agent because we didn't have him healthy all year.''

GRAPHIC: TAKE THAT: Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield prepares to uncork a knuckleball during yesterday's 8-7 win over the Pirates in Fort Myers. AP PHOTO

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March 28, 2005 Monday  
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SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 025

LENGTH: 487 words

HEADLINE: OP-ED; 
 Red Lake hardly registers

BYLINE: By Beverly Beckham

BODY:
We're predictable. Shoot up a bunch of white kids and we're all over it, like cats on milk. The people who run the media in this country are mostly white and when dead kids look like their kids, their faces are on the front page. And that's where they stay for days, while pundits and politicians ask the predictable ``whys?'' 
That no one is asking why in the case of Jeff Weise, the 16-year-old Native American who went on a shooting spree last week, killing his grandfather, his grandfather's girlfriend, six students and a security guard before killing himself, says much more about America values than it does about one troubled kid who didn't stand a chance from the get-go.
This is what we were consumed with after this massacre: The long, slow dying of a woman who has been dying for years. ``American Idol,'' whether the voting miscue was a stunt or not. Britney Spears. Is she pregnant or isn't she? And, after a five-week hiatus, ``Desperate Housewives'' is restarting.
Columbine shocked us. The massacre at Red Lake High School hardly phased us. Why? Because Jeff Weise didn't grow up in a nice, white suburb and didn't live in a nice, white neighborhood and he didn't have parents we could look at and say, ``We could be them.''
Weise hardly had parents at all. His father killed himself when Jeff was 7 and his mother may as well have. She beat her boy. She locked him out of the house. She told him he was nothing. And she drank and drank and got in a car crash, totaled her brain and now lives in a nursing home.
What Jeff Weise did was predictable. He was a loner. He was disturbed. He was depressed. He was teased. He was a time bomb.
And no one noticed because he grew up in a Third World nation that happens to sit smack dab in the middle of THISnation. Native Americans want it this way. But reservation life is not working.
At Red Lake Reservation, Minn., the median income is $22,000. Unemployment is more than 50 percent. Four of every five students meet government poverty standards. One of every four is in special ed. Drug abuse, alcoholism, teen pregnancy are rampant.
Reservation life is a failure. But who cares? It's out of sight, out of mind, even when nine people are shot.
Half a world away, we're fighting a war for freedom. President Bush says Iraq's freedom is worth U.S. lives.
What about Native Americans? What about the only people who really AREAmericans?
You don't see Mr. Bush rallying the troops to save them. You don't see lawyers in front of cameras fighting for them because there's no money to be made on poor people. You don't see judges scrambling to help. Or governors changing laws. Or the Supreme Court being asked to weigh in on it.
Americans took to praying for a woman in a coma. It's easy to pray. It's a lot harder to do something. Native Americans are foreigners in their own country. They live and they die and really, who cares?
Talk back to Beverly Beckham at bevbeckham@aol.com.

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March 27, 2005 Sunday  
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SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 022

LENGTH: 278 words

HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Easter's hope found in unlikely places

BODY:
Christianity's holiest day came early this year, but as it always does - no matter when it falls on the calendar - Easter has that ``just in time'' feeling about it.
Evidence of this season of new beginnings can be found everywhere.  
Just look around. And don't stop in just the obvious places. It's easy to find Easter in the smells and sounds of spring as they win a war of attrition with rapidly shrinking snowbanks.
But Easter is also Lauren Rosenzweig, a 9/11 widow raising two boys in Acton, who is now running a vigorous campaign for selectman to give more of herself to her community.
Easter is 15-year-old Patrick Holland, who had the courage to divorce his own murderer father and was adopted officially last week by his new, loving family.
Easter is Ismael Saib, who came to this country at 7 years old, learned English in two months, and is entering Boston Latin School as a freshman this fall. Saib outshined even the veteran pols in a room of 400 in East Boston last week with his eloquent testimonial of the importance of YMCA programs in young lives.
And Easter is a 3-month-old in Holyoke delivered into the arms of police by a hopeless mother still able to believe in her child's future.
Looking beyond our own horizon, the message of the resurrection can be found in the thrusting up of freedom through stubborn soil in Iraq and Afghanistan, in Lebanon, and now Kyrgyzstan.
And in the willingness of two peoples to forgive four years of bloodshed and follow a roadmap to peace.
Just look around. Finding Easter's blessings in unlikely places is as delightful as discovering that last brightly colored egg hidden beneath a patch of brown leaves.
Easter is hope.

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March 27, 2005 Sunday  
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SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 023

LENGTH: 1072 words

HEADLINE: POLS & POLITICS; 
 Deval's hired gun reverses aim

BODY:
THE BUZZ
IT JUST MIGHT be a bit difficult for the new press spokesman for Democrat Deval Patrick to really attack Gov. Mitt Romney as this whole race for governor gets going.
It seems Deval's guy once was a Romney guy. 
Kahlil Byrd, who likely will be press secretary to Patrick's soon-to-be-official campaign, gave $100 to Romney in April 2002 - as Romney began his march to the Corner Office against five Democrats.
Byrd got some heat for the donation because he was a producer for a WGBH/BBC radio program and the donation violated company policy.
But, by the time a news story hit about his and other donations to campaigns from journalists, Byrd had left WGBH to attend the Kennedy School of Government.
``That's me,'' Byrd confirmed.
``I once thought that Mitt Romney was the candidate to provide bold leadership for this state. I was obviously wrong and I think Deval Patrick is the leader we need.''
He's since given the same amount - no more, no less - to Patrick's campaign.
BAY STATE DEMOCRATIC Party Chairman Phil Johnston is starting to hear the boo birds again from some disgruntled members of the party faithful who fear he's dropped the ball on holding Romney's feet to the fire.
The Democratic Party's rapid response team is neither rapid nor responsive - and Johnston hasn't led any kind of sustained, coordinated attack on Romney and the GOP, according to party insiders who fear the governor is gaining valuable ground, despite his obvious vulnerabilities.
Stay tuned.
THEY'RE USED TO red carpets and being treated like champions, but when they're in the State House, Red Sox brass join the common folk.
Which means they have to use the same elevators and doors as everyone else.
After briefing Romney and House and Senate leaders in Senate President Robert E. Travaglini's office about their ``no-strings-attached'' decision to renovate Fenway Park, the entourage headed down the Grand Staircase, poised for a quick getaway out through a now-closed, and alarmed, door.
So instead of slipping out quietly, the easily recognizable celebrities, principal owner John Henry, chief executive Larry Lucchino and chairman Tom Werner and the rest of their crew, ignored the signs and went out the door anyway, setting off the alarm.
Maybe there is something to this Red Sox ``idiot'' label.
HE'S YET TO get word on whether he has an opponent, but Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner already has a campaign slogan: ``Bold, Bald and Bright.''
``Bald'' was chosen because that's what children call the follically challenged councilor from Roxbury, one City Hall insider said.
Good thing he didn't choose words he's called by some of his fellow councilors.
FOR WHATEVER REASON, it seems Norwegians love City Councilor John Tobin Jr.
Tobin says he's the first elected official in the country to use video Web logging to communicate with people in and outside of his district. The blogs are on his Web site www.votejohntobin.com.
He recently developed a Norwegian following when he sent a video message to Raymond Kristiansen, who is trying to get the Norwegian Liberal Youth political party to start using the cyber tool.
In response, Tobin received a message from Herman Friele, mayor of Bergen, Norway, expressing appreciation for his kindness and Web logging prowess.
``I'm nothing here, but in Norway I'm a star!'' Tobin said.
We couldn't have said it better ourselves.
SOMETIMES, THE TRUTH hurts.
Jane Fonda, the aging Hollywood starlet and workout-tape queen, tried to blame Sen. John F. Kerry's sensitive side for his presidential-campaign loss the other day during a speech at Montana State University.
``Men who show compassion or try to make peace are ridiculed as `girlie men' or, like John Kerry, as wimps,'' Fonda was quoted as saying in a local Montana newspaper.
Ouch.
A QUESTION POSED to President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, who was visiting the president's Texas ranch last week, seemed to throw the leader of the free world for a loop.
Asked about ``sharp differences'' between the two countries over issues such as missile defense, Martin immediately said their relationship is ``very, very strong,'' then acknowledged differences of opinion are bound to crop up.
Bush then replied, ``It's interesting - `sharp differences.' I guess that's - `sharp' means kind of, if you think about what that means, that means maybe differences so that we can't have a positive relationship. I view them - look, we've got differences. I don't know if you'd categorize them as differences that would then prevent us from finding common ground. I don't view it that way.''
Uh, gotcha, Mr. President.
AND FINALLY THIS week, an oops on our part.
Information regarding work being done by a staffer for City Councilor Felix Arroyo on Evacuation Day was incorrectly reported in last week's column. The staffer was stuffing envelopes for a youth forum being sponsored by Arroyo, not for a fund-raiser.
The Herald regrets the error.
WB-56 POLITICAL ANALYST JON KELLER'S SPIN-O-METER
``We are expecting all candidates in this race to run based on their record and issues.'' - A spokesman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino, responding to derogatory comments made about the mayor by the campaign manager for challenger Maura Hennigan.
Ah, yes, Boston politics, where campaigns are always pure and chaste. You know, like the last mayoral race, where the checkered financial affairs of Menino's challenger somehow leaked out. OK, the Hennigan henchman's reference to Menino's ``drool'' was boorish and stupid, the stuff landslide losers are made of. But John Kerry aside, around here, no one's holier than thou.
Andrew Miga, Ann E. Donlan, Dave Wedge, Kimberly Atkins, Noelle Straub and David R. Guarino contributed to this page.
E-mail Pols & Politics editor David R. Guarino at dguarino@bostonherald.comHis
WHO'S HOT
Stephen F. Lynch
The U.S. Rep. from Southie was perhaps the one shining light in what was otherwise the least funny St. Patrick's Day breakfast roast in years. After matching wit and whimsy with Barney Frank on the House floor over the emotional Terri Schiavo case, Lynch jetted off to another tour of war-torn Iraq. Good week.
WHO'S NOT
Patrick Kennedy
Apparently bothered his cousin Joe Kennedy was getting all that press for his yearslong Hamlet act over whether he'd run for governor of Massachusetts, the Rhode Island congressman has this week sought to redefine the phrase ``indecisive.'' Last check, he still might run. But, then again, he might not.

GRAPHIC: Honor, Mayor Mirth; PICTURE THIS - Drool? What Drool? Maybe it's us, but this look on Hub Mayor Thomas M. Menino's face doesn't look, well, happy. Given that he looked this peeved at last Sunday's St. Pat's breakfast, maybe there's a good reason City Councilor Maura Hennigan's campaign manager took such angry whacks at the Mayhah two days later. STAFF PHOTO BY MARK GARFINKEL

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HEADLINE: Student's idea blooms into boost for charity

BYLINE: By PATRICK LALLY

BODY:
The New England Sports Center in Marlboro will sparkle tonight as accomplished figure skaters from around the world perform to raise money for charity.
The brainchild of Holliston High senior Alex Wilfand, the ``Junior Champions Ice Skating Spectacular'' will donate all proceeds to the American Red Cross Military Relief Fund.
``My friend, Sarah, got a phone call that said her friend died in Iraq . . . A lot of families are going through things like that recently, so I wanted to give to something that benefits people in that situation,'' Wilfand said.

GRAPHIC: SPIRAL: Holliston High senior Alex Wilfand performs in preparation for the `Junior Champions Ice Skating Spectacular.' All proceeds will be donated to charity. STAFF PHOTO BY MIKE ADASKAVEG

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HEADLINE: Lynch makes return trip to war-torn Iraq

BYLINE: By ANDREW MIGA

BODY:
WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch leaves today on a six-day overseas trip that includes stops in war-torn Iraq, where he will meet with U.S. troops in the field, commanders and government officials. 
``This will be an opportunity to view first-hand what's happening on the ground in Iraq,'' said Lynch (D-South Boston). ``It will be a chance to see for ourselves what is going on there.''
Unlike some fellow members of the Bay State congressional delegation who have urged pulling U.S. forces from Iraq, Lynch has argued against any withdrawal timetable, saying it would permit insurgents to simply wait out coalition troops.
The trip marks Lynch's second visit to Iraq since 2003, two months after U.S. forces first attacked former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime.
Lynch is a member of the House Committee on Government Reform's subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations.
The congressman will be traveling as part of a three-member delegation, including Republican Reps. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Todd Platts of Pennsylvania.
The delegation plans to visit soldiers recovering from injuries in military hospitals in Germany and Spain.
In Jordan, Lynch will visit an Iraqi police training facility.
During a two-day Israel stop, he is scheduled to meet with both Israeli and Palestinian government officials.
Two years ago, Lynch was part of the first congressional delegation to travel to Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion.
The congressman met with then-U.S. administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer and visited with troops on the front lines, including fighters from the 173rd Airborne.

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HEADLINE: Code of the street claims another

BYLINE: By MIKE BARNICLE

BODY:
``Here's the problem,'' a cop said yesterday. ``Tacary Jones got shot in 2003 and wouldn't help us with the investigation. From the time he got shot until he got killed Friday, you kind of knew where he was going: that he wouldn't make it to 18.''
Jones was on the 19 bus Friday, headed down Geneva Avenue, when Ivan Hodge,18, and allegedly the shooter here, walked up and fired a round into his chest with a pretty big gun, killing him. Hodge,like so many of the young and lethal, thought he could fade quickly from the crime scene to continue with a life that consists of standing on a corner waiting to shoot or be shot at without enduring arrest; police grabbed him on the railroad bridge above Geneva Avenue 50 yards from where a city bus with a dozen passengers and one corpse stopped. 
``What was it about?'' a second cop said, repeating the question. ``Who knows? Could be anything or nothing. Could be street stuff that's been going on for a couple years now. Not gang stuff, but street stuff; he lives on Everton. You live on Olney. You get shot. Could have been a look. Something as simple as that.''
It is often easier to follow the intricacies, feuds and power struggles of Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq or the Lebanese and Syrians in Beirut than it is to monitor the unearned and illogical hate between kids from different neighborhoods, gangs and street corners in Boston. One thing is clear though, add any number of police imaginable - nine or 900 - and odds are Tacary Jones still would have died on that bus Friday. His homicide is merely the latest piece of compelling evidence to bolster the theory that gun violence among kids has more to do with their pathology and the bizarre psychology of the street than it does with numbers of police available, politics or prayer.
``Where do the guns come from?'' the second cop said, repeating the next question asked. ``We don't know. They might be rentals. They might be borrowed for a specific job, like to kill Tacary. All we know is there are a lot of them out here.''
He was talking about a small slice of the city: From Columbia Road, down Geneva Avenue, Bowdoin Street, Olney and various side streets like Everton, especially 15 Everton where Jones was shot two years ago in the same house where I recalled a crack dealer named ``Juicy'' Jones getting killed on the sidewalk at least a decade ago. It is a three-decker directly across from 14 Everton where a young guy named Darryl Delaney lived before he was charged with killing Terrell Hodge,the brother of Ivan, who is now charged with murdering Tacary Jones.
``Remember how everyone used to talk about the Charlestown Code of Silence,'' the first cop was saying. ``Well, that was nothing compared to the lack of cooperation we get from some of these kids. And the Cape Verdeans? They tell you even less.''
There's a day-care center at the corner of Geneva and Olney. Parents arrive to pick up children at the same time older kids with murder on their minds and a pistol in their pants pocket take to the street for business.
``Kid gets shot. He's 15. He's paralyzed for life,'' a third cop added. ``We ask him: `Tell us who shot you. We'll get him.' He says what they all say to us: `Go eff yourself.' ''
Each day and too many evenings, the calls come, ``Shots fired,'' and police respond quickly. But there is no way any uniform can police the mental illness that makes kids deranged, dangerous and delusional enough to think they can murder and then sit on a stoop waiting for whatever or whoever might come along for revenge. And of all the calls logged, none is for teenagers who might as well be listed as lost. Lost to the street. To the life they lead and the lives that end before age 18.

GRAPHIC: VIGIL: Henrietta Adger, the mother of murder victim Tacary Jones, listens as his alleged killer is arraigned in Dorchester District Court yesterday. HERALD POOL PHOTO
ANOTHER HEARTACHE: Ida Jones, grandmother of Tacary Jones and Chauntae Jones, who was buried alive with her unborn child in 1999, sits at Ivan Hodges arraignment. HERALD POOL PHOTO

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HEADLINE: Letters to the Editor

BODY:
Ricky remembered
Boston suffered a chink in its armor after the senseless slaying of Suffolk County Sgt. Richard Dever (March 20).
Ricky was a picture-perfect Boston guy - the pride of Dorchester. He possessed all the ingredients of a winner: a devoted family man, an undeniable lady's man and the consummate man's man. His affable manner, cool gait and Hollywood smile were all part of the Ricky Dever package. He seemed ageless, so full of so much vitality that you'd think he'd always be around to offer a helping hand or just provide a laugh. 
On the night of March 18, two worlds collided. In Ricky there was loyalty, virtue, righteousness and courage. In the other corner were despair, addiction and evil. His slayer was, in effect, the anti-Ricky.
- Thomas Donahue, Deputy Sheriff Suffolk County Sheriff's Dept.
Doesn't hold water
The Herald's coverage of the North Attleboro Board of Health's vote to halt water fluoridation is a disgrace to the principles of journalism (``Town board's anti-fluoride vote called hard to swallow,'' March 18). Besides misquoting me, the Herald made no reference to a board-issued press release citing an unresolved issue between two towns sharing one water treatment plant, serious health concerns of long-term ingestion and toxic waste found in the water fluoridation chemicals as well as a reference to a new book, ``The Fluoride Deception.'' The full press release can be read at www.north-attleboro.ma.us/BOH/.
- Diane Battistello, North Attleboro
Courage comes first
I believe that the elimination of racial quotas within the Boston Fire Department has been a long time coming (``New class ends BFD race quota but call for diversity still heard,'' March 18). My grandfather, Bradley Rattigan, served on Ladder 7 for the BFD for over 37 years, 17 of them as a lieutenant. He risked his life every day to save the lives of complete strangers.
Firefighters put their lives on the line regardless of the race of those they are rescuing. For Boston Society of Vulcans President Karen Miller to say, ``You can't address the needs of the city with an all-white force'' is ridiculous. I understand the need for diversity. However, it is the bravery of the men and women who serve our cities that we should be looking at and not their ethnicity.
- Sean Crothers, Plymouth
Story misses mark
I wish to point out a few errors here (``Cops up in arms,'' March 14). The .50 caliber rifle is not an assault rifle; it is a manually-operated, bolt-action firearm that is either single-shot or equipped with a five-round low-capacity magazine. Other than the caliber, it operates in the same manner as any other sporting rifle. It has no capability of semiautomatic or full-automatic fire, which is necessary to be classified as an assault rifle. It is heavy, averaging 30 pounds or more in weight, and usually is 5 feet long. It is of no practical use to criminals.
The FN Five-Seven pistol is named for its caliber, 5.7 millimeter, which is much smaller than the 9 millimeter and .40-caliber Glock pistols issued by police. Even the old .38 Special and .357 Magnum revolvers formerly used by police have much more impact.
One last point: Internet gun sales are prohibited by federal law. All gun purchases must be through a federally licensed dealer.
- Tom Tremblay, Dracut
Can't patch up mess
So Bechtel wants to put patches on problem areas (``Big Dig throws up road blocks,'' March 19). Assume you have a new car and you bring it in for service with only 1,000 miles on the odometer. It gets smashed up in the shop. What would you do if they told you they would patch up your car? Most people would demand a new car.
Our tunnel is new and it obviously is broken and now the contractors want to put a patch on it. The government should make sure there are no patches. Tear down the parts that are obviously damaged and make them new.
- Bill Coombs, Waltham
Postwar perils many
In response to your editorial (``Winning Iraq war made us safer,'' March 20), consider the following:
** President Bush started out to capture Osama bin Ladin (Remember him? If not refer to the history texts).
** We had the world on our side on the 12th of September 2001.
** President Bush started the Iraq war to seek the ``weapons of mass destruction,'' then it was to bring peace to Iraq, etc.
** President Bush declared ``mission accomplished'' in May 2003.
Since then he lost us the world. He also lost approximately 1,500 U.S. personnel.
- John Thompson, Braintree

LOAD-DATE: March 22, 2005

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HEADLINE: MUSIC; 
 Dropkicks rule; 
 Avalon stand cements their place as Hub rock icons

BYLINE: By CHRISTOPHER BLAGG

BODY:
You may never get them to admit it, but after plugging away for years as Boston's scrappy Irish punk underdogs, the Dropkick Murphys have become Boston rock icons.
Their five-night, six-show, sold-out run at Avalon that ended Sunday stated their case quite clearly. In a little less than a decade, the band's working-class anthems and legendary crowd camaraderie have created a fan base so passionate that no other Boston band can compete.
Consider Drew Melvin, a U.S. Army soldier stationed at Fort Sill in Oklahoma and a fan since 1997. He burned all his time off to catch five of the shows. 
``I had seven days of leave saved up, so I thought what better way to spend it than with the Dropkicks?'' said Melvin.
The 23-year-old from Franklin just spent five months in Iraq at a base outside of Fallujah.
``We were getting shot at like four times a week, so it was a motivational tool for me to listen to the Murphys. They reminded me of home,'' said Melvin. ``I was the driver of a Humvee and we'd blast tunes like `Finnegans Wake' and `Blackout' through the loudspeakers as we were getting shot at.''
On Sunday night, the final show at the crammed-to-capacity Avalon, Melvin was in the crowd as the Dropkicks pulled out all the stops, including a gaggle of Irish step-dancing girls and a full bagpipe and traditional drum corps. Their opening tune, ``For Boston'' created instant pandemonium, the floor turning into a sweat-drenched scene from ``Lord of the Flies.''
Why not a bigger venue? Guitarist Marc Orrell said, ``I actually prefer it to be all chaotic and closed in with people hanging off the ceiling, rather than some enormous Madison Square Garden or something.''
The fans' loyalty borders on lunacy. Lead singer Al Barr said it's a two-way street. ``We've always felt that the audience is a member of the band, so when we pour our passion into playing, they see that and it brings the fire out in them. We're so dependent on our crowd.''
Added guitarist James Lynch, ``We're not singing about coke and strippers, we're just singing about normal everyday life. What you see is what you get with us, and I think people respond to that.''
Last year everyday life for most Bostonians focused on the Red Sox. The Dropkicks' remake of the song ``Tessie'' became the unofficial anthem to last year's world championship season, and drummer Matt Kelly joked that the band takes ``full credit.'' No coincidence that more than half of the fans bouncing off each other on the floor Sunday sported Sox gear.
It's not all fun and games, though. The Dropkicks have made no bones about their disapproval of the war and the current president, but as bassist/vocalist Ken Casey said during Sunday's show, ``Whatever your position on the war, you gotta support our troops over there.'' Nowadays, almost every band makes this statement at some point in a concert. But the Dropkicks back it up.
When Andrew Farrar, a dedicated Dropkicks fan, was killed fighting in Iraq, his younger brother Nathan contacted the band through their Web site asking for a favor. Andrew had written a letter home stating that if anything should happen to him, he wanted ``The Fields of Athenry'' a Dropkicks staple, to be played at his funeral. Logistics prevented the Dropkicks from performing live, so the band recorded a special acoustic version of the tune.
Says Nathan Farrar, ``Ken (Casey) was the last person to show up at the wake, coming straight from the recording studio. He tucked the CD under Andrew's arm and then gave a copy to the family. We were complete strangers and they reached out and helped us more than we could believe. Those guys are not your typical rock stars. I can't say enough about them. They couldn't have been more generous or compassionate.''
The Farrar family was invited to be a guest of the band Sunday night, and witnessed them coercing the entire crowd to sing a reverent version of ``The Fields of Athenry'' in tribute to Andrew.
ICONS Book it.

GRAPHIC: STAGE DIVING: Dropkick Murphys guitarist Marc Orell, left, falls into the crowd during the band's St. Patrick's Day show. Piper Spicy McHaggis, singer Al Barr, Orell and bass player Ken Casey man the Avalon stage, inset photo from left. STAFF PHOTOS BY DOUGLAS MCFADD
CROWD CONTROL: A crowd surfer is hauled down in front of singer Al Barr during the Dropkick Murphys' St. Patrick's Day show, above. Barr ingnites the crowd at Avalon, below. Dropkick guitarist Marc Orell changes clothes backstage after the band's St. Patrick's Day show at Avalon, right. STAFF PHOTOS BY DOUGLAS MCFADD

LOAD-DATE: March 22, 2005

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HEADLINE: Thousands protest two-year-old war

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD and O'RYAN JOHNSON

BODY:
Thousands of activists gathered on Boston Common yesterday afternoon on the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq to demand that U.S. troops come home.
Veterans and families of soldiers joined peace protesters in calling for the end of the war, which has claimed the lives of more than two dozen service members from Massachusetts so far. 
Shalom Keller of Newton, a 23-year-old veteran of Afghanistan, wore his desert uniform shirt.
``The troops just want to come home. I'm all for supporting the troops,'' Keller said, clapping a palm over his heart. ``I just want them to come home.''
Keller said the devastation and suffering of the Iraqi people he witnessed while serving there with the 101st Airborne Division in 2003 and 2004 soured him on the war and the Army.
Rose Gonzalez addressed the crowd on behalf of her mother, a 47-year-old grandmother who she said joined the National Guard never expecting to be deployed as part of an occupation force.
``Bring them home now!'' Gonzalez shouted. The protesters lined up mock coffins draped with American flags to represent soldiers from Massachusetts killed in the war.
Tony Flaherty, 74, of South Boston, a naval officer during Vietnam, said, ``As an old man and a veteran whose heart breaks for the young people dying over there, I'd like to believe that people are waking up.''
Police arrested seven demonstrators throughout the day on charges that range from disorderly conduct to assault and battery on a police officer. City Councilor Chuck Turner said in one incident, a police motorcycle backed into a crowd of activists, sparking a brief scuffle with protesters.

GRAPHIC: MOURNING: An anti-war protester, who would not give her name, bows over the `coffin' representing soldiers who have died in Iraq, yesterday on Boston Common. STAFF PHOTO BY NANCY LANE
CLASH: Protesters clash with police during an anti-war march near Park Street on Boston Common yesterday. STAFF PHOTO BY DOUGLAS MCFADD

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HEADLINE: Hennigan's got drivers' hole-hearted support

BYLINE: By Margery Eagan

BODY:
Many have asked: Why is City Councilor Maura Hennigan doing this? Why would anyone willingly walk into the valley of political humiliation by running - with little money or evident support - against a popular mayor flush with both?
Well we're here today to say: Think out of the box. Or hole. As in potholes. 
And zapped dogs.
Consider both. Hennigan has.
``It might be a landslide,'' says the candidate, a cockeyed optimist.
Likewise, would-be campaign slogan writers:
``Save a Mutt, Fix a Rut.''
``Take Bark the Streets.''
Or this from eager neophyte David Schneider-Joseph, with a nod to our Iraq invasion: ``Shock ... and Paw.''
Set the scene: the Haitian-American Unity Day Parade, May 2003. Says Hennigan, ``I was walking along with (lawyer and politician) Eddie Jenkins.'' Very handsome, we said. ``Very handsome,'' she agreed.
``And the next thing, he goes to turn to talk to me, but I'm not there.''
Where is she? ``On the ground.'' Or in the ground, to be exact, swallowed whole by a hole on Blue Hill Avenue at the penultimate moment of the little-known parade. I put that parade on the map, says the councilor, who made her biggest career news that day. ``But not realizing that this is the thing that could make me mayor.''
Councilor Hennigan broke her ankle. Councilor Hennigan has two German shepherds (Luna and Storm) that need walking. Councilor Hennigan must climb daily to the third-floor of her Jamaica Plain home. ``Every time I had to hop up and down those stairs, I'm thinking, `They're gonna curse the day I fell in that hole.' ''
Thus began the radicalization of Maura Hennigan, once mild-mannered councilor-at-large. She soon realized that everywhere she went, voters didn't ask her views on education or the pilot school she began or even on the Big Dig, the big debacle. No, they asked about her busted ankle and told her pothole tales.
It's an issue that crosses ethnic, gender and economic lines, Hennigan says. She soon launched a pothole Web site (www.potholeweb.com) so people can report potholes around the city and monitor how long it takes Menino's crew to fix them right (forever, she claims; an inexcusable scandal, she insists). She sounds like an engineer explaining just how you're supposed to fix them (read all about it at potholeweb.com).
And then, to add to her mayoral race arsenal, manholes and bridges, electric light poles and just plain old sidewalks began electrocuting innocent Labrador retrievers and beloved boxers around town. Hennigan led the zapped dog hearings at City Hall. Local Lassies barked. Yuppie owners wept. TV anchors reported with all due solemnity at 6 and 11 p.m. When the owners of slain dog Cassius demanded $750,000 from Nstar, the smart money said give it to the traumatized teen who watched his dog breathe his last! And the rest, as at least some of us say, is Hennigan history.
True, most politicos give Maura Hennigan even less chance against Menino than the thoroughly trounced Peggy Davis-Mullen last time around. Others say Bostonians who think they've got pothole problems now should see what happens if they write a check to her. But Hennigan points out that you can give less than $50 anonymously. She hopes to gets thousands of dollars from sisterhood PACs. And at least one local politico says her candidacy is not entirely ridiculous. She does have the pothole vote locked up. That's her base. Every hole's a vote. The question is: Are there enough holes to win?

LOAD-DATE: March 20, 2005

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HEADLINE: Wounded corporal: We're headed in right direction

BODY:
A land mine took Marine Cpl. Peter Bagarella's leg and took him away from Iraq, but from his hospital room in Washington, D.C., he keeps track of progress in Iraq and his friends who are still there. 
The 21-year-old North Falmouth native said Americans should be hopeful on today's second anniversary of the Iraq invasion.
``The people are actually starting to fight for themselves now. We're doing a great job over there. Slowly but surely it's turning around,'' he said.
Robert Somers, 20, of Wareham is proud of his brother Scott Somers, who returned to Iraq for a second stint in January.
But he said, ``It's nerve-racking because you hear about soldiers going down and you just wonder if it's from his platoon. I'm just praying and hoping.''
Cheryl Skarinka of Whitman, whose son, Pvt. Paul Skarinka, was severely wounded by shrapnel, said she wonders when the soldiers will come home.
``I'd feel better about what the guys and women have gone through if I knew there was a plan to get them out of there,'' she said.

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Winning Iraq war made us safer

BODY:
On the anniversary of the Iraq invasion, it would be a pleasant surprise to see a bit of national pride expressed in all that has been accomplished in the Middle East in two short years. But bellyaching comes naturally to some folks so allow us to point out the obvious. The world is safer today than it was on March 20, 2003. 
Just don't expect to read that on the editorial pages of the bellyacher-in-chief, The New York Times, which had this to say Friday: ``The invasion of Iraq. . . was a world-changing event. We can see many of the consequences already. The good ones so far exist mainly as hopes and are fewer than the bad ones, some of which are all too concrete.'' Groan, groan, grumble, grumble.
Maybe these folks should spend some time reading their own newspaper to better understand that the Bush doctrine of spreading freedom in the Middle East to keep us safer at home is not just a policy of choice, but a policy of necessity.
One recent front-page Times story detailed an internal federal government analysis of post-9/11 aviation security. Some $12 billion has been spent fortifying aircraft and airports, yet the report concludes commercial aviation remains an appealing target for terrorists, and general aviation (private aircraft) and helicopters are easy pickings for terrorists looking to spread deadly biological agents or commit a 9/11-style hit on a standing target.
Then there was a report in Time magazine that indicates bin Laden front man Abu Musab al-Zarqawi sees the Mexican border as an easy entry point into the United States and suggests the next targets in the homeland will be virtually unsecured - or soft - like movie theaters and schools.
Both of these disturbing tidbits affirm that President Bush was exactly right in concluding that defeating terrorism must begin on the streets of Baghdad and Ramallah, not Boston and Detroit.
And really, what's the alternative? While spending billions on aviation, little progress has been made securing other transit modes. What should the U.S. spend - $24 billion, $50 billion? And how on earth are we to go about securing every school, every theater, every pizza parlor, every shopping mall in every community in every state against suicidal terrorists?
We can't. And to pretend otherwise is irresponsible.
The policy of spreading freedom in the Middle East has been praised as visionary and knocked, in turn, as naive or brazen. We assume, facts aside, it will continue to be. But the reality is that it's none of these. It's simply necessary.

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HEADLINE: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

BODY:
Roxbury under siege
I can't believe the Herald printed the story about development in Roxbury (``Mayor wastes $500G in bizarre housing spat,'' March 16). The Herald obviously never talked to anyone but the Fromm brothers - two hit-and-run developers who are out to make a quick buck. The immediate neighbors and community were united in their opposition to the Fromms' plans to turn one of the most beautiful pieces of open land in Roxbury's Highland Park into a wasteland jammed with prefab boxes. It is sad that the community should be forced to spend its tax dollars to stop developers like the Fromms, who disrespect the community, its history and its voices. The Menino administration should be applauded. 
- James H. Gallagher, Roxbury
Eagan's elites prevail
In her column celebrating the victory of future state Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry, Margery Eagan fails to mention that Forry doesn't want the people to have a vote on the important issue of marriage (``Rep fills Finneran's shoes - in heels,'' March 17). While Forry and Eagan are entitled to their views about gay marriage, why are they so fearful of letting the people vote on the matter?
Eagan is increasingly becoming a cheerleader for elitism.
- Jim MacPherson, Norwood
Keeler deserves better
I am writing to express my disappointment with your headline and article involving members of the Boston Police Department (``Suit hopes to catch embattled Hub detective with pants down,'' March 17). I have been a Boston police officer for 16 years and have worked with most of the officers you named, including Dan Keeler. I know these officers to be hard-working, compassionate and credible. Why do you allow defense lawyer Stephen Hrones to carry his grudges with police officers such as Keeler?
What will you print next? Hrones' allegation that the baseball steroid scandal is the fault of Boston police?
- Brian T. Gill, Hanover
Just eat your peas
The youth of America are not suffering from a lack of socialized health insurance but from a lack of fresh broccoli, carrots and asparagus.
Our socialist Sen. John Kerry is attempting to foist upon us a $100 billion national health insurance bill for children, the cost of which would be passed down to the citizens of this nation who are already taxed to the Marxist hilt (``Kerry fortifies war chest, keeps momentum for 2008,'' March 9).
No human being can survive on a diet of fat- and salt-laden snack foods while remaining motionless. Parents with sick kids would be better off pursuing fresh cauliflower rather than socialized health insurance for their children.
- William Santy, Chicopee
Cowardice rewarded
I find it amazing that the coward who abandoned his fellow soldiers isn't hanging his head in shame (``Bay State peace group to honor Iraq deserter,'' March 15). It sickens me that the word ``courage'' was used in connection with his name.
God bless our troops.
- Cheryl Morrissey, Belmont

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HEADLINE: OP-ED; 
 Eternal blessings of spring bring hope

BYLINE: By Beverly Beckham

BODY:
Two snowstorms ago, when the trees were sealed in ice and car doors were frozen shut and car windows glazed, when everything looked as dead as Jack Nicholson at the end of ``The Shining,'' a friend said, ``If these trees bloom after all this, I am never again going to question the existence of God.''
The trees haven't bloomed yet but crocuses and daffodils are pushing their way through the soil at my daughter's house, just inches away from a snowbank. And there are small patches of green on everyone's lawns. And mud on shoes. And last week, on a drive home from New York, there was a sudden haze of spring green on the tops of some trees. 
Winter hadn't killed them. They'd appeared dead but they weren't. Neither are the trees my friend lost faith in. She believes in God most of the time, but has doubts about a divine being, as many of us do when the going gets rough. Why do people suffer? Why do they die? What if this is all there is? What if winter never ends?
She knows for now, anyway, on this day, at this moment, that winter does pass and that life is strong and resilient and maybe even eternal.
She is constantly looking for signs: Show me that life goes on.
The Earth spins on its axis and is tilted at 23 degrees. If it were tilted any more or any less, the Earth would burn up or be buried under of tons of ice. The moon is 240,000 miles away. If it were closer, tides would flood the earth.
Signs are everywhere.
``When I look at the sky, which you have made, at the moon and the stars, which you have set in their places. What are human beings, that you think of them; mere mortals that you care for them?'' - Psalms 8:4-5
This winter, a tsunami killed hundreds of thousands of people. In Iraq, soldiers and civilians alike are still being killed. Loss and death are everywhere, down the street, next door, at the door.
Today, this first day of spring, is no small miracle. It's God tapping us on the shoulder, reminding us that life and death are part of a circle, like day and night, like youth and old age, like summer and winter and spring and fall.
You wish it could be a straight trajectory from here. You wish that every day from now could be just a little longer and a little warmer, too.
But spring will cross back into winter many times before it meanders toward summer. This is life.
``I found Him in the shining of the stars. I marked Him in the flowering of His fields,'' Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote more than 150 years ago.
I hope my friend finds Him today in the slant of the sun, in the scent of the air, in the newly soft ground and in the trees still bare, but destined to bloom.
Talk back to Beverly Beckham at bevbeckham@aol.com.

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HEADLINE: Bookmark Diva; 
 I am woman, hear me blog

BYLINE: By STEPHANIE SCHOROW

BODY:
March being Women's History Month and all, Bookmark Diva plans to educate her adoring readers (all two of them) about the land 'o lady bloggers.
Let her Divaness make one thing clear. She knows the cry of ``women are bloggers, too'' is so obvious as to be insulting to the many - yes, Virginia, GAZILLIONS of - women on the Web. 
But now that the big bad mainstream media has discovered blogs - just as Columbus discovered America - there's been much gnashing of teeth about how self- ish white male bloggers are hogging all the space on the Internet.
Sigh. Just as, for example, ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY, babes are in plain view on the blogosphere, bloviating and using naughty words just like the guys. Here's a teensy blogroll.
DailyKos, Atrios and Instapundit get cited by the MSM and Jon Stewart, but have they changed the language? Heather Armstrong introduced the word ``dooced'' - as in getting sacked for blogging - by being perhaps the first person to be fired for comments on her Dooce.com. Armstrong's wacky, witty mommy-dearest rants just won four awards in the fifth annual 2005 Bloggies contest, including best American Weblog.
Another Web diva is www.mousewords.com, a snarky mix of political and pop cultural. Says mousemistress Amanda Marcotte, ``I don't actually type my entries so much as stomp back and forth through my office wearing a diaphanous robe with a feather collar and feather-topped mule slippers while smoking from a cigarette holder, drinking a martini and dictating my blog entries to my shirtless cabana boy, whose muscles are surprisingly rippled for someone who sits at a computer all day.'' Diva so approves.
Contributing to both blogging and stalking is Heather L. Hunter, who writes personal musing on This Fish Needs a Bicycle (www.thisfish.com). Hunter achieved notoriety with a New York Times essay on how she ``blogstalked'' her boyfriend and his lover via the Internet. Diva found it neurotic. And instructive.
Diva has long perused World O' Crap (http://blogs.salon.com/ 0002874) without realizing it was done by a LADY! (Can girls say ``crap''?) Incendiary inamorata Michelle Malkin - whose own michellemalkin.com consistently ranks among the top blogs in traffic - says of WO'C that ``this woman's daily roasting of conservative writers, self included, makes Mo' Dowd look like the cheap Bic lighter she is.''
Veteran bloggers include the courageous, anonymous self-described ``girl blog from Iraq,'' Baghdad Burning (riverbendblog.blogspot.com) and Jeralyn Merritt of Talkleft.com, a lawyer turned blogger who was among the first Web scribes to cover the Democratic convention in Boston.
Rosie O'Donnell has truly bizarre musing at http://once adored.blogspot.com, showing she knows as much about spelling as about running a magazine.
More ink has been spilled about Ana Marie Cox's political dishWonkette.com than bourbon guzzled by the scribe. Wonkette is both token and target, often dismissed as being popular only because of her sex talk. While Wonkette is, indeed, supremely salacious, she's also laugh-out-loud hilarious. If sex were the only draw, the infamous former porn site www.whitehouse.com would have dominated the Bloggies.

LOAD-DATE: March 19, 2005

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March 17, 2005 Thursday  
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HEADLINE: It's no big deal for Vinatieri, Pats

BYLINE: By Kevin Mannix

BODY:
The Patriots and kicker Adam Vinatieri weren't able to reach agreement on a new long-term contract by yesterday's 4 p.m. deadline, but that doesn't mean the NFL's highest scorer and Pro Bowl kicker will be going anywhere for the 2005 season.
He's still the team's franchise player, which in all probability ties him to the Pats for at least the upcoming season. The only way he would go to another team would be if that club makes him a contract proposal that the Patriots are unwilling to match. That's unlikely to take place, however, since the Pats would receive a first-round draft pick in each of the next two seasons. 
A more likely scenario is for the Patriots and Vinatieri to revisit discussions on a long-term contract after July 15. According to collective bargaining rules, if the Pats and Vinatieri reach agreement on a long-term contract between now and July 15, the team would lose the right to use the ``franchise player'' tag on any other player for the duration of the agreement with Vinatieri.
Under the franchise designation, Vinatieri receives a one-year salary equal to the average of the five highest paid kickers in the league - $1.787 million. Vinatieri earned $1.431 million in 2004.
The Patriots announced their preseason schedule yesterday, though all the dates have not yet been determined.
Their first game will be at Cincinnati during the week of Aug. 11-15. After that, the Pats host the Saints on Thursday, Aug. 18, in an 8 p.m. game that will be televised nationally on Fox. The Patriots will also play the Saints at Gillette during the regular season.
The Pats will then travel to Green Bay to take on the Packers during the week of Aug. 25-29.
The final game will be at Gillette Stadium on either Sept. 1 or Sept. 2 against the New York Giants. That game, as well as those against the Bengals and Packers, will be televised on Ch. 5. . . .
The Pats will bring the Lombardi Trophy to Portland, Maine, on April 8 to participate in a parade and rally honoring Maine soldiers who have served in Iraq and other wars.

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HEADLINE: Big anti-war rally set for Hub Sunday

BYLINE: By Dave Wedge

BODY:
Activists seeking to recapture pre-presidential election fervor are staging an anti-war rally on Boston Common Sunday. Some are also planning a sit-in at a Hub military recruitment center. 
Alison Ramer, a member of Boston Mobilization, which is planning the war protest, said local groups are planning acts of civil disobedience in conjunction with the second anniversary of the Iraq invasion and calls from national anti-war organizations for ``direct action.''
``It should be a pretty broad display of civil disobedience unlike anything we've seen in the Boston area for a while,'' Ramer said.
Boston police officials did not respond to an interview request.
Artist and activist Dave Tree, whose punk rock band $uperPower will be among the musical acts at the 1 p.m. rally, called the event ``an opportunity to show our discontent and total dissatisfaction with the whole war in Iraq.''
Similar rallies are planned for Saturday in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. Buses will leave from Harvard University and Roxbury on Saturday to take protesters to the Big Apple, where marchers reportedly plan to descend on Central Park and Mayor Michael Bloomberg's home.

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HEADLINE: OP-ED; 
 Truce would suit Romney, Kennedy

BYLINE: By Wayne Woodlief

BODY:
The recent round of activity in Massachusetts by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy - all energy at age 73 - signals that he's primed for a heavily-favored eighth run for re-election in 2006. And it means that Gov. Mitt Romney will have to handle Kennedy with kid gloves if Romney also runs for re-election and the two wind up as titular heads of rival campaigns.
It might not quite be the kind of unwritten non-aggression pact that Kennedy and former GOP Sen. Edward Brooke enjoyed for years, neither breaking a sweat on behalf of the other's foe. 
But if the Republicans ever do find someone to run against Kennedy - and they are TRYINGto recruit a candidate - don't expect to see the governor introducing him door-to-door. And surely the gov wouldn't bad-mouth the senator, even as he gave some ritual endorsement.
Romney must rely on Kennedy to advance some of his major missions as governor; from trying to stave off the closure of Hanscom Air Force Base to economic development, health care and the recent partnering the two did to save the state millions in Medicaid reimbursement.
And Mitt may need Ted more than vice-versa. Despite the gov's sweet-talking of fellow Republican George W. Bush, the president did not pick a single New Englander for the base closure commission that will decide the fate of Hanscom and an Army systems center in Natick. It may come down to Kennedy's legendary wiliness.
That's why Romney undoubtedly spoke his true feelings at a joint appearance with Kennedy March 4, when he said, ``Fortunately, people can vote for both of us, and that's the way I like it.''
That doesn't mean Republicans will give Kennedy a pass. Here, say insiders in both parties, is why it makes sense for the GOP to find someone to oppose Kennedy:
- ``If Kennedy is unopposed, the pressure will grow on him to go out and campaign for a Democrat against the governor,'' a GOP guru said. ``If Kennedy has his own race . . . he has an out - just as the governor has to avoid stumping against Kennedy.''
- Republican leaders have this argument - which makes some sense - for anyone bold enough to risk almost certain defeat: Losing to Kennedy can help your political future - if you do it with grace and ideas.
A Republican adviser said, ``It certainly helped Romney get known'' after challenging Kennedy in 1994. And the GOP's Joe Malone parlayed a good-guy loss in 1988 into two terms as state treasurer.
Maybe there's some Republican out there willing to take a whipping while perhaps sparing the party the embarrassment of someone like the quirky (and I'm being generous) Jack E. Robinson again becoming the GOP's standard bearer. But the recruitment could not have Romney's fingerprints. As a Democrat said, ``You don't want to make the bear angry.''
No, better to let this bear make his way through the Senate forest, using his heft to help Massachusetts. Just this week, Kennedy pumped out two new bills. In one, teaming up with two Republicans, he proposes new financial aid for middle-income college students' families.
And the other - an outgrowth of Kennedy's summit for Iraqi veterans at Blue Shield Blue Cross - would bar ``cutting special combat pay and allowances for soldiers after they are injured in a combat zone and evacuated to recuperate.''
The measure is the Senate version of a House bill authored by Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Malden) and is named the Crosby-Puller Combat Wounds Compensation Act, for the late Lt. Gen. Lewis ``Chesty'' Puller, a legendary Marine in World War II, and Marine Lance Cpl. James Crosby, 20, of Saugus, wounded in Iraq in 2004.
At a veterans' summit in Boston, Crosby said, ``The fight is not over'' when you are wounded. ``You are fighting for your life and your whole life has been disrupted, which is the time you need the money the most.'' Kennedy wants to ensure the vets get it. No wonder the gov is treating him with kid gloves.
Wayne Woodlief's column runs weekly.

GRAPHIC: COMMON GROUND: The state's interests - and their own - give Ted and Mitt reason aplenty to embrace.

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HEADLINE: THE TICKER

BODY:
- Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin plans to tell a U.S. House subcommittee today that the current system for mediating disputes between investors and brokers via National Association of Securities Dealers is `rigged,'' ``unfair'' and in desperate need of reform if small investors are ever going to get a fair shot. 
- Los Angeles Dodgers owner and longtime Hub executive Frank McCourt sketched out plans for kick-starting the long-anticipated development of his sprawling array of parking lots near South Boston's waterfront with development executive Ken Himmel, best known for developing the giant Time Warner Center in New York. 
- Shares of Canadian tech standout Research In Motion Ltd. soared after the maker of the ubiquitous Blackberry wireless e-mail devices said it would pay $450 million to settle a patent-infringement suit brought by NTP Inc., of Virginia.
- President Bush tapped Defense Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who has been a lightning rod for criticism of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and other defense policies, to take over as head of the World Bank.
- STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

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HEADLINE: Bay State peace group to honor Iraq deserter

BYLINE: By ROB HANEISEN (METROWEST DAILY NEWS)

BODY:
SHERBORN - A former soldier who served nearly a year in jail for desertion after refusing to go back to Iraq will receive the Peace Abbey's Courage of Conscience Award tonight.
Nearly a year ago, Camilo Mejia ended five months of hiding when he spoke at the Peace Abbey before surrendering to authorities because he refused to rejoin his Florida National Guard unit in Iraq after a 14-day leave in 2003. 
``Mejia will receive the award because this is the first individual to have the courage to publicly stand up to the U.S. policy in Iraq,'' said Peace Abbey Director Lewis Randa.
``It's only when you come home and begin to look for justifications for the war that you realize war is evil,'' said Mejia last year.
Randa said Mejia came to the conclusion that the war was not worth fighting after serving in Iraq.
``He no longer felt a responsibility to return to his unit. He learned first hand that the Iraqi people were not being best served by the intervention,'' said Randa, who was a conscientious objector of the Vietnam War. ``He received all of his counseling at the Peace Abbey through the five months he was underground. That's where he learned about conscientious objection.''
Randa would not say whether Mejia was sheltered at the Peace Abbey while being a fugitive.

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LENGTH: 508 words

HEADLINE: BOOKS; 
 Lamott brings her A game to `Plan B'

BYLINE: By Lauren Beckham Falcone

BODY:
``Plan B: Further Thoughts On Faith'' by Anne Lamott (Riverhead Books, $24.95)
You know Anne Lamott's book ``Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith'' has really gotten to you when you say to your separation-anxiety afflicted dog - whom you're about to catapult into a snowbank because he won't stop whining - ``You know, if you could just give it up to Jesus, you might find a soft, clear space in your head and be OK.''
And you haven't gone to church recently. Or willingly. Ever. 
But Lamott, a hip holy roller, has a way of bringing out the born-again in even the devil himself.
Maybe that's because Lamott is at her best when she writes about being at your worst, and ``Plan B'' is further proof of just that.
Lamott, a liberal single mother and former drug addict and alcoholic, isn't your average God-fearing Christian. She believes in karma, struggles to not constantly wish ill on President Bush, wears a bracelet blessed by the Dalai Lama and swears. A lot. She also left her mother's ashes in the back of her closet for two years.
Billy Graham she ain't.
So when she writes about God and Mary and the rest of the big family in charge, you tend not to roll your eyes the way you do when you stumble across a Gaithers' Reunion on cable. Instead, you think, ``Wouldn't it be nicer to have a little more faith and fewer moments of dread and despair?''
Lamott succeeds in delivering her message because she is smart. And funny. And as cranky, crazy and self-loathing as the rest of us. So she prays. So what? When she writes about faith, she makes sense because nothing really does.
``These are such ripe, ripe times for paranoia and despair that each celebration, each occasion of tribal love and music and overeating glows more brightly against the swampy backdrop of the war in Iraq. I have never been more paranoid in my life - some days I'm like the comedian Emo Philips, who thought the man hammering on the roof next door was calling him a paranoid little weirdo, in Morse code,'' Lamott writes.
She also writes about family, especially her teenage son and her menopausal self living under one roof: ``I need to put a quick disclaimer so that when I say what I'm about to say, you will know that the truest thing in the world is that I love my son more than life itself. I would rather be with him, talk to him, and watch him grow than anything else on earth. OK?
``So: I woke up one morning not long ago and lay in bed trying to remember whether the night before I had actually threatened to have the pets put to sleep or whether I had only insinuated that I would no longer intercede to keep them alive when, because of his neglect, they began starving to death.''
Lamott, who has written five novels, has had more critical and commercial success with her memoirs, which include ``Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year,'' ``Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life'' and the prequel to ``Plan B,'' ``Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith.'' She is a much needed voice among American essayists and ``Plan B'' cements this.

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March 11, 2005 Friday  
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LENGTH: 558 words

HEADLINE: BASEBALL; 
 Politicians off base; 
 Steroid problem is least of their worries

BYLINE: By MICHAEL GEE

BODY:
**********
WASHINGTON - The House Committee on Government Operations voted to investigate itself yesterday. Subpoenas were issued to committee chairman Tom Davis (R-Chump) and ranking Democrat Henry Waxman (D-Clown) to compel their testimony on the body's decision to hold hearings on steroid use in major league baseball. 
``We need to get to the bottom of this,'' Davis said. ``The American people have a right to know why, despite the war in Iraq, the budget deficit, the debate on the future of Social Security, and the rising costs of gasoline, we're wasting the public's time and money prostituting ourselves to get our names in the paper and our mugs on TV.''
**********
The above news item never happened, although it should've. The congressional thrust to butt into baseball's business is a disgrace constituting a far bigger problem for our nation than whether or not Sammy Sosa had chemical help hitting homers. Rather than tend to their knitting, our elected officials are mounting a pointless fishing expedition/witch hunt.
Don't the members know their committee's own name? Most citizens are unaware the big leagues are part of the federal government. Honor the genius of James Madison for creating its four branches - the executive, legislative, judicial and baseball.
What's the public interest here? Steroids are already illegal. Baseball has a new drug testing policy in place, and since it just started, Congress can't call it a failure. Not the body that 3 1/2 years after 9/11 has yet to deal with the loophole allowing terror suspects to buy automatic weapons.
The steroid hearings are a cheap stunt allowing congressmen to look noble while doing nothing but abuse their powers of office. They're employing the Constitution to force ballplayers to become stool pigeons, tattling on their teammates.
The tipoff to the committee's real intent was the subpoena issued to Mark McGwire. He's not a ballplayer anymore, just a private citizen. Calling McGwire as a witness is pure McCarthyism. Are you now or were you ever a steroid user?
The tipoff that the committee is incompetent as well as misguided is that Barry Bonds was NOT summoned to testify. These bozos can't even identify the right witches to hunt. Committee member Dennis Kucinich (there's a firm hand on the tiller of the ship of state) said they didn't want the hearings to be ``a publicity circus.''
Right. The real reason Bonds wasn't called was cowardice. Bonds is every bit as arrogant and twice as smart as the average congressman, quite capable of turning the tables on his interrogators.
There's been no vast public outcry for Congress to butt into Bud Selig's business. On any list of issues facing our society, steroid use in baseball ranks about 1,349th in importance, and voters know it. The only ones who don't are the more hysteric members of the Horsehide Cult, those sports journalists who are under the impression the national pastime is one of the world's major religions.
Whatever the law says, baseball's on firm moral ground fighting these subpoenas. Selig should attempt to have Earl Weaver testify, after a three-martini lunch. One of Weaver's magnificent obscene tirades is just what the honorable members deserve.
Failing that, those served subpoenas should stand mute. If they're cited for contempt of Congress, more power to them. I'd plead guilty with pride.

GRAPHIC: A REAL LAUGHER: Barry Bonds, who had fun yesterday during a spring workout, was not called to testify before Congress on steroids. AP PHOTO

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HEADLINE: Movie Review; 
 `Palace' homes in on soldiers' life in Iraq

BYLINE: By PAUL SHERMAN

BODY:
``Gunner Palace.''
Rated PG-13. At the Kendall Square Cinema.
Three stars (out of four)
The American soldiers in the documentary ``Gunner Palace'' aren't strictly heroic liberators or jackbooted imperialists. They're neither and both, and that's what makes the movie interesting. 
Moviemakers Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein rode with the gunners of the Army's 2/3 Field Artillery in late 2003 and again in early 2004 as they went through their daily routine: scheduled patrols, special raids and downtime.
The movie's title refers to the place where that downtime happens, the partially destroyed, mostly lavish palace where Uday Hussein cavorted and caroused. The army has taken it over as a headquarters/barracks for these grunts, complete with deluxe swimming pool.
The palace makes for a bizarre disconnect between what happens in the streets and off-duty. One day, the soldiers are patrolling the streets of Baghdad in their Humvees, concerned that any piece of roadside garbage might be an explosive. The next they're in bathing suits at the pool, dancing with a female soldier to an oldies band. (The golf range behind the pool gives the movie a brief ``M*A*S*H'' absurdity.)
Mostly, ``Gunner Palace'' plays like ``Cops'' without Miranda rights. The soldiers knock down gates to get into houses where suspected insurgents might be, cuff inhabitants and regularly take suspects into custody, sometimes just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, it seems.
It's all about living to see another day for these soldiers. You really feel for them for being in harm's way; conversely, when Iraqi civilians hurl rocks at their vehicles and the soldiers take it personally, it's not too much of a stretch to see how abuses such as those at Abu Ghraib prison can happen.
The soldiers that ``Gunner Palace'' presents are almost all young and from small towns, with a mix of pride and disillusionment running through them. Tucker and Epperlein give screen time to some of these soldiers' freestyle raps about their violent combat experience and another soldier's loss-themed poetry. Guitar-playing Stuart Wilf emerges as the movie's heart, a cutup whose boisterous humor about such things as the shortage of vehicle armor masks a sad frustration about the war's lackof progress and high body count.
``Gunner Palace'' falters in co-director Tucker's clumsy attempt to personalize the movie, though. His first-person narration about the events and people he sees is hard to hear, forced and adds little.
(``Gunner Palace'' includes cursing and dangerous situations.)

GRAPHIC: CASTLE GUARD: U.S. Army Sgt. Robert Beatty patrols Baghdad with his unit, headquartered in Uday Hussein's former palace.

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HEADLINE: Jazz/World; 
 Persian Masters cross borders

BYLINE: By BOB YOUNG

BODY:
Kayhan Kalhor isn't much for politics, and the last topic he wants to discuss is President Bush's notorious Axis of Evil.
But the Iranian kamancheh and setarplayer, who appears with his fellow Masters of Persian Music tomorrow at Berklee Performance Center in Boston, is resigned to the fact that the political and the musical often converge these days.
``We're ambassadors for our culture,'' said Kalhor. ``Unfortunately, we are often taken for political ambassadors as well, which we don't want to have anything to do with.'' 
In this charged climate, Kalhor nevertheless recognizes that any visit from an artist who hails from a country bordering Iraq, especially one that's been accused of wanting to build nuclear weapons, piques more than a little interest. Even if that artist is first and foremost an ambassador of ancient Persian classical music.
``When an American musician does a tour outside the United States, they're not responsible for what American troops do in Iraq or Afghanistan,'' he said. ``We'd like to have the same situation and not be responsible for our politics. Of course, we sometimes have difficulty understanding what (our government) does.''
It's less difficult to understand what the Masters of Persian Music have done since forming as a supergroup four years ago: Two tours' worth of sold-out concert halls in North America; a Grammy-nominated CD; a just-released double CD, ``Faryad'' (World Village); and a 2005 tour that takes them to Chicago's Symphony Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall in L.A. and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Back in Iran, Kalhor, singer Mohammad Reza Shajarian and tar player and composer Hossein Alizadeh are considered giants. They're joined on this tour by tombak player Homayoun Shajarian, son of Mohammad Rez Shajarian.
``The situation has been booming for Persian music and it continues to be that way,'' said Kalhor. ``There is more interest in the West in world music in general, and what we present is very pure and untouched.''
And accessible, as the new album makes clear. While the music they create can be complex, much of it melds classical and mystical Persian poetry with instrumentals in a way that fans of European classical music can understand. The music's improvisation within a strict system is also something that jazz listeners can relate to.
The upshot: a sound that's as soothing as it is intense.
``The music is very spiritual and is rooted in ancient traditions,'' said Kalhor, who has been a member of the Ghazal ensemble, and collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma and the Kronos Quartet. ``The instruments are ancestors of instruments in the West.''
The kamancheh, which Kalhor plays, is a spiked fiddle, while his setar precedes the sitar.
``Our music is not the kind that's very, very esoteric and people have to try really hard to listen to,'' he said. ``In my opinion, it's very familiar to Western listeners.''
In Iran these days, ``You can hear everything from light Persian music to classical Persian to Western and Iranian pop,'' Kalhor said.
What the government realized awhile ago, however, is that Persian classical music could be an especially powerful export, which has turned out to be a mixed blessing for the Masters of Persian Music.
While the group's members have had to deal with many of the same visa complications that have made visiting the U.S. difficult for many foreign artists, they have been encouraged by Iran's powers-that-be to continue serving as unofficial cultural ambassadors - a role they're reluctant to immerse themselves in fully.
``The members of this group are really well known in Iran as independent musicians,'' said Kalhor. ``We perform independently and we try to keep it that way. We don't have any kind of `positions.'
``Every government in the world spends millions of dollars to promote their cultures outside of their country, organizing concerts, exhibitions and so on. We're doing this free for our government. Why should they be opposed to it?''
The Masters of Persian Music appear tomorrow at 8 p.m. at Berklee Performance Center, Boston. Tickets: $28-$50. Call 617-876-4275 or go to www.worldmusic.org.
CD PICK: Kurt Rosenwinkel, ``Deep Song'' (Verve)
LIVE SURE SHOT: John Novello, Ryles, Cambridge, tonight at 7. Mark Elf, also at Ryles, tonight at 9. Tickets: $12 each show. Call 617-876-9330 or go to www.rylesjazz.com.

GRAPHIC: AMBASSADORS: From left, Mohammad Reza Shajarian, Hossein Alizadeh, Kayhan Kalhor and Homayoun Shajarian of Masters of Persian Music.

LOAD-DATE: March 11, 2005

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HEADLINE: Op-Ed; 
 Mothers-to-be, get Oprah salute

BYLINE: By BEVERLY BECKHAM

BODY:
You gotta love Oprah.
She threw a surprise baby shower for 640 mothers-to-be and that shower was her show Wednesday.
She flew her crew from Chicago to Kentucky, turned an Army base into a theater, dialed up some celebrity friends, enlisted the help of a few businesses and gave some young, amazing women not just a boatload of gifts for their babies. She gave them a gift, too. She honored them. She said, ``Thank you'' in a big, dramatic way. 
``It all started nine months ago when hundreds of Fort Campbell husbands and wives were reunited when the legendary 101st Airborne returned home from a grueling tour of duty in Iraq,'' Oprah said in her introduction. ``The result of those happy reunions? You guessed it. Fort Campbell's biggest baby boom ever.''
It's not unusual to see give-aways on TV. But this was no ``Queen for a Day.'' This was a tribute to all 640 pregnant women soldiers and soldiers' wives who are going about their lives trying to ignore the ax over their heads.
``It's very hard being the wife of a soldier,'' Haiti Grigsby said. ``I was a soldier for a long time and I thought that was hard, but it was nothing compared to wondering how my husband's doing and if my kids are going to have a father to play with every day.''
``I know I'll probably have to go back to Iraq after I have my baby,'' Spec. Takita Elky said. ``It's very hard to think of you missing your first child, everything, you know? The way they grow up and their first steps and first sayings.''
Oprah dispelled, for a while anyway, the sadness that dogs these women. She threw a perfect party. Everything was extravagant: the giant cake, the music, the cheerleaders, all the gifts, celebrities - Sharon Stone, Ben Affleck, Cindy Crawford, Heather Locklear, Denise Richards, Elle Macpherson - presenting their own gifts.
Graco gave every woman a baby travel system and Johnson and Johnson gave, in addition to its products and a digital camera, every mother-to-be $1,000 so they can fly in a family member or friend to be with them when they give birth.
TV is TV and everything is staged and it's all about ratings and companies give away products, not because they're good people, but because it's good PR.
But Oprah knows how to work this.
A baby was born during Wednesday's show. This makes for compelling TV, too. New life in the middle of what already feels like an old war. Hope was what this show was about. Hope multiplied by 640.
``Hi. My name is TW2 Tracey Bailey and I'm expecting twins in three weeks. I'm a Black Hawk pilot and I'm married to an Apache pilot. Both of us were over in Iraq together for a year. After a year, you get used to the mortars and you get used to people shooting at you, believe it or not, and it's just business as usual. Being pregnant and being in the military, nothing stops for you.''
The baby shower was a welcome intermission. Thank you, Oprah.
Talk back to Beverly Beckham at bevbeckham@aol.com

GRAPHIC: OPRAH: She too earns her stripes.

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HEADLINE: Dan Rather `Remembers'; 
 Retiring newsman revisits the highs and lows of 40 years at CBS

BYLINE: By Sarah Rodman

BODY:
In ``Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers,'' tonight at 8 on WBZ (Ch. 4), Rather recalls a CBS news executive telling him, ``I don't think you're an anchor. I don't think you'll ever become one.''
Rather went on to prove that man wrong, putting a distinctive stamp on the newsreader role with both his pioneering reportorial style and his homespun folksiness. 
The 73-year-old Texan steps down as the anchor of the ``CBS Evening News'' tonight at 6:30, 24 years to the day that he took over for the venerable Walter Cronkite.
That executive's lack of faith no doubt had its roots in Rather's obvious love for in-the-trenches reporting.
The journalist made a name for himself as a tenacious interviewer of world leaders and a witness on the front lines of history ranging from the Civil Rights movement, Vietnam and Watergate to the recent tsunami disaster.
``A Reporter Remembers'' - hosted oddly, but without a self-serving tone, by Rather himself - chronicles his almost 40-year history with the network and illustrates how Rather refused to tether himself to a desk and TelePrompTer. Instead, he kept asking what he believed to be the toughest questions and traveled to such places as Iraq, Afghanistan and Asia to get stories.
Rather doesn't shrink from the ``Memogate'' stain on his record in the retrospective. He replays his on-air apology for his failure to insist on a vigorous authentication of the fraudulent documents regarding President Bush's National Guard service. He admits his passion may have gotten the better of him.
``It's painful to me,'' he says.
He also takes on his critics, refusing to accept the ``liberal bias'' mantle placed on him, saying he's never tailored his style to the prevailing political winds or any personal ideology.
Though it's impossible for some to separate Rather from their perception of his politics - or their own - his lengthy time in the anchor chair speaks to his success as a television broadcaster.
Even when he would spin off into one of his nutty analogies during election nights or closed his broadcasts by simply stating, ``Courage,'' Rather was a solid presence.
His ratings, however, were not. ``CBS Evening News'' declined in the Nielsens during Rather's tenure, eventually landing in a distant third place to Peter Jennings at ABC and the recently retired Tom Brokaw at NBC.
Rather will continue working for CBS news as a correspondent for ``60 Minutes Wednesday.''
``Face the Nation'' host Bob Schieffer will take over as an interim anchor until the network decides on a permanent replacement.

GRAPHIC: SIGNING OFF: In 24 years at the helm of `CBS Evening News,' Dan Rather redefined the role of anchor, traveling with news crews to countries such as Vietnam, top, and Iraq, left. Rather steps down from his post tonight.

LOAD-DATE: March 9, 2005

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HEADLINE: Mourners celebrate beloved teacher's life

BYLINE: By JENNIFER ROSINSKI

BODY:
More than 500 people chuckled and cried yesterday in celebration of murdered East Boston High School teacher Andrea Harvey's affinity for Hello Kitty, Scrabble, the TV show ``X-Files'' and gourmet vegan meals.
``You are tough. You are all the good things in Cambridge,'' said friend Malaika Thorne, struggling through tears to read the poem she wrote in honor of Harvey, a Cambridge native. ``You're something mystical . . . And in your students immortal.'' 
The crowd at Harvard Memorial Church was notably silent on her husband, Damion Linton, the man prosecutors accuse of strangling the 28-year-old on Feb. 23 after he fought with his girlfriend over Harvey - whom Linton described as an ex-girlfriend.
Instead the gathering, which included about 100 of the strict but ``mad cool'' math teacher's former and current students, shared tales of Harvey's life peppered with joy, laughter and loss after watching a slide show of the girl with a viola turning into a woman with dredlocks and a passion for teaching.
``Did you know you weren't like anyone else?'' said friend Autumn Cooper, who shared many nights with Harvey fighting over Rummy and Scrabble. ``You were the talent and heart of four people rolled into one . . . Every person you knew for a minute or a lifetime was forced to love you. You gave us no choice.''
Big sister Julia Harvey, an Army captain who was stationed in Iraq, said her ``confidante'' was the only person who could succeed at getting their father into shape.
Julia Harvey read e-mails Andrea sent to her in Iraq days before her brutal killing. It told of Andrea's hour-long walk with her father, Cedric, from Cambridge to Boston and back.
``Me and Dad had a lot of fun. I'm beginning to think Dad is starting to like this,'' Julia Harvey read. ``I have so many more places to take him.''
Andrea Harvey was a school union representative who didn't care if her stance made her unpopular as long as the school would benefit, friend Jessica Gorham said.
``Thank you,'' she said. ``You were mad cool and we won't forget you.''

GRAPHIC: HARVEY: Found strangled in her Cambridge apartment.
CRUSHING LOSS: A grief-stricken mourner breaks down after leaving the funeral of East Boston High School math teacher Andrea Harvey at Harvard Memorial Church in Cambridge yesterday. STAFF PHOTO BY MATT STONE

LOAD-DATE: March 8, 2005

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HEADLINE: OP-ED; 
 Syria on verge of democracy

BYLINE: By Amir Taheri

BODY:
``Let's do the SALSA!'' is one of the refrains chanted by Lebanese demonstrators who have vowed to occupy the streets of Beirut until Syria ends its occupation of their country. But the SALSA they are referring to is not the Brazilian style of sexy dancing. It refers to the Syria Accountability and Lebanon Sovereignty (Restoration) Act (SALSA), passed by Congress over a year ago, and seen as a signal that the Bush administration was determined to extend its quest for status quo change in the Middle East beyond Iraq into the Levant.
And Lebanon's Cedar Revolution - while far from complete - could, and must, become a prelude to the liberation of Syria from half a century of despotic rule. 
There is as much pent-up energy for change in Syria as there is in Lebanon.
``We, too, want to do the SALSA,'' says a senior Syrian economist with years of experience at the World Bank. ``The Assad regime is at an impasse, and, as the Lebanese revolution shows, our `emperor' has no clothes.''
Syrians watched with a mixture of awe and admiration as millions of Afghans and Iraqis queued up to vote in their first-ever free elections in recent months.
Meanwhile, a majority of the Palestinians have chosen electoral democracy as the way to statehood. More than a dozen Arab countries have held elections, though not as free as Iraq's. Even Saudi Arabia, the most conservative of Arab states, has accepted limited local elections, and will this week appoint 36 women to diplomatic posts for the first time.
The only two despotic regimes still in denial in the region are Syria and Iran. The Lebanese revolution could trigger the mechanisms that exist for change in Syria.
That change could come in two ways.
The first is through violence.
The Syrian regime is based on the Alawite community, some 11 percent of the population, and deeply resented by the Sunni Muslim majority. At a moment of desperation, that majority might try to use violence to assert its rights. This in turn could provoke a bloody repression.
The second way - the way to bring about change in Syria without massive bloodshed - requires a direct U.S. commitment with support from key Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt.
An ``Arab formula'' is already under discussion to help the emergence of a transition government in Damascus with the aim of leading Syria to free, multiparty elections within a year or so. Such a government could be led by someone of stature within the regime who could be acceptable to the Sunni Muslim majority perhaps Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam, who has close ties to both Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
For such a formula to succeed, the Bush administration should provide the big-power support needed to encourage advocates of change within the Syrian regime to make a move. The situation is too delicate to be left either to the United Nations or to the Europeans, whose natural instinct is to preserve the status quo with minor modifications.
President Bush should send a senior envoy to Beirut and Damascus as soon as possible. In Beirut, the envoy would assure the emerging democratic leadership of Washington's support. In Damascus, he would tell the Syrian leaders that the Middle East has to change, that the era of one-party rule based on an ideological cocktail of tyranny and anti-Americanism is over.
Assad's desperate attempt at forging an alliance with the mullahs of Tehran to stop the march of freedom in the Middle East can produce nothing but disaster for Syria. It is time for Syria to join the new emerging Arab mainstream and allow its people the right to choose their government as we saw in neighboring Iraq and shall soon see in Lebanon.
``We need direct communication with Washington,'' says a pro-reform member of the Syrian ruling elite. ``The image of Syria as a bastion of anti-Americanism does not reflect the reality.''
There are several prominent Americans, some of them of Syro-Lebanese origin, who could serve as Bush's special emissary to Beirut and Damascus at this time - such as John Sununu Sr., who served the first President Bush as White House chief of staff; former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, or former Secretary of State James Baker III.
Peaceful regime change is still possible in both Lebanon and Syria and the opportunity created by the Cedar Revolution must not be missed.
Amir Taheri is a journalist specializing in Middle East affairs.

GRAPHIC: ASSAD: His regime has reached an impasse. ÿ1A

LOAD-DATE: March 9, 2005

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March 7, 2005 Monday  
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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 Teaching the `enemy'; 
 U.S. troops now train Iraqi Army

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
BAQUBAH, Iraq - Sgt. 1st Class Mario Cirinese blasted his way to Baghdad as a tank commander in March 2003. Now he's back, training his former enemy to shoot straight.
``Two years ago, we were shooting these guys,'' marveled Cirinese, the master gunner of 2/69 Armor Battalion. His marksmanship pupils belong to an Iraqi Army battalion commanded by an officer who led an Iraqi tank platoon in Baghdad when the city fell. Cirinese says he harbors no hard feelings and the Iraqi soldiers don't seem to, either. 
``We understand the situation,'' Sgt. Major Raad Abid Salem, a veteran of Saddam's army, said through an interpreter. ``The Americans are here, so we want to make use of them.''
Most of the Iraqi leaders are competent and the soldiers seem to have their hearts in the job, Cirinese said, but they still need a lot of practice in basic soldiering. One carelessly shot off the tip of a finger recently. Even so, Cirinese said he expects his trainees to progress over the next year.
Lt. Col. Robert Roggeman considers training the Iraqi Army a top mission.
``They've still got a lot of the old Saddam dictator ways about them,'' Roggeman said. ``We've got to teach them what it is to be a democratic army protecting a free people.''
At the rifle range on Forward Operating Base Scunion near Baqubah, Cirinese drills a different platoon almost every day. On Thursday, he watched as a ragtag group of Iraqi soldiers, some wearing tennis shoes, worked on qualifying with their AK-47 rifles.
``Every soldier was issued a Kevlar (helmet), body armor, uniforms and boots,'' Cirinese said. ``What they do with them, I have no idea.''
The soldiers make $600 a month. A pair of brand-new desert boots would fetch a good price on the black market. AK-47 ammo goes for $2 to $3 a round.
``As long as they don't shoot at us, we'll be fine,'' Cirinese said. ``If they shoot at us, they're going to have problems.''
YOUR TURN: Sgt. 1st Class Mario Cirinese hands an AK-47 to Sgt. Major Raad Abid Salem of the Iraqi Army on the training range. At right, Sgt. DeWayne Smith of Georgia gives the thumbs-up sign to an Iraqi Army soldier for his target practice efforts. STAFF PHOTOS BY JOHN WILCOX

GRAPHIC: SAME AIM: Sgt. 1st Class Mario Cirinese of Florida hands out new AK-47s to Iraqi Army soldiers on the training range at Forward Operating Base Scunion. Part of the mission of 2/69 Armor Battalion is to train a battalion of Iraqi Army soldiers.

LOAD-DATE: March 7, 2005

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HEADLINE: Soldier survived Iraq, but not crash

BYLINE: By BRIAN BALLOU

BODY:
After surviving the perils of war in Iraq for a year and coming home to a hero's welcome in November, Tyngsboro native Neil Regonini's future was cut short Saturday night along a road he often traveled as a kid.
The 22-year-old former Marine corporal was heading to his father's home in Hudson after a night out with friends.  
Police said he had been drinking before getting behind the wheel. And, family members said, he was talking on his cellphone when he lost control of his Acura RSX.
The car hit a snow bank and rolled several times down a steep incline, according to police.
The victim's father, Mark Regonini, said ``He loved his car and loved driving fast. He was looking for a CD and talking on the phone - that's what killed him.''
Mark Regonini said his son had talked with him Friday about having symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. ``He said he was suffering from three of the four post-traumatic symptoms from combat. The only thing he wasn't was suicidal.''
Family members said they don't believe those symptoms played a part in the accident.
``He was thinking about going into business school and maybe joining the reserves,'' said Duncan Regonini, Neil's brother. The brothers lived together in South Berwick, Maine.
While PTSD may not have been a factor, more attention is being paid to the readjustment of soldiers from Iraq. Just last month, Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating held a summit in Randolph to address the issue. He called on local law enforcement, veterans services, mental health centers and other organizations to work together to help ease the transition for returning soldiers.

GRAPHIC: REGONINI: Rollover kills Tyngsboro-born Marine.

LOAD-DATE: March 7, 2005

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HEADLINE: YOUR S.T.U.F.F.; 
 Bright lights; 
 Three Bay State students earn spot on magazine's Top 20 list

BYLINE: By TENLEY WOODMAN

BODY:
Herbert Mason Hedberg was a sophomore at North Attleboro High School when his grandmother was diagnosed with cancer.
She endured two, 12-hour operations to remove a malignant tumor from the base of her spine, but Hedberg thought there had to be a way to tackle the disease that was easier on the patient.
So the science-savvy teen created a litmus test for cancer medications.
``I developed a process that can be used to identify potential cancer drugs. I synthesize it to an enzyme that is essential to cancer growth. Then I devised a program that could tell me what molecules knocked the cancer out,'' said the Siemens-Westinghouse 2004 scholarship winner. 
For his work, Hedberg, now 18 and a freshman at Brown University, has been recognized as one of Top 20 Teens Who Will Change the World in the April issue of Teen People.
Each year the magazine searches nationwide for teens who have made an impact in the world.
Five celebrity teenagers and 15 ``real'' teenagers are selected.
This year, three spots in the elite group were taken by Massachusetts students:Hedberg, Brittany Bergquist of Norwell and Anders Jones of Westwood.
Bergquist, an eighth-grader at Norwell Middle School, is the head of the charity Cell Phones for Soldiers (www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com).
``I thought maybe we'd get town recognition from our newspaper,'' said the 14-year-old. ``We had no idea it was ever going to get this big.''
Bergquist and her brother, Robbie, 12, swung intoaction when they learned about a soldier serving in Iraq who had a $7,624 phone bill for phone calls home.
The siblings collect and recycle old cellphones and use the money to buy phone cards, which are then distributed to soldiers overseas.
``We really spend as much time as we possibly can working on the project,'' she said.
When Bergquist is not doing homework or extracurricular activities at school, she and her brother are doing interviews and answering e-mails for their program.
``I really hope that it's going to become larger and we get volunteers,'' Bergquist said.
Fellow Top 20 Teen Jones, 17, also puts outdated technology to good use.
The Buckingham, Brown & Nichols senior founded a nonprofit organization that rebuilds old computers and donates them to schools in Jamaica.
During a visit to the island nation with his father, Jones learned the ratio of students to computers was 850-to-1. It was a stark contrast to Jones's school, which has 850 students for150 computers.
The enterprising teen opened his first computer lab in Jamaica when he was 14.
``At that point we were just doing small fund-raisers,'' Jones said. ``We are taking donations from companies now.''
Since then, he has made partnerships with Air Jamaica, Microsoft and UPS.
``We saw a need and wanted to fulfill that need. It started with just one school and now we work with 100 schools,'' Jones said. ``We've been really succesful in bringing together companies in the U.S. and Jamaica and the Jamaican government.''
Finding the Top 20 Teens is no easy task. There are no applications or a nominations process.
``We actually seek them out. We have a staff dedicated to finding the most outstanding teens in the country,'' said Amy Barnett, managing editor of Teen People.
The staff combs papers large and small looking for teens' good deeds.
``It's an extremely impressive group. You hear what they've done and you think `What am I doing here?' '' Jones said.
YOUR S.T.U.F.F.; WHO KNEW?
California rock
Phantom Planet, the Los Angeles-based indie band whose song ``California'' is the theme for FOX's ``The O.C.,'' is releasing a DVD of concert footage.
``Chicago, Chicagogoing, Chicagogone'' features footage from all over the United States and Japan, including the band's first live show.
The Song Select menu helps users navigate through concerts in which the band performs songs such as ``Knowitall,'' ``The Happy Ending'' and ``Lonely Day.''
The Bonus Features section is packed with extra footage from backstage, a killer photo gallery, the videos ``1st Things 1st'' and ``By The Bed,'' video clips and more.
This DVD is definitely a must-have for die-hard Phantom Planet fans.
Child star
Ever wish you were a celebrity?
You'd probably rethink that after seeing the movie ``Childstar,'' or listening to the soundtrack that nicely summarizes the plot of the movie through scores and dialogue.
The track selection is a mix between upbeat classics such as ``Kung Fu Fighting'' by Carl Douglas and new rap and rock hits from up-and-coming artists.
Canadian rapper Kyprios performs ``Ignorance Is Beautiful (Help Me)'' and Liam Titcomb sings the soulful hit ``Get Down.'' 
Featured as a special presentation at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival, the movie was labeled one of the best of 2004.
Guilty pleasure
To get a celebrity gossip fix, go to www.laineygossip.com.
Gossip nut Lainey Lui (a self-described Chinese Gwyneth Paltrow, minus the body, rock-star husband and Academy Award) created and maintains the site.
Snippets of gossip and commentary from Lainey accompany relevant paparazzi snapshots and make this site perfect for today's on-the-go gossipmongers.
First-time surfers are advised to read the Gossip Guide section before indulging. The guide is necessary to dechipher Lainey-speak, such as ``gorgessity,'' which she defines as the state of being gorgeous at first glance.
Compiled by the Young People's Press, a weekly column provided by the North American youth news service.
YOUR S.T.U.F.F.; Quote of the week
``She was my first acting teacher. She told me, `Stand up straight, shoulders back. Act like you've got some sense.' We would go places and I was wild-eyed. She said, `Act like you've been someplace.' . . . And she still talks to me now, only now she talks to me in my dreams.'' - Jamie Foxx, giving tribute to his grandmother.

LOAD-DATE: March 7, 2005

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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 WAKE-UP CALL FOR KILLERS; 
 U.S. troops hunt insurgents with night patrols

BYLINE: By Thomas Caywood

BODY:
KHALIS, Iraq - Insurgents who had planned to spend the wee hours of yesterday morning burying roadside bombs here got a rude awakening yesterday courtesy of 2/69 Armor Battalion.
The unit's sector had been rocked by five improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, last Saturday. To prevent a repeat, the Panther battalion rolled out in force just before midnight Friday with tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers that fanned out across the city in ``Operation Friday Night Fights.'' 
Bursts of gunfire punctuated the long, cold night as the soldiers stood watch in traffic circles and crossroads, scanning the darkness with their night-vision goggles and thermal gun sights.
``I think we're disturbing a lot of people's plans,'' said Capt. Roy Bolar, commander of the Delta Company Death Dealers.
Able Company was barely out the gate of Forward Operating Base Scunion when surprised insurgents opened up on it with small-arms fire.
``It's going to be an interesting night,'' predicted Spc. Joshua Price, a forward observer trained to call in artillery fire.
A suspected insurgent digging by the side of the road was shot in the leg by one of the battalion's sniper teams near dawn. Three associates tried to drag him into a shed, but all four were nabbed by the scout platoon.
``Sounds like the guy we shot was a definite bad guy,'' Bolar said when the battalion rumbled back into Scunion. ``He had an AK-47 and a shovel, digging on the side of the road at 4:30 a.m.''
Three GIs were wounded around midnight when their armored personnel carrier struck a concrete barrier in the road. The three soldiers were taken away on litters, one on a back board with a neck brace, but all would later be cleared to return to duty with minor injuries.
Maj. Will Johnson, the battalion operations officer, deemed the mission a success overall.
``Now we just need to keep on 'em, stay aggressive,'' Johnson said. ``The bottom line is there were no IEDs this morning.''

GRAPHIC: ON GUARD: Soldiers from the 2/69 Armor Battalion stop an Iraqi out past curfew. Staff photos by John Wilcox
NIGHT LIGHTS: Determined to put a stop to bomb-planting Iraqi insurgents, U.S. soldiers from the 2/69 Armor Battalion, above, search a suspect during `Operation Friday Night Fights.' Below, an M-1 tank, left, and a Humvee with a .50-caliber machine gun stand at the ready for night patrol.
FADED GLORY: A weathered portrait of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein greets visitors to Forward Operating Base Scunion.

LOAD-DATE: March 6, 2005

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LENGTH: 362 words

HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Democracy must become a habit

BODY:
The flow of events in the Middle East ought to elate all friends of political decency everywhere. Americans can take pride that the policies of their country helped produce such events as the announcement of real elections for the Egyptian presidency, the coalescing of all shades of Lebanese opinion against the Syrian occupation and the fall of the puppet Lebanese government, and Syria's surrender of a half-brother of Saddam Hussein.
The elections in Afghanistan, Iraq and the territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority, and the promise of a real contest in Egypt show, as President Bush put it, that ``Freedom is on the march.'' 
We all can cheer that. At the same time, the utmost realism about the chances of democracy is in order. In some ways, establishing democracy is the easy part. It's keeping it that's hard.
Democracies can die. The 20th century was littered with their corpses - Italy, 1922; Germany, 1933; France, 1940; Czechoslovakia, 1938 and again in 1948; Brazil, 1964; Greece, 1967, and many other examples, usually the result of civil war or military coup.
Democracy depends in the end not on written constitutions, but on habits of the heart and mind that, in the words of Judge Learned Hand about liberty, generate the ``spirit which is not too sure that it is right.'' It is the acceptance of the idea that the other side, however wrongheaded, means well.
The first loss of power by the ``ins'' is the crucial test. Indian Prime Minister Indira Ghandi had assumed dictatorial powers; her party lost an election in 1975 - and she went home, probably to ensure the survival of democracy in India if not for all time at least for many generations.
This is what to watch for later on in Lebanon, in Iraq, in Afghanistan: the peaceful transfer of power to opponents when called for.
There are good grounds for hope. In Iraq the Shiite establishment is going to notable lengths to generate Sunni participation in the writing of a constitution. Reports from Lebanon say factions that have not spoken to each other in years have been meeting to agree on strategy to reclaim their country.
The task of U.S. policy is to know where to press and where not to.

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LENGTH: 325 words

HEADLINE: Patriot missiles missed mark; 
 But report praises Raytheon weapons system

BYLINE: By JAY FITZGERALD

BODY:
One American and two British pilots were killed by ``friendly fire'' from Patriot missile batteries during the 2003 Iraq invasion due to procedural foul-ups and technical woes associated with the weapon system built by Raytheon Co., according to a new military report.
But the Defense Science Board, which advises Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, praised the high-tech Patriot for doing its duty by possibly shooting down nine Iraqi missiles as coalition forces overran Saddam Hussein's military in the early spring invasion two years ago.
``In an overall sense, the Task Force assessed the Patriot missile defense in (the invasion) to be a substantial success,'' the report said. 
A spokesman for Waltham-based Raytheon, maker of the famous anti-missile system, said the report ``more or less confirms'' a prior Pentagon study that also noted flaws but a generally good performance by the Patriot.
``The report said, basically, that the Patriot performed as designed,'' said Guy Shields, a company spokesman.
The report came just weeks after the Pentagon awarded Raytheon a $151.3 million contract to provide engineering support for the Patriot system.
Many of the mistakes cited in the report were ``operational and procedural'' in nature and other glitches have been fixed, he said.
But Victoria Samson, an analyst with the liberal-leaning Center for Defense Information, said the Patriot has a long history of problems dating back to the first Iraq war in the early '90s - and the tragic deaths of the three pilots two years ago only confirms its faults.
``The bottom line is I don't think this anti-missile weapon system has proven it's reliable,'' she said.
``It's only proven it can shoot down planes.''
She questioned whether the Patriot shot down nine Iraq missiles and whether it missed opportunities to shoot down other incoming missiles.
Shares of Raytheon stock rose 62 cents yesterday to $38.61.
Herald wire services contributed to this report.

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March 4, 2005 Friday  
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LENGTH: 768 words

HEADLINE: MUSIC; 
 WARM UP TO THE BEAT; 
 Juanes sets a Latino fire

BYLINE: By Larry Katz

BODY:
How hot is Juanes?
Hot enough to stir-fry chilly Boston with a show at the Orpheum on Sunday, a rare appearance in the rock venue by a Latino artist who doesn't sing a word in English.
Other yardsticks give an even better indication of just how popular this singer, songwriter and guitarist from Colombia has become since the release of his 2000 debut album.
Juanes' second album, ``Un Dia Normal'' (A Normal Day), was the No. 1 Spanish-language album of 2003 in both sales and airplay. Its two-year stay on the Billboard Latin Album chart included more weeks in the Top 10 than any Latin album in history. It also earned Juanes five of his nine Latin Grammys, including Album, Record and Song of the Year. 
His most recent release, ``Mi Sangre'' (My Blood), is doing nearly as well. It's still in the Top 10 after 12 weeks at No. 1 in the U.S. - and it went to No. 1 in 17 other countries as well.
What's most impressive about Juanes' current domination of Latin pop is that he's not another perky Latin pinup like Ricky Martin or fellow Colombian Shakira. Yes, he's got the sultry good looks that put posters with his face on the bedroom walls of teenage girls. But Juanes is serious. Especially about his music. And though he can croon a love song with the best of them, he also rocks.
At one time, he claimed his ambition was to be ``the James Hetfield of Medellin.''
``Metallica was definitely my favorite band,'' Juanes says, speaking in English from a tour stop in Puerto Rico. ``When I was 15 years old, I joined a rock band called Ekhymosis. We were together for 12 years. For seven years, we played metal music. Hard and loud.''
Juanes has the tattoos to prove it. For a Colombian teenager, metal mayhem was a fine way to revolt against the traditionaL CUMBIAS and VALLENATOShe grew up playing with his family.
``I started playing guitar when I was around 7,'' says Juanes, born Juan Esteban Aristizabal (Juanes is a contraction of Juan Esteban). ``My father taught me at first. He used to sing tango music a lot. My three brothers played, too. I went out with my older brother to play in the neighborhood, the school, the city. Then I got an electric guitar when I was 13I got crazy with rock musicand then I joined Ekhymosis.''
In 1998, after releasing five albums in Colombia, Ekhymosis -- which means ``bruise'' - broke up. Juanes decided to move to Los Angeles.
``I was so depressed,'' he says. ``I felt desperate. But when I moved to Los Angeles I realized I had to find my own sound, my own music. After playing all that metal music, I realized I would never be James Hetfield. I had to clean out all the trash in my mind and understand that I was from Colombia and that I needed to be proud of that, not feel bad about it. That's when I wrote the songs for my first album, `Fijate Bien' (Watch Out).''
Juanes flavored his contemporary Latin pop with rock guitar, Beatlesque melodies and Colombian folk rhythms. His lyrics talked about both romance and the problems destroying Colombia, a country torn by conflict between right-wing paramilitary groups, left-wing guerillas and powerful drug lords.
He continues to refine his mix of the personal and political. ``Mi Sangre'' includes ``Volverte A Ver'' (Seeing You Again), a song of separated lovers written about a Colombian soldier that could just as well be about a U.S. serviceman in Iraq.
``I can't just write about love or happy days,'' says Juanes, 32. ``We live in difficult situations. So on my albums you can find songs about all different kinds of feelings. I write about the reality of my life and my country. One day I'm happy because I'm a father (of a 1-year-old daughter, Luna). The day after that I'm depressed because a family in Colombia is kidnapped by guerillas. All these things are part of my life. I don't want to be a political singer. I'm just trying to talk about being human.''
The aching sincerity in Juanes' music clearly is getting across to listeners - even to those who don't speak Spanish.
``I love the English language,'' says Juanes, who splits his times between homes in Miami and Medellin. ``But I don't plan to start singing in English.''
Even if it means bigger record sales?
``No,'' Juanes says. ``I dream in Spanish. I write my songs in Spanish. Spanish makes me feel close to what I am.
``But even though I have a lot of Latino influences in my music, the base of it has a lot to do with rock. The riffs, the guitars, the drums, they're very connected with Anglo music.'' Juanes laughs. ``I don't think my music needs a translation.''
Juanes plays Sunday at 8 at the Orpheum, Boston. Tickets are $45-55. Call 617-228-6000.

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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 `Mad Mortarman' bedevils GIs as locals play deaf and dumb

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
GALIBIYAH, Iraq - U.S. grunts got close to nabbing the infamous ``Mad Mortarman'' yesterday, but their slippery quarry eluded capture again.
A platoon of GIs out patrolling an agricultural area for the insurgents who lob mortars daily at an Iraqi Army base in Galibiyah caught a lucky break in the late afternoon when radar picked up two incoming shells fired from the patrol's vicinity.
``You got him plotted?'' Sgt. 1st Class Cesar Soto, the platoon sergeant, asked over the radio. ``He's behind us? Roger, we'll turn around.'' 
The two humvees in his search team whipped around and lit off down the bumpy country road at 50 mph, hitting a few dips hard and fast enough to launch them out of their seats.
A few minutes later, the soldiers stood on a dirt bank scanning the planted fields.
Sgt. Robert Grant asked a fisherman in simple Arabic if he heard a mortar fire, a distinctive thump and whoosh that would be impossible to miss in the quiet countryside. The man shook his head no. ``He got away with it again,'' grumbled one GI.
The soldiers of 2/69 Armor Battalion, who took over responsibility for this area last month, are growing increasingly exasperated by the blank expressions and shrugged shoulders that often greet them when they ask for help in ferreting out insurgents.
``He fires every day,'' explained Sgt. Marcus Merritt. ``But when we go in these towns around here, they don't know crap.''
A few minutes later, the two search teams linked up at a crossroads. Soto confered with the platoon leader, newly minted Capt. Carl ``Crazy'' Quinlan.
Quinlan wanted to explain to the villagers that allowing the mortarman to fire near their village could bring an answering barrage of artillery from U.S. counter batteries.
In the dusty village of mud brick houses, a crowd gathered around Quinlan and his interpreter, a high-spirited young Iraqi man who jokes and swears like a GI. ``Have you heard any rumors or reports,'' Quinlan said, pausing for the translation, ``of individuals moving mortars or mortar materials?''
Two men who appeared to speak for the village effusively assured the interpreter they would stop such an individual. Quinlan pressed on, explaining that U.S. forces may have no choice but to fire back with an Earth-shaking barrage artillery one day.

GRAPHIC: SERGEANT AND SCHULTZ: Sgt. Robert Grant of North Carolina asks a local fisherman if he heard a mortar fired by insurgents. The answer: `I know nothing.' STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 When heroes meet heroes

BODY:
The world champion Boston Red Sox could have simply enjoyed their moment in the White House sun and called it a day. No one would have begrudged them that.  
But reportedly at the suggestion of Sox President Larry Lucchino, team members were urged to give back a little for all of the wonderful things that have come their way this year.
And so they did - by visiting Walter Reed Army Medical Center, talking with wounded soldiers recently returned from Iraq - many of them long-time Red Sox fans from New England - and allowing them to share in the celebration. The World Series trophy made the trip too, held high for those without the arms or the strength to do the job themselves.
For months Sox players have been enjoying, deservedly so, the role of hometown heroes. Wednesday at Walter Reed they took time to acknowledge real heroes of a very different sort. In doing so, they made us all proud.

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March 3, 2005 Thursday  
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HEADLINE: Conley case goes from prosecution to persecution

BYLINE: By Mike Barnicle

BODY:
When I walked into Donovan's Restaurant on Savin Hill Avenue the other afternoon looking for lunch, Arthur Donovan was right there, his raspy voice an indictment as he said: ``I see where they're still trying to screw Kenny Conley.''
Conley is a former Boston cop and a victim of government torture. Oh, he isn't being held at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq or detained without a lawyer at Guantanamo, but his civil rights as well as his life sure have been trampled by a U.S. Attorney's Office that apparently considers itself above the law.
Check this out: At 2 a.m., Jan. 25, 1995, Kenny Conley was a splendid 27-year-old patrolman running in the dark after a man with a gun. He wasn't alone, either. 
Other cops raced after the suspect too and caught up to a guy they figured was the shooter being sought. They gave him an awful beating, nearly killing him. Too bad for them that the ``suspect'' turned out to be Michael Cox, a fellow officer.
Too bad for Conley that the guys who battered Cox are weasels who ran from a mistake and turned it into a crime by refusing to tell the truth.
Human error became a federal investigation. Conley never witnessed the assault but went before a grand jury. He was direct and honest yet it didn't matter because he was indicted for perjury, tried, convicted, sentenced to jail and fired.
But the judge, Robert Keeton, allowed him to remain free during an appeal. Five years ago, the same judge overturned the verdict. Last summer, another federal judge, Bill Young, tossed the whole case, ruling that the U.S. attorney prosecuting Conley acted corruptly by withholding evidence.
End of story? Exoneration and the start of a fresh new chapter in Conley's life? Sorry, but it seems the U.S. Attorney's Office has a ``jones'' for the man.
A few days ago, they filed the legal equivalent of a buzzer-beater; a desperate, last-minute shot from half-court appealing Young's decision in another attempt to send Conley to prison despite the truth of what took place on a city street a decade ago.
Bob Bennett, world-famous lawyer from Washington, a guy who has represented the president of the United States, has been in Conley's corner for years due to a couple of simple reasons: He cannot tolerate injustice and hates the institutional arrogance of career government lawyers who use taxpayer dollars to toy with a citizen's life and rights.
``I'm doing this for nothing,'' Bennett said yesterday. ``I have written off at least a million and a half dollars in fees and I'm happy to do it. I can't tell you what the government has spent. They are unaccountable but it's a lot. It's a bloody fortune.''
Three different lawyers in town - each with prior service as Assistant U.S. Attorneys - pegged the cost of the Conley persecution - not prosecution - anywhere from $1 to $3 million bucks.
Big Dig construction thieves make huge profits, true unarmed robbery of the federal treasury, while the U.S. Attorney chases Conley like a rabid dog running after a moving hubcap. Wonderful.
Let's go right to the bottom line: This case isn't about justice. It's not about hauling the real culprits in the beating of Michael Cox into court. And it sure isn't about truth.
It's about saving face. It's about government lawyers who have all the time and money they require - tax dollars - trying to make sure no judge can get away with ruling they were wrong, deceitful and arrogant in the Conley case.
When a citizen or a corporation does this, it's called misappropriation of public funds. But here it's either called working for the United States Attorney or, in Arthur Donovan's words, screwing Kenny Conley.
Mbarnicle@bostonherald.com. Barnicle's radio show airs weekdays at 10 a.m. on 96.9 WTKK-FM.

GRAPHIC: CONLEY: Case about government lawyers saving face.

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 A guide to helping vets

BODY:
Politicians make all manner of pronouncements about supporting veterans, particularly in times of war. But sometimes it's the smaller gestures which can make all the difference in the life of a soldier returning home from combat. 
A simple resource guide, like that unveiled Monday by Sen. Ted Kennedy, will provide Massachusetts' vets with a roadmap of sorts to the myriad of benefits and aid available.
The anguish of dealing with the magnitude of losing two arms, as Brockton National Guard Sgt. Peter Damon did, shouldn't be compounded by not knowing where to turn for help.
Iraq veteran James Crosby of Winthrop, paralyzed from the waist down, hopes the compilation of phone numbers and organizations will become a nationwide model to help fellow veterans maneuver through a confusing thicket of information.
And we hope Kennedy will encourage his congressional colleagues in the 49 other states to follow his lead.

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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 Trailblazers sweep road of bombs for troops

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
Reporter Thomas Caywood and photographer John Wilcox spent a day this week with the Trailblazers of the 467th Engineer Battalion.
BAQUBAH, Iraq - Most military convoys blast through this insurgent hotbed with boot heavy on the gas pedal. 
The Trailblazers of the 467th Engineer Battalion prefer to keep the speedometer pegged at a leisurely 15 mph.
These Army Reservists from Tennessee patrol the area hunting for roadside bombs.
``My first mission, I was like, `Man, we're looking for trouble,' '' Staff Sgt. Michael Jackson recalled while on patrol this week. ``But it gets easier.''
The battalion's sweep teams clear improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, from some of the roads traveled by the Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company.
The Army had to go all the way to South Africa to find a vehicle up to the job, a 23-ton bunker on wheels the soldiers call the Buffalo. The 467th has three.
``They've all been blown up, and each and every time all the soldiers walked away from it,'' said Lt. Col. Michael Mason, the battalion commander. ``We love these things.''
An hour into the patrol of the day, Sgt. 1st Class Amos Washington spots a bundle of red fabric just a few feet off the road.
From within the stifling cab of the Buffalo, the crew swings out a long robotic arm and extends it gingerly toward the unidentified object.
It scoops up what turns out to be a harmless scrap of red fabric.
``We come here every day, so we know what's out of place,'' Jackson explained later. ``We check anything out. A dog. A boot. A box.''

GRAPHIC: BOMB PLUCKER: An armored Buffalo of the 467th Engineer Battalion uses a robotic arm to check suspicious debris along a road in Baqubah, Iraq. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

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LENGTH: 439 words

HEADLINE: BASEBALL; 
 White House hosts Sox

BYLINE: By TONY MASSAROTTI

BODY:
FORT MYERS - As surely as a baseball team takes a champagne shower after winning the World Series, so too does it earn that most prestigious of all perks: an invitation to the White House.
Today, roughly four months after winning their first World Series title since Woodrow Wilson ran the country, the renegade 2004 Red Sox will visit the nation's capital. Johnny Damon, Kevin Millar and Curt Schilling will be among those to shake hands with President Bush, a reality that prompted Sox outfielder Trot Nixon to place the Secret Service on alert. 
``Kevin could be in trouble,'' Nixon said of the anticipated meeting between Bush and, in particular, Millar. ``He could get shot.''
Humor aside, Sox players acknowledged they were excited about the trip, which will begin late this morning following an abbreviated workout at the team's spring training facility. Sox players will work out from roughly 8:30 to 10:30, then depart the training complex for their flight to Washington.
While the Sox are in the air, principal owner John Henry, part owner Tom Werner and president Larry Lucchino will be in Washington to attend a ceremony in which members of Jackie Robinson's family will receive a Congressional Gold Medal awarded posthumously to Robinson. The medal is the highest non-military honor awarded by the U.S. government. Henry, Werner and Lucchino subsequently are expected to join the team on the South Lawn of the White House for a ceremony, which an estimated 1,000 guests are expected to attend.
The Sox will conclude their visit to Washington at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where they will take the World Series trophy to troops injured in Iraq. The club is expected back in Fort Myers by 9:30 or 10 tonight.
All members of the 2004 Sox have been invited to make the trip to Washington, but of those players no longer with the team only the retired Curtis Leskanic is expected to attend. Others, like Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Derek Lowe, expressed a desire to go to the White House but have obvious commitments to their new employers.
While more than a few Sox players have been to the White House before, most acknowledged the trip afforded them a unique opportunity.
``I got to go with the Olympic team in '92,'' catcher and team captain Jason Varitek said. ``But I'm older now, a little more mature now and will appreciate it a little more.''
Said knuckleballer Tim Wakefield when asked if he was excited about the trip to the White House: ``How can you not be?''
As for Nixon, he acknowledged an interest in meeting Bush.
``Obviously, I'm not going to get too much time to speak with him,'' Nixon said. ``He's a busy man.''

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HEADLINE: BASEBALL; 
 Politics, athletes odd mix

BYLINE: By TONY MASSAROTTI

BODY:
FORT MYERS - Baseball and politics will converge today at the White House, and you know what that means: lots of people who don't know what they're talking about.
But this is America, of course, so the cameras will be clicking and the pens scribbling when Damon meets Dubya on the South Lawn. And if Curt Schilling somehow gets quality time with the leader of the free world, the ace of the Red Sox will undoubtedly lecture President Bush on everything from the split-fingered fastball to affirmative action. 
``That guy - you can get into (political discussions) with him the best,'' Sox veteran Tim Wakefield said, nodding toward Schilling's nearby locker. ``But I don't get involved in that stuff.''
Professional sports and politics? Now THERE'Sa scary combination. Two years ago, with America having begun fighting in Iraq, Red Sox reliever Mike Timlin placed a bumper sticker above his locker that described the international peace insignia as ``the footprint of the American chicken.''
With all due respect to Timlin, who really cares about his political views? Who cares whether Schilling campaigned for Bush last fall, a decision that, in part, prompted Red Sox officials to publicly assemble for local senator and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry? Why are professional athletes (or other celebrities) asked to share their opinions on matters in which they have no more say than anyone else?
Tell you what: If Kevin Millar wants to run for office, let's find out where he stands. If he doesn't, his opinion on political issues counts as much as that of the landscaper, garbage collector, dentist, teacher, fisherman, astronaut, baggage handler and tree surgeon.
Of course, professional locker rooms and clubhouses are overwhelmingly Republican, otherwise known as the red states on the electoral map. As Sox infielder David McCarty pointed out, most professional athletes make large amounts of money in a relatively short period of time, so their primary objective is to maximize what goes in their pocket and minimize what goes to the government.
Given the astonishingly small percentage of Americans who are represented in that very specific group, how can their opinions mean ANYTHINGto the collection of souls who typically tune in to the Red Sox?
After all, we don't ask the homeless for political guidance, do we?
If this all sounds like an indictment of professional athletes, it is not. Prior to the start of the Super Bowl, former presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush (the elder) were asked their opinions on the Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles, a harmless but worthless question. Their responses had as much value as any athlete's insights on the last presidential election, which begs the question: Why do we ask them such ridiculous things at all?
Obviously, politics have an influence on all of our lives, and there are some things that indisputably must be known. If the late Marge Schott was a racist or had a swastika stashed in a dresser drawer, that is something we all have great difficulty overlooking. But if one man believes in war while another opposes it, don't we have to ask who the men are before we decide if their opinions count for anything?
Nonetheless, in this age of supersaturated media, we want to know EVERYONE'Sopinion on EVERYTHING, which brings us to today, the Red Sox and the president, together at the White House.
Let's hope nobody says anything stupid.

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March 1, 2005 Tuesday  
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LENGTH: 229 words

HEADLINE: New resource guide cuts through thicket red tape for veterans

BYLINE: By TOM FARMER

BODY:
Coping with the loss of both his arms 15 months ago from an exploding helicopter tire in Iraq, it was only recently that Peter Damon learned he was entitled to free tuition at a state community college.
Like many other returning soldiers, Damon, a sergeant in the National Guard, was met with miles of red tape and often didn't know where to look for information about benefits, jobs and health coverage. 
All that changed yesterday when Damon was given a resource guide for Massachusetts veterans provided by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) in collaboration with state, community, business and educational leaders.
``This is what I have been waiting for,'' said Damon, 32, of Brockton. ``We need to have one or two organizations that will direct us in all the directions you need to go rather than having 100 people come at you at once.''
While 20-year-old James Crosby of Winthrop survived severe wounds while serving with the Marines in Iraq, he remains paralyzed from the waist down.
Like Damon, he has had to navigate the highly confusing system of receiving benefits and treatment.
``It's a great idea to put together all those businesses, all those organizations, all those phone numbers into one pamphlet from one source where hopefully this model in Massachusetts can be a model nationwide,'' said Crosby, who is working for the Massachusetts Department of Veterans' Services.

GRAPHIC: Sen. Edward M. Kennedy greets injured Iraq veteran James Crosby of Winthrop during a Boston forum on opportunities for veterans yesterday. STAFF PHOTO BY MARK GARFINKEL

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HEADLINE: JACKO ON TRIAL; 
 Let the freak show begin so it can end

BYLINE: By MIKE BARNICLE

BODY:
Odds are a lot of children might be home today due to snow. And because I do not want to contribute to the continuing deterioration of our culture by exposing them to things that offend, it's necessary to use a nickname for an item that Michael Jackson allegedly likes to fondle, touch and generally do stuff to and that would be in poor taste to write in a family paper.
Michael Jackson - Jacko to headline writers - is the universally famous freak who has a past filled with a trail of hit records and kids he has allegedly hit on. Apparently, Jacko loves to play with ``Oscar;'' that's the nickname I'm employing to describe a male body part that has caused more trouble in history than any military weapon ever invented. Just ask Clinton. 
Jacko was in court again yesterday, portrayed by prosecutors as a perverted child molester. He's been charged with manhandling Oscar.
By the time the day was over, every American knew at least three things: 1. The Red Sox are still world champs. 2. Mitt Romney does indeed look like the maitre d' at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. 3. And Michael Jackson is an accused pervert.
The prosecution arrived Monday like the Enola Gay, dropping the big one on Jacko in its opening statement. The DA went right to the tape and told the jury that while filming a 2003 British TV documentary Whacko Jacko actually said that hopping in the sack with little kids was ``a beautiful thing.''
Jacko allegedly gave kids booze before slipping beneath the sheets with them. He did this at his house, a fantasy camp called Neverland Ranch. And, clearly, this wasn't the first time rumors, gossip and accusations of weird, lewd and sickening behavior surfaced around this troubled performer who makes millions for the entertainment industry.
OK. That's a brief update on Jacko's latest brush with the law. And it's easy to figure out why such a pathetic and hideous figure is in the headlines: he's rich, famous and unbelievably strange.
So, what's the explanation for why the media covers this trial and gives Jacko and his Oscar obsession so much exposure? Ahh, let me rephrase that. How about, air time and headlines? Better?
Ironically, it's the same reason Jackson escapes punishment and permanent banishment: He's rich, famous and generates ratings in the viciously competitive universe of Cable TV.
Pretend you're a producer at Fox, MSNBC or CNN. Your menu today includes the option of doing an hour special on government unrest in Lebanon, the increasing spiral of violence in Iraq or ... Michael's alleged hands-on approach with children.
Hmmm. Wonder what would attract the largest audience? Wonder what People Magazine will put on their cover? The pathetic family of Jacko's alleged victims or the devastated family of some real National Guard soldier killed in Baghdad?
Unfortunately, the answer is obvious: sex sells.
Jacko touches millions at varying levels ranging from outrage to curiosity. He is a huge star and people in his sick orbit know they can get momentarily famous as well as a bit richer prosecuting him or playing along with the charade that his is a story people care about.
It's a freak show. A mentally ill celebrity is charged with molesting a child while the news business plays along with the bizarre drama because the background music at Jacko's trial is the sweet song of money for all involved. Except, hopefully, for the pathological creep who allegedly can't keep his hands off kids and belongs in an institution.
Mbarnicle@bostonherald.com. Barnicle's radio show airs weekdays at 10 a.m. on 96.9 WTKK-FM.

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LENGTH: 300 words

HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 Lucky Mass. MPs evade bomb toss on Baghdad road

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
TIKRIT, Iraq - Out of the corner of his eye, Spc. Damian Williams caught a glimpse of a man winging a pipe at the Army cargo truck he was driving; a short pipe puffing smoke from one end.
Williams jerked the wheel over hard then stomped on the gas. 
``He threw it right out of a car. Out of the blue, the guy just threw a pipe bomb at us,'' said Williams, an Army trucker from Harlem, N.Y.
The improvised grenade, hurled Sunday morning from a car stopped in traffic on the opposite side of a Baghdad highway, skipped across the asphalt landing behind the speeding truck somewhere amid the 42nd Military Police Company convoy.
Sgt. John Wilson of the Bronx, who was riding shotgun in the cargo truck, recalls a couple of seconds passing before he heard the boom.
In the latest of an uncanny series of lucky strokes for the 42nd over its first month in Iraq, the pipe bomb exploded harmlessly between the truck and the next vehicle in the patrol, one of the MP Humvees.
Wilson and Williams are members of the New York City-based 769th Transportation Company, better known as the Harlem Hellfighters.
The truckers are attached to the Chicopee MP unit to haul prisoners.
After a brief flurry of radio chatter up and down the convoy, 2nd Lt. Kristen Procida of South Boston gave the order to charlie mike, or continue mission, the few remaining miles to Abu Ghraib prison.
``We were right in the heart of Baghdad so I didn't want to stop,'' Procida explained later. ``Nobody was hurt and none of the vehicles were damaged.''
Her platoon's convoys already have logged a few close brushes with roadside bombs that detonated a few minutes before or after they past.
``You always expect something to happen. This time it did,'' Wilson said. ``But we're all right. It didn't hit us. There's nothing to be shaken up about.''

GRAPHIC: CLOSE CALL: Sgt. John Wilson of the Bronx, N.Y., talks about the pipe bomb tossed from a vehicle at his prison convoy that was guarded by Mass. National Guard MPs. The convoy was unscathed. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

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LENGTH: 246 words

HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Syria gets the message

BODY:
Maybe, just maybe, Syria - one of the world's prime havens for terrorists (including Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for Friday's bombing in Tel Aviv) - is beginning to get it.
Sunday Syrian authorities handed over to Iraqi authorities Saddam Hussein's half-brother along with 29 other Baath Party members believed to be leaders of the insurgency that has plagued post-Saddam Iraq. 
It was an obvious goodwill gesture on Syria's part - one desperately needed in the wake of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which Syria is widely believed to have had a role in.
It may have been a necessary gesture, but certainly not a sufficient one - as demonstrated by the thousands of anti-Syrian protesters who have taken to the streets of Beirut, demanding the immediate withdrawal of Syrian troops and an end to the Syrian-backed puppet government that rules Lebanon.
Syria announced last week it would redeploy its 15,000 troops from Lebanon's northern and western borders to the eastern border it shares with Syria. Of course, the redeployment has not yet begun (there is much skepticism it ever will) and again even it would be a halfway measure.
The Lebanese - especially those who have taken to the streets - are demanding a complete withdrawal. President Bush, if he meant what he said in his inaugural speech, should demand nothing less.
Every day in the Middle East there is evidence that the old order is passing. And that must be encouraged.

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LENGTH: 735 words

HEADLINE: Op-Ed; 
 In Mideast, peace has a chance

BODY:
HAIFA - Shabbat shalom is the traditional greeting Friday night. Sabbath peace. And it is peaceful here in this Mediterranean port city where Arabs and Jews have coexisted for generations.
But on this Friday, some 55 miles down the coast in Tel Aviv the peace of a sabbath night is shattered. A suicide bomber blows himself up in front of one of the city's trendy clubs. Four people are killed (a fifth died of injuries Monday), 65 are injured. 
In our hotel lounge the music is loud, the dancing frenetic. Then Julie brings the news of the bombing to her traveling companions from Boston. Saturday she breaks away from the group to visit family in Tel Aviv, to try to finalize plans for a second home here in a land she loves.
The worry, the sadness all show in her face as she ticks off the might-have-beens. And we see this land - all of its hopes, all of its pain - through her eyes.
Saturday as the sun sets and sabbath ends, Barry Shrage, a leader of this Combined Jewish Philanthropies mission, leads a prayer for the bombing victims, adding ``Let us hope that the peace process is not the fifth casualty of this bombing.''
For this is no ordinary moment in time here. A truce between Israel and the Palestinian Authority has been in place since Feb. 8. There has been no suicide bombing since November and people were beginning to believe that this time it might last.
The difference is that this time Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says all the right things. He will pursue the terrorists - and that is what he calls them, ``terrorists.''
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is also measured in his response. The hand-over of five West Bank towns will be halted (the bomber was from a trouble-prone area in the northern West Bank), but talks will continue.
The bombing, of course, makes the words of Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert two days earlier seem sadly ironic.
``You can start to feel the change in the air,'' he said.
But he's not wrong.
Sure, every cafe, hotel, historic site has its well-armed security guard at the door.
And the pain of loss from the intifadah is still as fresh as the flowers at the plaque marking the spot on a busy Jerusalem street where the No. 16 bus was blown up.
With some 250 suicide bombings in four-and-a-half years - described by Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as ``60 September 11ths in per capita terms'' - there's no one who hasn't been touched by the terror.
Even those who haven't lost friends or family have paid a price.
``There was real psychological pressure,'' said Housing Minister Yitzhac Herzog. ``Anything you see can look like a suicide bomber. Life was a real pressure cooker.''
Then Yasser Arafat died. Palestinians elected Abbas as their new leader and Sharon has a new partner for peace. Of course, that's an entirely American perspective.
This is the way Herzog - son of a former president of Israel and a leader of the Labor Party - tells it:
``Number One was the security fence,'' he said of the barrier that now walls off the West Bank. With that, Sharon's Likud Party ``gave up the dream of a Greater Israel. After that, Iraq showed a country could change.''
And the real clincher was Sharon's decision to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza.
The deal has made him a pariah with some elements of his own party, including the ambitious Netanyahu and the respected Natan Sharansky, but polls show it popular with average Israelis (with support from up to 70 percent).
Under the terms of the deal approved just last week by the Israeli Cabinet, the 8,000 Jewish settlers in Gaza will be compensated for the homes they leave behind and get help relocating. This has brought Sharon death threats from fellow Jews and threats of violence from the religious right.
Netanyahu calls such threats an ``abomination'' and concedes: ``It's now perhaps a point of change. The question is will they [the Palestinians] change their goals or their methods?
``I knew this guy [Arafat] didn't near mean it. But now at least there's a chance [for peace]. And a chance for a change in the culture of hatred. I'm not starry-eyed, but I have hopes for the future.''
And hope is the universal. It transcends party and politics.
``This region is tired of war and bloodshed,'' said Olmert, a former mayor of Jerusalem. ``It needs a new beginning. We will not allow this opportunity to slip away.''
The civilized world is counting on that.
Rachelle G. Cohen is editor of the editorial pages.

GRAPHIC: PEACEMAKING ODD COUPLE: Mahmoud Abbas, left, and Ariel Sharon appear to have found some common ground.

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HEADLINE: Shanley accuser's brother injured in Iraq bombing

BYLINE: By O'RYAN JOHNSON

BODY:
A Newton soldier who transferred to the Rhode Island National Guard in order to get assigned special forces duty in Iraq was hospitalized yesterday when an explosive hit his Humvee convoy north of Baghdad, his father said.
The soldier, Spc.  
Richard Busa Jr., 29, is the brother of Paul Busa, the man who testified against convicted pedophile priest Paul Shanley, said their father Richard Busa, 49. The elder Busa said the last month has been a ``roller coaster'' with one son at the center of a nationally publicized trial and the other under enemy fire in Iraq.
Busa said his son - a sniper-school trained soldier who arrived in Iraq in January - was in the lead vehicle, one of the new armor-reinforced Humvees, when the bomb exploded, leaving a piece of shrapnel embedded in the passenger-side door.
``He said his ears are ringing, and he's got a bad headache,'' Busa said. ``He said if they'd been in the old Humvee, they'd all be dead.''
The blast near Samara, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, injured three other men who serve with Busa in Rhode Island's 173rd Long Range Surveillance Detachment. All were later released from a triage hospital in Balad.

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HEADLINE: OP-ED; 
 Our military needs a better ally at home

BYLINE: By JOHN KERRY

BODY:
I recently traveled to Iraq where I was proud to visit some of America's most remarkable young men and women.
I wish I was as proud about what is happening in Washington, where ``supporting the troops'' is often confused with simply supporting the administration's policies. Sometimes supporting the troops means challenging the policies that put them in harm's way or harm the families who pray for their safe return. It also means Congress has a special responsibility to our troops - both in the field and at home. 
Our troops must have every tool they need to succeed. Every recent commitment of American military power, including the ``air war'' in Kosovo, has required sizeable ground forces, at the very least to provide post-conflict security. There's just no technological substitute for boots on the ground.
I introduced the Strengthening America's Armed Forces and Military Family Bill of Rights Act to permanently increase the size of the military by 30,000 to 40,000 in the Army and 10,000 in the Marine Corps to meet challenges of the new century.
Let me be clear: This is not a proposal to increase U.S. forces in Iraq. But our experience there is instructive. Our ground forces are stretched. The Army recently began calling back retirees ranging in age from their mid-40s to late 60s. The Guard and Reserve are stressed, too. The chief of the Army Reserve warns that his troops are ``rapidly degenerating into a broken force'' and at this rate couldn't meet future missions.
If we had begun expanding the military in 2003, when Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and many of us began calling for it, our military would not be as overstretched as it is today.
We need a Military Family Bill of Rights, a set of policies enshrined in law to meet the needs of military families.
Investing in military families isn't just compassionate - it's a smart investment in our national security. The Military Family Bill of Rights would:
- Expand TRICARE to all Guard and Reserve members, whether mobilized or not. Members failing physicals impacts combat readiness, yet as many as one in five do not have health insurance.
- Allow widows to stay in military housing for one year. For those with children, the current policy of 180 days can mean changing schools in the course of a year.
- Establish a Military Family Relief Fund. Just as we let Americans donate a few dollars to finance presidential elections on their tax forms, they should be able to thank our troops.
- Allow penalty-free withdrawals from Individual Retirement Accounts for deployment-related expenses, like increased child care.
- Offer a tax credit to small businesses that make up the difference between Reserve and National Guard members' civilian and military pay.
- Expand post-traumatic stress disorder programs and require more outreach. As many as one in six soldiers returning from Iraq show symptoms of PTSD, yet barely half of all VA medical centers have treatment facilities.
- Increase the military death benefit. Last year I proposed increasing the benefit so that, combined with the Servicemembers Group Life Insurance, the families of those who die in military service would receive $500,000. No one can put a price on a life, but the current $12,000 is insulting. The president recently embraced a formula to reach $500,000 but limited it to deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congress should embrace the broader benefit for all troops, regardless of where they die, and act immediately to make it law.
John Kerry is Massachusetts' junior senator.

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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 He's a Guard in the bravest sense

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
TIKRIT, Iraq - If worse comes to worst, the only thing standing between a brigadier general and a bullet could be Sgt. Dave Ottaviano of Somerville.
An Army bodyguard protects the boss from harm at all costs. 
``I'm not concerned about anybody else but him. That's my job,'' Ottaviano said. ``I've got to be ready to take a bullet for him.''
Yesterday he and fellow bodyguard Sgt. Bill Dufault of Worcester hopped on Black Hawk helicopters to escort a colonel to a ceremony at Forward Operating Base Summerall in Baiji and then on to a meeting with a top Iraqi general in a bunker near Tuz.
The Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company staffs all the Protective Service Detail teams for the 42nd Infantry Division brass.
They are the Secret Service of the division.
Because of the sensitive nature of the work, the Army bars disclosure of their numbers, tactics and specifically who they are assigned to protect.
Dufault and Ottaviano began the prep work for yesterday's mission the day before by lining up convoys of armored Humvees to meet the helicopters at each stop.
On this day, the first stop is a brief ceremony marking the handover of responsibility for a mission from a departing unit to its replacement.
Ottaviano shadows the colonel at a distance of a few paces - close enough, but not crowding him. The bodyguard's head and eyes sweep back and forth scanning for potential threats.
Dufault keeps an eye on the door, one hand on the M-4 assault rifle strapped across his chest.
Dufault, 33, works as a mail handler in Westboro. He's married and thinking about starting a family.
Ottaviano, 25, used to work in law enforcement, but back-to-back deployments to Bosnia, Pakistan and Iraq have filled the last few years.
A little after noon, they're back on the Black Hawks buzzing low over an alien landscape of desert waddis and canyons headed east to the meeting with Iraqi Army leaders.
Dufault and Ottaviano stand outside the bunker joking and talking about previous deployments. They keep their heavy body armor and helmets strapped on in case the colonel emerges from the meeting unexpectedly.
Eventually, the colonel's aide flashes Ottaviano five fingers though the open bunker door. Five minutes to go. Ottaviano nods and passes the word over the radio to the Black Hawk crews.
The boss touches down safely at Forward Operating Base Danger less than a half-hour later. They weren't tested this day, but Ottaviano and Dufault rely on constant training and rehearsing to override the powerful survival instinct.
``You have to be able to cover that boss and become a shield,'' Dufault said.
Ottaviano puts it this way: ``It's just the way we react. You are going to grab him and head for the helicopter with your back to the enemy.''

GRAPHIC: READY: Sgt. Dave Ottaviano of Somerville salutes as the colonel under his protection emerges from a meeting with a top Iraqi general at Forward Operating Base Bernstein in Tuz. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

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HEADLINE: HERALD EXCLUSIVE; 
 FBI: Anarchists operating in Hub

BYLINE: By MICHELE McPHEE

BODY:
Local Joint Terrorist Task Force investigators are keeping close tabs on a group of anarchists hellbent on creating a classless society - using armed resistance if necessary, the Herald has learned.
Anarchist Black Cross Federation, an organization that FBI Director Robert S. Mueller calls an ``emerging revolutionary group,'' has active members in Boston who have distributed fliers against the war in Iraq, including one that reads: ``Synchronized bombing is a lie. But we can be more precise.'' 
The flier, released by Anarchist Black Cross Boston, goes on to list the address of Boston Police Headquarters in Roxbury, FBI headquarters in Government Center, the IRS building and a military recruiting center on Summer Street.
There is also a list of corporate sites, including Fidelity, the Gap, Niketown, and Raytheon's Waltham location.
``We are aware of this group, and the flier. The potential victims were notified,'' said FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcienkiewicz.
The group first garnered police attention last summer as Boston police prepared for the Democratic National Convention, said police department spokesman Sgt. Tom Sexton.
``They showed up on the radar shortly before the DNC. It's not a new group to us,'' Sexton said.
``Investigators have been aware of this particular group, and we are working collectively with our partnership on the state and federal level,'' he added.
Anarchist Black Cross has a Web site that lists monthly meetings at a Cambridge apartment, and urges support at court appearances for people it calls ``comrades,'' including Dominic Giannone, 29, a union boilermaker from Quincy who was arrested during the DNC for assaulting Boston police Superintendent Robert Dunford.
``Boston ABC supports all the protestors who took to the streets during the DNC,'' John Riley, an ABC member, wrote in an e-mail responding to a request for an interview, adding that the group opposes ``unprovoked violence.''
On Feb. 16, Mueller addressed the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about the ``potential for violence'' by ABCF and other domestic militant groups.
``The stated goals of the ABCF are the abolishment of prisons, the system of laws, and the capitalist state,'' Mueller said. ``The ABCF believes in armed resistance to achieve a stateless and classless society. ABCF has continued to organize, recruit, and train anarchists in the tactical use of firearms.''
The FBI chief also said some US-based militant groups ``follow radical variants of Islam, and in some cases express solidarity with al-Qaeda and other international terrorist groups.''
Riley insisted his group, which has around 25 members, does not sympathize with al-Qaeda.

GRAPHIC: COMRADES IN CUFFS: The Anarchist Black Cross Federation has expressed solidarity with `comrades,' such as Dominic Giannone, who was arrested during the Democratic National Convention. HERALD FILE PHOTO BY MARK GARFINKEL

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Bush warns Europe on arming Chinese

BODY:
President Bush has used the ``bad cop'' threat - Congress - against the plans of the NATO allies to end their arms embargo against China. This might yet yield dividends.
The Europeans have tried to convince the president that lifting the embargo won't really hurt U.S. interests or Taiwan because the selling nations will install a new regime of controls that will keep the highest-technology gear out of China's hands. 
Bush is skeptical that such a control regime can work.
``We'll see,'' he told a news conference. In fact, Europe needs to ``sell it to the United States Congress.''
Bush, Congress and Europe all understand the danger is not the sale of weapons easily available from China's own factories or from Russia, but the advanced electronic gear that enabled U.S. forces twice to roll through Iraq's army like a hot knife through butter.
Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has said he would support cutting off sales of such gear to Europe if the new arms export control restrictions were not satisfactory.
This is a threat, but a minor one. But Europe knows how Congress thinks: As in all representative assemblies, protection of home-based producing companies is never far from the minds of members. An enhanced threat would cut off sales the other way, from Europe to the United States.
More such sales are a devoutly sought goal of the parent firm of Airbus. Such sales to the tune of $5 billion a year are enjoyed by BAE Systems, Britain's largest defense firm. If growing U.S. sales become ``mutually exclusive with doing business in China, then we will go with the U.S.,'' said a company spokesman.
Europe, through its own domestic lobbies, has a powerful incentive to maintain an effective embargo against China on the items of real concern. If it doesn't and Congress retaliates (that won't take any encouragement), the president for once won't look like the heavy in Berlin, Paris, Brussels and points north, east and south. He'll have every right to say, ``I told you so.''

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LENGTH: 312 words

HEADLINE: WEDDINGS; 
 Mutual adoration

BYLINE: By Dana Bisbee

BODY:
College ties brought them together to tie the knot.
Katie Sher and Michael Torode were married New Year's Eve at St. William's Church in Tewksbury. Their reception was at the Tewksbury Country Club. 
``My college roommate married his college roommate,'' said Katie, a personal trainer now studying exercise physiology at UMass-Boston. Mike is a plumber in his family's business, Torode Plumbing.
``We met at their wedding two years ago,'' she said.
Mike proposed on the way to dinner.
``He couldn't wait to ask me,'' she said. ``He took me out to dinner but asked once we hopped out of the car. It was in the middle in the street, actually.''
Katie's strapless gown had a corset back, A-line skirt with a flared hemline, small train and a very thin overlay of French lace. She wore her sister's tiara and veil.
Amy Monteith and Alison Sher were their sister's matron and maid of honor. Bridesmaids were Kate Fitzgerald, Gina Consiglio, Jessica Leahy, Christin Bischoff, Maureen Roche, Donna Cieri, Allison Mahoney, Eileen Sebastian, Paula MacAllister, Jane and Anne Correia and Mike's sister, Jennifer Torode.
George Rodgers and Mark Siracusa shared best man duties. Groomsmen were Christopher Maxwell, Bud MacAllister, Jimmy Sebastian, Josh Lowry, Matthew Champion, Michael McCoy, Dan Curan and Kevin Mooney.
Caryn Andrews, Megan Curan and Darrin and Tracy Black were readers.
Stephanie Sebastian was flower girl. Nicholas Sebastian was ring bearer.
The couple's parents are Susan and Gerry Sher of Norwood and Jo-Ann and Tom Torode from Tewksbury. Absent was Sgt. Matthew Sher, the bride's brother, who is serving in Iraq.
Their honeymoon was a Royal Caribbean cruise. They live in Chelmsford.
FACETS
Engagement ring: Round one-carat diamond between two smaller stones.
Wedding bands: Hers has four channel-set diamonds. His is platinum.
Song: ``For You'' by John Denver.
Flowers: Red roses.

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HEADLINE: KID TECH; 
 All the news that's fit; 
 Young readers get the facts online

BYLINE: By Robin Ray

BODY:
As a parent, it's hard to encourage your child to watch the news on TV. It's not really spilling a professional secret to say that TV news concentrates on the sensational: murder, drug busts, war, sex scandals and the like. But kids also need to be up on current events, both for success in school and citizenship later in life. A newspaper like this one is, of course, a great place to start. But there are some online sources that are suitable for the younger-than-12s as well. 
A good one for starters is Time for Kids (www.timeforkids.com), put out by Time magazine. The main page of the Time for Kids Web site is blocked out with a few big features - a recent visit turned up a Black History Month feature and a lot of stuff about Valentine's. But to the right of the screen, ``This Week's Magazines'' connects you to a solid list of articles modified for a younger age group. The pieces are shorter, and the vocabulary is simplified.
Controversial and divisive topics do not get much play here: You will look hard before you find anything about the Iraq War, for example. Emphasis is more on fun science stories, travel features and upbeat pieces about empowered kids. But the Time for Kids site is very well designed, with bright, uncluttered Web pages, and the advertising, though present, is limited to a subtle banner at the top. The ``Specials'' section is part armchair travel, part art project, and a nice grab bag of things kids might like to do.
Another excellent site, one that has been posted and continuously updated since 1999, is Kids Newsroom.org (www.kidsnewsroom.org). This Web site, a favorite among home-schoolers, has a broad range of articles that are both timely and balanced in their coverage. Once again, for better or worse, the more difficult subjects get a pass. But the pieces are original, interesting and reasonably up-to-date.
Furthermore, kids can and do contribute their own Web sites to the newsroom. These contributions are neither clumsy nor amateurish. ``A Virtual Journey into The Universe,'' for example (http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infocentral/space/main/cockpit.html#bottom), was produced and linked into Kids Newsroom by two high school students. Using otherworldly music and beautiful graphics, the authors guide you through the solar system, planet by planet. I sincerely hope that these boys got into good colleges on the basis of this glorious interactive art-piece. (Unfortunately, the link to their biographies has gone dead so we'll never know.)
As icing on the cake, Kids Newsroom provides complete texts of some important literary works that have gone out of copyright: the complete works of Shakespeare, a treasury of fairy tales and selections from both Sherlock Holmes stories and classic African-American literature.
Another fine Web site, more oriented toward the classroom, is Student News Net (www.studentnewsnet.com). Here you find more substantial news coverage - stories covering the Iraq War, for instance - but at a price. The subscription rate for this service is $3 a month, a very reasonable price, but a price nonetheless.
If your kid is interested in science, there's a fabulous Web site called Science News for Kids (www.sciencenewsforkids.org). Clear design, up-to-date articles that are readable but not insultingly simple and a complete absence of ads, pop-up or otherwise, distinguish this news site. Subject headings run from Agriculture to Weather, and there is a special section to help kids with science-fair projects. Recent features included news of Jupiter's moon Titan and the geology behind the tsunami disaster in South Asia.
Feel free to skip the ``Newspage of Yahooligans, the kids' section of Yahoo.com. It consists of a minimal picture gallery and a few bland stories, posted and apparently forgotten (the tableau did not change at all over the five days I monitored it). This hardly constitutes news.

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HEADLINE: Romney's jabs get Dems fighting mad

BYLINE: By David R. Guarino

BODY:
Prominent Democrats are still fuming over what they see as Gov. Mitt Romney's anti-Bay State rhetoric as he campaigned with President Bush last year - themes they say continue now that Romney's eying his own run for president.
Led by a suddenly hard-charging Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, Democrats say they won't stand for Romney's bashing his home state while on the hustings.
``I'll never forget, and the state shouldn't forget, the tone of the campaign, President Bush's re-election campaign,'' Reilly said. 
``I don't blame President Bush. He had to paint Massachusetts in a certain light.
``The governor didn't have to. You are governor for all of us and your job is to fight for us and stand up for us and correct the misconceptions people have of the state. He never lifted a finger in the campaign to correct those things.''
State Treasurer Timothy Cahill agreed.
Romney campaigned in 2002 as the state's chief marketer - now he's its chief critic, Cahill said.
``The point I do have a problem with (is) when he's out of the state of Massachusetts and he's making fun of the state of Massachusetts and mocking us, especially when he's saying he's trying to market us,'' Cahill said.
``If he thinks he can help our chances, he should speak positively of the state when he's out.''
Cahill and Reilly separately said they grew angry watching Romney speak to the Spartanburg County Republican Party in South Carolina last Monday night on C-Span.
In his speech, Romney mocked Massachusetts Democrats, the legalization of gay marriage and the idea of gay couples having children.
``Let me tell you how things line up in my state,'' Romney said Monday. ``Being a conservative Republican is a bit like being a cattle rancher at a vegetarian convention.''
Cahill said he was offended by the comment and said any CEO watching would have be turned off by the Massachusetts that Romney portrayed.
Reilly, a likely Democratic gubernatorial candidate, said he was bothered that Romney derided gay parents by saying every child deserves a mother and a father.
Romney spokeswoman Shawn Feddeman said the governor cares deeply about the state and didn't intend to make fun of anyone here.
``The governor always puts the interests of Massachusetts first,'' she said. ``Massachusetts is his home, it's where he raised his family, and we have very important work to do in Massachusetts right now on critical issues .... Governor Romney will not be sidetracked from those important issues by political sniping.''
Still, Democratic Party Chairman Philip Johnston said he won't let Romney shake his criticisms of his home state should he run for re-election.
``It will be an issue in '06 - we will remind people that he did that,'' Johnston said.
``It's clear that he feels uncomfortable in his own state, that he feels out of sync with the voters here.''
Quotes from the trail
Cheerleader or downer? On the road, Gov. Romney isn't exactly big on Massachusetts - a sampling of his campaign trail comments about the state he governs.
On Bay State Sen. John Kerry, in Iowa, Oct. 16, 2004:
- ``America needs a president who is willing to do what he believes is right, to be steadfast and clear, a president who respects America's military strength, who has the resolve to stand up against evil, who will take action regardless of public opinion, regardless of a global opinion poll, and regardless of what they think in France.''
On Democrats, including those in the Bay State, last week:
- ``It's hard not to contrast the kind of leadership of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush and the resolve of Republican presidents with the Democrats in Washington over these last 20 years. For that time, they have been wrong on virtually every single issue of national security, those Democrats have been.''
``And even now, many of them continue to criticize, even as democracy takes hold in Afghanistan and Iraq and they find themselves on the wrong side of history again.''
On the Bay State, to South Carolina Republicans last Monday:
- ``As you can imagine, being the only red dot in Massachusetts is a little difficult, and sometimes high stress.''
- ``Let me tell you how things line up in my state. We have 13 percent registered Republicans. My senators are named Kerry and Kennedy. We have 10 congressmen, all Democrats. We've produced more than our share of Democratic presidential contenders - from Mike Dukakis to Ted Kennedy to John Kerry. Our state Legislature has the highest percentage of one party in America - it's, of course, Democratic, at 85 percent in both houses. Being a conservative Republican is a bit like being a cattle rancher at a vegetarian convention.''

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LENGTH: 217 words

HEADLINE: Heat, not snow, dogs these Bay Staters

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
TIKRIT, Iraq - As winter took yet another swipe at the Bay State , the soldiers of the Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company were stripping down to undershirts and mopping sweat from their brows.
``It's starting to get warm.  
Make sure your people are drinking water,'' Capt. Dominic DiTomaso told his noncommissioned officers as the Guardsmen unloaded shipping containers full of equipment.
The temperature grazed 70 degrees, but it felt much warmer with the desert sun beating down on the soldiers as they hauled heavy crates. They were guzzling bottled water and running sunblock wipes across their necks and cheeks by 11 a.m.
``Dude, this is nothing. This is only lukewarm for Iraq,'' Cpl. Kenny Clifford of Somerville told a sweaty buddy.
With the withering desert heat of high summer still a few months off, the Guardsmen enjoyed breaking a sweat under a cloudless blue sky.
They grounded their Kevlar helmets and rolled up the sleeves of their brown Army T-shirts, baring colorful tattoos etched into upper arms. They wisecracked about loved ones facing another frigid morning shoveling sloppy wet snow.
They almost felt sorry for the people back home until the first incoming mortars of the day exploded just before noon.
``You guys got Kevlars,'' DiTomaso called out. ``Get 'em on.''

GRAPHIC: WORKING HARD: Spc. Dalila Navarro of Springfield and Spc. Thomas Browne of Malden rest after unloading some equipment in Tikrit, Iraq. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 Nearby blast shakes up 42nd MP Co.

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
TIKRIT, Iraq - The car bomb that killed more than a dozen Iraqi policemen here yesterday morning shook buildings a mile away on Forward Operating Base Danger.
The ground shuddered underfoot as the jarring boom reverberated through the halls of the Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company headquarters.
``The whole building was shaking,'' said the company motor sergeant, Sgt. James Savage of Raynham. 
The motor pool office sits across the street from the base's outer wall and within sight of the blasted Tikrit police station. A mock ``help wanted'' sign out front warns prospective applicants they must be able to dodge mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and car bombs.
The guardsmen have grown accustomed over their first three weeks in Iraq to daily explosions rattling their windows and their nerves. Incoming mortar shells and controlled detonations of captured ordnance boom out most days in groups of three or four explosions a few seconds apart.
But the powerful car bomb sounded and felt different, a lone blast in the distance followed an ominous rumbling that lasted for what felt like seconds.
An hour later, thick black smoke was still billowing into the sky over Danger from the scores of parked cars ignited by the bomb.
``That smoke tells me people over there are dying,'' Savage said, his eyes on the dark plume. ``They're dying to bring democracy to this country. That's what that smoke tells me.''
The company's convoys often stop at the Tikrit police station to drop off released prisoners or escort civilian contractors helping train Iraqi police.
``Here are these guys right down the street. We see them on a daily basis. I don't know. It's surreal,'' said Spc. Sean Klink of Weymouth. ``It helps you to not get complacent.''
The attack came as the governors of Iraq's four central and northeastern provinces met on the base with the commander of the 42nd Infantry Division.

GRAPHIC: OMINOUS: Smoke rises from the Iraqi Police Academy just outside Forward Operating Base Danger, where the Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd MP Company is based. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

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LENGTH: 295 words

HEADLINE: Hotel industry enjoying return; 
 Local occupancy is best since 2000

BYLINE: By JENNIFER HELDT POWELL

BODY:
Jury's Boston Hotel executives expected a slow start this year, given that they were new to the area and not well known in the region.
They were wrong..
The year turned out to be one of the best in recent history for the region's lodging industry, even as hundreds of new beds were opened. 
``We have been delighted with the start,'' said Jury's Back Bay general manager, Stephen M. Johnston. ``We couldn't have asked for better.''
Occupancy in Boston and Cambridge hotels was up four points, to 74 percent, said Patrick Moscaritolo, head of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The actual number of rooms sold was 5.1 million, up from 4.7 million.
``What these numbers are telling us is that business travel rebounded, international travel started to grow and that we had a strong convention year,'' Moscaritolo said.
Though the numbers lag the high of 2000, they show steady improvement, he said.
``We really saw things start to turn around in August of 2003,'' said Erwin Schinnerl, general manager of the Ritz-Carlton, Boston, as the economy stabilized, uncertainty in Iraq subsided and there was no repeat of theSARS outbreak.
``On a local level you had so much going on with the Red Sox and the Patriots and the Democratic National Convention,'' he said.
The Hyatt Regency Boston, which took over management of the Downtown Crossing site from Swissotel, had the advantage of a bigger corporate network and a new sales push, marketing director Patrick Sorge said.
``It comes at a time when companies are feeling the results of a stronger economy, and they're increasing their travel and holding more meetings,'' he said.
The hotel also saw an increase in leisure travel, especially with the opening of the Opera House.
``This year, we expect more of the same,'' he said.

GRAPHIC: WELCOME BACK: A guest arrives at the Ritz-Carlton, Boston last night. The hospitality industry is reporting a resurgence, still lagging behind the preterrorist era of 2000, but showing steady improvement. STAFF PHOTO BY MATT STONE

LOAD-DATE: February 25, 2005

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February 24, 2005 Thursday  
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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 Packages top e-mail for touch of home

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
TIKRIT, Iraq - The Massachusetts National Guardsmen of the 42nd Military Police Company can call home as often as they like from a telephone in the unit headquarters.
Most hauled their personal laptop computers to Iraq to keep in touch by e-mail. A few even brought Web cams for online chatting with loved ones. 
But even in this age of wired GIs outfitted with the latest tech gadgets, there's still something about mail call that makes them feel like kids at Christmas. When the humvee hauling the company's mail rolls up, there's no shortage of volunteers to help unload the parcels.
``I know I got one in the mail coming. I'm not expecting it for a few more days. It takes like a week and a half,'' said Kenny Clifford of Somerville, the company's communications specialist.
Yesterday, Spc. Njeri Gordon of New York and Cpl. Deborah St. Dennis of South Hadley made the mail run. St. Dennis got a package from her husband with some moisture-wicking undershirts for the coming hot weather.
``It's about time he sent me something,'' she joked.
Gordon got a Valentine's Day package the other day from her husband and daughters that brought tears to her eyes.
``It's such a good feeling. You go to pick up mail every day and you don't have anything, and then you see your name,'' she said.
Staff Sgt. Ternilia Myers walked into the company orderly room yesterday as Gordon and St. Dennis sorted the letters and packages.
``You've got mail,'' St. Dennis told her.
``Did I get a package?'' Myers asked, a smile spreading across her face. When she recognized her sister's handwriting on the envelope St. Dennis handed her, Myers jumped up and down excitedly. She tore it open immediately.

GRAPHIC: YOU'VE GOT MAIL: Spc. Njeri Gordon, right, of New York and Cpl. Deborah St. Dennis of South Hadley haul packages into headquarters after their mail run for the Massachusetts National Guardsmen of the 42nd Military Police Company in Tikrit, Iraq. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

LOAD-DATE: February 24, 2005

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February 23, 2005 Wednesday  
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LENGTH: 610 words

HEADLINE: Summers losing stare down with PC Posse

BYLINE: By HOWIE CARR

BODY:
This battle between the president of Harvard University and the faculty leaves me with the same feeling that I had during the Iran-Iraq war.
Isn't there some way they can both lose?
On the one side, you have Lawrence Summers, who used to work for Bill Clinton. On the other, you have the Harvard faculty, a bunch of pointy-headed intellectuals who, as Gov. George Wallace so aptly put it, can't park a bicycle straight. 
If you don't listen to NPR, you may have missed the controversy. It seems that Larry went to a gathering of female academics and mentioned that there don't seem to be as many top-notch women scientists and mathematicians as those of the male gender. Perhaps, he said, perhaps it's because of ``innate'' differences.
Then he suggested more research was needed. Imagine that - he's at a college, speaking to Ph.D.s, and he suggested the need for more study.
``I thought I was going to faint,'' said one dizzy dame.
Poor Summers. All of sudden, he's the new John Silber, and he's even got his own Howard Zinn stalking him - a nutty professor named Everett Mendelsohn, who's been on TV more this week than Paris Hilton.
Still, judging by the reaction to Summers' remarks, you'd have thought he'd announced that life begins at conception, or that he'd voted for George W. Bush. All he did was suggest some more research. Apparently at Harvard that's now considered hate speech.
The liberal arts faculty had another ``emergency'' meeting at Harvard yesterday. As amusing as it is to see yet another Clinton Cabinet secretary doing the perp walk, the problem is that Summers stands accused of nothing more than asking a politically incorrect question.
But that's enough for the celebrate-diversity crew. They now chant at him:
``Racist, sexist, anti-gay. Larry Summers has to pay.''
So he surrendered again yesterday. That's what the words in his statement like ``listen'' and ``respect'' mean. But he's tried to wave the white flag before, and they won't hear of it. He's groveled, he just hasn't groveled enough.
Where is the ACLU when you need them? Or do they only defend fake Indians like Ward Churchill?
Every day, the PC Posse dreams up new charges against him. Last week a female sociology professor accused him of ``angry stares.''
``You can't imagine how much they hate him,'' said one Harvard student, who I won't identify, lest she be the next one to be tarred and feathered by the local moonbats. ``He criticized them for grade inflation, and he talked about the anti-Semitism on campus.''
Then there was his feud with Cornel West, the noted hip-hop scholar. Summers actually criticized a black man - another hate crime. Dr. West was stunned; so was Doctor Dre. Cornel West immediately decamped for Princeton, and it's now unlikely that the Widener Library will ever house Dirt McGirt's personal papers, which were mostly E-Z Widers and Zig Zags.
The Harvard faculty is trying to break a long losing streak. Most recently, they went all out for John Kerry. He may have gone to Yale, but Kerry's never worked and he thinks he's better than everybody else. In other words, Kerry has Harvard written all over him. He can't park a Serotta straight.
As one of the few sane profs noted, the Harvard faculty couldn't beat President Bush, so they'll settle for ousting President Summers.
The Harvard Corporation says they're behind Summers. Who knows what that means? If the ``embattled'' prez does go, who'll replace him?
Ward Churchill is available. Say what you will about that fraud, he's never been accused of having an angry stare.
Howie Carr's radio show can be heard weekday afternoons on WRKO AM 680, WHYN AM 560, WGAN AM 560, WEIM AM 1280, and WXTK FM 95.1.

LOAD-DATE: February 24, 2005

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February 22, 2005 Tuesday  
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HEADLINE: Guardsmen hail gov's bill to hike benefits

BYLINE: By Tom Farmer and Thomas Caywood

BODY:
From Iraq to Boston, members of the Massachusetts National Guard voiced strong support yesterday for a bill filed by Gov. Mitt Romney that would increase their death benefit by $95,000. 
``It's going to take a lot of pressure off the soldiers,'' said 1st Sgt. Richard Bowe of Southwick, who is serving in Iraq with the 42nd Military Police Company. ``It's a great relief to know we are being taken care of financially, not just with people waving signs.''
If passed by the Legislature, Romney's bill would increase the line-of-duty death benefit for Massachusetts National Guard members from $5,000 to $100,000.
It would also provide guardsmen with a free $250,000 life insurance policy that they have the option to buy for $195 annually. Romney's bill mirrors a federal proposal by President Bush that would increase death benefits for active-duty military personnel from $12,000 to $100,000.
``I think it's wonderful the commonwealth is supporting its soldiers, and I really hope the other states will follow the example,'' said Staff Sgt. Steffen Hanzel, 34, of Chicopee, who left a 7-week-old son behind to serve in Iraq.
Romney's bill would be retroactive to October 2001 to cover guardsmen killed during Operation Enduring Freedom.
``It is so important because people believe when a soldier is killed in a war zone that the families are well taken care of. It is so untrue,'' said Diane Rooney of Plymouth, whose husband, Robert, 43, was killed in Kuwait in September 2003 while serving with the National Guard. The couple have three children.
Three other families of guardsmen - two who died in Massachusetts and a third in Cuba - may also qualify for the death benefit, officials said.

LOAD-DATE: February 22, 2005

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February 22, 2005 Tuesday  
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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 Mass. MPs deliver war crime suspects

BYLINE: By Thomas Caywood

BODY:
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The two Black Hawks carrying Massachusetts National Guardsmen and their prisoners flew fast and low, their dark green bellies practically scraping palm fronds and adobe rooftops.
Door gunners scanning for targets raked the muzzles of their M-60 machine guns back and forth across the patchy green countryside whizzing by below.
Strapped into one of the Black Hawks sat two bound and blindfolded Iraqi men, a father and son wanted by the Iraqi Special Tribunal for crimes against humanity. 
The elder man was detained by U.S. forces last year for taking pot shots at passing coalition convoys from the roof of his home. His son is believed to have been an agent of Saddam Hussein's ruthless intelligence service.
A 42nd Military Police Company team got the job of picking them up from the grunts who snatched them from a home in Al-Dujayle in the dead of night Monday and delivering them to Baghdad to face an Iraqi judge.
``They're Iraqi war criminals, so these are bad dudes,'' said Provost Marshal Lt. Col. Joe Ricchiazzi, the top law enforcement officer of the 42nd Infantry Division.
His MP team assembled at a gravel landing zone on Forward Operating Base Danger yesterday at dawn.
The thump, thump, thump of rotor blades reached their ears a few minutes later.
``I hear birds. Everybody put your weapons on safe,'' said 1st Sgt. Richard Bowe of Southwick as the MPs threw down cigarettes and reached for earplugs.
The choppers touched down in a gust of wind that rocked the soldiers back on their heels.
Moments later, the Black Hawks were roaring at race car speed low over desert pastures scattering flocks of sheep before them like a speed boat pushing a bow wave.
The sleek machines skimmed the ground so tight the pilots had to pull up and then swoop back down to clear power lines.
The Black Hawks dropped into a shuddering hover over Logistical Support Base Anaconda in Balad a little over a half-hour later.
Once on the ground, the MPs carefully frisked both prisoners, slowly running latex-gloved hands over arms and legs and under each foot. The blindfolded men kept their gray-stubbled jaws set tight.
Their long Arab robes whipped around their ankles as the MPs walked them by the elbows through the rotor wash to the idling helicopters.
After a short hop to Baghdad International Airport, MPs from another unit slapped on shackles and leg irons and drove the wanted men away to answer for crimes they allegedly committed in Saddam's service.

GRAPHIC: PATDOWN: Master Sgt. Donald Raymond, above, pats down a prisoner to be flown to Baghdad for a date with an Iraqi judge. Left, a waist gunner keeps his M-60 machine gun trained on the countryside whizzing below his Black Hawk helicopter during the hop to Baghdad to deliver the prisoners. Staff photos by John Wilcox

LOAD-DATE: February 22, 2005

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February 21, 2005 Monday  
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SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 006

LENGTH: 471 words

HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 MP duty brings high standards for Mass. Guardsmen

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
TIKRIT, Iraq - On his way to work every morning, Sgt. 1st Class Gary Garand walks by a 3-foot-square sign that says in English and Arabic: ``Detainees will be treated with dignity and respect.''
Those eight words constitute a mantra of sorts for the Massachusetts National Guardsmen responsible for keeping order inside the Division Central Collection Point, better known as ``The Cage'' to the soldiers of the 42nd Military Police Company.
Strict rules governing the treatment of prisoners are posted everywhere inside its perimeter fence topped with coils of shiny razor wire. There's even a grievance procedure for prisoners, who range from curfew violators to jihadists caught in the act of wiring roadside bombs. 
The guardsmen work under a shadow cast by the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal. They've only been in Iraq three weeks, but the misdeeds of their predecessors hang over them like a thundercloud just the same.
``A lot of checks and balances have been put in place because of that,'' said Garand, a Pittsfield cop.
Second Lt. Mark Avery, a correction officer back home in Massachusetts, who wears his uniform cap low over his eyes and talks through clenched teeth, presides over the cage. His MPs keep order and prevent escapes.
As he stood on a rooftop pointing out the separate holding areas, Avery knew exactly which of the men below him in orange jump suits and flip-flops got caught trying to kill GIs. But punishing them isn't his job.
``I'm just here to make sure they follow the rules,'' he said.
The discipline problems lose their foam mattresses for starters. Avery can temporarily restrain and isolate combative prisoners, but he must get special permission to cuff hands behind the back.
``We have to hold ourselves to the highest standards,'' said Staff Sgt. Dan Spera of Medford, who said Abu Ghraib is never far from his mind in the cage.
Dignity and respect go a long way, added Spc. Joshua Martin of Auburn. After 20 straight days working 13-hour shifts in the prison, Martin can carry on simple conversations in Arabic. He and other guards say they feel pity for some of the prisoners, many of who were swept up in cordon-and-search dragnets.
Prisoners can only be held in Tikrit at the division level for a month. Interrogators sort out which were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and which get sent on to the corps prison at Abu Ghraib in Baghdad.
Avery and Garand say they aren't concerned the prisoner abuse scandal sent the pendulum crashing back to the point where terrorists and insurgents are now coddled with hot showers and heated barracks.
``An insurgent was made a lot of times because they were ignorant or illiterate and they were taught to believe something,'' Garand explained. ``If they were taught we are animals and barbarians and we treat them like that, then we're making it correct.''

GRAPHIC: CAUGHT: Detainees are gathered in the yard of the Division Central Collection Point, better known as `The Cage' to the soldiers of the 42nd Military Police Company, in Tikrit, Iraq, yesterday. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

LOAD-DATE: February 21, 2005

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February 21, 2005 Monday  
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LENGTH: 420 words

HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 European roundup for cowboy prez

BODY:
Sometimes a president's gotta do what a president's gotta do. And we surely don't envy the task ahead for George W. Bush as he attempts to make nice to Europe's leaders this week.
Sure, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was enormously successful in her charm offensive, wowing Europeans with her grasp of issues, her attempts at a fresh start in trans-Atlantic relations and even her concert-level skills at the piano. 
But for most Europeans, Bush is just some Texas cowboy who somehow bumbled his way into the White House - TWICE And because preception is reality in politics and in foreign affairs, Bush begins his European foray with several strikes against him.
It has always seemed more than a little strange that nations, which would today be goose-stepping through what remained of their sorry lives had it not been for the blood of American soldiers spilled on their soil, should presume to lecture to a man who still sees spreading democracy as a part of this nation's mission.
But this is what the president will be up against during his European travels this week: A recent poll taken in France found that 65 percent of those polled thought U.S. leadership in the world was undesirable. A German poll found that 70 percent of those surveyed believe the U.S. is already planning an attack on Iran over its nuclear program.
Of course, it's the French and Germans who have been engaged in talks with Iran over nuclear development - thus far with stunningly little to show for the effort. Presumably Bush and European leaders can reach some agreement during his visit on when to put the matter to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose economic sanctions.
Bush will also meet this week in Slovakia with his former good buddy, Russian President Valdimir Putin. The disputed Ukrainian election, which found the two world leaders backing opposing candidates, has soured the relationship, as have recent moves by Putin to quell internal dissent. That the meeting isn't billed as a ``summit'' should already telegraph that this is about rebuilding a marriage currently on the rocks.
For his part Bush will be looking for more help in Iraq - with the training of that nation's security forces and with the rebuilding effort generally.
At some point, Europeans with their own fears about terrorism and Islamic fanaticism within their borders ought to realize that we are all in this together. Perhaps if Bush says all the right words - and uses the right fork - Europeans will take a fresh look at the Cowboy President.

LOAD-DATE: February 21, 2005

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February 21, 2005 Monday  
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LENGTH: 468 words

HEADLINE: HOTLINE; 
 `Hitch' fends off thriller `Constantine'

BODY:
Keanu Reeves went to hell and back, but he could not unhitch Will Smith from the top of the box office. Smith's romance ``Hitch'' remained the No. 1 weekend movie with $31.8 million, narrowly beating Reeves' demonic thriller ``Constantine,'' which debuted in second place with $30.5 million, according to studio estimates yesterday.
The girl-and-her-dog tale ``Because of Winn-Dixie'' opened at No. 3 with $10.85 million, and the baby-with-superpowers comedy ``Son of the Mask'' opened at No. 4 with $7.7 million. 
``Hitch,'' with action star Smith playing a ``date doctor'' for romantically hopeless men, pushed its 10-day total to $90.1 million.
Cleaning up combat for FCC
Worried about the Federal Communications Commission, PBS is taking the words out of the mouths of some soldiers filmed during combat in Iraq. The public broadcaster is distributing ``clean'' and ``raw'' versions of tomorrow's ``Frontline'' documentary about the Iraq war, titled ``A Company of Soldiers,'' and is warning it can't ensure stations against FCC fines stemming from the language.
It's an example of the television industry's continued uncertainty about FCC standards for language and content, and a real-life echo of last fall's decision by 66 ABC affiliates not to air the movie ``Saving Private Ryan.''
The ``raw'' version of the documentary contains 13 expletives spoken by soldiers. ``Frontline'' producers decided to leave them in because it presented a true picture of how these men and women react to the fear and stress of war, said David Fanning, the show's executive producer. ``Frontline'' is produced by Boston's WGBH, which will air the raw version.
Laughing about race
Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway theater presents ``The Comedy of Color: Boston Comics Celebrate Black History Month,'' with performances by Jimmy Smith, Baratunde, Janet Cormier, Deb Farrar-Parkman, Corey Manning, Bethany Van Delft and Malene Welch, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. Tickets, $15, are available by calling 866-811-4111 or by going to www.jtoffbroadway.com. - HEATHER V. ENG
Peter, Paul and Mary cancel
The Peter, Paul and Mary concert scheduled for Oct. 21 at Lowell Memorial Auditorium has been canceled, due to Mary Travers' battle with leukemia. A rescheduled date might be announced in the future, depending on Travers' condition. Ticket refunds are available at the point of purchase. For more information, call the box office at 978-454-2299 or Ticketmaster at 617-931-2000. - HEATHER V. ENG
Donny comes to Lowell
Donny Osmond will perform at Lowell Memorial Auditorium on May 4 at 8 p.m. Tickets, $26 and $36, go on sale Feb. 28 at noon at the box office, at 978-454-2299, or via Ticketmaster at 617-931-2000 and www.ticketmaster.com. - HEATHER V. ENG
Compiled by Joel Brown from staff and wire reports.

GRAPHIC: SMITH

LOAD-DATE: February 21, 2005

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February 20, 2005 Sunday  
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SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 012

LENGTH: 235 words

HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 Tikrit traffic tale: It's just the facts

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
TIKRIT, Iraq - The story you are about to read is true. The names have not been changed to protect the innocent. 
This is the FOB. Forward Operating Base Danger, Iraq. Staff Sgt. Timothy Hoke works here. He carries a badge.
It was Saturday, Feb. 19. Hoke and 2nd Lt. Kristen Procida were on the lookout for traffic scofflaws.
For the first time in three weeks, Third Platoon of the Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company didn't have a mission outside the wire. So orders came down for the platoon leader, Procida, and platoon sergeant, Hoke, to go out and enforce the 20-mile-per-hour speed limit on the mean streets of Danger.
``The next time we do traffic enforcement, I expect you to have doughnuts out here,'' cracked Hoke, who broke into the theme from Cops. ``Bad boys. Bad Boys. Whatcha gonna do?''
Traffic enforcement is an important part of what MPs do in peacetime, but it's not every day you see one aiming a radar gun at an armored gun truck on an Army outpost hit with enemy mortar rounds that very day.
Spc. Sean Klink of Weymouth, an MP himself, cracked up laughing when he spotted Hoke sporting a Falcon radar gun.
``You are not! Really?'' he snickered. ``You need a chase vehicle.''
In the end, Hoke only stopped one vehicle: a humvee that blew through the intersection where he was standing.
``I told the guy the speed limit's 20,'' Hoke reported.
``He said, `Miles or kilometers?' ''

GRAPHIC: SPEED TRAP: Staff Sgt. Timothy Hoke of New Jersey points his radar gun at potential offenders on the streets of Forward Operating Base Danger. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

LOAD-DATE: February 20, 2005

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February 20, 2005 Sunday  
FIRST EDITION

SECTION: FINANCE; Pg. 031

LENGTH: 865 words

HEADLINE: NOT-SO-GOOD-NEWS; 
 Journalists find scandals, image eroding credibility

BYLINE: By GREG GATLIN

BODY:
That the public thinks journalists are only slightly more believable than used-car salesmen may not come as a shock, given scandals that have damaged media credibility in recent years.
What's more sobering to some media observers is that the hits continue to come.
``Times have changed, and there is a growing distrust of the media and there is a feeling that reporters are out to make money or make celebrities of themselves,'' said Robert Bertsche, a media lawyer with Prince, Lobel, Glovsky & Tye.
Timothy Karr, executive director of Mediachannel.org, a not-for-profit media issues group, says the story of declining media credibility has itself become a major media story. ``In many ways, it's the biggest story of the year,'' Karr said. 
Among the recent dust-ups:
** CNN's chief news executive, Eason Jordan, resigned earlier this month after saying during a panel discussion that he believed several journalists killed in Iraq were targeted by the U.S. military.
** An online media watchdog group and several bloggers revealed that conservative reporter Jeff Gannon, who'd been asking softball questions at White House news briefings, was actually named James Guckert and has ties to gay porn Web sites.
** In January, news reports revealed that conservative commentator Armstrong Williams was paid $240,000 to promote a White House education initiative.
** CBS News fired a top producer and is trying to oust three other executives after getting a scathing review of its handling of the President Bush National Guard documents scandal. Dan Rather stepped down as anchor.
-
** A jury Friday awarded $2.1 million to a judge who sued the Boston Herald for libel. The Boston Globe went one-for-two in its own libel cases this month. A jury ruled in its favor on one and the state's highest court upheld a $2.1 million verdict in another.
In December, a jury awarded $950,000 in damages against the Boston Phoenix in a libel case. The Herald, Globe and Phoenix are all expected to appeal.
All of that followed the well-publicized Jayson Blair plagiarism scandal at The New York Times and Jack Kelley fabrication scandal at USA Today, and subsequent mea culpas.
Herald lawyer Robert Dushman told reporters Friday that the jury's verdict in the Herald libel case may reflect the view the public has of the press these days.
Karr says perceived media arrogance among an elite class of celebrity journalists has played a role in declining credibility.
``The traditional notion of journalists as members of the Fourth Estate is that they're outside the power structure and are questioning and challenging the powerful elite on behalf of the disenfranchised,'' Karr said. ``When journalists become celebrities with high salaries, they're no longer outside that class.''
But to blame it all on arrogance would be shortsighted. A host of factors have contributed to the public's disenchantment with the press in the past two decades. A recent Pew Research Center report found that Americans find the mainstream media much less credible than in the mid-1980s.
One reason is that politicians and other public figures have become highly adept at running against the press, said Bob Zelnick, chairman of Boston University's journalism school. It's been refined since the Nixon administration first portrayed the media as elite and out of touch.
The media is also to blame for pulling back on hard news coverage and emphasizing stories of lesser substance. And, says Zelnick, it's been severely hurt by its own scandals.
Zelnick and others say the growing ``red state-blue state'' divide has played a role, as have radio talk shows that reinforce hostility toward ``the liberal media.''
But perhaps one of the most powerful factors in the media's recent credibility gap has been the rise of the blogosphere, which has mobilized itself as a media watchdog. The Jordan, Gannon and Rather scandals were all exposed in part by bloggers.
``The problem with that is they're sort of like electronic lynch mobs,'' Karr said. ``The byproduct of that is general distrust of journalists. It's spread beyond the blogosophere into the general public.''
So what can be done to rehabilitate the media's image? Does the media need a public relations campaign to burnish its image?
``The media should not be in the PR campaign business,'' says Emily Rooney, host of the ``Beat the Press'' edition of ``Greater Boston'' on WGBH-TV. ``That's not the business we're in. We do what we do, and a lot of it is unpopular. There's nothing you can do to put a better face on it.''
Zelnick says the press needs to hold itself to a higher standard of performance, as well as debunk the myth that the public doesn't want serious news.
``We're going to see that good journalism and good business are not necessarily antagonistic,'' he said. ``If you don't have credibility in any business that you're in, the value of your product is less.''
And there may yet be hope for the media.
A recently released study by University of Missouri-Columbia professors reportedly found that journalists are among the nation's most ethical professionals, trailing only philosophers, medical students and practicing physicians.
Jennifer Heldt Powell contributed to this report.

LOAD-DATE: February 20, 2005

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February 20, 2005 Sunday  
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SECTION: THE EDGE; Pg. 052

LENGTH: 499 words

HEADLINE: BOOKS; 
 Biographer puts Penn to paper

BYLINE: By Judith Wynn

BODY:
``Sean Penn: His Life and Times'' by Richard T. Kelly (Grove/Atlantic/Canongate, U.S., $24)
Movie critics tend to rate Hollywood bad boy Sean Penn right up there alongside Marlon Brando and James Dean for his edgy movie portrayals of social misfits (``Fast Times at Ridgemont High'') and hair-trigger tough guys (``Mystic River.'')
The controversial actor/director also has ruffled feathers by boycotting Oscar presentations a la Brando as a form of political protest. His ongoing criticism of the Bush administration's Iraq policy regularly draws conservative fire. 
The publication of British journalist Richard T. Kelly's portrait-of-the-artist-in-interviews, ``Sean Penn: His Life and Times,'' coincides with release of ``The Assassination of Richard Nixon,'' a film which promises to be the oddball nominee of Oscar night 2005. In that low-budget, new ``indie'' movie, Penn portrays small-time loser Sam Bicke, a character based on Sam Byck, the real-life furniture salesman who attempted to kill President Nixon in a bizarre 1974 incident.
In ``Sean Penn: His Life and Times,'' Kelly draws on a rich array of exclusive interviews with Penn's friends, relatives, and such Hollywood colleagues as Jack Nicholson, Elizabeth McGovern, Dennis Hopper and Susan Sarandon. As you might expect, this subject-friendly approach occasionally bogs down in Sean-is-super happy talk. Woody Allen, who directed Penn in ``Sweet and Lowdown'' (1999), limits his contribution to a couple of brief, carefully worded compliments. Penn ex-wife Madonna is conspicuously absent from the book.
Other interviewees who mention that brief, stormy marriage take obvious pains to be discreet. (``Madonna was someone running at the limelight and Sean was running away from it. Oh my god, was that a conflict,'' remarks Meegan Ochs, one of Penn's personal assistants.) Readers seeking juicy Material Girl tidbits should look elsewhere.
Film buffs and aspiring actors and screenwriters, however, will find much to enjoy in ``Sean Penn: His Life and Times.'' Penn wrote and directed the character-driven films ``Indian Runner'' (1991), ``Crossing Guard'' (1995) and ``The Pledge'' (2001) - all socially conscious movies that tell interesting stories without resorting to Hollywood glamour or razzle-dazzle action.
Kelly presents Penn's politically progressive parents - actress Eileen Ryan Penn and blacklisted actor Leo Penn - as the natural sources of their son's preoccupation with underdog characters. Citing Penn's mesmerizing portrayal of a death-row inmate in ``Dead Man Walking'' (1995), actress Angelica Houston notes, ``Sean is unafraid to expose that ugly, pathetic part of yourself that you are always terrified will make the world turn on you.''
Kelly fills his book with a series of 75 black and white photographs to illustrate Penn's progress from a young hothead notorious for brawling with the paparazzi to a mellowed-out family man. Too bad the dearth of dirt on Madonna undercuts this otherwise competent effort.

LOAD-DATE: February 20, 2005

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February 19, 2005 Saturday  
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SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 017

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HEADLINE: Iwo Jima vet: I was proud to be part of it

BYLINE: By JULES CRITTENDEN

BODY:
Veterans of wars from the Pacific to Iraq gathered at the State House yesterday to mark the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps' bloodiest battle - the monthlong fight to take Iwo Jima in 1945.
``It was an honor to be there with them,'' said James Crosby, 20, a wounded Marine veteran of Iraq who was assisted out of his wheelchair to stand at the podium and address the crowd. 
``You see the statue and you hear about it,'' Crosby said, referring to the Iwo Jima flag-raising that has become a Marine Crops icon. ``It inspires Marines today. But no one can understand what it's like to be in combat until they've been there.''
Robert Johnston, 83, of Woburn, was one of several Iwo Jima veterans who remembered friends that didn't survive the bitter fighting.
``It's heartbreaking. My best friend was killed the first day ... Out of 60 in my platoon, there were 19 of us left when we left the island,'' said Johnston, who was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star and received a battlefield promotion from corporal to lieutenant. But Johnston said, ``I was proud to be a part of it.''
Nearly 20,000 Marines were wounded and 6,821 were killed taking the island so it could be used as an emergency landing base for B-29s bombing Japan. The Medal of Honor was awarded to 27 men - more than in any other battle. An estimated 20,000 Japanese were killed.

GRAPHIC: HEROES: Bob Johnston, left, and Col. Frank Deyoe, veterans of the Battle of Iwo Jima, enter the State House yesterday for a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the bloody battle. STAFF PHOTO BY TED FITZGERALD

LOAD-DATE: February 19, 2005

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HEADLINE: Kin's gift of life twice as nice for ailing woman

BYLINE: By JESSICA FARGEN

BODY:
An Iowa woman is bracing for the surgery of her life next week when part of her uncle's liver and her cousin's kidney will be transplanted into her weakening body during a rare operation.
Marti Kleven, 21, who is living in Hamilton, will undergo surgery Wednesday at the Lahey Clinic to fight a dangerous two-pronged assault - her body is attacking her liver at the same time her kidneys are failing. Her family gave her a ``new chance at life,'' she said. 
``How do you accept that kind of gift? I can't even,'' said Kleven, who moved here from Iowa more than a year ago for access to Boston's hospitals. ``All I can do is really say thank you.''
David Heyden, 48, an electrician in Iowa, will donate part of his liver. His daughter, Dawnica King, 27, also of Iowa, will donate a kidney.
A dozen doctors in three operating rooms will spend all day on the double live donor transplant, which the clinic has only performed four times in six years.
``It's quite a tour-de-force,'' said James Pomposelli, the surgeon who will transplant the new kidney. He said Kleven has a 90 percent chance of survival and the donors, an even greater chance.
Kleven's fiance, Adam Barclay, is stationed at Fort Drum in New York and will be there for the surgery, but then goes to Georgia four days later for training. The two plan to marry in May and Barclay ships to Iraq in September.
Kleven was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis when she was 16, a disease that attacks her liver. Then, in May, her kidneys started to fail. Medication wasn't working, so she turned to a transplant.
``If she couldn't find donors she would have to wait and she would have to get sicker,'' Pomposelli said.
Heyden said they knew Kleven had a tough question to ask. ``I don't believe I could go out and ask for a donor,'' he said. ``We figured it would be much easier if we offered.''

GRAPHIC: KLEVEN: Will undergo rare double transplant.

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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 Iraq police recruits in constant danger

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
TIKRIT, Iraq - Moaed Ahmed has as much to do with sending U.S. troops home to their families as any general or politician.
The fleshy 28-year-old oversaw historic Iraqi religious sites as a kind of curator before the war.
As of yesterday, he holds the most dangerous job in his country. 
He's a rookie Iraqi Police Service officer cooperating with the U.S. military on the streets of Samarra, a hornet's nest of insurgents that GI's have had to retake twice since Baghdad fell.
``If you are a policeman working side by side with the Americans, you are an American to them,'' Ahmed acknowledged yesterday through an interpreter.
As targeted, but far less protected. Iraqi policemen and recruits have been executed en masse and blown up by the scores in cities across the country.
Ahmed's class of more than 200 police recruits graduated yesterday from a crash training program at Forward Operating Base Danger. U.S. soldiers and civilian police advisers spent two weeks drilling the men on the paramilitary skills and tactics they'll need to defend against insurgent attacks. They previously attended a police academy outside Iraq.
Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Kaufman of New Bedford, an Army Reservist who helped train the recruits, knows some of his students may not live out the month. ``They are going out there one way or the other,'' Kaufman said before the ceremony. ``If we can get them to fight, not throw down their weapons and run away, they'll have a much better chance.''
Mardan Tark, 25, said through an interpreter he doesn't fear for his life.
``If God is willing, I wish we will bring stability and peace,'' Tark said.
With their lieutenants and captains hovering nearby, the graduating policemen talked of patriotism and service to their people. Recruiting billboards in Tikrit look like movie advertisements with heroic images of fit IPS officers in sharp navy blue uniforms, a giant Iraqi flag in the background.
But the U.S. soldiers who train the recruits say economic desperation drove many to sign up. The job pays about $200 a month. Either way, the Pentagon is counting on men like Ahmed and Tark to replace GI's on the streets of Samarra and other insurgent flashpoints.
``We could just send an MP company to Samarra, but that doesn't do anything to build their police up or give us an exit strategy,'' said Maj. Bill Waller of the Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company.

GRAPHIC: ON THE BRINK: New Iraqi police officer Moaed Ahmed, right, has just finished a two-week course taught by the American military as the final phase of his training.
PARADING THE COLORS: IPS recruits march to their graduation ceremony, which was held at their training site, Forward Operating Base Danger in Tikrit. STAFF PHOTOS BY JOHN WILCOX

LOAD-DATE: February 19, 2005

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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 `Big Lou' fires, halts a threat; 
 First shots of war for 42nd MPs

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
TIKRIT, Iraq - The Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company fired its first shots of the war yesterday, three weeks after arriving at Forward Operating Base Danger.
Third Platoon was on the outskirts of Baghdad on its way back to Tikrit with a load of prisoners when the gunner on the trail humvee spotted a white taxi weaving through traffic and closing fast.
Standing in the turret, Spc. Derek Lewis waved the taxi off. It kept coming. 
A quiet man the other soldiers affectionately call ``Big Lou,'' Lewis shouted down into the humvee to Cpl. Jim Lawler, who got on the radio to the convoy commander.
Lewis tried again to wave the taxi off and then brought the barrel of his mounted M-249 machine gun down on the car. It kept coming.
``That was the first time I experienced that where they didn't stop,'' Lewis said last night as he sat down to clean his weapon.
The taxi had closed to within about 80 yards of the moving convoy. Lewis said he feared a suicide bomber was behind the wheel.
``I told Cpl. Lawler the vehicle was getting too close. I told him I was going to engage the vehicle,'' he recalled.
Lewis drew a bead on the grill and pulled the trigger.
A burst of three rounds thudded into the engine block of the taxi, which coasted to a stop as the convoy sped away down the highway.
The MPs aren't allowed to stand and fight when they're escorting prisoners.
``I thought I saw him check himself and look at the passenger and then we were out of range,'' Lewis said.
The whole thing was over in seconds. Then a dark van that had pulled around the taxi began to gain on the convoy. The escalating sequence of warning actions began again.
Lewis, a father who works courthouse security back home in New Jersey, disabled the van with a single shot to the driver's side front tire when all else failed to stop it.
The convoy arrived back at Danger safely late in the afternoon. Lewis and Lawler wrote out sworn statements, reported the expended ammo to operations and got their humvee ready for the following day's mission.
``I'm relieved that I reacted to it,'' Lewis said.
``I didn't get hurt and nobody on the team got hurt,'' he said.

GRAPHIC: WHAT HAPPENED: Spc. Derek `Big Lou' Lewis of New Jersey talks about the shooting incident that occurred while he was a gunner in a convoy carrying prisoners from Baghdad to Tikrit. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

LOAD-DATE: February 18, 2005

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HEADLINE: He sought answer from Bush but got only the boot

BYLINE: By Peter Gelzinis

BODY:
Freddie Goldsmith went to the Pease International Tradeport on Tuesday, sure that George W. Bush would listen to his Social Security Income grievance.
But before the band finished ``Hail To The Chief,'' a squad of Portsmouth cops swooped in to unceremoniously ``escort'' this 52-year-old guy with a bad leg and a hole in his liver out of the hangar and halfway across the parking lot.
When Freddie asked why he was getting booted out of a Social Security forum that was half empty, the local cops could only shake their heads. ``One of them tells me, `We don't know why.' 
``Then he says the director of the (Tradeport) hangar saw me fidgeting in my seat. `That guy who's fidgeting with the hat on . . . get him outta here!' ''
What looked like a national security threat was actually a bladder shot to hell by eight years of prescribed pain killers. ``So, I have to go to the bathroom a lot . . . what the hell?'' Freddie said. ``Since when is that a federal offense?''
While Freddie's black scalley cap and matching lumberjack shirt may not be standard attire for most George Bush fundamentalists . . . it ain't exactly a turban, either.
So, was it REALLYthe leaky bladder and the black scalley that got Freddie rousted from Bush's Social Security seance? Or did that bald guy sitting in the next seat have something to do with it?
``This guy next to me starts talking about Iraq,'' Freddie recalled. ``He tells me he thinks it's a war worth carrying on. I give him this look and say `You . . . WHAT!' I told him I thought Iraq was another Vietnam.
``He smiles and says, `What was wrong with Vietnam?' So, we go back and forth until I ask his age. Forty-two, he says. I laughed. `No wonder why you liked Vietnam,' I said, `You were in diapers then.' ''
On one of his trips to the bathroom, Freddie said he noticed the bald-headed guy talking to a fellow in a trenchcoat. ``And guess who was with the Portsmouth cops when they yanked me out of there?'' Mr. Secret Service, I presume.
``Can't I speak my mind?'' Freddie sighed. ``(Bleep) I thought this was New Hampshire, not Tehran. No, I didn't vote for Bush, but I respect the president. I love this country. And I went there because I wanted to ask the president if he could right the wrong that's been done to me?''
Some nine years ago, Freddie Goldsmith shattered his leg and hip while working during a blizzard. He fell from a snowbank and bounced off a Dumpster while delivering food for the Greater Boston Food Bank. A long and tortured road of surgeries and pain killers followed. Freddie says the pain killers triggered the cancer gnawing at his liver. He came to Pease with X-rays of iron rods that hold his left leg to his hip.
The injustice Freddie wanted to discuss with George Bush had to do with a letter he received not long ago. It said he would likely be purged from the SSI roles.
``You want to know how I got this idea to go to the forum?'' Freddie asked. ``I'm on the phone with one of these bleeping jerks from Social Security. I'm getting nowhere with him when I finally scream, `So who's gonna right this wrong done to me?'
``Know what that smartass says to me? `Why don't ya talk to the effing president.' Bang, down goes the phone.''
So, Freddie read the ad in the Portsmouth Herald about George Bush coming to town to talk about Social Security. Yesterday, Freddie said the nice man in Sen. John Sununu's Portsmouth office, the one who gave him a free ticket, encouraged him to deliver his question to George Bush.
Later in the day, a very pleasant woman in Sununu's Washington office called to say no one in either office led Freddie Goldsmith to believe he could ask the president anything. But they would try to help with Freddie's SSI mess.
``Yeah, that's right, it's all in my head,'' Freddie laughed.

GRAPHIC: HANGING ON: Freddie Goldsmith shows the leg attached to his hip with iron rods. STAFF PHOTO BY ANGELA ROWLINGS

LOAD-DATE: February 18, 2005

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 New intel czar's sense of duty

BODY:
``Duty'' is one of those old-fashioned concepts that seems misplaced in today's special interest-laden politics.
But surely it was a strong sense of duty to this nation that led John Negroponte to accept the job as this nation's first director of national intelligence, a role he aptly described as ``the most challenging assignment I have undertaken in more than 40 years of government service.''
Following a stint as U.S. ambassador to Iraq and to the United Nations in the lead-up to the Iraq war, it's clear this career diplomat understands what he is signing up for. 
As the first-ever overseer of all 15 of the nation's intelligence agencies, Negroponte has taken on the most thankless of tasks. ``Your successes will remain secret, while your mistakes will all be public,'' former Senate Intelligence Committee chairman David Boren told The New York Times. ``And it is bound to annoy any White House if you are independent.''
But having the president's chief intelligence adviser insulated from political pressure was a key element of the 9/11 commission's recommendations, as was vesting the authority to ride herd over such powerful figures as the secretary of Defense and director of the CIA.
Questions remain about whether Negroponte has the statutory power to carry out the job. But it's clear his hand will be strengthened by the support of the president.
``John will make sure that those whose duty it is to defend America have the information we need to make the right decisions,'' President Bush said. ``If we're going to stop the terrorists before they strike we must ensure that our intelligence agencies work as a single, unified enterprise.''
Turf wars and information hoarding characterized far too much of the intelligence gathering efforts before 9/11. With current intelligence leaders in agreement that al-Qaeda is poised to strike on U.S. soil again, we cannot afford to acquiesce to traditional Washington power plays.
Negroponte could have taken the gold watch route, ending his career after an impressive string of achievements. Instead, he's placing duty to this nation above personal interest. And for that, he deserves our thanks.

LOAD-DATE: February 18, 2005

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Death in Lebanon

BODY:
The implication of the U.S. recalling its ambassador to Syria in the wake of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is clear: We may not be able to prove it, but the Syrians have his blood on their hands.
The killing in a car bombing of this former businessman, who almost single-handedly brought Beirut back to economic prosperity, has spurred renewed demands within Lebanon for Syria to remove the 15,000 troops it has had stationed there for the past several decades and for a restoration of genuine democracy. 
Mourners at the funeral of the beloved Hariri yelled ``Syria out'' and called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to ``remove your dogs from Beirut.''
Syria has not only given safe haven to terrorists on its own soil - terrorists who now flood into Iraq - but has used its base in Lebanon to allow attacks on Israel by Hezbollah.
Even U.S. trade sanctions against Syria, set down in May, have little impact because Syria has so little trade to offer.
But it was clear yesterday that the spirit of democracy is still alive in Lebanon even after decades of Syrian domination. Perhaps Hariri may accomplish in death, what he could not in life.

LOAD-DATE: February 17, 2005

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HEADLINE: President has heard enough from `junior senator'

BYLINE: By Andrew Miga

BODY:
WASHINGTON - Sen. John F. Kerry's brash offer to meet privately with former foe President Bush to discuss foreign policy before Bush's meetings abroad next week with key European leaders has apparently fallen on deaf ears at the White House. 
``We've offered to have Sen. Kerry (D-Mass.) meet with President Bush to discuss his trip to Iraq, if the White House is interested,'' Kerry spokesman David Wade said yesterday. ``There are many areas where genuine bipartisanship would make a difference in leading our country forward, whether in national security or children's health care.''
The White House declined comment on Kerry's recent overture.
A senior Kerry aide telephoned White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. earlier this month to make the meeting offer, a source confirmed.
But as of last night, Kerry had not received any response from the White House.
One veteran Republican strategist with strong White House ties dismissed Kerry's move as ``yet more brazen political grandstanding from the junior senator.''
Bush, in what some have described as a diplomatic charm offensive, arrives in Europe Tuesday hoping to repair tattered relations over the U.S.-led Iraq war with longstanding allies such as France, Germany and Russia.
Kerry was a fierce critic of Bush's foreign policy, particularly his handling of the Iraq war, during the bruising fall presidential race.
Even as he sought a Bush meeting, the defeated Democratic nominee yesterday hammered the president, telling reporters ``we would be far better off today'' had the U.S. followed Kerry's Iraq policies instead of the Bush plan.

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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 Convoy conquers wheel trouble; 
 Desert diplomacy does trick on road to Kirkuk

BYLINE: By Thomas Caywood

BODY:
TAMIM PROVINCE, Iraq - The combat patrol was halfway to Kirkuk making good time Monday on a desert road as straight as a runway when a Humvee's lug bolts began snapping off undetected.
The crew noticed a pulsation first. Then a hint of a wobble. 
Something was amiss an hour's drive from the nearest U.S. Army outpost in northeastern Iraq.
The call went out over the convoy's radios to pull into a defensive box astride the two-lane highway. Third Platoon was circling the wagons.
The GIs took up firing positions behind tires as Spc. Thomas Browne of Malden inspected the back end of his ailing Humvee. He found five of eight lug bolts securing the right rear tire sheered off.
The convoy commander, 2nd Lt. Kristin Procida of South Boston, decided to try to limp to the next forward operating base. They made it only a couple of miles.
Sgt. James Murphy, in the vehicle behind Browne's, keyed his radio 10 minutes later.
``Viper 7, we've got to stop. The tire is barely on,'' Murphy reported, adding urgently, ``We better stop right now!''
When the convoy pulled into a box for the second time, the Humvee's wheel wobbled drunkenly on a lone lug bolt. Within minutes, a plan was hatched to tow it backward on its front wheels behind a 5-ton cargo truck.
``OK, that's it. Let's go,'' Cpl. James Lawler, a firefighter in civilian life, announced when the MPs and military truckers released the hydraulic jacks.
But the tow straps proved too long to keep the bare axle from grinding against the pavement in a spray of sparks.
Third Platoon of the Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company had now been halted on an unsecured road between Tikrit and Kirkuk for more than an hour.
Procida was in a bind. A recovery team would take another hour at least to reach them. The Humvee wouldn't make it a mile on one lug, but she couldn't abandon a $146,000 armored Humvee on the side of the road for a problem that a mechanic with fresh lug studs could fix in a half-hour.
``Ma'am, we need to get off this road,'' Lawler prodded.
``I know we do,'' Procida said.
That's when the soldiers opted for diplomacy. Lawler and Spc. Chris DiModica of Natick waded into the blocked civilian traffic to coax out a flat-bed truck and a jalopy pickup with a hoist.
After an hour of international cooperation orchestrated with hand gestures and broken English, 3rd Platoon was back on the road speeding toward Forward Operating Base McHenry with an Iraqi tractor-trailer tucked into the convoy.
The grateful soldiers took up a collection and paid the truck driver $120 for his trouble and gave the pickup driver and his helpful friend $60 plus a heaping armful of MREs.

GRAPHIC: BOLT OF TIGHTENING: Spc. Robert Francis of New York City, a truck driver with the 50th Main Support Battalion, posts security as soldiers from the 42nd Military Police Company work on the broken Humvee on Monday. Staff photos by John Wilcox

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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 After holding, releasees relieved

BYLINE: By Thomas Caywood

BODY:
HAWIJAH, Iraq - Urgent voices called from the darkness of a covered cargo truck bed Monday as soon as the 42nd Military Police Company convoy pulled into Forward Operating Base McHenry for repairs.
The Iraqi detainees set to be released in Kirkuk that afternoon hadn't made a peep as the GIs struggled by the side of the road with a broken Humvee for more than two hours. 
Now they couldn't hold it any more. The men pleaded meekly for a bathroom.
The weary soldiers, who nearly lost three buddies last week to a landmine, at first grumbled and seemed inclined to ignore the pleas of men originally rounded up as suspected insurgents.
Then Staff Sgt. Timothy Hoke, the platoon sergeant, gave the order to let the releasees out of the truck to use a nearby Port-a-Potty.
Soon the smiling men and women of 3rd Platoon were sharing their precious cigarettes with the Iraqis, helping them jump down from the tall truck and passing out MREs and bottled water.
The releasees squatted down on the muddy ground to eat and smoke while the Humvee was repaired. They mustered all the English they had to speak to their guards. Spc. Mark ``Hollywood'' Costa of South Hadley, a friendly medic, took a knee to listen.
A middle-age man who said he was a teacher identified the other captives as another teacher, a lawyer and farmers. They groped for the words to explain how they wound up as prisoners.
Spc. Sarah Kane of Medford said she was pleased to see presumably innocent civilians set free.
``Maybe they can spread the word that they were treated right by the Americans,'' Kane mused.

GRAPHIC: GOTTA GO: Iraqi detainees wave as they walk to town after being released by a 42nd MP Company convoy. Staff photo by John Wilcox

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HEADLINE: MPs back from Iraq get warm welcome from their families

BYLINE: By Laurel J. Sweet

BODY:
Expectant fathers Brian Benvie and Mike Flaherty became fast friends while awaiting delivery of their sons yesterday - at Logan International Airport.
The proud papas didn't pace for long.  
Swaddled in desert-sand fatigues, their handsome faces flushed from sun and euphoria, Brian Benvie Jr., 20, of Brockton and Jon Patrick Flaherty, 30, of Weymouth, walked off their flight from San Juan just as they served their country in Iraq - side by side.
``I had no doubt he was going to come home. My family has strong faith in God and I never wavered from that,'' said the senior Benvie, a Brockton cop and Army reservist engineer who's been home from Iraq himself less than a year.
Seconds from being reunited with the youngest of his two sons, Mike Flaherty, fidgeting with a Kodak camera, confessed to an overwhelming feeling of ``anxiety. It's knowing he made it. He's liable to go right back in. That's the type he is. He loves adventure.''
For now, Jon Flaherty, who suffered hearing damage in the war, said he'd just love ``a good steak,'' while Brian Benvie Jr., with whom he was assigned to Abu Ghraib prison with the 94th Military Police Company after the Iraqi prisoner-abuse scandal surfaced, plans to reunite his palate with pizza at Brockton's Cape Cod Cafe.
``And Dunkin' Donuts,'' the soldiers said laughing before heeding their families' marching orders to head home, where heroes' welcomes awaited them both.

GRAPHIC: WELCOME HOME, SON: Brian Benvie Jr. is all smiles as he gets a hug from his dad at Logan Airport yesterday on his return from Iraq. He is a member of the 94th Military Police Company. Staff photo by Patrick Whittemore

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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 Female MPs ride into combat

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
TIKRIT, Iraq - In a war without frontlines, female soldiers have stepped into the line of fire like never before.
The Army's combat arms branches - infantry, armor and artillery - remain closed to women. But the Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company is charged with a mission in Iraq that will require three of its female MPs to log thousands of miles of mounted combat patrols alongside their male comrades. 
Second Lt. Kristin Procida, a 24-year-old live wire assigned to the deploying unit straight from officer training, already has led several convoys through the heart of the Sunni Triangle. Procida isn't one to challenge Pentagon doctrine, but she sees little distinction in this war between units that allow women and those that don't.
``Right now in this environment, we're doing the same missions as infantry. We're out there just as much as the infantrymen are,'' she said.
Her veteran platoon sergeant, Staff Sgt. Timothy Hoke, gives the energetic young lieutenant high marks as a soldier and a leader.
``I think our lieutenant is high-speed. She's out there in the mix. She's not hesitant,'' Hoke said.
He's just as impressed with his enlisted female MPs: Spc. Sarah Kane of Medford and Spc. Dalila Navarro of Springfield. Kane drives one of the platoon's armored Humvees, and Navarro is a gunner on another.
The headquarters platoon also boasts several fighting women, including the platoon sergeant, Staff Sgt. Ternilia Myers. Five are mothers.
Spc. Ngeri Gordan, an administrative specialist, has put in for leave midway through her Iraq tour hoping to be home for her daughter's second birthday.
``They get a lot of respect from the guys because they are soldiers,'' said Richard Bowe, the company's first sergeant.
All of the company's women live in close quarters to the men - their only privacy found behind makeshift plywood walls or draped blankets. The showers are the exclusive province of the women every other hour, but the six-stall latrine building is unisex.
``I'm not real thrilled about the bathroom. It's kind of weird,'' said Cpl. Deborah St. Dennis of South Hadley. ``But (it's a) combat situation. Suck it up.''

GRAPHIC: ON GUARD: Spc. Sarah Kane of Medford keeps an eye on released detainees as they board a bus out of Abu Ghraib prison. Kane is one of three female soldiers with the 42nd Military Police Company who conduct mounted combat patrols. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

LOAD-DATE: February 15, 2005

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HEADLINE: Critical of Bush, Kerry campaigns for more military

BYLINE: By DAVID R. GUARINO

BODY:
WORCESTER - The Secret Service details have been replaced by barely enough aides to fill his SUV and the stadium-size battleground crowds have dwindled to 500 in old Mechanics Hall.
But Sen.  
John F. Kerry made clear yesterday he still wants the presidency. ``If I could just get you all to move to Ohio and vote, we could change our address rapidly,'' Kerry told the cheering crowd.
Kerry used his first post-election Bay State address to charge that boosting American military might hinges on changing the Bush administration view that ``supporting the troops'' means blind allegiance.
``We support the troops by giving the troops what they need to succeed. We support the troops by recognizing that sometimes that actually means changing a policy or shifting a policy in some way that might have put them in harm's way where you can, in fact, do better,'' Kerry charged.
``When the administration that is in charge of these policies refuses to admit mistakes, supporting the troops means that, for the rest of us that we demand that a failed policy be changed or adjusted in order to support those troops more effectively.''
Kerry rolled out a plan to boost the military, growing forces in the Army and Marine Corps. The senator emphasized he doesn't want more troops in Iraq, but said a larger military would have helped coalition forces put down the post-war insurgency sooner.
The White House wouldn't comment on Kerry's speech, saying only that President Bush's $81.9 billion spending plan - much of it going to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan - shows he's giving troops what they need to do battle.
Kerry, blasted during the campaign for voting against a similar troop funding proposal, plans to vote ``yes'' this time, an aide said.

GRAPHIC: TROOP BOOSTER: Sen. John F. Kerry speaks to a crowd of about 500 people yesterday at Mechanics Hall in Worcester. STAFF PHOTO BY TED FITZGERALD

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HEADLINE: Kerry addresses Iraq's future as unemployed focus on today

BYLINE: By MIKE BARNICLE

BODY:
John Kerry was back at work yesterday, standing on the stage of Mechanics Hall in Worcester, talking to a few hundred people who wore topcoats and ties and came to hear about Iraq.
He told them the Army and Marines needed larger numbers on active duty, that our sons and daughters are performing honorably in a poorly planned war and that the nation must spend more to care for those who fight and the families they leave behind.
The crowd sat like stone and only a handful of TV cameras recorded the moment. It was just about Kerry's first speech at home since November. 
No mystery why he chose Worcester to get back in the batter's box. It's a solid, working-class city that has supported him for 20 years. It's the second largest town in Massachusetts and, unlike the capital, carries no municipal chip on its shoulder.
Unfortunately, it's been on the same slow slide shared by a lot of other Democrat enclaves over the decades. Young people leave. Old people need services.
New people need them, too, and there are not enough jobs to pump cash into a middle-class tax base squeezed by prices, tuition and the simple cost of living comfortably, not extravagantly.
Today, downtown Worcester has more parking spaces than employment opportunities. And folks, weary of the constant struggle to stay even rather than get ahead, often wonder why more attention is paid and money spent on Fallujah than on neighborhoods near Main and King Street in the ``Big Woo.''
So, here was part of Kerry's dilemma; here he was on a raw, gray Monday, talking about the lack of preparation involved in going to war with Iraq and he was in a building directly across from several empty storefronts, the Central Mass. School of Bartending and a busy welfare office on the fourth floor at 9 Walnut St., not 100 yards from Mechanics Hall.
Of course, the word - welfare - has been changed. It's now the Department of Transitional Assistance, but in politics it has been and remains an anchor around the hopes of John Kerry's political party.
While one crowd waited for Kerry, another, smaller crowd - about a dozen - sat in a large waiting room to see a state case worker about national problems: a lost welfare card, emergency fuel money, a rental voucher, food.
Kerry was across the street talking sense to chaos but his words didn't matter on the fourth floor at 9 Walnut.
The poor do not vote in enough numbers to tilt elections or alter policy. All they do is breed resentment in a culture that worships wealth and ridicules poverty; as if anyone with brains would love to be born poor in America.
After the speech, Kerry eagerly stood and shook hands with those who have voted for him across the years.
Worcester is a terrific place for Democrats but across from Mechanics Hall, people without a political party, much money or hardly any hope walked uphill on Walnut Street, into the cold, in a country where Kerry and his party can sometimes seem as weary as the old cities now broken by time.

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HEADLINE: Plenty left to resolve among factions

BYLINE: By JACK MEYERS

BODY:
Iraqi election returns released yesterday set the stage for months of complex negotiations, with ascendent Shiites and Kurds exercising newfound power to remake the country while trying to quell Sunni support for insurgents.
``There's going to be a lot of horsetrading,'' said Michael Klare, professor of peace and security studies at Hampshire College, of the election results.  
Shiites won 48 percent of the vote, giving them almost half the seats in the new National Assembly. Kurds won 26 percent, while current Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's group got 14 percent. Sunnis largely shunned the vote.
There will be jockeying among Shiites over how large a role religion plays in the new constitution as well as between Kurds and Shiites over Kurdish independence, Klare said.
``The most important (issue) is how to accommodate the Sunnis, who don't have power and are disgruntled. Unless you can satisfy a large enough bloc of them, you continue to fuel the insurgency,'' Klare said.
Malik Mufti, a professor of political science at Tufts University, said, ``The potential for conflict is high, both between the Sunni and the Shia and between the Kurds and the Arabs.''
``The Kurds and the Shiites have to convince . . . the Sunnis that they do have a place'' in shaping Iraq's future through the constitutional process, said Mufti.
Aqil Alghizzy, an Iraqi living in Brockton, said the results give the Kurds more power than they should have, given their portion of Iraq's population.
``Kurds will have too much power in writing the constitution,'' said Alghizzy, 34, who hails from southern Iraq.

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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 Pulling rank breaks the rigor of the daily grind

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
Herald staff reporter Thomas Kaywood and photographer John Wilox, embedded with the Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company, are chronicling the unit's deployment to Iraq
TIKRIT, Iraq - Life goes on.  
Even here.
The Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company paused yesterday morning to celebrate the promotion of its chief medic and the birthday of a fire team leader.
Peter Doc Sarni III, one of the New Jersey National Guardsmen attached to the Chicopee unit, cut off the sergeant stripes sewn on his collar to make room for pin-on staff sergeant insignia.
His brother, Sgt. Chris Sarni, and 1st Sergeant Richard Bowe pinned them on in front of the company.
``Today's a great day, a long awaited day,'' said Capt. Dominic DiTomaso, the company commander. ``Sgt. Sarni has been working real hard. We all know that.''
Sarni, a former Navy corpsman and diver who doesn't let anyone forget it, stood rigid at the position of attention as a fellow noncommissioned officer read the promotion orders aloud to the company. The promotion will be backdated to December.
``That's a lot of back pay. That'll buy a lot of beer,'' DiTomaso quipped.
After the promotion, Sgt. James Murphy was summoned to the front of the formation to knock out push-ups while the rest of the company sang happy birthday to him. He turned 31.
Murphy spent his birthday convoying to Forward Operating Base Warhorse near Baquaba through an area in which roughly two-dozen incidents of roadside bombs, small-arms fire and mortars had been reported in the previous 24 hours.
The convoy returned safely as the sun set on the company's 13th straight day of work without a break.

GRAPHIC: `YOU'RE HIRED!' Peter Sarni of New Jersey gets his orders from Capt. Thomas DiTomaso of Feeding Hills during a ceremony yesterday morning promoting Sarni to the rank of stAff sergeant. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 Evern in war, love finds a way for the 42nd

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
Herald staff reporter Thomas Kaywood and photographer John Wilox, embedded with the Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company, are chronicling the unit's deployment to Iraq
TIKRIT, Iraq - Spc. Heather Albani of Westfield may be halfway around the world ensconced behind concrete walls and concertina wire, but that doesn't mean her boyfriend is off the hook for Valentine's Day. 
``I told him I better get something,'' Albani joked over the weekend.
Here's hoping he got an early start.
A local florist - if there is one - isn't likely to get past the bunker guarding the front gate of Forward Operating Base Danger. Packages can take weeks to reach the outpost from the States.
Spc. Sean Klink of Weymouth stole a moment last week between the almost daily missions to write some Valentine's Day cards.
``It's definitely a necessity to make the people back home know I care about them. If it takes losing some sleep or cutting some corners to make that happen, it's got to happen,'' he said.
Klink fell in love with a woman he met after the unit had been activated for the deployment. He wishes he could be home to take her out to a candlelit dinner tonight.
``I'm definitely a romantic. I talk a lot around the guys, but when I have a lot of time I do like to make a woman feel special,'' Klink said.
Staff Sgt. Timothy Hoke swears appliances make his wife feel special. So he went online and ordered her a high-speed digital toaster with broiler function.
``She said, `You know me, I like practical gifts like a toaster.' It just went `ding' in my head. She's always wanted a toaster oven,'' Hoke said. ``She got it the other day and was cracking up. I wrote on the card:
``Happy Valentine's Day. Nothing says I love you like a toaster.'' 

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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 Mass. Guardsmen start MP duties in Sunni Triangle

BYLINE: By Thomas Caywood

BODY:
TIKRIT, Iraq - Massachusetts National Guardsmen officially took over military police duties yesterday for a vast region of Iraq stretching from the rugged mountains on the Iranian border to the outskirts of Baghdad.
Once dismissed as mere weekend warriors, guardsmen have been called on to replace the Army's celebrated 1st Infantry Division in a strategic area of Iraq that includes much of the treacherous Sunni Triangle. 
The 1st Military Police Company rolled up its colors at dawn in a brief ceremony and handed over authority to the 42nd Military Police Company.
``We followed in your footsteps for the last two weeks here,'' said Capt. Dominic DiTomaso, the Chicopee unit's commander. ``Now it's time for us to create our own footprints in the sand.''
As the 1st Infantry Division returns to its base in Germany after a year in Iraq, the commanding general of the incoming 42nd Infantry Division said he expects insurgents to test his citizen soldiers.
``They'll see what our reactions are to that,'' Major General Joseph Taluto said in an interview. ``They've been doing surveillance on us for some time. Probably since we've been moving in. They know the deal.''
Taluto plans to come out swinging if necessary. ``We can be very much more kinetic or less kinetic,'' he said. ``We have all the same capabilities as the 1st Division. We have all the same stuff, more in some cases.''

GRAPHIC: FLAG DAY: Spc. Sean Klink of Weymouth places the 42nd Military Police Company flag during a transfer of authority ceremony at company headquarters yesterday. Staff photo by John Wilcox

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 U.N. agency makes a parody of `rights'

BODY:
The United Nations continues to behave like a caricature, a hideous parody of all that the civilized world holds sacred.
The current case in point: the selection of Cuba and Zimbabwe to a panel that will decide on the agenda for next month's meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission. This must be a joke, no? 
Cuba and Zimbabwe, of course, made Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's six-nation ``outposts of tyranny'' list during her recent Senate confirmation hearings. Rice is hardly alone in her criticism.
Jose Miguel Vivanco, head of the America's Division of Human Rights Watch, called the naming of Cuba to the panel ``a scandal,'' adding, a country with ``such a poor record on human rights should not be rewarded in this way.''
The role of the so-called ``Working Group on Situations'' is to rule on the admissibility of complaints to be heard by the full 53-member commission when it meets. What do you suppose the chances are of the incidents at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and allegations about the detainees at the prison at Guantanamo, Cuba, making the top of the commission's priority list?
Just last August, of course, Zimbabwe was the subject of a U.S. complaint to the commission. At the time U.S. Ambassador Richard Williamson said, ``The Government of Zimbabwe continues to conduct a concerted campaign of violence, repression and intimidation against its citizens.''
Rounding out the panel will be Saudi Arabia (an authoritarian monarch, but by comparison a relative paragon of human rights rectitude). Of course, women can't vote in that nation's upcoming elections, but nevermind.
Hungary and the Netherlands, the remaining members of the panel, must wonder what they did to deserve such company. Oh, this really ought to be an intriguing session in commission headquarters in Geneva.
But then the only thing more intriguing than the agenda-setting working group are some of the actual commission members - which includes China, Russia and our personal favorite, Sudan, recently elected to another three-year term.
Apparently no one at the world body thought the government's role in the genocide against black Muslims in Sudan's Darfur region was a blot on its record. Oh, but then another U.N. commission appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan did rule recently that there was insufficient evidence of ``genocidal intent'' in Darfur. No, all of those mass murders, rapes and burning of homes were simply ``crimes against humanity with an ethnic dimension.''
And this gang of thugs gets to talk about ``human rights?''
Who cares!

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HEADLINE: OP-ED; 
 AS YOU WERE SAYING . . . Death gratuity: A welcome irony we all should be thankful for

BYLINE: By Nicole Petithory

BODY:
Between ``gratitude'' and ``gratuity'' in the dictionary is ``gratuitous'' - ``given unearned, or without recompense.''
Thanks to the dumb luck of alphabetization, I've focused on the larger picture regarding President Bush's proposal to boost ``death gratuity'' payments to families of troops killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and future war zones.
The proposal will up the current tax-free payment from $12,420 to $100,000, including retroactive payments to spouses or surviving relatives of those killed in the war on terror since Oct. 7, 2001. Also included in Bush's proposal is a $150,000 increase to the $250,000 life insurance troops in a combat zone are eligible for. 
Imagine my disbelief when my family was told they'd be getting a ``gratuity'' from Uncle Sam after the Dec. 5, 2001, death of my older brother in Afghanistan.
``Miss, your brother died in a war zone, active duty. This is our compensation to you, as his survivors.''
What are you supposed to do with information like that? Tell me, who do I see about returning this money, and exchanging it for my big brother's life?
We all wanted Danny back - goofy, wildly humorous and loving Danny - but we instead were presented with ``monetary compensation'' for the unthinkable, irreversible loss of our dear family member.
Don't misunderstand, it was with humble, appreciative hands my family accepted this token from the government. I was grateful for the gesture, but whatever shade guilt colors you, it deepened each time that extra money came in handy.
When you have a loved one in the military, you learn to face facts. They risk their lives for the ideal of freedom, and when we are at war, there's a chance they'll die.
This isn't news to anyone, especially the more than 1,500 families who've experienced that trauma in the last three years. Also, I'm fairly certain Gold Star families from Vietnam, Korea and World War II don't need a refresher course.
``We can never in any program give someone back their loved one,'' David Chu, undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, was quoted as saying in an Associated Press report. ``There is nothing we can do about the hurt to make it go away. But we can make your circumstances reasonable, in terms of finances.''
There's no political agenda here. But the territory dictates there will be bickering between Democrats and Republicans about the who, and the how much.
Benefits should extend to include all military personnel who are killed while serving on active duty, say the Dems.
Those who are killed during combat training should be included, say the Republicans.
Well, yes and yes. Who could deny these conclusions?
There are many critics of this proposal concerned about dollar amount, an awareness heightened by its retroactive status. The first-year cost, estimated to be $459 million, is quite a high figure, but in terms of our military budget, reasonable.
This proposal has a long way to go before it reaches law. Some will fight it for its exclusion of certain members of the military, or for its big price tag. But my main concern is my family, and the friends I've made along the way who also will be affected by Bush's proposal. And as I mentioned, I've been able to see the bigger picture.
``Death gratuity'' is a coarse, ironic term, but between that gratuity and the gratitude of this nation and its citizens, you won't find anything gratuitous.
These men and women earned the right to have their families taken care of, with recompense.
So, I think instead of a shade of guilt, I'll remember what my brother and his colleagues did and continue to do for this country. Whatever color pride makes you, I'll try being the deepest shade available.
Nicole Petithory is Norwood community editor for the Daily News Transcript. As You Were Saying is a regular feature of the Boston Herald. We invite our readers to contribute pieces of no more than 600 words. Mail contributions to the Boston Herald, P.O. Box 55843, Boston, MA 02205-5843, fax them to 617-542-1315 or e-mail to oped@bostonherald.com. All submissions are subject to editing and become the property of the Boston Herald.

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HEADLINE: POLS & POLITICS; 
 `Irish Massacre' at State House

BODY:
THE BUZZ 
STATE LEGISLATORS did their best to spin the overhaul of the committee assignments House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi (D-Boston) announced Monday, but behind the scenes the grumbling was loud and harsh - especially from the Irish members of the General Court.
``It was like Bloody Monday - every Irishman got whacked,'' one State House observer noted after eyeing the changes in committee chairmanships. ``For years, they were worried about the Yankees. Turns out they should have been worried about the Italians.'' 
Consider the last names of the winners under DiMasi: Robert DeLeo, Thomas Petrolati, James Miceli, Paul Donato, David Torrisi, Ronald Mariano, Michael Festa, Vincent Pedone and Anthony Petruccelli.
Added an Irish pol: ``It's almost like an Irish Massacre.''
To wit, the Irishmen on the losing end of the stick were: Paul Casey, Martin Walsh, James Fagen, Timothy Toomey and William Greene.
PETTY RIVALRIES among members of the Massachusetts congresional delegation are nothing new, but U.S. Rep. Martin Meehan may be breaking new ground.
Meehan sought to stake out a high profile on Iraq recently when he broke with most Democrats and issued a call for a phased withdrawl of U.S. forces.
His appearance drew scant media coverage - a fact that irked the Lowell Democrat.
But U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's thunderous anti-Iraq speech a few days later drew heavy media coverage.
The way some insiders heard it, Meehan complained to his staff that he wanted to be ``five steps ahead of Ted Kennedy'' on everything he could.
A Meehan aide denies the congressman ever said any such thing.
Other sources, however, confirm Meehan's fit of pique to staffers over the long shadow cast by the Bay State's senior senator.
EVEN THE PRESIDENT gets frisky every now and then.
Last Sunday morning, President Bush was standing during services in St. John's Church as the pastor asked the congregation to greet each other with the traditional, ``Peace be with you.''
Then, as the White House pool reporter put it: Bush ``leans toward (his wife Laura), gives her a quick kiss on the lips and then pats her behind - I am not making this up - before turning to shake hands with other worshipers around him.''
We'll take his word for it.
ANOTHER CLOSE CALL with a car for Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey was revealed this week.
First Healey zooms by WBZ-AM ace reporter Jay McQuaide on Route 128, skipping through traffic with the blue lights on her SUV - bringing her way a host of unwanted ink and fresh comparisons to her bumbling predecessor, Jane Swift.
Now it turns out that two summers ago Healey narrowly missed watching one of her staffers take out a constituent's porch.
The incident happened in Sturbridge, where Healey joined state and federal pols in announcing some new federal sewage grants for residents on a local pond. After Healey and most of the pols left, her advance team plowed into the homeowner's new stairway/deck.
They stuck around to file a police report and the state eventually paid the bill - $1,992.
But Healey's aides were quick to point out she was long gone, throwing a hapless intern under the bus, so to speak.
No word on which taxpayer account paid for the repairs, but you can bet it didn't come out of Healey's salary.
HERE'S ANOTHER rush-hour-on Route 128 horror story - but no entourage and no blue lights this time.
When Speaker DiMasi fought his way through the morning rush Wednesday to make an 8 a.m. Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce speech at Lombardo's restaurant in Randolph, he got a few laughs at Healey's expense. He joked he was running a bit late and entertained the thought of using his blue lights, but remembered: ``Somebody just got in trouble'' for that, according to two people in attendance.
For the record, DiMasi is low-maintenance. He has no blue lights in his BMW, and he drove himself to the event.
SURELY PLEASING a certain congresswoman, Sen. Kennedy has hired a new communications director with a familiar-sounding name: Laura Capps.
Capps previously served as U.S. Sen. John Kerry's press secretary in Iowa during the presidential primaries, then as a general campaign spokesman. Before that, Capps served as director of government affairs at the University of California at Berkeley, and as a speechwriter for then-President Bill Clinton.
But if Capps gets homesick, she can simply head to the other side of the Capitol to the office of her mother, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.).
At least she already knows her way around the Hill.
OFTEN ONE TO DODGE questions, Hub Mayor Thomas M. Menino was quick to quell inquiries this week about whether the massive police force in Kenmore Square following the Patriots' Super Bowl win might have hurt business there.
``I'll take that one,'' an agitated Menino snapped during a press conference.
``The police were doing their job. They might have lost some people drinking in their establishments, but our priority last night was public safety. I think the police department did a great job making sure we had public safety in our streets.''
And making sure no one had too much pizza or late-night junk food, some would argue.
WB-56 POLITICAL ANALYST JON KELLER`S SPIN-O-METER
``This will be a new convenience for our customers.''
- MBTA General Manager Michael Mulhern, on the arrival next fall of cell-phone service at several T subway stops.
Convenience for some, granted. But what about those of us who don't quite relish the prospect of being trapped underground with hordes of nitwits yapping away about nothing at high volume? It's one thing to be jammed in face-to-face with someone for whom toothpaste is a rumor, quite another to hear them scream to their phone pal that yes, they're on the T right now.
Ann E. Donlan, Andrew Miga, Noelle Straub, Dave Wedge and David R. Guarino contributed to this column. E-mail Pols & Politics editor David R. Guarino at dguarino@bostonherald.comLook out world
WHO'S HOT
Deval Patrick
The ex-prosecutor continues to flirt with the liberal wing of the state Democratic Party over a possible run for governor - so much so that he's got the other candidates leaking hit pieces on him to the media. All this before he even gets in the race.
WHO'S NOT
Frank Cousins
The Essex County sheriff didn't do his statewide ambitions any favors this week by admitting to a local newspaper he knew one of his prison guards had previously been fired from the Newburyport Police Department for, according to reports, fighting with bar patrons while in uniform and exposing people to a rabid racoon he had shot on duty. Cousins fired the guard last week after he was recently charged with molesting a 12-year-old girl.

GRAPHIC: Look out, world! - Turn, smile, wave. Turn, smile, wave. Repeat. Here's Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice practicing her best presidential pose as she hits the world stage for the first time as chief diplomat. Of course, rumors of her interest in the presidency itself in 2008 - or NFL commissioner as a backup - were quick to follow. AP PHOTO

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HEADLINE: ENGAGEMENTS

BODY:
SHER and FORBES
Mr. and Mrs. Verle Forbes of Fort Morgan, Colo., announce the engagement of their daughter, Teresa Kelley, to Sgt.  
Matthew Ramey Sher, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Sher of Norwood.
The future bride is a graduate of Fort Morgan High School and Northeastern Junior College, both in Colorado. She works in the investigation department for the Colorado Springs Falcon Police Department in Colorado Springs.
The future bridegroom is a graduate of Norwood High School and attended Norwich University in Vermont. He is stationed in Iraq for his second tour of duty.
A 2006 wedding is planned.
MANION and DUFFY
Susan and Owen Duffy of Woburn announce the engagement of their daughter Carly Sue of Woburn to David James Manion, also of Woburn, son of Maureen and James Manion of Sydney, Australia.
The bride is a graduate of Woburn High School. She is attending the University of Massachusetts at Boston.
The bridegroom is a graduate of St. Patrick's College and Newcastle University, both in Australia. He works as director of communications for Mide Technology in Medford.
A March wedding is planned.

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LENGTH: 294 words

HEADLINE: Obituary; 
 Major John F. Ruocco of Newbury, at 40, decorated Marine officer

BODY:
Maj. John F. Ruocco of Newbury, formerly of Lexington, a decorated Marine, died Monday in California while on active duty. He was 40. 
Born and raised in Lexington, Maj. Ruocco graduated from the University of Massachusetts.
He was commissioned in December 1989 through the Platoon Leaders Class and earned his wings of gold in 1992. He then served with the Gunrunners of HMLA-269 at Marine Corps Air Station, New River, N.C. In the spring of 1994, he was deployed to Somalia in support of Operation Continue Hope and later to the former Yugoslavia in support of Operations Flight/Provide Promise and Operation Joint Endeavor.
Maj. Ruocco served at Quantico in 1997 where he was Company Grade Rotary Wing Monitor. In 2000, he was selected to serve as an exchange flight instructor in Enid, Okla.
In June 2004, Maj. Ruocco was transferred to Marine Corps Reserve and was ordered to active duty and in July of the same year was deployed to Iraq. He flew 70 combat missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom II.
Maj. Ruocco's military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal with Gold Star, the Air Medal with Strike Flight Numeral 3, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and nine other unit, service and campaign awards.
An avid outdoorsman, Maj. Ruocco loved hunting and fishing with his family and friends. He was active in his sons' sports teams.
Maj. Ruocco is survived by his wife, Kimberly Ann (Dillinger); two sons, Joey and Billy, both of Newbury; his parents, Nick and Mary (O'Connor) of Lexington; three brothers, Joe, Nick and Neil, all of Lexington; and 14 nieces and nephews.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Brigid's Church, Lexington.
Burial will be in Westview Cemetery, Lexington.
Arrangements by Douglass Funeral Home, Lexington.

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HEADLINE: Bookmark Diva; 
 Bloggers have lock on -gate crashing

BYLINE: By STEPHANIE SCHOROW

BODY:
The Bookmark Diva uncovers Internet scandals while you're surfing www.idolonfox.com
The Diva is shocked - shocked - that a journalist should ever use an assumed name.
That was how Jeff Gannon, a White House ``reporter'' for the Talon ``news'' service (www.talon-news.com) operated. That is, until bloggers uncovered his true name (and a lot of deliciously embarrassing details). Gannon has now resigned, declaring on his Web site, ``The voice goes silent.''
That voice was once loud. While covering the White House, Gannon became notorious for lobbing softballs during press conferences. He asked Bush how he could work on Social Security with Democrats who ``have divorced themselves from reality.'' Slash!
Gannon's credentials raised suspicions of lefty bloggers at sites such as mediamatters.org, daily kos.com and atrios.blogspot.com Their surf monkeys ferreted out details: Talon News was the baby of a Republican consulting firm (and not a real news source like, say, Jon Stewart's ``Daily Show''); Gannon's real name was Jim Guckert - and how strange an assumed name won strict White House clearance; Gannon/Guckert had registered Web sites such as hotmilitarystud.com, militaryescorts.com and militaryescortsM4M.com
A hunky photo, supposedly of Gannon, saddens Diva to think that such awesome abs might be lost to Diva-kind.
Right-wing blogs (affectionately called ``wingnuts'' by effete liberals) quickly matched Gannongate with their own Easongate.
Fresh from the Rathergate triumph, sites such as Powerlineblog .com are targeting CNN news head Eason Jordan for saying - in response to a question by Rep. Barney Frank at a World Economic Forum - that the American military had deliberately targeted and killed 12 journalists in Iraq. Jordan later backtracked to say he was simply emphasizing that journalists were not just caught in the crossfire of ``collateral damage.''
Opined Glenn Reynolds of instapundit.com: ``Worst case: Jordan said things he knew were probably false, in order to curry favor with influential people from countries that - as CNN's American audience falls - represent an important part of its market. Best case: Jordan repeated rumors he had heard without knowing whether they were true or not.''
Of course, Jordan's remarks and the ``failure'' of mainstream media to take note are further evidence of the vast liberal media conspiracy. Whatever.
While Diva thinks Jordan is cute, he's no Jeff Gannon. Diva can't wait for the next fill-in-the-blank gate.

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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 Three MPs dodge death as humvee strikes mine

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
TIKRIT, Iraq - There's no grace period in war.
The Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company came chillingly close to sending home three flag-draped coffins Tuesday, just two weeks after the bulk of the company took up its position at Forward Operating Base Danger.
One of the unit's armored humvees ran over a powerful land mine hastily placed by insurgents on a weapons range adjacent to the base. Triggered by the right front tire, the mine blasted out a 2-foot-deep crater as big around as a manhole and mangled the heavy-duty turbo diesel engine as if it were made of tin. 
``We hit an anti-tank mine. I should have died,'' marveled Spc. Tom Dever of Dedham.
The three MPs are part of a team assigned to protect the 42nd Infantry Division's commanding general. They were on the range to get in some practice firing their weapons.
Dever's head and shoulders had been sticking out of the gun turret seconds before the explosion. The driver, Spc. Noah Amatucci of Franklin, called up for Dever to duck down and hold on for a bumpy, rutted patch of dirt road.
``Then boom. We hit it,'' Amatucci recalled yesterday. ``Everything went black.''
Smoke draped the armored humvee's ballistic windshield and windows. Amatucci groped in the dark for his limbs and then hit the engine kill switch, his training kicking in.
The skull-ringing concussion left the men disoriented as they piled out.
``I was like, what was that? My arm was burning. The medics said I probably banged it on the radio mount, but at the time I thought I was burned,'' Amatucci said.
The men pieced together what had happened as they checked each other and embraced. A lieutenant from another unit who was riding shotgun had recognized the cylindrical device for what it was, but it was too late to call out.
The blast bucked up the heavy truck and launched the right front wheel roughly the length of a football field.
``At first I couldn't even see it. Somebody had to point it out to me,'' Amatucci said.
The shaken soldiers called their loved ones when they got back to base that evening.
``I was just like, `Mom, I've got something to tell you. We hit an anti-tank mine and blew up the humvee,' '' Amatucci said. ``She was like, `Oh, my God! Are you OK?' ''
The men were all wearing helmets, body armor, eye protection and ear plugs - required equipment for any trip outside the wire. The humvee's armor did the rest, allowing them to walk away with nasty bruises and sore necks.
``First, I'm very thankful I'm alive,'' Amatucci said. ``Second, I do feel a lot of confidence in this vehicle now.''
Dever feels that confidence too.
``I just don't want there to be a next time,'' he said.

GRAPHIC: CLOSE CALL: Spc. Noah Amatucci of Franklin points to where his armored humvee hit a land mine Tuesday. The vehicle's armor saved all three soldiers aboard. STAFF PHOTO BY JON WILCOX
THEN, BOOM! Spc. Tom Dever of Dedham explains to Capt. Dominic DiTomaso what happened when his humvee rolled over a land mine Tuesday. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

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HEADLINE: DANCE; 
 Companies' innovative works come `Straight' from heart

BYLINE: By Theodore Bale

BODY:
Choreographer Sara Sweet Rabidoux found inspiration for her newest dance, ``The Day of the 24 Cakes,'' reading the journals of Sylvia Plath. She says the finished piece, however, looks more like the movie ``The Shining.''
``It's sort of hallucinatory,'' Rabidoux said during a telephone interview from New York, where she was showing another piece at Dance Theater Workshop. ``You know the part where Jack Nicholson has gone out of his mind in this ballroom and everybody is there dancing, and then he sees weird things upstairs in different rooms? That's what this new dance is like.'' 
It's always difficult to predict what Rabidoux will create next for hoi polloi, her remarkable Cambridge-based dance company, but she can be counted on to always produce something bizarrely cinematic.
Local fans can see the results tonight at the Zero Arrow Theatre in Harvard Square, Cambridge, where Rabidoux's work premieres alongside that of Digby Dance, Mavi Dance & Brookline Academy Performance Companies, and the Nicola Hawkins Dance Company. The occasion is World Music/CRASHarts' ``Dance Straight Up!'' - an annual tradition now in its fourth year.
Rabidoux said the work of hoi polloi has never been about ``the body as a machine.'' She describes her dances as ``abstract narratives'' and says the events should seem familiar to almost any viewer. 
``I'm interested in the reality of everyday life, magnifying or reducing it in my dance,'' said Rabidoux. ``It's not telling a story per se, but maybe more like describing a dream to somebody, you know, `I was in my house, but it wasn't my house, and you were there but it wasn't really you.' This piece is a collage of the feelings I got reading Plath's journals.''
Rabidoux set ``The Day of the 24 Cakes'' to a sound montage she created featuring music by composer Chris Lancaster, bits and pieces of various movie soundtracks and the nostalgic hit ``Tangerine.''
Nicola Hawkins also is using an assortment of music for her premiere tonight, a six-part dance she's titled simply ``Dharma.'' Hawkins set the various scenes to compositions by Arthur Levering, John Cage (his dreamy ``Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano''), Ward Hartenstein and Barry Hall.
Hawkins started choreographing ``Dharma'' nearly a year ago, but said the dance actually originated as far back as 2001, when she met the renowned batik artist Mary Edna Fraser. ``We liked each other's work and decided to collaborate,'' said Hawkins. The other event that prompted Hawkins was the war in Iraq.
``It seemed a huge contrast to be making up dances when people are dying all over,'' said Hawkins. ``I wanted to make a work that is optimistic and about peace, but I didn't want to make a work about the sentimental idea of peace, or the idea of peace as stillness or inactivity. Peace is something that must be continually looked at, a process rather than a stasis. It's about movement, in a way, a state of constant flux. I think that peace stops when people try to make things fundamental, still or attempt to pin things down.''
With many years of experience under her belt, Hawkins decided to take a new approach with ``Dharma.'' She used to choreograph lots of raw material and then spend additional time manipulating it until the dance felt finished. ``I used to take one step forward and two steps back,'' she said. ``This time, I wanted to take only a half a step back. That is a big change for me.
``If you make an oil painting, the paint is wet for quite a while and you can manipulate it and shove it around the canvas,'' she added. ``But if you're making a watercolor painting, there's no hiding. With this dance I wanted to make a watercolor instead of an oil painting. Part of that came from the frenetic energy of the war, and my not understanding it.''
For tickets and information, call World Music/CRASHarts at 617-876-4275 or go to www.worldmusic.org

GRAPHIC: BOLD STEPS: Nicola Hawkins Dance Company will premiere `Dharma' at `Dance Straight Up!'

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Rice, Old Europe tackle Iran nukes

BODY:
As she wrapped up her first diplomatic mission as secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice took the opportunity to lay down the law to Iran on its nuclear ambitions - even as our European allies looked on.
``I'm quite clear and I believe everybody is telling the Iranians that they are going to have to live up to their international obligations,'' Rice said yesterday. ``It is obvious that if Iran cannot be brought to live up to its international obligations, in fact, the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) statute would indicate that Iran would have to be referred to the U.N. Security Council'' for possible sanctions. 
Iran - identified by President Bush during his first term as a charter member of the Axis of Evil along with Iraq and North Korea - continues to play a waiting game with U.N. inspectors.
Rice told Fox News in an intervew released yesterday, ``Iranians need to hear that if they are unwilling to take the deal, really, that the Europeans are giving . . . then the Security Council referral looms.''
She said later in the day, ``We've set no deadline, no timeline. The Iranians know what they need to do.''
Rice, who did not win the votes of Massachusetts' two senators during her confirmation, is nonetheless following the playbook John Kerry outlined during his presidential campaign - consulting with our European allies, involving the ``international community.''
But the Europeans still operate at an Old World pace. And people like French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier gave every indication that France and other European parties involved in talks with Iran were intent on allowing diplomacy to run its slow and tortured course. Barnier asked Rice for American ``support and confidence'' in that effort.
Rice presumably offered a measure of that - but for how long is the question. And we can only hope she made it clear she'd like some evidence of progress BEFORE Monsieur Barnier spots a mushroom cloud.
Iran has been put on notice by the U.S. that it must not use its nuclear energy program to hide a nuclear weapons program. Rice couldn't have been more clear on that.
Now if only our European allies could show half the resolve and toughness Rice did, maybe they'd make some real progress with Iran.

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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 Hub driver thrives in Baghdad

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
Herald staff reporter Thomas Caywood and photogrpher John Wilcox, embedded with the Massachusettts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company, are chronicling the unit's deployment in Iraq.
ABU GHRAIB, Iraq - The 3rd Platoon Road Warriors lived up to their name on an overnight mission to the infamous site of the prisoner abuse scandal that rocked the Pentagon.
The 42nd Military Police Company soldiers bulled and bumped their way through stubborn Baghdad traffic to drop off a truckload of prisoners and pick up several busloads of releasees headed home to Tikrit and Kirkuk. 
Keeping a convoy of humvees, cargo trucks and buses together and moving across miles of congested highway demands a level of vehicular belligerence sufficient to impress even a Boston driver.
Spc. Thomas Browne of Malden blasted his horn and bore down at full speed on cars infiltrating the return convoy yesterday until they swerved out of the way. ``That's how I drive in Boston,'' he joked. ``Except in Boston if you run up on somebody like that they might pop out with a gun.''
The lead humvee driven by Cpl. Jim Lawler had to resort to bumping pigheaded drivers who refused to give way.
When the traffic was too thick to be parted, the convoy crossed the median into oncoming traffic.
Whatever it takes to keep moving.
As if to underscore the danger, members of the 42nd assigned to protect the division's top brass hit a land mine Tuesday, and a New Hampshire National Guard unit helping out with MP duties at Forward Operating Base Danger got blasted by a roadside bomb yesterday.
Nobody was seriously hurt in either incident.
On the outskirts of the city sprawls a vast open garbage dump, a sea of trash lapping the shoulder of one of the country's main highways. A shantytown stands amid the putrid refuse. Trash-strewn slums of windowless buildings line the six-lane highway most of the way through Baghdad to Abu Ghraib.
Standing on the grounds of the infamous prison, members of the 42nd expressed remorse about the abuse that took place there.
``We're going to treat everybody with respect,'' said Spc. Irvin Baez, a New Jersey National Guardsman attached to the unit. ``Just because they are in here doesn't mean they should be treated in a bad way.''
``We're just here to maintain security and to protect the detainees and ourselves,'' added Staff Sgt. Daniel Nogueras, who worked as a guard at the Hampden County House of Correction. ``We're not the judge and jury.''

GRAPHIC: SHADOWS OF ABU GHRAIB: Sgt. Daniel Nogueras, a native of Springfield, guides detainees to be in-processed at Abu Ghraib prison. At right, soldiers from the 42nd Military Police Company work to process inmates scheduled for release from Abu Ghraib. STAFF PHOTOS BY JOHN WILCOX

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HEADLINE: HOW TO STOP HILL IN '08? DRAFT RICE; 
 PRESIDENT CONDI?

BYLINE: By Dick Morris (Guest Columnist)

BODY:
As she tours the continent after her Senate confirmation, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is like a rock star - her every movement, her every meeting covered by an adoring media.
America's first black female secretary of state is doing in public what she has always done in private - speaking frankly about Americas priorities and the realities of the post-Cold War world. As she jokes with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, loosening up his dogmatic anti-American policies, lectures Russia about freedom and warns Israel of tough decisions ahead, one thing is obvious: A star is being born.
As the Republican Party casts about for a viable presidential candidate in 2008 to keep Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) out of the White House, attention will inevitably focus on Rice, the woman who may stand between Clinton and the presidency. 
Since Bush's success in Iraq has laid the basis for negotiation in the Middle East, there is every prospect that Rice may preside over a diplomatic triumph in catalyzing the discussions between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestian leader Mahmoud Abbas. The firm American stand in Iraq will also make more likely success in Korea and Iran, all of which would add to the prestige of Rice.
The political fact is that a Rice candidacy would destroy the electoral chances of the Democratic Party by undermining its demographic base. John Kerry got 54 percent of his vote from three groups that, together, account for about a third of the American electorate: African-Americans, Hispanics and single white women. Rice would cut deeply into any Democrat's margin among these three groups and would, most especially, deny Clinton the strong support she would otherwise receive from each of them.
Rice's credentials for a candidacy are extensive and will grow throughout her tenure at the State Department. Her service as national security adviser during a war and her current efforts as secretary of state demonstrate her ability to handle crises.
As a social conservative and deeply religious person, she would face no bar in winning the votes of the Christian right, so crucial to winning the Republican nomination. Unlike former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani and Sen. John McCain, both of whom could probably win in November, she would be very attractive to the pro-life, anti-gun-control, anti-affirmative-action base of the GOP.
America longs to put the period on the disgraceful chapter in our nation's history that began when the first slave arrived at Jamestown, Va., more than 400 years ago. We also want to send a message to every girl, and every black or Hispanic baby, that there is no ceiling and that you can rise as far as your ability will carry you. The day Condi Rice is sworn in as president, regardless of the fate of her administration, that message and the punctuation of our history of racism will be obvious.
Of course, she isn't running, nor is there any indication that she is harboring thoughts of a candidacy. But as her visibility increases, so will her viability. It may just be possible to draft Condi into the race. A real presidential draft movement hasnt happened since 1952, when Republicans urged Eisenhower to get into the race. A draft-Condi movement seems almost antiquated in this era of ambitious and self-promoting candidates, but it may well fill a deep need in the electorate to vote for someone who is running in response to a genuine call of the people.
Her rise has been impelled by her merits and achievements rather than any efforts on her part to curry favor in the media. Keep your eye on this political star. It is rising and may one day be ascendant.

GRAPHIC: GOP'S RISING STAR: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice might be the Republican's best hope to keep U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), right, out of the Whire House in 2008.

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February 9, 2005 Wednesday  
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SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 005

LENGTH: 324 words

HEADLINE: IT'S A DYNASTY! THREE DRAWS A CROWD

BODY:
Now that's art!
Professional face painter Loraine Limoli of Revere, with a plastic tub full of blue, red and silver paint and a brush, was giving free paint jobs on Tremont Street yesterday as her contribution to the festivities.
``Just for tips, like a street performer,'' Limoli said. ``This helps me buy my new Patriots gear. That's what today is for.'' 
For finely detailed Flying Elvises on one cheek, or ``Patriots'' on one side and ``Dynasty'' on the other, fans tipped 75 cents to $10.
Signs of the times
``WILL YOU SIGN MY FOOTBALL PLEASE?'' painstakingly inked on cardboard and held aloft by a tyke who looked like he was skipping third grade. Good luck, kid.
``TOM BRADY IS A HUNK!'' in the hands of an All-American sweetheart.
``WE PUT THE NASTY IN DYNASTY!'' held by a young lout, drew laughs from Corey Dillon as the duck boats passed.
``BELICHICK IS HOTT!'' with lots of big hearts. Unclear whether the girls just can't spell or if there is some special message in the double-T.
Had to be there
Jeff Monico, 25, of Saugus, was away in the Marines the past two times the Patriots won, and the year they didn't, he was in Iraq getting shot at. So there was no way he wasn't coming down to yesterday's parade.
``This is my first. I had to get here,'' Monico said.
No stopping him
Sean Fitzgerald, 17, of Ipswich, wasn't going to let details like a broken ankle stop him from cheering his team.
``I'm a true fan,'' said Fitzgerald, who was inspired by the Patriots' performance to hobble down to Tremont Street.
``They are a team, possibly the only true team in the NFL. They don't care about money, they don't care about themselves. They care about winning,'' Fitzgerald said. In the gimme world of professional sports, he said, ``It's a breath of fresh air.''
Pinstripes next
Thanks, Pats. Now, as Mike Barba, 17, of Scituate observed, 'tis the season to hate Yankees:
``Spring training is eight days away, and the Yankees still suck!'' - JULES CRITTENDEN

GRAPHIC: OVER THE TOP: An acrobatic Patriot fan gets a bird's eye view of the parade near City Hall. Staff photo by Matthew West

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SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 004

LENGTH: 453 words

HEADLINE: IT'S A DYNASTY!; 
 No more Patsies: They simply win

BYLINE: By MIKE BARNICLE

BODY:
It wasn't that long ago when any parade involving the Patriots would start at the Comedy Connection and end in the lobby of some mental institution. The club was a punch line and its fans were either accidentally electrocuting themselves or behaving like Bluto Blutarsky in ``Animal House,'' who was mystified when he was expelled from Faber College after racking up a zero grade point average and said: ``Seven years of college down the drain.''
Now it's a different century and Pats fans are living a dream. The team is a pigskin version of ``Ocean's Eleven'' with the handsome, humble quarterback playing the part made famous by George Clooney. 
His supporting cast is an ensemble where ego is relegated to the bench because the victory has been declared more important than fame. The director, Bill Belichick, is an intentional bore and the authors - Scott Pioli and the Kraft family - haven't sued anyone for screen credit.
The top guy, Robert Kraft, is a story all to himself. In the space of a few years, he went from being labeled a meddler to a mensch.
He hired Bill Parcells, who brought instant credibility to an organization known more for calamity. The marriage lasted a bit longer than a Britney Spears union because the coach suspected the owner was cheating with draft picks.
The divorce was public and ugly. Kraft got custody of the kids and learned a lesson well enough to create an organization that is the envy of the National Football League.
His coach has been declared a genius by the media. And it wouldn't be a surprise if Belichick began getting questions like: ``Do you think we ought to go on the offense in Iraq?'' And, ``How can we defend the dollar?''
Best of all, his men are easy to emulate. They are the kind of group that coaches at all levels - Pop Warner, high school or college - can point to while trying to convince their own players that there is tremendous value in combining humility with talent.
No need to brag or break from the bunch with these guys. They play precisely the way you want your kids to do homework or take the SAT: study hard, prepare thoroughly, concentrate on the task and then smile in success.
As a result, today's parade takes a different route than the tortured path of Patriots past. It's a clearly marked boulevard paved with municipal pride and athletic accomplishment.
The ballclub has won three Super Bowls in four years. The owners built a sparkling new stadium. The coaches emphasize teamwork. The players perform with skill and behave honorably off the field.
The past is just that - the past - history, long gone in the rearview mirror. And this morning the sidewalks will be filled with applause for the New England Patriots simply because they've earned it.

GRAPHIC: WELCOME HOME: Running back Corey Dillon signs autographs for eager fans after the Super Bowl champions arrived back at Gillette Stadium yesterday. Ex-Bengal Dillon was a cog in the Pats' championship locomotive. STAFF PHOTO BY RENEE DEKONA

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LENGTH: 368 words

HEADLINE: QUICK TRIP TO INTOWN TIKRIT RUNS A GAMUT OF EMOTIONS

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
TIKRIT, Iraq - The missions come almost daily now for the 3rd Platoon Road Warriors of the Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company.
Yesterday platoon members helped escort a small convoy of humvees from Forward Operating Base Danger to a center in Tikrit that tries to win the hearts and minds of detainees about to be released from U.S. custody.
The short combat patrol was the first time soldiers of the Chicopee unit convoyed to somewhere other than a secure camp or forward operating base. It didn't take long for the mission to get interesting. 
On the far side of the Tigris River, just a few miles from Danger, the crack of a gunshot reached Spc. Sean Klink's ears up in the gun turret.
``Contact right,'' the Weymouth guardsman called down into the armored humvee. ``Just a single shot from the right, ma'am.''
Second Lt. Kristin Procida of South Boston, the platoon leader, called it in to the convoy commander in another vehicle.
``Did you hear that, Lawler?'' Klink shouted down to driver Cpl. Jim Lawler, the company's deadeye marksman.
``Yeah.''
``Just another day in Iraq,'' Procida quipped.
The town outside whipped by in a blur of beige buildings and white cars. A scout helicopter looped overhead, and the reassuring vibration of off-road tires spinning at high speed massaged the crew down an open straightaway.
Then the humvee ahead slowed. Lawler stepped on the brake. The road noise faded. Hearts thumped.
``What the hell?'' Lawler said.
``Checkpoint,'' Klink called down.
In a lightly armored humvee, speed is a soldier's friend.
At the center a few blocks away, the guntrucks blocked the street and scanned the area. Within seconds a dozen children spilled out The soldiers shook hands and passed out candy.
When a trio of Iraqi men drifted over wearing body armor and vaguely recognizable blue police uniforms, the straight white teeth Procida had been flashing the children disappeared.
The men offered her cigarettes and tried to chat her up in broken English. She kept both hands on her M-4 assault rifle. When the call came to mount up, the soldiers could hardly believe they had spent just 12 minutes standing on the street in Saddam Hussein's hometown. It felt twice that long.

GRAPHIC: FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Second Lt. Kristen Procida of South Boston smiles as she greets children in Tikrit while she keeps an eye out for other soldiers outside a Humvee. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX
AT THE READY: Spc. Sean Klink of Weymouth mans an M-240B machine gun. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

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February 8, 2005 Tuesday  
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SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 032

LENGTH: 752 words

HEADLINE: Letters to the Editor

BODY:
What Keane forgets
Columnist Tom Keane may well be right that we have to get over the sales of large local corporations like Gillette and move beyond our nostalgic longings (``It's all about nostalgia,'' Feb. 4). Indeed, this is the way of modern businesses: to merge and move on.
But it is not nostalgia that causes me to linger over three words in Keane's column: ``Job losses aside.'' Am I also supposed to move beyond the fact that while an executive and his chums romp lavishly in Jacksonville, 6,000 people, not to mention their families, face the horror of unemployment? How far away we are from a just society that would ask of such a merger: Will it maximize the benefits accruing to the least well off in the companies involved? Incidentally, this last notion is not nostalgia; it comes from John Rawls' theory of justice. 
- Thomas J. Cottle, Boston
The writer is a Boston University professor of education.
Kennedy is right
The editorial on Sen. Ted Kennedy's pointed criticism of President Bush's policy in Iraq, or more appropriately, lack of it, is a lesson in obtuseness (``Ted K speaks out and he's still wrong,'' Feb. 5).
The Herald again gives the tortured logic that attacking Iraq has made America safer from al-Qaeda. Kennedy is not ``dead wrong,'' as the Herald says. He is dead on target and we should all be thankful for his courage and candor.
Every reasonable person expresses joy over the Iraqi election but the Herald's equation of ``freedom in Iraq'' with destruction of al-Qaeda is spurious. Our involvement in Iraq drains from our resources and ability to strike at al-Qaeda, particularly at its heart, in Afghanistan.
- Robert Cannon, Quincy
Laity spurned again
Columnist Charles Chieppo decries the fact that the archdiocesan leadership has once again done as it pleases rather than what is best for the people (``Church must practice as it preaches,'' Feb. 7). Is it possible that our church leaders consider themselves something other than Americans? They defiantly denounce discussions and the American way of thinking. It appears their goal is to have parishioners as ``well behaved'' as our European counterparts and just do as we are told.
What more can be done to prove to them that their time has passed and we are now and actively involved laity?
- Rose Barrett, Braintree
Students still at risk
The real root cause of the accident on the VFW Parkway is not unplowed sidewalks (``There are no excuses,'' Feb. 5). While we're paying millions of dollars to bus students to Boston schools each year, every day dozens of West Roxbury High students take MBTA buses and then walk a half-mile to the school. They're crossing the VFW Parkway at many points, and most often not using crosswalks. It's a recipe for more accidents.
These students also leave the campus at all hours of the day to hang in the neighborhoods and take those buses home. The solution is simple: Have a bus at Forest Hills that goes directly to West Roxbury High, and require all students to use that bus and not the others.
Until the root cause is addressed, the state can shovel all it wants, but another accident is inevitable.
- Andrew J. Porter, West Roxbury
They advance freedom
After going to the Herald's Web site many times a day, I feel the need to thank Herald reporter Thomas Caywood and photographer John Wilcox for their brave coverage of the 42nd Military Police Co. (``A vote for freedom,'' Jan. 31). It gives me such comfort to be able see my husband, SFC Frank Smith. Also, it allows me to get an understanding of what they are enduring. My thoughts and prayers are with them.
- Anita Smith, Carlstadt, N.J.
Crisis exaggerated
After nearly four years of vague proposals to rescue and overhaul our ``failing'' Social Security system, President Bush is proposing partial privatization accounts that are wrong, frightening and confounding (``President rolls out big plans,'' Feb. 3). Wrong because how many workers would know what to invest in. Frightening because of the possible shrinkage and dissipation of the funds at retirement time. Confounding because of unnecessary transition costs of $2 trillion plus billions more in brokers fees annually.
The Congressional Budget Office predicts Social Security will pay full benefits through 2052 and 80 percent thereafter. If this is the case, then there is no immediate threat to future retirees. But to ensure that there will be no reduction of benefits and to increase the fund, there is a simple solution: Remove the cap on taxable wages.
- David Baskin, Holbrook

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LENGTH: 254 words

HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 A Defense budget for a new century

BODY:
It's not necessarily how many troops the U.S. military has on its roster, it's what they're trained to do and how mobile they are, President Bush insisted when he met with Herald editors in the Oval Office recently.
``The capacity to act in interoperable ways, to act jointly, is really important to making sure that we're able to adjust to and react to the threats we'll be facings as we go into the 21st century,'' the president said. 
Yesterday he put the force of a budget and its direction behind that promise. The proposed $419.3 billion (not including Iraq-related costs) 2006 Defense budget cuts back on some military hardware, but puts more resources into the major restructuring the president hinted at.
Vice Adm. Robert Willard, point man on restructuring, said yesterday that with this budget the Army will increase its ``availability'' for combat operations by 60 percent.
Special ops forces will get an additional $4.1 billion, in part to pay for hiring 1,200 more forces, including four platoons of Navy SEAL commandos. The Marine Corps will get two additional infantry battalions and other units to specialize in intelligence and counterterrorism.
And because this administration is committed to an all-volunteer military, the budget includes pay raises of 3.1 percent (which brings pay hikes since 2001 to 25 percent) and a further budget commitment to better housing for military families.
We are fighing a new kind of war and a new kind of enemy. It's time our military reflected that fact. This budget helps do that.

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February 7, 2005 Monday  
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SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 008

LENGTH: 620 words

HEADLINE: WAR ON TERROR; 
 BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 On the road to danger; 
 Every trip from Tikrit tests nerves of troops

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
Herald staff reporter Thomas Kaywood and photographer John Wilcox, embedded wit the Massachusett's National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company, are chronicling the unit's delpyment to Iraq
TIKRIT, Iraq - They lined up at daybreak yesterday for a combat patrol outside the wire, a convoy of armored Humvees and cargo trucks across hundreds of miles of potentially hostile countryside.
The day's mission will take members of the Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company and two sister units southeast to Baqubah to fetch a truckload of prisoners, suspected insurgents rounded up in raids over the past week.
The convoy rolls up to the front gate of Forward Operating Base Danger under a gloomy overcast sky just before 8 a.m. In the trail guntruck, ballistic goggles slide down over wide eyes. Ear plugs bore into place muffling the chugging diesel engine. 
``Rifles red and safe!'' shouts Capt. Tom Kerr, commander of the 1st Military Police Company.
``Red and safe!'' the soldiers call back as they slap magazines into their weapons and chamber rounds in a chorus of metallic scraping and clanking.
``Pistols red and safe!'' Kerr barks.
``Red and safe!'' they answer.
``Alright, let's go!'' Kerr shouts.
His driver, Spc. Caromi Rodriguez of Florida, steps on the gas and speeds out into downtown Tikrit. Iraqi soldiers, some wearing black ski masks to hide their identities, wave the Humvees and trucks through a checkpoint and out onto the highway.
Spc. Sean Klink of Weymouth, a member of the 42nd and the Humvee's gunner this day, wheels his gun turret around backward to keep would-be car bombers from charging the small convoy.
Rodriguez fishes around for the play button on a portable CD player next to her. Hip-hot spills from a cheap speaker swaying on a wire attached to a roof support.
The relative safety of guard towers, concrete walls and razor-sharp concertina wire drop into the distance. Next stop Forward Operating Base Warhorse - a spartan, muddy compound on the outskirts of an insurgent hotbed.
The convoy straddles the center line plowing through civilian traffic, forcing it to the gravel shoulders of the highway at gunpoint if necessary. 
Outside Tikrit, away from Saddam's gaudy palaces, tumbledown cinderblock buildings slouch amid the brown, barren landscape. Shepherds prod flocks of sheep and bony cattle. Women shrouded in black stoop over their fields.
``Everybody is living in what appears to be abject poverty,'' marvels Staff Sgt. Steffen Hanzel.
Barefoot children run along the roadside waving for candy. Some older boys stand defiantly flipping the bird as the convoy rolls by bristling loaded machine guns.
``There's all these people standing by the side of the road. Which one's the bad one? You just don't know,'' Klink says later.
Klink already has completed several combat patrols in a little over a week in Iraq.
``The adrenaline rush is starting to wear down,'' he says, ``but in the back of my mind I'm wondering when are we going to get hit.''
Aggressive gunners can keep the moving vehicles away from the convoy, but it can't avoid passing within feet of cars pulled to the side of the road. There are dozens of beat-up Toyota and Datsun pickups parked along the road in some stretches. Any one could conceal artillery shells wired to explode at the push of a button.
``Be careful of that vehicle. It's got gas cans around it,'' Kerr warns Rodriguez as they approach one such vehicle.
Two hours later, the convoy pulls into the protective embrace of Warhorse. Soldiers load a dozen or so detainees, zip-tied together in pairs, into a cargo truck and give them bottles of water for the return trip.
Klink climbs back into his turret wondering how much longer his luck will hold.

GRAPHIC: WORK DAY: Above, Pvt. Benjamin Bonzanto of the 1st Infantry Division mans a gun on the trip to pick up detainees in Baqubah. Below, MPs load detainees onto a truck for transport. STAFF PHOTOS BY JOHN WILCOX

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HEADLINE: It may be time for Ted to just bow out gracefully

BYLINE: By Joe Sciacca

BODY:
When Ted Kennedy took his seat in the U.S. Senate, it would be two years before The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.
The ``Monster Mash'' was big on the radio. ``Ben Casey'' was the hit on TV. A lot has changed in the past 40 years, but one thing hasn't: Ted Kennedy is still taking his seat. 
When he's up for re-election next year, he'll be 74 years old and one would have to assume that, all in all, he'd rather be in Hyannisport.
And that fuels a favorite conspiracy theory of mine - that Ted just might pass the torch to a new generation - of Kennedys, namely nephew Joe.
This could be achieved by Ted's either holding off until the last minute to announce a decision to step down and then campaigning with Joe amid a climate of good will and nostalgia, or, if there's a Democratic governor, stepping down and getting Joe appointed to the Senate seat.
Declaring that he is ``pretty close'' to announcing whether he will seek another term next year, Ted appeared to dismiss Joe as a Senate candidate during a meeting at the Herald the other day, indicating Joe might be more suited for governor at some juncture. In true Ted style, of course, it took a while to get to that point.
``I say, `Joe, what the hell, what are you doing out there giving oil out? Why don't you call me, for Pete's sakes.' He's out there pumping oil.'' Then, whispering, Ted says, ``I say, `What's the story Joe?'
``I went down to visit (Joe's son) in the Dominican Republic, (he's) in the Peace Corps. Unbelievable - living in this little place, no electricity, no television. He's reading books and he's getting this project going - waterfalls, trying to organize this little small business down there.'' The point is coming, please stand by.
``I said, `What's your dad gonna do?' He said, `I don't know, what do you think?' '' Here it comes. Be ready.
``I don't think (Joe is) in it this time. He's doing well . . . Somewhere down the line. He's made intuitively and instinctively to be an executive, much more than the legislative. He's so youthful in spirit. I just say, put my name on (your list) those times when he's out there pumping oil.'' (Editor's note: Filibuster, noun; obstruction of progress in a legislative assembly by prolonged speaking.)
While there may be no straight answers coming from the Kennedys about the future of the dynasty, there is no doubt that Ted K may be losing some of his relevance as a rally leader for the Democrats and a punching bag for the hard right.
Being in the minority in the Senate is not the issue. Kennedy says, ``I basically want to get things done and we've had some success at it over a very considerable period of time. It gets more challenging. I think we'll get some things done.''
But it's more than that. Being in the minority gives Kennedy far better positioning to remain a player, taking on George Bush and the GOP on everything from Iraq to Social Security.
The larger issue is whether he'll be crowded out by John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Howard Dean, who clearly can out-shout him.
And when the Democrats rewrite their playbook for 2008, one rule will be to forget to tell Ted when the team bus is leaving for the game. Having Kennedy on the campaign trail, as Kerry found, may not stall you out, but it will slow you down.
All of this must leave Kennedy thinking more about his legacy than his legislative agenda, and how he can maximize his leverage to help Joe, or his son Patrick, who is mentioned as a possible challenger to Rhode Island Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee next year.
Another term is Kennedy's if he wants it, given that former GOP Gov. Paul Cellucci has a pretty good survival instinct and Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey's candidacy would violate her constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment.
But if he stays, the question he may have to ask himself is why.

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BODY:
Legend gets his due
The ``As you were saying . . .'' column about Jackie Robinson was excellent (``A champ, on and off the field,'' Jan. 29).
Indeed, George Mitrovich had it right. Before there was a desegregated military, a bus boycott in Birmingham, Ala., and civil rights marches, and even before the great Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., there was Jackie Robinson. 
Way to go, Red Sox owners (unlike previous owners), for sponsoring a bill that secured posthumously the Congressional Gold Medal to Robinson. - Rick Moriarty, Plainville
A fake crisis
The biggest lie President Bush's administration has bludgeoned us with is the Social Security ``crisis'' (``President rolls out big plans, Social Security, war looms,'' Feb. 3).
Bush hardly mentioned the topic during the campaign, but now it is catapulted into crisis status, and the right-wing politicians and pundits - given their talking points by the Bush administration propaganda machine - rant incessantly about it.
Who are the beneficiaries? Why, the stockbroker campaign contributors whose commissions will explode if the Bush agenda comes to pass. These commissions are not in danger even if the market should undergo a future collapse. Gene Cataldo, Burlington
Stop whining, Southie
There has been much discussion about the parking preservation system in South Boston (``Will mayor dare touch these?'' Feb. 2). Regarding the space he had cleared, Ricardo Garcia asked the Boston Herald, ``Where else do I park?''
There appears to be some issues avoided in this debate. First, everyone looking for a parking spot had to dig out his car. We are given the impression that people are protecting their spots from evil freeloaders who are trying to steal the space which the poor resident put so much time and effort into clearing. Preserving a spot is not protecting it against annexation by a non-digging freeloader. It is guaranteeing an arbitrary spot that one had the fortune of getting before the snow.
I live on North Street and parking is always a problem, even without the snow. It is worse now when I come home and have to drive by 10 potential spots occupied by trash.
The man in front of my house put no more work into digging out his car than I did mine. How does his work grant him a particular spot? If I shoveled out his spot for him, would that make it mine? - Jason Doedderlein, South Boston
Gov's money offbase
Stop the world. I want to get off. When a U.S. military person dies in combat, say, in Iraq, his estate receives $12,400 from his grateful government (``Gov's budget picks up where voters left off,'' Jan. 28).
Last week, Gov. Mitt Romney proposed giving $600,000 to the widow of a fallen volunteer firefighter. Go figure. - Dino Livolsi, Arlington
Promises don't pan out
hen Gov. Mitt Romney ran for office, he promised to visit his Fortune 500 pals and convince them to come to Massachusetts.
Guess he made one heck of a pitch to Procter & Gamble, but forgot to talk to Gillette (``Hub icon Gillette sold in $56B deal,'' Jan. 28). - Robert Skole, Boston
Pats carry their weight
What a pleasure to see photos of star New England Patriots' players and staff who still carry their own luggage like common people (``Pats can't avoid turnover at top,'' Jan. 31). This is a real team and a class act. Thank you, Bob Kraft.
I remember not long ago a certain baseball player who thought he shouldn't have to carry his own luggage. How nice to have real people in Boston. - Wesley Burge, Waltham
Guilt by association
This is something I would expect from The Boston Globe, not the Boston Herald (``A mom's outrage,'' Feb. 3).
I empathize with Charles Copney's mother for her loss 14 years ago, and I understand Willie Dunn did spend time in jail. He did start to turn his life around - an overused phrase in the judicial system.
However, linking President Bush and his family with a convicted felon at the State of the Union address is very demeaning. Bush is reaching out to the minority community, although he gets batted around by the Democrats and the press when he does so. - Joseph Rogers, Weymouth

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HEADLINE: Iraq war veteran's new fight: RMV recognition

BYLINE: By Ann E. Donlan

BODY:
When Iraqi Freedom veteran Paul Couturier is riding down the highway, he would like passersby to know that he is proud, and he's home, after serving his country for a year in southern Iraq.
So the 42-year-old North Attleboro Army National Guardsman went to the Registry of Motor Vehicles to ask about a decal for his license plate for his service as an Army National Guardsman in the 726th maintenance battalion. 
``These guys who went to Vietnam, and the guys who went to World War II, they got stickers,'' Couturier said. ``They want to let the world know that they served their country, and I feel the same way.''
Couturier said the RMV has decals to recognize the veterans who served in Grenada and Panama, too, but he was surprised to learn no decal is available for Iraq or Afghanistan vets.
After coming out of the RMV empty-handed, Couturier turned to a military brother with some clout - State Sen. Scott P. Brown (R-Wrentham), who also is a major in the Army National Guard. Brown is filing a bill tomorrow that would establish a commission to design and distribute, through the RMV, decals for veteran's license plates to commemorate the veterans.

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HEADLINE: Safe on home soil

BYLINE: By Jules Crittenden

BODY:
A Massachusetts-based Army Reserve came home from Iraq yesterday, thankful to have finished a year overseas without losing any soldiers. 
``We were very fortunate. Our stay in Tikrit was relatively less hazardous than some of the other bases. Everybody made it OK, with the grace of God,'' said Staff Sgt. Altes Durand of Hyde Park.
The 323rd Maintenance Company was attached to the 1st Infantry Division in Tikrit, where its duties included recovering and repairing broken-down and damaged vehicles, as well as building projects and distributing supplies in the Iraqi communities.
``It feels great to be back,'' said Sgt. 1st Class Vincent Adelfio of Gloucester. ``I'm anxious to spend some time with my family.''

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HEADLINE: Election was confidence vote, say observers

BYLINE: By Jules Crittenden

BODY:
Iraq's future remains an open question after last Sunday's historic vote, but even with renewed attacks after a post-election lull, something has changed that bodes well for the war-torn country, observers say.
``This is a historic moment that must be grasped,'' said Adeed Dawisha, an Iraqi-born professor at Miami University. 
``There is a new exuberance,'' Dawisha said. ``Up until now the Iraqi people have not owned anything. They were dictated to by Saddam. . . . This is something they can call their own. That's why this insurgency will fail. The majority of the Iraqis have told them, we don't support you. The elections have emboldened Iraqis to get on with creating their own institutions regardless of the insurgency.''
Shia leaders, expected to win the ongoing ballot count, say they will reach out to the Sunni minority. But Jonathan Morrow of the U.S. Institute of Peace said, ``Who are the Sunni leaders whose participation will diminish the insurgency? It's not even clear what Sunnis would want out of a constitution.''
``We're in a fluid situation,'' said Larry Diamond of the Hoover Institution, a former adviser in Baghdad. But Diamond said he is encouraged by the willingness of a newly emerging coalition of Sunnis to work with a Shia-dominated government in the wake of the election.
``If these people are engaged and brought into the process, I think they could call on Sunni Arabs to suspend the insurgency,'' Diamond said. He said they will want meaningful representation in the new government and assurances that resources to their areas will not be cut off.
``They are worried that what Saddam did to the Shia and the Kurds, a Shia-dominated government will do to them,'' Diamond said.

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Death-benefit hike right thing to do

BODY:
Sometimes it's just about doing the right thing. And increasing the payment to the families of American troops killed in the line of duty is doing the right thing.
The so-called military death benefit traces its roots back to 1908, when the one-time payment represented six-months' pay - then only a few hundred dollars. Over the years the amount has been increased to $12,420 today. 
This past week the Bush administration proposed increasing the death benefit to $100,000 but only for troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition, the government would pay the cost of an additional $150,000 in life insurance for those serving in combat areas and offer the same benefit to all military personnel.
``We can never in any program give someone back their loved one,'' said David Chu, the Pentagon's personnel chief. ``There is nothing we can do about the hurt, to make it go away. But we can make your circumstances reasonable, in terms of finances.''
The controversy - and nothing that happens in Washington is without controversy - already has been joined over which troops should be entitled to the benefit. Some congressional Democrats favor extending the higher death benefit to all members of the military. Officials of the four branches of the service seemed to agree.
Gen. T. Michael Moseley, the Air Force's vice chief of staff, in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday said, ``I believe a death is a death and I believe this should be treated that way.''
And because this is Washington, there must be a way to find a political compromise. Surely those troops serving in a combat zone ought to be entitled to the $100,000 benefit and the additional no-cost life insurance. The Bush administration proposal would make the death benefit and the higher life insurance payouts retroactive for those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq since October 2001 and that is entirely appropriate. The price tag on that portion alone is estimated at $280 million. The first-year cost would total $459 million.
That retroactive payment ought to apply only to combat-related deaths. But if the military is to provide adequately for all its members, a more generous death benefit ought to be part of the package - doubling the current death benefit for noncombat-related deaths (say to $25,000) is more than reasonable and strikes an appropriate balance between a death under enemy fire and a death due to the reckless driving of a Humvee at Camp Pendleton.
Good legislation will recognize those differences - and still do the right thing by our troops.

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HEADLINE: POLS & POLITICS; 
 Sounds like a Lotto work

BODY:
THE BUZZ
TRUTH IN ADVERTISING, for sure, applies at the state Lottery Commission.
Looking for a ``Distribution Staff Supervisor,'' Michael T. Coughlin, the Lottery's assistant executive director for human resources, described the job as - among other things - supervising oversight of Lottery ticket security, production and distribution.
The listing goes on to ask for ``preferred qualifications'' including ``strong analytical skills'' and ``physical ability to do heavy lifting.''
But the real kicker is the 11th of 13 items - ``Must have proven skills displaying possession of and willingness to utilize common sense on a daily basis.'' 
Wow, and we thought there might be a screw or two loose over at the Lottery these days. Good thing they made that clear.
STATE SEN. Jarrett Barrios of Cambridge, trying in some way to explain why Democrats can't win the state's Corner Office, pointed in a big way toward the ``Gang of Three ad'' that Mitt Romney used to tie Democrat Shannon O'Brien to then-House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran and Senate President Robert E. Travaglini.
Sure, the pitch worked - O'Brien never was able to articulate how she'd be an independent voice if all three political branches were run by Democrats.
The one problem is, there was no ad.
The ``Gang of Three'' campaign - effective though it was - amounted to Romney and his team carrying around a placard featuring the mugs of Shannon, Trav and Finneran.
BEFORE SEN. John F. Kerry gets all hot and bothered over a 2008 re-run for the presidency, he might want to look long and hard at his base.
Yes, the money and politics people you need just to get off the ground were letting fly last week that they were none too pleased with Kerry's first run.
``Kerry did not, actually, offer a credible and coherent alternative,'' billionaire George Soros told a reporter. ``That had a lot to do with Bush being re-elected.''
Ouch.
Then there's Gloria Feldt, the outgoing president of Planned Parenthood who, on her way out, didn't forget to call out Kerry on abortion rights.
``I have great respect for John Kerry, but there's no question he did not articulate these issues well,'' Feldt told The Associated Press. ``He seemed equivocal. He ceded the moral high ground to the other side.''
STAYING UP LATE to attend the State of the Union address apparently tired out Kerry.
The morning after the address, Kerry attended the annual National Prayer Breakfast, at which President Bush spoke.
Sitting at a table fairly close to the dais, Kerry couldn't manage to stifle repeated yawns, to the amusement of the White House press corps.
Luckily for him, he's got plenty of downtime to rest now.
BOB SHRUM, the Democratic strategist who advised Kerry and seven other losing presidential bids, is looking to make a sweet profit as he moves away from Washington to enter the world of academia at New York University.
Just more than a year ago, Shrum and his wife, Marylouise Oates, paid $1.2 million for a 13-room home in Washington, but put it up for sale this week for $2.6 million, according to The Washington Post.
Oates said she put an enormous amount of money into remodeling the house to make into ``the perfect house for the Kerry administration.''
She added that the couple will be renting in New York, saying, ``Have you looked at New York prices? They're breathtaking.''
SEN. BILL FRIST, who reportedly is prepping for a 2008 White House run, sure knows how to get quoted.
The Tennessee Republican is a Harvard-trained former heart surgeon who considers himself a political hardballer.
``I can play hardball as well as anybody,'' he told an interviewer. ``That's what I did, cut people's hearts out. On the other hand, I do it to cure them, to heal them, to make them better.''
Keep the scalpel away from that man.
U.S. REP. BARNEY FRANK joined the world's beautiful people for the annual World Economic Forum in the chic Swiss Alps resort town of Davos, which was overrun with A-list celebs, corporate high-rollers and a smattering of pols like Frank.
Frank's overseas trip was paid for by the government because he was acting in his official capacity as ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.
THE BOO-BIRDS were out in force when Patriots fans at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro for a Super Bowl send-off were told politicians would be speaking.
Some, such as Mayor Thomas M. Menino, got the message and kept it short. The mayor spoke just two sentences, eliciting cheers when he roared ``On to Jacksonville!''
Gov. Mitt Romney, however, seized the moment to give a glowing, five-minute oration on the finer points of the Patriots and the meaning of team.
Thanks but no thanks, gov. Isn't that Tom Brady, Coach Belichick and Tedy Bruschi standing behind you?
MARY BETH CAHILL will join the ``diverse and experienced group'' of resident fellows at the John F. Kennedy School of Government's Institute of Politics for the spring semester.
Cahill will join Maggie Williams, the former chief of staff to First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and the William J. Clinton Foundation and Tom Newcomb, former special assistant to President Bush and senior director for combating terrorism, for the spring semester.
They will be among a group of spring semester fellows who will lead weekly, not-for-credit study groups on a range of political topics. Now THAT'Sa Real Deal.
ITEM UPDATE: There likely will be many flack-attacks in the upcoming months from the camps of Mitt Romney, who has said he is seeking a second term in 2006, and his likely Democratic challenger, Attorney General Tom Reilly.
But please . . .
Apparently riled by an item in last week's column about Romney handing Reilly a solicitation for the priesthood and then quipping that he heard that Reilly was looking for a career change, a Reilly spokesman called Monday to say that it was the attorney general, not the governor, who was the funny man.
Multiple State House sources stand by the original version of the story. But, please, no phone calls, unless the purpose of the call is to pass on a NEW item.
WB 56 POLITICAL ANALYST JON KELLER'S SPINOMETER
``We lost our national bearings in Vietnam. In the name of a misguided cause, we continued the war too long. We cannot allow that history to repeat itself in Iraq.'' - Sen. Edward Kennedy in a speech at UMass/Boston demanding accelerated withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq
Gotta hand it to Ted - he's consistently argued Iraq is another Vietnam, and keeps on doing so despite the election results over here and the election turnout over there. Could he be right? The Spin-O-Meter isn't sure; only time will tell. But if he's wrong, he's headed straight for the bogus-spin hall of fame, right next to buffoon football analyst John Madden, who urged Tom Brady to take a knee against the Rams.
Who's hot ...
TAGG ROMNEY
The son of the gov turned heads in a good way last week when he filed suit against corporate giant Ticketmaster. Romney, who's made it no secret he wants to continue in the political side of the family business, claims Ticketmaster stole his software company's idea for legally reselling tickets that can't be used. How noncorporate raider of him?
Who's not ...
VANESSA KERRY
The daughter of the senator and former presidential wannabe apparently just can't let the campaign go. Last week, she popped up with her dad in photos with, among others, French President Jacques Chirac and British PM Tony Blair while tagging along for the senator's European post-election tour.
Noelle Straub, Andrew Miga, David R. Guarino, Ann Donlan and Dave Wedge contributed to this column.

GRAPHIC: Hard-headed fans; Apparently he has forgotten what Mike Dukakis learned the hard way - never wear a helmet. U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan, a die-hard Pats fan, has a wager with U.S. Rep. Bob Brady (D-Penn.) over today's big game. The loser has to wear the other team's helmet for a week in and around Congress. The only problem is, federal law prohibits wearing hats on the floor of the House - so the best they can do is outside the chamber. Then again, maybe they knew that.

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HEADLINE: AT LARGE; 
 Why fact-check when you can cash checks?

BYLINE: By Peter Chianca

BODY:
Well, this is just great. I had just figured out how I was going to pay to send my kids to college, and President Bush goes and orders his Cabinet secretaries to stop hiring columnists. Now I'll have to hang all my hopes on a tax cut that would pay me back five times my annual salary. (Could happen.)
The president's order came on the heels of the disclosure that two syndicated columnists had been paid to promote administration agendas, one of them to the tune of $240,000. Not in their columns, per se - but I'm sure if pro-administration opinions just happened to show up in print, there was the distinct possibility a man in dark sunglasses would show up at their doors uttering the words ``Here, have a Humvee.'' 
In the most recent case, columnist Maggie Gallagher admitted to being paid to help the Health and Human Services Department create materials to encourage marriage. ``I should have disclosed a government contract when I later wrote about the Bush marriage initiative,'' she wrote. ``I would have, if I had remembered it.'' Because after all, who hasn't forgotten about huge sums of money given to them by the government? Just last week I found 75 grand that I'd absent-mindedly left in my sock drawer after it trickled down to me during the Reagan administration.
Anyway, this development prompted a conversation between me and a colleague here in the newsroom, who asked me what kind of journalist would compromise his professional credibility for a mere $240,000? Then we both laughed so hard we eventually had to be picked up off the floor by a passing editorial assistant.
Because although $240,000 might not be a lot of money for, say, the Department of Education - let's face it, how many children can you leave behind for that? - for most columnists, it's more money than they've ever seen in one place.
In fact, when I heard about columnist Armstrong Williams' $240,000 haul, I immediately updated my resume to include the following:
Skills: Excellent grasp of English language; ability to write persuasively; willing to extol the virtues of any policy, initiative or decree for only $8,000 per agenda item. (Five for $39,800!)
I even started preparing some sample column leads:
``I was just thinking, I don't know why this popped into my head, but wouldn't it be great if the United States planted the flag of liberty all over the world?''
``I was playing racquetball the other day when it occurred to me that, hey, we could really use a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage!''
``Nobody paid me to say this or anything, but it seems to me that if they don't privatize Social Security, we're all going to die penniless.'' Etc.
But then President Bush went and messed everything up, insisting that there ``needs to be a nice independent relationship between the White House and the press.'' He really should think twice about that, though. After all, everything might have worked out quite a bit differently for Nixon if he'd made a certain ``business arrangement'' with Woodward and Bernstein. (``Here, have a Pinto.'')
Granted, if they had hired me I might have found it a little hard to defend in print, say, the $300 billion we've spent on Iraq, given that for that amount we probably could have built a giant wall around the entire country to keep out terrorists, illegal aliens and even foreigners we just find annoying, like Fabio. So maybe it's for the best - but I still haven't given up on that giant tax cut!
In fact, if my Humvee shows up by Friday, you'll be reading about that next week.
Peter Chianca's column runs every Sunday in The Edge. For more, or to contact him, go to www.chianca-at-large.com

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HEADLINE: HERE WE GO AGAIN; 
 Bay State MPs display Patriotism

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
TIKRIT, Iraq - The Massachusetts National Guardsmen of the 42nd Military Police Company are ready to engage and destroy the enemy: any Philadelphia Eagles backers stationed at Forward Operating Base Danger.
Cheering for the Patriots from the other side of the world isn't a job for fair-weather fans, though.  
Thanks to an eight-hour time difference, kickoff is 2 a.m. Monday local time.
``The Pats in the Super Bowl? Oh, yeah, you can't miss that,'' said Spc. Kenny Clifford of Somerville, the company's communication specialist.
There's a television in the company headquarters hooked up to Armed Forces Network, but 2nd Lt. Kristin Procida of South Boston plans to wake up early and make the roughly quarter-mile trek to a former palace-turned-recreation center for U.S. troops stationed at Danger.
Massachusetts National Guard Capt. Mark Glenn of Peabody, a member of the 42nd Infantry Division artillery command based in Rehoboth, also plans to watch the game at the palace.
``It's going to be Patriots, 27-17,'' Glenn predicted. ``Corey Dillion is going to have a good game.''
But not everybody in the division's Chicopee-based MP company will be pulling for Tom Brady and the boys.
Cpl. Jim Lawler, one of the New Jersey National Guardsmen attached to the unit, grew up just outside of Philadelphia and is pulling for the Eagles.
He's confident enough in his team, oddsmakers aside, to entertain a friendly wager.
Pvt. James McGurn of upstate New York, another of the Jersey guardsmen, said he'll cheer for the Eagles as payback for all the trash talk he endured over the fall as a Yankees fan surrounded by triumphant members of Red Sox Nation.

GRAPHIC: FLYING THE COLORS: Massachusetts National Guard Capt. Rick Callery of Billerica decorates his hooch with the flag of Patriots Nation in Tikrit, Iraq. Bay State guardsmen will be up at 2 a.m. to root on the hometown team in the Super Bowl. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

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HEADLINE: Kennedy bashes president for ignoring bin Laden

BYLINE: By ANDREW MIGA

BODY:
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, intensifying his attacks on President Bush, yesterday accused Bush of letting Osama bin Laden slip away while focusing instead on a bungled war in Iraq. 
``It isn't the local Iraqis that are a threat to me in Boston,'' Kennedy told Herald editors and reporters. ``It's al-Qaeda that is the threat to us here.''
Added the senator: ``It is unfortunate and tragic we haven't been able to apprehend him after all this period of time.''
Kennedy noted pointedly that in Bush's 2004 State of the Union address, the president mentioned bin Laden more than a dozen times - but not even once in this year's address.
``Why'd he mention him one year ago 15 times?'' Kennedy said. ``Now he doesn't mention him at all.''
The Bay State's senior senator, who strongly signaled he is prepping to run for re-election in 2006, also:
** Warned that America's military might has limits that are being tested in Iraq: ``We can't be the policemen of the world, and we are stretched out on Iraq.''
** Questioned why Iraqis can't be trained to protect themselves faster, noting his wife's 23-year-old nephew was an Army gunner who went into combat.
** Expressed confidence that former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean would be a strong leader of the Democratic Party: ``I think he's very resourceful and he's brought a lot of people back into the process.''

GRAPHIC: THANKS: Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, left, and Sen. John F. Kerry meet with campaign workers and supporters of Kerry's failed bid for the White House yesterday. STAFF PHOTO BY FAITH NINIVAGGI

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Ted K. speaks out and he's still wrong

BODY:
We thought Osama bin Laden and his followers would be the only ones disappointed that he didn't get mentioned in the State of the Union speech. But Sen. Ted Kennedy, echoing a criticism lodged by Sen. John Kerry, has jumped on the omission as more evidence the Bush administration has lost sight of the fight against al-Qaeda. 
Kennedy's inability to see freedom in Iraq as fundamental to the destruction of al-Qaeda and Islamic extremism isn't feigned. Like President Bush, Kennedy believes deeply in his own, well, beliefs. There's much to admire about that, even when he's dead wrong.
In the State of the Union, Bush ``spoke 27 times about terror, but did not mention Osama bin Laden once. What world is he living in?'' Kennedy asked in a UMass-Boston speech Friday.
Clearly, a world where terrorists were allowed to thrive in nation-states, like Afghanistan and Iraq, under policies of ``containment'' whose utter failure became clear the day four commercial airliners were hijacked from three U.S. airports.
``He stopped fighting a war we hadn't won, and left our greatest enemy in the world still at large, planning his next 9/11,'' Kennedy said. And in a meeting with Herald editors and reporters after the speech, the senator said, ``I think it's unfortunate and tragic'' we haven't caught bin Laden.
There's a certain appeal to that point of view. It would be so much neater and cleaner if the problem of Islamic fanaticism could be solved by focusing attention on just one Muslim country and arresting or killing this one man. The American political culture thrives on such easy answers. But the day Osama bin Laden is caught or killed, Americans will be safer, but not safe, from terrorism.
That's a point we're sure we'll hear from Democrats if that day does come. And it's not the only point on which the partisan divide is not nearly as deep as it seems.
Kennedy has called for an immediate withdrawal of 12,000 troops from Iraq. The Pentagon has said some 15,000 will soon be coming home.
``Sunday's election is not a cure for the violence and instability,'' Kennedy said. ``Unless the Sunni and all the other communities in Iraq believe they have a stake in the outcome and a genuine role in drafting the new Iraqi constitution, the election could lead to greater alienation, greater escalation and greater death - for us and for the Iraqis.''
President Bush has also cautioned that the election was the beginning of democracy, not the end of violence in Iraq.
But on the fundamental question of how to prevent another 9/11, these two men and their parties remain miles apart. Kennedy points out that some nine dictators were pushed from power over a period of 15 years with ``no Marines on the ground.''
Bush lives with the experience of more recent history, when a passive approach proved unsuited to an enemy that lays claim to no one country, targets American civilians, and celebrates suicide.

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HEADLINE: BATTLE FRONT: Band of brothers, sisters can fight as well as play

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
Herald staff reporter Thomas Caywood and photographer John Wilcox, embedded with the Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company, are chronicling the unit's deployment to Iraq
TIKRIT, Iraq - They say music soothes the savage breast.
If that doesn't work, the 42nd Infantry Division Band packs enough firepower to blow away the savage in a hail of grenade and machine gun fire. 
``The band kicks butt,'' said Sgt. Kristin Duarte of Roslindale, who plays clarinet and M-4 assault rifle.
``If we were ever put to the challenge, we could do it.''
This 40-piece marching band of brothers held its own in training alongside more traditional fighting units in Kuwait last month and before that at Fort Drum, N.Y.
``We work well as a team. You have to as a band,'' said Duarte, 38, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology database administrator.
And it turns out soldiering and making music require some of the same skills. Most musicians enjoy superior manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination, as evidenced by the fact that every band member qualified on the weapons range on his or her first try. ``That's unheard of,'' Duarte said proudly.
The band lives and rehearses in a stone mansion reputed to be Saddam's former brothel.
The full band will perform at formal military ceremonies, but it also can break down into separate ensembles that play everything from country to rock to Dixieland jazz to entertain soldiers.
The musicians also are expected to help repel attacks and back up MPs in a pinch.
``It's an Army band. We are soldiers just like anyone else,'' said Chief Warrant Officer Mark Kimes.
Don't bother with the lame jokes. Kimes has heard them all. ``You hear stuff like `One time at band camp . . .' and `Can you play the chicken dance?' But we've dispelled a lot of those myths about us by how well we've done in training,'' he said.

GRAPHIC: MUSIC TO HER EARS: Sgt. Kristin Duarte of Roslindale sits beside a lagoon on the palace grounds in Tikrit. She plays the clarinet when she's not toting her assault rifle. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 Dems clueless on Iraq strategy

BODY:
Today Sen. Edward M. Kennedy will once again speak out on the U.S. role in Iraq. And we have no doubt that once again he will insist the Bush administration propose an ``exit strategy.'' 
In a column that appeared earlier this week, political analyst Martin Schram called Kennedy and many of his fellow Democrats ``tone-deaf.''
And that was BEFORE President Bush told the nation and the world in his State of the Union message, ``We will not set an artificial timetable for leaving Iraq, because that would embolden the terrorists and make them believe they can wait us out.''
But those are still just words, and politicians - even the one who occupies the Oval Office - are always full of words.
But there are also moments, moments that speak directly to the heart, and, therefore, explain in a way that words cannot what this nation is doing in Iraq.
Janet and William Norwood lost their son, Marine Corps Sgt. Byron Norwood, in Iraq. In a letter to the president they told how proud he was to be involved in the fight to free Iraq, and how much he wanted to protect his own nation.
``We have said farewell to some very good men and women who died for our freedom and whose memory this nation will honor forever,'' Bush said Wednesday night.
Janet Norwood had been clutching her son's dog tags.
Seated in front of her was Safia Taleb al-Suhail, whose father was killed 11 years ago by Saddam's thugs. Now the leader of the Iraqi Women's Political Council, she held up her still lightly ink-stained finger, the sign of her participation in Sunday's voting.
And then the two women who have both suffered so much sadness and loss embraced. For them no words were necessary. Janet Norwood's son helped win the freedom that this proud Iraqi woman exercised last weekend.
For Democrats, such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, to continue to yammer that, ``We have never heard a clear plan from this administration for ending our presence in Iraq,'' is to be not merely tone-deaf, but clueless. It is also the path to permanent minority status in American politics.

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Dour deal for workers
Once again, Joe Fitzgerald goes to bat for the ``little guys.'' This time, poor management did them in (``Razor moguls treat workers like so much stubble,'' Jan. 29).
Instead of quality control on their existing products, Gillette just added another blade and raised the price. The ``little guy'' got the shaft while the screw-ups skated off with the big bucks. As Joe said, once you get by the conscience, the rest is easy. 
Thank you, Joe, once again. - Jim Foley, Waltham
Leave China alone
An editorial in the Boston Herald implied that China is an oppressive nation (``No free lunch for despots,'' Jan. 24). If so, why do we have a trade deficit so heavily in favor of China? Why does almost everything have ``made in China'' on it? Why is China enjoying a booming economy? And finally, why do we go out of our way to antagonize a nonaggressive nation with an arsenal of modern thermonuclear weapons? Should the U.S. ever go to war with China, I'm sure we'll find it a bit more formidable than Grenada, Afghanistan and Iraq.
China had a structured civilization when many of our ancestors were running around with Attila the Hun. China still knows what is good for China. - Donald Mills, South Boston
McNabb can call it super
Why would a professional sports journalist be offended by Donovan McNabb proclaming the Super Bowl a special day for an African-American quarterback (``Tossed for a loss already,'' Jan. 30)? Less then 8 percent of starting quarterbacks in the 39-year history of the Super Bowl have been black. George Kimball must not have been paying attention to the numbers in his own article.
Caucasian-American track athletes have not been denied fair opportunity and have not been vastly under-represented during the past 40 years. Comparing their plight to African-American quarterbacks was a anemic argument.
It is undeniable that progress has been made for minorities in NFL leadership. Romeo Crennel may soon become a head coach, and Jamaican-born Rohan Davey, Tom Brady's backup, may soon be the first African-American quarterback with two Super Bowl rings. Ownership opportunities would be particularly special - there have been none.
However, propelling progress into parity would truly be super. - Devender Coleman, Boston
Steamed over spots
It seems Mayor Tom Menino has lost touch with the residents of Boston regarding parking (``Mayor draws line in snow over spaces,'' Jan.29). We don't have the luxury of private driveways or garages to park our cars. Instead of spending our tax dollars throwing away items used to save spaces, Mayor Menino could clear the mountains of snow that block the streets. If he wants to keep the image of People's Mayor, he should be a little more sympathetic to our problems - no matter how big or small. - Phil Kubera, Dorchester
Not just blue, but gray
There's a reason why Democrats don't define themselves in short sound bites like Republicans, with their ``small government'' and ``moral values'' mantras (``Dems' lack of vision blurs the party line,'' Jan. 31, p. 5). We know the problems of the world can't be addressed with simple, black-and-white answers. Once gray areas are acknowledged as complex issues, the answers get longer, and voters are forced to actually use their brains, anathema to the George Bushes of the world.
Furthermore, Democrats attempt to avoid the hypocrisy inherent to such simplistic statements. When you look closely at the private lives of leading Republicans as well as the consequences of some of their policies, you realize all this talk about ``moral values'' is a hollow sham, just as George W. Bush's ``small government'' is the biggest and most wasteful in the world's history. -Richard Feinberg, Boston
A thrill, but no match
These words describe the Democrats: dazed and confused.
Wayne Woodlief likes Howard Dean and wants him to lead the Democratic National Committee (``Dems' Dean right man for the job,'' Feb. 3). I agree. Dean is controversial, fun to watch and a good fundraiser. He'll keep everyone attentive. He's caught the political bug, and he thrives under the national spotlight. Trouble is he can't get elected to national office. His main task is to find a way to get other Democrats elected. He will never put in place a team to match that of George W. Bush and Karl Rove.
However, we will all enjoy watching the battle. - Colleen Minaker, Newton

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HEADLINE: Obituary; 
 Andrew K. Farrar Jr., 31, Marine died on duty in Iraq

BODY:
Andrew Kevin Farrar Jr. of Jacksonville, N.C., formerly of Weymouth, a sergeant in the Marine Corps, died Friday in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, while serving his country. He was 31.
Born in Quincy, Sgt. Farrar graduated Weymouth High School in 1992, where he was a star performer for the varsity basketball team. 
In 1997, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. After completing Marine combat training at Camp Geiger in 1998, he attended military police school at Fort McClellan, Ala. He was assigned to Marine Corps Base, Okinawa, as a military policeman from 1998-99. Sgt. Farrar was reassigned to Military Police Company, 2d Force Service Support Group and later to Company A, 2d Military Police Battalion. While a member of Company A, he participated in deployments entitled Joint Task Force-Bravo, Honduras; Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom II-2.
His personal decorations and ribbons include: Navy and Marine Corps Acheivement Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Navy Unit Commendation, Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and two Sea Service Deployment Medals.
Sgt. Farrar enjoyed running, reading, lifting weights and playing basketball. The only thing Sgt. Farrar loved more than ``his Marines'' was his family and the time he spent with them.
He is survived by his wife, Melissa V. (Xayavong); two sons, Tyler Andrew and Liam Patrick; his father and mother, Andrew K. Sr. and Claire M. (Gaudiano) of Weymouth; two brothers, Jason M. and Nathan P., both of Weymouth; a sister, Bethany L. of Weymouth; his grandparents, Eileen C. Gaudiano, Ralph B. and Joanne, all of Weymouth; and many aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. tomorrow at St. Francis Xavier Church, South Weymouth.
Burial will be in Mount Wollaston Cemetery, Quincy.
Arrangements by McDonald Funeral Home, North Weymouth. 

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HEADLINE: TALKING TOUGH; 
 Democrats blast away at Bush agenda

BYLINE: By NOELLE STRAUB

BODY:
WASHINGTON - Even before President Bush uttered a word last night, Democrats were piling on in critical e-mail blasts and press conferences - relying not on rebuttals but ``pre-buttals.''
``What's more important than what we hear tonight is what we will NOT hear,'' Sen.  
Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote in a fund-raising e-mail yesterday for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Warning of failures in Bush's ``short-sighted'' policies on homeland security, Social Security and Iraq, Schumer said Democrats have a plan dubbed ``The American Promise'' to roll back Bush's policies.
The Democratic press began days before the speech, when House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada delivered a Monday ``pre-buttal'' to the address. The duo also gave the official Democratic response last night.
Reid, Schumer and other Democrats will hold a press conference today outside the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial attacking a key proposal from the speech, Social Security reform. They will release a letter to the White House calling on Bush to send a plan ``that does not exacerbate national debt.''
Sen. John F. Kerry played off the address in an e-mail to nearly three million supporters slamming Bush for ignoring health care reform and urging them to call a toll-free number and record messages in support of insurance for children.

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HEADLINE: TALKING TOUGH; 
 `State of the Union' effective, not overpowering

BYLINE: By ANDREW MIGA

BODY:
WASHINGTON - There were no soaring oratorical flourishes or dramatic turns of phrase in the president's hourlong speech to a packed House chamber. Gone, too, was the frat boy smirk that hobbled his first presidential debate performance in Florida last fall.
Instead, President Bush laid out in straightforward prose his blueprint for a second term. His cadence was clipped, but controlled. 
Bush rarely overreaches. A plodding speaker, he has learned to play to his strengths on the public stage.
He showed a flash of self-effacing humor, noting the march of time ``as we see a little gray in the mirror - or a lot of gray.''
At times he seemed to be stifling a jaunty smile as the GOP-controlled Congress showered him with standing ovations.
Bush's folksy approach and Texas-style candor strikes a chord with many mainstream Americans who tend to view him as a strong leader even when they disagree on his policies. His lack of pretense is seen by some voters as sincerity.
Bush patiently built a case for reforming Social Security, warning of impending doom as baby boomers swell retirement ranks.
There was a poignant moment when Bush recognized Janet Norwood and her husband, Bill, whose son, Marine Sgt. Byron Norwood, died in the assault on Fallujah. The Texas mother, clutching her son's dog tags, embraced Safia Taleb al-Suhail, leader of the Iraqi Women's Political Council.
Bush's status as a wartime leader gives his words a certain edge. But he has tamed the muscular rhetoric and cowboy imagery he used in the days soon after 9/11.
There was no axis of evil last night. Instead, he stressed spreading freedom and democracy to stifle tyranny.
And in pointing to Sunday's impressive election results in Iraq, he did so without a trace of gloating - and recited the perils America still faces from terror across the globe.

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HEADLINE: TALKING TOUGH; 
 PRESIDENT ROLLS OUT BIG PLANS; 
 Social Security war looms

BYLINE: By ANDREW MIGA

BODY:
WASHINGTON - President Bush last night delivered an impassioned pitch for his second-term agenda, unveiling his controversial Social Security overhaul plan and vowing no U.S. pullback until Iraq is made safe for democracy.
During his State of the Union address, Bush declared that Social Security ``on its current path, is headed toward bankruptcy. . . . We must make Social Security permanently sound, not leave the task for another day.''
Bush wants to restructure the nation's retirement system to allow workers under age 55 to divert a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes into individual investment accounts in exchange for lower guaranteed future benefits. 
Democrats brand his reform plan a risky gamble, but the president, directing his comments to Americans who are 55 or older: ``Do not let anyone mislead you. For you, the Social Security system will not change in any way.''
Some Republicans are wary that Bush's ambitious push to revamp Social Security may backfire at the ballot box, putting GOP House and Senate control at risk in 2006.
On Iraq, Bush hailed that nation's recent elections as a turning point in the war-ravaged country. Some lawmakers waved ink-stained fingers - a symbol of the Iraq election system - in support.
Refusing to offer ``an artificial timetable'' on the withdrawal of 150,000 U.S. forces from Iraq - ``a vital front in the war on terror,'' he said troops will stay until Iraq's military can stand alone.
The president also pledged to seek $350 million ``to support Palestinian political, economic and security reforms.''
``The beginnings of reform and democracy in the Palestinian territories are showing the power of freedom to break old patterns of violence and failure,'' he said. ``The goal of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace is within reach.''
One of Bush's fiercest critics on Iraq, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D- Mass.), was noticeably absent during the hour-long speech in the packed House chamber because he was attending a wake for a personal friend in Massachusetts.
In his wide-ranging speech, Bush also:
- Reaffirmed his support for a constitutional ban on gay marriage.
- Backed a new immigrant guest worker program, saying, ``We should not be content with laws that punish hardworking people who want only to provide for their families, and deny businesses willing workers, and invite chaos at our border.''
- Reiterated his pledge to halve the federal budget deficit by 2009 by limiting spending increases to less than 1 percent on all items not related to defense and homeland security.
- Called for a ``top to bottom'' review of the nation's ``archaic, incoherent federal tax code.''

GRAPHIC: FORGING AHEAD: President Bush delivers the State of the Union address yesterday at the Capitol with Vice President Cheney in the background. The president offered his agenda for his second term and applauded the recent Iraqi elections. AP PHOTO

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HEADLINE: WAR ON TERROR; 
 Bay State guard plays the palace inside Tikrit

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
TIKRIT, Iraq - It ain't home, but the living arrangements at Forward Operating Base Danger beat a tent in the Kuwaiti desert any day.
If you don't count occasional incoming mortar fire and car bombs exploding at the front gate, anyway.
The Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company took up residence yesterday in a building on the grounds of Saddam Hussein's Tikrit palace complex. Soldiers figure the single-story structure, which looks like a cross between a Roman villa and a cemetery mausoleum, once served as a chef's quarters, based on exhaust ducts that likely vented a large kitchen. 
At first glance, the company's home for the next year appears assembled from great blocks of sandstone. But chips and cracks reveal a facade of concrete expertly colored and textured to mimic roughly quarried stone.
Three sets of 10-foot-tall wooden doors open onto the building's shady front portico, which the soldiers have made into their smoking lounge.
The interior spaces were divided into offices and crudely built plywood sleeping cubicles by another unit. Still, the home's former elegance gleams from mosaic marble floors underfoot and vaulted ceilings overhead.
``I'm just glad I'm situated,'' said Spc. Mark ``Hollywood'' Costa of South Hadley, a medic. ``We've got a nice chandelier in our room.''
The Chicopee-based unit's new digs sits near the lip of a canyon the Hussein family flooded to create a vast lake by diverting water from the Tigris River. Palms and even a few orange trees grow along the lakeshore.
The complex includes several palaces, and most of the support buildings would qualify as mansions in the United States.
``These are amazing structures,'' marveled Sgt. 1st Class Gary Garand of Pittsfield, who has trained in architectural drafting. ``The Romans learned from this culture.''
But miles of high walls and guard towers encircling the complex reveal the former relationship between Saddam and the people he ruled for decades. Even in his clan's stronghold, the fallen tyrant built his opulent palaces within a fortress.

GRAPHIC: BARRACKS LIFE: A Mass. National Guardsman descends a spiral marble staircase to where a coffee bar has been set up inside a palace formerly occupied by Saddam Hussein in Tikrit. STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX

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HEADLINE: WAR ON TERROR; 
 Norfolk DA: Troubled vets need our help

BYLINE: By BRIAN BALLOU

BODY:
Norfolk County's top prosecutor wants to ease the transition for combat soldiers returning home by developing a community-based ``safety net'' that could serve as a national model.
Yesterday in Randolph, District Attorney William Keating brought together about 200 health, social service, and criminal justice officials and first responders from throughout the region for ``A Community Summit to Understand the Needs of Returning Combat Soldiers.'' 
``Since the Civil War, history tells us that a small number of combat soldiers will have difficulty readjusting back to civilian life,'' Keating said.
According to the New England Journal of Medicine, an estimated one in six soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan will experience post-traumatic stress disorder.
``For this problem to be fully addressed, this must be the first of hundreds of community summits across the country,'' he said.
Keating said he hopes to ``prevent the many tragedies other generations faced when dealing with the aftermath of war.''
One ex-Marine told of his difficulties readjusting.
``I was an extrovert before I went over there, but now I've closed in terribly,'' said Jeremiah Sparks, 25, of South Boston. ``I have a hard time sleeping, and sometimes I'll smell or hear something, and it will make me very edgy.''
His mother, Beth Princiotta, said she immediately noticed a difference in her son when she welcomed him home last year. ``The first thing I noticed was the shell-shock in his eyes,'' she said.
``There was no decompression for him. He left Iraq on a . . . jet and returned back home.''

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HEADLINE: Letters to the Editor

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Workers need OSHA
I commend the Herald for its coverage of Roger LeBlanc's death and offer condolences to his family (``He didn't have to die,'' Feb. 1). Unfortunately, this tragedy could repeat at Massport and statewide. State government is not obligated to meet OSHA standards. If Massport, a state-of-the-art organization, can suffer a fatality, how safe are thousands of public sector workers in more dismal conditions? 
The National Association of Government Employees has tried to convince Gov. Mitt Romney to adopt OSHA for almost a year, receiving little more than lip service. Will this death move Romney to implement the same standard procedures as his beloved private sector? For the sake of other potential Roger LeBlancs and their families, I sincerely hope so.
- David J. Holway, Quincy
The writer is president of National Association of Government Employees.
Execs seeing green
The purchase of Gillette may answer the question of how to secure greater clout against mass-market retailers like Wal-Mart, but the wrong question has been asked (``P&G in $57 billion deal for Gillette,'' Jan. 28). The larger issue is how citizens and the government can address the menace of a rapacious corporation like Wal-Mart that busts local businesses and bullies product vendors into using off-shore sweatshop labor to keep costs down.
It's too bad for Boston that Gillette is selling out. Just like Wal-Mart apparently, all its executives can see are the dollar signs.
- Jeffrey Stone, Milton
Drug testing a waste
School officials in Haverhill and Salem are rightly concerned with keeping students safe from drugs. But random suspicionless drug testing is not the solution (``Haverhill Considers School Drug Testing,'' Jan. 29).
The largest federally funded study conducted on the topic found that drug testing has absolutely no impact on student drug use.
Drug testing is also very expensive. In a time when many schools are struggling just to pay their teachers adequately, students are left wondering why officials would throw money on a program that does not work.
- Tom Angell, Washington, D.C.
The writer is with Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
Columnist misses party
I take exception to Joe Sciacca's suggestion that Democrats need to ``get a grip'' on our progressive party line (``Dems lack of vision blurs the party line,'' Jan. 31). It's Sciacca who needs to get a grip on Democratic values. For his enlightenment, we blue-state Democrats have a noble vision for America's future. We stand for keeping Social Security intact, saving Medicare and a strong Patient Bill of Rights. We oppose tax cuts for the wealthy and the pervasive privatization plans of this right-wing administration. We work for protecting employee pensions, improving public schools and promoting a clean and safe workplace. We advocate for the right to organize unions and pay equity for women workers. We won't rest until the minimum wage is increased to a reasonable living wage.
We also believe in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights; therefore, we reject the repressive provisions of the USA Patriot Act. We believe America need not digress into a totalitarian police state in order to remain safe and free.
So, now that Sciacca's got the scoop, perhaps he'll present a more level-headed viewpoint in the future.
- Frank Callahan, Brockton
Mass pols inked
The Iraqi voters have more courage in their ink-stained fingers than Sen. Edward Kennedy and Sen. John Kerry combined (``Iraiqis vote for freedom,'' Jan. 31).
With recent statements by Kennedy and Kerry on troop withdrawal and the legitimacy of the election in Iraq, both senators reveal the true nature of their negative and defeatist opinions.
- Robert Kelley, Chatham
No snow, no feuds
As a former Boston resident, I know all about the ``shovel it's yours'' issue (``Mayor draws line in snow over spaces,'' Jan. 29). When Mayor Tom Menino sends trucks to remove markers, why doesn't he have them remove snow instead? Then, all could be happy - no snow, no markers!
- Jeannie Russo, Quincy

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 President Bush leads with his chin

BODY:
A different man would have strode to the House rostrum last night simply to bask in the reflected glory of a decisive re-election, Republican gains in Congress, foreign policy achievements in Afghanistan, the Mideast and the election in Iraq, the new prescription drug benefit for seniors, a landmark shift in the federal role in public education and historic tax cuts.
But that's not the kind of man the American people sent to the White House for four more years. This president is choosing boldness. 
``The only force powerful enough to stop the rise of tyranny and terror, and replace hatred with hope, is the force of human freedom,'' President Bush said in his State of the Union address, restating the Bush doctrine of using American influence to spread democracy.
And who among us can question the justness of that cause after witnessing an Iraqi voter, whose father had been killed by Saddam Hussein's regime, embracing the mother of an American marine killed in Iraq to win this oppressed people the right to vote?
Perhaps the greatest strength of this underestimated leader is his faith in the American people's willingness to rise above self-interest in favor of the national interest, indeed, humanity's interest.
This belief that Americans can take the long view anchors Bush's determination to complete the mission in Iraq, secure lasting peace in the Middle East and to modernize America's safety nets. ``We have to move ahead with courage and honesty, because our children's retirement security is more important than partisan politics,'' he said.
There's something truly unusual about a president willing to spend all his political capital and put his legacy at risk in pursuit of such major goals.
``Our generational commitment to the advance of freedom, especially in the Middle East, is now being tested and honored in Iraq. That country is a vital front in the war on terror, which is why the terrorists have chosen to make a stand there,'' Bush said.
Yes, the president is gambling that the American people won't settle for the Democrats' ``just say no'' approach.
America needs an exit strategy in Iraq, Democratic leaders say. Bush answers: ``We will not set an artificial timetable for leaving Iraq, because that would embolden the terrorists and make them believe they can wait us out.''
No, this president doesn't necessarily have all the right answers. But he's leading with his chin and putting the best solutions he can come up with on the table. Now, it's the Democrats' move.

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HEADLINE: Op-Ed; 
 Dems' Dean right man for the job

BYLINE: By WAYNE WOODLIEF

BODY:
Forget all that ``Stop Dean'' nonsense in the race for chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Scream and all, the former Vermont governor, who DIDget stopped in his bid for the presidential nomination, is the right man for this job.
``People-Powered Howard'' - as his campaign dubbed him during his meteoric rise and fall in 2004 - will be good for a rudderless national party as it tries to shape a winning message; good for state Democratic committees as they fend off relentless Republican inroads and good for ordinary voters who like their leaders to tell it straight.
It was no accident that hundreds of thousands of plain folks signed on to the Dean candidacy in the fall and winter of 2003, many through the Internet, before the national media and Dean's rivals began to whipsaw him and tear him down out in Iowa. 
The voters who sent in millions of dollars in small donations saw something unusual in a doctor who had a health insurance plan he could actually explain and a candidate who would level with them even as pundits sneered.
When Saddam Hussein was snatched from that spider hole and Dean said his capture ``has not made America any safer,'' he became the butt of criticism. Yet the insurgency in Iraq got worse after Saddam was captured. And despite the bravery of those Iraqis who defied the terrorists and voted in large numbers last weekend, Iraq is still a dangerous place and demands for an American exit strategy are increasing among Democrats.
What makes Dean so good for a national party that's been navel-gazing since the November elections is that he'll listen to other voices. Even if he phrased it inelegantly during the campaign, he was right to worry about what those good ol' boys ``in pickup trucks'' in the red states cared about. But he won't waffle on the party's basic values: Equal rights, fair play for the working class, respect for gays, and protection for the needy.
You want the consistency John Kerry often lacked as the nominee? You'll get it in Chairman Dean.
Dean made a big leap toward sewing up his election when the DNC mets Feb. 12, when he was overwhelmingly endorsed Monday by the Association of Democratic State Chairs. The vote - a majority voted for Dean against six opponents - proved an embarrassment for its executive committee, which had recommended Donnie Fowler Jr., Dean's closest rival for the job, only the day before.
Massachusetts Democratic Chairman Philip Johnston, one of Dean's earliest supporters, wasn't surprised.
``That was just a cabal on the executive committee,'' Johnston said. ``Dean got 56 votes to 21 for Fowler when it reached all of us, and he deserved it.
``Dean has committed to helping the state parties, if he's elected national chairman. He understands that elections are won at the grassroots local level. He'll help the state committees on congressional and legislative races and on redistricting cases.''
And that latter could help ward off the kind of stacked redistricting tricks U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) played in his state last year.
New York kingmaker Harold Ickes, an adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton, is in Dean's corner, too, though he has advised Clinton to stay neutral. And Sen. Kerry - though also neutral - defended Dean against the ``too liberal'' charge on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' Sunday, and praised him as a ``balanced budget governor.''
It's smart of Kerry and Clinton not to try to block Dean; especially since he has said that if he's elected chairman he won't run for president again in 2008.
But what makes me root for Howard Dean is something his former campaign manager Joe Trippi wrote in ``The Revolution Will Not be Televised'':
``Every other candidate (for the past 20 years) has started by saying - `Look at me. Aren't I amazing?' But every time Howard got up to speak, every time his campaign staff got on the Web to blog, the message was `Look at you. Aren't you amazing?' And they were: 600,000 amazing people committed to a new democracy.''
That's just the kind of attitude the Democratic Party needs to get itself back on track.
Wayne Woodlief's column appears weekly in the Boston Herald.

GRAPHIC: DEAN: He sure looks unstoppable now.

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HEADLINE: BATTLEFRONT REPORT; 
 Long journey leads to Tikrit; 
 Guardsmen report for duty in Iraq

BYLINE: By Thomas Caywood

BODY:
TIKRIT, Iraq - The blacked-out C-130 aircraft carrying the bulk of the Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company nosed down into a stomach-dropping descent one minute after midnight on the first day of February.
Crushed together kneecap-to-kneecap in the belly of the windowless plane, many of the exhausted soldiers had managed to nod off under the eerie emerald glow of black-out lights. But the rapid pressure change of the combat landing squeezed their skulls and eardrums until they could barely hear the roar of the four turboprop engines. 
The Chicopee-based company touched down moments later at Camp Speicher with a gentle bump - two weeks after arriving in theater and seven months after they put their civilian lives on hold to answer their country's call.
``I can't believe we are going to be somewhere where they are firing at us,'' said Spc. Ngeri Gordan, a tough female soldier who tears up when she talks about missing her 17-month-old daughter. ``You can train all you want. It's different when they're firing back.''
The exhausting move into Iraq had begun early the previous day when the guardsmen hauled their duffel bags and bulging rucksacks to a pickup point on Camp Buehring, Kuwait. When the buses pulled up a few hours later, Capt. Dominic DiTomaso gathered his soldiers for a pep talk.
``In about two days you guys are going to be outside the wire doing missions,'' the company commander told his troops. ``Watch out for each other, people.''
Then DiTomaso added 13 words that would prove agonizingly prophetic: ``We've got a long day ahead of us, a lot of sitting around.''
He didn't know the half of it. Ten hours later, his company would still sit in Kuwait after twice getting bused out to C-130s that proved unable to fly because of mechanical problems.
The guardsmen finally boarded an aircraft and took off for Iraq on their third try in six hours. After four hours of restless sleep in their uniforms at Speicher, a convoy of armored Humvees arrived in the morning to ferry them the last leg of their journey to Forward Operating Base Danger in nearby Tikrit. The complex of Hussein family palaces, one of which was bombed nearly to rubble, has been home to the departing 1st Infantry Division for a year.
The first sergeant of the 1st Military Police Company welcomed the 42nd on the stone porch of an outbuilding.
``We're sure glad to see you,'' said 1st Sgt. Martin Traylor. ``Y'all will find that out after 365 days when you see your replacements. I just hope it's not us.''

GRAPHIC: CLOSE QUARTERS: Soldiers from the 42nd Military Police Company sit knee to knee in a C-130 as they endure the journey from Kuwait to Iraq. Staff photo by John Wilcox

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HEADLINE: Bush will target Social Security reform in speech

BYLINE: By Noelle Straub

BODY:
WASHINGTON - President Bush will outline a sweeping set of initiatives for his second term in tonight's State of the Union address, topped by Social Security reform at home and building on a successful Iraqi vote abroad.
``The State of the Union is a detailed blueprint for achieving the great goals and ideals the president outlined in his inaugural,'' said Bush spokesman Scott McClellan.
Although Bush faces historically low approval numbers for a re-elected president, he will push a far-reaching agenda. 
The first half of the speech, which runs under 40 minutes without applause, will focus on domestic priorities and the second on foreign policy.
Bush will call for reform of programs created ``for the America of yesterday,'' starting with Social Security, McClellan said.
As he did throughout the campaign, Bush will likely invoke the image of an ``ownership society'' as he tries to sell his plan to create private investment accounts.
Although he will call for bipartisan cooperation on the issue, the president will face a sea of skeptical Democrats who feel they were largely ignored by the White House during his first term.
In a pre-emptive strike, Sen. John F. Kerry e-mailed supporters saying Bush will use the speech ``to stampede the country into a false sense of crisis on Social Security,'' while ignoring the health care crisis.
Other domestic issues that will form Bush's laundry list of desired legislation include immigration reform, a revamp of the tax code, an energy bill, and medical malpractice reform.
In a nod to his conservative base, Bush also is expected to renew his calls to protect marriage and foster a culture that values life.
The president will also ``put specific focus in a way that he hasn't in the past'' on fiscal discipline, according to a senior administration official.
On foreign policy, Bush will point to the three recent elections in Afghanistan, the Palestinian territory and Iraq as a sign people around the world desire democracy, the official said.
He will talk about helping to train Iraqi security forces and supporting the new government as it drafts a constitution.
He will also talk of jump-starting the Middle East peace process and mention concerns about the situations in Iran and North Korea.

GRAPHIC: MOTOWN GETDOWN: President Bush jokes with Detroit Pistons' player Ben Wallace as the NBA 2004 champions visited the White House yesterday. AP photo

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HEADLINE: Kennedy urges Dems to oppose AG nominee

BYLINE: By Noelle Straub

BODY:
WASHINGTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy lobbied fellow Democrats in private and from the Senate floor yesterday to vote down Alberto Gonzales for attorney general because of his role in shaping prisoner interrogation policies. 
Gonzales ``advised the president that torture was an acceptable method of interrogation in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and Iraq,'' Kennedy said.
The senator said the White House counsel ``refuses to be candid'' by testifying he couldn't remember specifics about his role in approving memos about torture and refusing to provide documents.
Republicans leaped to defend Gonzales, praising him as an honorable man. Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) called it ``plain and clear for the record'' Gonzales condemns torture.
After an erroneous report circulated that Kennedy would filibuster Gonzales, the Republican National Committee called a filibuster of the first Hispanic attorney general nominee ``neither good policy nor good politics.'' The RNC cited President Bush's increased ``share of the Hispanic vote by 9 percent over 2000.''
Senators expect to confirm Gonzales by the end of the week.

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HEADLINE: OP-ED; 
 City needs a real `space' program

BYLINE: By Thomas M. Keane Jr.

BODY:
Today could kick off Round Two in the national spotlight for City Councilor Jimmy Kelly. Squeezed in amongst news about the vote in Iraq and the State of the Union address, we'll have the South Boston pol holding forth on the rights of the people to shovel and defend their parking spaces.
He's on TV, of course, because this story is a curiosity, an amusing counterpoint to the grim tedium of everyday news. For the one-time anti-busing firebrand and seven-term Council president, it sure seems a comedown. And for South Boston, it marks yet another moment of acute embarrassment. 
Except for one thing: Kelly is right. A mayor who is normally adept at balancing the everyday difficulties of city living has blown this one, creating a mountain out of snowhill, needlessly antagonizing residents who are, after all, simply looking for a spot to park their cars.
Apparently aggravated by reports of tire slashings and fights over parking spaces, Mayor Tom Menino announced in December 2003 he was fed up with the long-time practice of ``you-shovel-it, you-own-it.'' A year later, he started enforcing his edict. Some 48 hours after a snowfall the trash trucks would be out, picking up the detritus residents put out to mark their spots. Menino gave a little more time with the most recent blizzard, but today at 8 a.m. the ban begins.
The policy seemed aimed directly at South Boston, and provoked much comment about that neighborhood's insularity and inclination to make and live by its own rules. Much of that comment came from people who have their own driveways and remain aloof from the trials snow poses for those who must park on the street.
In fact, however, space-saving is hardly unique to South Boston. Drive around Somerville and Cambridge, for example, and you'll find residents on side streets marking their spots. Indeed, the phenomenon extends beyond the region. Park in a shoveled space in northeast Philadelphia and you'll soon have a neighbor knocking on your door, politely asking you to move your car.
The key is politeness. The problem with space-saving isn't, as a mayoral spokesman said, ``The streets of the city belong to all the people.''
Space-saving works well in neighborhoods where people know each other. The real problem is that South Boston is changing. An influx of newcomers, most with more money and more education than the community's long-term residents, has created tensions. The tight-knit fabric of the place is fraying and new residents are often unaware of the unspoken rules that once governed behavior. Some old-timers - likely resentful of the newcomers - started holding on to spaces far longer than reasonable, becoming aggressive when challenged.
The battle over parking in Southie, very real and urgent to those who live there, is exactly the kind of concern that calls for discussion and collaboration among residents and their elected representatives. How about more residential parking restrictions? Could residents move their cars right after a storm so secondary roads could be better plowed? Could the city make available additional off-street parking? Could residents agree among themselves about ``rules'' that would govern the use of space-savers?
That hasn't happened. Instead, Menino issued an order and Kelly fired back. Rather than solving a problem, both sides simply created new ones. Menino has been quick to belittle Kelly's impassioned defense of space-saving; ``I'm so glad Jimmy Kelly has decided to take up such a substantive issue,'' he mocked last week. For many residents, however, this is exactly the kind of substance they expect from their city government.
Reach Tom Keane at tomkeane@tomkeane.com.

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HEADLINE: BNN TECH UNCLOAKS SNIPERS; 
 Device bound for U.S. troops in Iraq

BYLINE: By JAY FITZGERALD

BODY:
Another Massachusetts company has come up with cutting-edge technology designed to help American soldiers defend themselves against enemy thugs in Iraq.
BBN Technologies, the legendary Cambridge-based Internet pioneer, recently delivered to the Pentagon an updated sniper-detection unit that can be attached to vehicles and track the trajectory of a rifle bullet fired at U.S. troops.
The ``Boomerang,'' as the gizmo is nicknamed, is in the late stages of being tested by the Pentagon and dozens are expected to be shipped to Iraq soon. 
The Boomerang is a smaller, modified version of a larger unit developed by BBN in a crash program a year ago for military brass, frustrated by snipers taking shots at American patrols and convoy personnel who couldn't hear or see the location of long-range snipers.
About 50 of the earlier, bulkier Boomerangs were dispatched last year to Iraq, at a cost not disclosed.
``It's extremely satisfying,'' said Robert ``Tad'' Elmer, BBN's chief executive, which has also developed sophisticated computer games to help U.S. soldiers prepare for street fighting in Iraq. ``It's a way to make a difference.''
Following Sept. 11, 2001, a number of Massachusetts companies have developed high-tech weapons for the Pentagon, from Waltham-based Raytheon Co.'s heat-beam stinger gun to Burlington-based iRobot Corp.'s PackBot reconnaissance robot used to hunt terrorists in caves and buildings.
Charles Pena, director of defense policy studies at the Cato Institute, said the Pentagon is scrambling to develop weapons due to the unexpected ferocity of the insurgency in Iraq. ``Iraq has become an operational test bed'' for weapons, he said.
The Boomerang, based on technology pioneered by BBN in the 1990s, maps the trajectory of bullets by measuring the shock waves - or small sonic booms - with microphones attached to a hub, making it all ``look like the spine of a sea urchin,'' Elmer said.
The microphones can be attached to a pole on a Humvee and, when a bullet is fired, soldiers can quickly determine its source and target the sniper.
The early version Boomerang was developed under intense deadline pressure in late 2003, with BBN personnel even driving around Cambridge trying to get a feel for how a mobile sniper-detector might work in an urban setting.

GRAPHIC: PROTECTION: The Boomerang, a sniper-detection unit on the back of this military-version Humvee, is being tested by the Pentagon and dozens are expected to be sent to U.S troops in Iraq. It's built by BBN Technologies, of Cambridge. PHOTO COURTESY OF BBN TECHNOLOGIES
PINNED: Marines move against Iraqi militants in Baghdad, Iraq, in April 2003. A device from the Bay State's BBN Technologies may aid against snipers. STAFF FILE PHOTO BY KUNI TAKAHASHI

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HEADLINE: Deep freeze erodes John's comfort gap

BYLINE: By MARGERY EAGAN

BODY:
Here's how bad it is now for John Kerry: He's reduced to saving his shoveled-out parking spot with a trash can, like everybody else.
Worse: the man who could've been giving the State of the Union address tomorrow - as he reminded Tim Russert on Sunday on ``Meet the Press'' - instead has 'til tomorrow to ditch the can or face The Mayor of Boston's wrath.
Says the mayor: The snow ``knishes'' (that's conditions) are such that no trash cans, recycling bins or 10-pound containers of sheet rock (spotted on P Street, South Boston) or Advantage Ink Jet boxes (on O Street) can stay past Wednesday. Not even on chic Louisburg Square, where Secret Service once patrolled and international tourists once gawked. 
OK, OK, Kerry doesn't have a trash can in front of his house. He doesn't need one. They have two spots that came with the manse. But his day is coming. Did you hear him Sunday?
Kerry to Russert: ``I am proud of the campaign, Tim. . . . I won the youth vote. I won the independent vote. I won the moderate vote. If you take half the people at an Ohio State football game . . . and they were to have voted the other way, you and I would be having a discussion today about my State of the Union speech. . . .''
Russert to Kerry: ``And the president will say if he had half the people at a high school basketball game in New Hampshire . . .'' he'd still be giving the State of the Union.
Bada-bing. Bada-boom.
Here's how bad it is now for John Kerry: Even his timing's a disaster.
Some said it couldn't be worse than when he rocked out with Moby and Popgun 7 at a Park Plaza fund-raiser Sept. 10, 2003. So on one side of the Sept. 11 papers were 9/11 widows and orphans; on the other, Kerry's doing ``Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.''
But now? Now he whines his way through nearly an hour with Russert on the very day of Bush's biggest Iraq victory since, what, Saddam in the spider hole? On the very day that TVs flooded with lump-in-your-throat footage of a man with no legs being carried to the polls and a woman with no teeth whooping for joy in the Baghdad streets and a man who lost his family flashing the ``victory'' sign at the cameras.
Russert to Kerry: ``Six out of 10 Massachusetts voters don't want you to run (for president) again. Why?'' Kerry: ``Well, Tim . . . I just don't pay any attention to (polls).''
Bada-bing. Bada-boom, Part II.
The cynical view of Kerry's appearance on this of all Sundays: If the election went badly, as so many predicted, Kerry'd have been coast to coast I-told-you-so-ing.
Now perhaps it occurred to you, too, watching on Sunday as Iraqi children danced and their parents cried, that what we have here is not just a culture gap but a comfort gap. As big as the Atlantic.
Here, we fret over trash cans and parking spots. There, they stare down suicide bombers and hand grenades. Do you think we'd brave grenades to vote? ``I tend to doubt it,'' says Stephen Townsend, 43, of Swampscott. ``Forget grenades. If voting conflicted with `American Idol,' we might miss it.''
He should know. Since buying his son a police scanner for Christmas, all Townsend's heard is neighbors turning on neighbors for throwing snow over the fence or into the road and ``can Car 54 please go out there and straighten it out?''
Q: To Jeremy Brault, 26, South Boston: Are you getting rid of your parking spot lawn chair, as the mayor demands?
A: ``Absolutely not.''
Russert to Kerry: ``How is (Kerry) coping with losing a presidential election?''
Kerry to Russert: ``Tim, I'm not thinking about 2008 right now . . . I haven't even thought about it, honestly.''
Yeah. Right.

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HEADLINE: ANALYSIS; 
 Election buoys Bush policies

BYLINE: By NOELLE STRAUB

BODY:
WASHINGTON - The successful elections in Iraq give President Bush a boost in pushing the foreign policy agenda he will outline in his State of the Union address tomorrow night and a renewed opportunity to rally public support for his policies.
``Absolutely, no doubt about it,'' U.S. Rep.  
Martin T. Meehan (D- Lowell) said about Bush seeking leverage from the Iraqi vote. ``I'm glad the elections went well, even if it allows the president to get credit for it.'' But Meehan insisted the election ``doesn't absolve the administration of mistakes that have been made in Iraq.''
Hours after the polls closed, Bush signaled his intention to use the ``resounding success'' of the Iraqi vote in pushing for a broader transformation of the Middle East.
``The world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East,'' he said. ``In great numbers, and under great risk, Iraqis have shown their commitment to democracy.''
After the election, Bush spoke with leaders throughout the Arab world and Europe - including countries that had objected to the Iraq war - to discuss not just the election but draw new focus on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
``The president is intent on continuing to reach out to these countries to focus on our common challenges, and right at the top of the list is supporting the advance of freedom in the world to make the world a more peaceful place,'' spokesman Scott McClellan said.
But, delivering a Democratic ``pre-buttal'' to Bush's State of the Union address, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said the Iraq elections provide Bush ``a golden opportunity to change course'' and called for ``a real and understandable plan'' to rebuild Iraq and withdraw U.S. troops.

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HEADLINE: Troops' death toll in Iraq reminds freedom isn't free

BYLINE: By MIKE BARNICLE

BODY:
At the same time a couple Marines knocked on Claire Farrar's door in Weymouth Friday to tell her that her son - Sgt. Andrew Farrar Jr., 31, serving with the 2nd Marines in Iraq - had died there on his birthday, I stepped off a plane in Washington and got stuck in traffic on a ribbon of road running alongside Arlington National Cemetery.
On a hillside in the distance, services were being held for an American soldier named Francis Obaji who was born in Nigeria, grew up in New York, enlisted in the Army after Sept. 11 and lost his life in Baghdad at the age of 21.
``So sad,'' my cabdriver murmured to himself. ``So sad.'' 
The war comes home with increasing frequency now, arriving with a river of tears; shed either for those who are casualties or the lucky majority whose units make it back safely to families forced to endure the daily anxiety of being able to read and hear about battles and ambushes as they happen while wondering if a son, daughter, husband or father's fate was lucky or lethal.
Part of their service and all of their sacrifice was met with success Sunday when millions of Iraqis braved bullets and bombs to line up and vote for the first time in half a century. The explanation and argument surrounding the war here briefly faded as pictures of people determined to cast a ballot and form a government temporarily muted debate over our involvement.
In places like Boston, Framingham, Worcester - wherever - we positively take voting for granted, if we bother to vote at all. Election Day means a stop at a school where there are small lines and no threat to safety at a ballot box.
Nobody dies. The opposition isn't armed with rocket launchers or IEDs. So how come the turnout - on a per capita basis - can be higher in parts of war-ravaged cities like Mosul and Baghdad than it is in Ward 5, Beacon Hill, where they scream about snow removal, trash pick-up and public education but don't bother to vote in numbers that would indicate they care about the city?
The Farrar family of Weymouth - the brothers, sister and parents of the dead Marine - are packing to head south in order to be there when the body of their noble boy comes home from war. In Hillsborough, N. H., the family of Cpl. Timmy Gibson, 23, is in mourning too. Out in the Berkshires, David and Joanne Fuller are preparing to bury their son, 26-year-old Lt. Travis Fuller - USMC - killed last week along with all the others who died when a CH-53 helicopter crashed in the Iraqi desert.
The reasons for this war will be argued for some time. The circumstances of our involvement are still surrounded by the fog and half-truths of politics. History will sort out right and wrong long after the sound of taps echo across graveyards in the small towns and big cities that sent the brave to fight for the ungrateful. But that judgment will do little to console the survivors or lessen their grief.
In the darkness before dawn Saturday - 24 hours before Iraq voted - I was back in another cab heading across Memorial Bridge to the airport in Washington for a flight home.
As the car made the turn around the Lincoln Memorial, the eternal flame at the side of John F. Kennedy's grave in Arlington National burned as brightly as a beacon in the dead of night. The sight of it mesmerized me for a moment and made me think about the gift that men like Andrew Farrar, Francis Obaji, Cpl. Gibson, Lt. Fuller and all the others across our history have given us and how easily we can forget what it's like to be free and how much it costs.

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 U.S. plays midwife to new democracy

BODY:
Iraqis wore their purple ink-stained fingers as a badge of honor - their own personal souvenir, albeit a temporary one, of participation in that nation's first free election in more than 50 years.
Millions of Iraqis (estimates range from 8 million to as high as 14 million) braved suicide bombings, armed attacks and threats of certain death in retaliation for the simple act of casting a ballot. By all accounts the Iraqi turnout could exceed the 60 percent recorded during in the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Even in the Sunni dominated areas, where some leaders had called for a boycott and the threats of violence were the greatest, turnout reportedly ranged from 25 percent to as high as 40 percent. 
Iraqi men and women walked miles (there was an election day ban on daytime driving), through military checkpoints, waited in line for hours, and put up with frequent power outages (election workers in Najaf began counting ballots by the light of oil lamps). And still they came, many with a sense not of fear or even of obligation, but with a sense of pride, even joy.
Not since the fall of the Berlin Wall has the world witnessed such a moment of a people savoring what for most was their first taste of real freedom.
This is, of course, a beginning and not an end. There is a government to be formed, a constitution to be written.
But as interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said in a post-election news conference, ``The terrorists now know that they cannot win.''
They tried everything - and will continue to do so in the days and weeks ahead. But they could not defeat the power of an idea, no matter how long it had been suppressed.
To watch a new democracy being born - even from half a world away - is a rare privilege. That it was the sacrifices of brave young American men and women that helped make this day possible should be a source of enormous pride to them, their families and to our own nation.

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 What would Dems do?

BODY:
OK, let's see if we've got this straight. Republicans, led by President Bush, are cheering the Iraq elections, albeit cautiously, as a giant step forward in the effort to spread freedom in the Middle East and secure long term peace. Democrats are calling for an ``exit strategy,'' better U.S. diplomacy, and, some for immediate troop withdrawal. 
It's not hard to figure out which political party is going to continue to be on the losing side of national campaigns and on the wrong side of history.
``The people of Iraq have spoken to the world and the world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East,'' President Bush said.
``The president needs to spell out a real and understandable plan for the unfinished work ahead'' in Iraq, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said yesterday in a joint appearance with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi at the National Press Club.
``Most of all, we need an exit strategy so that we know what victory is and how we can get there; so that we know what we need to do and so that we know when the job is done,'' Reid said.
Earth to Democrats: The job is done when America and its allies are safe from the threat of terrorism. The Democrats failure to understand that the vast majority of Americans can connect the dots between the war in Iraq and the war on terror is the major reason their standard-bearer Sen. John Kerry couldn't get over the ``9/11 hurdle,'' as he described it on ``Meet the Press.''
``What decided this race in the end was really 9/11,'' Kerry said. ``It is exceedingly hard as a challenger to carry the argument that the incumbent president and your country are not doing what's necessary to protect itself. But we are not.''
The missing piece, still, in Kerry's argument is what he and his party would do differently. It's certainly illogical to argue, as Reid did, that Bush should seek out more international cooperation in Iraq and then criticize him for allowing Europe to take the lead on negotiating with Iran over nuclear capability.
At least neither Kerry nor Reid agree with Sen. Ted Kennedy that a time-certain plan for troop withdrawal makes sense. ``That's not a wise decision because it only empowers those who don't want us there,'' Reid said.
Maybe by the time Reid and Pelosi offer the Democratic response to the State of the Union tomorrow night, they'll figure out the messenger is only as good as the message and, so far, Democrats still don't have one.

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HEADLINE: Letters to the Editor

BODY:
Some kids still shovel
I have the opportunity to live in an incredible neighborhood in Norwood (``Snowway!: Why don't kids offer to shovel our driveway anymore?'' Jan. 27). You still find kids playing football, basketball and, believe it or not, ``kick the can.'' We have friends in Wellesley and in Newton and rarely see kids playing outside their homes. My 14-year-old son and his two friends recently sent fliers to mow lawns and shovel. Last spring, my son took home an hourly wage that surpassed my own. My son's math teacher also gives students extra credit if they shovel for an elderly neighbor for free. If you want to see kids shoveling, just come to our neighborhood. 
- Kim Cottens, Norwood
Time to take a stand
Sen. John McCain spoke about the Democrats' lingering bitterness over the election (``Rice wins; Dems lose,'' Jan. 27). Bitterness, yes, but not about the election. The bitterness is about the promotion of a cabinet member who helped Iraq become a quagmire, and the appointment of one who justifies torture. Their races make no difference; our disapproval must be made obvious.
We simply cannot allow troops sent into yet another country under false pretenses, and we cannot put them at the mercy of people who will retaliate for our actions.
The Republicans do not have a rubber stamp to send us into another war. The time for obstruction is now, or we will lose our country.
- Tom Bishop, Malden
Going colorblind for good
Bravo to Howard Manly for two excellent columns (``He transcends `black' box,'' Jan. 25 and ``Rice hearings didn't focus on merit,'' Jan. 27). I look forward to the day when our leaders will be acknowledged for their character and qualifications alone, not their skin color.
I believe that Condoleezza Rice is an outstanding human being who cares deeply about the role she plays in fighting terrorism and trying to bring democracy to the oppressed. Repeated references to her gender and race by the media are insulting and must be stopped. Rice is a great American and an exceptionally competent public servant.
People like her make me proud to be an American.
- Ann Robinson, West Roxbury
Columnists off target
Apparently several editors and writers at the Boston Herald are living in a parallel universe.
How else to explain Howard Manly's admission that Condoleezza Rice lied about weapons of mass destruction, lied about President Bush's Saddam Hussein/al-Qaeda assertion and ``the possibility of nuclear mushroom clouds (``Rice hearings didn't focus on merit,'' Jan. 27).'' Yet, those who raised questions about her are part of the ``dark and gloomy world of Democratic politics.'' Huh?
Or, what about Rachelle Cohen's vague, absurd paean to President Bush (``By any measure, this president is a leader,'' Jan. 28). A few pages over, the Herald carried an AP story titled: ``Bush: We won't buy any more columnists,'' and another story put U.S. casualty count in Iraq over 1,400.
The best, however, is syndicated columnist Jay Ambrose's laughable assertion that Bush's inauguration speech was ``touched by greatness . . . and probably better than John F. Kennedy's,'' (``Bush's high ideals tempered by reality,''Jan. 26).
I listened to both speeches and George W. Bush is no John F. Kennedy.
- Gene McCarthy, Arlington
Pols owe payback
It seems to me that if there is a law on the books that requires the docking of pay for missed voting days by both senators and congressmen, then senators and congressmen should not think of themselves as being above the law (``Group wants Kerry's salary back,'' Jan. 28).
Were they not the ones who passed these laws? If the majority of workers in this country have to survive with a no-work, no-pay attitude, then it seems only fair that the people we vote into office should abide by the same guidelines.
It's the law - Republican or Democrat.
- Roger Moss, Billerica
Not-so-square pants
First Tinky Winky, now SpongeBob SquarePants (``Oh no, not SpongeBob too!'' Jan. 22). Isn't anyone concerned about the obvious? (Barney).
Someone should tell James Dobson and his paranoid, homophobic Focus on the Family cult to relax. Everybody knows SpongeBob is subliminally used to push the female contraceptive. Sounds crazy? I know. My point exactly.
- Michelle Gallant, Rockland

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HEADLINE: Op-Ed; 
 Minority pols vie for speaker's old seat

BYLINE: By HOWARD MANLY

BODY:
OK, so it's not as exciting as Iraq. But still, the upcoming elections in the state's 12th Suffolk District deserve more than a cursory glance.
Long occupied by House Speaker Tom Finneran, one of the most powerful local politicians in recent memory, the seat is now up for grabs and has already attracted at least four candidates, two of them Haitian-American.
That's newsworthy, given the sordid background of one of Boston's majority minority districts. Back in 2001, Finneran approved a redistricting plan that critics charged tried to dilute minority voting strenth by adding three predominantly white precincts to the 12th while eliminating three majority-minority precincts. 
That didn't wash with the federal court, which called for a new plan.
And Finneran's testimony during the case - in which he claimed not to know anything about the gerrymandering (or even the number of his district) earned him a date with a federal grand jury.
Finneran announced his resignation late last year to take a job as head of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.
Whether Finneran's departure is good or bad depends on who's telling the story. Either way, thanks to the federal courts quashing the 2001 redistricting plan, the 12th Suffolk has a minority voting age population of 69 percent rather than 61 percent.
Forty years after the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights act, political opportunity has finally come for minority voters - and candidates. Now the question is relatively simple. What will voters in this coveted majority-minority district do with their new found political strength? This is not a question about voter turnout. Some wards have already turned out in higher percentages than in some supposed hotbeds of political activism in South Boston and West Roxbury. Minority turnouts made possible the elections of City Councilor Felix Arroyo and Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral.
Race matters; but it's not the only thing, and therein lies the challenge for these new candidates. Affordable housing, improving public education, providing adequate health care and increasing business opportunities have long been Democratic staples, and none of the announced candidates have stated any intention of bucking those staples.
What matters most in this short election, however, is a candidiate's ability to mobilize an effective ground organization and to make his or her name and face known throughout the community.
On that score the two front runners have already banged on doors, held community meetings and otherwise pressed the flesh. There is no question Linda Dorcena Forry has a solid head start. Backed by State Rep. Marie St. Fleur and a slew of City Hall folks, Forry recently earned the endorsements of the Caribbean-American political Action Committee and the local carpenters union. Her fundraisers have been overwhelmingly multi-racial, thanks in part to her marriage to Bill Forry, whose Irish-American family publishes several local newspapers and has long-standing ties to the Dorchester community.
In a word, Forry is connected. But her election is by no means guarantee.
And that's where Emmanuel Bellegarde comes in. The Charlestown High School graduate has an impressive list of community activists behind him, as well as the support of City Councilor Chuck Turner. Bellegarde has worked for both St. Fleur and state Sen. Jack Hart, and more importantly he has the heart of a street fighter.
He'll need that in the next two months. Door knocking is not a glamorous part of the political business. But for those who want to win, that's where the battle is fought - not on television and not by hired-gun political consultants.
It's fought in the streets that Finneran once owned.
Howard Manly's column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
TOM FINNERAN: His district up for grabs

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Children slighted again
The Boston Herald noted that there was an additional $9.3 million for Department of Youth Services because of reports about suicides by children in the agency. Does this imply that the Deparment of Social Services is going to be understaffed because it did not have the requisite deaths or injuries to warrant the governor's attention (``Mitt: Pare welfare,'' Jan. 25)?
The governor's budget for DSS will result in a reduction in the number of social workers to investigate and treat child-abuse cases. This appears to be a repeat of 2002. The actual reduction in the social work account with costs is $1.5 million. 
This will mean higher caseloads, higher risks and possibly more children falling through the cracks. In 1993 there was a call for major reform at DSS. It hasn't happened. Caseloads continue to be at non-professional levels.
It appears that DYS and DSS will have to wait for headlines and a sacrificial offering of a scapegoat social worker. Then abused children and the social workers who strive to help them will get the attention and funding they deserve. - Edward J. Malloy Jr.,
West Roxbury
The writer is president of SEIU Local 509.
Whose freedom?
When President Bush said in his inauguration speech that one day ``freedom will reach the darkest corners of the world,'' I was ready to jump up and cheer if he mentioned school vouchers for poor children in Washington D.C. (``D.C. hoedown, 4 more years: Bush sworn in,'' Jan. 21).
Maybe he is saving that for his State of the Union speech. - Henry Davisson, Weston
Violence won't win
Has anyone considered that maybe George W. Bush is right? It might seem like a stretch in a state as blue as a summer sky over Fenway Park, but perhaps Bush is on to something.
The recent remarks about democracy by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the mastermind behind the insurgency in Iraq, adds a punctuation mark to Bush's statement: ``They hate our freedom'' (``Iraqis score with arrest,'' Jan. 25).
Zarqawi's devotion to fight freedom and democracy should make it clear to the rest of the world that the Bush doctrine is the best way to defeat terrorism. In the United States, both blue and red states reject terrorism because we are a free democratic society that sets standards and stands behind them. We fight for freedom every day when we march in protest, write to a newspaper or call a talk show. The Iraqi people will soon enjoy the freedoms we take for granted.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi cannot defeat freedom, because a free nation will not stand for his senseless killings. A free people will gather, organize and fight.
Despite the threat of violence, Iraqis will vote and take control of their own history. - Bill Cooksey, Lynn
Clean up MBTA mess
The mismanagement and monopolistic attitude of the MBTA has never been more obvious (``Snow go,'' Jan. 26). When temperatures hovered around 20 degrees, it took thousands of hardworking, cold and brave commuters two and a half hours to travel the Orange Line from Wellington station to Boston. After an hour of waiting in the cold at Wellington station, many of us boarded a train in the opposite direction to avoid hypothermia.
Why was last year better when the temperatures were worse? - Jason Sheehan, Medford
Kerry breaking the bank
Sen. John Kerry is at it again. He loves to spend our money without dipping into his own (``Kerry pushes plan to provide health coverage for all kids,'' Jan. 26). Gov. Mitt Romney said he would not take a paycheck, but Kerry takes his year-after-year with little accomplishment, if any. He'll bring us to poverty level to get elected in 2008.
Reading his agenda, I thought of the illegals who will continue to enter the back door of our country. Also, why aren't parents responsible for their children? - Arlene DiRocco, Burlington
News unfit to print
Enough already on the Metro (``Metro `reform' a whitewash,'' Jan. 27). Methinks thou dost protest too much! While not condoning what they are or what they have done, let's face it: No one cares about the Metro! When I see someone carrying a Metro, I pity them. Their lives and jobs must be so boring that reading the Metro is an acceptable form of entertainment. It's a cheap, poorly executed rag. Who cares? People who read it should be embarrassed. It speaks volumes about their personalities. - Sean McLaughlin, Dedham

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HEADLINE: Editorial; 
 State of the Union: Bush plate is full

BODY:
He's a man with a plan, that's for sure. President Bush goes before the Congress and the nation this week to deliver the State of the Union address. It could be summed up with this: ``Folks, we have a lot to do and not much time to do it in. Let's get to it.'' 
It's not unusual for presidents, even two-term presidents, to lay out ambitious agendas at the start of the term. What's remarkable about this president is not just the vision, but his absolute faith that it can be accomplished - and that it's his duty to do so.
``A president must, when you see a problem, you must confront it and not pass it on,'' Bush said in an interview with Herald editors. ``I think there's an obligation for the PRESIDENCY to do that.''
It was an interesting choice of words, that. This president understands that it's not all about him, though it was his name on the ballot. Rather this second term, like his first, is about an ideal, a responsibility placed on the office of the president by the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
Bush discounted ``all the tactical aspects of fulfilling what is a vision'' in favor of a focus on a ``universal vision - divinely inspired, by the way, when it came time to write the Constitution, according to those who wrote it and the Declaration of Independence - that speaks to the universality of human dignity and humankind.''
In concrete terms, for Bush that means spreading freedom abroad but also here at home. ``I think it'll be very helpful for our society for people to be able to say, `I own and manage my own money,' '' the president told the Herald about his plan to reform Social Security.
And right up there, too, on the Bush priority list were health savings accounts, education standards, tax reform, legal reform, new sources of energy and cutting the deficit.
Certainly, we can expect to hear more about Iraq and ``Freedom's Century'' in the State of the Union. Don't exect any backtracking from this seemingly imperturbable leader.
``Freedom will end up making this world a more peaceful place and will remind reformers and dissidents and the hopeful what is possible, which is equally important, as far as I'm concerned, for establishing long-term peace,'' Bush said. ``I'm excited about being here for four more years,'' he said.
President Bush is trying to rewrite the political rules governing second presidential terms, indeed the rules governing Washington, D.C. That effort starts in earnest on Wednesday.

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HEADLINE: A VOTE FOR FREEDOM; 
 Company sits, waits and worries

BYLINE: By THOMAS CAYWOOD

BODY:
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait - On a warm, sunny afternoon late last week, soldiers of the Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company watched anxiously as five of their own drove off trailing a cloud of dust.
Two military policemen, two mechanics and a medic had been given the job of taking a Humvee and a cargo truck - the latter piled high with ammunition and shoulder-fired anti-tank missiles - to a forward operating base deep inside Iraq.
The timing of the mission was lost on no one. 
Sgt. William Smith, Spc. Sean Klink, Spc. Christopher Deremer, Spc. Rob Hall and Pvt. 1st Class Jose Velazquez were running a gauntlet of insurgent attacks aimed at disrupting yesterday's election.
``We love you guys. You guys be safe,'' Spc. Sarah Kane of Medford called out to them as they prepared to leave for a staging area to join a larger convoy headed north.
Their buddies crowded around the Humvee to shake hands and wish them safe passage. Several stepped up on the Humvee's big back tires to embrace Klink, who stood in the back manning a .50-caliber machine gun.
Sgt. 1st Class Frank Smith reached up and pinned a silver guardian angel on the pocket flap of Klink's uniform and gave him a slap on the back.
Spc. Mark ``Hollywood'' Costa, Klink's roommate for six months at Fort Drum, N.Y., shook his buddy's hand and held it. The idling diesel engine drowned out his words.
``I told him, `God bless.' I said, `Be safe. I'll pray for you,' '' Costa said after the vehicles sped away moments later. ``He's part of the family. He's my closest guy over here. I just hope he's safe.''
For his part, Klink was too amped up on adrenaline to feel jittery at what lay ahead.
``Whoo. Can't even explain it,'' he said smiling. ``It's crazy. Good, though.''
The 42nd will inherit most of the vehicles it needs from the MP company it's slated to relieve at the forward operating base. But the one Humvee and one cargo truck it had in Kuwait for training had to be driven there.
Fabricated steel plates welded over the doors of both vehicles offered some protection from roadside bombs.
GIs call the non-factory installed plates ``hillbilly armor'' because a light film of rust often coats the unpainted, roughcut hunks of steel.
Over the next few days the Stars and Stripes newspapers distributed around camp brought boldface headlines of car bombs, insurgent attacks and U.S. casualties.
Costa prayed.
Then, on Sunday afternoon, word of the five guardsmen finally arrived by e-mail.
``Details I don't have, but I know they are there safe and settling in,'' said a relieved Capt. Dominic DiTomaso, the company commander.
Costa flashed the movie-star smile that earned him his nickname.
``It's a lot of weight off my shoulders,'' he said, beaming. ``I told Klink before he left to save me a good spot up there.''

GRAPHIC: ROAD WARRIORS: From left, Sgt. William Smith, Spc. Christopher Deremer, and Spc. Charles Snook, all of New Jersey, load AT-4 shoulder-fired missiles into a cargo truck. Deremer and Smith were among a small group who drove to Iraq in advance of the rest of the company. They arrived safely yesterday.
PREPARATIONS: From left, Pfc. Jose Velazquez of New Jersey, Spc. Rob Hall of Holyoke and Spc. Sean Klink of Weymouth mount a .50-caliber machine gun into a Humvee. STAFF PHOTOS BY JOHN WILCOX

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HEADLINE: A VOTE FOR FREEDOM; 
 Soldiers' families speak of toll

BYLINE: By LAURA CRIMALDI

BODY:
As Iraqi poll workers made history yesterday counting votes in the nation's first free elections, Kevin Lucey of Belchertown talked about a tally that will never be officially recorded, but changed his life forever.
``They are the uncounted cases . . . Those who have come home but are fighting the battle of their life in their souls and many have succumbed and surrendered,'' said Lucey, speaking of his 23-year-old son Jeffrey, who committed suicide in June after returning home from Iraq 11 months earlier. 
The Luceys joined three other Massachusetts families with loved ones deployed in Iraq and Iraq War Veterans Against The War at Faneuil Hall for an emotional protest against the Iraq war sponsored by Jamaica Plain-based Military Families Speak Out.
Jeffrey Lucey, a Marine reservist, battled nightmares, paranoia and heavy drinking before he decided to hang himself in his parents' home. His family wants to raise awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder.
Through tears, Lydia Sapp, 17, of Billerica, also spoke of the emotional wounds she and her father, National Guard Staff Sgt. Andrew Sapp, 48, nurse as he serves in Iraq.
``He is alive, but he has anger in his soul because of the beauty of nature,'' said Sapp. She explained that her father dislikes hearing the sounds of nature, such as sparrows chirping, barely audible amid the rumbling of war.

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HEADLINE: A VOTE FOR FREEDOM; 
 Experts: Peace gains ground

BYLINE: By JACK MEYERS

BODY:
Despite a spate of suicide bombings, Iraqis turned out in impressive numbers to vote yesterday, a ``baby step'' on the road to democracy, according to local experts.
``This is just one step in a really long process,'' said Adil Najam, professor of international diplomacy at Tufts University's Fletcher School. He likened the voting completed yesterday to a baby's first steps, with some inevitable stumbles ahead. 
Iraqis ``voted far more actively than people had anticipated,'' which indicates a well-established desire for more democratic government, said Najam.
On the other hand, he predicted an increase in violence in the coming weeks and months as insurgents lash out against those seeking to establish a constitutional government, he said.
Ahmed al-Rahim, an Iraqi-American living in Cambridge and a former adviser to the Coalition Provision Authority in Baghdad, said the high turnout ``means a victory for the Iraqi people against the insurgency.''
``There's going to be a lot of violence tomorrow and in the coming months,'' said al-Rahim. But ``when the Sunnis see they can't turn back history . . . they'll have no choice'' but to participate in Iraqi politics, he said.
Tufts professor Malik Mufti said the high turnout is ``a pretty serious setback for the insurgents.'' The voting ``really was a test of American intentions in Iraq'' and the United States kept its promise, he said.
Jim Walsh, an international security expert at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School, said, ``While the election is terrific and a positive sign, there were between 15,000 and 20,000 insurgents in Iraq yesterday and there'll be between 15,000 and 20,000 tomorrow.''
Because of that, efforts to rebuild the country will continue to proceed very slowly and bombings and assassinations might continue, Walsh said.
``If we have a series of major bombings a month from now, I don't think people will care much about the elections,'' he said.

GRAPHIC: NO HANGING CHADS HERE: An Iraqi man votes at a polling station yesterday in Az Zubayr, Iraq. The turnout, higher than expected, may frustrate insurgents bent on intimidation. AP PHOTO

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HEADLINE: A `true hero' from Weymouth dies in night raid

BYLINE: By Jules Crittenden

BODY:
A Weymouth Marine who urged school kids to look up to the working people in their lives as heroes was killed Friday when he was electrocuted by a live wire during a night raid in Iraq.
It was Sgt. Andrew K. Farrar Jr.'s 31st birthday, marked at his boyhood home by the arrival of a somber detail of Marines in dress uniform bearing news of his death. 
``We believe he's a true hero,'' said his father, Andrew K. Farrar Sr. ``He gave his life for what he thought was the most profound thing he could do for his country.''
``He was a strong, handsome, kind young man,'' said his mother, Claire Farrar. ``He was a wonderful son . . . he was a true Marine.''
His younger brother Nathan, a teacher at the Abigail Adams Middle School in Weymouth, said school kids corresponded with his brother, who wrote back a long letter telling the kids: ``They are lucky to live in the United States. They shouldn't look up to movie stars and people like that. The real heroes are their parents, their teachers, police and firefighters, all the people who work for a living.''
Nathan Farrar said, ``I worshiped the ground he walked on when we were kids. He was quiet. If you looked in his eyes, there was a passion for life that couldn't be matched.''
The 1992 Weymouth High School graduate loved basketball, a pint of Guinness and the Dropkick Murphys. But more than anything, he loved his family - his wife, Melissa, and sons Tyler and Liam - the Marine Corps and his squad of young Marines. He led them through the bitter fighting in Fallujah last fall.
``He wrote letters home saying it was the kind of thing you didn't talk about. It was something he wanted to leave there,'' his brother Jason said. ``He said he did this kind of thing so people here could wake up in the morning and have their pancakes.''

GRAPHIC: `A PASSION FOR LIFE': Marine Sgt. Andrew K. Farrar Jr. of Weymouth, above in 1999 with his wife, Melissa, died Friday on duty in Iraq. It was his 31st birthday.

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HEADLINE: What they are voting for

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Iraqi voters are casting ballots today to choose a 275-member National Assembly and 18 provincial assemblies from slates of nearly 200 political parties divided along political, religious and ethnic lines. 
National Assembly seats will be assigned proportionately, based on which parties receive the most votes. The Shiite Muslims - roughly 60 percent of Iraq's population - are expected to dominate.
The National Assembly will elect a largely ceremonial president and two deputy presidents. Those officials will name a prime minister and Cabinet, subject to the assembly's approval. The assembly also is to draft a permanent constitution and serve as a lawmaking body.

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