Reader No. 1 on Mission of Burma, jaywalkers, John Winthrop and that award for whatever: In the spirit of Jeff's piece yesterday, a few observations on local matters...-- As much as I've enjoyed the return of Mission of Burma this decade, their first two ...

Maureen Dowd is just jealous because she can’t fire off literary lines like this: Chief Anderson wondered when this night would end. A severed hand in my Rotunda? A death shrine in my basement? Bizarre engravings on a stone pyramid? Somehow, the Redskin...

We all know the answer....

Quickie Hub Blog book recommendation: 'The State of Jones,' by John Stauffer, a Harvard professor and Cambridge resident, and Sally Jenkins, a Washington Post reporter. ... It's about a white Mississippi farmer, Newton Knight, who led a protracted guerill...

I'm not surprised. ... Hub Blog had a bad feeling going into the playoffs. Granted, I usually have a bad feeling going into most playoffs. But the Sox are playing with the same dull inconsistency they displayed through the season. ... The eyes and mind dr...

I'm feeling much better about the Nobel Peace Prize after reading Obama's post-award remarks, the explanations of Nobel committee members and generally just letting the shock wear off. It's still a ridiculous award. It's a sign of creeping Time-magazine m...

Newt’s right about ‘an alliance’ of Democrats controlling Massachusetts. But for the record, its full name is the Hack-Progressive Alliance....

There seems to be a rare left-right-center convergence going on over the prize. David: I agree with GGW in the comments: Obama should decline the prize. He just hasn't done anything yet that is Nobel Peace Prize-worthy. As a result, the Nobel Committee lo...

Keeping in the spirit of the Nobel Committee’s drift toward Time magazine-like award selections, Hub Blog thinks they should have given the Peace Prize to YOU! That’s right YOU! That’s YOU, the American people. YOU, who elected Obama. YOU, who democ...

The Nobel Peace Prize is kind of like Time magazine’s Man of the Year Award: Increasingly silly and irrelevant. … How else to explain the naming of President Obama as this year’s recipient? He’s been in office less than nine months and doesn’t h...

LAT columnist Steve Lopez unloads on Manny. He’s offering his tickets to the World Series (if the Dodgers get that far ) to the “person who writes my favorite 50-word sermon to Ramirez.” … Message to Kevin: Contest entry rules at the end of the co...

Boston's Christopher Kimball isn’t quite dancing on the grave of Gourmet magazine. More like kicking the publishing industry’s advertising business model when it’s down. … He also gets in a few kicks at the Internet and Twitterers etc. He’ll pr...

And it is. The CBO says the Senate's health-care bill won't add to future deficits. ... Now watch Democrats gum it up. ... Sen. Charles Grassley: “The bill spends nearly $1 trillion and still leaves 25 million people without health insurance. That’s n...

Jacob Weisberg pays homage to Irving Kristol and wonders when Republicans will start reengaging in public policy debates, as opposed to just opposing: Without a substantive challenge, liberals grow smug and lazy. They overreach and overspend. Conservative...

Tom Ricks on Afghanistan, Iraq and what new things in life he's learned today. ...Obama has one hell of a decision on his hands in Afghanistan. Either way, it’s a short-term lose-lose situation for him. I’d prefer he ignore the advice of his non-milit...

Charley has read one too many of my anti-single-payer/public-option rants and wants to set the record straight: Hey. Not to repeat myself, but I do think you've gotten some of the dynamics of the left on health care a bit wrong. The true single-payer-or-b...

Guess which book has just jumped onto my reading list -- and yours. ... Click to read how one of the most iconic plays in American sports history was almost not caught on camera -- and why. It's classic Boston....

I’ve just decided to stick to a salad during today’s Pats game....

From the same folks who brought you Health Maintenance Organizations, now comes Accountable Care Organizations -- and hospital executives are not exactly instilled with confidence....

Joan also has a problem with the fearless anonymous Ernie Boch III's fearless anonymity. ... P.S. -- Love Ernie's convoluted, red-herring red herring defense of his anonymity: "If there are any biases they do not matter when non-biased people agree with t...