Newly unemployed scribe Amy Derjue writes she feels Matt Amorello's pain:

... Keep fighting the good fight, Matt. I'll see you on the bread lines. ...

Meanwhile, Jenn, also a newly unemployed scribe, goes on trip to the Museum of Science with her father and her son and ponders the new triceratops:

... The kid poses, only somewhat reluctantly, by Cliff the triceratops, one of the last remnants of a species that once ruled the earth.

Lately, I've been wondering if I should just hop on a podium alongside him.

Wayne Braverman can't believe the Mass. Horticultural Society will be giving Matt Amorello a gold medal on Oct. 12:

... For anyone to be honoring that vile, horrid symbol of all that is wrong with the state’s authorities is a disgrace. The only honor that Amorello deserves is that of repaying the giant pile of money he didn't earn or deserve.

The Outraged Liberal reads today's Globe article on Bechtel's apparent non-concern about I-90 connector bolts and concludes: Looks like Mitt Romney got the wrong scalp:

... Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the well-connected management company designed to oversee the project opted to save money rather than push for safety. Under the oversight of Kerasiotes. And Cellucci.

What say you Mitt? Ready to keep the heat on and find the culprits? Or are you too busy kissing Trent Lott's backside while busting Michael Dukakis?

Dan Kennedy notes that the article points out how unique the concrete-slab construction was and that the story:

[R]aises the distinct possibility that the fatal accident of July 10 wasn't just the result of incompetent workmanship but also of a deeply flawed design.

Michael Grunwald, late of the Boston Globe, writes that the Big Dig is quite something.

Via Starts & Stops.

George Barnes of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette heaps praise on Matt Amorello, saying he made Rte. 2 safer.

Via No Drumlins.

Matt Amorello's resignation will not solve the Big Dig's problems, Charley writes:

... So for all the glee about Amorello's departure, let's not forget that he didn't create the problems we're dealing with now. He merely threw up his hands and hoped for the best ... much like a certain governor, legislature, and state enforcement bureaucracy. ...

John DePetro has 72 hours to sit in a corner for calling Matt Amorello a fag and a sissy boy.

David on Blue Mass Group: Hey, guess what John? You're an asshole. And no one can suspend me for saying so.

Aaron Margolis begs to differ:

... Shame on WRKO for caving in, and having such a spineless policy. Go screw, you bunch of sissies. ...

Kimberly Atkins has the details of Romney's formal effort to remove Matt Amorello from office - which also includes a suit by three Romney appointees to the turnpike board against Amorello.

Spatch: Romney to Amorello: It's on, bitch:

... Too bad A. Romney's looking right into the eyes of 2008 when he bares his teeth, and B. someone had to die for the shakeup (shakedown?) to happen.

But don't worry about Matt. The turnpike authority will be paying his legal bills - starting with $92,000 for one legal brief.

Massachusetts GOP News posts three Amorello limericks - and none involve "Nantucket."

Boston Magazine's City Journal claims to have exclusive photos of what really happened in that argument between Mitt Romney and Matt Amorello at the ceiling-collapse site.

Harold M. Clemons casts a Roxbury eye on the Big Dig scandal:

... They compare it to the Hoover Dam and the Panama Canal. I compare it to the New Deal because, on its account, good, decent, hardworking white boys that aren't highly educated can still make honest wages sufficient to provide for their families, while darkies of similar education and rearing fill the unemployment rolls and watch the prosperity from afar. On my word I ain't seen a nigga workin' the 'Dig' yet and it's been goin' on since I was like 10! ...

Jay Fitzgerald wouldn't be surprised if the scandal takes down Reilly, Healey and Romney in the 2006 and 2008 elections:

... [Romney] may try to spin this in campaign commercials as another Salt Lake City take-charge moment. But it's not going to work. The Big Dig is now a national joke. Mitt's going to get hammered for it by rivals in debates and in commercials, whether he deserves it or not. Can't you picture a future GOP or Dem rival, ala George Bush's bold 1988 Boston Harbor gambit, coming to Boston and posing for shots outside the mouth of a Big Dig tunnel? ...

Elias notes how Romney rushed up to NH for his vacation:

... You now see just what Governor Romeny really thinks of the whole matter...fodder for fear-mongering and posturing nothing more. A crisis sufficiently trivial that it can be left to his staff to sort out with "Lt. Governor Barbie" to act as an acceptable and decorous cut out at the press briefings. ...

Blue Mass. Group notes the similarities between Amorello's "I am not incompetent" interview and a certain former president's "I am not a crook" speech and pages Jim Kerasiotes:

Sure, there's lots of blame to go around, as many of you pointed out in response to my rant from yesterday. But it wasn't the legislature that was sand-blasting hard drives in the Big Dig's offices.

Hub Politics, however, detects raving hypocrisy in Demmie leaders handing over the investigation to a Republican governor while blasting the GOP:

... So, if Travaglini and DiMasi are meaning to imply that it's not Democratic leadership failures in the state legislature, but rather the "16 years of Republican control" in the governor's office that is more to blame, why on earth would they give control over the inspections to, that's right, a Republican governor?

Andy at Mass. Revolution Now doesn't like the investigation handover:

This is patently a mistake and another example of how the state legislature utterly fails to accept its responsibility to prevent further problems with the CA/T project.

Mitt Romney has had 3 years to address the problems at the Big Dig. Last year we learned of leaking walls. Why didn't he ask for this oversight authority then? ...

The Outraged Liberal, though, says all the outrage is misplaced:

... Where is the outrage at Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the mammoth organization that "managed" this project. Or Modern Continental, which has a very checkered, but unchecked history in constructing this mess. Not to mention a history of ignoring the rules.

None of these logical targets have in the sights of our (former) governor as he has professed anger over the Big Dig and focused instead on ousting Matt Amorello. Only now, sensing a potential threat to his sham image as a great manager, Mitt has "grabbed the reins" by seeking to head up the investigation. The Legislature, wanting to avoid the obstructionist tag, went along. ...

Mass. GOP News actually credits two of the three Democratic candidates for governor: Deval Patrick, Chris Gabrieli and Kerry Healey Brilliantly Quiet on Big Dig.

Tim Lavallee notes that the state has a Big Dig fraud hotline(1-888-TIP-BGDG) and suggests: Let's all call and say that a fraud has been perpetrated on the public trust.

Dan Kennedy has more links.