J.M. Lawrence sums up the whole Cheeseman affair:

... New England godfather Raymond Patriarca rolled over in his grave. ...

National Grid to dun city for damage to its gas mains after the water-main break earlier this week.

And there could be more service interruptions through the summer, National Grid (the Utility Formerly Known as Keyspan and Before That as Boston Gas) says.

Let's be completely uncynical for a moment and take Sal DiMasi at his word that he never once discussed some bill his pal, who gave him a discounted third mortgage, was hired to push, as the Globe quotes him as saying. In which case, he really needs to tell chum Richard Vitale to shut the frick up - and register as a lobbyist for chrissakes. Also, ever notice how often George Regan is involved in this sort of story?

The Outraged Liberal is getting tired of the disparities in the way the public treats Deval Patrick's alleged foibles (drapes!) with DiMasi's more serious ethical questions:

... DiMasi bumps along from one questionable encounter and deal to another without so much as an eyebrow raised on the public scene.

Part of the difference of course is that Patrick was elected statewide with a promise of changing business as usual. DiMasi represents one district in the North End, runs the Massachusetts House and is business as usual.

And he's been winning -- casinos, corporate tax reporting. You get the picture. ...

Remember what Wednesday used to be in the Italian North End?

Dirty Water posts a ton of old Boston TV commercials, from a skinnier Jay Leno hawking the Globe to a big-hair, legging-o-riffic 1980s Jordan Marsh ad.

During Big Dig construction, the yellow signs about rats and the mysterious B.B. were as omnipresent as construction equipment. The Globe dredges up signmaker Vincent Zarilli, who now wants the turnpike authority to put up a couple of plaques in honor of the old Central Artery, which he is tired of having maligned (his BB project would have involved building a bypass on Boston Harbor).

Turnpike mouthpiece Mac Daniel says the authority is looking hard and long at where to put the old Fitzgerald plaques that used to grace the elevated monster, but, honestly, Mac, what would be more appropriate for them than the Curt Schilling Memorial Girder next to Quincy Market? Now, it just stands there confusing tourists who have no idea what the thing is (as well as us locals who wonder why Schilling gets his own girder).

Are you looking for like-minded progressives to hang out with in Boston? Want to cross-promote your events and campaigns? Are you new to the area and looking for groups to get involved in? Are you psyched about building strong cross-issue coalitions?

And Dorchester history buffs rejoice.

Chris Lovett graciously shared his spreadsheet with precinct-by-precinct vote tallies for the entire city of Boston in Tuesday's Democratic primary. Below, you'll find the counts for Clinton and Obama. His spreadsheet also has numbers for all the other Democratic candidates; if anybody's interested in those, let me know and I'll append the spreadsheet. If you want to see where a particular precinct is, check this map.

Go read the Globe's report on Anthony Morella, whom everybody in the North End, it seems, loved and took care of.

Allan Hunter reacts:

It's a remarkable story because what could have been a burden - a developmentally challenged young man - became a blessing. He showed love and allowed others to show love, and so helped to keep people caring, human, loving. ... It's not how much money we make, or how famous we are - it's how much love we allow to grow around us that matters. Anthony teaches us all an important lesson.