And so news finally reaches Joe Fitzgerald of the battle between the West Roxbury Loons of Decency and the Boston Phoenix, five months after the whole thing was all over the blogs and West Roxbury papers. Of course, the Herald's short on space these days, which forces Fitzgerald to economize on words and omit the names of the woman the column is about and the paper she's complaining about.

I wonder if one of the younger members of the Herald staff could show Joe how to use this InterWebs thing, because it's really useful for checking stuff like election results, which would let him avoid the embarrassment of saying self-appointed Defender of Public Morality Bob Joyce gave state Sen. Marian Walsh "a real scare" in 2004, when, in fact, she beat him 2-1.

Via Dan Kennedy, who apparently still reads Fitzgerald so we don't have to.

Bonus: One of the woman's complaints was that she had to shield her son's eyes from a giant Abercrombie & Fitch poster at Faneuil Hall showing "a barechested young man with hardly any pants on." Guess that means she won't be letting him look at Fitzgerald's column online:

Tim Lavallee took a deep breath then drove home via the Big Dig last night:

left work tonight expecting the longest commute home ever. Instead, the Big Dig was empty like a Sunday morning. Traffic on the southbound side was very, very light. Even the usual slow down areas, such as the tunnel exit to the South Bay mall, was a speed limit breeze. ...

At least some of those missing motorists must have been people commuting from MetroWest to the North Shore, all of whom jammed up the 128/turnpike interchange last night.

John Daley wonders:

Did 2 ton, CONCRETE hanging tiles cost more than a conventional tunnel ceiling? Was it simply a way to present a higher bill to the Turnpike Authority? How else can one explain such a ridiculous design?

I suspected they were cheating us, but I thought, at least, that someone was watching to see that the overpriced construction met basic safety design standards. That 'someone' would have been the Turnpike Authority. ...

Matt Margolis notes a story that says the ceiling slabs (why do they keep calling them "panels"?) weren't even necessary:

... So, if it is true that it is safe without the ventilation passage, then it wasn't neccessary to begin with, and a gratuitous expense to the taxpayers that has now resulted in loss of life.

Perhaps the investigation into the accident should start with the people who profited from the Big Dig. ...

Dan Kennedy digs up and comments on 2003 and 2004 Globe articles on Big Dig malfeasance.

Blue Mass. Group does the media roundup, with a special Assclown of the Day award for the Herald's Joe Fitzgerald, who manages to blame the tunnel collapse on gay-marriage supporters in the Legislature.

"Charles Foster Kane" wonders why Gerry Callahan feels qualified to comment on the problem on WEEI:

... Listening to him try to discuss the engineering of the project is like watching a dog look at someone riding a bike. The dog can snap at the heels of the rider but it is never, ever, going to get up and ride that thing. ...

Melvin Dubnick also reads the papers and worries that the real cause of the accident will be lost in the urge to scapegoat somebody:

... It would make us all feel safer, I suspect, if we could just instantaneously find the specific individual or event or thing that led to this tragic death, and ironically we would feel better if we could zero in on some single individual to blame for committing this "criminal" act. But as much as we wish to revert to such medieval witchhunting, I hope wiser and cooler heads will prevail and a more careful and thorough investigation is conducted. ...

EnuhCorK is no longer a Big Dig fan:

... Like an old friend told me once: "Things have to get a lot worse before they get any better." Well, I think it's a lot worse now.

Charles Laquidara Is this for real?

I must be having a nightmare...)Holy sh_ Someone pinch me- quick.

Train Mon expresses sympathy for the family of Milena DelValle and says the time it took to deal with problems on Acela and Green Line trains shows how long fixing the tunnel could take.

Tory: The State owes this family solutions so this never happens again:

... It's time the MTA care more about our citizens driving on and within its projects than about shielding themselves from responsibility.

Adam Reilly wonders what motoring tips the turnpike Web site might have for drivers affected by the collapse. The answer probably won't surprise you.

They're marveling at our stupidity and corruption out in the Midwest. Up in Canada, as well.

Also out in the Midwest, Diane Moyer was watching a St. Louis newscast that mentioned that Big Dig officials have been advising the state on reconstruction of a St. Louis-area highway:

... I laughed so hard I couldn't fall asleep.

Somebody must have been wondering what an Onion story on the tragedy would look like.

Earlier:
Best Big Dig analogy of the day, plus: More anger
Why did the slabs give way?
Big Dig afternoon edition: Tragedy, awful commute and Matt Amorello.
Big Collapse.

Dan comes to that conclusion after listening to Jay Severin replacement Michael Graham on WTKK (whose first priority is apparently to hire hookers and bums to re-start the Boston Veterans Day parade):

... During the past couple of days I've spent several minutes that felt like hours listening to Graham. My snap judgment -- subject to change, of course -- is that he may be among the most unlistenable hosts it's ever been my displeasure to hear. I didn't like Jay Severin, whom Graham replaced; yet Graham comes up considerably short of Severin. ...

No, but wait, he can't be that bad, can he? He's so bad he forces Dan to support Herald columnist Joe Fitzgerald against some Graham tirade - and Kennedy has never liked Fitzgerald (Joe Fitzgerald is not to be confused with Herald business reporter Jay Fitzgerald, who dug up another novel way Graham got himself fired).