Blue Mass. Group runs down prospective candidates for the 3rd Suffolk seat just vacated by Sal DiMasi. So far, the only "official" candidate (new House Speaker Bob DeLeo has yet to set an election date) is Aaron Michlewitz of the North End (Facebook page), DiMasi's constitutent-services director, who filed organization papers with the state on Wednesday and who opened his campaign office today on Endicott Street in the North End.

Other possibilities: Lucy Rivera (former aide to Tom Birmingham and Michael Capuano), Susan Passoni (who ran against Jimmy Kelly for Boston City Council), both of the South End, and Stephen Passacantilli, of the North End, who is currently an aide to City Councilor Sal LaMattina.

End busing, argues Ted Landsmark (yes, he's the same Ted Landsmark in that photo):

Busing students from one neighborhood to another does nothing to change the racial, cultural, and caste demographics of classrooms, while devouring financial resources that could be better spent on teaching and learning. That $40 million would better prepare students for success in college and would support arts, music, technology, and physical education instruction.

If Ted Landsmark says it's time to end busing, I'm going to listen.

But he can do better than putting up a strawman argument. More than anybody else, he should know that busing in Boston today is NOT race-based, since he chaired a task force a couple years back that tried (and failed completely) to come up with alternatives to the present zone system.

Our kid rides a bus not to comply with some Wellesley judge's conception of racial equality but because we felt the school we applied for in the assignment lottery was the best fit for her. Yes, it's an expensive and frustrating program (if you're not lucky, your kid gets assigned to some random school), and yes, it's amazing to stand with her at her stop and watch zillions of school buses going in zillions of directions (her stop's at a busy intersection), and yes, saving $40 million is an excellent idea.

But until Landsmark can prove to me that all schools in Boston provide equally good levels of education, I'm going to continue to think there's value in the present system.

Landsmark notes that a quarter of Boston's parents opt out of busing by sending their kids to charter, private or Metco schools. That means that 75% do not. By returning to a strictly neighborhood-school system, Landsmark will be condemning some of those parents and kids to underperforming schools with no chance of escape.

Now saving $40 million - especially in times like these - is most laudable. If, as Landsmark says, some bus routes haven't changed in 20 years and run half empty, maybe the school department needs to invest in some decent scheduling software to sort out the routes. If the goal is to save lots of money, that's fine, too, but let's not pretend that all kids will get the same level of education.

Michael Paulson points us to O'Malley's statement on the Pope's decision to un-excommunicate four bishops, including one who says the Holocaust never happened and that Israel and the U.S. are to blame for 9/11.

Basically, O'Malley says the Holocaust did happen, we should never let it happen again and the Holocaust denier's statements are "outrageous." But, he adds, the lifting of the ban is a good thing because the Pope is bringing about reconciliation among Catholics and, at the same time, reasserting his control over the traditionalist communities, and so whipping them into shape.

Paulson adds O'Malley appears to be the first U.S. cardinal to speak about the controversy.

A man collapses, the train crew ignore pleas for help, and MBTA dispatch fails to stop the train to meet emergency responders. Sound familiar? You're thinking of James A. Allen, who died on a commuter rail train because the crew continued on into Boston instead of waiting for emergency medical crews. Which is what happened here- except thankfully the victim hasn't died.

"He came into the car and he looked at the guy," Puckerin said. "The guy was lying on the floor and I thought they would have taken him off, but the doors just closed and he said, 'Next stop: Kendall Square,' and they did that all the way to South Station."

The train then continued on, past MGH where the man could have been carried to an emergency room within a minute or two- and the dispatcher didn't tell the train to wait at Park Street, where he had told Boston EMS / BFD (who gave the call their top priority level) to meet the train.

Despite Allen's death in 2002 which should have prompted training and policy changes, as well as years of training in emergency preparedness- the MBTA has yet again demonstrated it is inept at handling even the smallest-scale emergencies.

The MBTA's defense is that "years of experience" allow their operators to determine with a single glance whether a person is drunk or having a life-threatening medical emergency. This will be the answer to our nation's need for universal health care! Send our brightest minds to the public transit systems for "years of experience" pushing "door open" and "door close". They will become infallible at instant visual medical diagnostics (provided they're not drunk or high on cocaine.)

So, everyone- it's official. We now have to look out for each other. Here's an idea: the next time you see a medical emergency on the subway, by all means notify the crew, but organize among the passengers. At the next station, remove the person from the train (or block the doors to force the train to stay) and send someone up above ground to use their cell phone to call for help- because while Boston EMS/BFD did their jobs, the MBTA just can't be bothered for the second time.