Destruction – in both a literal and constitutional sense – has been left in the wake of the eight-year Texas tornado that was the George W. Bush presidency. Citizens are understandably upset, but criminal prosecutions of former (or current, for that matter) government officials, cathartic as they may first appear, are not the answer.

The Boston Globe’s metro columnist, Kevin Cullen, has a revealing piece in the January 22nd issue about Harvard’s cozying-up with Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy, who is holding political prisoner Fathi Eljahmi, while Harvard Business School is hosting and promoting Khadafy’s son, Saif Al-Islam. (And, notes Cullen, the Globe published an op-ed by Khadafy after receiving an entreaty from the Libyan family’s New York-based public relations firm.

If Harvard Law School dean Elena Kagan is confirmed as the nation’s first female solicitor general – she’s been nominated to supervise all federal government litigation in the Supreme Court by HLS alum and President-elect Barack Obama – she would be addressed as “General Kagan” by the justices (and by others as well), New York Times Supreme Court reporter Adam Liptak noted on January 7th.

By Kyle Smeallie & Harvey Silverglate

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em – or at least have them join you.

That appears to be the newly-adopted attitude of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), marking a logical denouement to the celebrated case this past summer in which three MIT students uncovered technological vulnerabilities in the fare collection system.

New York Times Supreme Court reporter Adam Liptak has thrown new light on the long-simmering battle over the Second Amendment's true meaning and import in a fascinating October 21 front-page piece. Liptak, who deftly took over the Times' Supreme Court coverage from the recently-retired and much respected Linda Greenhouse, points out that the text is anything but crystal clear: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

The Supreme Court's illegitimate installation of the loser in the Oval Office following the deeply flawed - the cynics would even say "rigged" - 2000 presidential election, left more than a bad taste in many American mouths. For some, it was the straw that broke the camel's (or Donkey's) back - they were entirely repulsed at the political (and judicial, such as it was) process.

After years of self-imposed exile, former acting Governor of Massachusetts Jane Swift has reemerged onto the political scene. This time, rather than spending taxpayer money on babysitters and helicopter rides, she is heading - in all seriousness - the "Palin Truth Squad." This righteous group of fact-finding crusaders has come to the defense of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, denouncing the nasty, truly despicable sexist slander cast by Obama and his camp.

You need not dig deep into the annals of history to find examples of religious bloodshed. From the Crusades to the Inquisition to the terrorist attacks seven years ago today, dogmatic interpretations of religious doctrine - spanning almost every set of beliefs - have contributed to countless deaths and persisting cleavages.

I'm as vicious a critic of cigarettes as there is - my father, who smoked four packs of Camels a day, befouled our small Brooklyn apartment (as well as his lungs and heart) and died of a massive heart attack two months before my college graduation, at the age of 48. But I think that the current mania for seeking to ban the nasty habit without actually outlawing the product has finally gone too far.

Despite breaching multiple security classification laws, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who departed the office on Sept. 17, 2007 in the wake of multiple scandals, will not face criminal prosecution, the Department of Justice announced on Sept. 2. The documents, which Gonzales improperly carried to his home and failed to store in a safe, reportedly discussed aspects of the administration's top-secret wiretapping program.

Sarah Palin came to praise Hillary Clinton and to bury liberal feminism. It’s too bad for the rest of us, but don’t cry for Hillary; she provided the shovel. Relying on pre-ideological appeals to female solidarity, blaming sexism when she got stuck in second place, Clinton played the dangerous game of identity politics. Her loss is Palin’s gain.

I came upon an article in Wednesday's Boston Globe about possible reform measures for the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) following recent allegations of racist conduct. I felt a sense of indignation, not only because I had seen this in the HUPD many times before, but because the reform mentioned in the article was, in my opinion, a prescription for failure.

"I'm a PUMA," the button festooned woman at the local Box Lunch declared. "Do you know what that is?"

"I know what that is," I responded. "I think you're all nuts."

She didn't take offense (I give her credit for a thick skin, although it may make her impervious to political realities as well as insults,) and we engaged in a brief discussion.