Congressman Delahunt is blaming Braintree police for the botched handling of the Amy Bishop case in 1986, when she was given a pass for shooting her brother to death. The article, though, seems to indicate that the state trooper who handled the case for Delahunt's office (he was the DA at the time) did not do enough to investigate the incident. It also implies that it was Amy Bishop's mother who pressured the Braintree chief into letting her go without immediately booking her and questioning her. There is more to this story, I think, and it smells like small-town politics and influence, although I suspect some incompetence and/or laziness in the DA's office allowed it to fall through the cracks.

On the other hand, the investigation into the 1993 attempted mail-bombing that included Bishop and her husband as suspects seems to be simply a case of insufficient evidence, rather than incompetence or corruption. Still, the case will be reviewed as it appears there was strong circumstantial evidence linking Bishop to the crime, although I doubt they will be able to do much more with it.

Scott Brown breaks ranks and supports a jobs bill. I suspect Senator Brown will be more independent than some other senators, in the sense that he will not be a reliable, party-line voter.

Congressman Paul Ryan is one of the few legislators who is taking a hard look at our fiscal problems, and has a plan to deal with them. If only the rest would listen. Perhaps, if the tsunami is big enough in November, they will.

Populists like Glenn Beck are hitting the GOP hard on these issues, whether they like it or not. In my view, this is a good thing for Republicans, as it will remind them that they should stand up for smaller government and lower taxes.

Robert J. Samuelson writes about the problems in Greece, which he believes will be repeated in all the Western countries that have substantial welfare states, including our own.

President Obama has released his new health reform plan, which is essentially the Senate version with some tweaking. The President is determined to get something done, no matter how many of his fellow Democrats are lost in the process.