This New England

Photo by ROBERT THORSON

Kettle lake and Mt. Chocorua, in New Hampshire.

Such kettle ponds as Walden Pond, in Concord, Mass., are beloved features of New England. These souvenirs of the Ice Age have had much to do with the distinctiveness of the region's hydraulic and wildlife systems and how we humans inter-act with them -- as Henry David Thoreau would tell us if he were still around.

Thoreau would be very pleased with Robert Thorson's latest book, Beyond Walden: The Hidden History of America's Kettle Lakes. Mr. Thorson, who is a terrific columnist as well as geologist at the University of Connecticut, combines science, history and memoir in this lovely book, in which he warns of the necessity of more rigorous lake management in fending off natural and man-made deterioration of this fragile bodies of water. The book has evocative photos, too.

Some readers may remember Mr. Thorson's books Stone by Stone and Exploring Stone Walls. He combines scientific knowledge and a literary essayist's elegance in very pleasing ways.

This is another winner. And we'd all do well to know more about kettle pounds before nitrogen fertilizer runoff eutrophies them as they gradually fill in on their own, going from crystal clear to a sickly greenish brown in the process.

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The Feds allege that former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore Di Masi while in office was involved in a contract/rigging.kickback scheme that gained him $60,000.

My question is why someone who could make so much money legally after he left office because of his political connections would risk it all to make money this way in office.

Massachusetts House speakers certainly had a propensity for big egos (an occupational necessity) and personal risk-taking.

They also tend to gravitate toward large piles of money. But then, as, in Casablanca, Captain Renault (Claude Rains) tells Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) after the latter calls his occupation "drunkard'' -- "that makes you a citizen of the world.''
I always thought Sal DiMasi was a pretty intelligent and impressive character.

Do some of these politicians get such an adrenaline rush from risk that it becomes addictive? I think that ousted New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, in his liaison with a prostitute, had something of this. Part of the sexual thrill seem to be connected with the risk. Certainly how he conducted the financial side of this affair ensured that there would be a very good chance that he'd be caught.

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When legislatures have a huge distracting issue to deal with -- to wit, a fiscal crisis -- it can be very easy for smart solons to slide in bills unnoticed in the tumult.

For instance, a few people in the Rhode Island General Assembly would like to make it easier to keep from public view details of arrests by police. The public wouldn't be served by such efforts.

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Once more, among the highest-paid people in Rhode Island, the Providence firefighters, have put the state in vivid view by leading assorted high-level Obama administration officials to cancel their visits to Providence because they don't want to cross the firefighters' picket line.

The union doesn't want its members to pay a cent for healh insurance and demands that. the taxpayers continue to pay for all of it. And yet many taxpayers have no health insurance themselves, or if they do, pay huge premiums for it.

Could national health reform eliminate such disputes? It's past time to separate the workplace and health insurance. The connection has been a bankrupting disaster for many individuals, including taxpayers.

 Tags  Beyond Walden Providence firefighters Robert Thorson Salvatore DiMasi Walden Pond

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