Big Dig finger-pointing is starting By G. Michael Dobbs Managing Editor Remember Thomas Nast from your American history classes? He was the mid-19th century cartoonist who used the elephant as the symbol for the Republicans and the donkey for the Democrats. He also first drew the image of Santa Claus a right jolly old elf that was accepted by Americans. Nast was also know for his scathing political cartoons, many of them aimed at the corrupt Democratic machine that controlled New York City for many years in the 19th century. The object of his criticism was one "Boss" Tweed, whom Nast drew in many ways, none of them complimentary. One of those Tweed cartoons stuck in my mind and surfaced with all of the Big Dig stories that are now reported. The cartoon was about accountability and showed Tweed and his cronies standing in a circle and all pointing to the guy standing next to them. There will be folks heading into a similar circle in Boston soon as well. The tragedy of the Big Dig used to be about wasted money and cost over-runs. Now it is about the loss of human life. And with its closing due to safety reasons, the once lauded construction project has the smell of failure. It is unforgivable that someone had to lose their life in order to expose the system's problems. Now it not the time, though, for political posturing. The system of underground roads must be assessed and fixed now and not at the expense of the taxpayer. I don't care about finding a government fall guy as much as I want to see safety and order returned to the project. *** Okay, can someone please explain this to me: if you're pro-life on the abortion issue, shouldn't you also be pro-life when it comes to executions? The reasoning behind the lone veto cast by President George Bush concerning federal funding of stem cell research using frozen embryos had to do with the president's stand on pro-life issues. At least that's what he said. But what I don't understand is how that position jives with his record of 150 executions he approved as governor of Texas. I've met people who are pro-life on both sides of the issue. They don't support abortions and they don't support executions. Their philosophy is consistent. I also don't understand how a president who claims to be a conservative, and therefore a champion of individual freedom, can oppose a law that would have allowed people who have these excess frozen embryo to donate them for research. The law stated people could not be forced to donate the frozen embryo and could not be paid for them. So if you have embryos in storage, you determine what is going to be done with them. It's a matter of individual freedom. Of course many of these unused embryos are ultimately destroyed and apparently Bush had no problem with that. These are confusing times. We have a chance to further research that could help all of humanity and our president uses faulty logic to prevent it. This column represents the opinions of its author and no one else. Send your comments to mdobbs@reminderpublications.com or to 280 N. Main St., East Longmeadow, MA 01028.