Short fuse
Turnpike Authority: Do not merge
The state's Republican legislative leadership unveiled a commuter bill of rights last week, but subverted it by reviving a Romney administration proposal to fold the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority into the Highway Department. Who could argue with the Republicans' intent to make highways safe "in their design, construction and maintenance"? But this isn't served by abolishing the authority and letting the chronically overworked department manage the complicated Central Artery system. True, the authority did not adequately inspect the Interstate 90 connector, a failure that contributed to the death of Milena Del Valle last year. This tragedy points up the need for more rigorous maintenance, not less. A chastened Turnpike Authority has the expertise and the single-minded focus to keep the highway safe.Peace talks: First Belfast, then Baghdad
Congratulations are due Martin McGuinness, the Irish Republican Army veteran, and other Northern Irish officials for their involvement in a reconciliation conference between Iraqi Shi'ites and Sunnis. Padraig O'Malley of the McCormack graduate school at UMass-Boston demonstrated his mediation skills by setting up the meeting, which took place in Finland last weekend and included a delegation from South Africa. The Iraqi conflict seems intractable, but so did the one in Ulster, which lasted almost 40 years. Yet the adversaries in Northern Ireland could have achieved a peace agreement 34 years ago. The Iraqis returned to Baghdad with a package of recommendations. They also should take with them a realization that delay is an encouragement to more bloodshed.
Venezuela: Censorship at birth
As if Hugo Chávez doesn't have enough ways to repress his countrymen, a new parliamentary edict has been introduced to prohibit Venezuelan parents from naming their newborns anything other than 100 officially sanctioned Spanish names. Fed up with whimsical, hard-to-pronounce, or politically incorrect monikers such as Haynhecht, Yornaichel, Hochiminh, or (¡horrores!) Kennedy, officials want to go back to basics, according to The 
