Two essential morning reads

Well, actually, I'm not sure the Globe's page-one story on the Museum of Fine Arts and its deal with Italy over looted art is all that essential if you read the short version on the Web yesterday. There are precious few additional details from the MFA and certainly no mea culpa. The institution is acting as usual  - they'll tell us what they think we need to know, when they think we need to know it. ... In any case, the best read today is Anthony Bourdain's heartbreaking lead story on Salon.com. He had just landed in Beirut to film a cable TV show about that city's vibrant revival - complete with an interview with the editor of the new Time Out Beirut - when the Israeli bombs began to fall. I've always felt that on-the-scene stories about the little things that go on can tell you just as much as the history books - if you want to know about the Vietnam War, read Michael Herr's "Dispatches" before you read the Pentagon Papers - and this is a terrific read to boot.