Media Nation

The New York Times’ Jack Curry offers a fairly brutal assessment of Josh Beckett, noting, among other things, that the Red Sox’ supposed co-ace has a 6.80 ERA against winning teams.

Media Nation is surprised and not surprised at the Sox’ collapse this weekend. On the one hand, the team has struggled against good teams all year, building up its soft first-place lead by feasting on the National League and the likes of the Baltimore Orioles.

On the other hand, I’m amazed at Beckett’s struggles, and at the huge differential between Coco Crisp and Johnny Damon. Beckett and Crisp seemingly have the swagger and the confidence to do well here. Maybe they will, but not until next year.

One more thing. I’ve heard enough stupid comments from people complaining about the Sox not making a move for Bobby Abreu. The Yankees made their deal for Abreu on the same day that Trot Nixon was hurt. Nixon was not exactly burning up the league, but he was having a decent season, and there was really no reason to replace him in right. The Sox have made some dumb moves this season, but that wasn’t one of them.

Here we go again.

Because campaign-finance regulations are, by definition, an abridgment of free speech, we should not be surprised that the sophomoric hijinks of an anti-Deval Patrick activist who goes by the name “Stop Killer Coke” may well be deemed illegal.

To backtrack, for those who have not been following this closely: On Aug. 7, the Globe’s Frank Phillips wrote:

The New York-based Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, a group of labor activists that seeks to expose Coke’s alleged misdeeds around the world, is launching a campaign to portray Patrick as a greedy corporate executive who has become a multimillionaire defending the two companies. [Texaco was identified as the second company.]

Then, in a nifty piece of investigative reporting, the Web site Blue Mass Group, which follows Democratic politics in Massachusetts, discovered that Stop Killer Coke isn’t really an organization. Rather, it’s some guy named Ray Rogers who’s based in New York and who owns a private consulting business. (The direct link to BMG’s exposé is here. Also, thanks to the miracle of tags, you can read all of BMG’s Killer Coke coverage here.)

Next up: a classic column by the Globe’s Joan Vennochi last Saturday, in which she lovingly reproduced some internal e-mails by David Guarino, communications director for Tom Reilly’s gubernatorial campaign. Guarino discussed plans to hook Rogers up with local media types in the hopes of scoring some points against Patrick. Good stuff.

Unfortunately, we live in a time when the exposure of slightly sleazy political shenanigans is no longer its own punishment. Rather, it must be subjected to hearings, fines and stern letters of reprimand. So, naturally, the state’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) is looking into this to see whether Reilly’s campaign or that of the third Democratic candidate, Chris Gabrieli, might have violated any regulations regarding financial reporting and/or improper coordination. The Herald’s Kimberly Atkins reported on this development yesterday, and the Globe’s Phillips has a more detailed story today.

The complaint to the OCPF was filed by five pro-Patrick union leaders last week, with Blue Mass Group cheering them on. (I would link to Adam Reilly’s report, but the Phoenix’s Web site is down at the moment.) This is a perfect example of people who suppress freedom of speech in the name of doing the right thing.

And you know what? The case against Rogers and/or the Reilly and Gabrieli campaigns is probably pretty strong. The larger question is: Why do these regulations exist? What public purpose is achieved by curtailing political speech in any way? And what exactly is Rogers supposed to be doing wrong?

Ray Rogers is the modern equivalent of the lonely pamphleteer, the very essence of who the First Amendment is supposed to protect. It shouldn’t matter whether he’s right or wrong, where he gets his money from or which campaign or campaigns he’s talking to. Let him get his message out, and let Deval Patrick get his message out.

In fact, that’s already happened. What’s the problem?

Two excellent Red Sox pieces today.

The must-read is by Globe columnist Bob Ryan, on the 39th anniversary of the day that the late Tony Conigliaro got beaned. Ryan:

But Aug. 18 is always a somber date for me, and, I’m sure, for many others. Tony C is the greatest of all “What-Ifs?” in Boston sports history. When he stepped into the box in that fateful fourth inning, he was 22 years old. He was the Golden Boy, en route to the Golden Career. Who among us wouldn’t have traded places with Tony C?

The should-read is a feature in today’s New York Times in which John Branch attempts to determine the exact border separating Red Sox fans from Yankees fans. He focuses on Connecticut, but eventually makes his way to Vermont and upstate New York.

There are a lot of unfortunate references to “Red Sox Nation,” but that phrase, like the loathsome “blogosphere,” appears to be beyond stamping out at this late date. Otherwise, first-rate.

“Tigers attack in Sri Lanka north.” Oh, my. What about lions and bears?

A closer look reveals that the story is about the latest raid by the Tamil Tiger separatists.

This is truly outrageous. A nurse at Merrimack Valley Hospital in Haverhill marries her same-sex partner. She asks that her spouse be covered under her Blue Cross plan. And she’s refused, because the hospital’s Tennessee-based owner is self-insured and is thus governed by federal rather than state law.

What is the point of having legal same-sex marriage in Massachusetts if gay and lesbian couples can still be discriminated against on something as basic as health insurance?

I don’t want to pretend that I know what the right decision should have been in the Katrina insurance case decided yesterday. But I found this quote from insurance-industry flack Joseph Annotti, reported by the Associated Press, to be astonishing:

From our perspective, it lifts a very large cloud of uncertainty that has been hanging over the insurance market of the Gulf Coast. A healthy insurance market is absolutely key to a rejuvenated economy down there.

Except that, to Annotti, a healthy insurance market requires not paying people for the losses they suffered. How is that going to rejuvenate the economy?

I’ve complained about the Eagle-Tribune papers’ Web sites before, especially with respect to Media Nation’s local daily, the Salem News.

Now Seth Mnookin, author of the Red Sox book “Feeding the Monster,” unloads on the E-T’s lack of Web savvy in the course of praising the paper’s baseball writers.

He’s right — notwithstanding the fact that the sites are actually somewhat improved following a recent redesign.

So I show my iBook to one of the “geniuses” at the Apple Store. He can’t figure it out. He does this. He does that. He waves his hands over it. Suddenly, it’s working. I don’t know what he did. He doesn’t know what he did. But I’m back in business.

Last night my iBook began refusing to hook up to the Internet, even though it tells me I’m getting a strong, clear WiFi signal. So it’s off to the “genius bar” this afternoon (I don’t care if they’re not really geniuses, but I wish it were really a bar), and, in all likelihood, no blogging.