As the Sox prepare to resume fisticuffs this evening with the insurgent Rays, Sean McAdam broke the news of how Manny Ramirez harshed out on Boston's traveling secretary:

Ramirez had asked [Jack] McCormick for 16 tickets for Saturday night's Red Sox-Astros game, an unusually high number for day-of-game.

Pretty funny, and a bit sad, via Belo's Sports Blog:

Christian Web site changes Tyson Gay's name to Tyson Homosexual

Michael David Smith of FanHouse reports: The Web site One News Now, which describes itself as providing "your latest news from a Christian perspective," has been running stories that refer to the Olympic springer Tyson Gay as "Tyson Homosexual."

Mike Tanaka is a familiar face in Rhode Island, thanks both to his musical efforts with Mark Cutler's Dino Club and for his work as a television producer. Now he's got a new post: director of public and community relations in the office of Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Roberts.

"I'm very excited," says Tanaka, who came to the Ocean State to attend grad school at Brown in the '80s, and who started in the new role last week.

Stacey Veroni, who is familiar because of her efforts against domestic violence, is getting a significant promotion in the office of AG Patrick Lynch. She is the daughter of Tony Pires, a former House Finance Committee chairman who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2002.

Here's part of the release from the AG's office:

Got $162 billion more for war? No problem.

But what about that Osama guy?

From today's New York Times:

Intelligence reports for more than a year had been streaming in about Osama bin Laden’s terrorism network rebuilding in the Pakistani tribal areas, a problem that had been exacerbated by years of missteps in Washington and the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, sharp policy disagreements, and turf battles between American counterterrorism agencies.

A report to be released tomorrow, to be joined by a call for action by advocates, calls Rhode Island the second most economically distressed state in the nation.

From the RI Coalition for the Homeless:

When: Tuesday, July 1, 2:00 pm

Where: In front of the VFW Post, 416 Hunt Street, Central Falls

Details:

(1) New report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ranks Rhode Island 2nd in the nation in economic distress.

Netflix is one of those genius ideas made possible by the Internet. Now, Time Inc. is set to bring a similar approach to the magazine world with Maghound ((h/t Romo):

After almost four years of continuous development and testing, Maghound.com, Time Inc.’s Netflix-like service for magazines, is finally set to launch this September, Dave Ventresca, president of Maghound Enterprises, Inc.

The AP's Andy Miga is the latest in a string of journos to get Jack Reed on the record in saying he doesn't want to be part of a new Democratic administration in 2010:

WASHINGTON - In a place brimming with pomposity and pretension, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island bucks the mold.

The soft-spoken son of a school janitor is not one of the Senate's show horses.

Ted Widmer, director of the John Carter Brown Library and a member in good standing of the Phoenix' friends and family program, is a polymath and one of the great Rhode Islanders. Who else could offer such superlative quote in discussing the cultural ethos of Narragansett Beer in the old days?

"It was really a whole way of life, and it involved loving the Red Sox .

Karen Lee Ziner has an excellent story in today's Sunday ProJo, revealing the role played in 2006 by the national Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) in helping to launch Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement (RIILE).

FAIR credited Sandra Gunn, then the organization’s Eastern field representative, with helping launch a host of such groups in New England.

A number of writers have positioned the 2008 presidential election as a generational watershed, not least because of the dynamic personal quality that helped Obama to emerge at the top of the Democratic pack. (Of course, there's still plenty of politics as usual, on both sides).

George Packer recently wrote about this in the New Yorker, looking at why conservatives are worried

Halperin's got them:

Quinnipiac University/washingtonpost.com/Wall Street Journal polls:

Colorado: Obama 49, McCain 44

Michigan: Obama 48, McCain 42

Minnesota: Obama 54, McCain 37

Wisconsin: Obama 52, McCain 39

Dates conducted: June 17-24. Error margin: 2.5 -2.7 points.

Read more here.

In time for the Fourth of July, the Phoenix this week offers the 11th annual Muzzle Awards, which recognize efforts to squelch free speech and step on the first Amendment. The excellent Dan Kennedy, as usual, helms Muzzle Central, and he has two winners in Rhode Island.

ROBERT WATSON
He led the fight to make anonymous political speech illegal in Rhode Island

From Smith Hill:

STATE HOUSE – People serving probation or suspended sentences will no longer be sent to prison for violations for which they are not convicted under legislation passed by the General Assembly on its final regular day of session Saturday.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. David A. Segal and Sen. Rhoda E.

Tom Brokaw will be the temporary successor to the late Tim Russert, as we now know. Meanwhile, the Boston Phoenix had a superb editorial last week on Russert and his passing.

The average American family makes about $31,333 a year. And while the average working-stiff reporter makes between $20,000 and $50,000 a year (a precise figure is hard to come by), top talents at the nation’s largest papers regularly make $100,000 a year or more.