Thank you Mr. Kerry

As long as we're dogging on Warner Bros today, let's keep it going...

I've been criticized a lot in the past for my support of John Kerry. Fine by me... He became my senator in 1983 and consistently fights for causes I support, and one Karl Rove-led smear campaign doesn't change how I feel one bit.

I'm a life-long Red Sox fan who moved to North Carolina in the great Money Magazine Migration of 94 - for about five years nothing made me more homesick than not being able to see my team play except the occasional game against the Orioles, and then I'd have to listen to the inane ramblings of Jim Palmer. Then Time Warner Cable picked up the InDemand package MLB Extra Innings, allowing viewers all over the country, for a hefty fee, to see almost all the games played each night. It's great to know after a hard day's work you can come home and witness the continual unfolding of the artisan tapistry of a baseball season - even if you don't watch every night, to know you can is relaxing.

Now InDemand is working on an exclusive deal with DirectTV so Extra Innings won't be available to cable subscribers. This is disturbing, but what's surprising is how few people it will affect - only 400,000 people subscribed to the service last year, and about half that through cable. Not enough for Major League Baseball to be concerned, and each team will receive about $20 million for the deal.

In steps John Kerry. He voiced concern over the deal to the senate and the FCC, and this week will bring hearings on whether the deal can proceed legally. He probably won't win - when monopolies collide it's always the consumer that suffers. But at least he's once again fighting the good fight. Here's a politician battling something I have no control over, but that will affect my daily life. Isn't that exactly what a politician is supposed to do?