NY TIMES to charge for reading columnists on-line?

Well, all they will do is diminish the influence those columnists have on the ongoing internet dialogue, leading to diminishing the general influence the newspaper itself has on the internet dialgoue.

Reading the columnists -- and the Times itself -- is like browsing free porn sites -- amusing, but not worth paying for. Some of them are still hard-edged and fine, but the news itself has long since lost its bite.

Without the crossword puzzle, what are they actually offering these days other than a trembling small voice asking: "Please Ms Rice, may I disagreee with you a little bit?"

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