A few quick notes on the sad state of the news business in America.

For starters, the New York Times is about to start charging for its online content, so as far as we are concerned, the paper's century-long run as the national newspaper of record is officially over, if it wasn't already by the way the paper's management handled the Jayson Blair fiasco by running a palace coup against executive editor Howell Raines from Alabama and running off star writer Rick Bragg, along with his number one stringer, yours truly.

For the record? They can kiss my ass. I won't be reading or linking to that paper anymore. Which is just as well. They got their ass kicked completely in covering Hurricane Katrina, mainly due to their lack of experienced reporting on the ground.

New York Times Starts Charging

Second, ABC's Nightline, the last best hope for news for non-cable TV subscribers, spent most of their time on the air tonight bashing local officials for the horrendously slow response to Hurricane Katrina, which even President George W. Bush himself today said he took responsibility for, even though he said nothing about paying any price for his failures. So Ted Kopple may as well go ahead and retire, since that show is obviously over and done with and just trying to suck up to the failed Bush administration for some inexplicable reason.

Then, on a local TV news note, that complete idiot and former weatherman Mike Royer did it again tonight, smiling through the coverage of Hurricane Katrina relief stories, which you would think may best be delivered with a somber face. Then, he highlighted his own son's fourth grade class pretending to raise money for hurricane relief in a clear conflict of interest. They gathered a few used toys to send to the non-existent kids left in coastal Mississippi. What a freaking complete joke.

Is anyone else out there as appalled as I am about the state of the news business in America?