Bring back the ha'penny

Maureen Dowd would like to touch on Tom Friedman's territory this week, in between the Lexus and the Olive Tree. Her article this week is ostensibly about outsourcing but also about the difficulty of keeping the Newspaper business afloat.

Indeed, she has some amusing anecdotes about India-written news that and some associated outsourcing problems. But, a busybody stateside editor could probably fix those errors. News is global in ways that are hard to tell--many of the 2008 Olympic Games (not the big events) were commented on from the U.S. off of the satellite feed.

When given a choice, and the newspapers certainly gave that choice, the internet generation would prefer to pick up their news for free online. And no, they don't usually click on the ads. Sorry internet ad dreams!

But she does neglect to mention that some intrepid (people have other words) businessmen like Rupert Murdoch are willing to purchase unprofitable newspapers. Oh, the glory of Op-Eds, you miss chunks of the pie that are "clearly" not relevant.

One part of her opinion that I can't figure out is whether she thinks the outsourcing newsman, James McPherson, is the future, or if he's an enterprising moron trying to cut too many corners. Perhaps she thinks he's both!

When Maureen Dowd puts her columns on the auction block, I'm reminded of how much I like pennies, and that, to paraphrase Mr. Burns, "I think I'd be happier keeping the penny."