Here's Daily Kos's take on the issue of paying for editorials, and while sometimes I'm not a big fan, I think he's right on the money here.
"Every columnist's goal is to influence public opinion. That's why they put up with the abuse that every single column generates. Because they hope their voice has an effect in the public debate.

And there are a million voices out there, all clamoring for a piece of the "influence" factor, especially now with the advent of the weblog. Opinion is a commodity, with more to be found than could ever be processed by anyone.

In addition, publications (and broadcasters) seek to aggregate those influential voices into a greater whole -- an institution that can shape and move public opinion. With mass influence comes prestige, power, and all manners of perks.

The Wall Street Journal is not stupid. They're smart. They've put their news content behind a pay wall and have done quite well revenue-wise for their troubles. BUT, they also want to influence public opinion. And being a key component of the Right Wing Noise Machine, the WSJ editorial board has made sure their opinion material is accessible to everyone. Heck, they have a guy emailing their content to bloggers. They even have a separate site for it: OpinionJournal.com. You want your dose of Peggy Noonan (must ... supress ... gag reflex), or John Fund, or James Taranto? You've got them. No pesky paywall between their opinion content and the people they hope to influence.

The New York Times, on the other hand, is the textbook definition of stupid. They take the one part of the paper that is a commodity -- the opinion -- and try to charge for that. No Krugman? Who cares. Give me Brad DeLong. No Bob Herbert? Whatever. Give me James Wolcott or anyone at the American Prospect or Washington Monthly. Or any of the thousands of columnists at other newspapers, and the tens of thousands of political bloggers.

In this world, no one is special, no one is irreplaceable. In the old world of syndicated columnists, that might bruise some egos. Especially in the rarified air of the NY Times (they think their shit don't stink). But the world has changed. And for the better.

Suddenly, overnight, Brooks and Friendman and Krugman and Herbert have been ripped out of the national debate. Whatever void that might have created has already been filled by the multitudes of voices in the sphere.

So the Wall Street Journal works hard to be a top influencer in the national debate. And the New York Times works hard to become a provincial paper.

Wish granted."

Stockpiling Anthrax: This is unbelievable, but apparently the US army is planning to buy anthrax in bulk.

...and Dumping the Homeless: Apparently, some suburbs are dumping homeless people in Downtown Los Angeles.

Bush Asks Americans for Money to Rebuild Iraq... and gets $600. Literally, not $600 million, just $600.

Tobacco advertisers are shooting for subliminal ads.

I'm Cheap: Several things I want to comment on but I'm in class so this will have to be quick. First, much to my dismay, I found that NYT columnist 's pieces are no longer available for free! I was wondering why I couldn't get my Krugman dose (but I forgot since I have 1800 pages of reading per night already...) but at least I'm spared some of the other columnists bombastic pontifications. While I can access them through other resources, I find it highly unlikely that I would pay.

Further on my cheapness factor, I just saw an article on ipods replacing DJs at weddings... it sounds tempting... I just can't believe how much people pay for everything wedding related. This does not apply to my dress, of course...

Staying with the cheap theme-- I wouldn't pay for it, but this is absolutely amazing: a giant knit bunny in Italy.

I also meant to post this earlier: apparently the March of the Penguins is being embraced as support for anti-abortion policies.

Daily Dose of Durst (Not Darst): While these posts are, in the words of one person, quite snarky, they are diverting. I'm not saying I agree, just that some are funny. Here are some of the more recent ones:

September 20, 2005

If Supreme Court Chief Justice nominee John Roberts were any whiter, he’d be translucent. This guy makes Ward Cleaver look like a gangsta.

September 19, 2005

I think the President is being unfairly accused of racism in his lack of response to Hurricane Katrina. This administration doesn’t differentiate between black and white. The only color that motivates them to act is green.

September 16, 2005

Between 2001 and 2004, 4.1 million more Americans slipped into poverty while the upper 2% of the the country’s richest became 55% wealthier. So, say what you will about Bush’s policies. They’re working.

September 15, 2005

Bush is to leadership what prairie brambles are to mobile surgery rooms.

September 14, 2005

John Roberts, Bush’s nominee for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, refused to answer questions about his opinions on Roe vs. Wade. To the President, they’re equally effective ways to get out of New Orleans.

September 13, 2005

Bush says he doesn’t want to play the “Blame Game.” Makes sense. Never heard of a chicken who wanted to play the “Extra Crispy” game.

Bridge to Nowhere: Alaska's senator is outraged that anyone suggest he give up their bridges to nowhere for New Orleans... if you want to get a little bit outraged, check this out.

I am sad to announce that we missed talk like a pirate day. Luckily, the site has a counter that is counting down to next year's big day.

Fido Helps Fight Fat: The newest hope in the war on obesity is a robotic dog.

A scientific paper says scientific papers have less than a 50% chance of being right... like the paradox of the guy that says 50% of guys lie... is he right or lying?

And erotic images can make you blind.

Fashion Fire: This story is just weird-- a guy wearing wool and nylon apparently caused so much static electricity he was starting fires behind himself.
This story is pretty incredible-- a plane's landing gear failed, so the airport crew got in a jeep and driving underneath the flying plane fixed the problem by jamming a huge stick in it.

Interesting headlines:
Sexism kills men!
Bush Needs a Bathroom Break.
Shaq Fights Crime!
China Bans Weird "Foreign Sounding" Names
O'Reilly complains about not getting coffee in Iraq, Condoleezza responds: Okay that requires more than just the headline: O'Reilly remarked, "The truth of the matter is our correspondents at Fox News can't go out for a cup of coffee in Baghdad." Rice replied, "Bill, that’s tough. It's tough. But what — would they wanted to have gone out for a cup of coffee when Saddam Hussein was in power?"

Health warning: For fish lovers like me: don't eat swordfish-- unsafe levels of mercury found.

E-Voting NEWS: Diebold was warned of backdoor problems before 2004 BY DHS!

Schumer's Roberts Questions: you can see and hear it here, go to the video/audio section in the middle of the page, scroll down a bit and just click on the Day 3, afternoon session. The thing is more than 5 hours long, but just go to 4:57:00 and the Schumer part starts right after Feinstein ends. its less than 15 minutes, but I wish it was longer...
NB: I just double checked, and the aforementioned is not the correct part-- go actually to 2:03:07 (you may have to start a minute earlier). It gets really good at about 2:07...

Noteworthy: there are so many incredible stories from New Orleans, some of which were just too wretched for words. But this is actually a pretty happy story... it involves dolphins.

Yesterday, as I was driving four hours for a dentist appointment, I heard some of the of the Roberts' testimony. The Schumer testimony was great. Seriously. I know we're talking about Senate hearings, but even the commentators said it woke everyone up. I'm trying to get it to work, but once I do I'll post it.

To avoid being a hypocrite after my diatribes about the annoying people that distract me while I'm trying to study-- I wanted to confess that today I am the annoying person. I must be driving everyone at my table crazy... I got sick this weekend, and now my nose is running incessantly, and after getting up every 2 minutes to blow my nose (and my nose subsequently being rubbed raw by the sandpaper disguised as tp in the girls bathrooms here) I went and bought a box of tissues with lotion. Of course the only box CVS had was a huge box, so I am sitting here with a mammoth box of tissues, miserably expelling mounds of nasal mucus . If it were someone else, I would probably be annoyed. I apologize to everyone I've driven crazy and grossed out today.

SPAMMED!: I keep getting spammed! I changed the settings so non-registered users couldn't post, but now I just got another freaking spam comment! How do I make it stop?? Any ideas from the tech savvy? I will be eternally grateful!

That's Hot: There's a face-off going on between Mexican and Chinese "chillies" (the article is from the Guardian, and apparently that's how the word is spelled in the UK; I just think it's funny-- I picture a little British kid saying "good golly, I'm getting the chillies- hand me my jumper, mum." Or something like that. I'm sick today, forgive my temporary insanity.)

Marijuana to Fight Fat: apparently it does more than give you the munchies.

The Guardian has a commentary on British binge drinking: "The British have always been big drinkers. Indeed ours is a drink-based culture. Our ancestors understood this, even if we have forgotten it. It is something we need to re-learn and understand if the so-called "binge drinking" debate is ever to progress beyond the futile parroting of non-sequiturs. In fact we are rather poor drinkers compared with our ancestors. Queen Elizabeth I was renowned for drinking ale stronger than any of her courtiers could take. During her reign, British beers were so popular abroad that exports were only permitted if sufficient quantities of wood to replace the casks used was imported."

Sharing time!: Here's a story Michael sent me a bit ago: a former prosecutor on Fox News decided to broadcast the address of a suspected terrorist, except that the suspect had moved 3 years ago, and now an unrelated family is bearing the backlash.

Also, Scott sent me this great picture with the following caption: "Prime Minister Yulia V. Tymoshenko watched Thursday as President Viktor A. Yushchenko announced that he was dismissing her and her cabinet."

Plagiarizing Issue: This may actually be really important to a number of us. A grad student found that work she had posted online were being sold by those sites that sell term papers. Not only is this a copyright issue, but she could actually be found in violation of her school's honor code, if they think she sold the papers to the site. I know I have a few things posted, as does Chocolate Thunder, and I'm sure we're not the only ones...

It's LEGO not Legos: Lego apparently has a lecture for those saying/writing the name wrong.

The UK realizes e-voting from home- maybe not such a fabulous idea afterall.

Evidence of online dating stereotypes.

Personal surfing at work is good for the worker, in that it relieves stress and enhances creativity! I had worked it into my work schedule, but I'm having more trouble working personal surfing into my law school schedule...

Noodle Index: an economic indicator from Thailand. There its Mama noodles, here we could have the Ramen noodle index.
In Palm Beach county, government employees are being shifted to 4 day work weeks to conserve gas.

Ann Coulter Gets the Boot!: More isn't really necessary, but here you go anyway: "Finally, we've decided that syndicated columnist Ann Coulter has worn out her welcome. Many readers find her shrill, bombastic and mean-spirited. And those are the words used by readers who identified themselves as conservatives."

It's 32 a's vs. 40DDs!: The Guardian has an article about the bra wars that I found amusing based on the title alone.

Student debt linked to tax evasion.

Scott just sent me this, and I totally agree: "I just stumbled across this on craigslist. Unbelieveable. Over 1600 people have posted TODAY looking for lost people/offering to help others find people. This blows my mind, from the sheer number as well as the willingness to help."

Hopefully I'll get my law reading done soon so I can read some interesting stuff and post!

Scott just sent me this, and I totally agree: "I just stumbled across this on craigslist. Unbelieveable. Over 1600 people have posted TODAY looking for lost people/offering to help

others find people. This blows my mind, from the sheer number as well
as the willingness to help. http://neworleans.craigslist.org/about/help/katrina_cl.html"

Hopefully I'll get my law reading done soon so I can read some interesting stuff and post!