Finally rewritten at around 3PM PDT because Blogger crashed----oh no, not again----right after I posted a rough draft and I had no choice but to leave it up.......sorry
Simon has a pieceup today called "Why did Duranty Happen" that misses the reason. Duranty was the hard core Communist hack Times writer who supported Stalin in the 30s. Simon traces a "decline" from that time. I disagree. The Times has been almost totally bad since the 50s and anybody who does any honest research on topics knows this. It has been a propaganda organ for the Left since after WWII.

The decline of the Times "happened" because the creators of the paper, the people who put in the original sweat equity that created a wonder of journalism, passed control to family members just as Kings used to hand down countries. There is the inevitable decline when pampered children who have never had to work for anything "take over." They then hire others who are like them; went to the same schools, think the same way, and have the same view of themselves and of the world. They will also do as they are told or be fired.

Duranty didn't just "happen." He was telling it like the pampered children running the Times wanted it told. What you have now are the grandchildren of the founders, rich beyond belief, guilty about their free money, and arrogant as it is possible to be, running the paper with no accountability (they own more than 50% of all the stock).

The Times is read by all the "right" people and will continue on their current path until the "right" people wise up. Then with cirulation dropping they will "change" like a street whore who sees that there is better money inside the Plaza Hotel than on the cold street outside. The Times will dress up in different clothing so as to appear socially acceptable, but inside the soul of the Times it will be like the soul of the street whore. It will remain corrupt in its soul, not to be trusted, always trying to hide what it really is.

This is a Left Wing paper that slants the news every day.

They are like the Hapsburgs who hung around through generation after generation. They will vanish when they are kicked out, and it is possible the new media will do the job. Let us all hope so.