contrapositive

WELCOME TO THE CLUB On the very day that the Wall Street Journal is poised to leap onto the schlock pile, The New York Times serves up a big front page story about...Chelsea Clinton's second shot at being 'first daughter.'

This, just a couple weeks after the Sunday Times featured: a front page puff piece exploring what life is like for "the richest of the rich"; a Business section cover story on Queen Elizabeth; and an Arts & Leisure page 1 dispatch about Paris Hilton and celebrity culture.

The Times, of course, also regularly features items about Nicole Richie in its 'Arts Briefs' column and typically runs two columns under the 'Spending' heading in its Sunday Business pages.

Let's be frank: The Times isn't what it used to be. It's a far cry from the paper it was even seven years ago.

And it isn't likely to become that paper again any time soon.