The disgraceful full page General "Betray Us" ad published Monday was a new low for both MoveOn.org and the New York Times. Newspapers can and do decide to reject advertisements which are below acceptable standards. It might be the case that the Times is deeply in thrall to its obsessions that it saw nothing wrong with "General Betray Us." Or maybe the Times is so hard-pressed that standards no longer matter, in both advertising and editorial dimensions. The figure of one hundred thousand dollars was mentioned by one commentator as a rough price for the ad.Those pieces of silver did no good for the company's stock price, which hit a five year low Monday and then fell even further yesterday, down about 59% from its 5 year peak above 50, and now perilously close to the going below $20 per share.The editorial content of the Times betrays a similar confluence of economic stringency and ideological obsession. Despite downsizing its news hole, physical size, and...(Read Full Post)