Deregulator: Alive since '85!

Spotted today, on an end cap in a Hobby Lobby. A big stack of those license-plate size items of wall art featuring the guv's one-liner about hockey moms and pit bulls. They were 50 percent off. No further comment.

OK, I have a personal stake here, because the newspaper I work for may fold in a few weeks. But this may be the year that a number of medium-size and larger cities lose their dailies, at least in the form of a paper-and-ink product delivered to the customers' front door. Name your reason for the demise of the daily -- Craigslist surely accelerated a trend that was well under way -- but there are plenty of reasons to be scared scatless when general-interest newspapers disappear. This op-ed from The Wall Street Journal sums up a lot about the challenges "citizen journalists" trying to cover local events will face, at least initially. Over at The Corner , Mark Krikorian has echoed these thoughts. There may be people who are passionate enough about local affairs (and who have lots of time on their hands) and are perfectly willing and capable of attending public hearings and reporting what happens. But before bloggers or other online-only media can replace newspapers, they...