"Happiness at the misfortune of others."

The New York Times reports, with just a hint of subtle schadenfreude, that the Los Angeles Times has ceased to be a considerable journalistic force in their own region.

My favorite parts of this article lie in the sources.

"'We need a paper that’s more, and this is less,' said Ms. Frère, 66. 'I think it’s just not a world-class paper, no matter how you cut it. It used to be a world-class paper.'"

Who is Ms. Frère, and what are her qualifications? Well, she's a stationery store owner. Her biting journalistic commentary often draws more crowds than Colbert, yes?

"'When I came here back in ’74, it would take me all day to read the paper. Now it takes me 10 minutes — tops,' said Quintin Cheeseborough, 57, who is self-employed and comes to the Los Angeles Central Library occasionally to read The Times. On a recent morning, he was reading The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal, but not The Los Angeles Times."

Cheeseborough claims self-employment and reads The Times at the Los Angeles Central Library. Sounds like a homeless man to me - at least, that's the company I often find reading the periodicals at the downtown library in OKC.
Holding one's own sign next to the intersection qualifies as self-employment.

"'We don’t even have a football team. So what does that tell you?' said Mr. Cheeseborough, a note of resignation in his voice."

Touché, Mr. Cheeseborough. Touché.