It's Official. Scheer is Out at the<em> Times</em>

So it is 6 am, I have just seen in cold print the horrible news that Bob Scheer is out at the L.A. Times, I am furious. When I first moved to Los Angeles years ago Bob's smart, provocative and articulate writing grabbed me by the throat. Agree, disagree, the man was a passionate citizen, who always did the hard work, researched, thought and fought. So now the Times, in an act of corporate fear or stupiditiy, has decided to terminate him. Let's be clear, there cannot be any rational reason to deprive us already deprived citizens of Los Angeles of this intelligent voice. Is this the Times' rush to blandness -- as if that is a cure for losing readers? When the Times, like other papers, is losing readers and relevancy, how can a decision like this be made? The pleasure of looking forward to reading Bob on any given subject was one of the pleasures of reading the paper. I learned from Bob, I was engaged by Bob, and I was inspired by Bob. This is a cowardly and idiotic decision by some corporate mentality that bland is good. Take action, write, call and raise some hell at the paper, just the way Bob would if he were leading the charge...