James Lileks and the Star-Tribune

Stupid is as stupid does:

As it happens, they've killed my column, and assigned me to write straight local news stories.

Really.

There is no dearth of reaction in the on-line world. Some are gleeful, others are not. Most are incredulous.

Three months after I started at the Times, we let our popular local columnist, Steve Corbett go. The explanation was simple and obvious; he was the highest-priced member of the editorial staff and the paper needed to trim costs.

We'd scrimped as much as was possible on paper, binder clips and manila folders. The next step was logically the re-organization of personnel.

In James' case it's not so clear as that. Or is it?