We'll start with the two bad:

First, The New York Times completely ignores the announcement that the Medal of Honor will be awarded posthumously to Lt. Michael Murphy of Long Island. There is no excuse for this. Nada. Zippo. Zilch.

As one person noted:

"If he had killed 15 people, he'd be on the front page of their newspaper," fumed James Casey of Malverne, a Vietnam vet and past commander of the state American Le gion organization.

"It's amazing that a Long Islander and a New Yorker can receive the highest commendation this country can bestow and the Times doesn't see fit to mention it - especially on the heels of the Gen. Petraeus MoveOn.org ad," said Casey - referring to the paper's deci sion to run a full-page ad from a liberal group con taining the headline words "General Betray Us."

Second, Public Editor Clark Hoyt (as noted by Don Luskin) exposes New York Times Magazine's Deborah Sullivan as a barely more ethical Jayson Blair-type liar.

Finally, the funny. Maureen Dowd. OK, Dowd isn't funny, but her column is when she turns it over to Stephen Colbert.

I’d like to thank Maureen Dowd for permitting/begging me to write her column today. As I type this, she’s watching from an overstuffed divan, petting her prize Abyssinian and sipping a Dirty Cosmotinijito. Which reminds me: Before I get started, I have to take care of one other bit of business:

Bad things are happening in countries you shouldn’t have to think about. It’s all George Bush’s fault, the vice president is Satan, and God is gay.

There. Now I’ve written Frank Rich’s column too.

Now that's funny.