Eileen McNamara says the New York Times Co. treats the Globe like a "cheap whore." Rory O'Connor agrees. Given that the Times Co. is threatening to close the paper--without even deigning to publicly comment on this threat--I understand why they're pissed.

But without defending the Times Co.'s current MO, let me play devil's advocate.

Thanks to a reasonably successful buyout program and last week's layoffs of 20 editorial part-timers--including five part-time photographers--today's layoffs hit the Globe newsroom with less force than they might have otherwise.

Today's union casualties are as follows: "Names" columnist Paysha Rhone; sports copyeditor Ginger Deshaney, Globe West reporter Rachani Rathi; and business reporter Nicole Wong