The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman often makes valid points on climate change and clean energy, but for a variety of reasons, he’s the paper’s most vehemently-ridiculed columnist. Unfortunately, his latest column, which appeared today in the NYT print edition, will do little to quiet such criticism.

It’s time to stop being wishy-washy about our value assessments. A few years ago, someone convinced me to drop the title “Best Blogs” from this annual list and change it to “Most Notable” blogs of the year. It made sense at the time, when the medium was still figuring itself out: chiefs were being chosen, voice still being refined. But as I began to assemble this year’s list, it became clear that, no, these blogs actually were my favorites, not merely the most interesting.

Last week, we told you about Harvard Business School professor and New York Times freelancer Prof. Mary Tripsas, busted in an ethical pickle for accepting a free trip. This Sunday, public editor Clark Hoyt took on the issue: “She will no longer be writing for The Times.” But are these rules right?

Lately, the New York Times has had a small bit of trouble getting its contributing writers to follow the rules. There have been writers plugging friends, helping themselves and going on press junkets, all in direct violation of the ethics rules. Again this weekend, Times watchdog blog NYTPicker caught a writer in an ethical pickle for taking a free trip. What’s the deal?

After the New York Times cut 100 jobs, editor-in-chief Bill Keller told his staff that they should not fear a “next round” of layoffs because more cuts were neither “planned or foreseen.” In a memo that circulated Friday, as reported by The Observer, Keller was somber, yet hopeful, but his statements echoed the ones he made last year. And it only got worse.

New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt was not messing around this weekend, as he used his Sunday column to highlight and explain in detail the ethical shortcomings of two recent Times articles. Doing his job with gusto, Hoyt took to task Charles DeLaFuente, a copy editor who used a column space to complain about his own JetBlue airline mishap, and Suzy Buckley, the freelance travel writer caught plugging her long-term boyfriend’s Miami restaurant. Public editors mean business!

New York Times travel writer Suzy Buckley is caught in a sensational tangle of journalistic ethics after notable watchdog blog NYT Picker is reported that Buckley used the TMagazine travel section of the paper to recommend a burger joint owned by her former boyfriend. And, oh yeah, he’s been accused of murdering an unborn baby. Scary Times!

Either not everybody at the Washington Post is on the same page about what “off the record” means exactly, or executive editor Marcus Brauchli is a liar: Did he or didn’t he know that the advertised salons would be off the record? That question and others have come to light after a letter from Brauchli to now-resigned Post marketing director Charles Pelton was sent to the Times by Pelton’s lawyer.

The New York Times crossword puzzle is a veritable gold mine. Online an annual subscription costs $39.95, which is why a $9.99 iPhone application seemed like such a steal — unlimited mobile use for a one-time payment of ten bucks! But insider blog NYT Picker is now reporting that the deal was too good to be true: anyone who has purchased the program so far will see their copy stop working in the next month or two — and the Times keeps the $9.99.

Willie Geist had Maureen Dowd call in to his new show Way Too Early With Willie Geist as his “Wake Up Call” to discuss her column in today’s New York Times comparing Sarah Palin to — who else? — Hillary Clinton. Turns out MoDo has a Palin shaped hole in her heart.