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How much do you want to bet that the Los Angeles Times reverses its decision to fold its local “California” section?

If it doesn’t quickly, the move will likely prove the tipping point when Southern California gave up on the once-great (and now bankrupt) paper. After the decision was announced Friday (LA Observed had the paper beaten on its own story by an embarrassing half-day, leaving a desperate Times blog to bizarrely write about the story by burying it at the bottom of a post and sourcing the news to LA Observed), Southland readers reacted with seething comments and canceled subscriptions. For a good read, check out the comments readers left with The Times. Here’s my favorite:

That’s positively insane. I almost wish I hadn’t already canceled my subscription so that I could cancel it all over again.

The sad part? Editors vehmently opposed the move, which means rookie newpaper Publisher Eddy Hartenstein and owner Sam Zell’s people pushed for it. By the way, there were plenty of alternatives if the paper needed to lose a section, including combining the sports and business section.

The outrage at the elimination of the California section served one purpose–it masked the announcement that The Times will be cutting 11% of what’s left of its journalists.