Here’s A Surprise

After what appeared to be an initial flat rejection, the family that controls Dow Jones (and the Wall Street Journal) has announced that it will consider the surprise offer of a buyout made by Rupert Murdoch.

NEW YORK - The family that controls Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, said late Thursday that it would consider a bid from media mogul Rupert Murdoch to buy the company, as well as other potential offers.

The Bancrofts said in a statement that they would meet with Murdoch to discuss his bid, which became public in early May. The statement shows a softening of the position of the family members, who had previously indicated that they intended to block Murdoch's bid to buy the company.

The Bancrofts said the family "remains resolute in its commitment to preserve and protect the editorial independence and integrity of The Wall Street Journal," but had also concluded that "the mission of Dow Jones may be better accomplished in combination or collaboration with another organization, which may include News Corporation."

Despite the Journal's tremendous prestige and clout in the business world, Dow Jones remains a relatively small company compared with large media operators such as Murdoch's News Corp., whose operations such as Twentieth Century Fox, Fox News Channel and MySpace span the globe. The $5 billion offer that Murdoch made for Dow Jones could easily be paid out of News Corp.'s cash stockpile.

Murdoch has said he would invest in the Journal and ensure its editorial independence, something that the Bancroft family as well as employees of Dow Jones say is paramount to the company's mission.

However, the union representing Journal employees has been steadfastly opposed to Murdoch's overture, saying he would likely damage the paper's quality and compromise its independence. Jim Ottaway Jr., a former board member who controls 5 percent of the company's voting power, has said he is also opposed to Murdoch's bid.

I actually thought this was a dead deal when the initial rejections came out. But there is a lot of money in play here, too. Murdoch's tender represented a premium of about 65% over the nominal share price - that's a lot. And frankly, bigger operations are probably beginning to damage Dow Jones.

Side note: I once made a business trip to Boston (this must have been in the early-to-mid 1980's) and was in a hotel in downtown Boston for a full week. One night I went over to the Bull and Finch tavern - which was the pub used for exterior shots for the television series Cheers. Believe me, the interior bore no resemblance whatsoever to the television set they used. Basically, it was a dive. But I was having a beer and watching a football game there since it got me out of the hotel room. I started talking to a guy sitting next to me at the bar and ended up trying to explain the intricacies of American football to him. He was an Australian who worked for Rupert Murdoch and was in town to discuss a deal about something or other. He didn't go into details, obviously, since it was a business deal. But he really had a hard time with American football. When I left he was muttering something about turnovers and downs.

Hello Darkness - Redux

The silence of the complicit. More than a week after the release of documents that show al Qaeda torture methods and after the release of 41 Iraqis from an al Qaeda torture chamber only Fox News and CNN have written about it and shown the American public the pictures. No other major media outlet has. But they sure had a lot of time to spout about abu Ghraib and run the pictures continuously.

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The U.S. Defense Department released photos last week of an al-Qaeda torture chamber in Iraq, which showed various torture tools—blow torches, meat cleavers, hammers, drills, metal files—drawings of torture methods, and photos of actual victims found in another house in Karmah who had been burned, mutilated, and tortured in myriad ways.

To their credit, CNN and Fox News Channel ran stories on the declassified material. Yet nine days since the material was released, neither ABC, CBS, NBC, The New York Times nor The Washington Post has run a story with the photos of this shocking evidence of al-Qaeda’s barbarism.

I'll add this: I have not seen any of the left wing sites that hyperventilated about abu Ghraib say one word about the barbarous enemy we are facing. (If any have, provide a link in comments.) Silence is complicity, folks. Damning the actions of some American troops (who have been punished for their actions) yet failing to even mention actions that are several orders of magnitude worse by sworn enemies of this nation amounts to enabling behavior.

Hello Darkness.

AP Fauxtography Writ Large

This is positively hysterical. AP has released a photograph purporting to show the newest photographic evidence of the Loch Ness monster.

The photograph is actually one that was taken in 1933 and is known as "The Surgeon's Photo". It is a well documented fraud.

For years skeptics were sure that the photo was somehow a hoax. But no rigorous studies of the image were conducted until 1984 when Stewart Campbell analyzed the photo in a 1984 article in the British Journal of Photography. Campbell concluded that the object in the water could only have been two or three feet long, at most, and that it probably was an otter or a marine bird. He suggested that it was likely that Wilson knew this to be the case. But as it turned out, Campbell was wrong. The object in the water was not a form of marine life. It was a toy submarine outfitted with a sea-serpent head. This was revealed in 1994 when Christian Spurling, before his death at the age of 90, confessed to his involvement in a plot involving both Wetherell and Colonel Wilson to create the famous 'Surgeon's Photo.'

According to Spurling, he had been approached by Wetherell (his stepfather) who wanted him to make a convincing serpent model. The model was then taken to Loch Ness, photographed, and the pictures were given to Wilson, whom Wetherell felt would be a creditable front man, since he was a surgeon. Apparently Wetherell's motive for concocting the elaborate plot was revenge, since he was still smarting from his humiliation over the hippo-foot tracks. "We'll give them their monster," his son later remembered him saying.

Ours was at least more creative. (The link to the AP photo is provided, but it will almost certainly be memory holed in a very short time. Hence the screen shot.

UPDATE: Wretchard at the Belmont Club posted this absolute gem from YouTube. I'm cheerfully ripping it off - it's too good not to share. (But you should go over and read his post which makes a very good point.)

Interesting

I don't link to the Washington Times all that often, but this is kind of interesting. The Republican National Committee has fired all of its in-house phone solicitors. They say it is because it would cost too much to update the phone bank equipment. The fired employees are singing a different tune:

The Republican National Committee, hit by a grass-roots donors' rebellion over President Bush's immigration policy, has fired all 65 of its telephone solicitors, Ralph Z. Hallow will report Friday in The Washington Times.
    Faced with an estimated 40 percent fall-off in small-donor contributions and aging phone-bank equipment that the RNC said would cost too much to update, Anne Hathaway, the committee's chief of staff, summoned the solicitations staff last week and told them they were out of work, effective immediately, the fired staffers told The Times.
    The national committee yesterday confirmed the firings that took place more than a week ago, but denied that the move was motivated by declining donor response to phone solicitations.
    "The phone-bank employees were terminated," RNC spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt wrote by e-mail in response to questions sent by The Times. "This was not an easy decision. The first and primary motivating factor was the state of the phone bank technology, which was outdated and difficult to maintain. The RNC was advised that we would soon need an entire new system to remain viable."

The employees also say why donations have dropped so fast and so badly:

There has been a sharp decline in contributions from RNC phone solicitations, another fired staffer said, reporting that many former donors flatly refuse to give more money to the national party if Mr. Bush and the Senate Republicans insist on supporting what these angry contributors call "amnesty" for illegal aliens.
    "Everyone donor in 50 states we reached has been angry, especially in the last month and a half, and for 99 percent of them immigration is the No. 1 issue," said the former employee.

Keep in mind that this is coming from fired employees who may not be completely objective in their assessment. But it sounds about right. The real base of the Republican party is angry about this deal the Senate cooked up. And, according to polls, so are a lot of the Democratic base and a lot of independents.

A LOT of politicians from both parties are going to get their political heads handed to them over this issue.

Nessie Found - Again!

An "amateur scientist" has taken new video of something swimming in Loch Ness. He says he isn't sure what it is, other scientists say they don't know what it is, either, but appear to be leaning toward it being an otter or a seal.

EDINBURGH, Scotland - She's as much an emblem, and a tourist draw, as tartan, bagpipes, and shortbread. And now Nessie's back. An amateur scientist has captured what Loch Ness Monster watchers say is among the finest footage ever taken of the elusive mythical creature reputed to swim beneath the waters of Scotland's most mysterious lake.

"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this jet black thing, about 45-feet long, moving fairly fast in the water," said Gordon Holmes, the 55-year-old a lab technician from Shipley, Yorkshire, who took the video this past Saturday.

He said it moved at about 6 mph and kept a fairly straight course.

"My initial thought is it could be a very big eel, they have serpent-like features and they may explain all the sightings in Loch Ness over the years."

Loch Ness is surrounded by myth and mystery, as it is the largest and deepest inland expanse of water in Britain. About 750 feet to the bottom, it's even deeper than the North Sea.

Nessie watcher and marine biologist Adrian Shine of the Loch Ness 2000 center in Drumnadrochit, on the shores of the lake, viewed the video and hopes to properly analyze it in the coming months.

"I see myself as a skeptical interpreter of what happens in the loch, but I do keep an open mind about these things and there is no doubt this is some of the best footage I have seen," Shine said.

There's a glimpse of the video at this news site. Frankly, we don't see what all the ruckus is about. If they'd just called, we would have been happy to share our video from Loch Ness with them.

“A Huge Hill Rolling Over And Over”

At 4:07 PM on May 31, 1889, more than 20 million tons of water, carrying virtually everything that had once stood in the Conemaugh Valley, struck Johnstown, Pennsylvania. More than 2,200 people died in the flood or, even more horribly, trapped in the fire that flashed through the wreckage of the town that had collected at a stone railroad bridge.

On May 28, 1889, a storm formed over Nebraska and Kansas, moving east. When the storm struck the Johnstown-South Fork area two days later it was the worst downpour that had ever been recorded in that section of the country. The U.S. Army Signal Corps estimated that 6 to 10 inches (150 to 250 mm) of rain fell in 24 hours over the entire section. During the night small creeks became roaring torrents, ripping out trees and debris. Telegraph lines were downed and rail lines were washed out. Before daybreak the Conemaugh River that ran through Johnstown was about to leave its banks.

During the day, the situation worsened as water rose in the streets of Johnstown. Then, in the middle of the afternoon of May 31st, the South Fork Dam, 14 miles (23 km) upstream, burst, allowing the 20 million tons of Lake Conemaugh to cascade down the Little Conemaugh River. On its way downstream towards Johnstown, the crest picked up debris, such as trees, houses, and animals. Occasionally this debris formed a temporary dam at narrow parts of the canyon, which caused water to build up behind this dam before breaking through. Because of this, the force of the surge would gain strength periodically, resulting in a stronger force hitting Johnstown than otherwise would be expected. Just before hitting the main part of the city, the flood surge hit the Cambria Iron Works, taking with it railroad cars and barbed wire.

The inhabitants of the town of Johnstown were caught by surprise as the wall of water and debris bore down on the village, traveling at 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) and reaching a height of 60 feet (18 m) in places. Some, realizing the danger, tried to escape, but most people were hit by the surging floodwater. Many people were crushed by pieces of debris, and others became caught in barbed wire from the wire factory upstream. Those who sought safety in attics, or managed to stay aloft of the flood water on pieces of floating debris, waited hours for help to arrive.

At Johnstown, the Stone Bridge, which was a substantial arched structure, carried the Pennsylvania Railroad across the Conemaugh River. The debris that was carried by the flood formed a temporary dam, stopping further progress of the water. The flood surge bounced upstream along the Stoney Creek river. Eventually, gravity caused the surge to return to the dam, causing a second wave to hit the city, but from a different direction.^[1] Some people who had been washed downstream became trapped in an inferno as debris that had piled up against the Stone Bridge caught fire, killing 80 people. The fire at the Stone Bridge burned for three days. Afterwards, the pile of debris there covered 30 acres (120,000 m²). As of 2007, the Stone Bridge is still standing, and is often portrayed as one of the images of the flood.

The National Park Service has a teacher's guide that has a number of maps and photos as well as some eyewitness accounts.

The wave headed toward East Conemaugh. A witness said the water by now was almost obscured by the debris, resembling "a huge hill rolling over and over,"tossing up logs high above its surface. Before the flood hit East Conemaugh, train engineer John Hess tried to warn the residents by tying his train whistle down and racing toward town ahead of the wave. His warning saved many, but 50 people died, including about 25 passengers on trains that had been stranded in the town by earlier flooding caused by the rain.

The aftermath of the Johnstown Flood was the first time the fledgling American Red Cross ever performed their now-familiar disaster relief efforts.

And You Thought It Was Just Conservatives

That have a low regard for the press these days. Not so! We can prove that this phenomenon is not confined to one or the other political wings. It isn't even confined to the human race! A deer registered his dislike for the press just this morning in New Brunswick, Canada!

FREDERICTON (CP) - There was a four-legged intruder Thursday in the New Brunswick legislative press gallery in Fredericton.

A young deer entered through an open door of the building next to the legislature shortly before 8 a.m.

Video captured by security cameras shows the deer cross the lobby and briefly enter an elevator, before bolting into offices used by reporters.

The deer jumped onto a desk, smashing a keyboard and leaving clumps of hair.

That was just a warning, of course. The deer are the first enforcers the Animal Uprising™ sends in when it wants to intimidate others. If that doesn't work, they start badgering. With real badgers.

Hell Hamsters Hunger For Haunch Of Human

Britain is under siege - yet again - by the minions of the Animal Uprising™. This time it is man-eating hamsters.

A man was taken to hospital with serious breathing difficulties after being bitten by his daughter's hamster.

The 50-year-old suffered a severe allergic reaction after the creature gnawed him.

It happened as he tried to rescue it from under the floorboards at his home in Worcestershire.

The hamster had been accidentally let out of its cage by the man's seven-year-old daughter.

Bad enough that the carnivorous "pet" is going after the hand that fed it, but it's also using biological warfare! Anyone who has hamsters in the house, beware. You may be harboring an assassin in your home. An assassin who might just eat you.

The Twitch Of A Corpse

Gerard Baker, US editor of the Times of London, takes a look at what is happening in Europe right now. Is it a rebirth, a renewal or the last twitch of a corpse just before rigor mortis sets in?

If you've heard the celebratory noises coming out of European capitals of late, you could be forgiven for thinking that, as with Mark Twain's prematurely recorded demise, reports of Europe's death may have been greatly exaggerated. For a continent in the supposed grip of demographic implosion, economic stagnation, political paralysis and existential anomie, the news has been oddly cheerful recently.

In the past year, the rate of economic growth in the eurozone has actually overtaken that of the U.S. The market capitalization of companies quoted on European stock exchanges has surpassed American corporate worth for the first time ever. London has edged ahead of New York in most categories as global financial capital. The euro, closely watched in Europe as a barometer of continental self-respect, is close to its highest level ever against the dollar……

…….Is it possible, then, that the writers who have spent the past few years predicting Europe's collapse could be wrong? The short answer is: no. Even a corpse has been known to twitch once or twice before the rigor mortis sets in. The longer answer is provided by Walter Laqueur in "The Last Days of Europe," one of the more persuasive in a long line of volumes by authors on both sides of the Atlantic chronicling Europe's decline and foretelling its collapse.

Unlike the Euro-bashing polemics of a few of those authors, Mr. Laqueur's short book is measured, even sympathetic. It is mercifully free of references to cheese-eating surrender monkeys and misplaced historical analogies to appeasement. The tone is one of resigned dismay rather than grave-stomping glee. This temperate quality makes the book's theme–that Europe now faces potentially mortal challenges–all the more compelling.

The demographic problem is by now so familiar that it hardly bears restating. Mr. Laqueur notes that the average European family had five children in the 19th century; today it has fewer than two, a trend that will shrink the continent's population in the next century on a scale unprecedented in modern history.

The failure of Europeans to reproduce makes it vulnerable to internal schism. Too often Europe has reacted to the growing threat posed by extremists among its minorities with a tolerance and self-criticism that has bordered on capitulation. Meanwhile, social tensions increase, not least because of high emigration to Europe from Muslim countries and high birth rates among Muslim populations. No one has yet found a good way of integrating those populations into mainstream European society.

A lot of people have been warning about the demographics for a long time now. And those demographics should rightly terrify Europeans. The flaccid response to provocations from islamist extremists should also worry them. Is it still possible to pull back from the edge? It really doesn't appear likely at all.

A Look Back At The Republican Victory - In 2008

James Pinkerton, writing in Newsday, has a cautionary tale for Democrats on how to lose in 2008. I don't necessarily agree across the board with him, but one section really strikes me:

On immigration, the GOP finally exorcised itself - rejecting the president's not-so-well-disguised amnesty plan. Whereupon Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) presidential prospects were blown away; the Arizonan seemed to disappear in a dust-devil of four-letter insults aimed at fellow Republicans.

Opponents of the 2007 immigration bill, led by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), forced a series of votes on hot-button issues: Should English be the official language of the United States? Should illegal aliens be able to collect Social Security benefits? Should bilingualism be protected? Should dual citizenship with Mexico be expanded?

In each instance, The New York Times counseled the Democrats to vote in favor of "sophisticated" open-borders liberalism. And, of course, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), each hungering for The Times' presidential endorsement, were eager to please. But the "Reagan Democrats" - the folks who had elected populist Democrats such as Jim Webb and Jon Tester to the Senate in 2006 - were not so pleased.

So when the Republicans finally found their voice on immigration, the Reagan Democrats were re-Reaganized. Finally, Republicans were speaking about realism and the national interest, always a winner for them.

Obviously, anyone familiar with this blog knows this is pretty much where I stand on the issue of illegal immigration. It's amusing, in a sad sort of way, to see the same people who tout polls on Iraq as being the reason for their attempts to cut and run completely ignore the huge, huge poll numbers that say that the voters want the border controlled first. If that is done everything else can be worked out. This will be a huge issue in the 2008 elections.

Harry Potter Moves To Florida

The Daily Mail is reporting the JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, has given her blessing for the Universal theme park in Orlando to open a Harry Potter themed area in their amusement park. (It isn't exactly a theme park in itself as the story reports, merely a section of the Islands of Adventure park.)

Harry Potter author J K Rowling has given the go-ahead for a theme park dedicated to the schoolboy wizard.

The park, expected to open in Orlando in 2009, will feature scenes from the best-selling books, including Hogwarts school and the village of Hogsmeade.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will offer fans a "one of a kind" opportunity to experience the environment of their favourite character, bosses behind the project said.

The park is a joint venture between Warner Bros Entertainment - producers of the Harry Potter films - and Universal Orlando Resort.

Oh goody. Now it will be even more crowded there. If that's possible, of course. The last time we went to Orlando, we had passes for Universal that gave us five consecutive days of admission there. I think we used three of those days - the crowds wore even the kids down so they didn't want to go back after that.