Decimate

In the Roman Empire, the punishment for a mutinous legion was quite certain. One member of every ten was chosen by lot. The selected members were then executed. That practice was common enough that it had a specific word: decimate. Over the years, the meaning of that word has evolved and the one in ten part of it is considered obsolete in the dictionaries. But the old sense of the word comes to mind when I read this bit of news. The New York Times will be cutting almost one out of every ten members of its newsroom staff. 

After years of resisting the newsroom cuts that have hit most of the industry, The New York Times will bow to growing financial strain and eliminate about 100 newsroom jobs this year, the executive editor said Thursday.

The cuts will be achieved by “by not filling jobs that go vacant, by offering buyouts, and if necessary by layoffs,” said the executive editor, Bill Keller. The more people who accept buyouts, he said, “the smaller the prospect of layoffs, but we should brace ourselves for the likelihood that there will be some layoffs.”

The Times has 1,332 newsroom employees, the largest number in its history; no other American newspaper has more than about 900. There were scattered buyouts and job eliminations in The Times’ newsroom in recent years, but the overall number continued to rise, largely because of the growth of its Internet operations.

Shares in The New York Times Company rose almost 5 percent Thursday after the newsroom staff reductions were reported, closing at $18.84, up 86 cents.

The Times Company has made significant cuts in the newsrooms of some of its other properties, including The Boston Globe, as well as in non-news operations. Company executives say the overall head count is 3.8 percent lower than it was a year ago.

But with the industry’s economic picture worsening, the company is under increased pressure from shareholders — notably two hedge funds that recently bought almost 10 percent of the common stock — to do something dramatic to improve its bottom line.

For 2007, it recently reported earnings of $209 million on revenue of $3.2 billion.

Newspaper industry ad revenue fell about 7 percent last year, and 4.7 percent at The Times Company, and executives around the industry have projected that 2008 will be equally bad.

Other large newspapers have made much bigger cuts, proportionally, than those The Times is planning; some newsrooms are more than 20 percent smaller than they were early in this decade. 

Of course, the staffers aren't mutinous and they won't be executed. But they'll be out of jobs in a tough market for journalists. (Attention journalism school students! Are you sure you know what you're heading into?) The real problem is that people are not buying the stuff the majors newspapers are pushing. It is not the workmanship of the journalists. It is the editorial slant creeping into almost every aspect of the news that is repulsing the buying public. 

But notice, it isn't the editors or the publishers who pay the price for that bad policy. 

The Secrets Of The Great Seal Revealed: There Are None

A new traveling exhibition put together by the State Department will try to dispell the many myths and conspiracy theories that have spawned over the meaning of the Great Seal of the United States . Good luck with that – this are urban myths we're talking about – they have a life all their own. But still, it's some interesting history, even if it doesn't reveal the location of a vast treasure.

WASHINGTON — Conspiracy theorists take note: The myths surrounding one of America's oldest and most enduring national symbols are about to be debunked … if you believe the government, that is.

The keepers of the Great Seal of the United States, the familiar emblem on the back of the $1 bill, want you to know what it is not. It is not a sign that Freemasons run the country, it has nothing to do with the occult, and it does not contain clues to a fabulous hidden treasure.

It is rather the nation's stamp of authority, sovereignty and power, gracing our cash and embossing the most important of documents from its home at the State Department, which has held it since the days of Thomas Jefferson, the first secretary of state.

Not that the Seal's symbols — the all-seeing eye, the unfinished pyramid, the Latin phrases, the bald eagle clutching an olive branch and arrows and the number 13 — aren't powerful.

They are, historians say. Yet their meanings have been misidentified, misunderstood and misrepresented almost since the Continental Congress first commissioned the Seal in 1776.

It would be another six years before the original design was approved and another 128 before it evolved into its current form. Along the way, a movement to decipher the Seal's meaning with ancient Egyptian, mystical and otherwise otherworldly explanations has gained currency.

The article lists a long litany of strange theories about what the symbols mean. Alas, the State Department explains things a little more sanely than a lot of people will want to believe. The repeated use of the number 13 is not a reference to a secret cabal of powerful famlies but to – gasp! – the number of original colonies. That sort of thing. A lot of the Masonic symbols people see were (and are) indeed used by the Masons – but never exclusively. They were used by many other groups and in heraldry, which is what a lot of the images are actually derived from. 

If, of course, you believe that the State Department is actually telling the truth. Because we here at Blue Crab Boulevard know the real truth: Button Gwinnett was behind the entire thing.

“I Just Flew In From Miami….”

"….And, boy, are my wings tired. The Daily Mail has photos of a very unusual bird seen swimming about in a grimy  canal in Birmingham: A North American wood duck.

He has also been spotted waddling around the trendy shops and bars of the surrounding Mailbox complex.

Bird experts say the sighting is highly unusual.

Wood Ducks, also known as Carolina Ducks, are native to the wooded swamps, shallow lakes, marshes or ponds in eastern North America, the west coast of the U.S. and western Mexico.

They are one of the only species to perch or nest in trees and their heads bob back and forth when swimming, which makes them easy to spot.

With their green head, red-and-white bill and stripy body, they are sought after by collectors in this country.

This fellow could have escaped from such a collection, experts suggest, or he might have made the perilous 4,000-mile journey across the Atlantic.

If he did fly all the way, it would have been a "remarkable achievement"…..

Wood ducks are my own personal favorite of all the duck species. I have several wood duck decoys around the house as well as a lovely print by David Maass titled Tight Quarters. 

Bubba Slips Leash, Goes Back On Attack

Well, after the drubbing in South Carolina,the Hillary Clinton campaign appeared to put Bill Clinton on a very tight leash. He toned down his venom and faded back out of the headlines. Well, that didn't last long. He's back at it again – in a somewhat more muted tone, but Bubba is slinging barbs at Obama again.

ABC News' Sarah Amos reports that former President Bill Clinton — despite myriad promises he would stop assailing his wife's opponent given how it has backfired on her — upped his harsh attacks today in Tyler, Texas.

"There are two competing moods in America today," Clinton said. "People who want something fresh and new — and they find it inspiring that we might elect a president who literally was not part of any of the good things that happened or any of the bad things that were stopped before. The explicit argument of the campaign against Hillary is that 'No one who was involved in the 1990s or this decade can possibly be an effective president because they had fights.  We're not going to have any of those anymore.' Well, if you believe that, I got some land I wanna sell you."

ABC News' Sarah Amos is traveling with the former president and transcribed his comments.

For the record, in the 1990s, Obama was a civil rights attorney, community organizer, and was in the Illinois state senate.

As Jake Tapper observes, Bill Clinton seems to spend an awful lot of his stumping time for his wife defending his own legacy. Which is probably why his savage attacks in South Carolina backfired so badly. People remembered all there was to dislike about the Clintons. (There is a mildly amusing comeback from the Obama campaign at the link that could have been soooooo much better.  I would have fired back that Clinton's new theme song is "Don't Start Thinking About Tomorrow.")

The New Betamax

It looks like the high definition wars are all but over. This time it is Sony who has won, unlike the video wars. The Blu-Ray system appears to have triumphed over the HD-DVD format. Wal-Mart may be credited with the final blow to the rival system after they announced that they are dropping the format to focus exclusively on Blu-Ray.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) has decided to exclusively sell high-definition DVDs in the Blu-Ray format, dealing what could be a crippling blow to the rival HD DVD technology backed by Toshiba Corp.

The move by the world's largest retailer, announced on Friday, caps a disappointing week for HD DVD supporters, who also saw consumer electronics chain Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N) and online video rental company Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) defect to the Blu-ray camp.

In a statement on its Web site, Wal-Mart said that over the next few months it will phase out sales of HD DVD systems and discs. By June, it will sell only products in the Blu-ray format which was developed by Sony Corp (6758.T).

"We've listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases," said Gary Severson, a Wal-Mart senior vice president.

The move affects 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in the United States, as well as related online sites. The stores will continue to sell traditional DVD players and movies.

The so-called format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray has been a thorn in the side of retailers, which have had to commit shelf space to devices from both camps even as they field complaints from frustrated and confused customers.

Personally, I have not purchased either one of the systems. I had no pressing need for them and didn't want to make the wrong choice. So now the situation should stabilize somewhat and prices should begin to fall for the equipment and the movies. And there will be plenty of cheap HD-DVD stuff on eBay soon for the bargain hunters. They'll be over in the 8-Track section with the cassette tapes and the Betamax machines.

Obama’s Problems

Victor Davis Hanson on Obama's problems. Yes, he does have a number of them.

Under pressure to produce some facts and specifics, the Obama team is beginning to release a little on the economy, taxes, and new entitlements. But the problem is that Obama himself seems not familiar with the details, and still prefers talking only about hope and change. Wonks releasing details doesn't solve the problem. And it won't, until he, the candidate, can talk in serious fashion ex tempore about the specifics he wants to achieve.

The other problem could well be racial. His coalition initially was based on the notion that he would capture 60 percent of the black vote in a tough competition against the wife of our first honorific black president, and go on from there to cobble together a coalition with other minorities and elite whites. But his success seems to have been achieved with a slightly different calculus — 80-90 percent of the African-American vote, elite yuppie whites, and students and Moveon.org progressives.

The problem with that is illustrated by Hillary's last-ditch appeal to win Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania with working-class whites and Hispanics. Since the agendas and past voting records of Obama and Clinton are nearly identical, and since he is the far more inspirational candidate, she hopes to tap into a growing resentment that his appeal is boutique for whites, and based on racial solidarity among African-Americans; the former turns off the working classes and the latter other minorities as well as poor whites. I think squaring that circle is every bit as problematic as McCain pacifying the conservative base. And the Democrats would worry about a candidate coming into the convention and beyond that lost the popular primary vote in the key November states of California, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, and Pennsylvania.

There's more about the problems in the world and some of the people who complain most loudly about the United States. And why they do so. They'd love to have a weak US President over for lunch – as the main course, so to speak.

A lot about this election cycle has not lived up to earlier predictions. Obama continues to astound with his ability to hang tough and win not a few contests. But if he gets the nod, it will be a different ball game. He'll have to explain in detail how his many proposed programs will not cause taxes to skyrocket for all Americans. In other words how des he pay for all of those wonderful ponies that he is promising? How does he raise staggering amounts of money to spend  without bringing economic growth to a screeching halt? Or even send it reeling backwards.  

Shell Game

A British woman has made an exciting discovery. Upon cracking open and egg she had bought at the local market, she discovered another, intact egg inside the first one.

A woman was shell shocked after she cracked an egg – and found another one inside it.

Fran Vincent, 54, made the eggs-traordinary discovery when she opened the 5.50z free range egg to make a cake.

She was astonished to find a smaller egg – perfectly intact – inside the larger 3.5ins one, which she had bought from a supermarket.

Fran, a factory worker from Seaton, Devon, said: "I thought it looked a bit big – I thought it might have been a duck egg at first.

"I cracked it open and out came the white and yolk but inside was another egg in its shell. I have never seen anything like it before – they're almost like twins."

David Lanning, of Lloyd Maunder poultry firm, said it was "extremely rare" for a double egg to reach a customer.

He said: "An incongruity like this would normally be picked up during the checking phase at the farm.

"As it was being formed it passed down through the hen's oviduct – the passage from the ovaries to the outside of the body – where the shell is made.

"In young hens, ovulating can be quite irregular. The hen has obviously ovulated quickly twice. The second egg has caught up with the first and the shell has formed around the two of them.

"It's more common with young hens. It's unusual and doesn't happen that often. But it is extremely rare for it to reach the shop shelf."  

Finally, the truth is out. The closely guarded secret of how turduckens happen has finally been revealed! (We're assuming that there is yet another egg inside the second one.)

Race For A Trillion

Kimberley Strassel over at the Wall Street Journal has been trying to keep track of the spending proposals being thrown around by the two Democratic candidates. This is not an easy task since both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton seem to come up with new, expensive mandates every day. But the fact is that both candidates appear to be clawing desperately to reach the trillion dollar mark for new programs. With no explanation of how they propse to raise that kind of money to spend, other than to promise to soak the "rich."  At the rate they're going at it here, the "rich" will have to be defined as anyone earning more than $5 per month. Or even less. This gives John McCain a major opening, no matter who the nominee is.

This is going to be an old-fashioned debate on spending, and here the divide will be of Grand Canyon proportions. Democrats have presented themselves as the party of fiscal responsibility of late, a message that contrasted well with spendthrift Republicans in the 2006 elections. The Democratic presidential candidates will struggle to make that case, given both are inching toward the $900-billion-in-proposed-new-spending mark.

Mr. Obama's wish list for just one term? Some $260 billion over four years for health care. Another $60 billion for an energy plan. A further $340 billion for his tax plan. A $14 billion national service plan. A $72 billion education package. Also, $25 billion in foreign assistance funding, $2 billion for Iraqi refugees and $1.5 billion for paid-leave systems. (I surely forgot some.) Mr. Obama says he'll pay for these treasures by stopping the Iraq war and taxing the rich. But both Democrats have already spent the tax hikes several times over, and even a Ph.D. would struggle with this math. (Ed Note: That's about $775 million.)

Making a message of fiscal responsibility harder is Mr. McCain's reputation as a fiscal tightwad, and his role as one of the fiercest critics of his own party's spending blowout. Watch him also expand this debate to earmarks, as he's already done with an ad ripping into Mrs. Clinton for her $1 million request for a Woodstock museum. Mr. McCain's earmark requests last year? $0.

Mr. Obama's and Mrs. Clinton's economic speeches this week were noteworthy for sweeping government initiatives, straight out of FDR-land. Both propose a federally backed "infrastructure bank" that would finance projects with subsidies, loan guarantees and bonds. Both are vowing to "create" five million "green-collar" jobs in the environmental sector. These are in addition to giving government a huge new health-care role.

The fact is that these programs are wildly expensive and represent a permanent drain on already overburdened tax revenues. The tax increases required for all this will stop the economy dead in its tracks. And there is still the looming demographic nightmare of the boomers retirements. The word "rich" will have to be defined lower and lower. Don't believe it? Remember when Bill Clinton pushed his huge tax increases through, the rich were those earning over $200k. In the Rangel tax proposal that is already out on the table, the rich are defined as earning $150k – despite more than a decade of inflation. The rich just keep getting poorer. 

Cockatoo Madness

Flocks of cockatoos have been attacking the lights that illuminate the Melbourne Arts Center in Australia. So authorities have brought in a new sheriff to try and tame the unruly birds: an eagle named Zorro.

Staff at a Melbourne landmark have resorted to unusual methods to try to prevent damage to their building – a wedge-tailed eagle called Zorro.

They hope Zorro's presence on the roof of the city's Arts Centre will scare away white cockatoos that have been attacking its iconic tower.

The flocks of cockatoos have been pecking at the tiny lights that illuminate the 163-metre spire.

So far they have caused more than US$63,000 (£32,000) worth of damage.

Zorro will also be joined by a peregrine falcon named Bibi and the two birds will be brought to the building every day for the next six weeks as a trial.

"Cockatoos are part of their prey, so it's a natural solution," Arts Centre spokesman Jeremy Vincent told the French news agency AFP.

"The cockatoos aren't hurt, because the predators are tethered to the building, but their presence on the building acts as a deterrent." 

So they avoid "cruelty" to the cockatoos by inflicting cruelty on the raptors? Dangling juicy morsels of finger – er – talon food just out of reach? Tethering the birds of prey is a kinder, gentler solution? Sometimes the Disneyfication of the animal world makes no sense at all. 

Super Sale On Super Delegates

USA Today casts a hard – and somewhat jaundiced – eye on the Democratic party super delegates and the gyrations and machinations the Obama and Clinton campaigns are going through to secure their votes. It is not a really pretty picture.

What do former president Bill Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 21-year-old Marquette University student Jason Rae have in common? All are "super delegates" to the Democratic National Convention this summer in Denver.

If neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton emerges from the primaries and caucuses with a clear majority of regular delegates, these super delegates — mostly elected officials and members of the Democratic National Committee — could play an enormous and increasingly controversial role in picking the party's nominee for president.

Each of these super delegates counts the same as regular delegates, which are allocated on the basis of the balloting in each state. The supers will make up nearly 20% of the vote at the convention. And each one has as much say as about 10,000 voters.

For some of those voters, the power of these pooh-bahs, whether former presidents or former Senate pages who've never voted, might come as a shock. After turning out at the polls in record numbers, they could find that the decision on whom to nominate belongs to a bunch of party insiders……

…..Rae, who became a DNC member at age 17, has already had breakfast with Chelsea Clinton and a phone call from her father. Let's hope he doesn't end up with an ambassadorship before this is over.

I wish USA Today hadn't given the campaigns that particular idea. Both campaigns are funneling money to super delegates (Obama being the larger contributer). Regardless of how this all turns out, there is more than a whiff of an unsavory aroma coming from the Democrat's nomination process.

Illegal Commodity

All too often lost in all the conflicting rhetoric about illegal immigration is one persistent bit of nastiness: human trafficking. A major smuggling ring has just been broken up in Arizona, with authorities raiding a large number of "drop houses", arresting 20 so far (more arrests are expected) and detaining 210 illegal immigrants. Suggling illegal immigrants is big business. Authorities allege that the smuggling ring pulled in as much as $130,000 per week. And this is just one of many smuggling rings.

PHOENIX — In a case highlighting this city’s prominent role in the smuggling of illegal immigrants across the border, the authorities conducted a series of raids on Thursday, arresting what they said were the leaders of a ring that helped transport hundreds of people to way stations in Phoenix.

In some ways, it was just a typical day here, where the police regularly discover houses with dozens of people held by smugglers until they can pay their passage from Mexico. In a separate operation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and the Maricopa County sheriff here announced the arrests of more than 100 people suspected of being in the country illegally who were on probation for various crimes.

But the raids on Thursday morning, by a task force of state, local and federal officers, provided a glimpse behind what the authorities described as one of the more elaborate operations that bring thousands of people across the border in this state, which has more illegal crossings than any other.

At dawn, officers swarmed houses, mostly in western Phoenix, seizing ledgers, money, weaponry and people suspected of involvement in a major, lucrative cell that controlled the transportation of people from a border town, Naco, to Phoenix.

The authorities made 20 arrests, including those of two Cubans accused of directing the operation. They also detained 210 illegal immigrants and discovered 13 so-called drop houses that were way stations for smuggled immigrants, the police said. In all, the authorities planned to arrest about 75 people, they said.

Authorities say that the smugglers charge around $2,500 per person to bring the illegal into the country. They were running as many as four loads of up to ten illegals per day. Again, this was only one of the rings operating in Arizona – 100 drop houses were discovered last year.

Cult Of Personality

Charles Krauthammer rounds up a lot of thoughts on Obamamania then adds his own to the mix. The conclusion: Obama is running an amazingly fact-free campaign on a thin personal record with unsustainable promises. It's the genius of selling a free product.

Interestingly, Obama has been able to win these electoral victories and dazzle crowds in one new jurisdiction after another, even as his mesmeric power has begun to arouse skepticism and misgivings among the mainstream media.

ABC's Jake Tapper notes the "Helter-Skelter cultish qualities" of "Obama worshipers," what Joel Stein of the Los Angeles Times calls "the Cult of Obama." Obama's Super Tuesday victory speech was a classic of the genre. Its effect was electric, eliciting a rhythmic fervor in the audience — to such rhetorical nonsense as "We are the ones we've been waiting for. (Cheers, applause.) We are the change that we seek."

That was too much for Time's Joe Klein. "There was something just a wee bit creepy about the mass messianism … ," he wrote. "The message is becoming dangerously self-referential. The Obama campaign all too often is about how wonderful the Obama campaign is."

You might dismiss The New York Times' Paul Krugman's complaint that "the Obama campaign seems dangerously close to becoming a cult of personality" as hyperbole. Until you hear Chris Matthews, who no longer has the excuse of youth, react to Obama's Potomac primary victory speech with "My, I felt this thrill going up my leg." When his MSNBC co-hosts tried to bail him out, he refused to recant. Not surprising for an acolyte who said that Obama "comes along, and he seems to have the answers. This is the New Testament."

I've seen only one similar national swoon. As a teenager growing up in Canada, I witnessed a charismatic law professor go from obscurity to justice minister to prime minister, carried on a wave of what was called Trudeaumania. 

Ouch. Krauthammer points out that many Democratic strategists are worried that Obama might not be able to sustain the religious fervor through the entire campaign. Krauthammer is concerned that he might. The wakeup call would be very hard in that case. It would also be swift as all those promises are revealed to be unreachable or extremely painful and costly.  

More Satellite Shoot Down Information

The Washington Post has more detail about the attempt by the US to shoot down a disabled satellite sometime later this month. The primary reason given is that there is an almost full tank of hydrazine on board the satellite – which makes semse since the satellite malfunctioned almost as soon as it was launched. The 1,000 pounds of hydrazine could be a real danger if the tank survives reentry. Which has happened before when space shuttle Columbia broke up on reentry. Pentagon officials reject comparisons to the satellite shoot down China conducted.

The difference, Griffin said, "is, one, we are notifying, which is required by treaties and law, okay?" The Chinese satellite was destroyed at a much higher altitude — about 600 miles — creating a field of orbiting space debris that is hazardous for other spacecraft.

The United States and Soviet Union conducted anti-satellite tests in the mid-1980s but stopped once it became clear that the debris from the destroyed spacecraft became a danger to other satellites and even spaceships. Griffin said the low altitude at which the satellite will be targeted — about 150 miles — will minimize orbiting debris.

"The lower we can catch this, the quicker the debris reenters," he said. More than half the pieces will burn up or land before making two revolutions around Earth, and the rest will come down in "weeks, maybe a month, but it's a very finite period of time that we can manage."

Jeffrey said that the fuel tank is the only piece of the craft that was not expected to break up on reentry and that it is hoped that the missile can destroy it in space. If it hits the ground, it could leak gas and cause potentially fatal injury over an area of the size of about two football fields, he said, adding that "this is all about trying to reduce the danger to human beings."

Te Post, annoyingly, then says nebulous, unidentified "other experts" dispute that the tank might survive. Despite a hydrazine tank from Columbia surviving reentry. While the Pentagon also disputes contentions that they want to destroy whatever sensitive equipment is on board the satellite, I frankly don't care if they are partially motivated by that.

They are trying for a low-altitude, kinetic energy kill here. The warhead of the missile is not explosive.