Sounds like Freedom Communications publisher Aaron Kushner's big ambitions at the Orange County Register have hit the wall.

Two-week furloughs were ordered up today for all but a few hands, the company's Long Beach daily is being folded into the newly-hatched Los Angeles Register except on Sundays, and voluntary separation packages are being offered to reporters and others willing to go away.

A memo from Kushner insists everthing's alright:

Critics will try to say that we have failed. To the contrary, the failure would be if we did not try at all, or if in our measured success we did not adapt so that we could continue to invest in our growth.

Media blogger Jim Romenesko has the whole memo.

OC Weekly's Gustavo Arellano has Kushner's furloughs FAQ filed under "OC Register Death Watch."

And in the we-had-to-destroy-this-village-in-order-to-save-it vein, there's Freedom's flackage on how all but killing off its Long Beach project is good for its Long Beach project.