Stereo Propaganda

LOS ANGELES – Web sites that buy original video clips often pay so little that "The Bannen Way," a flashy crime thriller debuting online, looked destined to be made poorly if it could be made at all.
Yet budding filmmakers Jesse Warren and Mark Gantt managed to hire 40-odd staff, including a boom operator, camerapeople — yes, more than one — and even production assistants on hand to offer sunscreen and sandwiches. And the production had actors familiar to some TV and movie audiences, including Michael Ironside, Robert Forster and Vanessa Marcil.
The secret to their success? Treat the Internet run like a TV or movie release, which often loses money on its on-screen debut, but can make healthy profits when issued on DVD or Blu-ray and later sold for reruns on cable or overseas.
With that in mind, major movie studios are now getting behind such productions, giving them a lift in budgets and quality — a far cry from the shaky camerawork and dubious special effects prevalent when Web video became a new phenomenon a few years ago.
For Warren and Gantt, who wrapped up shooting in October, a snazzy trailer they produced helped snag Sony Pictures Television as a partner.
"We came up with this idea," said Warren, 31. "There's no limit to how many episodes there can be in a Web series. So why don't we design it as a (feature-length movie) so we can sell it as a DVD feature at the end?"
Sony executives, it turns out, had the same idea.
The studio picked up the project in April and gave it a budget of around $1 million. That's nowhere near the $30 million-plus budgets of many Hollywood movies, but more than the producers were told they could sell it for. Web sites typically pay up to $5,000 for a short clip of original video; with 16 episodes, other Web sites might have paid around $100,000 for "The Bannen Way."
"This money buys more lights and more production value," said Gantt, 40.
Warren appeared to bask in the fullness of his crew: "We can afford extras rather than having our friends come in."
One quirk of the Web is that each episode must have a cliffhanger to keep online viewers coming back. In one scene, the audience learns for the first time that Neal Bannen, the title character, had been working for his mob boss uncle. Bannen's father is the chief of police, and viewers realize the son is about to be entangled in a cops-and-robbers struggle between father and uncle.
"It moves pretty well," Warren says, snapping his fingers. "We had breaks that would naturally lend itself to the Web."
Sony Pictures Television hopes the release will gain buzz and a few advertising dollars when it begins to debut in increments in January on the Sony-owned Crackle.com, a site targeted at males aged 18-34. Then, it will stop running for free online and get repackaged for sale to TV outlets, on iTunes and elsewhere.
Editing finished this month on the feature-length project. There's no substantial difference between the whole or spliced versions — just that the Web version has episodic breaks at certain climaxes.
Although the main goal is to drive traffic to Crackle.com, which Sony Corp. acquired when it was called Grouper for nearly $60 million in 2006, made-for-Web productions are expected to make a profit by themselves.
Thus, studios scrutinize projects before approving them and committing funding — green-lighting in industry speak. In this case, studio input during the production was also part of the process.
"We go through a very similar green-light process as we would for any piece of content in the studio," said Eric Berger, senior vice president of digital networks for Sony Pictures Television, which is planning to make 15 Web productions annually. "How and why we make them and where we will make money is conceived with every project."
Paramount Pictures's digital arm is also backing made-for-Web productions that can make additional money in other formats. Paramount spent $1 million to $3 million making a horror movie, "Circle of Ei8ht," which began showing on MySpace in installments in October in an initial run through Dec. 8. The series had generated nearly 5 million views online — which would rank it among the most-watched shows if it were on cable TV.

To help pay for production, Viacom Inc.'s Paramount lined up a key product-integration deal with PepsiCo Inc.'s Mountain Dew and sold rental and on-demand rights for one month exclusively to Blockbuster Inc. MySpace, which is owned by News Corp., kicked in marketing support.

"I don't think there's been a more expensive piece of content made for the Web," said Thomas Lesinski, president of Paramount Digital Entertainment, which has two other Web projects in the works.

He added that hiring professional talent and crew and paying for an original score will help sell "Circle of Ei8ht" when it makes it onto other platforms such as iTunes, DVD and video-on-demand.

"The stuff that we're creating could easily play on television," he said.

Brady Brim-DeForest, the co-founder of research and news site Tubefilter.tv, calls the renewed activity "the second coming of original programming online."

He cited the recent success of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," which "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon made during the writers strike last year.

He estimates "Dr. Horrible" cost $220,000 to make but brought in about $2.4 million within a year, after sharing advertising revenue on Hulu.com and selling the movie and soundtrack on iTunes, as well as DVDs and merchandise. It went on to win an Emmy.

Internet shows have also made the transition to television. After a one-episode flirtation on NBC, "quarterlife" found a home on the NBC Universal-owned Bravo network last year. Sci-fi Web series "Sanctuary" made it on Syfy, and "Secret Girlfriend" ran on Comedy Central this fall.

Yet for every Web series that is made with a modest budget and high-profile directors such as "The O.C." creator Josh Schwartz — who made "Rockville CA" for The WB's site — there are about 20 made independently on a shoestring, Brim-DeForest said.

"What's so spectacular is they are all drawing an audience, finding a niche," he said. "That's the power of the Internet as a distribution medium. It's very compelling."

In October, Michael Eisner's Web production startup Vuguru got a multimillion-dollar capital injection from a unit of Canada's Rogers Communications Inc. in a deal that gives Rogers the right to use Vuguru content on television, the Web or even its rental video stores in Canada.

Vuguru had already made several sales internationally. Its "Prom Queen" hit from 2007 was translated, recast and reshot for the Web in Japan. A dubbed version ran on cable TV in France and it ran as-is on Yahoo's Australian site.

Rogers' minority investment will ensure Vuguru can ramp up its production to some 15 projects a year, compared with a half dozen over the last two years combined, said Andy Redman, chief operating officer of The Tornante Company LLC, which owns a majority of Vuguru. The plan is to boost the staff to 30 in a few years, up from two people who currently work on Web projects full-time, he said.

Redman compared the growth of the new platform to cable television in the 1980s, when networks like ESPN, CNN and MTV were just getting going, reaching focused audiences at first and then growing.

Today, cable networks like AMC put on some of the most critically acclaimed series on TV, such as its Emmy-winning "Mad Men," and have largely cast off their reputation as being a receptacle for reruns or shows that failed on broadcast TV.

"It was the platform to be joked about," he said. "Five years later, they've realized this whole new medium passed me by."

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On the Net:

The Bannen Way: http://bit.ly/8pI4Ky

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: http://bit.ly/8D6Wjm

Rockville CA: http://bit.ly/6HRmCk

Vuguru: http://bit.ly/7IE3Ee

VAL GARDENA, Italy – Bode Miller's conditioning is strong and his sprained ankle is getting better. It's the wind and the light, however, that have been slowing the two-time overall World Cup winner.
Miller finished ninth Sunday as the Saslong downhill marked its 40th year. His performance was affected by a strong headwind that whipped up just as he and the other contenders took the course.
Manuel Osborne-Paradis won in 2 minutes, 1.27 seconds to give the injury-hit Canadian team a boost. Mario Scheiber of Austria was second, 0.13 seconds behind. Ambrosi Hoffmann of Switzerland and Johan Clarey of France shared third, 0.25 seconds behind the Canadian.
Osborne-Paradis, Hoffmann and Clarey each started before the wind shift.
"Take nothing away from the guys in the lead because they skied well," Miller said. "But there's two ingredients you need besides your skiing to win here.
"You're skis have to be fast on that day and you need to have the right start position and it's hard to predict what that start position is going to be because the wind moves around and the clouds come and then go away, but it was clear those guys had some favorable conditions."
Miller was an early starter in Friday's super-G and struggled with bad light to place fifth.
This time, Miller could at least console himself with the fact that his skiing was competitive with the likes of two-time defending champion Michael Walchhofer and Didier Cuche, who also had to deal with the wind.
Walchhofer placed fifth and Cuche — skiing with a broken rib — came 10th.
"Cuche said he skied well, I skied error-free, Walchhofer said he couldn't have skied any better and all of us are back a ways, so we just didn't have the luck today," Miller said.
Miller debated retirement over the summer and did virtually no offseason training. Then he injured his ankle during a team volleyball game in Val d'Isere, France, last week. But he's stopped taking painkillers and anti-inflammatory medicine for his ankle.
"That made it a little bit worse. But to recover between races I have to be off that stuff, otherwise I can't race four races in a row," he said. "It was sore but in the race it didn't seem to make much difference."
There has been an unusually high number of skiers injured this season but the Canadian team has been particularly hard hit, already losing downhill world champion John Kucera, Jean-Philippe Roy, Larisa Yurkiw and Kelly Vanderbeek before its home Olympics in Vancouver from Feb. 12-28.
Another Canadian, Francois Bourque, pulled up with a suspected torn ligament in his left knee Friday, and will probably also miss the rest of the season.
Osborne-Paradis was joined in the top 10 by teammate Robbie Dixon (sixth). Another Canadian, Erik Guay, was 11th.
"We know what our job is and what we have to do, and we're not letting what's going on around us to change that," Osborne-Paradis said.
It was the third victory of Osborne-Paradis' career and second this season, having also taken a super-G on home snow in Lake Louise, Alberta, last month.
Last season, a record five Americans finished in the top 10 of this downhill. This year it was six in the top 24. Marco Sullivan placed 12th, Steven Nyman was 18th, Erik Fisher 19th, Scott Macartney 23rd and Andrew Weibrecht 24th.

Nyman won at this course three years ago and this was his best downhill finish since he took ninth a year ago on the Saslong. The Sundance, Utah, resident started skiing again only last month after surgery on both knees.

"I'm back in the points, so I'm OK with that," said Nyman, who dropped down to the Nor-Am circuit and won two downhills in Lake Louise last week.

Ted Ligety skipped this stop to prepare for giant slalom and slalom races in nearby Alta Badia on Sunday and Monday. Miller will also race on the Gran Risa, having won the giant slalom in 2002.

"The GS I'm excited for. I made a change in my boots I'm pretty excited to try out," he said. "The slalom will be tough on my ankle."

TEHRAN, Iran – After months of denials, Iran acknowledged Saturday that at least three people detained in the country's postelection turmoil were beaten to death by their jailers.
The surprise announcement by the hard-line judiciary confirmed one of the opposition's most devastating and embarrassing claims against authorities and the elite Revolutionary Guard forces that led the crackdown after June's disputed presidential vote.
There was no immediate public reaction from the opposition, but some activists asserted that authorities under pressure over abuse claims were merely seeking to punish low ranking staff while shielding senior level officials who the opposition says are most to blame.
Still, the statement offered some rare vindication for the government's critics, who had rejected earlier explanations from the police and the judiciary that the detainees' deaths were caused by illnesses like meningitis, not physical mistreatment.
"The coroner's office has rejected that meningitis was the cause of the deaths and has confirmed the existence of signs of repeated beatings on the bodies and has declared that the wounds inflicted were the cause of the deaths," the judiciary statement said, according to the Web site of Iran's state TV.
The judiciary also said it has charged 12 officials at Kahrizak prison — three of them with murder, but it did not identify them. The prison, on the southern outskirts of the capital, Tehran, was at the center of the opposition's claims that prisoners were tortured and raped in custody.
Anger over the abuse claims, which emerged in August, extended far beyond the reformist camp, with influential conservative figures in the clerical hierarchy condemning the mistreatment of detainees.
The outrage forced Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to order the immediate closure of the Kahrizak facility.
The opposition says at least 72 protesters were killed in the postelection crackdown, but the government puts the number of confirmed dead at 30.
Authorities initially tried to repel the abuse claims by accusing the opposition of running a campaign of lies against the ruling system. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had even accused Iran's enemies of being involved in the crimes, a claim the opposition rejected as ridiculous.
Iran's police chief, Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, said in August that protesters were beaten by their jailers at Kahrizak, but he maintained at the time that the deaths were not caused by the abuse.
The opposition's criticism was implicitly aimed at the country's most powerful military force, the Revolutionary Guard, which operates with some autonomy from the ruling clerics and led the harsh crackdown and detention of protesters in the tense weeks after the election.
The unrest broke out after pro-reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi claimed he was robbed of the presidency through massive fraud in the vote.
Pressure around the abuse claims accelerated in early August.
One of the other pro-reform candidates defeated in the election, Mahdi Karroubi, said then that he had received reports from former military commanders and other senior officials that some detainees, male and female, were raped in custody to the point of physical and mental injury.
It also emerged that one of the detainees who had died in custody was the son of Abdolhossein Rouhalamini, a top aide to conservative presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei. That was a central factor in raising anger among government supporters.
His son, Mohsen Rouhalamini, was arrested during a July 9 protest and taken two weeks later to a hospital where he died within hours.
Saturday's judiciary announcement named him as one of the three people it had found to be victims of abuse. The other two were identified as Amir Javadi and Mohammad Kamrani.

Further adding to the outcry, prosecutors said this month that a doctor who exposed the torture of jailed protesters died of poisoning from a delivery salad laced with an overdose of blood pressure medication.

Their findings fueled opposition suspicions that he was killed because of what he knew.

The 26-year-old doctor, Ramin Pourandarjani, had testified to a parliamentary committee, reportedly telling them that one of the protesters he treated was the younger Rouhalamini and that he died from severe torture. He said he was also forced by security officials to list the cause of death as meningitis, according to opposition Web sites.

Pourandarjani died on Nov. 10 in mysterious circumstances, and authorities initially gave conflicting explanations, saying he was in a car accident, had a heart attack or committed suicide. Forensic tests later showed that the doctor died of "poisoning by drugs" that matched doses of propranolol found in a salad that was delivered to him, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said early this month.

The government's rivals did not immediately respond directly to the judiciary's statement Saturday.

One prominent reformist voice, former President Mohammad Khatami, told an audience of academics in western Iran on Saturday that the use of force against protesters demonstrates the government has little regard for human rights.

"A majority of the people are dissatisfied with the way the country is being administered," his Web site quoted him as saying.

He added that "a considerable portion of society" has objections over the official election results.

"These must be heard. They (people) must be convinced that the elections were really fair. Such convincing can't be achieved through jail, crackdowns and restrictions," Khatami said.

Iran's judiciary has also had a central role in authorities' efforts to silence the opposition. Since August, it has brought to trial more than 100 protesters, activists and pro-reform opposition leaders, accusing them of fueling the protests and being part of a plot to overthrow the government.

Iraq and women policeRegarding John Hughes's column "Female cops in Iraq? Arab women are seizing freedom.": To lump Iraq in with Saudi Arabia and compare women's experiences in the two countries makes it seem as if Iraq is as restrictive as one of the most conservative Islamic states in the world. This is false. Women in Iraq under Saddam Hussein (yes, Saddam) enjoyed posts in government, academia, and health services. They often worked outside the home. The state of women's rights around the Middle East is vastly different, and journalists, American military leaders in Iraq, and the American public should recognize this.
We must begin to understand the complexities of the region in order to develop better and more appropriate policies for US-Middle East relationships and joint development goals.
Heather McGann
Charlotte, N.C.
Right-wing rhetoric Regarding "The dangers of revolutionary right-wing rhetoric" , Walter Rodgers should research and write an article on "The dangers of revolutionary left-wing rhetoric." He might start with the threats on Sarah Palin's life and the vicious attacks on her and her family. I know he will find a treasure-trove of contemporary material to work with. Though Mr. Rodgers does express a valid concern for racial relations in our country, he shows a mind-set that is the underlying source of our residual racial problem today.
We have taken many steps to help improve the opportunities for our black community, but have overlooked the one thing that could rapidly bring about the change we all desire and eliminate the need for most of the other programs: education.
Studies have shown that education can eradicate the differences in income between blacks and whites in our society, which would in turn lead to the elimination of other disparities.
Ironically our black population votes overwhelmingly for the political left that keeps them locked in a lifestyle of permanent subservience and dependence.
Meanwhile, the overriding lust for power in Washington trumps all other concerns. This is what I "rage" against.
Frank Keeney
Littleton, Colo.
Thank you for Walter Rodgers's commentary. I attended a tea party and was shocked at the call to refight the Civil War! I was also disturbed that many of the people I spoke with, the same people who carried flags and the Constitution, were unaware of the 16th Amendment. Too many Americans dismiss Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and the teabaggers as the fringe. The calls for the president's death are an immoral misuse of religion from the likes of the Rev. Wiley Drake or Steven Anderson. Religious leaders need to speak out against the incitement of violence.
Steve Jozefczyk
Franklin, Wis.
Iran's realpolitikRegarding the opinion piece "The real reason Iran can't be trusted" by Mamoun Fandy: Iran is probably lying about its intent to build nuclear weapons, but it has nothing to do with its dominant religion.
First, every major religion allows lying under certain circumstances. Second, what country developing a nuclear weapons program hasn't concealed it? Third, the international system is anarchic, each state answers only to itself, forcing state leaders to act similarly in the ways they manipulate other states to maximize strategic interest.
Mr. Fandy also underestimates realpolitik by concluding that only when Iran "feels safe will it negotiate in good faith." In high stakes negotiations, skilled leaders use all the tools in their diplomatic arsenal, including "brinkmanship" and "mad dog diplomacy."
When my students choose to research a topic like "Islam causes terrorism," I advise them that it is extraordinarily difficult to tie religion to something as contemporary and practical as political activity, and unless they are theological experts, they run the risk of writing an ignorant paper based on stereotypes. That, unfortunately, is what Fandy has done.

Mike Lebson

Gettysburg, Pa.

Iran's foreign-policy decision-making is a very complex process, where different nodes of power debate and vie for influence with the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. The continued political struggle in Iran over the June election is more to blame for a lack of a breakthrough than religiously instructed deception.

Daniel Robinson

Haverford, Pa.

Pressure to win Brooke Williams's insightful commentary essay, "Let a child lose a game and learn to cope with failure" was welcome in this day when it seems our society is reluctant to let anyone – especially children – ever feel pain or even disappointment.

With the kind of pressure that's placed on winning in our society today it's no wonder that kids are afraid to lose. The current trend to shield them from failure is, perhaps, a reaction to this imbalance, which is also harmful.

Are they being taught that it's not whether we win or lose, but how we play the game? Or is our outlook now the famous "Winning is not the most important thing. It's the only thing"? Is that true for us, as adults? Is that how we are living? You can bet that the children are picking it up, regardless of what we say. If winning in life is more important to us than how we are playing the game of life, then the children are going to be terrified of losing.

We must begin to address these issues, and then we can also let kids fail on their own terms and learn to deal with it at their level – they can handle it.

Martin Wolf

New Milford, N.J.

Kurdistan caresThe article "In the Iraq war, Christians pushed to the brink" is right to highlight the plight of Iraqi Christians at the hands of terrorists and extremists. However, the accusations against the KRG are misleading.

In fact, the KRG has done more for the protection of minorities than any other entity in Iraq. Pope Benedict XVI praised our commitment to tolerance and peaceful coexistence when he met with Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani earlier this year.

The Monitor cites the KRG's "warm welcome" for Christians as a threat and a way of ensnaring vulnerable Christians. This ignores the fact that the majority of people from the ethnic and religious minorities in Ninevah Province welcome the presence of the Kurdish security forces and are grateful for the assistance provided by the KRG, especially during periods of intense sectarian violence and repeated intimidation.

The real problems in Ninevah governorate are the terrorists and the extremists, who are intent upon marginalizing minorities and also wish to marginalize the Kurds. If the KRG has intimidated and threatened Christians as the article implies, why would tens of thousands of Christian families flee to the Kurdistan Region to find refuge?

The article cites Christian resentment about a lack of jobs in one village of refugees in Dohuk. We acknowledge that internally displaced persons need jobs and healthcare as well as refuge, and this is a challenge that faces every government dealing with an influx of refugees.

The KRG is ready to look into every allegation made by HRW [Human Rights Watch], and to work on them under the legal framework of both the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, with the help of HRW and other reputable human rights organizations.

The Kurdistan Re­gion­al Government has welcomed thousands of Christians to its cities and provided humanitarian aid and other support in Ninevah Province, which is outside our direct administration.

Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman

High representative to the United Kingdom, Kurdistan Regional ­government

[Editor's note: The KRG's response to the HRW report came after the story in question was sent to press (the Monitor obtained an advance copy of the report). However, we could have mentioned it when we posted the story online Nov. 10, and we regret the omission.]

Women can jumpRegarding the Nov. 8 article, "Why women can't ski jump in the Winter Olympics": I was shocked to hear that there is still such gender discrimination [in ski jumping], especially at the Olympic Games. The Olympics should be an event where everyone is equally given the opportunity to display their talents.

Lucy Harris

Statesboro, Ga.

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BRUSSELS – The European Union rejected requests Tuesday that it support a Palestinian plan for gaining recognition as an independent state at the U.N. Security Council without Israeli consent.
Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told reporters "the conditions are not there as of yet" for such a move. "I would hope that we would be in a position to recognize a Palestinian state, but there has to be one first, so I think that is somewhat premature."
The EU's foreign ministers on Tuesday were discussing ways to coordinate with the United States to get Palestinians and Israelis back to peace talks, said Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's external relations commissioner.
"The most important thing until now is to really help the Americans bring both sides to the table," she said.
The 27-nation bloc has taken a back-seat approach to recent efforts by President Barack Obama and his special envoy for Mideast peace, George Mitchell, to restart peace talks between the two sides.
Bildt said he could understand why the Palestinians were suggesting such a move, as a way to break the current deadlock. "It is clearly an act borne by a difficult situation where they don't see any road ahead and I can understand that," said Bildt.
He reiterated EU calls that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu move to freeze all Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank, a key Palestinian demand it is pushing for before it will return to negotiations.
Netanyahu, who refuses to halt settlement construction, has repeatedly urged the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table without conditions.
Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, told reporters that moving to set up a viable Palestinian state "has to be done with time and with calm and in an appropriate moment." He added no one is "looking for that today."
Palestinian officials launched an appeal to EU countries on Monday to back their plan while the idea of seeking U.N. intervention has gained support in the Arab world, as a way to break the impasse in peacemaking.
The Palestinians seek a state in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in 1967. Israel pulled its soldiers and settlers out of Gaza in 2005, but has annexed east Jerusalem and maintains a military occupation in the West Bank. Islamic Hamas militants violently wrested control of Gaza from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas loyalists in a 2007.
The Palestinian U.N. plan also has been rejected by Washington, which along with the EU backs a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Israeli government has threatened to nullify past accords with the Palestinians if they take any unilateral action.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday that any Palestinian move on independence "will be countered by a unilateral move on our part."
The Palestinians have not set a timetable for presenting a formal proposal to the Security Council. But with the backing of the Arab League, they have been lobbying U.N. member states to support such a proposal when it is submitted.

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
CIT Group Inc's bankruptcy case was reassigned on Monday to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper following the recusal of Judge Robert Gerber, who had been assigned the case hours earlier.

A courtroom deputy for Gropper said Gerber recused himself from the case. The deputy did not give a reason for the recusal. Gerber's chambers had no immediate comment.

CIT, a source of financing to about one million small and mid-sized businesses, filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors on Sunday after gathering support from most of its bondholders for its "prepackaged" reorganization.

The bankruptcy filing, one of the five largest in U.S. history, followed a failed debt exchange offer.

CIT said it hopes to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of the year and reduce its debt by $10 billion. The New York-based company intends to keep lending, and a quick reorganization is crucial if it expects to retain most customers.

Gropper has been a bankruptcy judge since 2000. His cases have included the reorganization of Northwest Airlines Corp, which later merged with Delta Air Lines Inc, and the current proceedings for the giant mall owner General Growth Properties Inc.

Before joining the bench, Gropper was a partner at White & Case, where he was involved in many of the largest U.S. bankruptcies, including Federated Department Stores and Texaco. He has degrees from Yale University and Harvard Law School.

According to its bankruptcy petition, CIT had $71 billion of assets and $64.9 billion of liabilities on June 30.

In morning trading, CIT shares fell 44 cents, or 61 percent, to 28 cents. The New York Stock Exchange said it would suspend trading in CIT prior to Tuesday's market open.

The case is In re CIT Group Inc, US Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, Case No. 09-16565.

(Reporting by Chelsea Emery and Jonathan Stempel; editing by John Wallace)

BARCELONA (Reuters) –
A company behind plans to open the first hotel in space says it is on target to accept its first paying guests in 2012 despite critics questioning the investment and time frame for the multi-billion dollar project.

The Barcelona-based architects of The Galactic Suite Space Resort say it will cost 3 million euro ($4.4 million) for a three-night stay at the hotel, with this price including an eight-week training course on a tropical island.

During their stay, guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and travel around the world every 80 minutes. They would wear velcro suits so they can crawl around their pod rooms by sticking themselves to the walls like Spiderman.

Galactic Suite Ltd's CEO Xavier Claramunt, a former aerospace engineer, said the project will put his company (http://www.galacticsuite.com) at the forefront of an infant industry with a huge future ahead of it, and forecast space travel will become common in the future.

"It's very normal to think that your children, possibly within 15 years, could spend a weekend in space," he told Reuters Television.

A nascent space tourism industry is beginning to take shape with construction underway in New Mexico of Spaceport America, the world's first facility built specifically for space-bound commercial customers and fee-paying passengers.

British tycoon Richard Branson's space tours firm, Virgin Galactic, will use the facility to propel tourists into suborbital space at a cost of $200,000 a ride.

Galactic Suite Ltd, set up in 2007, hopes to start its project with a single pod in orbit 450 km (280 miles) above the earth, traveling at 30,000 km per hour, with the capacity to hold four guests and two astronaut-pilots.

It will take a day and a half to reach the pod - which Claramunt compared to a mountain retreat, with no staff to greet the traveler.

"When the passengers arrive in the rocket, they will join it for 3 days, rocket and capsule. With this we create in the tourist a confidence that he hasn't been abandoned. After 3 days the passenger returns to the transport rocket and returns to earth," he said.

More than 200 people have expressed an interest in traveling to the space hotel and at least 43 people have already reserved.

The numbers are similar for Virgin Galactic with 300 people already paid or signed up for the trip but unlike Branson, Galactic Suite say they will use Russian rockets to transport their guests into space from a spaceport to be built on an island in the Caribbean.

But critics have questioned the project, saying the time frame is unreasonable and also where the money is coming from to finance the project.

Claramunt said an anonymous billionaire space enthusiast has granted $3 billion to finance the project.

(Writing by Stuart McDill; Editing by Belinda Goldsmith and Miral Fahmy)

Excess of loss contracts, like those commonly used for umbrella and general liability insurance, or to insure against property losses, will typically have a low ratio of premium paid to maximum loss recoverable. This ratio (expressed as a percentage), commonly called the rate on line for historical reasons related to underwriting practices at Lloyd's of London, will typically be low for contracts that contain reasonably self-evident risk transfer. As the ratio increases to approximate the present value of the limit of coverage, self-evidence decreases and disappears.

Recent theoretical economic research on the social welfare effects of Progressive's telematics technology business process patents have questioned whether the business process patents are pareto efficient for society. Premliminary results suggest that they are not, but more work is needed.

Life Insurance

DULUTH, Minn. – A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to driving his motorized La-Z-Boy chair while drunk. A criminal complaint says 62-year-old Dennis LeRoy Anderson told police he left a bar in the northern Minnesota town of Proctor on his chair after drinking eight or nine beers.
Prosecutors say Anderson's blood alcohol content was 0.29, more than three times the legal limit, when he crashed into a parked vehicle in August 2008. He was not seriously injured.
Police said the chair was powered by a converted lawnmower and had a stereo and cup holders.
Sixth Judicial District Judge Heather Sweetland stayed 180 days of jail time Monday and ordered two years of probation for Anderson. His attorney, David Keegan, did not immediately return a call for comment.
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Information from: Duluth News Tribune, http://www.duluthsuperior.com

The Stanton T.90 turntable is impressive looking, with sleek lines, well-placed features, and a build quality that inspires confidence. The T.90 measures 17-inches wide, 14.5-inches deep, and 5.5-inches tall (including tone arm). Much of the T.90's exterior is made from high-grade plastic, which compared with venerable turntable staples such as the Technics SL-1200, feels a bit less professional. Sacrificing an all-metal body has an advantage, however, because the T.90 feels much lighter than many professional turntables.

The Stanton T.90 turntable is a great tool for aspiring and professional DJs. If you're only looking for a means to digitize your collection of vinyl gems, you'd be much better off purchasing a simpler, consumer-grade USB turntable like the Ion iTTUSB or just purchasing a quality computer audio card and outfitting your existing turntable with a phono-to-line preamp such as the Rolls VP29.

USB Turntable

Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- White House officials say they are
growing frustrated that the banking industry is fighting
President Barack Obama’s plan to overhaul financial regulations
after taxpayer bailouts helped firms restore profits and near-
record compensation for executives.

Their anger is directed even at firms such as New York’s
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that have
paid back their government assistance and reported a surge in
third- quarter earnings this week. The issue, according to
administration officials, is the industry is generally on sound
footing because of government help and lobbying against Obama’s
regulatory plans goes against the nation’s long-term interest.

“We are disappointed by the lobbying of anyone in the
financial industry against regulatory reform, considering the
obvious need for change on that front,” Valerie Jarrett, a
senior adviser to Obama, said.

Wall Street regulation is scheduled to be among the topics
when Jarrett, Obama adviser David Axelrod and White House Chief
of Staff Rahm Emanuel appear on Sunday news talk shows Oct. 18.

The administration is mounting a counteroffensive by
pointing to a disconnect between Wall Street and the rest of
the country: while some big banks report compensation plans and
profits at pre-crisis levels, the unemployment rate rose to 9.8
percent last month and home foreclosures jumped 29.2 percent
from a year earlier.

Messengers

The tougher message is being repeated from the president
on down.

Now is the time for “firm rules of the road so that banks
can’t game the system and the financial crisis on Wall Street
doesn’t end up hurting folks on Main Street,” Obama said last
night at a Democratic Party fundraiser in San Francisco.

Lawrence Summers, director of Obama’s National Economic
Council, was giving voice to it today in New York.

“There is no financial institution that exists today that
is not the direct or indirect beneficiary of massive taxpayer
support for the financial system,” Summers said in remarks to
a conference sponsored by the Economist newspaper.

Obama is renewing his push to redo financial industry
regulations by the end of the year, and many of his proposals,
including a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, are facing
stiff industry opposition.

Groups led by the Financial Services Roundtable and
American Bankers Association, both based in Washington, urged
Congress in July to scrap the consumer agency, saying creation
of a new regulator would cut consumer access to credit.

‘Backlash’

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said he didn’t expect a
“backlash” when he accepted the government funds.

“Had I know it was as pregnant with this kind of
potential for backlash then of course I would not have liked
it,” Blankfein said today at a Fortune magazine breakfast in
New York.

“We are firm believers in effective regulation and
believe that it is systemically important to have a regulatory
framework which ensures stability of the financial system,”
Goldman Sachs spokesman Lucas van Praag said.

Joseph Evangelisti, spokesman for JPMorgan, referred to
comments Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon made in his letter
to shareholders in which he said that the extent of the
problems made it clear that “rules and regulations must be
completely overhauled.” Dimon also said that new policies
should be “grounded in a thorough analysis of what happened”
and that “political agendas or simplistic views will not serve
us well.”

Citigroup didn’t immediately respond for comment.

Financial Rebound

The mounting frustration about pushback from the industry
comes the same week that the Dow Jones Industrial Average
climbed above 10,000 for the first time in a year and firms
including JPMorgan and New York-based Citigroup Inc. reported
third-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates.

Administration officials say they recognize a healthy
banking sector is critical to the economic recovery and that
they’re limited in their ability to penalize the firms,
particularly those that no longer owe the government money.

The most politically volatile issue is executive
compensation. Obama has said he believes some of the resistance
to his agenda stems from resentment about expanding government
involvement in the private sector, including bank bailouts.
Reports about rising profits, executive salaries and bonuses
following on the government rescue, may add to voter
dissatisfaction.

Earlier this week, Citigroup reported a $101 million
third-quarter profit as it slowed the pace of building reserves
for future loan defaults. On a per-share basis, the bank had a
loss of 27 cents because of a charge related to the exchange of
preferred shares into common stock.

Capital Requirements

Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and San Francisco-based Wells
Fargo & Co. also asked regulators for a reprieve from meeting
higher capital requirements taking effect next year, arguing
that lending and the economic recovery would be harmed.

Goldman Sachs, which repaid $10 billion it received from
the U.S. Treasury last year, also reported a surge in third-
quarter profit. The company has set aside $16.7 billion to pay
employees so far this year, enough to pay each worker $527,192
for the period.

JPMorgan, which repaid $25 billion of U.S. rescue funds in
June, said this week that its profit surged sevenfold in the
quarter, to $3.59 billion, on higher investment-banking
revenue. The company, which is the second biggest bank by
assets, set aside $8.79 billion for compensation and benefits
for its investment-bank employees in the first nine months of
2009, enough to pay $353,834 to each.

Feinberg’s Role

Administration officials have pointed to the appointment
of Kenneth Feinberg to oversee compensation plans at the top
firms that haven’t repaid assistance funds. They also cite
Obama’s support for giving shareholders a non-binding say on
compensation.

Feinberg’s compensation reviews for companies including
Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America Corp. and
Citigroup, each of which got $45 billion in government aid, are
expected as early as next week.

He’s already advised Bank of America Chief Executive
Officer Kenneth Lewis to forego his 2009 salary and bonus. Bank
of America, the biggest U.S. lender, posted a $1 billion third-
quarter loss.

Citigroup announced last week that it would sell its
Phibro LLC energy-trading unit, a decision made to avoid a
potential showdown with Feinberg over the unit’s CEO, Andrew
Hall’s $100 million pay package.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Julianna Goldman in Washington at
jgoldman6@bloomberg.net

NASSAU, Bahamas – An emergency medical technician involved in attempts to save John Travolta's teenage son spent most of Thursday on the witness stand explaining why he gave conflicting reports about his role.
Marcus Garvey is the only defense witness that lawyers called in the trial of an ambulance driver and a former senator accused of trying to blackmail the Hollywood actor.
Defense attorneys had hoped Garvey's testimony would show that Travolta tried to buy a document he signed releasing emergency responders from liability if the family refused an ambulance for 16-year-old Jett Travolta, who died Jan. 2 after suffering a seizure.
Prosecutors contend that former senator Pleasant Bridgewater and ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne threatened to use the document to sell stories to the media suggesting Travolta was at fault in his son's death — unless the movie star paid $25 million.
Garvey only said that an unidentified man offered him money to get the document and that he gave the man Lightbourne's phone number.
Garvey also denied telling an online celebrity news Web site that he tried to save Jett in the corridor of Travolta's vacation home on Grand Bahama.
Garvey said he did appear in a videotaped interview but did not want to talk about it.
"I don't want to answer that," Garvey told chief prosecutor Bernard Turner. "How much more clear can I be?"
Garvey told jurors Thursday that he never arrived at Travolta's house, rather drove the ambulance that intercepted another unit transporting Jett to the hospital. Garvey said he examined the teen and found multiple signs that he was already dead.
Travolta signed the release of liability form because he had hoped to fly his son to the U.S. for treatment. But police said the document never came into play because Jett was taken to a local hospital.
Bridgewater has denied the charges and accused Travolta's attorneys of setting her up.
Defense attorneys, who rested their case Thursday, had planned to call three other witnesses but said they were unavailable.
The judge expected to instruct the jury on Tuesday.

Business Broker

Traditionally, the broker provides a conventional full-service, commission-based brokerage relationship under a signed agreement with a seller or "buyer representation" agreement with a buyer. In most states this creates, under common law, an agency relationship with fiduciary obligations. Some states also have statutes which define and control the nature of the representation and have specific business broker licensing requirements.

In some states of the USA, business brokers act as transactions brokers. A transaction broker represents neither party as an agent, but works to facilitate the transaction and deals with both parties on the same level of trust. Most states that operate business transactions as Transactions Brokers also operate Real Estate transactions as Transaction Brokers.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) –
indie director Gregg Araki is detonating his next picture, "Kaboom," which follows the sexual awakening of a group of college students.

French actress Roxane Mesquida ("Fat Girl"), Thomas Dekker ("Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"), Kelly Lynch ("The L Word") and Rooney Mara ("Youth in Revolt") star in the film, which is currently shooting.

Araki's credits include "The Doom Generation," "Smiley Face," "Mysterious Skin" and "The Living End."

(Editing by DGoodman at Reuters)

SARAROGHA, Pakistan – Flanked by heavily armed fighters, the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban sat on a blue blanket, amiable and relaxed as he cracked jokes and mixed in threats of vengeance for deadly U.S. airstrikes.
One day later, a suicide bomber attacked a U.N. office in Islamabad.
Hakimullah Mehsud met with reporters Sunday for the first time since winning control of the militant group, quashing speculation that he had been slain in a succession struggle following the killing of his predecessor in a U.S. drone attack.
He also described his group's relationship to al-Qaida as one of "love and affection." Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaida leaders are believed to be hiding out in the remote border region with Afghanistan, possibly in territory controlled by Hakimullah.
The militant vowed to retaliate against the U.S. and Pakistan for deadly attacks on his allies and said his fighters will repel an anticipated Pakistani offensive into his stronghold.
Hakimullah made his threat of vengeance hours before a suicide bomber disguised as a security officer killed five people at a U.N. office in Islamabad on Monday. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but authorities blamed Islamic militants.
Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said several times that officials believed Hakimullah — and possibly his deputy, Waliur Rehman — had been killed in fighting over who would replace Baitullah Mehsud after his Aug. 5 death in a missile strike. Malik said that Hakimullah was being impersonated by his brother, including in calls to media organizations.
Western diplomats in Islamabad had also said their intelligence indicated he may have been killed, while Western media reports over the weekend quoted American officials as saying they believed he may be dead.
Hakimullah was very much alive, speaking calmly as he sat under a tree on a blanket surrounded by top Taliban commanders, including Waliur Rehman, in a show of unity in South Waziristan, where the Pakistani state and security forces have little or no presence. Also present were Qari Hussain, the head of the Taliban's suicide bomb faction, and Azam Tariq, a Taliban spokesman.
He told five Pakistani reporters, including one from The Associated Press, that the group's leadership remained intact and unified.
"We all are sitting before you, which proves all the news about myself ... was totally baseless and false," he said.
Pakistani security authorities were not immediately available for comment.
Pakistan has largely beaten back a Taliban insurgency in the northwestern Swat Valley in recent months and intelligence officials say the country is preparing a major offensive against al-Qaida and the Taliban in South Waziristan. The military has been blockading the region and seeking to encourage other tribes to rise up against Hakimullah.
Hakimullah said his forces were ready for such an attack, which would likely be far tougher than the Swat campaign. The army has been beaten back there three times since 2004. Analysts say some 10,000 well-armed militants, including foreign fighters, are in the mountainous region and well dug in.
"We are fully prepared for that operation and we will give full proof of those preparations once the offensive is launched," he said.
On the drive to and from the interview, the AP reporter could see fighters taking up positions at key vantage points. Residents said the militants were digging trenches along routes the army was expected to travel.
Fearing the coming offensive, civilians were fleeing the area via backroads and traveling at night because the military had already sealed most of the main routes out.
While Baitullah avoided the glare of media and was only photographed once — from a side angle — Hakimullah showed no such modesty.

He did not appear to be a nervous fugitive in hiding from Pakistan soldiers and U.S. drones.

His tunic was clean, white and freshly pressed, and his manner at ease as he spent more than seven hours chatting and eating with the reporters. Two goats were brought out for slaughter for lunch.

At one point, he pulled out a laptop to show his guests an Afghan comedian's standup routine about jihadi — or holy war — groups. On the serious side, he also showed pre-attack video testimony made by a suicide bomber.

Hakimullah spoke flanked by fighters wielding automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. He agreed to be interviewed on condition his comments not be published until the reporters left the area Monday.

One of Baitullah's deputies, Hakimullah was known for brazen strikes on civilians, claiming responsibility for the June 9 bombing of the Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar and the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore earlier this year.

U.S. officials are watching closely to see whether Hakimullah will direct more fighters across the border where U.S. and NATO forces face attacks by insurgents. Baitullah was believed to have mainly concentrated on attacking Pakistani targets.

Hakimullah did not address that issue directly, only saying there were no "difference between Taliban of Afghanistan and Pakistan." He said the Pakistani Taliban were fighting for the imposition of Islamic law in Pakistan and to rid it from the "clutches of the Americans and the Jews."

"For this very purpose, we will enhance and prolong our jihadi efforts," he said.

Hakimullah also introduced a man he identified as Qari Mohammad Zafar, who has a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S. Justice Department in the 2002 bombing of the U.S. consulate in Karachi that killed three Pakistanis and a U.S. diplomat.

"See, we have such people with us. And they are saying that we have differences. It is an example that we are united," he said.

He vowed his forces would avenge Baitullah Mehsud's killing and would strike back at Pakistan and the U.S. for the increasing airstrikes.

Unmanned drones have carried out more than 70 missile strikes in northwestern Pakistan in the last year in a covert program, killing several militant commanders along with sympathizers and civilians. The Pakistani government publicly protests the attacks but is widely believed to sanction them and provide intelligence for at least some.

"There is no doubt that American spy planes are being used in these attacks, but we know all the intelligence is being provided by Pakistan," Hakimullah said. "We have taken revenge for the past attacks and we will definitely take revenge for the remaining drone attacks."