IGN acquires AskMen.com

http://news.google.ca/news?q=askmen&hl=en&lr=&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&scoring=d

Ladies and Gents: the Fat Lady has sung

Expos May Fetch at Least $300 Million, Triple What Owners Paid

Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The Montreal Expos, who have had the worst attendance in the major leagues for seven straight years, may fetch $300 million to $400 million after they move to Washington, triple what baseball owners paid for the franchise two years ago.
``The owners will make a significant return on this investment,'' according to Inner Circle Sports Managing Partner Rob Tilliss, a former managing director of J.P. Morgan's sports advisory and finance group.
Baseball officials on Sept. 29 said they were moving the Expos to Washington, giving the U.S. capital its first major- league team in 33 years. The sport's other 29 owners, including Hicks Muse Tate & Furst Inc. founder Tom Hicks of the Texas Rangers and George Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees, in 2002 paid $120 million for the money-losing franchise.
Commissioner Bud Selig said he expects to sell the club in an auction by the start of next season.
At $400 million, it would be the third-most paid for a baseball team, surpassed only by the $700 million commodities trader John Henry's group paid for the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park and 80 percent of the New England Sports Network in January 2002, and the $430 million real estate developer Frank McCourt paid for the Los Angeles Dodgers, their stadium and spring training complex earlier this year.
The price for the Expos will be driven by a regional sports network that would show the team's games on TV, said Tilliss and Gordon Saint-Denis, president of Triton Sports Associates LLC in Katona, New York. Owning a team in Washington, where U.S. presidents attended games from William Howard Taft in 1910 to Richard Nixon in 1971, also would stimulate bidding, they said.
Sports Network
Tilliss, whose firm advises teams and potential buyers, and Saint-Denis said the team would be worth around $300 million with a stake in a network that would show the Washington club as well as the Baltimore Orioles. Sal Galatioto, head of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s sports finance unit in New York, put the price at $400 million, declining to elaborate.
Creation of the network was a key to Orioles owner Peter Angelos dropping his opposition to having another team 40 miles away, the bankers said. Major League Baseball picked Washington over Las Vegas; northern Virginia; Portland, Oregon; Norfolk, Virginia; and Monterrey, Mexico. The capital, which had a major- league baseball club from the beginning of the American League in 1901 until 1971, is the biggest U.S. media market without a franchise.
``If you want a team in Washington, and you don't buy it now, you might not get another chance for 20-30 years,'' Saint- Denis, whose company values sports franchises, said in a telephone interview. ``It's hard to factor that desire premium into what someone will bid.''
Potential Bidders
Among those who have expressed interest in the team are The Advisory Co. Chairman Jeff Zients and New York real estate executive Mark Broxmeyer.
``There's a huge range based upon what else goes with the team,'' Thayer Capital Partners Chairman Fred Malek, a member of Zients's investment group, said in a telephone interview. ``Until you can look at all of those things, you can't properly value the asset.''
Malek was a part owner of the Texas Rangers when President George W. Bush held the team from 1989-1994.
Broxmeyer didn't return a message left at his office.
NBA Tactic
Baseball is employing a tactic used by the National Basketball Association when it added an expansion team in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2002. The NBA first picked a city, negotiated an arena agreement, and then opened bidding on the team. The NBA got an expansion-record $300 million for the Bobcats, who were sold to Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson.
``Any time you have several groups competing, it's good for the seller,'' attorney Mark Rosenthal, chairman of the sports practice group at the law firm of Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro in Los Angeles, said in a telephone interview.
Regional sports networks are owned either by cable companies or a team itself. Teams either sell their TV rights to a cable company, or run the network and charge the cable company a per- subscriber fee. The cable companies and teams then share advertising revenue.
`In a Heartbeat'
A team-owned network in Washington would be profitable in two or three years, said Leo Hindery, former chief executive of the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network.
``I would do the network in a heartbeat,'' Hindery, who oversaw the creation of the network owned by the 26-time World Series champions, said in a telephone interview from his New York office.
Comcast Corp., the world's No. 1 cable TV operator with about 22 million homes and 2 million in the Washington area, has the rights to Orioles games through the 2006 season. After that, the team could join the regional sports network.
Comcast also has rights to basketball's Wizards and hockey's Capitals through 2012, which would help the company in negotiations with the new regional sports network, Fairfax, Virginia-based John Mansell, senior media analyst at research firm Kagan World Media, said in a telephone interview.
The cable company said in a statement that it hasn't held talks with the Expos about showing their games.
``Comcast might drive a hard bargain,'' Mansell said.
Luckily for baseball's owners, those bidding on the team probably won't, the sports bankers said.
``There's absolutely no question the owners make money,'' Tilliss said in a telephone interview from his Stamford, Connecticut, office.

Will third time really be the charm?

George Selkirk, the former general manager of the Washington Senators, stated in 1984, Washington DC, the nation's capital is "not a good place for baseball, there isn't any real industry. The people who want to come to games are congressmen and senators ... and they want free tickets."

Does your PC look like this

Caption below of note.

Hockey Powers that be: too many concussions

Obviously, being sport # 7 in the States was not enough, hockey aiming for double digits.

Conspiracy theories at it again

Columbo's take?

She dreams of being a doctor...

Wait 'til the sex tape pops up...

Back from Europe

If you were wondering what happened to the barrage of blogs: I was out of town, in Europe.

Montreal is a great city and I would not want to live elsewhere really, but it is - next to London, Madrid or Barcelona - a village.

Good to be back, the winter is just around the corner, time to get the winter tires on.

Yay!

The Top 25 Censored News Stories

Worst thing is I did not even read them... just thought it would be interesting to post.

===

The Top 25 CensoredNews StoriesMedia Democracy In Action9-4-4

Sonoma State University's student run media research group Project Censored announces the release of its annual publication, Censored 2005, a compilation of the year's 25 most significant news stories that were overlooked or under-reported by the country's major national news media, as well as chapters on the grass roots media democracy, media ownership maps, real news about US involvement in Palestine, Haiti, Iraq, and more.

With introduction by Greg Palast and the political cartoon commentary of Tom Tomorrow throughout, this year's book covers critical issues facing the American public this election year. In Chapter 1's list of top 25 stories focus on politics, economics, foreign policy, food and health, the environment, energy, domestic policy, and the military.
"We define censorship as interference with the free flow of information," states Peter Phillips, Director of the Project, "Corporate media in the United States is interested primarily in entertainment news to feed their bottom-line priorities. Very important news stories that should reach the American public often fall on the cutting room floor to be replaced by sex-scandals and celebrity updates."

The Sonoma State University research group is composed of nearly 200 faculty, students and community experts who review about 1000 story submissions for coverage, content, reliability of sources and national significance. The top 25 stories are submitted to a panel of judges who then rank them in order of importance. Current judges include, Norman Solomon, Michael Parenti, Cynthia McKinney, Howard Zinn, and 20 other national journalists, scholars and writers.

Censored 2005, now available in bookstores nationwide, can also be purchased on the project's website at www.projectcensored.org.

For more information, contact:
Project Censored
Trish Boreta
707-664-2500
censored@sonoma.edu


Top Most Censored News Stories

#1 Wealth Inequity in 21st Century Threatens Economy and Democracy
Multinational Monitor, May 2003, Vol. 24, No. 5
Title: "The Wealth Divide" (An interview with Edward Wolff)
Author: Robert Weissman
Buzzflash, March 26 and 19, 2004
Title: "A Buzzflash Interview, Parts I and II" (with David Cay Johnston)
Author: Mark Karlin
London Guardian, October 4, 2004
Title: "Every third person will be a slum dweller within 30 years, UN agency warns"
Author: John Vidal
Multinational Monitor, July/August, 2003
Title: "Grotesque Inequality"
Author: Robert Weissman

Wealth inequality increased dramatically in the United States in the late1990s. The top 5% is now capturing an increasingly greater portion of the pie while the bottom 95% is clearly losing ground, resulting in the rapidly vanishing middle class. This trend is the product of legislative policies carefully crafted and lobbied for by corporations and the ultra-wealthy over the past 25 years. America's economic trends have a global footprint, and today, the top 400 income earners in the U.S. make as much in a year as the entire population of the 20 poorest countries in Africa. A series of reports released in 2003 by the UN warn that further increases in the imbalance in wealth throughout the world will have catastrophic effects if left unchecked, such as the collapse of the entire global economy.


#2 Ashcroft vs. the Human Rights Law that Holds Corporations Accountable
One World.Net and Asheville Global Report, May 19, 2003
Title: "Ashcroft goes after 200-year-old Human Rights Law"
Author: Jim Lobe

Attorney General John Ashcroft is seeking to strike down one of the world's oldest human rights laws, the Alien Torts Claim Act (ATCA) which holds government leaders, corporations, and senior military officials liable for human rights abuses taking place in foreign countries. Organizations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) vehemently oppose the removal of this law, as it is one of the few legal defenses victims of human rights violations can claim against powerful organizations such as governments or multinational corporations. By attempting to throw out this law, the Bush Administration is effectively opening the door for human rights abuses to continue under the veil of foreign relations diplomacy.

#3 Bush Administration Manipulates Science and Censors Scientists
The Nation, March 8, 2004
Title: "The Junk Science of George W. Bush"
Author: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Censorship News: The National Coalition Against Censorship Newsletter, Fall 2003, #91
Title: "Censoring Scientific Information"
Author: The National Coalition Against Censorship staff
Environment News Service and OneWorld.Net, February 20, 2004
Title: "Ranking Scientists Warn Bush Science Policy Lacks Integrity"
Author: Sunny Lewis
Office of U.S. Representative Henry A. Waxman, August 2003
Title: "Politics and Science in the Bush Administration"
Prepared by: Committee on Government Reform - Minority Staff
(Updated November 13, 2003

In Washington D.C. more than 60 of the nation's top scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates, medical experts, and former federal agency directors, issued a statement February 18, 2004 accusing the Bush Administration of deliberately distorting scientific results for political ends. They are calling for regulatory and legislative action to restore scientific integrity to federal policymaking. Under the current administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has blacklisted scientists who pose a threat to pro-business ideology, and many unqualified scientists with close industry ties have been appointed to advisory boards.

# 4 High Uranium Levels Found in Troops and Civilians
Uranium Medical Research Center, January 2003
Title: "UMRC's Preliminary Findings from Afghanistan and Operation Enduring Freedom" and "Afghan Field Trip #2 Report: Precision Destruction - Indiscriminate Effects"
Author: Tedd Weyman, UMRC Research Team
Awakened Woman, January 2004
Title: "Scientists Uncover Radioactive Trail in Afghanistan"
Author: Stephanie Hiller
Dissident Voice, March 2004
Title: "There Are No Words Radiation in Iraq equals 250,000 Nagasaki Bombs"
Author: Bob Nichols
New York Daily News, April 5, 2004
Title: "Poisoned?"
Author: Juan Gonzales
Information Clearing House, March 2004
Title: "International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan At Tokyo, The People Vs. George Bush"
Author: Professor Ms. Niloufer Bhagwat J.

Civilian populations in Afghanistan and Iraq and occupying troops have been contaminated with astounding levels of radioactive uranium as a result of post-9/11 United States' use of tons of uranium munitions. Four million pounds of radioactive uranium were dropped on Iraq in 2003 alone. Most American weapons (missiles, smart bombs, bullets, tank shells, cruise missiles, etc.) contain high amounts of uranium that on detonation, release a radioactive dust. Once ingested, these subatomic particles slice through DNA. With a half-life of 4.5 billion years, it is a permanent contaminant distributed throughout the environment.
Scientists from around the world testify to the huge increase in birth deformities and cancers wherever uranium munitions have been used. The effects of the U.S. deployment will be felt in all the neighboring countries in the Middle East and Asia, as well as in our returning troops.

#5 The Wholesale Giveaway of Our Natural Resources
In These Times, November 23, 2003
Title: "Liquidation of the Commons"
Author: Adam Werbach
High Country News, Vol. 35, No. 11, June 9, 2003
Title: "Giant Sequoias Could Get the Ax"
Author: Matt Weiser

The Bush Administration's environmental policies are destroying much of the environmental progress made over the past 30 years. Between the "Clean Skies Initiative," a recent policy that allows power plants to emit more than five times more mercury and twice as much sulfur dioxide, and the "Healthy Forests Initiative," which allows the wholesale liquidation of ancient forests by corporate timber interests under the guise of fire prevention, resource extraction and pollution is occurring at unprecedented rates.

#6 The Sale of Electoral Politics
In These Times, December 2003
Title: "Voting Machines Gone Wild"
Author: Mark Lewellen-Biddle
Independet/UK, October 13, 2003
Title: "All The President's Votes?"
Author: Andrew Gumbel
Democracy Now!, September 4, 2003
Title: "Will Bush Backers Manipulate Votes to Deliver GW Another Election?"
Reporter: Amy Goodman and the staff of Democracy Now!

Conflicts of interest exist between the largest suppliers of electronic voting machines in the United States and key leaders in the Republican Party. While the voting machines themselves present some technical issues, the political affiliations within the voting machine industry pose even more serious questions. The three major companies involved in implementing the new, often faulty, technology at voting stations throughout the country have strong ties to the Bush Administration, Republican leaders, and major defense contractors.
It must be noted that under the Help America Vote Act control over the electoral process has been taken away from local officials and placed in the hands of a very small number of for-profit corporations. In effect we are privatizing America's most public endeavor.
#7 Conservative Organization Drives Judicial Appointments
The American Prospect, Vol. 14, Issue 3, March 1, 2003
Title: " A Hostile Takeover: How the Federalist Society is Capturing the Federal Courts"
Author: Martin Garbus
Title: "Courts vs. Citizents"
Author: Jamin Raskin

In 2001 George W. Bush eliminated the longstanding influence of the American Bar Association (ABA) in the evaluation of the prospective federal judges. ABA's judicial ratings had long kept extremists from the right and left off the bench. In its place, Bush has been using the Federal Society for Law and Public Policy Studies-a national organization whose mission is to advance a conservative agenda by moving the country's legal system to the right.
One of the most important issues in the country is the control of one of the three branches of government, the judiciary. While Presidents and Congress-members get elected every few years, judicial appointments are for life, Our courts deal with nearly every aspect of life; work conditions and wages, schools, civil rights, affirmative action, crime and punishment, abortion and the environment, amongst others.

#8 Secrets of Cheney's Energy Task Force Come to Light
Judicial Watch, July 17, 2003
Title: "Cheney Energy Task Force Documents Feature Map of Iraqi Oilfields"
Author: Judicial Watch Staff
Foreign Policy in Focus, January 2004
Title: "Bush-Cheney Energy Strategy: Procuring the Rest of the World's Oil"
Author: Michael Klare

Cheney Energy Task Force documents turned over in the summer of 2003 by the Commerce Department as a result of the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by Sierra Club and Judicial Watch contain maps of Iraqi oilfields, pipelines, refineries and terminals. The documents, dated March 2001, also contain plans of occupation and exploitation that predate September 11, confirming suspicions that the Bush Administration energy policy is driving U.S. military strategy.

#9 Widow Brings RICO Case Against U.S. Government for 9/11
Scoop.co.nz, November 2003 and December 2003
Title: "911 Victim's Wife Files RICO Case Against GW Bush"
Author: Philip J. Berg
Title: "Widow's Bush Treason Suit Vanishes"
Author: W. David Kubiak

Ellen Mariani became widowed when her husband Louis Neil Mariani perished in the collision between United Airlines flight 175 and the South Tower of the World Trade Center. In addition to her refusal of the government's million-dollar settlement offer, Mrs. Mariani has filed a 62 page complaint in federal district court charging that President Bush and officials: (1) had adequate foreknowledge of 911, yet failed to warn the country or attempt to prevent it; (2) have since been covering up the truth of that day; (3) have therefore abetted the murder of plaintiff's husband and violated the Constitution and multiple laws of the United States; and (4) are thus being sued under the Civil Racketeering, Influences, and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act for Malfeasant conspiracy, obstruction of justice and wrongful death.

#10 New Nuke Plants: Taxpayers Support, Industry Profits
Nuclear Information and Resourse Service, November 17, 2003
Title: "Nuclear Energy Would Get $7.5 Billion in Tax Subsides, US Taxpayers Would Fund Nuclear Monitor Relapse If Energy Bill Passes"
Authors: Cindy Folkers and Michael Mariotte
WISE/NIRS Nuclear Monitor, August 2003
Title: "US Senate Passes Pro-Nuclear Energy Bill"
Authors: Cindy Folkers and Michael Mariotte

Senator Peter Domenici (R-NM), along with the Bush Administration, is looking to give the nuclear power industry a huge boost through the new Energy Policy Act. The Domenici-sponsored bill will give nuclear power plants credits costing taxpayers an estimated 7.5 billion dollars, to build six new privately owned, for-profit reactors across the country. Safety standards will be lowered and liability will be passed on to taxpayers. This is in addition to the $4 billion already provided for other nuclear energy programs.

#11 The Media Can Legally Lie
CMW Report, Spring 2003
Title: "Court Ruled That Media Can Legally Lie"
Author: Liane Casten
Organic Consumer Association, March 7, 2004
Title: "Florida Appeals Court Orders Akre-Wilson Must Pay Trial Costs for $24.3 Billion Fox Television; Couple Warns Journalists of Danger to Free Speech, Whistle Blower Protection"
Author: Al Krebs

In 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals ruled that there are no written rules against distorting news in the media. It agreed with an argument by Fox Television that, under the First Amendment, broadcasters have the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on public airwaves. Under the current ruling, it is up to the public to discover whether or not they are being lied to.

#12 The Destabilization of Haiti
KPFA Radio-Flashpoints, April 1, 2004
Title: "Interview with Aristide's lawyer, Brian Concannon"
Reporter: Dennis Bernstein
globalresearch.ca, February 29, 2004
Title: "The destabilization of Haiti"
Author: Michel Chossudovsky
Dollars and Sense, September/October 2003
Title: "Still Up Against the Death Plan in Haiti"
Author: Tom Reeves
KPFA - Democracy Now!, March 17, 2004
Title: "Aristide talks with Democracy Now! About the leaders of the coup and US funding of the opposition in Haiti"
Reporter: Amy Goodman
Associated Press, March 16, 2004
Title: "Aristide Backers Left Out of Coalition"
Author: Ian James

On February 29, 2004, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced into exile by American military. While U.S. officials were eventially forced to acknowledge the kidnapping allegations, they were quick to discredit them and deny responsibility. Meanwhile, the circumstances that led to the current situation in Haiti, as well as the history of U.S. involvement, are being ignored by U.S. officials and the mainstream media.

#13 Schwarzenegger Met with Enron's Ken Lay Before the California Recall
Common Dreams, August 17, 2003
Title: "Ahnuld, Ken Lay, George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Gray Davis"
Author: Jason Leopold
The London Observer, October 6, 2003
Title: "Arnold Unplugged-It's Hasta la Vista to $9 Billion"
Author: Greg Palast
San Francisco Chronicle and CommonDreams, October 11,2003
Title: "Schwarzenegger Electricity Plan Fuels Fears of Another Debacle"
Author: Zachary Coile
San Francisco Chronicle, May 26, 2001
Title: "Enron's Secret Bid to Save Deregulation: Private Meeting With Prominent Californians"
Authors: Christian Berthelsen, Scott Winokur, Chronicle Staff Writers

In 2002, while the California Governor and his deputy were attempting to re-regulate the energy industry (and get back the $9 billion that was defrauded from California taxpayers by Enron and other energy companies) Arnold Schwarzenegger was being groomed to overthrow Governor Davis in a recall - and cancel plans to re-regulate or to recoup the $9 billion. Back in May of 2001, in the midst of California's energy crisis, Schwarzenegger met with Enron's Ken Lay to discuss "fixing" California's energy crisis.

#14 New Bill Threatens Intellectual Freedom
Yale Daily News, November 6, 2003
Title: "New Bill threatens intellectual freedom in area studies"
Author: Benita Singh
Christian Science Monitor, March 11, 2004
Title: "Speaking in 'Approved' Tongues"
Author: Kimberly Chase

The International Studies in Higher Education Act of 2003 threatens academic freedom and classroom curriculum. Under this act, professors whose ideological principles do not support U.S. practices abroad can have their appointments terminated, any course curriculum containing criticism of U.S. foreign policy can be censored, and any course deemed anti-American can be barred from the classroom.

#15 US Develops Lethal New Bio-weapon Viruses
The New Scientist, October 29, 2003
Title: "US develops lethal new viruses"
Author: Debora MacKenzie

Scientists funded by the US government have developed a way to make pox viruses incredibly deadly. The stated goal of this research is to fight possible bio-terror attacks. The new virus kills all mice even if they have been given antiviral drugs along with a vaccine that would normally protect the victim from death.

# 16 Law Enforcement Agencies Spy on Innocent Citizens
Agenda, July--August 2003
Title: "Big Brother Gets Bigger--Domestic Spying & the Global Intelligence Working Group"
Author: Michelle J. Kinnucan
Community Alliance, April 2003
Title: "Police Infiltrate Local Groups"
Author: Mark Schlosberg
CovertAction Quarterly, Fall 2003
Title: "Denver Police Keeping Files On Peace Groups"
Author: Loring Wirbel
North Bay Progressive, Volume 2 # 8, October 2003
Title: "Fresno Peace group Infiltrated by Government Agent"
Author: Mike Rhodes
World Socialist Web Site, www.wsws.org, 1/10/04
Title: "Bush Administration Expands Police Spying Powers"
Author: Kate Randall

With little media comment, federal, state and local agencies have begun working as partners in the collection, analysis, and dissemination of intelligence information. Under the "Global Intelligence Working Group" (that oversees the new network) police departments receive increased funding for surveillance activity. This has resulted in the recent COINTELPRO-style instances of police infiltration of groups critical of government policies.

#17 U.S. Government Represses Labor Unions in Iraq in Quest for Business Privatization
The Progressive, December 2003
Title: "Saddam's labor laws live on"
Author: David Bacon
Left Turn, March/April 2004, v. 12
Title: "Ambitions of Empire: The Radical Reconstruction of Iraq's Economy"
Author: Antonia Juhasz

According to the Wall Street Journal (alone), the Bush Administration has "sweeping plans to remake Iraq's economy in the US image." The US is calling for the privatization of state-owned industries such as oil and water. But it has chosen not to overturn Sadaam-era edicts that outlaw unions. Every day the economic policies of occupying authorities create more hunger among Iraq's working people, transforming them into a pool of low-wage, semi-employed labor, desperate for jobs at any price.

#18 Media and Government Ignore Dwindling Oil Supplies
New Internationalist, October 31, 2003
Title: "Running on empty; Oil is disappearing fast"
Author: Adam Porter
Guardian Unlimited, December 2, 2003
Title: "Bottom of the Barrel"
Author: George Monbiot

Even industry executives affirm that oil is close to reaching, or may have already reached, its highest levels of production potential. Once the peak is reached, oil prices will start to rise (as they have every year since 2000). As oil decline accelerates, prices will rise even faster, with devastating effects to the US economy. Over the years, U.S. leaders, bowing to oil industry pressure, have not worked to develop viable alternatives (as they have done in Europe).

#19 Global Food Cartel Fast Becoming the World's Supermarket
Left Turn, August/September 2003
Title: "Concentration in the Agri-Food System"
Author: Hilary Mertaugh

Agribusiness and supermarket alliances are transforming the agri-food system into a powerful network of transnational corporations. They now have the power to control the world's food supply at every stage of food production. As fewer corporations control food production, traditional farming is becoming a high-tech form of serfdom. Lack of competition is leading to higher prices, lower choice and quality, and employee abuse.

#20 Extreme Weather Prompts New Warning from UN
UK Independent, July 2003
Title: "Extreme Weather Prompts Unprecedented Global Warming Alert"

In 2003, The UN's World Meteorological Organization reported unprecedented levels of extreme weather and climate occurrences all over the world. The report emphasized an alarming increase in global warming and pointed to the impact of human activity. The significance of this particular report is that the highly respected UN organization is known for its normally conservative predictions and statements.

#21 Forcing a World Market for GMOs
Globalinfo.org, 12/3/03
Title: "Agriculture: Biotech Links to Big Lenders Worry Farm Experts"
Author: Katherine Stapp
Inter Press Service (IPS) News Agency, May 14, 2003
Title: "U.S. WTO Dispute Could Bend Poor Nations to GMOs-Groups"
Author Emad Mekay
CMW Report, Summer 2003
Title: "A Rebuttal to the Tribune"
Author: Liane Casten
SF Weekly, June 2-8, 2004
Title: "Bioscience Warfare"
Author: Alison Pierce
The Bush Administration is trying to force Europe to drop trade barriers against genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Meanwhile, the agricultural biotechnology industry is focusing even more intently on developing countries, where regulations governing their use are generally more lax. At the same time, biotech promoters continue to suppress studies that show GMOs may have adverse effects on health and the environment.

#22 Exporting Censorship to Iraq
The American Prospect, Volume 14, Issue 9, October 1, 2003
Title: "Exporting Censorship to Iraq"
Author: Alex Gourevitch
Asheville Global Report, May 12, 2003
Title: "U.S Army Major Refuses Order to Seize Iraq TV Station"
Author: Charlie Thomas

After the fall of Saddam, Paul Bremer told journalists they were now "free to criticize whoever, or whatever, you want." But when negative critiques of U.S. policies appeared in the Iraqi media, Bremer quickly placed controls on its content. And rather than hiring a media outlet to run the Iraqi media (or simply allowing the news groups already there to continue reporting), the Pentagon chose a defense contractor to define the news.

#23 Brazil Opposes US-style FTAA agreements, But Provides Little Comfort for the Poor of South America
Globalinfo.org, November 15, 2003
Title: "Trade: US Moves to Squeeze FTAA Opponents"
Author: Emad Mekay
Left Turn, Mar/Apr, 2004
Title: "Lula's First Year"
Author: Brian Campbell

The Free Trade Area of the America's (FTAA) could become the biggest trading block in history, expanding NAFTA to 34 countries from Canada to the bottom of South America. This deal is unlikely to meet its January 2005 deadline, now that the second largest player in the negotiations, Brazil, is holding back. However, Brazilian President Lula has begun, of his own volition, to institute his own brand of FTAA austerity policies that are sure to drive the poor of the region deeper into poverty.

#24 Reinstating the Draft
Salon, November 3, 2003
Title: "Oiling up the Draft Machine?"
Author: Dave Lindorff
Buzzflash.com, November 11, 2003
Title: "Would a Second Bush Term Mean a Return to Conscription?'
Author: Maureen Farrell
War Times, October-November, 2003
Title: "Military Targets Latino Youth"
Author: Jorge Mariscal

The Selective Service System (SSS), the Bush Administration, and the Pentagon have been quietly moving to fill draft board vacancies nationwide in order to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. Several million dollars have been added to the 2004 SSS budget. Meanwhile, through an on-going militarization of public school systems, the Pentagon has begun efforts to double the number of Latinos in the U.S. military by 2006.

#25 Wal-Mart Brings Inequity and Low Prices to the World
Multinational Monitor, October 2003
Title: "Welcome to Wal-World"
Author: Andy Rowell

The vision of the international division of Wal-Mart is one where Wal-Mart becomes a global brand, just like McDonald's or Coca- Cola, monopolizing the global retail market. The next five or six years could see about 5,000 to 6,000 Wal-Mart stores outside of the United States. Wal-Mart is Americanizing retailing around the world and exercising an inordinate amount of economic power.

--
Peter Phillips Ph.D.
Sociology Department/Project Censored
Sonoma State University
1801 East Cotati Ave.
Rohnert Park, CA 94928
707-664-2588
http://www.projectcensored.org/

What year are we in?

Wine.com Raises Another $20 Million in Funding

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Online retailer Wine.com has secured another $20 million in venture capital funding and could go public as soon as next year, Chief Executive Officer George Garrick said on Friday.

The San Francisco-based company raised the money from Baker Capital in New York and will use the funds to pay down debt, upgrade its Web site and boost marketing, he said.
The company looked to East Coast-based firms because many venture capitalists in California have soured on the online wine business after pouring about $150 million into such failed ventures during the 1990s, Garrick said.
"They have a bad taste in their mouth about online wine," Garrick told Reuters in an interview. "We are the last man standing."

Wine.com itself rose from the ashes of failed online retailers such as the original Wine.com that flamed out during the dot-com demise. The "new" Wine.com opened for business in 2002 after buying the original Wine.com's assets, URL and customer list in bankruptcy.

Since then, the company has raised a total of $35 million in three rounds of venture capital funding, Garrick said.
He said the company would be profitable for the full-year in 2005 and double its current $35 million to $40 million in annual revenue in each of the next several years.

The company, which ships to consumers in 26 states that Garrick said account for 75 percent of U.S. retail wine consumption, has also started talking to bankers about going public next year.

Encouraging Fruit Consumption?

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1086492.html

Making Money on Blogs

Calacanis' expanding blog network
By Frank Barnako, CBS.MarketWatch.comLast Update: 11:53 AM ET Sept. 1, 2004
E-mail it Print Discuss Alert Reprint RSS
WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) - There are lots of ways to make money with Weblogs.


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Henry Copeland's Blogads.com is helping politicians raise campaign funds. Nick Denton's Gawker Media is accumulating huge audiences with an editorial mix of sex, politics and gossip. Brian Stelter sold Cablenewser.com to a company that wanted more traffic for its media industry career subscription site. PVRBlog.com generates ad revenues and sales commissions off the interest in TIVOs (TIVO: news, chart, profile).
Jason Calacanis wants to do it the old fashioned way, with advertising. And he is making no small plans for his would-be new media empire. Launched eight months ago, Weblogs, Inc. is publishing almost 50 blogs covering subjects including telemedicine, Apple Computer (AAPL: news, chart, profile) digital music, and the Dallas Mavericks.
Calacanis, the former publisher of Silicon Alley Reporter, a print magazine which covered the heyday of the Internet in New York, said some of his blogs are generating as many as 100,000 page views a day. "For a trade magazine, only a few months old, it's huge," he said.
Weblogs' most successful product is Engadget, concentrating on consumer electronics and tech products. It is written and edited by Peter Rojas, assisted by seven other contributors. Calacanis says the use of a "blog team" is critical for a consumer-focused publishing venture.
"Blogging is in large part showing up," he said. Readers make judgments based on a publications' appearance and editorial consistency. Does it get published every day? "Step one, you have to be there, and there everyday," Calacanis said. That means posting dozens of messages a day. Applicants to write for his Unofficial Apple Weblog are being told they must post news dozens of times every month
The publisher says Engadget's staffers are sharing more than $4,000 a month thanks to advertising revenues. "It's doing phenomenal, we have sold months and months of advertising."
The general appeal of Weblogs, for both readers and advertisers, is the targeted nature of their content. Finding customers for social networking services or software or Wifi and Bluetooth technologies is unaffordable if you have to use mass media. But a business-oriented blog, can deliver a readership rich with prospects, at low cost.
More common are Weblogs whose writers splitting a few hundred dollars a month with the company. "Magazine design" and "Online finance" are not mass appeal subjects. But the Santa Monica, Ca.-based Calacanis has said he hopes to have hundreds of such micro e-zines. He expects to launch another two dozen more trade blogs before the end of the year.
Weblogs Inc. also is prepared to offer software and hosting services. It will offer Webloggers the option to "rent" blogging software, similar to Six Apart Ltd., developer of Movable Type and TypePad. Another option would offer the software at no cost while Calacanis' firm sells advertising, similar to Google's (GOOG: news, chart, profile) AdSense service.

Is the market overvalued?

Morningstar.comThe Nasdaq Isn't a Sell--It Just Looks That WayWednesday September 1, 7:00 am ET By Mark A. Sellers

There's been a lot of talk lately about the valuation of growth and technology stocks. In recent months, I have read numerous opinion pieces on this subject by journalists, academics, pundits, and money managers. All of these articles and papers came to a similar conclusion: Growth stocks, and technology stocks in particular, are dramatically overvalued. One money manager even claimed that the Nasdaq 100 is 60% overvalued. Many of these pundits came to this conclusion by looking at the aggregate P/E ratio of the Nasdaq 100, an index that includes 100 of the largest stocks listed on the Nasdaq exchange.

But there's a problem with these arguments: None of them has looked at the valuations of individual companies within the index. They all use aggregate data, such as the average P/E or P/B ratio of the stocks within the index. Even writers who claim to be disciples of Warren Buffett--in other words, those who think stocks should be valued based on the discounted value of future free cash flows--base their arguments on aggregate valuation shortcuts rather than discounted cash-flow (DCF) models for individual companies.

The way I see it, an index is just a large group of stocks that can be valued individually, and then summed up to produce an aggregate valuation. Skipping the first part (valuing the individual stocks within the index) results in a simplistic conclusion that may not reflect economic reality.

People use valuation shortcuts because creating DCF models on all the companies within an index would be a monumental task. It takes a whole staff of analysts to do it, and frankly, few research shops base their published valuations on DCF models. So as a shortcut, most people (including most analysts) use the P/E ratio and PEG ratio. Unfortunately, like many things in life, the simplest method of doing something is not always the best.
Morningstar's Valuation ModelMorningstar has 75 stock analysts, and all of our analysts use the same discounted cash-flow model developed in-house to come up with fair value estimates for individual companies. These DCF models all use the same basic inputs (such as the risk-free Treasury bond rate, inflation rate, market risk premium, etc.) and are completed by our analysts, who are experts in one or two industries.

We take the economic effect of stock-option issuance into account when we value companies--something the P/E ratio doesn't do. Most importantly, our analysts have no conflicts of interest, so they have no reason to be overly bullish on any company we cover. In fact, they have an incentive not to be too bullish, lest they get angry letters from our customers when a stock crashes.

Thus, we can get an unbiased valuation for an index such as the Nasdaq 100 by looking at the valuations of the stocks within that index, as estimated from our analysts' individual DCF models.

Morningstar analysts cover 93 of the stocks on the Nasdaq 100 Index. That means, using our fair value estimate for each stock, I can come up with an aggregate valuation for the Nasdaq 100 Index using the DCF models for each individual company. As far as I know, no one else has ever done this. The results are surprising.
Valuing the Nasdaq 100Based on our analyst fair value estimates for each company, the Nasdaq 100 Index is about 5% overvalued right now. However, there is a lot of variation within the index. Many stocks are undervalued, while quite a few are dramatically overvalued. Here's the methodology I used to come up with this valuation.

First, I downloaded the names and tickers for each of the 100 companies in the index from Morningstar's database. I expelled from the list the seven companies we don't cover: Patterson (NasdaqNM:PDCO - News), PanAmSat (NasdaqNM:SPOT - News), Dentsply International (NasdaqNM:XRAY - News), Invitrogen (NasdaqNM:IVGN - News), Cephalon (NasdaqNM:CEPH - News), Compuware (NasdaqNM:CPWR - News), and Kmart (NasdaqNM:KMRT - News).

Next, I consulted Nasdaq.com to get the most recent index weightings of each of the remaining 93 companies as of Aug. 27. The stocks within the index are mostly weighted by market cap, though there are some inconsistencies. Yahoo (NasdaqNM:YHOO - News), for example, is weighted behind several smaller companies--I'm not sure why, but I assume this was a conscious decision by the committee that manages the index. Microsoft (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) has the largest weighting, at 9.04%, and First Health Group (NasdaqNM:FHCC - News) the smallest, at 0.13%. The 93 stocks we cover comprise a little more than 98% of the index weighting. The seven stocks we don't cover make up the remainder.

After compiling this 93-company list, I downloaded price, fair value, and other relevant data from Morningstar.com. I calculated the premium/(discount) to fair value for each stock, based on the price and fair value of each as listed on Morningstar.com as of Aug. 30. I then sorted the list of stocks by percentage weighting in the index, with Microsoft at the top and First Health at the bottom.

Finally, I broke this list into four groups based on percentage weightings within the index: 1 through 10, 11 through 20, 21 through 30, and 31 through 93. By doing this, I was able to get valuation results for different subgroups within the index, based on market cap.

Click www.morningstar.com/goto/115584 to access the table.
ResultsAs you can see, the top 10 weighted stocks in the index are high-quality companies: Microsoft, Qualcomm (NasdaqNM:QCOM - News), Intel (NasdaqNM:INTC - News), Cisco Systems (NasdaqNM:CSCO - News), eBay (NasdaqNM:EBAY - News), Amgen (NasdaqNM:AMGN - News), Dell (NasdaqNM:DELL - News), Nextel (NasdaqNM:NXTL - News), Comcast (NasdaqNM:CMCSA - News), and Starbucks (NasdaqNM:SBUX - News). Morningstar rates eight of these 10 companies as "wide moat"; Starbucks and Nextel are rated narrow moat. These 10 make up about 41% of the index weighting. They are about 3% overvalued, according to our fair value estimates for each stock, and their average Morningstar rating is 2.8, which is essentially a "hold" rating. Two of these companies are rated 1 star, one is rated 2 stars, four are rated 3 stars, and three are rated 4 stars. None is rated 5 stars (strong buy).

This is not a good time to buy the top-weighted stocks in the index, but it's not a great time to sell them, either. Hedge fund managers who are placing bets against the Nasdaq 100 are essentially shorting a group of wide-moat, high-quality companies that are about fairly valued, by our estimates. This doesn't sound like a great strategy to me, given that a lot of individual stocks are overvalued by far more than the aggregate index.
The next group of 10 stocks, weighted 11 to 20, does raise some red flags, however. On average, these stocks are about 14% overvalued. Apple Computer (NasdaqNM:AAPL - News), at 55% above its fair value estimate, is the most overvalued stock in the group. On the opposite end of the spectrum, InterActiveCorp (NasdaqNM:IACI - News) is 42% below fair value. Six of these 10 stocks are rated 1 star, none is rated 2 stars, two are rated 3 stars, one is rated 4 stars, and one (InterActive) is rated 5 stars. On average, the star ratings of this group of 10 stocks, which comprise 16% of the index, is 2.2, right between a sell and a hold rating. If you want to short stocks in the Nasdaq 100, this group of 10 are the best candidates.

The next group of 10, ranked 21 to 30 in terms of percentage weighting in the index, is overvalued by just 2%, with an average star rating of 2.9. This group makes up about 12% of the aggregate index weighting. At the extremes within this group, Research in Motion (NasdaqNM:RIMM - News) is overvalued by 54%, while Apollo Group (NasdaqNM:APOL - News) is undervalued by 29%, based on our DCF models.
The final group of 63 stocks makes up a 29% weighting in the index. This group is overvalued by about 4%, by our estimates, with an average star rating of 2.8. Again, not a buy, but not a sell, either.

Using a weighted average for the whole index, the Nasdaq 100 is overvalued by about 5.0%, according to Morningstar estimates of individual firm values. According to us, the index is a hold. Further, when I sorted the whole list in descending order by ratio of price to fair value, I found that the median stock (Altera (NasdaqNM:ALTR - News)) is almost exactly at fair value.

For a sense of historical perspective, in early October 2002, our fair value estimates put the median stock on the Nasdaq exchange at about 24% undervalued (though at the time we didn't cover as many stocks as we do today). Since then, the index has risen 51%. In February 2004, the median stock on the index was 29% overvalued, by our estimates. Since then, the Nasdaq has fallen by 12%. Here's a historical graph of our price/fair value ratios since late 2001.

More Traditional Valuation MetricsI also duplicated the analysis above using shorthand valuation metrics such as P/E ratio, price/book, PEG, price/cash flow, etc. By looking at the same groups of stocks through a different lens, I got a different, more bearish, picture.

This analysis would seem to show that the stocks in the Nasdaq 100 are dramatically overvalued. This is particularly true of the smaller companies in the index. The smallest 63 companies have a weighted-average forward P/E ratio of 52, and a trailing price/cash flow ratio of 45. This is very high by any historical standard. Even the top group of stocks, the largest companies, seem dramatically overvalued using shorthand valuation metrics. This data is what the pundits point to when they write articles about the dramatic overvaluation of the Nasdaq, and what hedge fund managers cite to justify shorting the Nasdaq 100.

Unfortunately, the stocks with the highest weighting in the index also have the lowest valuations. This means that shorting the Nasdaq 100, in aggregate, seems illogical. Why not short the smaller stocks only--those that are the most overvalued? Even the smaller stocks in the index are liquid enough for most funds to get in and out of easily.
DCF vs. ShortcutsThe conclusion boils down to this: Which do you believe more, DCF models on individual companies that are developed by analysts with no conflicts of interest who specialize in their respective industries or shorthand methods of valuation that are prone to GAAP accounting distortions and focus on the very short-term future or the trailing 12 months?

For my money, I'll take the discounted cash-flow valuation methodology every time. I believe it shows a more robust picture that is consistent with economic reality. The Nasdaq isn't a sell right now, it's a hold.
This in no way means that the index can't decline further--in the short-term, price and fair value can diverge dramatically--but betting on a dramatic pullback does not seem to be logical unless you feel comfortable making a short-term market call based on nonfundamental factors.

Wishful thinking?

H.S. Dent Publishing: Stock Market Rally Ahead; Leading Indicators Point to Economic Recovery, Stable Interest Rates, and Lower Oil Prices DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 1, 2004--The stock market rally has begun. As the economy continues to recover, investors are once again seeking profits on Wall Street. According to the September issue of the H.S. Dent Forecast newsletter, recent stock market gains have been lackluster as the major indices -- NASDAQ, Dow Jones and Standard & Poor's -- have climbed steadily after hitting bottom on Friday the 13th.

So far, the stock market rally has been weak due to anemic stock volume on NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange. However, in spite of concerns regarding semiconductor and technology stocks, NASDAQ is starting to show the first signs of a rally. The Dow and S&P are also positioned to climb higher as the economy strengthens.

"The Weekly Leading Index appears to have bottomed, and should move back into a normal growth rate of four to six percent," said Harry S. Dent, Jr., president and founder of the H.S. Dent Foundation. "This is good news. Since the index has about an eight month lead time, we should see strong economic growth and a significant rally in the equity markets during the second quarter 2005."

"Current trends continue to point to late 2004 as the last great buying opportunity before The Next Great Bubble Boom occurs, which is discussed in our new book due out later this month," said Dent.

Oil prices continue to concern investors. "Expectations of oil prices are all over the map," said Dent. "However, prices should fall as long as supplies remain fairly steady." Why? Because, the price of oil appears to be at the upper end of the price range and demand is starting to decline for a number of reasons. The U.S. driving season comes to a close this month, as children return to school. In addition, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) of the United States has been building domestic oil reserves. Projections indicate the SPR should be full within 6 months. In addition, the incredible growth of China has been fueling oil consumption for the past five years. Yet, earlier this summer the Chinese government tightened credit restrictions which are expected to slow the rate of growth in demand for oil in China. Considering these factors, and barring any acts of terrorism or supply interruption, prices should trend down.

As we have predicted for some time, interest rates appear to be moderating -- despite the fact that the Federal Reserve has been raising rates at a "measured pace." After a run up to almost 4.8 percent early in 2004, the 10-year Treasury bond has settled back to around 4.2 percent -- a lower rate than these same bonds were trading at the beginning of the year. This phenomenon is the bond market signaling inflation is stable, so interest rates will remain low according to Dent.

Moving into the third quarter, the markets have continued to give weak signals, even though stocks appeared to hit bottom in mid-August. "During September, we expect the markets will continue their current rallies as we move closer to the next great bubble boom expected to start later this year," said Dent.

About H.S. Dent Publishing
H.S. Dent Publishing (www.hsdent.com) of Allen, Texas helps people understand change and prepare for its arrival through a variety of Dent publications, including the monthly H.S. Dent Forecast. The Dent methodology, which is based on the study of demographics, or the study of whole populations and their spending habits, takes financial forecasting out of the world of theory and into the realm of real-world consumer behavior allowing investors to make intelligent and informed economic decisions about their future.

Contacts
Michael A. Burns & Associates, Inc.H.S. Dent Publishing Media ContactMichael Burns, 214-521-8596mburns@mbapr.comorVirginia Stuart, 214-521-8596vstuart@mbapr

Undervalued Sports Properties?

Team Sports Entertainment Signs Letter of Intent to Acquire Idea Management GroupWednesday September 1, 1:52 pm ET

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 1, 2004--Team Sports Entertainment, Inc. (TSPT), announced today that it has reached an agreement and entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent to acquire Idea Management Group, Inc. Based on the completion of required security-related filings and agreed-upon due diligence, it is anticipated that the acquisition will be completed by September 15, 2004.

William C. Morris, Chairman & CEO of Idea Management Group commented, "We are extremely excited about the upcoming acquisition by Team Sports Entertainment. This relationship will allow us a financial platform that will enable us to meet our anticipated growth needs".

About Team Sports Entertainment, Inc.

Team Sports Entertainment, Inc. is a sports and entertainment marketing and management company dedicated to developing undervalued sports and entertainment properties and discovering niche opportunities to serve underdeveloped market segments.

About Idea Management Group Inc.

Corporately based in Lake City, South Carolina, with regional offices in Charlotte, NC, New York, NY, and Atlanta, GA, Idea Management Group Inc. is a creator and developer of entertainment content focusing on sports and general entertainment properties. Its current project base includes motion pictures, television, publishing, sports properties, licensed merchandise, and direct-to-retail videos.

Contact: Idea Management Group, Inc.
Jim McKinney or Camala Osborne, 843-374-4332;
843-374-5565 (fax); info@ideamanagementgroup.com
Investor Relations:
investorrelations@ideamanagementgroup.com
Source: Team Sports Entertainment, Inc.

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TV viewers harder to reach than ever

With Ads Easier to Dodge, Companies Eye New Ways to Get Out the Message Naomi Aoki, 08.30.04, 11:10 AM ET BOSTON --

It's a brave new world for advertisers. With digital recorders like TiVo, video-on-demand services from cable providers, and the nation's biggest cable company, Comcast, introducing cable boxes with built-in TiVo-style recorders, people can watch whatever they want whenever they want, gleefully fast-forwarding through every commercial break. Already struggling to capture people's attention, advertisers are placing commercial messages on human foreheads, sidewalks, scoreboards, subway tunnels, and construction scaffolding. They're paying to insert their products into television shows, movies, even video games.

What's next? The Globe asked advertising executives for their predictions. Here are excerpts: Steve Moynihan, executive vice president of ad firm MPG's Boston office: Clearly, the consumer is in control. As marketers, we have to market to them in ways they want. We've got to make our messages interesting and compelling so people don't zap through them. You'll still see TV ads.

There's no other medium out there that lets you reach as many people at once as quickly. But you'll see advertising on a variety of platforms rather than just on TV. The trick is to find places where consumers are receptive to marketing. In the subway, for example, people stare at their feet to avoid staring at other people. You put a TV-style ad in a tunnel, you're giving them an alternative that's better than the status quo. Allie Savarino, senior vice president, Unicast Communications Corp., an online advertising firm: Online advertising is an increasing part of the mix. People are on computers at work, at home, so it's a great way to reach an audience.

Advertisers can now run TV-type spots online. How do you make someone watch them? The same way you make sure someone won't switch away from a TV ad: Good Creativity and relevance. Honda is running an ad online right now that shows a full-screen video and next to it options for finding a dealer, getting a close-up of the inside of the car, getting more information. It's on ESPN.com, and pops up as people flip from one page to another. Eventually, I expect online advertising to become more of the constant ad message supported by product placement in movies, sponsorships, and other types of ads. Marc Gallucci, president of Boston marketing firm Fort Franklin: Branded entertainment started with soap operas back in the 1950s. Laundry detergent companies created dramatic shows for a specific audience -- women who were at home doing laundry. The idea is to make people seek out the advertiser, not to intrude on their space anymore.

The only way to do that is by developing quality entertainment that is wrapped around the brand. Think about the movie "Cast Away" with Tom Hanks. FedEx paid to be in that movie -- it was a FedEx plane that went down; the beach was littered with FedEx boxes. It was clumsily written into the story. But Wilson -- the ball -- was perfectly written in. Ironically, the sporting goods company didn't have anything to do with it. Wilson became a character, and you actually felt something for a ball.

The problem is that there are too many delivery devices for mediocre content. We don't need more places to put ads. People are tired of being interrupted and invaded.

Steve Mooney, general manager of Jack Morton Worldwide in Boston, the event-marketing firm that is helping Greece orchestrate the Olympics' opening and closing ceremonies: Nobody is saying TV advertising is dead. But CEOs want to add other dimensions to the mix. They want face-to-face interactions with customers. That means inviting people to events to raise money for causes that are meaningful to your customers, sponsoring concerts, after-school programs, and community events, and driving people to websites with promotions. People are receptive to it as long as it's relevant. If it's not, they'll just walk by. Messages are brought to where people work, live, and play. But the future isn't advertising everywhere all the time. You can kill a consumer with commercial messages. Tom Simons, president and creative director, Boston advertising agency Partners + Simons: I don't think we'll see a rush to sidewalk drawings, forehead ads, and posters plastered everywhere, because that's an unwanted kind of pollution.

We'll see advertisers gravitate towardprograms with more immediacy like news and sports that are less likely to be TiVo'd. We'll see more product placement. But I'm increasingly interested in alternatives where people already have control, like the Internet, in creating ads that look like TV spots in hopes that something magic will take place and people will pass it on to their friends. Terry Clarke, chairman and founder, Boston ad firm Clarke Goward: There's always going to be bad advertising. There will always be new places to put ads. But people learn to tune it out. You've got to become known for good advertising, like the Super Bowl, so people tune in to watch. Advertisers have to stop shying away from doing something good or risky. Naomi Aoki can be reached at naoki@globe.com. Editor Notes:(For use by New York Times News Service clients) New York Times Syndicate c.2004 The Boston Globe

Akimbo

Startup Launching Web-To-TV Video ServiceMonday August 30, 8:01 am ET By May Wong, AP Technology Writer

Startup Akimbo Systems to Launch Internet Video-On-Demand Service for Television Sets

SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) -- The promise of Internet-based video has long been hamstrung by copyright and piracy worries, slow dial-up connections, technical challenges and consumer disdain for watching blotchy videos on their home computers. But a Silicon Valley startup is tackling those obstacles, hoping to become the first major provider of cinema straight from the Internet to the living room boob tube.

"Twenty years from now, everyone's going to be getting all their video mostly from the Internet," says Steve Shannon, founder of Akimbo Systems Inc. "You see it happening with music. You see it happening with phone service. Video is next."

With new video and copy-protection technologies, and the rapid expansion of high-speed broadband connections, the time may be ripe. Akimbo hopes to tap the vast vault of programming floating on the Internet, repackage it in DVD-quality, and bring it to a set-top box so viewers can easily choose what they want to watch from their sofa -- not from their desktop.
The San Mateo-based startup, which delayed its launch date from the summer to October after it hit technical snags, appears poised to be the first to deliver an Internet-to-TV video-on-demand service. Akimbo is targeting an audience that craves more than the programming on conventional TV and cable networks.

But it's unclear whether even the most dedicated video junkies will be willing to buy another set-top box and pay an additional monthly subscription fee. Akimbo also faces steep competition from larger rivals in the potentially lucrative market.

SBC Communications Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp. have teamed up to launch an online movie-on-demand service next year. Digital video recording pioneer TiVo Inc. is also working on a product that will connect Web content to the TV screen.

Video content piped into homes through the Internet does not face the spectrum constraints of broadcast television. Expanding the video catalog -- "scalability" in industry jargon -- is relatively easy by adding more computer servers for storage.

The typical cost of transporting video data over the Internet has dropped from $30 per gigabyte in 2001 to less than $1 per gigabyte today, said Shannon, a former marketing executive at ReplayTV, another pioneer in digital video recording.

"It'll be the nirvana of video on demand," Shannon said. "And the only architecture that can bring that is the Internet."

But will consumers, many of whom already have tall stacks of electronic boxes by their TVs, open their wallets? Akimbo subscribers must first buy a $229 Akimbo Player set-top box, then pay a basic monthly service fee of $10.

"You're competing against a lot of consumer electronic gadgets out there and many consumers are paying almost triple-digit monthly fees for video entertainment, so how much more are consumers going to pay for entertainment in the living room?" asked Sean Badding, an industry analyst at The Carmel Group market research firm.

The company may charge more for premium services, and some shows will carry a pay-per-download fee -- as much as $5 for rare films, or $1 to $2 for a kid's show, Shannon said.
"If you give people content that they're passionate about and that they can't get anywhere else, they'll be willing to pay for it," said Josh Goldman, Akimbo's chief executive.

Programming that users select will be downloaded via a broadband Internet connection onto the Akimbo Player's 80-gigabyte hard drive, which Akimbo says will hold about 200 hours of video. But instant gratification doesn't apply: Download time roughly equals the length of the video, and the download must finish before viewing starts.

Copy-protection mechanisms in the Microsoft Windows Media 9 video format should prevent users from being able to copy shows or play them on PCs or other devices.
At launch, Akimbo promises to have a library of more than 20,000 hours of video from 50 content providers, including independent films and shorts from iFilms and AmazeFilms; foreign language shows from the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Middle East; and a smorgasbord of specialty sports events ranging from boxing to sailboarding.

Adult-oriented entertainment, including Canada's Naked News and Danni's Hard Drive, a sexually explicit Web site, will be available. Parental controls will be included to limit children's access to selected content.

The plan is to offer mainstream content later. Analysts say Akimbo is shrewd to begin with relatively esoteric programming not yet available on cable or major networks.
"That's their competitive edge," Badding said. "They don't want to go head-on right now with cable operators with mainstream content because then they'll be dead."

Some venture capitalists believe the market is ready. Akimbo, which announced its service in February after 1 1/2 years of secret development, recently scored a second round of funding of $12 million, led by the powerful venture capital firm of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Although Hollywood is warming to Internet-based video, offerings such as CinemaNow,
MovieLink or Starz Encore are limited.

Without a product like Akimbo's, video on the Internet can be streamed from a computer to a television. But consumers must have either a PC near the TV or some kind of media adapter and a home computer network -- not to mention technical know-how, drastically reducing the potential number of users.

CinemaNow, an Internet video-on-demand service eager for a new source of customers, will provide its content on Akimbo's service. Only 10 percent to 20 percent of CinemaNow's users go through the trouble of linking their computer network and televisions, said Bruce Eisen, CinemaNow's executive vice president.

"It's not easy to marry the TV with a PC," Eisen said, "but Akimbo takes content off the Internet and puts it on the TV in an easy-to-use fashion."

Severance

N. American execs want severance deal before startingMonday August 30, 1:17 pm ET By Anupama Chandrasekaran

NEW YORK, Aug 30 (Reuters) - More and more North American executives who are weighing job offers want to know what they would get if the company they join eventually decides to let them go.

Along with such compensation as salary, bonus and stock options, high-level managers are negotiating their severance even before the ink on their employment agreements is dry.
In good times, companies were happy to offer contracts that paid executives through the end of a guaranteed period even if they were kicked out before then. But with cost-cutting still a priority, fewer companies offer such deals, which means executives have far less job protection.
Besides, many executives have learned from the spate of corporate scandals in recent years that their jobs could be in jeopardy if those above them get driven out over an accounting blowup.

"Companies are saying that 'we can hire and fire at will' and a lot of companies are not offering employment agreements (for a guaranteed term)," said Dan Moynihan, a consultant at Compensation Resources Inc. in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. "So the next best alternative is to get a negotiated, upfront, going-away present."

For the company, such an arrangement is still cheaper than a long-term contract, he said.
Many job candidates are following the advice of employment lawyers, who recommend discussing a severance package with the future employer before taking a position there.
During the hiring process, both sides feel very positively about each other, said Ken Suddleson, an employment lawyer in the Los Angeles office of law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP.
"When people are leaving, those feelings have changed, often dramatically," he said, "and it is extremely difficult under those circumstances to negotiate a severance."

But corporate watchdogs complain that such deals could sometimes harm shareholder interests as companies pay millions in severance.

"There should be some employment protection if people lose their jobs for no fault of their own, whether that is because of a merger or through the appointment of a new CEO, but one year's salary is the maximum that should be paid in any of the situations instead of three years' salary and bonus," said Paul Hodgson, a researcher with Portland, Maine-based Corporate Library, which provides corporate governance data.

SHOW ME THE MONEY

Moynihan of Compensation Resources said he recently helped negotiate a severance package for a client who was offered a management position at General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE - News). The executive demanded the equivalent of one year's salary plus continued benefits, and the conglomerate approved it.

One reason executives are asking for severance at the employment interview stage is that managers below the top tier face an increasing risk of getting fired because of a financial scandal.
Earlier this year, Nortel Networks Corp. (Toronto:NT.TO - News; NYSE:NT - News), North America's largest maker of telecom equipment, fired its chief executive, chief financial officer and controller because of accounting problems. More recently, it terminated seven other individuals involved in financial reporting.

Scandals aside, job-hunting executives also are concerned that the CEO who hires them may not always be there.

Often the team brought in by a departing chief executive is "at the mercy of the new leadership," said Rick Junius, executive vice president at outplacement firm Lee Hecht Harrison's Los Angeles office. As a result, many executives are asking for some kind of severance deal upfront.

Compensation consultants are also fueling the trend by spreading the word about what a corporation -- say, Company A -- is offering its executives, said Rakesh Khurana, who teaches organizational behavior at Harvard Business School.

"Company B's executives ask 'Why aren't we getting the same deal?'" Khurana said. "Executive recruiters say this is the new norm and this is the new standard."

Craigslist / eBay details

eBay's Craiglist Deal Classified As A Horror StoryBy Ross Fadner Staff WriterFriday, August 27, 2004

On Friday, Aug. 13, eBay announced the purchase of a 25 percent stake in closely-held online classifieds giant Craigslist, from an unidentified former employee for an undisclosed amount. While eBay's intentions for striking the deal remain murky, the news left media publishers with classifieds businesses feeling apprehensive, to say the least.

According to the Classified Intelligence Report (CIR), "Craigslist-eBay Deal 'a Learning Experience,' Unnerves Newspapers," one online publishing industry newsletter drew an analogy between the eBay deal and "Friday The 13th" killer Jason Vorhees of the horror-movie series.
"Like a certain hockey-masked stalker from Camp Crystal Lake," the newsletter said, "Craigslist threatens to slice into newspapers' employment and real estate advertising strongholds. Add the huge promotional power of Meg Whitman and her team and this is one horror flick you don't want to see."

Craigslist, for those living in a hole or abroad, is an online local classifieds marketplace that-to the chagrin of online publishers that sell classifieds-offers free postings and transactions, but with one caveat: it charges for job postings in San Francisco (and only recently) New York City and Los Angeles. It operates 45 city or regional Web sites, all of which have been developed primarily through word-of-mouth, as Craigslist does not advertise. The company reports more than a billion monthly page views, and 5 million unique visitors.

When asked if he understood how newspapers feel threatened by Craigslist, site founder Craig Newmark told the CIR, "I know they're worried about us; I wouldn't say threatened. If they're worried about us, they're worried about the wrong thing." Newmark later added that he would like to place Craigslist "everywhere on the planetary surface," a feat that most local newspaper publishers would surely rather not see happen in their lifetime.

"Really and truly, [Craig] is right," noted Peter Zollman, founder and principal of CI. "Craigslist is not the threat; it's a symptom or a reaction to the threat," which he noted is the fact that younger readers are using different media, and newspapers continue to suffer from declining readership and circulation, not to mention several recent high-profile circulation scandals involving major publishers. "Newspapers have lost their role as the marketplace [for classifieds]," Zollman added. "Craigslist is the new marketplace."

Zollman said that to compete with compelling consumer services like Craigslist, newspapers need to become the most potent local resources they can be. This means having a substantial Web presence, and while very few have no online presence, he said that many are following poor strategies, such as locking out non-paying subscribers from their classifieds sections.
In the United States, classifieds represent a 40 to 45 percent of a newspaper's advertising revenue, according to CIR, making it a $15.8 billion business at U.S. daily newspapers alone, with an added $28 to $30 million coming from other classified providers such as weeklies, trade publications, and dot-coms.

Because Craigslist is a closely-held private enterprise, it's anybody's guess as to what eBay had to pay for its quarter stake in the company. The CIRreports that Wall Street analysts have estimated the selling price at anywhere between $4 and $25 million; CI's estimate is between $10 and $12 million, which would value Craigslist at upwards of $50 million. Its annual revenue is estimated between $7 and $12 million; CI guessed $7 million for 2003, and $9.5 million for 2004.

According to eBay spokesman Hani Durzy, the company bought the minority investment in Craigslist to learn more about online classifieds and how to reach local markets. We're learning more about the classifieds market... what these are, what it is that makes them tick," Durzy told theCIR.

Zollman believes that in the short-term, eBay's involvement in Craigslist will be minimal. In the mid-term, he said he expects eBay to aid the classifieds provider in its expansion efforts, eliminating the scams that permeate the service, and implementing new technologies. Zollman doesn't expect eBay to fund promotional efforts, at least in the near future.

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