TrueNews: "It Good to Work for the King" (Bloomberg) Mel Brooks

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

"It Good to Work for the King" (Bloomberg) Mel Brooks

"It Good to Work for the King" (Bloomberg)
Mel Brooks

Bloomberg staffer owns stock in company building B'klyn arena (NYP) * Bloomberg's '200G' aides in double dip (NYP) * Bloomberg’s Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson owns stock in the company that is building the controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.

Rattner works for Bloomberg's Non Profits Organizations
Rattner clams up Ex-car czar took fifth 'many times' with SEC: mag (NYP) Former car czar Steve Rattner was mum on several occasions last year when the Securities and Exchange Commission interviewed him under oath about his role in the messy New York State pension "pay to play" scandal, according to an upcoming report. Rattner, the founder of Quadrangle Group, a private-equity firm, has been implicated in a kickback scheme that paid bribes to a middleman in return for his fund receiving wads of investment cash from New York's robust $140 billion public pension fund.(NYP) * Kelly: Mayor's Frequent Flier (WSJ) * NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly took five free trips to Florida on Bloomberg’s private jet last year, the value of which, according to Kelly, are “unknown”.

Mosque: NYP & WSJ NO, NYT & DN YES
Money behind the mosque (NYP Ed) *A Monument to Tolerance New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 9 to 0 to reaffirm one of the basic tenets of democracy: religious tolerance. (NYT Ed) * Don't play the bigotry card, Mike! (Goodwin, NYP) * Mosque Plan Clears Hurdle in New York (NYT)* Ground Zero Mosque Gets OK (WSJ) * Broadway and the Mosque A concert of Broadway show tunes sung by a diverse cast brings to mind reasons why it is O.K. to build a mosque near the World Trade Center site. (NYT) * Dorothy Rabinowitz: Liberal Piety and the Memory of 9/11 (WSJ) * El-Gamal: 'Ground Zero mosque' will serve all N.Y. (DN) * Landmarks Commission Votes Down Preserving Site Of Proposed Mosque (NY1) * Elsewhere: White House Mum on Mosque *Group sues to stop mosque near NY’s ground zero * Judge orders hearing on Ground Zero loan charges * Opponents Of Mosque Near WTC Site File Lawsuit

Terrorism NY Target New York: Trial showed JFK bomb plotters were a deadly threat

Judge Rules FDNY Exam Still Discriminatory * Rider Catches MTA Booth Worker Snoozing On The Job

Congressman or clown? Weiner's odd floor show (NYP) * Rep. Anthony Weiner explains his angry outburst on the House floor over the Zadroga bill in a Times OpEd, writing: “I didn’t break decorum, but I did say what I was thinking and feeling.”

Election 2010 Samuels Defends PAC Allegations From Espada * AG hopeful Rice admits to 'dabbling' with cocaine in her 20s (DN) * Eliot Spitzer's Favorite Madam is Running for Governor on a 'Sex, Drugs, Gay Marriage' Platform * DiNapoli Responds To Wilson's Fundraising Missive * Bloomberg Businessweek's Peter Green finds Harlem voters are largely unfazed by Rangel's ethics woes.

NY Even the State Fair

is Corrupt
Even fair's foul NY corruption taints 'wholesome' state expo (NYP) * Sad state of a fair (NYPEd) * Fair Director Misapplied State Funds, Report Says (NYT) * Cookie-jar lid comes down on ex-principal (DN) * Feds, DA probe alleged stealing at Medgar Evers College (DN)

Paterson’s Security Chief Is Transferred and Put Under Ethics Scrutiny (NYT) * State Police Official Transferred Over Domestic Dispute Scandal (NYT) * Pediatric Nurse Suspended in Connection with Paterson/Johnson Case

Albany's Sting
Fake Budget Pass 125 days late
This budget will be modified right after the election when more service cuts are announced. Were are the papers following up the state comptroller claim that revenue projects by those who write the state budget are unrealistic? There were last year when the budget was changes three times and that was not even an election year. Eureka! Budget finally passes (NYP) * 125 Days Late, a State Budget With New Taxes (NYP)* New York State Legislature Passes State Budget 4 Months Late - WPIX * Finally! Albany gives approval to long-overdue state budget (DN) * Albany Lawmakers Reach Deal, Pass 125-Day Late Budget * DiNapoli: Budget ‘Not Worth The Wait’ (YNN)

Hedgers on ledge Gov. Paterson and the State Senate pulled the plug on a $50 million hedge-fund tax plan yesterday -- but skeptical financial managers say they don't believe the controversial levy is dead for good. (NYP) * Hedgers on ledge Could jump to Conn. despite NY tax nix (NYP) * Hedge-Fund Tax Scuttled (WSJ)

Bad Councilman! No Chairmanship! Ethics Committee interviewed witnesses and said today they believe Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, poked a Council staffer between the throat and upper chest during a budget argument in City Hall in late June. They recommend he be suspended as chairman of the Higher Education Committee until he completes an anger management class.

No Party For Us
The party's 'over' Excuses galore for missing Rangel ba$h (NYP) * Neither Rep. Carolyn Maloney nor Rep. Mike McMahon will attend Rep. Charlie Rangel’s Aug. 11 birthday party/fundraiser. (Aretha won’t be there, either).

More Budget Funds from the Poor and Middle Class
Malaysian Firm Recommended for Aqueduct Project (NYT) * Not worth the wait: Slots at Aqueduct are still a bad idea after all these years (DN Ed)

Twitter Run Offs
Joseph Mercurio The debate should not be about holding partisan or non-partisan elections, we should have partisan primaries with candidates of all parties on the same ballot with all registered voters voting, followed by the two top candidates running against each other in November even if they are from the same party. * Joseph Mercurio ‎"Citizens Union Report = Voter Turnout is Greater in Nonpartisan Elections than Partisan Elections"

New York Is Home of the Most Millionaires (WSJ)

MTA estimates $52 million in unused rides next year (DN)

Law and Order Gambino plea deal in '89 hit (NYP) *'Stabbing' pains for mob crew (NYP)* Sicko strangle guilt (NYP) * Troubles Preceded Connecticut Workplace Killing (NYT) * Man Arrested in Queens Subway Killing (NYT)' * Conviction in Strangling Case (WSJ) * Woman's life of terror after stalker husband's release(DN) * Cops involved in NYPD sex scandal cut deals (DN) * Man guilty of fatally choking his date (DN) * Arrest Made In Fatal Subway Platform Stabbing (NY1) * Crown Heights rapist convicted

Media and New Tech On Web's Frontier, Anonymity in Name Only (WSJ) * Coming Soon to City, Wi-Fi on the Go (WSJ) * Google Earth Used to Bust Illegal Pools on Long Island (WSJ) * Why Being A Freelance Journalist Sucks

More Workers Face Pay Cuts, Not Furloughs (NYT) * Jobless rate could go up again, warns Geithner

Fannie, Freddie, Big Banks Helping Lawyers Make Millions Pushing Families Out Of Their Homes

Why Donate to True News Keep Real News Alive. Put simply, True News -- and the truth – cannot do more and could even end without financial help from the people who want to hold the government accountable for their actions. As you know True News, without any support, has fought to keep the real NYC’s investigative and analysis reporting era of great journalism alive. True News is a living memorial to publisher John Peter Zenger who was jailed in 1733 by the King for reporting to New Yorkers what was going on in their city. It is also in the tradition of the Ben Bradlee generation that believes that all reporters would not be doing their job if they did not follow the story until they got to the truth. Today’s reporters copy press releases from elected officials and lobbyists hired by the special interests who want to control the message. The lost circulation of newspapers has created a generation of young reporters who not only rely on elected officials and lobbyists for stories, but don’t even Google to find the historical context or, more importantly, the truth behind the stories they write. In this era of sell-out journalism, the public has become disconnected, powerless and trapped by a permanent government that has turned against them. The media blames an apathetic public for not voting even after democratic consultants act like an Orwellian 'Big Bother' threatening them to vote or be looked into. True News reports that the reason for the decreasing turn-out is the public no longer feel their votes matter. If you value hard hitting Investigative Journalism, don't let True News go the way of the Passenger Pigeon. The Newfield, Barrett, Kempton, Hammel of yesteryear are no more. Local TV news limits itself to good looking women and men reading about breaking fires and crimes, with few exceptions. What's left that isn't tabloid is a wasteland of superficial news, driven by political and corporate PR machines, sowing the fertile seeds of corruption public and private hand in glove. Despite the soft news we see, standard bearers play a significant albeit vestigial role. Newspapers constantly pick up stories from True News (without crediting us of course) avoiding the costs to investigate themselves. Without True News, the New York Press and this blog's over one and half million readers will be utterly lost in the wilderness. Only True News is explaining: How Blacks, the Poor and the Middle Class are Being Pushed out of Brooklyn Because of Albany's Tax Breaks for Luxury Developers and Apartments Gives Details How Lobbyists and Developers Run A Secret Shadow Government that Also Controls Elections With Big Money and Their Control Over the Media Investigates How Political Party Bosses Have Been Replaced By Lobbyists' Privatization of the Tammany Hall Machine Reports How the WFP and the Elected Officials Who Are Supported By Them Have Abused and Aggressively Broken Campaign Finance Laws. True news is not funded by special interests like the other news blogs. True News has been self-funded all these years. True News does not make nice with sitting politicians, developers, lobbyists to fund it or to provide its young clueless reporters with story ideas. True News wants nothing more than to scratch out a modest living in its aim to investigate, connect the dots, and get to the truth of every newsworthy story. To carry on in this mission, True News needs funding from people like you -- People Who Want Better Journalism in order to learn what is really going on in their government and fight the corrupt politicians. It's been written about True News Those of you who have an involvement in the dangerous game of politics, it may be of interest to know who’s telling the truth these days, and, whether the articles we read are real or imagined disinformation, emanating directly out of a governmental PR department. No genuine journalist would ever rely on such a source for the truth. As publisher of the SoHo Journal, through personal experience, take it from me that it is possible to become a political target for simply writing about the truth. And the mainstream media and writers eat their own for sales— as well as take orders from their masters— corporate, financial and political masters. Always pay attention to the agenda. Read between the lines. That is the basis of real reporting and political comprehension. Not the rehashing of a press release. OWS had a handle on this reality as well. Pay attention to the current daily blog written by Gary Tilzer. His True News is one of the few remaining sources for political investigative reporting. His fearless reporting of the truth in political circles is worth noting. Contributors names are confidential

Other Views

On October 15, 1958, veteran broadcaster Edward R. Murrow delivered his famous "wires and lights in a box" speech (VIDEO) The Last Lion of Tammany HOW JIMMY McMANUS, MANHATTAN’S LAST GREAT TAMMANY DISTRICT LEADER, HELPED TO REVIVE HELL’S KITCHEN AND THE THEATER DISTRICT c By James S. Kaplan f On January 13, 2011, the law firm of Proskauer Rose moved into 11 Times Square, which is located on 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. In moving west to the final building of the City’s Times Square redevelopment, the Proskauer firm joined such other major law firms as Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Covington & Burling, Roberts & Holland, and the advertising firm of Ogilvy & Mather. That such major professional firms, along with a number of newly constructed luxury apartment buildings on 42nd Street from ninth to eleventh avenue and trendy restaurants and off Broadway theaters would be located west of 8th Avenue in midtown would have been almost inconceivable fifty years ago. Tammany Last Stand Continued

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