Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Bloomberg's Watergate; NY Loses 2 Congressional Seats

Breaking News

NY Loses 2 Congressional Seats (Update)

Texas will gain four seats, Florida will gain two, while New York and Ohio each lose two. Fourteen other states gained or lost one seat. The gainers included Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina and Utah, and the losers included Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts and New Jersey. * Census Data Show 308 Million People and a Regional Shift * Census 2010 shows red states gaining congressional seats (Wash Post) * New York and New Jersey Will Lose House Seats (NYT) * Census headcount means two fewer House seats for New York as Sun Belt population grows(DN)

"When did Nixon Know and How Much Did He Know"
Howard Baker, Congressional Watergate Hearings

It is time for U.S. Attorney to expand his investigation to City Hall officials to unravel the cover up going on with the City Time contract and people overseeing it. It is clear from today's stories that the city was warned as far back as 2003 of the largest rip off in New York City's history. The media which so far has not used its editorial boards to get to the bottom of the biggest scandal since Koch's Parking Agency fraud, must put pressure on Bloomberg's puppet Speaker Quinn and Albany to allow immediate hearing on City Time, so the truth of what happen could come out. It is a joke to allow the city to investigate itself CityTime Scandal Sparks New Probe (NY1)

The City Was Warned About City Time Corruption
Years Before Fraud Indictment, City Official Warned About Payroll Project in the warning, the official overseeing the project, called CityTime, accused its designer, SAIC, of delay in order to get more money (NYT) * Ex-payroll boss blew whistle on CityTime in scathing 2003 letter and nothing was done (DN) * Mayor Bloomberg CityTime Richard Vaicich blew whistle the Real CRIME (Video) * Letter Shows Bloomberg Slipped Up on CityTime Scam, Not Through the Cracks(Robbins, Village Voice) * Letitia James, Others Condemn $80M Embezzlement of Funds Brooklyn Daily Eagle * NY comptroller rejects NYC transit contract (WSJ)

DiNapoli Rejects $118M SAIC Contract

NYP who never writes about the scandal in the Koch administration, now says the former mayor has a plan to reform Albany. Koch's group NY Uprising failed to defeat a single incumbent opposed to their reforms and last week was quiet as the deadline past for creating an independent redistricting committee in Albany

Not a Good Time for the Mayor To Take on Another Troubled Agency

EXCLUSIVE: Bloomberg wants control of city's youth justice system (DN)

Alex Pareene says the Bloomberg LP’s new editorials are “the purest expression yet of the pathology of Bloomberg.”

Senate Dems Spend Like Crazy to Win An Election and Nothing Happens . . . Just Like Budget Negations

State Senate Democrats are $7M in debt after spending like 'drunken sailors' (DN) * The Senate Democratic conference exceeded its $29 million legislative budget by a whopping $7 million, or 24 percent

Ruling Means Republicans Will Control N.Y. Senate(NYT) * Sen. Craig Johnson congratulated his GOP opponent, Senator-elect Jack Martins, but also left the door open to a future re-match.

There might be more indictments in store for outgoing Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. and his son, Pedro G.

NY1 Interviews Evan Stavisky and Ignores He Was the Democrat State Senate Architect of Destruction

On the day the State Senate officially transferred control back to the GOP the new host of Inside City Hall had the chance to ask Stavisky why the Dems lost control of state senate. Stavisky group Parkside was paid over $2 million by the Dems. According to City Hall News he wanted more Secret Senate Democrats’ Contract Guaranteed 80 Percent Of Business To Parkside.

Last week NY1 new host Errol Lewis failed to ask Lobbyist Consultant who was also paid by the Senate Dems if he in his role of Lobbyist for AEG got bidding information from the same senate dems. MEET HANK SHEINKOPF ANOTHER GREEDY PROGRESSIVE AND HIS BUDDIES Lewis should have ask Sheinkopf why he took the 5th before State Inspector General Joseph Fisch investigation the AEG contract. Or the Anchor could ask Jeff Plaut of Global Strategy about their involvement in pension corruption. Global Strategy paid the AG $2 million for illegally receiving $1.3 million for facilitating public pension fund investments in private equity funds. NY1 allowed Plaut to analysis the debate last night with the AG.Quadrangle Settles with Cuomo, Trashes Rattner; Global Fined Too ... Did NY1 bother to check is Global was doing polling for any of the AG candidates?

What about the AEG and Johnson Cover up Gov?

Paterson slapped over free Yankee tickets and cover-up (NYP) * Dave's stocking-stuffer(NYP Ed) * Paterson Fined Over Yankees Tickets(WSJ) * Gov. Paterson got hit with the fine - $62,125 - he deserved for Yankee ticket shenanigans(DN Ed)

Here 'lies' Paterson's legacy (Dicker, NYP) "Gov. Paterson is an incorrigible liar whose words, under scrutiny, rarely hold up." * Barry Ginsberg Talks About Paterson Fine (YNN) * Don't let the door hit you, Gov. Paterson (Politico) * $62G fine in ticket scandal (Albany Times Union)

Play to Pay Espada Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. put in for his roughly $9,000 annual state pension.

New York's Economic Meltdown A Drag on Prices on Park Avenue (WSJ) * Harlem Hotel Project to Miss Deadline(WSJ) * All that food sure is heavy - City Harvest driver feels weight of generosity (DN) * Bridge Park taxes eyed (NYP) * The push to deny the pensions of ex-lawmakers convicted of crimes continues.* Riders still confused about MTA fare changes (AM NY)

Dept of Education New Math

Ed. Dept. passes the buck on teacher-data errors

End of An Era

In the City’s Subway, Literary Placards Will Soon Be Mere Echoes in the Memory (NYT)

PCBs In the Classroom?

EPA to Inspect City Classrooms for PCBs(WSJ)

Terrorism NYPD trains to counter Mumbai-style terror attack (NYP) * False Alarms Snag City, Travel(WSJ) * NYPD Trains for New Type of Attack * Three Bomb Scares, Three False Alarms (WSJ) * Pete King's plan to grill Muslims is flashback to Joe McCarthy's Hollywood witch hunt for Communists (DN) * For King, a terror hearing test (DN Ed) * Feds Warn Of Possible Holiday Poison Attacks At Hotels (WCBS) * National Security Leaders Discuss Terror Threat(ABC)

Law and Order Brooklyn bodega clerk fights off stun-gun thug (NYP) * City Will Require Police to Report on School Arrests (NYT) * A Suspect Is Arrested in Two Bronx Church Burglaries, and Investigated in More (NYT) * New DA Vance clogging courts with tough stance, critics say (DN) * Ice-pick goon committed crimes to pay for holiday presents: cousin (DN)* Courthouse bathrooms a haven for graffiti artists (DN) * Gotti crony 'Tony Roach' dies at 71 while serving prison sentence (DN) * Immigration crackdown worries Kelly, fears negative impact on cooperation (DN) * MadoffNYP) * Ex-William Morris head Jim Wiatt sues Ken Starr, lawyer for $2M lost in Ponzi schem(NYP) * Columbia 'dealer' dad not so bad (NYP) * Laundromat Worker Is Shot to Death in Brooklyn (NYT) * Brooklyn Frauds Are Playing Out in Polish, Police Say (NYT) * Firefighter turns himself in to police in Brooklyn hit-and-run incident (NYP)

Times Sues City Police, Saying Information Has Been Illegally Withheld

High Noon for 911 Bill

Daly: Heroes don't hesitate to do the right thing - neither should Congress (DN) * The U.S. Senate owes Ground Zero responders an immediate vote on the Zadroga health bill (DN Ed) * Robert Gibbs Looks To Jon Stewart To Help Get 9/11 First Responders Bill Through (Mediaiate)

Actor Injured in Fall During Performance of ‘Spider-Man’ (NYT) * Actor Injured in "Spider-Man" Fall(WSJ) Fourth 'Spider-Man' actor injured (NYP) Not again! 'Spider-Man' stunt double injured during Monday night's performance (DN) Media and New Tech 'Net Neutrality' Rules Set to Pass(WSJ) ' after 4th actor injured during show (NYP) * State shuts down 'Spider-Man

New York Leads in Pursuit of Lehman New York's attorney general, rather than federal regulators, is taking the lead in pursuing questionable accounting by banks. (WSJ) * Cuomo sues accounting firm Ernst & Young over Lehman collapse (NYP)

Media and New Tech NY Times Wedding Announcement Causes Quite The Buzz

Winter Solstice - Total Lunar Eclipse 2010 - TIMELAPSE

www.youtube.com

Judge revokes $5M bond for ex-Madoff worker Annette Bongiorno (NYP)

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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In the beginning of the last century, Lincoln Steffens and Jacob Riis were the muck rakers. Steffens tried to rouse the public to take action against the misdeeds of government and corporate leaders. Jacob Riis, a Danish immigrant, was the pioneer of photo journalism. He took his camera into the miserable tenement slums of the city. Depicting the plight of the poor, he wrote a book called “How the Other Half Lives.”

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