The Murdoch Post:

February 26, 2007 -- The NYPD fears that Iran has targeted the Big Apple for terror attacks, a grim new report reveals.

"We're concerned that Iranian agents were engaged in reconnaissance that might be used in an attack against New York City at some future date," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told Newsweek.

That's the whole story.

What objective Iran would serve with this isn't quite clear, nor is anything else about this, it seems. What is vaguely disturbing is that the 'Let's make war on Iran' drumbeat is now reaching the local level. Haven't we been here before?

On Monday at noon, George Pataki will finally, blessedly, get out of the way. This state can then at long last breathe a sigh of relief and get back to actual governance.

He is not, however, going away entirely, caught up as he is in the desire to cast wider the nets of his failure by running for President. On the one hand, that's a remarkable leap of faith on his part; on the other, one has to be strangely fascinated by the fact that he believes in himself so strongly that this quest of his hasn't been aborted by the incredulous derision it inspires.

George Pataki leaves behind a state that neither loves nor hates him. If he inspires any reaction, arguably, it's boredom, the kind you get from an uncle whom you like at some level, but who can't stop yapping about golf. Your relief when this uncle finally leaves your Thanksgiving dinner is precisely what New Yorkers are feeling as the Pataki era draws to a close. Pataki is Calvin Coolidge, without the excitement.

Pataki's legacy is, in fairness, mixed. He preserved more open space than any of his predecessors. He championed the cleanup of the Hudson. Until he started running for President, he supported gay rights and a woman's right to choose. He also cut taxes, especially in his first term, and took some steps to shrink state government, notably the sale of the World Trade Center in 2001. He even managed to deliver an on-time budget two years in a row. By the low standards set by contemporary republicans, he was not as bad as he could have been, which, I suppose, translates into a gentleman's C, politically speaking.

The above two columns, via HuffPost, ran this morning in the New York Post, a newspaper seemingly devoid of copy editors.

One column snarls that Barack Obama is 'too left for New York' - as if - and the other titters excitedly the, um, case that he's a rock star who just might derail Hillary.

How goddamn fucking stupid are the people at the Post, anyway? Seriously? No wonder they're giving it away on Union Square.

The New York Post offered up its endorsement today in the R primary for governor, and managed to deliver an abject example of a bar set a hairsbreadth above floor level.

The seeming inevitability of Eliot Spitzer has conservatives of conscience [sic!] in New York so disheartened that many may be tempted to forego statewide elections this year - especially the race for governor.

Which could be disastrous for healthy two-party politics in the state for many years to come.

Taking a pass on going to the polls could result in a third-place finish (or fourth or fifth) for the GOP's gubernatorial nominee - embarrassing the party, costing it the second line on the ballot and weakening it even further, possibly for years.

Yup, this is true. The GOP could wind up jostling for third-party status with the WFP and Mike Long's little outfit. Nice job. Pataki should consider running for President.

Even Democrats enthralled with the notion of regaining the Executive Chamber should fret about the prospect of prolonged one-party rule.

Yes, I lie awake nights worried about that as often as the Post editorial board does over the same awful prospect in Washington.

Albany's dysfunction can only grow worse in such a circumstance.

Albany without Pataki and Bruno to speed things along; what a nightmarish idea.

Mind you, this was an endorsement. The polite thing to do when you endorse someone is, as a bare minimum, to pretend he can win. Not to ask him to sacrifice himself so your spot on the ballot doesn't drop to just above the Greens.

I refuse to give The New York Times the hard earned Google juice and page rank I have earned with my blogs. When I checked out their new design I noticed their "Most blogged" box linking to .... no blogs. Excuse me? How can you know it is most blogged if you don't show who is blogging to you in the first place?

Well, I'm glad I am not the only one who noticed.

[via New York Times faux "most blogged" list -- what a bunch of leeches. - The Jason Calacanis Weblog]:

Just when you think the NYT is starting to get it they create a "Most Blogged" list *without* the back up data of who's blogging the stories!!!

Come on NYT... would it kill you to link to a blog!??!?!?!

Let me get this straight: you'll mine the data from the blogosphere to make your list, but you won't reward the blogosphere by linking back?!?!?!

That makes you a bunch of leeches--you take but you give nothing.

You see, the more we link to them, the not only the more traffic the get, but the higher in Google ranking they will be. And that is worth money. A. LOT. OF. MONEY. Jason Calacanis knows this. That's why he calls them leeches.

So boo to them.

Washington Post, on the other hand ... Thanks to Technorati, they get my heart-felt, "Yeah!"

Sure, they fucked up royally with Ben Domenech, but at least they acknowledge the existence of blogs ... more importantly my blogs.

Other blog friendly publications?

From WashPost:

A gossip writer for the New York Post has been suspended pending a federal investigation into whether he tried to extort money from a billionaire California financier, the newspaper reported Friday.

Jared Paul Stern, who worked freelance for the newspaper's Page Six column, is suspected of demanding $100,000 and an annual $10,000 stipend from Ron Burkle in exchange for not writing negative stories about him, the Post said.

From ABC7:

Jared Paul Stern is off the job pending the outcome of a federal investigation. Stern was a freelancer who wrote the "Nightcrawler" column and edited "Page Six The Magazine".

Now the FBI is looking to see if he tried to blackmail a billionaire.

Stern, a fixture on the city's gossip scene who also has his own website and clothing line, is accused of trying to extort money from billionaire financier Ron Burkle.

Burkle is a Democratic fundraiser and man about town who's been romantically linked to several models.

And this at the Murdoch Post, the City's foremost peddler of right-wing "journalism". I'm shocked, shocked, I say. What will the values voters think?

From Cindy Adams, the only columnist in the Murdoch Post worth reading:

Jack Abramoff's partner Mike Scanlon admitted to digging up former Congressman Robert Livingston's private life. Set to become speaker, Livingston then got sidelined for Tom DeLay's man Denis Hastert. Prosecutors now checking if Abramoff and Scanlon took Livingston down at DeLay's behest.

As a reminder, Livingston resigned from the House after a tearful speech in which he admitted to adultery. If true, this is a bombshell.

There is nothing that pisses me off more than a piece of news like this one:

[via Print Story: MURDER RATE DROPS AGAIN on Yahoo! News]:

New York's murder rate keeps going down --but homicide busts are suddenly busting out.

Cops have locked up 310 murder suspects so far this year, a 4.4 percent increase over the same period last year --when 297 arrests were made-- and a reversal of steadily declining arrest figures.

Until this year, the number of murder arrests has dropped along with the number of murders.

With 317 slayings through Aug. 8, the city is on pace to end 2005 with 525 homicides, down from the 570 from 2004 and lower than at any time since the 1960s.

But while fewer people are being killed, fewer were also being arrested for the crime --arrests had been plummeting, dropping steadily since 1990s and going down by 32 percent since 2000. Last year, murder arrests hit a rock-bottom 516.

Police have no explanation for the sudden upward blip this year.

Oh, where do I start? How about a laundry list of questions?

The New York Post printed FERRER: AX 'PARK DISS' COMMISH, this morning; giving the impression that Ferrer was somehow calling for a firing squad; but I have here the audiocasts that will paint a better picture of the incident.

Fernando Ferrer's Call for Accountability

Mayoral Candidates Follow-up on Ferrer's Call for Accountability

The podcast, raw and unedited, is a whopping 9+ GIGABYTES.
Daily Gotham's audiocast of Parks1 26 July 2005 Mayoral Forum

Oh, and just in case you wondered, I signed the pledge too

Now, the question you've all been waiting for me to answer : Who came out in front?

And the answer is ...