2009-News You Can Use.

Happy New Years folks!

I’ve sobered up, put down the wine and now I’m back on the grind!

To set things off, here’s some news you can use:

The new Benicio Del Toro film on Che Guevera took 8 years to make.  Click here for the NY Post write up on “Che”. I will be seeing it very soon as well.

Are you in the habit of challenging parking tickets? No? Well, you’ve been missing out and wasting money paying the full amount by mail.  Click here for the NY Times Article on how to save scrilla on parking tickets.

So it seems like drug companies are going to stop giving doctors toys, pens, sports tickets and other trinkets while trying to solicit them to carry their drugs. Peep it here.

Sticking with the cash theme, cash still rules in 2009. Which is why our government is printing a whole lot more.

Bloomberg bought Brooklyn Votes.

Wonder what’s his reason for revealing this right now? Sure he’s up to his usual trickery.

BY FRANK LOMBARDI and ERIN EINHORN
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Thursday, September 25th 2008, 12:09 AM

Mayor Bloomberg used a secret fund to reward City Council allies with $20 million for their districts – some of it going to questionable organizations, he revealed Wednesday.
The mayor first acknowledged his slush fund last spring in the wake of a Council scandal over taxpayer dollars flowing to fictitious groups and nonprofits controlled by Council members’ relatives.

Bloomberg released new details yesterday showing what he doled out to Council members and pols to distribute among their favorite nonprofits and pet projects since 2002.
“People have taken tough stands and helped us make politically unpopular decisions, sometimes at their own peril,” mayoral spokesman Stu Loeser said.

The two members who got the most were Simcha Felder, raking in $5.7 million, and Domenic Recchia, who got $2.2 million.
Both are Brooklyn Democrats who crossed party lines to endorse Bloomberg when he ran for reelection as a Republican in 2005.
Felder did not return calls for comment. Recchia denied the money was a payback.

“The mayor expressed support for things happening in my district,” he said. “These projects were worthwhile.”
Others, like Councilman Bill DeBlasio (D-Brooklyn), who got $351,000, earned the wrath of then-Council Speaker Gifford Miller in 2005 by siding with Bloomberg on a plan to put a garbage transfer station in Miller’s Manhattan district.

“I didn’t need a weatherman to tell me that there would not be a lot of support [from Miller] for my community,” DeBlasio said. “I appealed to the mayor to help on these items.”

Also getting money from the mayor’s fund was Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who began collecting in 2005 after crossing party lines to endorse Bloomberg. He sent much of the $2.6 million to a nonprofit called Best of Brooklyn, Inc. which he controls.

Some of the mayor’s cash ended up with nonprofits later linked to the scandal.

Among them were the North Brooklyn Community Council, run by the wife of Councilman Erik Martin Dilan. Dilan gave $30,000 from the mayor to that group in 2005.

Link

MCF = Money Comes First.

Personally I think the Nba rule that prevents players from going into the league right after high school is retarded. Teams that don’t want players that young, don’t have to draft them.

Colleges could care less about educating these guys. The Ncaa is a pimping system that uses players to generate money for the schools.

This past draft set a record for the number of freshmen players taken in the first round.

Anyway, here’s a shift in events. One of this countries top high school point guards is deciding to forgo college in order to play pro ball in Europe.

That player is Brandon Jennings.

I had the opportunity to see Mr. Jennings (and his flat top) play up at the Rucker a few nights ago. He’s a talented scorer who’s good at running his team.

I wish him the best as he heads to Europe and look forward to seeing him in the league in a year or two.

Peep this video of the kid getting loose at the Jordan Classic.