Nikky Raney asks Tila Tequila for an interview by: Josh Grattan

Zennie62.com's Nikky Raney asks Tila Tequila for an interview.
The video may seem silly and joking, but Nikky is serious. Nikky has been writing blog entries exposing Tila Tequila for the past month, and Tila has recently fought back with tweets & two blog entries. One of the blog entries attacked Nikky for not being on TMZ's blogroll, because Tila was excited to announce she was on TMZ's blogroll. However, MissTilaOMG.com is no longer on TMZ's blogroll. Zennie62.com is on TMZ's blogroll, and Zennie62.com is where Nikky blogged about Tila. Nikky has always remained objective and with any opinion has backed it up with a link to an interview, tweet, or one of Tila's own blog entries. Nikky mentions she doesn't hate Tila, but is reporting as a journalist & writing as a blogger. Tila attacked Nikky's weight & in the video Nikky accepts Tequila's offer for liposuction.

So, now that this video is public we will see how Tila responds.

Oakland parking problem: another one for Rebecca Kaplan

Oakland Parking is STILL a problem

Yes. Another Oakland Parking problem. This space continues to receive tips and emails from Oaklanders and people visiting Oakland who have horrible parking stories they want to share with the World.

Since Oakland's At-Large Councilmember and would-be mayoral candidate Rebecca Kaplan thinks it's OK for Oakland to use parking fees to balance its budget, even at the expense of the poor from what was yelled to this blogger earlier this year, and without provocation or apology from Councilmember Kaplan (and not bloggers who support her run for Mayor), this space will continue to present each Oakland Parking problem to her. The last one was from Nick Mitchell, who complained of the ugly DMV and Oakland system that works to cause late payment of parking fines.

This one is from an Oaklander, Terese Tatum, who shared a letter sent to Oakland Parking Head Noel Pinto:

Dear Mr. Arnold and Mr. Pinto,

I have spent hours on the phone and left a number of voicemails and have had no response. Although I could simple pay this ticket and avoid this hassle, it is an erroneous ticket. On principal, I will continue to call and email the City of Oakland until it is appropriately dealt with. I would appreciate a response as soon as possible.

On April 10, 2010, ticket #1602620950 was issued at 3321 Webster Street in Oakland. The car was parked in a spot with inactive meter (meter head had been removed) and a Pay-to-Park machine did not accept money and stated "Coming Soon". In other words, there was no viable way to pay for parking.

I approached the parking enforcement officer and asked him why he gave me a ticket. He stated that "it was Pay-to-Park". I told him that the machine was not currently available. He apologized and realized he made a mistake and he took the ticket back from me and stated that it would be cleared.

In order to dispute a ticket, I must respond within 21 days. However, I never receive the ticket in my hand (because he took it back) and I never received the notice of payment or late payment via mail (I have double-checked that my car is registered to my current address). I only learned of this tickets while online paying for another (legitimate) parking ticket. Now I am being charged $127.00 for what I consider to be an absolutely erroneous ticket.

Please also note that when this parking enforcement officer learned of his mistake, he took my ticket and drove off, knowingly leaving ~10 tickets on the cars in front and behind me that were also written in error. This type of behavior is appalling and appeared to be an egregious attempt to take money from citizens who believed they were parked legally.

Thank you,
Terese Tatum

In other words, the parking enforcement officer didn't remove the copy of the ticket, and for a simple reason: they don't care. If the parking enforcement officer had to pay for the error, they would take steps to remove it. Instead, Terese Tatum suffers for it.

Councilmember Kaplan, that's not right and Oaklanders know it. It's not OK to raise revenue in this way. This practice must end.

Ecuador, Peru boarder oil spill pollutes Marañon river

While the BP Gulf Oil Spill problem continues in the United States, and non-goverment organizations like Amazon Watch fail to point to similar problems in Ecuador while claiming to have concern for Ecuadorians and a desire to sue American Chevron that does not do business in the region, an oil spill took place on the Ecuador, Peru boarder, polluting the Marañon river.

According to LivinginPeru.com's Isabel Guerra, the spill happened as oil was transported on a ship called the Sanam III, that had been hired by Pluspetrol, the largest oil and gas producer in Peru, and the fourth largest organization in Latin America.

Guerra writes:

The spill was first reported by residents in Parinari, three hours away from Nauta.

Officials from Pluspetrol told RPP Radio that they have started the contingency and monitoring plan, and the spill is currently under control.

Local residents told the press that this spill affecting the wildlife and their own lives, too.

While the spill is on the Ecuador boarder, there's no word if the country will assist in clean-up efforts.

Stay tuned.

World Cup Soccer 2010: Brazil vs. Portugal, Germany vs England

Koman's off the hook, sort of

While it's a bit harder for this space to be excited about FIFA World Cup 2010 after the USA was eliminated by Ghana 2-1 on Saturday, the fire for World Cup still burns. After all you have to love a sports event where Soccer fans Mick Jagger and Bill Clinton have a better chance of scoring than some of the teams.

Take Brazil vs. Portugal, and England in it's match against Germany. In the Brazil vs. Portugal match, neither team scored; it ended in a 0-0 draw and both advanced to the second round. Brazil won Group G play, while Portugal was two points behind them. Now, Brazil will play Chile in the second round, with Portugal vs. Spain.

Portugal needed a draw and so played like they did, much to the frustration of Brazil. "It's really boring when we have to play against an opponent with 11 players on the back, only trying to draw," Brazil's striker Luis Fabiano said according to The LA Times.

England and the Disallowed Goal Problem

Not scoring more than one or two goals was England's problem against Germany, which clobbered the brits 4-1. But some viewers will contend that had England not had a disallowed goal, they could have come back to at least tie the match.

The diallowed goal by Frank Lampard of England and that was made in the 38th minute, is so controversial it's the third highest topic on Twitter and rivals the USA v. Slovenia controversy of two Fridays ago that made FIFA referee Koman Coulibaly a household name. The problem is that it wasn't the real difference maker; arguably England still would have lost 4-2, but the goal error, again, points to the need for Instant Replay in Soccer.

That the diallowed goal happened again, and again in the USA v. Ghana match, sorts of gets Koman Coulibaly off the hook, but not FIFA. Instant Replay must be installed.

My view is it will happen at some point because too much more is at stake now that America has become aware of Soccer and because communications technology has allowed viewers to see what should have been. FIFA's credibility could be damaged by lawsuits and claims of corruption; it can ill afford an large backlash regarding its integrity.

Con Ed DEP Gas leak hell NYC? by Suzannah B. Troy

See my YouTube from this morning that shows all the Con Ed trucks, DEP vehicles where it looked like a bomb dropped by the North West entrance of Tompkins Square Park which was closed off by the Parks Dept. for safety.

I wrote Dollar Bill Dan Doctoroff before the steam pipe explosion by Grand Central and alerted him to William Yardley's piece in The New York Times as well as my letter in AM New York the month before Yardley's piece concerned for infrastructure and safety.

I was told by DEP it was a water main break but in actuality a source told me it was a gas leak and the FDNY responded first.

Watch the YouTube to get more of a visual of how much of the street they are tearing up and for those unfamiliar with the area DOT is getting ready to pave 2nd and 1st Avenue but it will be a short term mess in my opinion because we have had too many infrastructure breaks and I don't think they root problems have been addressed so I believe the "new" streets will be looking like this one Sunday morning.


I have a YouTube documentary series plus NY1's coverage of a water main break on 2nd Avenue and 7th Street from 3 years ago and part of the intersection keeps reopening.


I am going to be repetitive because I am tired and I want your attention.


This morning the FDNY responded and I am told it was a gas leak. A DEP guy told me it was a water main break but I heard it was a gas leak. What ever it is it looks like a bomb dropped and this is Mike Bloomberg's streets of New York ever since he pushed a reckless, stupid, greed driven development to help his rich buddies and the construction industry but at the expense of the people of New York in way too many way.

We need more press coverage on this.  We need the press to make city gov tell us how many infrastructure breaks we have had since Bloomberg came to office in each section of NYC and we need to examine how we can stop what feels like another Bloomberg Titanic problem and finally put the safety of New Yorkers first.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0oiUtXoG5c

Yes this is the YouTube from this morning in case you missed it.

I don't know what else to do except hire a hot air ballon that says "Safety First!" stop the reckless tsunami of development mayor Bloomberg and for once put the people first.  Enough is enough!

Mike Bloomberg decided that the commissioner of DOB did not have to have an architectural degree or an engineering degree. Mike and the city have been sued on this issue and lost the first round. I am assuming the judge is a friend of rich developers and blind to how many deaths and injuries suffered by this Bloomberg's reckless tsunami of development.

As told to me BP over ridded their engineers advice and I get the vibe this was the same here in NYC.

More on that later.  I have heard some news and I think news reporters will be reporting more on this soon.

The East Village, Lower East Side looks like a bomb dropped and Cooper Union next zone buster has been put on hold for 2 years while the area around the building where I filmed a YouTube voicing my concerns for the safety of the community looks like bombs have dropped and Con Ed is also a main stay there.

The tsunami of reckless development was as stupid and greedy as what brought the implosion of Wall Street on and the streets are in the worse shape they have been in years.  DOT repaving them appears to be a wasteful band-aid because the infrastructure problems have not been addressed and as the old infrastructure problems keep busting open, Mike is pushing more infrastructure expansion but all of this -- old and new expansion should have been addressed city wide before the reckless development.

Go to YouTube and search under Suzannahartist and street conditions,  Suzannahartist infrastructure and you will also find my playlist on Mike Bloomberg' streets of NY including a fire truck on the upper west side, the front wheel falls in to a hole in the street that was from infrastructure problem.  I tried to supply you with links but who knows because there is so much and I am one person.  I even show you the subway station at Union Square with water on the ground from a pipe leaking with gauze around the pipe like a broken limb.

Mike and his developer friends only cared about their reckless development and not that the city was in bad shape and not able to absorb the development including Columbia University, NYU and Cooper Union as well as hotel and condo developers all busting through zoning and wanted the people displaced and cared nothing about our safety and the conditions of our streets, way lay beneath them and a rotted, dilapidated subway system where the stations are rotted and leaking and there are so many rats I call it the MTA Rat Circus for New Yorkers standing waiting for trains.

Welcome to king Mike's "new" hideous New York.

Rand Paul interviewed by David Weigel on McChrystal and BP

David Weigel's last blog post for The Washington Post  in his Right Now section (RN) consisted of an interview with Rand Paul, the GOP candidate for the Kentucky Senate. Apparently still chaffing from his public flogging over comments on the Civil Rights Amendment, Rand Paul was eager to steer clear of any statement that could be interpreted as support for British Petroleum (BP) or Gen. Stanley McChrystal's resignation / President Obama sacking on Wednesday.

Rand Paul cleans up

Already called a "wacky guy" in this space for his civil rights law comments...



...Rand Paul recently came under much more fire for accusing President Obama of being "un-American" for criticizing BP. Apparently already pained from the scar tissue developed over his incendiary comments, Rand Paul walked on eggshells with David Weigel about McChrystal and about the BP Escrow Fund. Weigel tried his best to pull a straight answer our of Paul at his fundraiser. Witness:

Rand Paul 

RN: Do you agree with the president's decision to accept Gen. Stanley McChrystal's resignation?

PAUL: Ultimately it is the prerogative of the president to decide who his generals are. My first thought was, going back to the historic controversy between Truman and MacArthur, but the thing is I'm not sure I'd call this insubordination, but he had a public disagreement and I think -- I don't think anybody questions that it's the prerogative of president, whether it's a small or big disagreement, to decide who generals are at the top level. I haven't read all his comments nothing specific to say.

RN: You've started to take heat for your approach to the BP escrow fund. Do you support the fund, the way it's set up?

PAUL: Well, I don't think there are many people who don't believe in any regulations, myself included, and even my dad -- I don't think you'll hear him say he doesn't believe in any regulation. But I'm not sure I have the answer to that, sincerely. I think everyone in the country wants BP to pay for the clean-up, myself concluded. I've never had any argument with that -- it's amazing how you say things and they get blown into things you didn't say! I'm not even sure I can talk to some people anymore because they take things out of context.

Paul went on to dodge and weave around Weigel. Paul never addresses the question of whether he supports the fund or not. Rand Paul's dancing now will eventually damage him when he faces his Democratic opponent, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway. (Conway himself has to deal with that $9,600 contribution from BP, so he's not totally in the clear, here.)

Rand Paul's knee-jerk desire to give a controversial spin on issues of the day will harm him in two ways: 1, by making the statements, and 2, by sounding less than honest when he tries to avoid making such statements. In short, he's trapped within himself.

David Weigel resigned

Unfortunately David Weigel quit The Washington Post for, well, being too libertarian. I'm liberal but feel for Weigel not being with an organization who gets that New Media, in this case blogging, is edgy and challenging in its approach. Bloggers are supposed to be opinionated and attacking without being malicious. It seemed Weigel was walking that path, and switching his hat to pure journalism. But emails to his more liberal co-workers were used to do him in and that's really too bad. I hope he resurfaces sooner rather than later.