It's really tempting to Fisk all the bone-headed mistakes and ritualistic tautology in yesterday's NY Post piece: LMDC NOW SHEL'S OWN 'PORK FARM', but I was overwhelmed and under-motivated.

The template here is simple enough though, its got 'Another Botched Post Hit-Piece' written all over it. Somebody needs to create a Wikipedia entry for this kind of thing.

My guess is that the Post's got some walkie-talkie on the LMDC board, maybe a Bloomberg-Sheekey appointee, griping about how Shelly Silver allocates his member item money. Which of course, is not only none of this board member's business, but also way out of line for him/her to express a personal view on how elected officials conduct their legislative business.

Then again, maybe the piece has to do with Caroline Kennedy. Or maybe not.  But this board member's meddling passive-aggression is kinda how Kevin Sheekey operates after Silver reminds him of laws of political physics. (See: Pricing, Congestion, for NYC).

Anyway, here's how Tom Topousis of the Post starts-off getting everything wrong in his post-Christmas "Exclusive" on how Silver steals (while controlling the world):

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has transformed the lower Manhattan rebuilding agency into his own multimillion-dollar piggy bank, critics charge.

No, Tom, it'd be Shel's own piggy bank if Silver was depositing this money into his pocket, bank account, or piggy bank.  And if so, he'd also be under investigation like Joe Bruno. It would also help, Tom, if Silver ACTUALLY SAT ON THE LMDC BOARD that he's piggy-banking, or perhaps, APPOINTED ANYBODY TO THE BOARD, that might be piggy-banking for him. 

Then comes Topousis' smoking gun:

In the last two years, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. has shelled out nearly $12 million to many of the same community and cultural groups that Silver has steered pork money to, an analysis by The Post has found.

Right, Tom.  We're with you.  That's why a followup analysis by NGD finds that Silver has steered the rain into the same parts of his district in which it also snows.

Like I said, I lack the motivation to slog through the remainder of Topousis' piece.  But rest assured, it's just as factually, contextually and theoretically confused.

The consolation prize for Silver is that the dimwits at the Post go and advertise what he's done for his district with this nifty, vote-getting graphic: 

Silver should post this on his website under the caption: "This is why the call me  "Seel-wah" ("The Glorious One") in Chinatown.  Or maybe turn it into a calendar. Or use it in the smallest room in his house. But the Post, no doubt, believes--like their candidate for Silver's seat, the community organizer named Paul Newell--that advertising what Silver's doing for his district is a winning political strategy. And, of course, they'd be correct.

Bottom line: the Post gets to write the big disguised correction today and Silver wins another ad hominem fight he didn't pick with The Post because they can't seem to assemble and process simple and well-known facts before writing.

Basic facts that it takes all of fifteen-seconds to ascertain.