Editorial

Air Mail: Wilt Chamberlain stamped Greatest of All Time

November 27, 2014 by Phil Butler Leave a Comment

Reading ESPN, late NBA news, or idiotic Bleacher Report stories, you’d think Wilt Chamberlain was certainly the second greatest basketball player who ever lived. Why? Well because everybody and his brother these days has to name someone else the best of all time, that’s why. One of the most dominant sports figures in any sport, Wilt will soon have his on US postage stamp, but some other Tom, Dick, or Harry, will always be the best… To the basketball infidels.

Since this is my blog, I have the opportunity to enlighten the basketball brethren about something. “Greatest” can only be determined in true objectivity. Sure, Wilt was my hero back when I played basketball, but that does not mean I didn’t root for Magic Johnson, Patrick Ewing, and the all mighty MJ when they played. Excellence demands the quest for the pinnacle, and even the Big Dipper himself would have rooted for someone to excel past his set goals. Unfortunately for people like Adam Fromal over at the Bleacher Report, the preponderance of basketball evidence points to NO ONE EVER surpassing Wilt Chamberlain in stature or in records.

Fromal, who typed out a ridiculous rationalization on Wilt’s 100 point game in Hershey the other day, is like most young sportswriters these days. In a time when the hype over everything has gone beyond fever pitched, it’s simply tough to prop up athletes and movie stars without calling to bear icons from the past. With Jordan gone from basketball, it’s near impossible to paint a portrait of greatness in a league full of actors, play giants, and spoiled rotten pretenders. Fromal’s piece, The Truth Behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-Point Game, is anything but. Like the traffic happy blogger, Fromal needs that snappy headline too. A hook to catch all the Kobe Bryant fans on Earth. (Yep, you guessed it, Fromal got 600 plus comments for the same old “against nobody” rant naysayers have used for decades to deflate Wilt’s 100 point game.)

What an assenine way to make a living. But Fromal is genius for suckering today’s basketball dummies.

Wilt - courtesy Cliff — Wilt – courtesy Cliff

Kobe Bryant being set up to surmount the Mount Everest of basketball legends. Oh man. Let’s look at a couple of issues Mr. Fromal suggested. Like Wilt scoring 100 on virtual nobodies. Fromal, with a slight of hand, brushes off Hall of Famers Richie Guerin, four time NBA All Star Willie Naulls, and the tough Darrall Tucker Imhoff, who did manage to play 12 seasons in the NBA. Nobody? Fromal is dillusional, Kobe played the real nobody. Bryant scored his 81 on Jalen Rose who’s dozen seasons culminated at its midpoint with winning “Most Improved.” The rest of the Toronto Raptors’ squad, they were not lucky enough to score an ESPN gig. Mike James is still hard at it having been dumped by the Bulls and reacquired by the Texas Legends this season. I needn’t venture further on Kobe magnificence there. The dude ain’t playing nobody.

Let me spare Fromal and today’s other basketball scientists some misery here. This Wikipedia page contains most of the career achievements of Wilt. Among them are:

Most 50 Point Games in a season (45 in 1961-62)
Most 40 Point Games in a season (63 in 1961-62)
Most Points Per Game in a season (50.4 in the 1961-62 season)
Most Career Regular Season 60 Point Games (32)
Most Career Regular Season 50 Point Games (118)
Most Career Regular Season 40 Point Games (271)
Most Consecutive 50 Point Games (7 from December 16-29, 1961)
Fewest Games Played to Reach 20,000 Points (499, achieved in 1966) * (take special note here, after 1966 Wilt focused on defense, rebounding, and team play – it took Michael Jordan an extra 121 games to achieve this).

And that’s just scoring. Need anyone mention rebounding, blocked shots, minutes played, and NEVER having fouled out of a game? I feel ridiculous a bit even having to mention these things, especially to supposed B-ball fans.

So why all the fanaticism about Kobe and the lot? Hey, it’s today, we can’t have deceased superstars taking the limelight, now can we? That would mean the NBA is a circus full of propped up clowns, now wouldn’t it? Fact is, pro sports has become pro-wrestling. The whole charade is like watching two fakes dump off the ring ropes to near kill each other, over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. Indestructible Hulk Hogans running around in droopy underwear, and the idiot fans yelling; “Greater than Wilt, better than Kareem, a virtual Chamberlain!”

Let’s take the gloves off here, shall we? Fromal and the whole gang of today sports know-it-alls, they just played too much Goddamned GameBoy. The closest they’ll ever get to knowing greatness is pretending to be Wilt versus what’s his name. Oh, hell, I almost forgot Shaq. As for young Mr. Fromal, I suggest you take to reading some more young man, you’re guilty of heresy against the gods of sport, whether you know it or not.

And therein rests a case for a legend. You, more than any, deserve the postage stamp Dipper. We miss you.

Putin helps dig Wall Street Journal’s grave

November 21, 2014 by Phil Butler 46 Comments

Why aren’t more people amazed, and incensed, that the western mainstream media propaganda assault on Russia just never-let’s-up? Yesterday the Wall Street Journal had the unmitigated audacity to headline their news “The Putin Body Count.” Referring to the more than 4,000 dead in Ukraine we had a hand in, the newspaper breeches insanity, leading me to wonder; “will Vladimir Putin help dig western media’s grave?

Update: See notation following mention of Citigroup..

Let me repeat myself for effect here. The Wall Street Journal. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Now growing up as a kid, I used to sit across from my dad as he read this financial newspaper, and the New York Times too. He was, you see, once Attorney General of the state of Georgia, so he had to be a voracious news consumer. Dad read everything from the Atlanta Journal to the TIME, keeping up with the latest news daily. Witnessing what’s happened to American press these days though, it’s no wonder the world’s in a mess.

The story yesterday went something like this, the WSJ leads in:

“Russia’s military assault on Ukraine threatens the survival of an independent state and peace in Europe. Often overlooked is what the invasion—and that’s what it is even if President Obama and the Europeans are afraid to utter the “i word”—has meant for Ukrainians in lands taken by Vladimir Putin ’s forces.”

Rupert Murdock — “Yeah it is me, Rupert Murdoch” via Wikipedia

Just Who Does Wear the Black Hat Today?

Is there a need for me, or for anybody for that matter, to point out Washington’s part in the upheaval in Ukraine? Is there still anybody out there unclear as to the real causes of Ukrainian dissent? Barack Obama assaults the US constitution almost daily, and meanwhile his puppets in the EU cause their own people suffering on account of ridiculous sanctions. Is it me, or can anyone else hear the distinct sound of someone(s) laughing, the wringing of evil hands over the Cold War II?

Breaking news for you, my dear readership, the mighty Wall Street Journal is owned by Rupert Murdoch (above), the media billionaire most adamant about getting Barack Obama into office. And since I’ve mentioned this kingpin of western media propaganda, it seems appropriate to ask the reader if he or she has knowledge of Murdoch’s investment interests? Or, do you realize he meets regularly with other players in the global energy and investment game, players like Saudi magnate Al-Waleed bin Talal (who’s got a 1$ billion tied up in Citigroup)? (a Citigroup director was found dead in his apartment with his throat cut this weekend. Shawn D. Miller was the Global Head of Environmental and Social Risk Management (ESRM) for Citi.)

) Are you watching these movements, noticing how Washington meets with the same people Murdoch and other western “oligarchs” do? These are questions you should be asking. Why Al-Waleed has even got an Islamic studies program of his very own at Harvard. Who says “money can’t by you love?” If you’re wondering about Saudi royalty’s agenda here, just follow the money. This Wall Street Journal “suck up” to the Saudi prince spells Obama’s latest agenda out. Read it and weep for Syria’s Assad.

I quote from Matthew Kaminski from exactly one year ago:

“Mr. Obama’s recent Hamlet act on Syria surprised and infuriated Riyadh. After the worst chemical-weapons atrocity of the war, the American leader heeded long-standing calls for military intervention, then hedged by asking for congressional approval, then nixed airstrikes in favor of a disarmament pact with Syria’s Bashar Assad.”

Secretary Kerry Meets With Foreign Minister al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia in Paris Before Joining Iranian Nuclear Negotiations in Vienna - State Department — Secretary Kerry Meets With Foreign Minister al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia in Paris Before Joining Iranian Nuclear Negotiations in Vienna – State Department

Bad Guys Hate Good Guys
Let’s be clear on one thing, Vladimir Putin and Russia stand opposed to whatever shenanigans the US, UK, EU, Saudi Arabia, and other oil cartel leadership are up to. And the leadership of each of these hates Russia and Vladimir Putin for various reasons, all competitive. One does not have to know the “exact” wheeling and dealing going on to know billionaires only care about one thing. However sorted the quest for oil or arms dollars (or rubles) may be, it’s what profit buys that dictates right or wrong for a people. Here on mother Earth, we’ve few examples today of how Saudi oil trillions, or Rupert Murdoch wins have helped the so called “free people” of the west.

On the other hand, Vladimir Putin’s quest to “surface” Russia as an economic power, it’s revealed a lone superpower free of debt, and somehow clinging to traditional Russian values. In short, for the people he represents, Vladimir Putin is John Wayne on a white horse. And the western oligarchs hate his guts. A friend of mine who’s prolific on social media said to me once recently; “We’re not wearing the white hats in this one Phil.” No kidding, American are stagnated, almost flat busted, robbed, abused, and manipulated, and worse, most do not even realize it. All one has to do is turn to France and Le Monde diplomatique , to get a perspective on what’s really happening. Michael Klare writes:

“Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, South Sudan, Ukraine, the East and South China Seas: wherever you look, the world is aflame with new or intensifying conflicts. At first glance, these upheavals appear to be independent events, driven by their own unique and idiosyncratic circumstances. But look more closely and they share several key characteristics — notably, a witch’s brew of ethnic, religious, and national antagonisms that have been stirred to the boiling point by a fixation on energy.”

How does it feel, the itching sensation everything you’re told by CNN, FOX, BBC, and all the US newspapers is false? Uncomfortable for many, I am sure. We’re asked to believe (over and over) blatant misrepresentations, lies bought and paid for by the very people who profit from our loss. The curious among you might ponder, “Why would Saudi Arabia have a key role in Iran nuclear talks?” They were once described as “brotherly nations” back before Iran had blows with the US. Up until Mr. Putin stepped in on the US Syria intervention too, the only discord between the countries was trivial. The reason Saudi Arabia is interested now though, has more to do with Iran’s natural gas resources than with Atomic bombs.

News flash: “Iran has twice as much natural gas as the United States and Saudi Arabia combined!”

Now we begin to see why the United States has shunned Iran for so many years. The philosophical and misleading notion Israel feared an Iran bomb, this was and is subterfuge. Sure Israel is paranoid, but American and Saudi billionaires invest in energy, airplanes, and not necessarily “kill all” A-bombs. Who is the good guy here? I’d say look at just “who” is condemning Vladimir Putin. Let me assist you.

Note Iran with Russia represents a huge competitor. Also note the significant Australian reserves, and think about Malaysian flight MH17. Wikipedia

A Genie War Bottle

What do Rupert Murdoch, Dick Cheney, Michael Steinhardt, and Lord Jacob Rothschild all have in common? They’re all associated with a venture called Genie Energy. This shale energy conglomerate has its drills in American shale exploitation, Israeli energy efforts (though the Israelis are lately angry at Genie), a direct competitor with Gazprom, especially if we look at their recent Mongolia exploration. So, what you have in a nutshell with Cheney and Murdoch as energy advisors there, is a type of collusion, maybe worse. The connection, for you, in between “The Putin Body Count” and Rupert Murdoch paid employees is well made now.

What’s scarier (or should be) for you and me is the fact Murdoch and the other media moguls in on this bash Putin campaign could care less what you think. Murdoch, the western leadership in London and Washington, they’ve no fear or reproach even. The 1% has become so arrogant, so powerful, they fear not reprisal from the populace. Some would say the world going to hell in a hand basket, why it’s all our fault! Here, here’s where Rupert Murdoch joined Genie Energy’s advisory board.Now tell me the Wall Street Journal is unbiased! Go on, try.

Here is a quote from the 2010 press release from Genie, it is TELLING:

“Rupert Murdoch and Gene Renna obviously bring vast experience and immeasurable value to the Genie Strategic Advisory Board. Their legendary accomplishments and eminent characters speak for themselves,” said Genie Energy Chairman Wes Perry. “Their decision to join Genie’s Strategic Advisory Board speaks to the fundamental importance and urgency of our mission to rebalance global energy production markets. I join the other Board members in welcoming them and look forward to working with them.”

Newscorp has a vested interest in what happens in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and in the United States especially. Newscorp and Murdoch have helped “rebalance” the energy market. Let’s not be naive. Those mentioned in opposition to Russia and Putin they are the bad guys. They’re the bad guys because they’re willing to ignite World War III in order to profit. They’re the bad guys because they lie to Americans and Brits. They mislead us on a monumental scale the Nazis could not have dreamed of. They’re the bad guys because they cheapen us, our values, and they lessen our lives. “How do the lessen our lives,” you ask? I’ll tell you.

The Obama administration is not the only guilty party where shafting the American people is concerned. Just about every politician in Washington (of not every single one) has been set in place by people like Murdoch. We all know this instinctively, and from our forefathers. Politics has alway been about lying, backstabbing, and putting a hand in somebody else’s pocket. It’s just never been so blatant, unapologetic, and disastrous. For God’s sake (as my dear departed Mom would say), Wall Street crushed the American economy, robbed Americans, then robbed them again via the administration, and nobody did a thing. The NSA shattered the Constitution of the United States of America, and got by with it.

I found this quote by one of the world’s most interesting leaders of the past. Haile Selassie was Emperor of Ethiopia almost 5 decades, heir to a dynasty with traditions back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The quote below mirrors what many great leaders have said, but I use it for the purpose of revealing the evil humankind has suffered for eons.

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”

Here we are, silent but for a few, witnessing atrocities of immeasurable and wanton hurt, by the same evil. Not unlike Putin, Haile Selassie was revered as a savior by millions for his wisdom and courage. He was also imprisoned, dethroned, and his family murdered after a coup d’état’ in the world’s oldest monarchy. History recalls Haile Selassie (on the cover of TIME at right) as the single figure who defied fascism’s grip on his people. Though Mussolini’s Italy took Ethiopia, it was Selassie who galvanized and represented a people not defenseless against aggression. History may well tell of a Russian leader who defied an even more insidious takeover. For make no mistake, if not for Vladmir Putin not a Russian value would stand before rampant capitalism gone rabid.

How can I say this as an American? I’ve watched half a century men like Murdoch bastardize my beloved country, that’s how. I watched Bernard Kilgore’s paper my Dad and his contemporaries counted on, turned to garbage since 2007.

Putin: Leadership at the twilight of corporate skulduggery

November 16, 2014 by Phil Butler 9 Comments

If the end of days were to have begun when Russia coerced Ukraine away from NATO, every preacher in America needs to get busy preparing the flock.

News from APEC and the G20 summits reveals a world already at war, but mostly warring with the truth. The crap economy has officially taken a back seat to a diplomacy and a decency meltdown no Hollywood producer could film. However crumbled our leadership’s morals and ideals may have become though, the game underneath is a nasty, nasty business of profiteering and low blows.

We’ve suspected all along the Russophobic assault on Vladimir Putin (below) was money driven, those of us with brains that is. News media in the west though, starved for revenue, those mostly do the bidding of billionaire robber barons who have reinvented what being crooked means. Yes, we’re in it ears deep folks, all of us Earthlings.

All the killing and upheaval you read about, it’s over money, mountains of money. But first let me address something more distasteful than simple or complex crooks. Tactless mediocrity.

President Putin at the G20 - Kremlin — President Putin at the G20 – Kremlin

Follow the Low Blows to a Real Winner
Just to set the mood here, Google “Putin in China” and see how the sold out mainstream is turning up the heat on east-west relations. There’s not one article concerning economic cooperation – instead ten thousand soulless reporters chime in on a gentleman being gentlemanly. Vladimir Putin puts his coat over China’s first lady’s shoulders on a chill night, and the curmudgeons lost their collective minds tainting, twisting, vomiting venom onto decent people. It’s sickening, actually. Our president lands in China and accomplishes nothing but to show up (discount a bilateral emissions deal that means nothing) and his PR team makes a video of it. Meanwhile New York to LA and across the waters to Australia and Britain, media rants not about Putin and Xi Jinping solidifying an economic union, but more or less about opening a door for a lady. This is real WTF? media folks.

Canada PM's Office — Canada PM’s OfficeSaudi

Over at APEC last week, it was fairly clear Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin had a bit of a cold shoulder for American President Barack Obama. However, if you watch closely, any time Obama shows up in somebody’s country these days his counterparts look a bit as if they’ve bitten into something distasteful. Then, moving over to Australia and the G20 we get a foul wind from that west dominated circus – we get served up three rings of assholes who somehow managed to slither their way into leadership. Tony Abbott, he was supposed to “shirt front” Vladimir Putin wasn’t he? There was supposed to be some Crocodile Dundee or Quigley Down Under badass moment where Abbott took up for killed Australians (the murderer of whom, is still anybody’s guess). What we got instead were cheap shots, below the belt again.

Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen (big mouth) Harper, he took the sound bit opportunity to take a poke at Putin while the two were supposed to be shaking hands. Now there’s a heroic leader for you, and one with savoir-faire and class too – punk Canadian leadership, who would have thought? Mr. Harper (flirting with who at right?), you need a punch in the nose. I digress too far though, to my southern upbringing, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and shadowy remembrances of real soldiers, statesmen, and chivalry. We’ve come far, far past any semblance of excellence where American or any leadership in the west is concerned. Patrick Smith is the author of “Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century,” he says it all in this perfect picture at Salon. All this “front shirting” is for show for the Millennial (or some whacked out generation), behind the scenes Washington has blown it, and ruined any chance of peace in our time. Smith goes on aptly, about all our meddling:

“China’s and Russia’s domestic problems are rather like America’s; they are to be resolved by Chinese, Russians and Americans, a point we understand easily when it comes to the interference of others but not the other way around, when the question is our interference elsewhere.”

Who will the winners be in this economic war? Putin with BRICS leaders this summer - Kremlin — Who will the winners be in this economic war? Putin with BRICS leaders this summer – Kremlin

Yessiree Bob – It’s All About the Corporation

To the point on Ukraine, “America should not even be anywhere near there.” This brings us to the “economic” tip of a sword dipped in Ukrainian, Palestinian, Iraqi, and American soldiers’ blood. Barack Obama (image below with generals) and John Kerry, on the quest to secure a brief American gas boom. You see, all this Russophobia, it’s really gas-ophobia. And no, I do not mean fear of farting, which is pretty much the smell any time the aforementioned enter a room.

You can tell I’m riled up, can’t you? And so should we all be. Stocks and bonds, currencies, ongoing Wall Street shenanigans, haven’t we “the little people” suffered enough on account of investor types? Everything you read this week out of Washington, it will be about an ongoing energy-profit war. Everything.

In the east of Ukraine, we are told, separatists have done every smidgen of wrongdoing a militia can. Yet it’s only the devastation on civilians Kiev junta shelling could cause, that we see sporadically outside BBC, Reuters, and the Washington Post. As Mr. Smith up there suggests, Secretary of State John Kerry visiting a place bears one headline, and instigates yet another reality. The Salon article points to the recent Saudi visit, and the ensuing bottoming out of crude oil prices. Make no mistake, from Gaza to Tehran and back to Kiev, Exxon, Shell, and Russia’s Rosneft vie for profits supremacy with the likes of Raytheon, General Dynamics, and the war profiteers. And you thought ISIL was about some Islamic jihad?

Obama military — Why is it Obama is constantly in military meetings and with 20 nations, as in this image from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs?

Iraq, Syria, Libya and the rest of the Arab Spring bit parts, they’re meant to consolidate petro-dollars in the hands of the Saudis, Qatar, and them old fashioned Texas oil families’ pockets. Conspiratorial? Yessiree Bob, as my Mom used to say. Knowing all this, the machinations would not be oh so bad except for one or two things. First of all, little kids are either dead, dying, or scarred and without parents over these wars. Eastern Ukraine is in turmoil, those who’ve stayed in the cities, they’re cold, wet, starving in large part for any comfort at all.

In Gaza, Palestinians are homeless, shot to pieces, and ruined by a nation who’s hatred knows no bounds. In Syria and Iraq, a militant nation has arisen out of Washington’s interfering corporatism. The business of “The Great Game” extended, the mighty energy dollar at stake, it compels the 1% to risk all the John Kerry’s and John McCain’s they own. The chessboard is now developed, all that remains is which king will fall.

A selfie of hopeful eyes in the face of utter destruction. Bahaa Salman with Gaza children – this wonderful photographer has captured the devastation and the spark of Palestine. Make no mistake, our government is responsible – we gave the Israelis license and weapons to exact genocide. Courtesy Bahaa Salman in Gaza

Come On! Rant With Me

Now that I got that off my chest, what’s in this rant for you, the reader? Chances are, if you read this far, you already knew what I know. If not, perhaps you followed that link to Patrick Smith’s piece. That tells the real story. Other than this, I guess I wanted all of you to see the unfairness and lies like I do. Isn’t this why we writers write in the first place? This side of the Putin story points to us, what we’ve permitted to happen in our countries, with our leadership. This is about democracy gone way wrong. That is unless the world is really the way you want it! Is this how you want it, cheap gas regardless? Maybe I could have just posted this question; “are you okay with this world?”

As for me, I leave you with something from Dostoyevsky, something else brilliant:

“For, after all, you do grow up, you do outgrow your ideals, which turn to dust and ashes, which are shattered into fragments; and if you have no other life, you just have to build one up out of these fragments. And all the time your soul is craving and longing for something else. And in vain does the dreamer rummage about in his old dreams, raking them over as though they were a heap of cinders, looking in these cinders for some spark, however tiny, to fan it into a flame so as to warm his chilled blood by it and revive in it all that he held so dear before, all that touched his heart, that made his blood course through his veins, that drew tears from his eyes, and that so splendidly deceived him!”

Last, but not least, the image below is from one of the organizations tasked with giving a hand to peace in east Ukraine. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is “on the ground” in Ukraine, but I find now, mostly in meetings. During the elections cycle, the organization was particularly photo happy. Tell me what you think of a European organization supposed to be agnostic, fair, and seeking truth, that visits Washington to learn how to vote. Is it just me, or does this seem funny to you?

All American - Via OSCE Parliamentary Assembly — All American – emulating the US – Via OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

Will the UK censor Russia Today’s new RT channel?

November 12, 2014 by Phil Butler Leave a Comment

In my belief system, God hates a cheater. Well, news UK media regulator Ofcom is leaning on Russia Today (RT) to influence their policies, it just stinks of a fix.

Having just launched their United Kingdom media alternative, Russia Today leadership no doubt expected some hurdles, but accusing the Russian media company of undue bias over the Ukraine situation? If that ain’t calling the kettle black! RT Editor-in-Chief, Margarita Simoyan (below right), notorious for her toughness and saying it like it is, she scolded the UK regulators. Simonyan told RIA Novosti:

“Obviously, the accusations of partiality are nothing but an attempt to influence our editorial policy. Every day we see tons of biased materials on the BBC, where the voice of countries and governments running counter to the British position is not heard. No one is about to deprive them [the BBC] of a license.”

Earlier this week Ofcom issued a note accusing RT of one-sided coverage of events in Ukraine. The regulators further threatened sanctions on the Russian TV channel.

Its funny, we heard of no such warnings when BBC played parrot to The Sun and other media back when Malaysian flight #MH17 was lost! Without so much as an eyewitness account or Polaroid of (in fact contrary to eyewitnesses) BBC and the rest of UK media chanted World War III, World War III, World War III over the smoking wreckage of the airliner. Months later, and even the Dutch figure the plane may have been shot down by Kiev, or better yet the CIA. Well, at least “Putin’s Missile” is on a par with the “Obama’s Missile” if fairness is the aim.

THE SUN: Putin’s missile pic.twitter.com/R2o3fsc3Ja #TomorrowsPapersToday #BBCPapers via @hendopolis

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) July 17, 2014

I’ve covered this Ukraine situation since the onset, and western mainstream media has already damned their reputation to hell. Viewing the comments the whole time, and monitoring social media since before the Sochi Games, the trend is with RT’s stories, not BBC’s or other similar outlets. Let’s face it, these sellouts have been telling us the economy’s better for years, they’ve hidden the truth more than revealing it.

I have one question for the outdoing Ofcom Chief Executive, Ed Richards.

Mr. Richards, if Russia Today is the only media outlet that is biased in the Ukraine situation, where’s the “Odessa” of the Kiev regime? Vladimir Putin personally shooting down MH17 notwithstanding, if British media is spot on, why haven’t we seen Pro-Russian separatist war crimes on the East more prominently? Where are the babies killed in the East by artillery and cluster weapons? If Putin is invading Ukraine every day, why are Russian units not at the border to Poland?

As for Richards and Ofcom in general, the agency itself is suspect when all is said and done. The announcement Richards would step down in December reveals a shakeup that has received little focused scrutiny. The bottom line I guess is, Richards has made a lot of enemies (including Rupert Murdoch) and friends over the years. Most say he is brutally impartial, and the skinny on his departure is he’s out because of his leniency. However, he’s got to find a new home somewhere, and nobody in the Brit media family wants an RT competitor, now do they? Some say Richards will take a prominent position in government, let’s see how that pans out if RT get’s sanctioned!

Okay, that was more than one question, but I’d like a response as to why RT has been singles out so soon over past coverage? If you’ve similar questions you can contact Ofcom via mail at: news@ofcom.org.uk or hammer, uh hum, I mean check them out on Twitter, Facebook, and even Google Plus. Just so you know, this regulatory organization is also supposed to be about fair competition. I am wondering now if cheating is fair these days?

Breaking! Russia’s Yellow October Trapped in Sweden bay!

October 21, 2014 by Phil Butler 1 Comment

Breaking NEWS! The Swedish Visby class corvette HSwMS Helsingborg has cornered and forced to the surface a top secrete Russian submarine classified Yellow October, inside the Stockholm archipelago.

The Sochi Olympics were a huge failure largely because of stray wolves attacking bobsledders. Okay, maybe not. But Vladimir Putin did fly a Mig in behind MH17 to shoot the airliner down with 30mm cannot fire! Well, maybe that didn’t happen either. We do know, however, that Sweden’s world class navy has identified and trapped a big, yellow, super secret Russian sub inside their territorial waters! We know so because most of the mainstream media says so!

If you can believe anything TIME, ABC News, The Telegraph, or even the Guardian reports these days, you’ve an expanded sense of trust, this is all I have to say. If Russia’s Putin is not in some sex orgy with former Italian prime ministers, or stealing some NFL owner’s super bowl ring, he’s wringing his judo chopping hands orchestrating his next world domination scheme. Are you sick of it? I have been for months.

On the lighter side of all this high stakes blame game though, there’s RT’s Anissa Naouai with a tongue in cheek revelation you have to catch. Watch below for irrefutable proof everything they say about Putin is true, true, true.

Photo credit: Bridge of a Visby Class Corvette – by Wikipedia

Mark Rutte joins Tony Abbott in Putin coat tail riding

October 19, 2014 by Phil Butler 1 Comment

In case you’ve failed to notice, just about every leader in the western world uses any opportunity to ride Vladimir Putin’s (below right) coat tail. The latest hanger on, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (at left) “demanded” supposedly, that the Russian president extend “maximum cooperation” in the probe into downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. Really now? It’s like Australia’s Tony Abbott did not rub off enough Putin machismo!

The Dutch official take on the MH17 investigation is one of, don’t look, don’t tell, not just yet. From our own network, we suggested to Netherlands officials connectivity with the Russian Defense Minister, Russia Today, and/or ANY cooperation that might lead to full disclosure on this tragic affair that has set world policy on end. Rumors and statements to the effect a secrecy agreement between Ukraine, the Netherlands, Belgium and Australia flip flopped in between true, untrue, denied, and plausible – in fact the whole MH17 situation has been one of the most bizarre in modern history. Now Rutte follows Obama, Tony Abbott and just about every other leader in “puffing up” in front of the crowd watching Vladimir Putin.

The PR people behind western leadership need to smarten up, congruity of message equals collusion, you know? Obama, Kerry, Cameron, Merkel, Abbott, and now Rutte? It’s as if Obama had taught his touchdown dance to every prime minister, president, or Sheik in the western alliance. Fact is, ALL these braggarts have chimed and chiseled in their way to insist it’s Russia’s fault the MH17 crash site cannot be properly disposed. I say, what about the Kiev junta pock marking the site with artillery rounds every day?

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian hacker recently broke into the servers of the internal network of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry to discover crash investigators having a “special” relationship with the Kiev regime, and that sharing of documents seems common. I just emailed Roland Bless, Spokesperson of the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship, Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the OSCE, to see if I could get some clarity on who is obscuring the investigation of the site. It’s time all those concerned put ALL the cards on the table.

The families of the victims of MH17, and the world set on edge, we all deserve the answers now.

As for chest puffing? We’ve all had enough of Obama and the rest of the west.

Additional photo credit: Mark Rutte with Obama and Norway’s Jens Stoltenberg – courtesy Statsministerens kontor

“Lily Livered Abbott” versus “Putin the Warrior”

October 14, 2014 by Phil Butler 2 Comments

Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott continues to use the MH17 disaster as a political football for his own purposes. News Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the coming G20 in ‘Australia has somehow prompted Abbott to wage a testosterone war on the world’s toughest leader. The problem for Abbott, besides being no match for Vladimir Putin, is that his own people think him a laughable leader.

Did you ever watch that strutting peacock prance across the playground when you were a kid? You know the one I mean, the block headed idiot who’s parents somehow convinced him he was special. Despite a good start provided by some economic position, Abbott seems to me like a man who’s akin to a pin ball, bouncing in between wanting to be godlike as a priest, the Muhammad Ali of Oxford, and some kind of Australian dictator or other. You’ll have to excuse me being bombastic of Abbott, but the simple fact is, I really have a distaste for such people.

Perth abandoned warehouse — While Abbott gives Japan shipbuilding contracts, places like this building in Perth become skeletons of Australia’s former manufacturing capacity – via Nate Robert

As for Abbott’s blowup with Putin, ever since MH17 was shot down the Australian has wasted no moment in using the tragedy to his advantage. As Obama and the rest of the west tried to pummel Putin’s Russia without a shred of evidence, Abbott leveraged the dead Australian passengers like some kind of macabre leach. God bless those from Australia who died so unfitting a death, and damn people like Abbott who would benefit from it. Abbott’s own people despise his politics, and the underlying mediocrity too. This poll today at the Sydney Morning Herald reveals Australians know more about detente than their leadership does.

Let me break down my utter disgust for leaders like Abbott for you. Not unlike Obama, Abbott has betrayed the public trust on a mission to line the pockets of Australia’s elite. One ongoing blog post aptly named “Tracking Abbott’s Wreckage” reflects well what I am saying. Once elected, these political racketeers basically ignore the public that elected them, and instead steam off into a corporate gratification fest until the end of their terms. Whether the public throws such leader out, or whether they’re replaced by the next worse “thing” Australians, Americans, or Lithuanians just suffer, suffer, and do some more suffering.

Abbott and Kerry — The world’s political pukes – they come cheaper by the pair – by U.S. Department of State

Now, set against a leader like Putin, who’s country is not in the financial soup like the US, the EU, Britain, or Australia, Abbott cannot offer us hope of anything. Anything except those same, weak ass peacock moves we all know all too well. (You can tell I don’t like him, can’t you?) Tony Abbott has more websites and articles dedicated to his lies than Elvis Presley does fan clubs. The guy is like some horror movie caricature of a political monster. Abbott’s opposition has even kicked off what’s known as a “Lie a Day” campaign against this prickly bully.

What’s more aggravating for me here is not the fact politicians lie, not even that some become prolific liars like Abbott is. What’s got me riled up is what I guess I’d call the “little prick syndrome.” Back in the day someone who puffed up his chest to appear big, without the wherewithal to back it up, we referred to them as “little pricks.” And I assure you, height and weight had nothing to do with the put down.

Putin in Sochi — While Tony Abbott postures, Putin instills the ideals of sports and leadership in the minds of Russia’s youngsters – Vladimir Putin with young athletes in Sochi this week – via Kremlin press office

Abbott’s job is to do what is right for the people of Australia, not what’s right for Tony Abbott and the people pulling his string. Judging from approval ratings, Abbott and Barack Obama are on about the same level serving the greater good. While Vladimir Putin’s approval rating bounces in between 80% and near 100%, the losers of our political world can’t muster more than 30-40%. Australia is a mess, with the auto industry toast, most manufacturing done for, and the outlook as gloomy as it has ever been. And Tony Abbott is somehow going to challenge Russia’s Putin in a manly man contest?

While Putin oversees massive construction and planning projects to propel Russia into world leadership - leaders like Abbott parlay their nations into a quagmire of failed globalization - Putin in Novosibirsk overseeing massive infrastructure planning - Kremlin — While Putin oversees massive construction and planning projects to propel Russia into world leadership – leaders like Abbott parlay their nations into a quagmire of failed globalization – Putin in Novosibirsk overseeing massive infrastructure planning – Kremlin

Abbott, like most all chicken-livered preppies, wants to ride someone bigger’s coat tail. And Putin has a sturdy one for wannabe tough guys to feign and dart at, like so many terriers. The former KGB operative, the Russian ass kicker and name taker — versus — the tricycle riding, feint and jab college boxer in tights, needing something of greatness to rub off and rub off good. (Yes, I utterly despise freeloading parasites)

Additional image credits: Featured Tony Abbott/Sydney homeless mashup via Global Panorama and ClickE

Obama’s America is Exceptional, Indispensable, Titanic!

October 8, 2014 by Phil Butler Leave a Comment

“When there’s killing needs doing, they call on us. That’s the way we roll.”

This is how President Barack Obama sees the world. Is it just me, or does one western politician or other seem to lose it about the time the world seems ready to right itself? Sanctions on, sanctions off, ceasefire on, ceasefire off, peace, war, peace, war, the world is dizzy, and so am I. Many people are wondering if the good ship Earth even has a rudder now. Meanwhile, others smirk; “We’re on the RMS Titanic.”

Last weekend, on the iconic CBS show 60 Minutes, Obama scarcely gave the show’s moderator, Steve Kroft, time to open his mouth before proclaiming to the world, the America as “the indispensable nation.” Well, he may as well have said the U.S. is the only country that matters, judging from the responses. For all the missteps and failures of this, the most unsuccessful presidency in history, Mr. Obama never fails to puff out his chest and proclaim how exceptional he is, and were are, by proxy, for having elected him. A nation made up of many nationalities, has its essence forgotten by a president who forgets himself, and forgets what being American really is. You see, we come from Russia, Germany, Ireland, China, Spain, and everywhere. Paying no heed to our roots, he continues:

“We have capacity no one else has. Our military is the best in the history of the world. And when trouble comes up anywhere in the world, they don’t call Beijing. They don’t call Moscow. They call us. That’s the deal.”

Does that mean our direction is, and shall always be, a bomb in return for another GI body bag back home?

"Nearer, My God, To Thee" – cartoon of 1912 — “Nearer, My God, To Thee” – cartoon of 1912 depicting Titanic victims

Indispensible, irreplaceable, justified, sacrosanct, omnipotent, where does Obama’s introspective assessment of our magnificent essence end? Where in the Constitution of the United States does it say, “Ye shall be rulers of all creatures that walk the Earth, and of every fish of the sea?” I must have missed that part.

Obama goes on in the 60 Minutes segment to laud our efforts in Haiti and in the Philippines in their hour of need. What of the reasons for assistance, the method to the Machiavellian philanthropy there? Are Moscow and Beijing the smarter or better for not meddling so much? Who can say for sure, but no American still believes we drop smart bombs without dual purposes, not any more.

When Kroft asks the smart question; “What’s the endgame if the Iraqis won’t fight?, “ Obama clues us to his strategy. There is no contingency for that scenario, the plan that the administration was hammered over NOT having on Sept. 4^th (CNN), still does not exist. Again, is our direction, our future course, to fight, and fight, and fight, no matter what? Does this mean, even if we have to create enemies to do so?

Back to the course, and the ISIS plan, it took all of six days from the time CNN announced Obama had no plan, for the president and his advisers to come up with one they said would; “weaken and eventually destroy the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).” Already, top Senate, House, and military advisors insist it will take “boots on the ground” to accomplish this. My question is a flippant one; “If we’re so all mighty, why isn’t ISIS already utterly destroyed?” The way Obama flaunts our military prowess; one would think a wave of his mighty hand would spell disaster for extremist Islam around the world.

Josh Gerstein at POLITICO may have said it best, writing about Obama’s recent United Nations speak;

“For many in the international audience, that kind of language conjures up notions of American imperialism, military adventurism and a foolhardy quest to remake the world in America’s image.”

My assessment of America’s course now can be described as one of momentum. Our country is very much like a giant ocean liner full of partying aristocrats, with the ballast of crew and passengers below decks feeling the stinging sweat of coal fired boiler rooms. We’re a ship of mixed nationalities collected aboard for a voyage to a sort of democratic utopia we are. We’re captain-less, rudderless, propelled forward by the sheer weight of the past. The good ships Moscow and Beijing, Cape Town or Madrid, why they matter not, they’re just tiny boats passing in the night. At least they’re not according to the ship’s current officers.

Titanic Sinking by Willy Stöwer — Like American leadership now, the industrialists in 1912 thought themselves unsinkable – Titanic Sinking by by Willy Stöwer

SNAP! Back to reality and our system needs a reboot. The day the US Secret Service lets a troubled Iraq war vet sprint across the White House lawn, enter the building, overpower one of their agents, and enter the East Room, that’s the day America needs a self assessment. But instead of a valuable accountability and assessment by key US contingents, we get the same upside-down rhetoric today from leading western press agencies. Look at this Bloomberg piece where veteran (reporters and Putin bashers) Simon Kennedy and Henry Meyer twist reality into an Obama advocacy and fairy tale. “What Putin Wrought Has World Asking What Russia Might Have Been,” reverses America’s role in the current world chaos, to implicate Putin and Russia.

On reading their account, I scarcely could believe it. Putin to blame, Obama and the west shining examples of foreign policy brilliance. “No wonder,” I thought, “Obama shows no insight in his decisions.” Why the lookouts in the media they’re sightless, or asleep. Now our worries are clarified, perhaps. The captain of our rudderless ship, his lookouts are shouting from the crow’s nest; “all clear ahead.”

So we steam at flank speed, waiting, wondering when we’ll hear; “Iceberg, right ahead!” I just pray we have enough life boats, us second class passengers have lives to live too.

Image credits: Barack Obama caricature by DonkeyHotey

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