More evidence of the monopolization of sport (and everything else!)
The big boys just keep getting bigger.
It’s all about power and control…. to tax the air we
breath ;control the food we eat, the medicine we use; and censor the news we hear….
Sit back, pour a strong cup of joe, and ponder what used to be ridiculous.
I’m talking about conspiracy theories. And believe it or not, the sports leagues don’t seem to be immune – sharing suspicious space with government and the chosen corporations.
It’s an interesting choice of words to describe the unthinkable – a “conspiracy theory”?
Some of you are going to say, oh no, just as we were going so well on hockey talk, here we go again with how this guy thinks it all ties together with conspiracies. Ridiculous right! Right? Funny how things come across my desk.
Looking at the visitors this morning, I had the pleasure of Abu Dhabi’s company today. And not just any company, oh no, it came from the “Crown Prince Court” (where did they go?).
Now, if you are like me, you’d have to say, who? Well, googling brings some interesting facts.
If we can digress a moment, we can go back to 2007, when
President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan
President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has issued a federal decree transferring units from Emirates Media Inc. to the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court.
It’s okay, we don’t need to pay for the whole article, that will do. After all, we can use another article to make sense of this move. Why take on the broadcasting company, Emirates Media, Inc.? We may have our answer here:
The problem for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is that it faces this future with much of its official face turned towards the past. An atmosphere of secrecy prevails, as a number of conservative, anachronistic bodies seek tight control over the flow of information. The result is to thwart efforts towards a wider liberalisation. For many years the most maligned of these bodies was the federal ministry for information and culture, which effectively controlled all domestic newspaper and television output and the importation of all books and films into the UAE. The ministry was finally disbanded in 2006, but a number of its employees were assigned to a successor institution: the National Media Council (NMC).
Strangely sounding like the control czar in the U.S., Cass Sunstein, who is looking to turn the internet into a state run,
Cass Sunstein: I wish he gave our rights as much consideration as he does other animals!
state controlled spy network where kids will get scholarships to “keep an eye on anything remotely critical” out there in the U.S. citizenry. After all, those nasty citizens are close to terrorists, hence the need to instigate that Patriot Act. It’s actually designed to control patriots, not keep patriotism alive, don’t you know? Okay, sorry, back to the issue here.
But before we return to our welcomed guests, keep in the back of your mind our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, who was using his entourage to control who in the media was allowed to ask a question. Yes, Mr. Harper called it something else to which I cannot recall – suffice it to say it was far removed from how the journalists saw it. Let’s leave it at that for the moment.
Our “ridiculous” conspiracy theories in general are now suggesting that Cass Sunstein and others want to control opposition in media. So, the Sheik in Abu Dhabi is not alone after all. Small world or what?
Now if we can go back again in time, to 2008, we had this reporting from (gasp) FOX NEWS, who refreshingly questioned George W. Bush:
Why is the president of the United States entertaining Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince, Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, at Camp David when his own State Department has singled out the Sheik’s homeland, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), for its continuing violations of human rights?
It gets better, it seems George W. must have taken a shining to the whole process considering (what we already know):
“Citizens did not have the right to change their government. In some cases, security forces reportedly employed flogging as judicially sanctioned punishment. Arbitrary detention and incommunicado detention remained problems…”
“The judiciary lacked full independence. The government restricted civil liberties, including freedoms of speech, press (including the Internet), assembly, association, and religion. There were limited reports of corruption, and the government lacked transparency.”
After all, turn a blind eye or support what you believe is right. Whichever it is, of course there is that whole, rub my back I’ll rub yours aspect to it:
Abu Dhabi is one of seven oil-rich — and anti-Israel states — in the United Arab Emirates. Using its massive sovereign wealth fund of over $875 billion, Abu Dhabi has been gobbling up American assets, buying considerable stakes in U.S. businesses like Citigroup, the Carlyle Group, Advanced Micro Devices, and Toll Brother and is now bidding on the Chrysler Building.
Let’s not forget the whole Global Government or “Governance” thing, that depending on how you say it you are either worldly or a nutjob conspiracy theorist. You see “Governance” is used when “Government” scares people. Just like “Climate Change” was the replacement for “Global Warming” when someone clued in and pointed out temperatures over the past several years have been declining. And, yes, Global Government and Climate Change, if you do not like either one makes you one of us – a nasty dissident conspiracy person. For shame!
Anyhow, this could get long fast, but that’s okay, you made it this far. There are more points I promise, and I must say, I think they are juicy! Well, you can be the ultimate judge.
How does this tie in with hockey?
Well, as we investigated the friends to Glendale that seemed to have a stranglehold on Mr. Moyes, we came across the ever-interesting connections of these companies and countries.
Without beating it to death with a (climate change hockey) stick, the names that kept returning were MSD Capital, Onex, Mubadala, John Buck, Carlyle Group, DRS Technologies, and on and on. If you have read enough here, you have been bombarded with evidence that helped us tie these guys together.
And, the hints have been there without much bacon that there seems to be a move to monopolization of just about everything these days.
The government in the U.S. is just getting bigger. No conspiracy there – not if you watch Glenn Beck who at least gives us “half-truths”. That is, until he tries to break the Americans’ backs with the need to kill the unions and strip pension plans, but other than that the guy is just a peach. Just not the peach you want to bite into, cause it has a rotten core.
Anyhow, we have Stephen Harper, probably knowing full well that Climate Change is as bogus as that hokey hockey stick graph they tried to sell us, yet with him and Obama, it’s business as usual at the G20, and in Davos, Switzerland. According to Harper, we must put sovereignty second to the needs of the globe. Yeah, try telling that to the already suffering in most of the European Union. Go ask Greece, or Iceland how it’s working for them on the derivative bank scandles that are driving them into enslavement.
No, for one, I would prefer to keep our Canada sovereign. Thanks anyways.
That’s why Harper’s sit down fireside chat with Brian Williams seemed a little off – considering.
So the point I will make is this.
There is a global push for monopolization and control of everything – the media, sports, the people, the taxation of our breath – everything. And we are seeing subtle moves in business that if you aren’t paying attention may just pass you by.
That brings us to the sports ties.
We already suspect Abu Dhabi’s involvement with the Jobing.com bonds.
Now, the other friend that came to our site today was Onex Corporation.
Again, what up with Onex?, we asked. Another google search.
Low and behold we see that Onex is on the short list to buy (please wait for the ad for Dell Computers to go away – seems to take forever!):
Sport Supply Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: RBI) (“Sport Supply Group”), the nation’s leading marketer, manufacturer and distributor of sporting goods and branded team uniforms to the institutional and team sports market, today announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of ONCAP Management Partners, L.P. (“ONCAP”), the mid-market private equity business of Onex Corporation (“Onex”).
Recap time.
Onex has had some interesting past players on their team. Daryl Jones (Research/Ice Edge), Eric Rosen (MSD Capital) to name a couple. And again, if you have been a long time reader you will note that Keith McCullough (Research/Ice Edge) was a hedge expert at Carlyle Group. Ah, doesn’t it all make you warm and fuzzy?
So, we have Abu Dhabi and the Crown Prince court treating their people like crap, taking over control of everything. Investing in America and likely sports, and sharing this distinction with what seems to be an ever-growing family of the rich and privileged.
Just one more thing.
It would appear as if by coincidence that Onex is also in the game to take over a media empire that had a past with current Onex boss Gerald Schwartz:
Gerald Schwartz (Onex)
Onex, Canada’s biggest publicly traded buyout firm, and Alberta Investment Management Corp. are partnering with National Post Chief Executive OfficerPaul Godfrey in the bid, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the bidding process. The newspaper didn’t name the people.
Now, that nasty “conspiracy side” would immediately jerk me to attention. Onex acquiring sports industry interests, and now going after media. And, second in size to only the Federal Government, eh?
Yes, if I were a conspiracy guy, I might be led to believe there could be another connection here. And, Onex recently was eying the U.S. for commercial real estate opportunities. Of course they were. Perhaps in the Phoenix area too?
The belief that distressed U.S. mortgage assets are priced at a discount, with significant potential upside, has led a number of large investment firms to create real estate investment trusts to buy assets.
Where have we heard about REITs before? Oh that’s right – Alan Leventhal the REIT expert and the owner of Beacon Sports brought in by Reinsdorf junior to “help” Glendale assess the potential of Jobing.com arena.
Excuse us if we see all the past employees of these firms working together still, in a friendly way to share the pot.
After all, the conspiracy theory chutzpa says it’s all about monopolization, power, censorship, and giving the good deals to your chosen buddies.
As for the rest of us? Just pay tax on your every exhale and be lucky you are still allowed to live. And be grateful Canada isn’t as much of a police state as the U.S. already is. That is, until Bill C-6 gets through.
Or until the North American Union comes back no doubt, and rears it’s ugly head. A ‘hypothetical region’ my eye!
So the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Onex visited our humble abode just five hours apart (3 AM and 8 AM).
Of course they did!
Last year I went to a Blue Jays game. Being known for a scavenger for freebies, I hunted the booths.
