A must read for any sports fan is Brian Tuohy‘s 2010 book ” The Fix is In”. Tuohy covers most professional sports and how many times certain games are fixed for various reasons.

Sometimes the larceny is done for betting angles. Sometimes the larceny is done by certain teams to help them win games. Sometimes the larceny is done by the leagues, in concert with the media, to assure getting the best viewing ratings. All in all, as my old Sicilian friend once stated: “Things are not what they seem.” This writer, a lifetime football fan, could cite so many recent developments that reveal to the ‘ever watchful eye’ the collusion by most likely the referees and the league they work for (NFL or NCAA) that affect the outcome of certain games. Recently, both the comeback wins by ‘America’s pro team’, the New England Patriots, in last year’s Super Bowl, and ‘America’s college team’ , the Alabama Crimson Tide, in this year’s NCAA championship, smell worse than week old fish. In both cases it was the referees, most likely instructed by the two leagues, to ‘ make or not make’ key calls during the second halves of each game… to cement the fix. More than ever before, astute observers of football are being added to the list of conspiracy believers, most recently Sirius Radio sports talk host Christopher Russo’s 15 year old son.

Actually, the best example of the ‘Fix being in’ were the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004. They revealed to anyone with even half a brain the corrupt nature of this empire. Talk about Banana Republic! I mean that after both elections investigative researchers had documented how electronic voting machines were fixed to make sure that Bush Junior was the victor. The ‘hanging chad’ controversy, the schemes to assure long voting lines in Democratic districts, and the use of incorrect felon lists was only the tip of the iceberg… it was those electronic machines (manufactured, by the way, by Republican donors ) that really sealed the deal. So much so, that in ’04, it was little Dickie Morris, once President Clinton’s main polling guru, who by then had deserted to the other side, who let it out while on live TV. Morris was on the election return show for one network to offer his expertise. When he saw how the exit polls were overwhelming for Kerry in the crucial state of Ohio, Morris stated “Well, those polls are for sure… Kerry will win Ohio”. When that state and the election went to Bush Junior, Morris actually stated on air that something was fishy.

Sadly, it seems that in this Military Industrial Empire the ‘Fix’ is paramount. What makes this sadness cry deeper is the fact that our two political parties serve the empire so well. Throughout the government shutdown chaos you never see or hear those two ‘puppet parties’, or the embedded mainstream media lackeys ever mention that half our tax dollars goes for military spending… while our safety nets are full of holes and our cities short of funds. Both parties will stand and salute, along with the whoring journalists, the flag that was stolen from us by the Phony Warriors. The Cold War was a fix, Korea and Vietnam a fix, and all the succeeding foreign interventions a fix. When will the majority of us, the good and decent and truly patriotic folks, be the role models for the others among us who still believe in this fairy tale?

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Philip A Farruggio is a son and grandson of Brooklyn , NYC longshoremen. He has been a free lance columnist since 2001, with over 300 of his work posted on sites like Consortium News, Information Clearing House,  Global Research, Nation of Change, World News Trust, Op Ed News, Dissident Voice, Counterpunch, Activist Post, Sleuth Journal, Truthout and many others. His blog can be read in full on World News Trust., whereupon he writes a great deal on the need to cut military spending drastically and send the savings back to save our cities. Philip has a internet interview show, ‘It’s the Empire… Stupid’ with producer Chuck Gregory, and can be reached at [email protected] )