Inequality Is What America Is All About
Change you can believe in. Yeah right. There are some things that never change and one of them is the tendency for the rich to get richer at everyone else’s…
brian gibb
The Pathetic State of Politics in Quebec
The more we find out how corrupt the leading figures are in Quebec, the more it makes me want to move across the river in Ontario. Where does it stop?…
Ditch the North American Diet and Climb Out of the Fat Trap
We are a fat folk, myself included. One out of three of us are overweight and one out of five are obese. And boy do we love to eat. Trouble…
Year in Review: Canadians No Longer Have Reason to Feel Smug
There was a time when Canadians could feel a quiet pride about their country: peacekeeping roles with the United Nations, generous social programs, young Canadians cavorting around Europe with Canadian…
Merry Christmas America: You’ve Been Scrooged
As the holidays draw nearer, it appears that, judging from president Obama’s speech on economic inequality last week, he finally gets it: America has been scrooged. I think that this…
Canada’s Rob Ford Is Far Too Canadian
In other words, just dessert Canada for not taking care of your political institutions. Take a look around: an out-dated voting system, scandal in the Senate, documented voter suppression through…
Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Play Football
That’s it. After forty years of watching NFL football, it’s over. I cannot in good conscience watch another game, especially knowing what I know about the league and the devastating…
Catastrophic Climate Breakdown: Ho Hum, We All Got ADD
Over the last few days, I have watched with great interest how the media and people I know reacted to the latest release of the International Panel on Climate Change…
Note to Self: Canadians Really Like First-Past-The-Past Voting
Truth be told, I was a political activist that worked for about ten years trying to get the voting system changed so that each and every vote cast in an…
Burbocracy Drives North American Politics
The most tangible cornerstone that lies at the heart of the American Dream, at the heart of middle-class life, is the chance to own your own home. (Barack Obama) Before…
Will the Collapse of the Middle Class Bring About Democracy in America?
As the twenty-aughts gave way to the twenty-teens, it became readily apparent that the recovery from the Great Recession was not working its way throughout the entire population. As was…
Hey America, Wake up and Smell the Methane
This week, I watched the premiere of Josh Fox’s documentary film, Gasland II. Very troubling. The story line confirms that America has lost its moorings and has veered off in…
In America, the Rules of Empire Trump the Principles of Democracy
Once again the US procedural republic adds another padlock to the door that would lead the nation onward on the road to democracy. As has been the case over the…
Brian Gibb (313-500? ppm)
We live by numbers and some more important than others. Some don’t change often so we keep them in our head: age, date of birth, height, weight, phone number, address,…
The New Empire Is American as Apple Inc.
In his influential blog post, Empires Then and Now, the former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, Paul Craig Roberts, muses about the nature of the New Empire. According…
Oh Canada, How Long Will You Remain an English Settler State?
The latest statistics from the National Household Survey indicate that one out of five Canadians was born outside of the country. The report states that “Canada is a nation with…
My Democratic Dreams Were Shattered by Those Who Pilfer the Public Purse in Quebec
Apparently, what I want, I can’t have. I would like to live in a democratic state where I could participate meaningfully in the political decisions to be made. Living in…
It Ain’t About the Economy; It’s About Politics
At the outset, when I first began this blog, I wanted to bring to the reader’s attention some of the cultural myths arising from our political economy that we usually…
Like Lobsters Caught in a Trap, Americans Are Held Prisoners By Their Procedural Republic
The news coming out of the USA last week was pretty bleak: another senseless act of indiscriminate violence at the Boston Marathon, where two home-made bombs were detonated amongst the…
As Public Virtue Collapses Around Me, All I Can Do Is Watch and Write
I live in Quebec, Canada’s only French speaking province. Here, the socio-economic system was crafted to be extremely resistant to institutional change. It is what it is. Most of the…