George Carlin Many years ago, Thomas Gray penned these famous words that still ring true and apply to the workings of those who own America: Far from the madding crowd’s…
As 2014 comes to a close, a great many of us are keenly aware that something is amiss. The great wars of the previous century are over, yet we are…
Some empires change outward appearance over time. For instance, the British Empire has morphed into the American Empire; the Russian Empire went from the czar to the communists to Vladimir…
Well, a little more than five years have passed since I started writing this blog. Despite the efforts of a number of agents for social change, we are as far…
Two days to go before the Scots will decide in a referendum whether to create their own independent country or to continue as part of the United Kingdom. Apparently, the…
When I first started to write this blog five years ago, to make the point about how the concept of the economy is used to the detriment of the vast…
For Karl Marx, the lumpenproletariat — I love the sound of the word, “lumpen” — is the lowest stratum of the industrial working class, including also such undesirables as tramps…
According to the data by Marketdata Enterprises, a market research firm that specializes in tracking niche markets, Americans spend north of $60 billion annually to try to lose pounds, on…
It never ceases to amaze me that we continue with the charade of watching how the economy performs. Last week, we learned that the American economy grew by a whopping…
They say that a stiff prick has no conscience, but a stiff prick that laughs too is phenomenal*, especially when it laughs all the way to the bank after fucking…
Now, thanks to Thomas Picketty’s highly influential study, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, we have historical confirmation that wealth begets wealth. In other words, the rich are different from you…
Way to go Ontario! When it comes to thwarting democratic rule in Canada, you continue to lead the way. Not only did Ontarians peviously vote in a province-wide referendum against…
During the first few decades of the industrial revolution in Britain, it was the landed gentry that ruled. They did not have the good fortune of being born into a…
At some point in time, probably not in the immediate future, the Anglo-American world is going to wake up to the fact that no man, nor no woman, is an…
This week we saw some startling figures concerning obesity rates around the world. Researchers found more than 2 billion people worldwide are now overweight or obese. The highest rates were…
Mercifully, this sorry spectacle of a general election in Quebec is over. I can’t remember a campaign so empty of any real debate as it came down to a choice…
Well, I have decided not to vote in this charade of an election. My principle reason is that my vote does not count — it is totally ineffective — because…
In nature, there are parasites that invade a host, take control of its movements for their own benefit, often leading to the host’s demise.n My favorite example of this life…
Lately, I have been intrigued by the tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes as a modern take on how the vast majority of people behave when it comes to speaking…
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up…
