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Much like Naomi Klein, author of the Shock Doctrine, Naomi Wolf believes that the best way of protecting ourselves from would-be tyrants and dictators is to arm ourselves with the knowledge of what is going on around us. In this book Wolf describes the ten steps that she believes past totalitarian regimes have used to shift a previously democratic state into a fearful, self-censoring, 'loyal' citizen of a fascist state. Unfortunately for us, all ten steps have been undertaken by the Bush administration since 911 and, to a lesser degree, here in Canada as well.

The ACLU has recently told us that 'the List' of potential threats to the 'homeland' has now reached an absurd 900 000 people including all sorts of peace activists, artists, entertainers and liberal politicians. Are you on it? If you're not, perhaps you're not raising your voice loudly enough in opposition to the torture, secret prisons, private mercenary armies, warrantless wiretapping, suspension of habeus corpus, restriction of free press and subversion of and disdain for the rule of law that seems to be acceptable not only to our governments, but to a shocking number of fellow citizens as well.

An excellent primer for anyone not familiar with the US Constitution. Read it.

A pretty meager rebuttal of Dawkins's the God Delusion weighing in at under 100 pages and most of that rhetorical filler and double-talk. McGrath's primary purpose seems to be to hold the mere possibility of God's existence open to debate. That there are things that science has yet to fully understand is certainly not contentious. The likelihood of that gap in human knowledge all of a sudden necessitating a Supreme Intelligent Creator, however, is improbable to say the least. McGrath, however, leads us to believe that the odds are about even.

Throughout the book McGrath chips away at random inconsistencies that he detects in Dawkins's work which in no way furthers his own agenda. For example, he makes, I think, a valid criticism of Dawkins's claim that suicide bombers are primarily moved to murder on the basis of their religious faith. McGrath notes that suicide bombings are the result of political and economic problems, not religious ones. This observation, however, certainly isn't evidence that the religious beliefs of suicide bombers are thereby true. There is absolutely no evidence advanced in this book that supports McGrath's Christian faith or any other religious position.

Truth claims like 'not as many scientists are atheists as Dawkins says' (I frankly doubt McGrath's claim that 40% of scientists believe in a God that answers prayers) or 'religious belief is not as inherently violent as Dawkins says' or 'religion is no more divisive than race or gender' are not evidence of God's existence. However, I doubt that most of the people that pick up these hundred pages are going to be too concerned about that.

Just finished this one. Barbara Kingsolver and family share their research on modern food sources and their one year experience as 'locavores' - eating only organic, locally produced food. Addressing what can be a very disturbing and maddening subject matter, instead of wildly ranting on corporate misdeeds Kingsolver delivers a well researched, hopeful and heartwarming argument for a return to healthy eating. In other words, offering us an inspiring alternative to the bland, tasteless, monocultural produce and meat currently available at most grocery stores and restaurants. Demand better.

Another excellent addition to what seems like an endless procession of books on the subject. This one attacks the three monotheistic religions not so much from a rationalist-scientific angle (like Dawkins and Harris), but from an philosophical-ethical one, arguing that not only is religion a completely irrational institution it is also supremely destructive to your moral wellbeing. The books of Western religion, he argues through deconstruction of specific passages in each, are anti-intellectual, misogynistic, life-negating, death obsessed, racist and violent. And curiously a co-worker of mine recently suggested that it might be possible that NON-believers could still be moral!!

More of Linda's good stuff. Nothing earth shattering in terms of investigative journalism, but it gives a different perspective on the US 'war on terror' from north of the border. It shows the Canadian government to be complicit in almost every aspect of America's excessive security concerns from turning a blind eye to human rights abuses at Guantanamo Bay (leaving a 15 year old Canadian to rot in the infamous US offshore Gulag) to the distressing involvement of our national police force in the rendition and torture of a Canadian citizen in Syria. As always, I find myself nodding my head ceaselessly in agreement with everything she has to say.

My thoughts exactly, Ali. My thoughts exactly. The views expressed in this book should simply not be controversial. For there to be a chance for peace in the Middle East Israel needs to transform itself into a modern, liberal and, most importantly, a secular nation in which there aren't tiers of citizenship based on race and religion. Is that asking too much? For too long we've been fed the tired lines about Israel's 'right to exist'. Right or no right, Israel does exist. What they seem to be asking for, however, is the right to continue their policies of systemic racism. The protection of Israel's 'Jewish nature' has meant decades of suppression of even the most basic of human rights and dignity for its own minority population and those of Occupied Palestine. Abunimah here defuses many of the objections to a unified, bi-national, multi-religious state, the formation of which seems to me the only long term solution to violence in the area. No justice, no peace.

See Ali Abunimah defend the right of return for Palestinian refugees in the Doha Debates below.

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