Finally Some Common Sense

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will be discussing a single national Stock Exchange Regulator for Canada with Provincial Premiers at the Western Canadian Premiers meeting over the next few days.

It's about time, we have too many crooks at the trough with our provincially regulated exchange commissions. Which is why Bernie Cornfeld and IOS could take advantage of our under-regulated market back in the 1960's for his Mutual Fund Swindles. And we all remember Bre-X., And the lack of a single national regulator is why Nelson Skalbania could get away with pulling a stock swindle that would have seen him in jail in the US.

Without regulation capitalism is a criminal enterprize.With regulation it is just a little less criminal it follows the rules, sometimes, just ask Lord Black or Ken Lay.

Ontario securities official wants clarity in release of corporate salaries


Also See:

Criminal Capitalism

Criminal Capitalism: Xstrata

The Canadian Panama Mining Swindle

Scandal in the Alberta Stock Exchange

Calgary Fraud Funds Dubai Boom

The Joys of Telemarketing

Corporate Welfare Bums

Criminal Capitalism at Modblog


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Stock-Eschanges, Canda, economy, capitalism, Flaherty, Conservatives, Regulation, Stock-Regulation, SEC, TSX, Cornfeld, Bre-X, Skalbania, Lord-Black, crime, corporate-crime, corporation,

Inco Strike

The reason for the pending Inco Strike is simple, share the wealth.

Canadian miners may advance Monday as nickel prices are expected to hit a record high.


Union says Inco offer 'an insult'

The possible strike comes as supplies of nickel, which is used in the production of stainless steel, have become increasingly tight.

Inventories of nickel on the London Metal Exchange hit their lowest level since October 2005 on Friday, falling 246 tonnes to 18,432 tonnes.

The price of nickel shot up on Friday by $900, hitting $22,900 a tonne, after union members urged workers to strike.

The increase represented a 4% increase on Thursday's close.

Tight supplies come amid moves to consolidate the industry.

Inco has been in the running to acquire Canada's Falconbridge, also a nickel producer, but Swiss mining group Xstrata recently entered the race, offering a higher bid.

Meanwhile Inco is the target of a hostile takeover from Teck Cominco, the world's largest zinc producer.

Also See:

Criminal Capitalism: Xstrata

Monopoly

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nickel, prices, Strike, commodity-prices

Death in Naples

Canadian envoy found slain in Naples
Calls at the Canadian Embassy in Rome went unanswered Monday.

Probably waiting for permission from the PMO.

This could get serious for the Italians if they don't find out what happened. Because the last time a Canadian diplomat was killed we sent in Canadian Armed Forces.

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Conservative Nanny State

A tip o the blog to Contiental Op for this.

The Conservative Nanny State
How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer

A free e-book by Dean Baker, published May 2006
Download as a PDF | Read book in HTML | See the press release

In his new book, economist Dean Baker debunks the myth that conservatives favor the market over government intervention. In fact, conservatives rely on a range of “nanny state” policies that ensure the rich get richer while leaving most Americans worse off. It’s time for the rules to change. Sound economic policy should harness the market in ways that produce desirable social outcomes – decent wages, good jobs and affordable health care.

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SOS

As in Save Our Stugeon, the source of fresh lake water monster sightings in North America.

Scientist studies decline of lake sturgeon
The lake sturgeon was designated an endangered species under the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada last May.Lake sturgeon, which have remained virtually unchanged as a species since the time of dinosaurs, are Canada's largest freshwater fish, reaching lengths of over two metres and weights of up to 140 kilograms.They can live for more than 100 years, but can take as long as 20 years to reach maturity, and spawn as infrequently as once every five years. Experts say overfishing and pollution have also contributed to the decimation of the fish's population.


Also See Cryptozoology


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Harpers Micromanagement

Harpers autocratic style has come down to this, his Ministers cannot speak for their departments. He truly is Pooh-ba, Minister of Everything. Really this is getting ridiculous.

EI sick benefits don't go far enough, couple says
Watson says worries they won't have enough money to pay the mortgage and other bills while Corey undergoes cancer treatment. The couple has written letters to the minister, but say none of them have been answered so far. CBC News contacted the office of the Minister of Human Resources for an interview, where officials declined comment on the story and referred the issue to the Prime Minister's Office.


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RBC Centre

So I am watching the Carolina Hurricanes play Buffalo last night, and noticed that the stadium they are playing is called RBC Center. As in Royal Bank of Canada. The folks who made record profits this year but are still increasing their service charges to the rest of us. So when folks whine about players salaries let's remember who really is making money off the game, the owners, including the owners of the Stadiums. Like RBC.

Also see:

Pro Sports and Criminal Capitalism

NFL IN TORONTO?

SPORTS

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Debtors Nation

The impact of the Bank of Canada's stupid inflationary policy of raising interest rates adversely affects working class Canadians. As I have said here. The current North American economy is NOT being driven by production and manufacturing but by consumer debt.

Too much debt puts consumers in a bind

Latest rate hike adds to already heavy burden
Many Canadians spending more than they earn

Alberta farmers reap bitter harvest
Incomes plunge 50% while neighbours in energy sector enjoy good times

They live among millionaires, and yet Alberta's farmers have seen their net incomes drop more steeply than their peers in any other Canadian province.

Provincial government coffers are bubbling over, oil-and-gas corporate profits are sky high, and per-capita income in the province is by far the highest in the country.

And yet, Alberta farmers' net incomes dropped 50 per cent in 2005, compared with a national average decline of 7.7 per cent, Statistics Canada said in a recent report.

The 50-per-cent drop is not just a numbers trick caused by a good year in 2004, Statistics Canada pointed out. Net income in 2005 was 30.5 per cent lower than the average income over the previous five years -- and those years were notable for their troubles with droughts, beef bans and bad weather.

See my:

The Truth About the Farm Crisis

For an analysis of the US Debt Crisis see the latest issue of Monthly Review online.

The Household Debt Bubble
by John Bellamy Foster

The End of Retirement
by Teresa Ghilarducci

Trouble, Trouble, Debt, and Bubble
by William K. Tabb

And see my:

Storm Clouds Over The US Economy

Housing Boom or Bust

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Cloaking Device

Scientists have discovered how to create a cloaking device is warp drive far behind? And will the United Federation of Planets let us in?

Scientists shed new light on invisibility

- the scientists' cloaking device would use newly developed materials that can bend light in unexpected ways. Scientists not involved in the work said the plans appear feasible but that they would require more-advanced substances than currently exist. Still, scientists said that the work represents an important theoretical advance likely to inspire new ideas in the booming field of materials science.

``It is a fascinating concept," said Steven G. Johnson, an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in an e-mail. ``But I suspect that you're unlikely to find it for sale anytime soon (except on Daigon Alley)."

The research has obvious applications for the military, which is looking for ways to improve on the stealth technology used in the B-2 stealth bomber. But the technology could also be used to protect equipment by steering radiation around it and would likely have other uses in basic scientific research, according to the scientists, whose work was published online by the journal Science.

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Border Insecurity

Playing the card of National Security xenophobic racist white Americans are planning to close all their borders.

The Mexican border is only one focus of groups like the Minutemen the other is the US Canada border.

Less pronounced perhaps, but still there is the plan.

I was watching the Minutemen on the news yesterday building their own private security wall in Arizona. And they were flashing Minutemen Close the Border signs, which not only showed a fence on the Mexico border but also one on the Canadian border between Washington State and B.C.

Which makes the jingoist statist idea of National ID/ Passports/BioMetric cards even more stupid. Of course the US has no such national ID card yet though they have passed legislation on it. Its all smoke and mirrors.

Many would go to U.S. less if ID plan became law: poll

Canada wins minor victory in US border dispute

Its not about Security, thats just the face card. It's the joker in the pack that is driving this; racist anti-immigration xenophobes of the Protestant Right in America. In other words good old American Nativism.

American Nativism, 1830-1845
During the 1830s and 1840s Americans with nativist sentiments made a concerted effort to enter into the local and national political arenas. Nativism's political relevance grew out of the increase of immigrants during the ‘20s and ‘30s and the anti-foreign writings that abounded during these decades. While pivoting between anti-foreign and anti-catholic appeals, nativism became both practical and ideological in nature: platforms for the movement ranged from extending the length naturalization to protecting the sacredness of the Protestant Republic. In New York city's 1844 elections, the nativist movement formed the American Republican Party, which allied with the Whigs and resulted in the defeat of the Democratic Party. This political advancement, although local and short lived, presented a glimpse of the national nativist power later found in the know- nothings. Clearly, early nineteenth-century nativism participated in significant political changes, and the goal of this paper is to summarize nativism between 1830 and 1845 while analyzing these major political developments.

Border history repeated
Just as the Bush administration sees Canada as an indifferent ally in the war on terror, in late 1864 Abraham Lincoln's administration felt much the same way. Annoyed by raids across the frontier by Confederate States agents based in Canada and puzzled by Canadian sympathy for the Southern cause, Lincoln decided to act, ending the laissez-faire attitude towards cross-border traffic that had existed for half a century.Although the law lasted just three months, it stifled trade, created long lines at the border and was condemned in the court of public opinion on both sides of the frontier. But just as the Bush administration's actions have forced Canada to take notice, so did Lincoln's. John A. Macdonald formed a border police and Parliament passed a law aimed at dealing with suspected terrorists.

Also see: Migration

Build A Wall And They Will Still Come

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Note To Blogging Tories

I was going to comment on the joy in mudville over the Tories polling at 40% Rarely do I agree with rabid rightwinger Lorrie Goldstein, very rarely, in fact practically never, until he wrote this.

A word of advice for rabid Conservative partisans and charter members of the right-wing blogosphere.

Stop gloating over last week's Ipsos-Reid poll showing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives would win a majority government if an election was held today, with 43% of the popular vote compared to 25% for the Liberals.

Stop using it and other polls showing the Tories are up significantly from their election night support of 36%, while the Liberals are down from 30%, to thump your chest and smugly declare that whatever Harper is doing, it must be right.

You're being as foolish as rabid Liberal partisans and bloggers were last fall when the polls showed the Grits bouncing back from AdScam with a shot at a majority government.

Polls taken today mean nothing. If pollsters and pundits (present company included) could tell you what's going to happen in the next election based on polls taken now, none of us would be pollsters and pundits. We'd be bookies.

LORRIE GOLDSTEIN, TORONTO SUN

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politics, Canada

Regulations Alberta Style

Alberta says it will shortly clamp down on emissions of greenhouse gases -- perhaps as early as next year -- introducing regulations that the oil-producing province's Environment Minister claims will be the toughest in Canada... Alberta vows to introduce stiff emissions regulations

Regulations mean nothing if they are not enforced. And in Alberta that is the case. We have lots of great regulations but no enforcement. Not worth the paper they are written on. Sort of like the old Soviet Constitution. Great constitution but was ignored by Stalin. Wait a minute Alberta is a One Party State, the old Soviet Union was a One Party State....hmmm coincidence I think not.

A tip o the blog to Accidental Deliberations


Also See:

Kyoto

Alberta


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Car Accidents Are Deadly In Afghanistan

Don't get into a car accident in Kabul, the city state under US/UN Afghan control. Or you could end up getting killed by coalition forces. This is the democracy we are fighting for, one where the population is friendly and wants us there. Yeah right.


US crash sparks Afghanistan riot BBC News

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets chanting slogans

Hundreds of Afghans gathered in the wake of the accident chanting "Death to America" and "Death to Karzai", referring to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

They pelted the US military vehicles with rocks before the shooting began, forcing them to scatter.

Two police vehicles and a police checkpoint were set alight, witnesses said.

"People are very angry," resident Samad Shah said.

US, Afghan forces fire on rioters Globe and Mail

Sher Shah Usafi, a Kabul police chief, said at least three people were killed and 16 wounded in the crash, while U.S. forces killed one person and wounded two as they fired on dozens of rioters shouting “Down with America!” and throwing stones at them while they fled the area.A commander with the city's traffic police who was at the scene said he also saw U.S. forces firing on protesters. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

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riot, car-acident, US, Forces, UN, Canadian-Armed-Forces

Don't Wear Shorts

In Baghdad. No matter how hot it is. Or you could end up getting killed in the New Democracy that Georgie Porgie says is worth thosuands of lives dying for. And it doesn't matter that these folks were both Sunni and Shia. Guess the Williams sisters won't be playing exhibition games in Baghdad soon.

Iraqi players killed for wearing shorts

Baghdad: An Iraqi tennis coach and two of his players were killed this week in Baghdad because they were wearing shorts, authorities said on Saturday.

Gunmen stopped the car in which the Sunni coach and two of his Shiite players were riding and asked them to step out before shooting them on Wednesday in volatile Saidiyah neighborhood of southwestern Baghdad, said Secreatary General of Iraqi Tennis Union, Manham Kubba.

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Feminist Defense of Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somalian Secular Feminist highly critical of Islam. She is a Dutch parliamentarian who has been kicked out of Holland for lying about her refugee status. That would usually be food for the right to blast her. Except she belongs to Theo Van Gogh's right wing party. Opps. She is on her way to America, to join the right wing think tank the American Enterprise Institute. Despite her right wing politics a Leftwing Feminist welcomes her. See Feminism does make strange bedfellows, contrary to the misogynist rantings of some Blogging Tories.

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UK Soldiers Desert Iraq War

How many Americans have deserted? Let alone the number who have committed suicide over this ugly Imperialist war. Of course desertation is better than massacring innocent civilians.

More than 1,000 desert UK forces
More than 1,000 members of the British military have deserted since the start of the Iraq war, the BBC has learned. Figures for those still missing are 86 from 2001, 118 from 2002, 134 from 2003, 229 from 2004, 377 from 2005, and 189 for this year so far.

See: Iraq War

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Wormy Norton

Silence may be golden unless you have a fatal flaw in your anti-virus software. In this case Norton/Symantec waited till late Friday after this story to even confirm the problem. Friday last business day, and they still have no patch or fix. Today is Sunday, what happens at the opening of business tommorow?

Flaw Found in Symantec Antivirus

MAY 26, 2006 07:11:32 AM

Security researchers at eEye Digital Security have discovered a serious flaw in Symantec’s enterprise antivirus software that could be used by hackers to create a self-replicating "worm" attack against Symantec users. Because Symantec has not yet confirmed the existence of the problem, much less patched it, eEye is offering few details on the vulnerability, which was first disclosed late Wednesday.

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Moscow Mayor Like Edmonton's

The Mayor of Moscow sounds like the Mayor of Edmonton, Bill Smith, who refused to recognize Gay Pride Week. So this is not a uniquely Russian phenomena,it occurs too regularly across Canada. But at least the Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Transexual community gets to parade. And before folks start getting self righteous the USA is no better getting into hissy fits over Gay Veterans and Gays marching in St. Patrick Day parades. And these cops do look pretty ugly so I don't think the flowers are for them.

Cops, Protesters Prevent Moscow Gay Parade

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said in a radio interview Friday gay parades ''may be acceptable for some kind of progressive, in some sense, countries in the West, but it is absolutely unacceptable for Moscow, for Russia." ''As long as I am mayor, we will not permit these parades,'' he said.

Fedor Savintsev/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

Nikolai Alekseyev, left, the leader of a gay rights group in Russia, was stopped by policemen Saturday in central Moscow as the authorities moved to block a parade by gay rights advocates. Religious leaders had condemned the planned march, and right-wing nationalists threatened violence.

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Herr Patels Proves My Point

My favorite blog nutbar, after this guy, Herr Wiener Patels proves my point about being a blog spammer.

He published an attack on me, not once but three times. Same post on all three of his blogs.

He also libels me by claiming I use 'school' property to produce my blog. Which I don't. I produce this on my home computer.Twit.

Ah blog wars are so much fun eh, wot. Since Herr Patels has proven my point, I will now cease documenting the trials and tribulations of this multipleblog personality.

Let the shunning begin.

1. Blogosphere Is Fast Becoming A Cesspool

   By Werner Patels in My Opinion 18 hours ago

   an ideal world, of course, any blog that has a 99% content of schlock would be deleted automatically within 24 hours, such as Eugene Plawiuk?s blog. One can dream, right? If you care to waste a few minutes of your time, visit Eugene Plawiuk?s blog

2. Blogosphere Is Fast Becoming A Cesspool

   In The Alberta Times :: Main Page 18 hours ago

   an ideal world, of course, any blog that has a 99% content of schlock would be deleted automatically within 24 hours, such as Eugene Plawiuk?s blog. One can dream, right? If you care to waste a few minutes of your time, visit Eugene Plawiuk?s blog

3. Blogosphere Is Fast Becoming A Cesspool

   In The Alberta Pundit 19 hours ago

   an ideal world, of course, any blog that has a 99% content of schlock would be deleted automatically within 24 hours, such as Eugene Plawiuk?s blog. One can dream, right? If you care to waste a few minutes of your time, visit Eugene Plawiuk?s blog

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Carnival of Socialism #3

Carnival of Socialism Number Three

The lucky third edition has been posted at Andrew Rihn's blog.

And your humble scribe will be hosting the next round so send your contributions to me at eugene@union.org.za

Deadline is before June 11.

See: Carnival of Socialism


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Criminal Capitalism-Sports-Soccer

Economic fallout of Italy's soccer scandal is as wide-ranging as soccer economy
Milan stock exchange authorities have regularly suspended Juventus stock from trading in recent days to stop a free fall that has seen the value tumble 30 percent in the last week -- bad news for the Agnelli family of Fiat SpA, which owns a controlling stake, as well as thousands of small shareholders trying to cut their losses.

World Cup: Italy warms up - with rampant soccer scandal

Less than a month before the World Cup, and on the weekend when Italy's Serie A championship is decided, some of the country's top football clubs are engulfed in scandals that threaten to discredit the sport in one of its spiritual homes.

Worst affected is Juventus, one of the world's most famous clubs, which will win its 29th scudetto today if it beats lowly Reggina. The general manager, Luciano Moggi, has been exposed in tapped phone calls as having leant on referees, the entire board has resigned and several players, including Italy's national goalkeeper, Gianluigi Buffon, are under investigation over separate allegations of illegal betting. But the stench of corruption has spread to other clubs, including Silvio Berlusconi's Milan, which could also win the league today if they beat Roma and Juventus lose. Along with Napoli and Fiorentina, Milan and Juventus are part of an investigation into "criminal association" and "sporting fraud", in which 19 matches are being examined on suspicion that results were fixed.

Sports is big business and thus is subject to criminal manipulation, as we all know just look at Boxing. And Italians love betting as we all know from watching the Soprano's. So we are surprized when the Italian Premier Soccer Team Juventus FC is found to have fixed games? No. Nor should we be surprized when criminal capitalist and would be fascist Sylvio Berlusconi's team A.C. Milan would have won if Juventus hadn't fixed the games. However his team too is caught up in the scandal.

Prodi says soccer scandal metaphor for Italy's 'ethical crises'
Italy's new Prime Minister Romano Prodi has said that Italy's soccer scandal was a metaphor for the many "ethical crises" facing the country.

.

Prodi, facing a crucial vote of confidence in his new government, told lawmakers in the Senate that allegations of fraud and match-fixing embroiling the nation's top clubs "represents an important metaphor for the situation in the country".

.

Italy now faced "an ethical crisis, in many sectors, including politics," after five years of rule by the previous conservative government of Silvio Berlusconi, he said.

Also See:

Pro Sports and Criminal Capitalism

The Curse of Bruce McNall


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Papal Fallibility

A Nazi asks for forgiveness.

From Hitler Youth to the Vatican

The visit, by the German-born pope, who was unwillingly enrolled in the Hitler Youth as a teenager and later drafted into the German army, is fraught with significance for Catholic-Jewish relations.

Willing or unwilling it matters not He WAS a Nazi. Nazi Youth Ceremonies

God is Dead. Gott ist tot

Pope asks why God was silent at Auschwitz "The place where we are standing is a place of memory and at the same time, it is the place of the Shoah," he said. "In a place like this, words fail. In the end, there can only be a dread silence, a silence which is a heartfelt cry to God -- Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?""Where was God in those days? Why was he silent? How could he permit this endless slaughter, this triumph of evil?"

Because the personal diety is dead. The pope has now admited to being fallible, to not having the ear of God. Or that God has no ears to hear the cries, pleas or prayers. As the great American shamanic poet Jim Morrison said; "You Cannot Petition The Lord With Prayer". And science has proved it.And now the Pope admits it.

The Soft Parade
When I was back there in seminary school There was a person there Who put forth the proposition That you can petition the Lord with prayer Petition the lord with prayer Petition the lord with prayer You cannot petition the lord with prayer!

If diety is distant, omniscient, omnipresent yet not here and now, then Gott ist Not.

Friedrich Nietzsche is notable for having declared that God is dead and for having written several of his works in the presumption that man must find a new mode of being given the demise of God. Perhaps the most interesting quote on this theme appears in his The Gay Science (aka Joyous Wisdom).

"Where has God gone?" he cried. "I shall tell you. We have killed him
- you and I. We are his murderers. But how have we done this? How were
we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the
entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained the earth from its
sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from
all suns? Are we not perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward,
in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying
as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty
space? Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming
on all the time? Must not lanterns be lit in the morning? Do we not
hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying
God? Do we not smell anything yet of God's decomposition? Gods too
decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How
shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which
was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet possessed
has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us?
With what water could we purify ourselves? What festivals of
atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent? Is not the
greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not ourselves become
gods simply to be worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed;
and whosoever shall be born after us - for the sake of this deed he
shall be part of a higher history than all history hitherto."

Is God Still Dead? by Claire Berlinski- Policy Review, No. 129

theism, as theologian Alister McGrath understands the term, is not merely the asseveration that no God exists. It is a distinct movement in intellectual, cultural, and political history and may be mapped to particular historic events — the arc of its rise and decline demarcated at either end by two tumbling edifices, the Bastille and the Berlin Wall. This movement, curiously, has behaved much like a religion: It has produced gurus and proselytizers; it has been appropriated to serve political ends; and, ultimately, it has been embraced not for its compelling internal logic but on faith — or at gunpoint. The political and cultural institutions associated with it having come now to be objects of general revulsion, so too may atheism itself be observed in its twilight; thus the title of McGrath’s book, an allusion and rebuke to Twilight of the Idols, Nietzsche’s “grand declaration of war” on religious faith.

McGrath locates the sources of the movement in the challenge posed by Revolutionary France to the Catholic Church and the rotten Bourbon monarchy, institutions viewed by many of that era as inseparable. Before the late eighteenth century there were almost no atheists in Europe. While the Revolution itself was swiftly followed by the restoration of Catholicism, the minds of alienated European intellectuals continued to roil: “Seeds were planted, mental horizons were expanded, and hopes for change ignited.” Thereafter, the giants of atheism emerged — Feuerbach, Marx and Freud. This was not because the existence of God was specifically disproved in the late eighteenth century; nor did any scientific or philosophic innovation of the era suggest anything like a comprehensive answer to the questions posed by religious inquiry. The rise of atheism, McGrath concludes, was above all a response to political events.

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