Is believing in gods harmful to humankind? Sunsara Taylor believes it is.

Throughout human history cultures around the globe have developed complex systems of gods and religion. But Taylor questions the idea that these beliefs grow out of an innate aspect of human nature.

You can read an excerpt from Away With All Gods here. Or scan the table of Contents here .

From the author's website: Bob Avakian is the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, and he is more than that. He's an innovative and critical thinker who has taken Marxism to a new place; he's a provocative commentator on everything from basketball to religion, doo-wop music to science; and he's a pit-bull fighter against oppression who's kept both his solemn sense of purpose and his irrepressible sense of humor.

 One of the untold stories of the war in Iraq is the millions of refugees who have fled their country, with no idea what their future may hold.

Kathy Kelly describes a typical refugee camp home for an Iraqi family in Syria.

Speaking at at the Oddfellows Hall,  545 Pacific Avenue in Santa Rosa, on Wednesday, September 24^th at 7 pm, renowned activist Kathy Kelly (center)  reports on her recent visit with Iraqi refugees in Amman, Jordan. Highlights of her trip include learning about nonviolence groups operating in Iraq and the efforts of Americans to support these and other Iraqis as they struggle to build a productive and peaceful future. Reflecting on her participation in a peace walk from Chicago to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Kathy will also talk about "war and memory," drawing parallels with collective resistance to other wars, and reminding us of our connections across regions, national boundaries, and generations. The event is being hosted by the Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County.

David Smith-Ferri, Kathy's friend and author of Battlefield Without Borders, will open with a reading of new poems. 

The huge number of displaced people, and the shortage of resources to aid them is creating a social disaster that Kelly says will take a generation or longer to repair.

 Kelly has visited Iraq 24 times, and she continues to share her experience and vast knowledge on the economical and living situation for the people of Iraq. To see more about her previous presentations, click here.

For more information about Kathy Kelly and her work with Voices for Creative Nonviolence, click here.

The Geneva Conventions are not a conference, but an international treaty signed by every established nation in the world. And there are four of them.

Miller talks about the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that applied the Geneva Conventions to the U.S. detention facility at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

Tim Miller

The local Red Cross offers a free class to educate the public about the Geneva Conventions four times a year. Upcoming classes will be held September 20, and November 15, 9 to1 each day . For further information call (707) 577-7600, or to register online, click here .

For the direct link to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, about the Geneva Convention, click here.

 While events inside the Republican National Convention last week received saturation coverage from the mainstream media, significant developments in the streets outside went largely unreported.

Carl Patrick, a member of the IMPACT! activist group from Petaluma , was among the hundreds of protesters at the Republican National Convention last week. He will be speaking  about his experiences there on Thursday evening,  Sept. 11, at the Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County. For more details,  click here.  Patrick says  that local police in the Twin Cities made numerous attemps to infiltrate the protest groups, but their efforts were conspicuous failures.

  Cazadero-based activist Starhawk says that in spite of all the furor and ominous aspects of the police response to the protestors, she considers her trip to Minnesota last week a success.

To read Starhawk's most recent blog entry about her experience at the Republican National Convention, click here .  

The protests were primarily organized by the RNC Welcoming Committee, which is now coordinating fund-raising for the legal defense for those still facing criminal charges in connection with the protests.