|
|
Shooting the Messenger
Till Death Do Us Part
One of her last requests was that I make one more attempt at telling my story; now, our story. I should not have been surprised that my firing by Foreign Affairs still bothered her considering the surroundings in which she died.
At the heart of Shooting the Messenger – Till Death Do Us Part is the story of my discovery of a multi-year, multi-million dollar fraud and my subsequent dismissal for failing to report the theft of additional millions. Without the benefit of a lawyer, I appealed my dismissal all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Till Death Do Us Part ends with the assisted death of my wife on the afternoon of July 5, 2019, away from where she had hoped to die, with only Scott Brison, while at Treasury Board, admitting to his helplessness.
AMAZON: USA UK Canada Australia
ISLAM
Books, Essays & Comments
Any study beside that of the Quran is a distraction, except the Hadiths and jurisprudence in the religion. Knowledge is what He [Muhammad] narrated to us, and anything other than that is the whispering of the Satan.
Al-Qaeda
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.
Stephen Hawking 1942-2018
THE INDISPENSIBLE FOUR
The world desperately needs to have an honest conversation about Islam (as I try to have in my books) starting with an unfettered dialogue on the Koran, if we are to allay the fear of the other and foster a trust in the other that is sadly lacking and a reason to fear that the worst is yet to come. The following four books could facilitate such a discussion:
LOVE, SEX & ISLAM
Paperback, 198 pages
AMAZON: USA UK Canada Australia
If I am able convince believers who may be contemplating martyrdom not to be in such a hurry to get at those houris only to be disappointed, then the almost twenty years I have dedicated to the study of the world's fastest growing religion will not have been in vain.
Excerpts: Prologue | Anne Part 2 | Mary | Sex by the Numbers
REMEMBERING UZZA
If Islam Was Explained to Me in a Pub
Paperback, 452 pages
AMAZON: USA UK Canada Australia
Remembering Uzza is meant to make learning about Islam a mostly pleasant experience while not sugar-coating or leaving out the nasty bits. And, is there a better place to get acquainted with a religion that has everyone talking than in the relaxed atmosphere of a favourite pub, in the company of friends and a troubled but engaging young woman to give you an insider's perspective?
Excerpts: Dedication | Acknowledgment | No Scarf, No Service! | A Shirley Temple, Anyone?
CHILDREN AND THE KORAN
The End of Empathy
Paperback, 136 pages
AMAZON: USA UK Canada Australia
"It is only by teaching children to question the validity of scriptures that we protect them from being influenced by fundamentalist doctrines. It is precisely the lack of critical thinking (when it comes to scriptures) which leads to radicalism."
André Gagné, Professor Theological Studies, Concordia University
Excerpts: The End of Empathy | Getting Kids To Feel Nothing | Little Boys Learning To Hate Little Girls and Little Girls to Hate Themselves
LET ME REPHRASE THAT!
Your Layman's Guide to Abrogations - Second Edition
Paperback, 100 pages
AMAZON: USA UK Canada Australia
2:106 Whichever verse We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring instead a better or similar one. Do you not know that Allah has the power over all things? | 16:101 And if We replace a verse by another – and Allah knows best what He reveals – they say: “You [Muhammad] are only a forger.” Surely, most of them do not know.
Excerpt: Preface | A Harvest of Contradictions
Tolerance and respect are empty virtues until we actually know something about whomever it is we are supposed to be tolerating or respecting.
Stephen Prothero, author of the NY Times bestseller Religious Literacy
In my writings on the Koran, Muhammad and Islam, in the tradition of Thomas Paine, I have tried to explain the seemingly complicated in terms we can all understand in what has become, with my Lucette's passing, a solitary campaign against the willful ignorance that will be our undoing.
Stopping the Draining of the Light
