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Israel’s attack on the Gaza Movement’s aid ships: ROANE CAREY of The Nation asks, “What madness could have driven the Israeli government to order its navy to attack, in international waters, a flotilla of ships full of human rights activists, MPs from governments around the world, a Nobel Prize winner and two former US diplomats?”  And will the Israeli attack bring international pressure to end the blocade of Gaza?

Plus: A strike in China at an enormous Honda transmission factory has unexpectedly turned into a symbol of the exploitation of Chinese workers.  JEFFREY WASSERSTROM comments; he teaches history at UCI, writes for the Huffington Post and the China Beat blog, and his new book is China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know .

Also: The US role in giving birth to Al Qaeda as an anti-Soviet force in Afghanistan is well-known — but it was not the beginning of enlisting Islamists to fight the Soviets.  Pulitzer-prize winning Wall Street Journal reporter IAN JOHNSON traces the practice back to Hitler in WWII, and then to the CIA in Germany during the Cold War.  He tells the story in A Mosque in Munich: Nazis, the CIA, and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West.

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Arizona’s anti-immigrant laws have sparked opposition in the world of sports.  There’s a campaign to get Major League Baseball to move the All-Star game out of Phoenix.  A lot of athletes have been great, but there’s one big exception: Lakers Coach Phil Jackson.  DAVE ZIRIN will explain – he’s sportswriter for The Nation, he writes the blog Edge of Sports, and he’s author of A People’s History of Sports.

Also: the Plastic Panic:  Dr. JEROME GROOPMAN asks how worried should we be about everyday chemicals? Children are especially vulnerable.  Groopman is a staff writer for The New Yorker. he also teaches at the Harvard Medical School and is the chief of Experimental Medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and he wrote the book How Doctors Think.

Plus: it’s Miles Davis’s birthday today — he would have been 84 years old today — and in honor of his birthday we’ll replay our interview from March 2000 with QUINCY TROUPE — he collaborated on Miles’s autobiography, and then wrote the book Miles and Me. We’ll talk about “Kind of Blue,” “Bitches Brew,” and Quincy’s work with Miles on the books.  Quincy is now professor emeritus at UC San Diego.

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Last night former Republican Arlen Spector was defeated in the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary by Joe Sestak;  conservative Democrat Blanche Lincoln was forced into a runoff for the Arkansas Senate primary by progressive Bill Halter — HAROLD MEYERSON will explain everything; he’s editor at large of the American Prospect and op-ed columnist for the Washington Post.

Also: Legalization of marijuana will be on the Nov. 2 ballot in California: for our fund drive premium today we are featuring The Marijuana Grower’s Handbook by ED ROSENTHAL, “the guru of ganja”: everything you need to know in a beautiful 500 page book.

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The legendary FATHER GREG BOYLE, Jesuit pastor of Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights starting in 1986, has made it his mission to help gang members who want to quit.  He founded Homeboy Industries in 1988.  Now he has written a wonderful book: Tattoos on the Heart: Stories of Hope and Compassion. Father Greg will be in conversation with Celeste Fremon in the LA Public Library ALOUD series Thursday May 13, 7pm.

Plus: Do you wanna dance? ALICE ECHOLS talks about disco: how it carved out a haven for gay men; how it thrust black women onto center stage; how “disco sucks” expressed the worst in America. Alice teaches American studies at Rutgers. Her new book is  Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture. Alice will be reading and signing at Book Soup Monday 5/17, 7pm. Playlist: Bee Gees, “Stayin Alive”;  Barry White, “Can’t Get Enough”;  Sylvester, “You Make Me Feel”; Donna Summer, “Bad Girls.”

Also: Between Arabs and Israelis: Weeks before the Suez War of 1956, four-year-old KAI BIRD and his family moved to Jerusalem.  He lived between Arabs and Israelis for much of his life — in Jerusalem, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Lebanon.  Crossing Mandelbaum Gate is his personal history of growing up an American in the midst of three major wars in the Middle East. Kai is a contributing editor of The Nation; he won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for his co-authored Robert Oppenheimer bio. He will be speaking in the LA Public Library ALOUD series Monday May 17, 7pm.

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Are Arizona’s anti-immigrant laws going to help Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid win re-election?  In 1994, when California Republicans passed the anti-immigrant Prop. 187, Latinos started voting Democratic in overwhelming numbers. JOHN NICHOLS will comment; he’s Washington Correspondent for The Nation, and writes “The Beat” blog at TheNation.com — now redesigned and re-launched.

Also: Greil Marcus on Van Morrison, the wild and turbulent Northern Irish singer-songwriter who recorded the songs “Wild Night” and “Brown Eyed Girl” and the albums “Astral Weeks” and “Moondance.”  Greil’s new book is When That Rough God Roes Riding: Listening to Van Morrison.  Greil will be reading and signing Friday at 7:30pm Skylight Books , 1818 N. Vermont Ave.

Plus: yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the Kent State killings; and we’ll also have Your Minnesota Moment:  St. Paul’s mayor takes action against Arizona for its new anti-immigrant law.

Daniel Widener talks about culture and black struggle in postwar L.A. — he teaches history at UCSD and his new book is Black Arts West. We’ll also talk about the recent racist activity at UCSD — and the compendium of documents about it,  ‘Another University is Possible.’   Danny will be speaking at Eso Won Books on Fri. May 7, 7pm in Liemert Park.