News
Welcome to our archive of news stories relevant to the project
of fighting fashionable nonsense. The stories are drawn from the
electronic pages of the world's media. On this page, you'll find
links to those stories that have been featured on Butterflies
and Wheels during the current year. At the bottom of the page,
you'll find links to separate archives of stories from previous
years.
We're always pleased to hear about news stories that you think
should be featured on Butterflies and Wheels. Just
send an email here, if you want to point one out to us.
A note about links
Inevitably links go out of date. We suggest, therefore, that
you make hard-copies of the stories that particularly interest
you.
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Latest News
Peter Green on Herodotus
A broadminded, witty cosmopolitan, for whom the varieties of human custom were a source of fascination.
Date filed: 04-07-2008
Denmark Happiest, Zimbabwe Least Happy
Survey finds personal freedom even more important to happiness than prosperity.
Date filed: 04-07-2008
Lord Chief Justice Says Sharia OK
'It was not very radical to advocate embracing sharia law in the context of family disputes.'
Date filed: 04-07-2008
More Confusion
The religion is one thing, the people are another.
Date filed: 04-07-2008
How to Confuse the Issue
Define 'Islamophobia' as hatred of Muslims then rail at anyone who is critical of Islam.
Date filed: 04-07-2008
Muslim Woman Councillor Bullied by Men
Imam notes 'Because this is Britain, you cannot tell anyone what to do. I can tell my wife, but cannot tell other women.'
Date filed: 03-07-2008
American Family Assoc Dislikes the Word 'Gay'
So it substitutes 'homosexual' in wire stories. Sprinter Tyson Gay becomes Tyson Homosexual.
Date filed: 02-07-2008
Betancourt Freed
French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages have been rescued by government troops.
Date filed: 02-07-2008
What the Games Reveal and Conceal About China
China's propagandists have studied the theories of 'manufacturing consent' by Lippmann and Bernays.
Date filed: 02-07-2008
The Permanent Anti-feminist Backlash
Arguments we thought were long-won have been re-opened, rights we thought were settled are under threat.
Date filed: 02-07-2008
Offensive Puppy Postcard Claim Dismissed
Mahmud Sarwar, trustee of Scottish Islamic and Cultural Centre, said chill, postcard is fine.
Date filed: 02-07-2008
Tayside Police Apologize for Puppy on Postcard
'We did not seek advice from the diversity adviser. That was an oversight. We apologise for any offence.'
Date filed: 02-07-2008
AU Disappointed With Obama Plan
Rather than try to fix Bush 'faith-based' initiative, Obama would do better to shut it down.
Date filed: 02-07-2008
Mugabe Aide Tells Critics to 'Go Hang'
MDC said Friday's one-man election had killed off any prospect of a negotiated settlement.
Date filed: 02-07-2008
Canadian HRC Dismisses Maclean's Complaint
'Not of an extreme nature.' BC Human Rights Commission has not yet ruled.
Date filed: 02-07-2008
Obama to Expand 'Faith-Based' Program
Acknowledges those who like to separate religion and state, then carries on regardless.
Date filed: 01-07-2008
Anti-semitic Hate Speech in Germany
'Schoolchildren berate their teachers, calling them Jew dogs, for not offering Sharia-compatible instruction.'
Date filed: 01-07-2008
Administration Officials Deny Ops Inside Iran
Spokesmen for the intelligence committees declined to comment, as did the CIA.
Date filed: 01-07-2008
Seymour Hersh on Bush's Covert Ops in Iran
The scale and scope of operations in Iran have been significantly expanded, according to officials.
Date filed: 01-07-2008
Stephen Law on the Odone Report
Over the past decade or so there has been a shift towards more extreme religious views being expressed by pupils.
Date filed: 01-07-2008
Pascal Bruckner on the UN and Human Rights
At the 2001 UN Conference against Racism in Durban, anti-colonialism bared its anti-Semitic face.
Date filed: 01-07-2008
What 'Strident Secularism'?
'Since 1997 more new state-funded faith schools have opened than under any other government.'
Date filed: 30-06-2008
BHA Calls Odone Report Totally Wrong
Report ignores evidence and studies, simply repeats old exploded claims.
Date filed: 30-06-2008
Two Points for Expletive, More With Punctuation
Wicked to give it zero; it does show some very basic skills: conveying some meaning and some spelling.
Date filed: 30-06-2008
Odone Being Diplomatic
Witch-hunt...informants...inquisition...strident secularists...
Date filed: 30-06-2008
Odone's Insufferable Rhetoric
Cites 'smear campaign, orchestrated by a strident secularist lobby that has long plagued this sector.'
Date filed: 30-06-2008
Alibhai-Brown Speaks up for Secularism
Cristina Odone's new report on 'faith' schools for the Centre for Policy Studies is insufferable.
Date filed: 30-06-2008
The Tenets of Buddhist Modernism
Neural Buddhism as the next big thing.
Date filed: 30-06-2008
Freedom of Expression and Political Islam
A ‘moderate’ or ‘reformed’ religion is one that has been pushed back and reigned in by an enlightenment.
Date filed: 30-06-2008
Bill Clinton Throws a Baby Fit
Says Obama can kiss his ass. Is someone feeling entitled today?
Date filed: 29-06-2008
Bernard-Henri Lévy on Darfur and the Left
The decision for genocide is never announced on CBS News or in AFP.
Date filed: 29-06-2008
We Think Our Decisions Are Conscious
But our brains decide ten seconds before they tell us about it.
Date filed: 29-06-2008
Happiness and Economics
The way rational choice theory developed suggested that self-interest was not just a fact but also an ideal.
Date filed: 29-06-2008
Philip Hensher on David Rieff on Susan Sontag
It seems like bad taste to ask of the disease: 'Do you know who my mother is?'
Date filed: 29-06-2008
Raped for Opposing Mugabe
MDC Information Director says over 500 women and girls have been sexually abused in the political violence.
Date filed: 28-06-2008
Free Parking for 'Religious Leaders' in Barnet
'The importance of religion to many Barnet residents cannot be underestimated and the council has acknowledged this.'
Date filed: 28-06-2008
'Danish Muslims' Plan to Take Motoons to Court
'Muslim organizations intend to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights,' said 'leader.'
Date filed: 28-06-2008
Mugabe Preparing to be Sworn In
Government sources say Mugabe has won by a huge margin. Right.
Date filed: 28-06-2008
Strategy to Bomb and Murder Until Election
Minutes of a meeting include instructions to kill opposition MPs and the prevention of any MDC rallies.
Date filed: 28-06-2008
Louisiana's Stealth-creationist Bill SB 733
Barbara Forrest says advocates for science education in other states had better start preparing now.
Date filed: 27-06-2008
A Walk to Beautiful
Brilliant NOVA documentary about women with fistula in Ethiopia.
Date filed: 27-06-2008
Jesus Likes the Barmaid, but She's so Aggressive
Militant atheists are such a pain.
Date filed: 27-06-2008
Foreign Policy's Top Twenty Intellectuals Poll
Qaradawi? Amr Khaled? Tariq Ramadan?
Date filed: 27-06-2008
McEwan Replies to Hamilton, Pittilo to Lawson
The purpose of a serious columnist should not be to close down debate.
Date filed: 27-06-2008
Go Ahead, Marry an Infant
You can have a marriage contract even with a one-year-old girl if the father approves; the father's opinion is obligatory
Date filed: 27-06-2008
Obama and the Jesus Machine
Dobson may be the most feared mouth on the religious right, thanks to radio audience of 20 million.
Date filed: 27-06-2008
Red Alert Flyers All Over Bulawayo
Small group of singing supporters of the MDC marched through the city while the flyers clouded the horizon.
Date filed: 26-06-2008
Guy Says McEwan Reveals Own Ignorance
Adrian Hamilton knows better - trots out the usual platitudes.
Date filed: 26-06-2008
Rove Calls Obama 'Arrogant'
'He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and making snide comments.'
Date filed: 26-06-2008
US Supreme Court Rules on Gun Rights
Conservative majority brushes aside militia clause; Stevens calls reading strained and unpersuasive.
Date filed: 26-06-2008
Sweden Signs Surveillance Law
Bill allows all emails and phone calls to be monitored in the name of national security.
Date filed: 26-06-2008
Blackwater Requests Sharia to Avoid Damages
Shari’a law does not hold a company responsible for actions of employees performed at work.
Date filed: 26-06-2008
Blackwater's Deep Reverence for Islam
3 widows of US soldiers are suing over plane crash in Afghanistan. So - call for Sharia!
Date filed: 25-06-2008
Talking is Different from Capitulation
Churchill did not object to Chamberlain meeting Hitler in 1938, he objected to giving the Nazis Czechoslovakia.
Date filed: 25-06-2008
Gabfests About Islam and the West
Speaker after speaker called for some formal, internationally agreed restriction on defamation of religion.
Date filed: 25-06-2008
Majority of Indonesians Want Sharia
But 'only' 45% said women should be forced to wear hijab. Oh is that all!
Date filed: 25-06-2008
Malaysia: Islamists Tell Women What to Do
No loud shoes. Segregated seating at the movies. Hijab.
Date filed: 25-06-2008
Race and Patriotism as a Wedge Strategy
'Clinton has manipulated ideas about race, but Obama has not manipulated similar ideas about gender.'
Date filed: 25-06-2008
School Investigated 'Abuse' Based on Psychic
Psychic said a child whose name began with V was being molested; school called Victoria's mother.
Date filed: 24-06-2008
Regulation is Recognition
The greatest risk to the health of the NHS is approaching: the march of the alternative health industry.
Date filed: 24-06-2008
David Colquhoun on the Alt Med Report
The report shows an execrable ability to assess evidence, and it advocates degrees in antiscience.
Date filed: 24-06-2008
Regulating the 'Professions' of Alt Medicine
The main body of the report produced for the Government does not contain the word 'placebo.'
Date filed: 24-06-2008
Jeb Bush Wants More, Worse Religious Schools
Bush has engineered two initiatives that would dilute language requiring a quality public school system.
Date filed: 24-06-2008
Pew Survey Shows US Religious Credulity [link fixed]
Believe 'many religions can lead to eternal life.' All at the same time, but in different hats.
Date filed: 23-06-2008
Poland: Priest Blocked Rape Victim's Abortion
Priest, anti-abortion campaigners, doctors gang up on 14-year-old who doesn't want a baby.
Date filed: 23-06-2008
Secularism Meets Islamism on Big Brother
"This is nothing to do with religion!" "Tell it to Allah!"
Date filed: 23-06-2008
UK Government Should Do More to Stop FGM
Ann Clwyd calls it an absolute disgrace that no one has been prosecuted under the new regulations.
Date filed: 23-06-2008
Ziauddin Sardar on New Koran Translation
Words things in a nicer way than the Dawood translation did. Also more accurately? Or not?
Date filed: 23-06-2008
What Darwin and Wallace Thought
150 years ago next week, a notion, more radical even than Marx's, was set loose on the world.
Date filed: 23-06-2008
Theodore Dalrymple Reviews Julian Baggini
Dalrymple is not sure that the intellectually sophisticated and critical are the most balanced complainants.
Date filed: 23-06-2008
Bali Bombers Issue Encouragement from Cells
Use laptops to call for violent jihad and give advice about how to avoid detection by the security services.
Date filed: 22-06-2008
Tsvangirai Pulls Out of Election
MDC says some 86 supporters have been killed and 200,000 forced from their homes by Zanu-PF militias.
Date filed: 22-06-2008
Support for Iranian Women on Demo Anniversary
Scores of women's rights activists in Iran have been summoned, arrested and sentenced.
Date filed: 22-06-2008
Abdi Sentenced, Safarzadeh Awaiting Trial
Both are active members of Campaign for Equality, which seeks an end to discrimination against women.
Date filed: 22-06-2008
Iran: Hana Abdi Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison
Abdi has been in detention since November for advocating for greater freedoms for Iran's women.
Date filed: 22-06-2008
Interview With Philippe Sands
Why torture is not such a clever idea.
Date filed: 21-06-2008
Hindu Activists Upset Over Satirical Movie
Say it will 'hurt the religious sentiments' of millions of Hindus worldwide.
Date filed: 21-06-2008
Shirin Ebadi Scolds Switzerland over Iran
Laws ratified after the 1979 Revolution, which are contrary to women’s freedoms, are still in place.
Date filed: 21-06-2008
Louise Arbour Opposes Taboos in UNHRC
Council is dominated by a bloc of states that often condemn 'defamation of religion' and 'Islamophobia.'
Date filed: 21-06-2008
Criticism of Sharia or Fatwas Forbidden at UNHRC
Ruling follows attempts by Egyptian and Pakistani delegates to silence criticism of human rights abuse.
Date filed: 21-06-2008
UNHRC Bars All Debate on Sharia
President ruled that only Muslim scholars can be permitted to talk about Islam in the Council.
Date filed: 21-06-2008
Ben Goldacre on the Utility of Being Ripped Off
The pricier it is, the more we trust it.
Date filed: 20-06-2008
Turkish Judge Throws Out Child Choir Case
The choir was accused of spreading propaganda for the PKK.
Date filed: 20-06-2008
Ohio Teacher Taught ID in Science Class
Freshwater was told to stop teaching ID and creationism, but he continued, the report found.
Date filed: 20-06-2008
Ohio Teacher Burns Cross Onto Students' Arms
'With the exception of the cross-burning episode' he is teaching the values of the parents, says a friend.
Date filed: 20-06-2008
Scientists Rally Against Creationist Superstition
Steve Jones said religious students say he is 'telling lies and insulting people's religion' by teaching evolution.
Date filed: 20-06-2008
Journalist Murdered in Mosul
Attack bears the hallmarks of a number of armed groups that are the scourge of the press in Iraq.
Date filed: 19-06-2008
Iran Blocks More Feminist Websites
Sites backed campaign to gather a million signatures opposing discriminatory laws against women.
Date filed: 19-06-2008
Iran Arrests 9 Women, 5 of Them Journalists
Part of government’s continuing persecution of women who use online publications to defend their rights.
Date filed: 19-06-2008
Turkish Court Acquits Owner and Editor of Agos
Serkis Seropyan and Aris Nalci had published an editorial on journalists' sentences.
Date filed: 19-06-2008
More Opposition Supporters Killed in Zimbabwe
Civic leaders, rights groups, Western diplomats say the violence is largely the work of ZANU-PF.
Date filed: 19-06-2008
Judith Shapiro on Anti-intellectualism
Many who advocate teaching creationism do so in the name of providing a 'balanced' curriculum.
Date filed: 18-06-2008
Steven Pinker Interviwed
What might feel like freewill from the inside is not some mysterious violation of the laws of physics.
Date filed: 18-06-2008
Edzard Ernst: Homeopathy Putting Lives at Risk
World's only professor of complementary med says homoeopathic treatments must be more regulated.
Date filed: 18-06-2008
Another Turk on Trial for Saying Something
Singer charged with attempting to turn the public against military service, contrary to Article 318.
Date filed: 18-06-2008
Thaksin Shinawatra Reassures Thailand
'Mars moving close to Saturn causes the headache. When Mars leaves, the situation will ease.'
Date filed: 18-06-2008
Zimbabwe: Statement on Violence and Torture
Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights reports dramatic escalation in organised violence and torture.
Date filed: 17-06-2008
Health Report from Zimbabwe
Most of these fractures will have been sustained in attempts to defend the face and upper body from violent blows with a weapon such as a heavy stick or iron bar.
Date filed: 17-06-2008
Another 'Right to Wear Symbol of Faith' Fight
Bangle joins niqab, jilbab, cross.
Date filed: 17-06-2008
Iran Police Close Hairdressers, Clothes Shops
Police said 32 clothes shops and hairdressers in Tehran were shut down so far.
Date filed: 17-06-2008
Damages for 'Injury to Feelings'
Muslim woman awarded £4,000 after owner of a hair salon refused to employ her because she wears hijab.
Date filed: 17-06-2008
C of E in Meltdown Over Women and Gays
No women! No gays! No women! Arrgh!
Date filed: 16-06-2008
Pitching a Huge Fit About Nothing
Conservative Christians angry that a gay couple used religious ritual at civil service.
Date filed: 16-06-2008
Margaret Talbot on Irene Pepperberg and Alex
In the past decade, dozens of studies have buttressed Pepperberg’s claims about avian intelligence.
Date filed: 16-06-2008
Liveblogging the BC Human Rights Trial
“Those hauled before the human rights tribunal howl about censorship.” Well, yes. It’s not crying wolf if the wolf is in fact at your throat…
Date filed: 16-06-2008
BC Tribunal Hears Complaint Against Maclean's
Nothing wrong with Steyn expressing his view if he does not cross the line with respect to Section 7-1.
Date filed: 16-06-2008
Pakistan Asks EU to Do Better
Says otherwise more attacks on EU diplomatic missions abroad could not be ruled out.
Date filed: 15-06-2008
BC Human Rights Code
BC code doesn't allow respondents to defend themselves by arguing that what was published was true.
Date filed: 15-06-2008
Free Speech is No Excuse
Freedom of speech is not absolute, therefore, when in doubt, prosecute.
Date filed: 15-06-2008
Why is BC Prosecuting Mark Steyn?
Steyn is effectively being tried, by a quasi-judicial panel in Vancouver, for insulting Islam.
Date filed: 15-06-2008
Once the Whack-a-thought Police Get Going
If B.C.'s kangaroo court declares Steyn guilty, we might see two human rights bodies in cosmic collision.
Date filed: 15-06-2008
US Defends Right to Offend in Speech
'Innocent intent is not a defense. Nor is truth. Publication in the public interest is not a defense.'
Date filed: 14-06-2008
Bardot Fined for Remarks on Animal Slaughter
Said in a letter to Sarkozy that Muslims should stun animals before slaughtering them.
Date filed: 14-06-2008
Mugabe Promises to Fight 'Traitors'
Described the opposition as 'traitors' and referred to Zimbabwe's past struggle for independence.
Date filed: 14-06-2008
Burma Should Free Detained Activist Zargana
Burma’s military government should immediately free Zargana and permit him to continue distributing aid.
Date filed: 14-06-2008
Zimbabwe: Abuse of Opposition and NGOs
Attacks on civil society and the opposition are the latest developments in a sustained campaign of terror.
Date filed: 14-06-2008
Maybe Someday Saudi Women Will Run
Or maybe not. Don't hold your breath.
Date filed: 13-06-2008
South African Court Bans Aids Vitamin Trials
Rath Foundation promote vitamin pills and minerals which they say can reverse the development of HIV/Aids.
Date filed: 13-06-2008
Giles Fraser Talks Tortured Nonsense
Saying 'intelligent people are less likely to believe in god' is racist.
Date filed: 13-06-2008
Mass Rally for Pakistani Judges
Thousands of protesters are gathering to demand the government reinstate judges fired by Musharraf
Date filed: 13-06-2008
India: Hindu Nationalists and Muslims Clash
Supporters of the RSS and local Muslim villagers clashed after the RSS set up a camp in the area.
Date filed: 13-06-2008
David Brooks on Obama's Applebee's Problem
'He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who could go into an Applebee's salad bar, and people think he fits in naturally there.'
Date filed: 13-06-2008
Religious Scruple Causes Neurological Damage
Midwife asks for help, father blocks male intern, baby is born with neurological damage.
Date filed: 12-06-2008
Muslim Arbitration Tribunal on Forced Marriage
Bunglawala, MCB express doubts, point to Islamic Sharia Council.
Date filed: 12-06-2008
BHL on Simone de Beauvoir
Women around the world, in burqas or irons, are a little more free than they would have been without her.
Date filed: 12-06-2008
Nussbaum on Rawls's 'Political Liberalism'
We can argue for political principles using ethical notions that are separable from controversial religious doctrines.
Date filed: 12-06-2008
Steven Pinker and Ian McEwan Talk
Both speakers have devoted space in their life’s work to plumbing the mysteries of conversation.
Date filed: 11-06-2008
Richard Wolin on François Cusset
A paradigm opposed to the idea of a centered and cohesive 'self' became the basis for identity politics.
Date filed: 11-06-2008
Theory. Literary Theory. French Theory. Theory.
Can't understand today's global disorders without literary theory. Literary theory the key to all things.
Date filed: 11-06-2008
The Reign of Thuggery
Mbeki has given Mugabe political and diplomatic support in many forums, including the UN.
Date filed: 11-06-2008
Abdullahi An-Naim Calls Himself a Muslim Heretic
Human rights are universal and trump religious dictates. That's the heresy.
Date filed: 11-06-2008
Norway: Parents Charged in FGM of 5 Daughters
'The mother and father are charged because they contributed to five of their six daughters being mutilated.'
Date filed: 11-06-2008
Prison for 'Violation of Religious Sensibilities'
'Accused acted to blaspheme and desecrate that which the Islamic religious community deems holy.'
Date filed: 10-06-2008
Report Marred by Errors in Arithmetic
A frightening decline in the quality of maths in reports of the frightening decline in the quality of maths.
Date filed: 10-06-2008
Ben Goldacre on Blogs v Mainstream Media
MM pushed the Dore 'miracle cure' for Dyslexia, bloggers dug deeper.
Date filed: 10-06-2008
Philadelphia Mississippi Ponders Obama
'Bloody Neshoba' is anxious.
Date filed: 10-06-2008
Clinton Makes an Odd Feminist Martyr
Clinton benefited from having married a successful political man. What's feminist about that?
Date filed: 10-06-2008
Texas Board of Ed Uses Creationist Code
A creationist system of science is not science at all. It is faith.
Date filed: 09-06-2008
Sec-Gen of OIC Urges Action on 'Islamophobia'
Mere condemnation not enough, as long as they remain free to continue 'on the plea of freedom of expression.'
Date filed: 09-06-2008
Bullets for Each of You
HRW report on state-sponsored violence since Zimbabwe’s March 29 elections.
Date filed: 09-06-2008
HRW: Runoff Vote in Zimbabwe Will Be DOA
Campaign of violence and intimidation against MDC has killed any chance of a free and fair vote.
Date filed: 09-06-2008
The Reality Tests
The world is real, but we don't perceive it as it exists fundamentally.
Date filed: 09-06-2008
RSF on Mugabe as Predator of Press Freedom
Mugabe orders the arrest of local and foreign journalists, uses threats to silence them.
Date filed: 08-06-2008
RSF Shocked at Murder of Nasteh Dahir Farah
Somalia is Africa’s deadliest country for journalists. Eight were killed there last year.
Date filed: 08-06-2008
Reporter Murdered in Kismayu, Somalia
Suspected Islamist insurgents shot Nasteh Dahir, a freelance reporter for the BBC and AP.
Date filed: 08-06-2008
BBC Afghanistan Reporter Murdered
Abdul Samad Rohani worked with the Kabul bureau, was the Pashto service reporter in Helmand.
Date filed: 08-06-2008
Government Ignores Church, Says Church
They love Muslims more than they love us, whimpers bishop.
Date filed: 08-06-2008
Zimbabwe's Ban on Aid Puts Many in Peril
Doctor with USAid says no one will talk for fear of jeopardising access to people who still need help.
Date filed: 07-06-2008
Mbeke Exhibits Sinister Solidarity With Mugabe
Mbeke's coddling of Mugabe has made him complicit in Zimbabwe’s devastation.
Date filed: 07-06-2008
Zimbabwe's High Court Overturns Ban on Rallies
Aid groups believe the government does not want them out in the rural areas witnessing what is happening.
Date filed: 07-06-2008
K. Anthony Appiah Reviews Susan Neiman
If you're a philosopher, the easiest way to introduce yourself is not by elaborating a doctrine, but by telling a story.
Date filed: 07-06-2008
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Wants to be Martyr
CIA's acknowledgment that Mohammed was waterboarded could complicate the military's case.
Date filed: 06-06-2008
Burma: Hope Vetoed
China's foreign policy is predicated on sovereignty: what happens in Burma or China stays in Burma or China.
Date filed: 06-06-2008
US Prison Numbers Hit a New High
2.3 million, which is 762 per 100,000, the highest rate in the world.
Date filed: 06-06-2008
Afghanistan: Violence Against Women Journalists
RSF is outraged by the failure to punish the murder of the director of Peace Radio last year.
Date filed: 06-06-2008
NY Times Weeps Over YFZ Ranch
'The sect is now trying to put the pieces back together.' We know; that's the problem.
Date filed: 05-06-2008
Peter Berkowitz Reviews Ibn Warraq
Said's misrepresentations undermine the separation between scholarship and partisan pleading.
Date filed: 05-06-2008
FP Lists The Worst Places to Be a Woman
Organized gang rape, early marriage, illiteracy, low life expectancy, accusations of sorcery, trafficking.
Date filed: 05-06-2008
Blaming Denmark
Bombing naughty of course, but Denmark should have known better.
Date filed: 05-06-2008
Archbishop of York Disses Secularism
Said human rights without a reference to God or the divine were left lacking essential safeguards.
Date filed: 05-06-2008
Turkish Court Blocks Government's Hijab Move
Rules that vote to ease ban on hijab at universities violated the constitution's secular principles.
Date filed: 05-06-2008
Anthony Lane Sees Sex and the City
Goes in expecting a pleasant evening, comes out a hard-line Marxist.
Date filed: 04-06-2008
The Neurodiversity Movement
A new wave of activists wants to celebrate atypical brain function as a positive identity, not a disability.
Date filed: 04-06-2008
Tom Clark Disputes Ray Tallis on Free Will
Determinism is compatible with being recursively self-modifying beings that have reasons and intentions.
Date filed: 04-06-2008
Feminism al-Qaida Style
Islamist women are challenging al-Qaida's refusal to include women. Right on, sista!
Date filed: 04-06-2008
Expanding Wahhabi Influence in Australia
Griffith University offered to 'reshape' its Islamic Research Unit in accordance with Saudi wishes.
Date filed: 04-06-2008
More Comedy from West Midlands Police
Cop sees preachers in a 'Muslim area,' says they are committing a hate crime.
Date filed: 03-06-2008
Kenan Malik Reviews Raymond Tallis
Tallis can digress entertainingly on anything from Heidegger to hiccups, from Beckett to the basilar membrane.
Date filed: 03-06-2008
Jane O'Grady Reviews Raymond Tallis
Tallis uses meditations on the head and its functions as his entrée into what we are.
Date filed: 03-06-2008
Good and Bad Ad Hominem Arguments
An ad hominem is valid when the claims made about a person’s character or actions are relevant to the conclusions being drawn.
Date filed: 03-06-2008
Mark Pagel on Kenan Malik and Marek Cohn
Our ability to co-operate with unrelated others enables us to move beyond the politics of race.
Date filed: 03-06-2008
McClellan is Sad About McClellan
If I did not support the policies I advocated - such as making things up - why didn't I say something at the time?
Date filed: 02-06-2008
Vatican: Women Priests Will Be Excommunicated
'The church does not feel authorized to change the will of its founder Jesus Christ.'
Date filed: 02-06-2008
Bride not Virgin so Judge Annulled Marriage
Wedding party still under way when the groom came from the bedroom complaining that his bride was not a virgin.
Date filed: 02-06-2008
In Politicians It Is Judgements That Matter
Blair wants us to attach ourselves to his sincerity and evaporate arguments over judgement.
Date filed: 02-06-2008
Glasgow Police Ban Scientology Placard
Strathclyde Police admitted officers stopped protesters using the word 'cult' after a complaint.
Date filed: 02-06-2008
FLDS Children Ordered Released - Conditionally
Parents must allow CPS workers to question and examine the children at home.
Date filed: 02-06-2008
It's a West Texas Thing
Without planning ordinances, FLDS was free to build ranch and live in isolation there.
Date filed: 02-06-2008
Bomb Hits Danish Embassy in Islamabad
At least six people have been killed and thirty injured.
Date filed: 02-06-2008
Tortured Reasoning
Believers and scientists both have flashes of insight, so...
Date filed: 01-06-2008
Bastards
Leila Hussein divorced her husband after he murdered their daughter. Now she's been murdered too.
Date filed: 01-06-2008
Asian Women in Birmingham Denied Free Vote
'I just didn't want to vote last year because of how much pressure I got from the family.'
Date filed: 01-06-2008
Shalom Lappin on Living in a Hostile Environment
Boycotts of particular nationalities are corrosive.
Date filed: 31-05-2008
Eve Garrard on Passing Motion 25
Burma, Zimbabwe and Sudan are naughty, but Israel is off the charts.
Date filed: 31-05-2008
Radio Netherlands: The State We're In
The AI report; peace brigades in Colombia; gay and Muslim in Egypt, Turkey, South Africa; Mallalai Joya.
Date filed: 31-05-2008
Amnesty International 2008 Report
Prospect of an effective remedy for victims of rights violations in many countries remains illusory.
Date filed: 31-05-2008
Blair Does God, Tackles the Impossible
Blair wants to devote the rest of his life to promoting understanding between the world's religions.
Date filed: 30-05-2008
Turkish Women's Groups Protest Bullying Rules
Mo did not think kindly of women who put on perfumes outside their homes and go strolling.
Date filed: 30-05-2008
Red Tape Makes it Hard to Prevent Honor Killings
A number of regulations make it easy for violent family members to find out where the threatened are staying.
Date filed: 30-05-2008
Morsal Obeidi Wanted to Live Like Other Girls
So her brother stabbed her twenty times, and she died.
Date filed: 30-05-2008
Markovits and Weintraub on Obama
Obama is popular around the world, but it's no accident that he drives some hard-core anti-Americans up the wall.
Date filed: 30-05-2008
Challenge to Police Over Scientology Summons
Liberty will ask City of London police to explain how the initial decision to issue the summons was made.
Date filed: 30-05-2008
FLDS Dissent Says Teenage Girls at Risk
Dissenting opinion in FLDS ruling says teenage girls remain at risk because of pattern of sexual abuse.
Date filed: 29-05-2008
ACLU Joins FLDS Parents
Backs parents' rights over children's rights.
Date filed: 29-05-2008
Texas Supreme Court Rules in FLDS Case
The children must be returned to their parents.
Date filed: 29-05-2008
Stone Apologizes for Karma Remark
Dior has won the affection and respect of the consuming public in China.
Date filed: 29-05-2008
Amnesty Urges Iran to Overturn Sentences
Convictions of six women's rights defenders should be overturned on appeal.
Date filed: 29-05-2008
Amnesty Slams Egypt for Illegal Detentions
Report said conditions in which detainees are held are cruel; hundreds were reportedly ill with TB, other diseases.
Date filed: 29-05-2008
AI Condemns Detentions in Egypt
Amnesty International says about 18,000 are in jail in Egypt without being charged or put on trial.
Date filed: 29-05-2008
Repressive Law Renewed Instead of Reforms
Egyptian government’s abrupt extension of the state of emergency shows contempt for the rule of law.
Date filed: 28-05-2008
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