Says his friend Deepak Chopra is considering suing too.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo Are Offended by Elton John
Feb 19th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFor different reasons.… Read the rest
Photographer Busted for ‘Insulting the Uzbek People’
Feb 19th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUmida Akhmedova was accused of denigrating her country in her work on poverty and the condition of women. … Read the rest
Mary Midgley Reviews ‘What Darwin Got Wrong’
Feb 19th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThere is now no need to ‘privilege’ natural selection over ‘a crowd of other possible causes.’… Read the rest
Orac on Andreas Moritz
Feb 19th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhat is it with cranks and trying to shut down criticism?… Read the rest
Michael Ruse Reviews ‘What Darwin Got Wrong’
Feb 19th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘A whole book putting in the boot and absolutely no serious understanding of where the boot is aimed.’… Read the rest
Wot?
Feb 19th, 2010 11:51 am | By Ophelia BensonWe need an expert in Vatican jargon, or Catholic doctrine, or Jesuitical Vaticanesque doctrinal legalistic jargon. Hamilton Jacobi alerted us in a comment on ‘The pope invited the bishops to explain’ to the possibility that the pope’s 2001 letter didn’t mean what The Observer reported it to mean. I took a look at the English version* and I’m not at all clear on what it’s saying. It’s not unmistakably saying ‘Bishops must hide clerical sex abuse of children from the police’ and it could well not be saying that at all – so I have to withdraw some of what I’ve said on that subject in the last few days about the coverage of the pope’s scolding the Irish … Read the rest
The BBC nearly fainted when he phoned
Feb 18th, 2010 12:47 pm | By Ophelia BensonThis is disgusting! I can’t say anything more coherent than that – it’s just a showy display of complete abject belly-crawling disgustingness. The BBC is dribbling all over itself with ecstasy because that reactionary theocratic bastard Joseph Ratzinger might consent to give its poxy theocratic patronizing stinking Thought for the Day. What is the matter with everyone?!
The Pope is in negotiations to appear on Radio 4’s Thought for the Day slot after Mark Thompson, the BBC director-general, made a personal approach to the Vatican. The planned broadcast on the Today programme would be timed to coincide with Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain later this year and would represent a coup for the corporation.
A coup? A coup… Read the rest
BBC Totally Excited: Pope Might Do TFD
Feb 18th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘A papal broadcast would delight BBC executives and the country’s four million Catholics.’ … Read the rest
The Vatican Itself Helped Spawn the Problem
Feb 18th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBy hushing upclerical abuse and putting its own prestige above the welfare of millions of children.… Read the rest
Does the US Need a Special Envoy to the OIC?
Feb 18th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe OIC is dedicated to supplementing the UDHR with a sharia-compliant version.… Read the rest
MSF Cites Bangladesh for Rohingya Crackdown
Feb 18th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘We have treated many victims of violent attacks, who tell us they have been beaten by police.’… Read the rest
Martin Ssempa Screens Gay Porn Film in Church
Feb 18th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIn attempt to gain support for vicious new legislation.… Read the rest
BBC on Pope’s Meeting With Irish Bishops
Feb 18th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPope invited bishops ‘to explain why so many cases had been systematically covered up.’… Read the rest
The pope invited the bishops to explain
Feb 18th, 2010 5:20 am | By Ophelia BensonIt really is extraordinary how deferential the news media are toward the Vatican and how completely they are letting the pope get away with pretending to be outraged by the fact that the Irish church concealed sexual abuse of children when in fact the pope told them to do exactly that less than a decade ago. It really is extraordinary the way journalists simply fail to point that out. One is tempted to think they’re not doing their jobs properly.
… Read the restPope Benedict spent two days in one of the Vatican’s sumptuous marble audience halls closeted with 24 Irish bishops who both individually and collectively confessed to him their shortcomings and omissions in the paedophile clergy scandal which has shocked the
Why Did UK Not Ban ‘Bomb Detectors’ Sooner?
Feb 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe British government imposed an export ban on the devices only after the BBC investigation.… Read the rest
WLUML Statement in Support of Gita Sahgal
Feb 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSahgal has devoted her career to exposing rights violations in Britain, South Asia and internationally.… Read the rest
North Carolina: Xian Students Harrass Teacher
Feb 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonScience teacher was given Bible, postcard of Jesus; students sang ‘Jesus Loves Me’ in class.… Read the rest
Scotland: Violence Against Women is Justified
Feb 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMost students said it was justified if the woman had an affair, or if she was late in making the tea. … Read the rest
Poland: 22d Exorcists’ Congress Meets
Feb 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonParticipants argued that demonology lessons should be treated more seriously in seminaries.… Read the rest