Brooks has no idea what he’s talking about yet he flaunts his ignorance in a respected newspaper.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Cowboys and Palestindians: what the Kaiser thought about Israel
May 17th, 2008 | By 'Benedict Gardiner'The first time I went to Israel, in 1983, when everyone could still drive freely around the West Bank, I got into an argument with a distant cousin, a social worker. Like many Israelis (and many social workers) she is Leftish and secular and regrets that proportional representation gives such disproportionate influence to Israel’s religious and expansionist parties. She and her husband are peaceniks, demonstrated against Israel’s 1982 involvement in Lebanon, and want the settlers out of the West Bank.
Like many Israelis, she also lost family members to the Nazis and came as a teenager to Mandate Palestine. She isn’t the sort who won’t listen to Wagner or Richard Strauss, though she still doesn’t like visiting Germany. We were … Read the rest
Community, inclusive, commitment, all who
May 16th, 2008 4:50 pm | By Ophelia BensonI suppose university administrators are simply legally barred from talking sense? I suppose they’re contractually bound to talk formulaic soothing dribbling beside-the-point feel-good bullshit? They can do no other?
I suppose when they take the job they are issued with a box full of the correct words, and when they have to write a statement about something, they are strictly forbidden to do it without relying on the box for at least 60% of the content? The rest being taken up with neutral and necessary words like ‘is’ and ‘you’?
What’s in the box? Oh come on, you know.
… Read the rest…fully support the rights of our students and others within this community to express their concerns on this issue…many in
Chancellor Defends Schlafly Honorary Degree 
May 16th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Community. Anguish. Diversity. Inclusiveness. All corners. Dialogue. Committed. Damaged. Open. Community.… Read the rest
Foreign Policy’s List of Top 100 Intellectuals
May 16th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The pope? Qaradawi? Intellectuals?… Read the rest
Freethinker Interviews OB
May 16th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Deep theological questions are raised, then callously brushed aside.… Read the rest
Saudi Arabia: Stop Trials for ‘Insulting’ Islam
May 16th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
HRW says courts in Jeddah should dismiss cases against a Saudi web critic and a Turkish barber.… Read the rest
Canon Says Sharia Will Influence UK Law
May 16th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘I don’t feel threatened by this, but the worry comes when the aims of faith are compromised by the law of the land.’… Read the rest
Pakistan: Doctor Charged with ‘Blasphemy’
May 16th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Dr Robin Sarder is currently in jail.… Read the rest
Science Provides a Creation Myth
May 16th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Let a hundred flowers bloom, tralalala.… Read the rest
Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe
May 16th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Warning: this is hard to read without falling apart.… Read the rest
Channel 4 Wins ‘Undercover Mosque’ Case
May 15th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
West Midlands Police and Crown Prosecution Service apologize and pay £50,000 damages.… Read the rest
Stop Honoricide Campaign
May 15th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In memory of every mother, daughter, sister murdered to protect family honor.… Read the rest
Think-tank Launched in Pakistan
May 15th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
An independent think-tank to address issues faced by the people between the Oxus and Indus Rivers.… Read the rest
Zanu PF is Burning Maize as Zimbabwe Starves
May 15th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Food was used as a tool for retribution and punishment by Zanu PF after the 2005 elections.… Read the rest
Very Deep Stuff
May 15th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Links are a paradox uniting the full and empty space between nodes in the network.… Read the rest
Deep Stuff
May 15th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Subjectivity is the lens and connector through which the spatio-temporal dislocation gets focused and bridged. … Read the rest
Nesrine Malik on Islam’s Refusenik Women
May 15th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
They have ‘unsavoury views about Islam,’ they ‘nail their colours to the west’s mast of values.’… Read the rest
Einstein Had ‘Rid Himself of Belief in Atheism’
May 15th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Because he admired Freud; ‘if we are Freudians, we have a tragic view of life.’ Uh…… Read the rest
Normblog on a Revisionist Account of Atheism
May 15th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
To be an atheist, on this revisionist account of what atheism is, you have in fact to be a fool.… Read the rest
