All entries by this author

Why so much fuss about ‘a piece of clothing’?

Mar 28th, 2005 | By Azam Kamguian

Why so much fuss about ‘a piece of clothing’? In France and elsewhere in the west, teachers have a hard time with girls who come to school wearing the veil, who refuse to attend gym or biology courses, and who won’t read Voltaire because he was a non-believer.

In my speech, I will argue for banning the veil for young girls. I will refute views that promote and support veiling for young girls and try to demonstrate how banning the veil is vital for the advancement of children’s rights and the progress of our civil society.

Some feminists oppose the law to ban the veil in state schools and institutions on the grounds that the ban will strengthen Islamism. But … Read the rest



My Ancestor Was Not an Underwater Vent!

Mar 28th, 2005 3:49 am | By

It’s good to have idiots deciding what people get to see at the science museum, isn’t it. Well, that’s the market for you.

Some IMAX theaters are refusing to carry movies that promote evolution, citing concerns that doing so offends their audience and creates controversy – a move that has some proponents of Darwinism alarmed over the influence of “fundamentalists.”…A dozen science centers rejected the 2003 release, “Volcanoes,” because of it speculation that life on Earth may have originated in undersea vents, says Dr. Richard Lusk, an oceanographer and chief scientist for the project. Because a only small number of IMAX theaters show science films, a boycott by a few can reduce the potential audience to the point that producers

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Egypt Arrests Muslim Brotherhood Members *

Mar 27th, 2005 | Filed by

MB pledged to use peaceful democratic means to establish an Islamic state. … Read the rest



Muslim Brotherhood Demo Blocked in Cairo *

Mar 27th, 2005 | Filed by

Police arrested some 50 members around the country on Saturday.… Read the rest



Genuine Trauma and Physiological Response *

Mar 27th, 2005 | Filed by

But the stimulus was still fantasy.… Read the rest



Michael Shermer on the Fossil Fallacy *

Mar 27th, 2005 | Filed by

Creationists’ demand for fossils of ‘missing links’ reveals deep misunderstanding of science. … Read the rest



Tom DeLay’s Flexible Standard *

Mar 27th, 2005 | Filed by

No fiery rhetoric as congressman joined family consensus to let his father die.… Read the rest



Sanity Has Drama Enough *

Mar 27th, 2005 | Filed by

Brenda Maddox reads Adam Phillips and considers Freud.… Read the rest



Academic Freedom? Wozzat? *

Mar 27th, 2005 | Filed by

Graham Larkin of Stanford and Bill Morrow of California legislature debate.… Read the rest



Human Rights Advisor to Turkish PM Resigns *

Mar 26th, 2005 | Filed by

Yavuz Onen has bitterly criticised attitude of Turkish government on human rights.… Read the rest



Malaysia to Curb ‘Moral Policing’ *

Mar 26th, 2005 | Filed by

Human rights, labour and women’s groups called on government to restrain state Islamic departments.… Read the rest



Most Tsunami Dead Were Women, Oxfam Says *

Mar 26th, 2005 | Filed by

Reports of rapes, harassment and forced marriages from emergency camps.… Read the rest



Finding

Mar 25th, 2005 7:46 pm | By

Wow. Cool. Look – Huxley.

Let us understand, once for all, that the ethical progress of society depends, not on imitating the cosmic process, still less in running away from it, but in combating it. It may seem an audacious proposal thus to pit the microcosm against the macrocosm and to set man to subdue nature to his higher ends; but I venture to think that the great intellectual difference between the ancient times with which we have been occupied and our day, lies in the solid foundation we have acquired for the hope that such an enterprise may meet with a certain measure of success.

The things one can find on the Internet. (Is it, or is it … Read the rest



Hazlitt

Mar 25th, 2005 4:56 pm | By

Excellent. Hazlitt again. Say what you will about the Guardian – they do have a good books section, and they do keep having articles on Hazlitt. More than you can say for the New York Times!

I’ve said it before so why not say it again (especially since the article is saying much the same thing). Hazlitt is the most inexplicable case of undeserved literary obscurity that I know of in the case of an Anglophone author. Absolutely the top one. To be sure, there are Elizabethans and 17th century people who are well worth reading, who don’t get read all that much any more – Sidney, Nashe, Browne, Burton. But the barriers to reading them are easily … Read the rest



The Archies

Mar 25th, 2005 4:23 pm | By

Right. Let’s get down to it. With some help from Polly Toynbee.

But here the usefulness of faith ends, for it is mainly the power of the religious lobby that forces people to die in pain and indignity due to beliefs on the nature of life and death shared by very few. For 20 years now, every poll on the subject shows that 80% of people want the right to be helped to die at a time and in a way of their own choosing. But that kind of “choice” is not on the agenda.

And furthermore, even if the beliefs were shared by very many, even if they were indeed universal, they would still be both wrong (in … Read the rest



Clifford Geertz on Very Bad News *

Mar 25th, 2005 | Filed by

Jared Diamond and Richard Posner on collapse and catastrophe.… Read the rest



Polly Toynbee on the Elusive Easy Death *

Mar 25th, 2005 | Filed by

Dying people beg for a quick injection, in vain.… Read the rest



Jesus Candle Burns Elderly Woman’s Apartment *

Mar 25th, 2005 | Filed by

Pictures, heart medicine gone, but flag remains. A miracle.… Read the rest



Arson at Mosque ‘Was Meant to Be’ *

Mar 24th, 2005 | Filed by

Why were suspects arrested then?… Read the rest



Jeb Bush Adoption Hopes Dashed *

Mar 24th, 2005 | Filed by

Florida judge rejects governor’s bid to become Schiavo’s legal guardian.… Read the rest