In Uganda, David was a powerful advocate for fairness and freedom. The United States mourns his murder, and we recommit ourselves to David’s work.… Read the rest
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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Shannon Rupp interviews me in the Tyee 
Jan 28th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Calls me the scourge of magical thinking chiz chiz.… Read the rest
Kristof on the bishop v hospitals and women
Jan 28th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The hospital rejected the bishop’s demand that it never again terminate a pregnancy to save the life of a mother. The bishop is still at large.… Read the rest
Russell Blackford on Sam Harris and moral realism
Jan 28th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why, for example, should I not prefer my own well-being, or the well-being of the people I love, to overall, or global, well-being?… Read the rest
UK deporting Brenda Namigadde back to Uganda
Jan 28th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The British Foreign Office advises visitors to Uganda that ‘homosexuality is illegal and social tolerance of it is low.’… Read the rest
Gay Uganda on David Kato
Jan 27th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“Hang them”….! His was the face on the front page. Next to Bishop Ssenyonjo.… Read the rest
David Kato remembered as loud and proud
Jan 27th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“He was so inspirational as a public speaker. He looked like a small unassuming person but when he got up, you couldn’t help but sit up and listen.”… Read the rest
David Kato spoke to the BBC in 2010
Jan 27th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“David Kato’s death is a tragic loss to the human rights community,” said HRW’s Maria Burnett.… Read the rest
Uganda: gay rights activist killed
Jan 27th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
David Kato was the most outspoken gay rights advocate in Uganda. Yesterday he was beaten to death with a hammer.… Read the rest
Most of the video is too graphic to broadcast
Jan 27th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
But you can see the grinning man clashing two stones together to celebrate after Siddiqa is killed.… Read the rest
Is a kirpan a religious freedom or a weapon?
Jan 27th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If a kirpan is allowed in schools, should it be allowed in the National Assembly?… Read the rest
Steiner schools were founded by a racist mystic
Jan 26th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The powerful people running Waldorf-Steiner schools today claim that these views do not influence the education that happens there, but…… Read the rest
Glenn Beck targets Frances Fox Piven
Jan 26th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
At one time it was all just talk for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Dr. George Tiller’s assassin, Scott Roeder, too.… Read the rest
The lunatic Right v the Constitution
Jan 26th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Constitution was not written to weaken an overreaching Congress but to strengthen an enfeebled one.… Read the rest
Andrew Anthony talks to Pascal Bruckner
Jan 26th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Like Voltaire and Diderot, Bruckner writes across a variety of forms and genres, as a philosopher, a polemicist, an essayist and a novelist.… Read the rest
Nabokov was right about the Polyommatus blues
Jan 26th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Gene-sequencing technology has confirmed his speculation that they originated in Asia, moved over the Bering Strait, and moved south to Chile.… Read the rest
Glenn Beck’s ravings trigger death threats
Jan 25th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Beck talks vicious nonsense about Frances Fox Piven, and his website fills with threats along with Piven’s address.… Read the rest
Is the first issue of Sans “Islamophobic”? [Swedish]
Jan 25th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Sara Larsson and Christer Sturmark respond to the accusation from a Christian think tank. The answer is No.… Read the rest
Taliban still evil and opposed to educating girls
Jan 25th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
That story last week reporting they’d gone pro-girls’-school was just something someone said. Can you say “crap journalism”?… Read the rest
HRW highlights Egypt human rights violations
Jan 25th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
HRW said security officers targeted bloggers and journalists who criticized government policies and exposed human rights violations.… Read the rest
