The show gives the appearance of a serious look at a question, “Do psychic powers really exist?”, but it isn’t one.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Rick Warren was only joking
Jun 1st, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhen he tweeted “If they’re cute, it’s flirting. If they’re ugly, it’s harassment.” Amen.… Read the rest
Woman sentenced to death by stoning in Sudan
Jun 1st, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIntisar Sharif Abdalla is being held near Khartoum, shackled in prison with her baby son.… Read the rest
Dolan authorized payments to rapist priests
May 31st, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCardinal Timothy Dolan of NY authorized payments of up to $20k to sexually abusive priests as an incentive to leave priesthood when he was archbish of Milwaukee.… Read the rest
Tarek Fatah and Irshad Manji talk about multiculturalism
May 31st, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe two authors discuss culture and racism, what values Western society has allowed for modern society, and the practice of democracy.… Read the rest
160 girls poisoned at Afghan school
May 30th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLast week, more than 120 girls and three teachers were admitted to a hospital after a similar suspected poisoning.… Read the rest
Witch-hunts: The darkness that won’t go away
May 30th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonChildren who are accused of being witches by their families are often chased out of their homes. These abandoned children can fall prey to child trafficking and abuse.… Read the rest
The angel Jibril speaks
May 30th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnd Jesus doesn’t get to choose what’s for dinner.… Read the rest
Sentenced to death for singing and dancing at a wedding
May 30th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“The local clerics issued a decree to kill all four women and two men shown in the video,” district police officer Abdul Majeed Afridi said.… Read the rest
World Health Assembly discusses child marriage
May 30th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe WHO finds that complications in pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death in girls aged 15-19 in the developing world.… Read the rest
Egypt: women’s rights are shrinking day by day
May 30th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMen shout at hijabless women, “Just you wait, those who will cover you up and make you stay at home are coming, and then there will no more of this lewdness.”… Read the rest
Opponents of this crop trial are blind to the food crisis
May 29th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPreventing experiments such as this, where there is clearly a public benefit if it works, will do nothing to solve the coming food crisis of the 21st century.… Read the rest
US states that ban atheists from holding public office
May 29th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonArkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas. “No religious test…other than a declaration of belief in the existence of God”!… Read the rest
Italy: bishops ‘not obliged’ to report sexual abuse to police
May 29th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Italian Bishop’s Conference (CIE) has issued guidelines on child protection that inform its bishops that they are ‘not obliged to report illicit facts’ of child abuse to the police.… Read the rest
Morocco: more than 30,000 children employed as servants
May 29th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe “little maids” are for the most part “badly paid and submitted to physical and economic violence.”… Read the rest
Woman convicted in faith-healing death of son
May 29th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIn relying on prayer to heal her diabetic son, Grady, a member of the Church of the Firstborn, told police, “I didn’t want to be weak in my faith and disappoint God.”… Read the rest
David Gorski on “Miracle Mineral Solution” and autism
May 28th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt’s bleach. People give it to children with autism. Bleach.… Read the rest
Catcalls, whistles, groping: sexual harassment in London
May 27th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNearly half of young women in London were sexually harassed in public last year, with many forced to endure unwanted male attention on buses and trains, a new study shows.… Read the rest
Mali Tuareg and Islamist rebels agree on Islamist state
May 27th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Islamist group Ansar Dine, which has ties to al-Qaeda, has already begun to impose Sharia in towns such as Timbuktu.… Read the rest
Vatican publishes rules for apparitions of Mary
May 27th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBecause there are totally rules about it.… Read the rest