RSF is outraged by the failure to punish the murder of the director of Peace Radio last year.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
US Prison Numbers Hit a New High 
Jun 6th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
2.3 million, which is 762 per 100,000, the highest rate in the world. … Read the rest
Burma: Hope Vetoed
Jun 6th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
China’s foreign policy is predicated on sovereignty: what happens in Burma or China stays in Burma or China.… Read the rest
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Wants to be Martyr
Jun 6th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
CIA’s acknowledgment that Mohammed was waterboarded could complicate the military’s case.… Read the rest
Archbishop of York Disses Secularism
Jun 5th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Said human rights without a reference to God or the divine were left lacking essential safeguards. … Read the rest
Blaming Denmark
Jun 5th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Bombing naughty of course, but Denmark should have known better.… Read the rest
FP Lists The Worst Places to Be a Woman
Jun 5th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Organized gang rape, early marriage, illiteracy, low life expectancy, accusations of sorcery, trafficking.… Read the rest
Peter Berkowitz Reviews Ibn Warraq
Jun 5th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Said’s misrepresentations undermine the separation between scholarship and partisan pleading.… Read the rest
NY Times Weeps Over YFZ Ranch
Jun 5th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The sect is now trying to put the pieces back together.’ We know; that’s the problem.… Read the rest
Turkish Court Blocks Government’s Hijab Move
Jun 5th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Rules that vote to ease ban on hijab at universities violated the constitution’s secular principles. … Read the rest
Expanding Wahhabi Influence in Australia
Jun 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Griffith University offered to ‘reshape’ its Islamic Research Unit in accordance with Saudi wishes. … Read the rest
Feminism al-Qaida Style
Jun 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Islamist women are challenging al-Qaida’s refusal to include women. Right on, sista!… Read the rest
Tom Clark Disputes Ray Tallis on Free Will
Jun 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Determinism is compatible with being recursively self-modifying beings that have reasons and intentions.… Read the rest
The Neurodiversity Movement
Jun 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A new wave of activists wants to celebrate atypical brain function as a positive identity, not a disability.… Read the rest
Anthony Lane Sees Sex and the City
Jun 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Goes in expecting a pleasant evening, comes out a hard-line Marxist.… Read the rest
Mark Pagel on Kenan Malik and Marek Cohn
Jun 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Our ability to co-operate with unrelated others enables us to move beyond the politics of race.… Read the rest
Good and Bad Ad Hominem Arguments
Jun 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
An ad hominem is valid when the claims made about a person’s character or actions are relevant to the conclusions being drawn.… Read the rest
Jane O’Grady Reviews Raymond Tallis
Jun 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Tallis uses meditations on the head and its functions as his entrée into what we are.… Read the rest
Kenan Malik Reviews Raymond Tallis
Jun 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Tallis can digress entertainingly on anything from Heidegger to hiccups, from Beckett to the basilar membrane. … Read the rest
More Comedy from West Midlands Police
Jun 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Cop sees preachers in a ‘Muslim area,’ says they are committing a hate crime.… Read the rest
