Lecturer Ashley Smith laid out the biblical basis for what she calls ‘the glorious inequalities of life.’… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Theocracy Now
Nov 3rd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonReporting from the ‘Value Voters Summit.’… Read the rest
Co-epidemic Spreading in Sub-Saharan Africa
Nov 2nd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHalf of all new TB cases in sub-Saharan Africa are now HIV co-infected.… Read the rest
The Eye of the Storm is in sub-Saharan Africa
Nov 2nd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe largely unnoticed collision of HIV and TB has exploded to create a deadly co-epidemic.… Read the rest
Katha Pollitt Skeptical of Horowitz’s Feminism
Nov 2nd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAyaan Hirsi Ali gets bad press on the left. Why?… Read the rest
Murder of Uzbek Reporter Condemned
Nov 2nd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCPJ urges a thorough inquiry into the murder of outspoken journalist Alisher Saipov.… Read the rest
What is Debate Really For?
Nov 2nd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPlato, Rousseau, Mill, Arendt and Habermas discuss with Cmdr Taco.… Read the rest
Evidence for Nonhuman Primate Language
Nov 2nd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe point here is not to deny Kanzi’s achievements but to quantify them correctly. … Read the rest
Aznar and Bush, February 2003
Nov 2nd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBush: I am an optimist, because I believe that I’m right. I’m at peace with myself.… Read the rest
Mearsheimer and Walt
Nov 1st, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThey acknowledge that realist theory fails to explain the outsize influence of the Israel lobby.… Read the rest
Science Pursues Truth, not Consensus
Nov 1st, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonGood science involves open debate, in which dissents are sharpened and clarified, not smoothed over. … Read the rest
Catherine Bennett on ‘Shared Values’
Nov 1st, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIs it because only half its population is oppressed that we share values with Saudi Arabia but not with Burma?… Read the rest
Anthony Giddens on Debating Diversity
Nov 1st, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFacts should be brought out in the open, not dismissed for ideological reasons. … Read the rest
On Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week
Oct 31st, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBarbara Ehrenreich interrogates Ann Coulter’s concern for women’s rights.… Read the rest
Ann Coulter at USC and on CNBC
Oct 31st, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCites threat of religious fundamentalism, says Jews need to be ‘perfected’ by turning Christian.… Read the rest
Cherie Blair on Culture Religion and Women’s Rights
Oct 31st, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSaid all major world religions share ‘insistence on the dignity of all God’s people.’ Really?… Read the rest
Booth QC: Women’s Rights are a Universal Ethic
Oct 31st, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDifferences of culture or religion cannot be used as a justification for denying equal rights to women.… Read the rest
Catholic League Pitches Fit Over Philip Pullman
Oct 31st, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMilitant atheist – aggressive – in-your-face assault – offensive – despicable – pernicious.… Read the rest
Beatification of a Torturer
Oct 31st, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOne of the 498 ‘martyrs’ of the Spanish Civil War is charged with torturing a prisoner in 1896.… Read the rest
Martha Nussbaum on Ethical Cosmopolitanism
Oct 31st, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe political is a place of ‘overlapping consensus.’… Read the rest