Doctors say only five percent of her intestines had been left inside her when she arrived at the medial facility on Sunday.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Three more anti-polio campaigners shot dead in Pakistan
Dec 19th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWomen health workers held protests in Karachi and Islamabad. “We go out and risk our lives to save other people’s children from being permanently handicapped, for what?”… Read the rest
Cristina Odone worries about Ireland’s changed abortion law
Dec 18th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBecause when in doubt, let the woman die.… Read the rest
Ireland to legalize abortion when mother’s life is at risk
Dec 18th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUp until now the government has not enacted legislation to give certainty to doctors as to when terminations can be carried out and under what circumstances.… Read the rest
Pakistan: gunmen shoot five anti-polio workers
Dec 18th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFour women killed, one man injured for helping the “infidel” campaign against polio. At least 35 children in Pakistan have been infected this year.… Read the rest
Mali: Islamists’ attacks on people grow more brutal
Dec 17th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA woman is sentenced to 100 lashes with an electrical cord for giving water to a male visitor.… Read the rest
Delhi: woman gang-raped on private bus
Dec 17th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe woman was travelling with a male friend on Sunday night when they were attacked. They were brutally beaten, stripped and thrown out of the vehicle.… Read the rest
The pope has a fancy new hat
Dec 17th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt’s got pictures of people on it. Carmen Miranda would be jealous. Oh and btw same sex marriage threat to peace blah.… Read the rest
Kuwait introduces death penalty for ‘cursing God and prophets’
Dec 17th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonKuwaiti MPs approved a death penalty for Muslims who curse God, the Koran, all prophets and Mo’s wives. Non-Muslims get a minimum of 10 years.… Read the rest
A scientific pioneer and a reluctant role model
Dec 17th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“I have not set myself up to be a role model for women, but it does seem to be more of an issue than it used to be,” cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Brenda Milner explains.… Read the rest
The Freedom of Thought 2012 report
Dec 15th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWaleed Alhusseini spent ten months in a Palestinian jail for having kept an atheist blog.… Read the rest
Debate on Islam and evolution meets opposition
Dec 15th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“We eventually had to give up of getting any support from student societies because it was seen as simply too controversial.”… Read the rest
Huckabee explains school shooting
Dec 14th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?”… Read the rest
Nurse found guilty of manslaughter in circumcision case
Dec 14th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFour-week-old Goodluck Caubergs bled to death.… Read the rest
Judge believes female body magically blocks rape
Dec 14th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA judge is being publicly admonished for saying a rape victim “didn’t put up a fight” and that if someone doesn’t want to be raped, the body “will not permit that to happen.”… Read the rest
UK: government will make same-sex marriage illegal in CofE
Dec 14th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Church of England and Church in Wales will be banned in law from offering same-sex marriages, the government has announced.… Read the rest
Nepal: girl, 16, set on fire for refusing marriage demand
Dec 13th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEnragd by her rejection of his repeated proposal to elope with him for marriage, Babu Khan, 23, set Shiwa Hasmi on fire while she was asleep in her house. She died.… Read the rest
Grand Rabbi Teitelbaum blames the victim
Dec 11th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“A Jewish daughter has descended so low,” he said. “There hasn’t been such a disgusting saga in (the history of religious) Jewry.”… Read the rest
Silencing women’s rights activists in Turkey
Dec 10th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLeading Turkish women’s rights activist and lawyer Canan Arin was unlawfully detained on 23 June 2012 for speaking out against child marriages.… Read the rest
Katha Pollitt on Ross Douthat
Dec 9th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAccording to UNICEF, in France the child poverty rate is 8.8 percent; in Sweden it’s 7.3 percent. In the United States, by contrast, it’s a staggering 23.1 percent.… Read the rest