She was charged with buying alcohol, then lacking a press card; now she’s charged with espionage.… Read the rest
Nightmare in Afghanistan
Apr 14th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThree Taleban mullahs brought them to the local mosque and passed a fatwa that they must be killed.… Read the rest
Taliban Murders a Couple for Trying to Marry
Apr 14th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTwo adults attempted to marry; the Taliban kidnapped them and shot them in front of a mosque. … Read the rest
The International Conference on Secularism
Apr 14th, 2009 | By Azar MajediOn 7th March 2009 an international conference organised by Organisation for Women’s Liberation (OWL) was held successfully in Gothenburg, Sweden. The conference heard speeches from many invited speakers and ended with the showing of the film “Maria’s Grotto” about honour killings in Palestine. Many organisations supported and sponsored the event, including: European Feminist Initiative, Network against Honour Crimes, Women for Peace in Sweden, Centre for Research which is a secular and academic institution.
More than 20 speakers were invited to the conference. Many activists from Ghana, Uganda, Pakistan and Bangladesh had shown interest to attend the conference but could not get entry visa. Also 3 of the speakers from Iraq, Jordan and Syria could not come due to visa difficulties.… Read the rest
Empty signs
Apr 13th, 2009 12:22 pm | By Ophelia BensonI wrote to the women’s studies list yesterday to ask for thoughts on sexist epithets, especially pussy and cunt. Here is a sampling from replies.
“Recently, I was standing at the bus stop with a young man who was singing along to rap music. Suddenly, he yelled “Bitch!” and I almost ran for cover. But he was just singing along to the music. Can anyone wonder why young women are treated so badly when the music kids listen to describes them as bitches, evil, and mean?”
“I’m not sure who your informants are but I can absolutely disabuse you of their misinformation. “Cunt” is seen as one of the worst possible expletives that can be used. “Twat” is aged and … Read the rest
Farhat Taj: Life in Swat After the Peace Deal
Apr 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Taliban have made the 1.7 million people of Swat hostage, and the people continue to suffer.… Read the rest
UNAMA Sickened by Murder of Achikzai
Apr 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSitara Achikzai was serving her people with dedication in Kandahar. … Read the rest
The Murder of Sitara Achikzai
Apr 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Taliban says it will pay 200,000 Pakistani rupees to anyone who kills a member of the council. … Read the rest
A Historian Disputes Bishop Mixa
Apr 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMany saw no contradiction between their belief in a Christian God and their support for the Nazi regime.… Read the rest
Simon Blackburn on Hume and Sceptical Irony
Apr 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHume is much too subtle to describe himself as an atheist.… Read the rest
Taliban Gun Down Women’s Rights Activist
Apr 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSitara Achikzai had returned from Germany to work in Kandahar as a teacher and provincial legislator.… Read the rest
Samina Yasmeen on the Taliban in Pakistan
Apr 12th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWomen’s rights are violated frequently and often without much notice from the public. … Read the rest
Joshua Cohen and Thomas Nagel on Rawls
Apr 12th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHow Rawls’s political philosophy was influenced by his religion.… Read the rest
André Glucksmann on Postmodern Capitalism
Apr 12th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOur age is the first to proclaim the power to reduce risk to zero simply by spreading it around. … Read the rest
John Hope Franklin’s Moral and Intellectual Poise
Apr 12th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFranklin, a model to generations of scholars, students, and activists, had few peers. … Read the rest
Strunk and White Are a Terrible Influence
Apr 12th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe grammatical advice is so inaccurate that counterexamples often show up on the very same page.… Read the rest
Here kitty kitty kitty kitty
Apr 11th, 2009 6:14 pm | By Ophelia BensonOut of curiosity, since Jean told us Jon Stewart did a segment playing off the word ‘pussy,’ I googled his name and ‘pussy’ – and got a lot of hits, most of them not about that segment. They don’t support the ‘pussy just means kittycat’ view.
You already know my feelings on Stewart, particularly after that notorious appearance on Crossfire – but you’re being much to kind to call him a wimp, I’ve always felt that he’s a big pussy, period.
Wimp is too nice, you see; Stewart is worse than that; he’s a big pussy.
… Read the restThank you to the team at Josh Marshall’s liberal TPM blog for putting together this lovely clip
Trickery at sea
Apr 11th, 2009 5:43 pm | By Ophelia BensonAn interesting bit of moral idiocy:
[T]he Somali pirate commander warned against any forcible intervention. “I’m afraid this matter is likely to create disaster because it is taking too long and we are getting information that the Americans are planning rescue tricks like the French commandos did,” Abdi Garad said.
Tricks. That’s good, isn’t it? People attempting to rescue a guy being forcibly held by heavily armed thieves are accused by the thieves of planning ‘tricks.’ The pirates inform all parties a week in advance that they will be seizing their ships and threatening their lives, do they? All open and aboveboard? All strictly according to Hoyle?
Right.… Read the rest
How do you know?
Apr 11th, 2009 5:35 pm | By Ophelia BensonRussell Blackford makes an important point:
… Read the rest[I]t’s become increasingly apparent to me, partly from the Voices of Disbelief exercise, that many people in the bioethics community are fed up with the never-ending resistance from religionists to rational bioethics. Some of them are asking what credentials religion has anyway. Religious leaders are, of course, able to put their arguments in public, like anyone else. But they cannot expect anyone to defer to them if they rely on controversial religious claims…I suggest that religious leaders should be free to put their arguments, but if the arguments depend on doctrines such as ensoulment, the views of God, the sanctity of the natural order, and so on, these popes and priests should not
A N Wilson and Jesus thrash the evil secularists
Apr 11th, 2009 1:16 pm | By Ophelia BensonI don’t read the Daily Mail; I know its reputation, so I avoid even sampling it, because I get enough aggressive stupidity right here at home; but I made an exception for A N Wilson on evil secularism, and I’m quite startled by its frank vulgarity. He’s not a moron, Wilson, at least I thought he wasn’t, but this stuff…
… Read the restThis playground attitude accounts for much of the attitude towards Christianity that you pick up, say, from the alternative comedians, and the casual light blasphemy of jokes on TV or radio. It also lends weight to the fervour of the anti-God fanatics, such as the writer Christopher Hitchens and the geneticist Richard Dawkins, who think all the evil in