Spanish-speakers with Tourette’s blurt out ‘hostia’ – communion wafer.… Read the rest
Four Charged With ‘Treason’ in Pakistan
Nov 9th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSo it’s ‘treason’ to oppose a military coup. Funny.… Read the rest
Over 700 PP Members Arrested Overnight
Nov 9th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFive people in Karachi charged with sedition for protesting the emergency. … Read the rest
Lancet Study Finds Chiropractice Has no Effect
Nov 9th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonResults showed no difference in recovery times and in all cases symptoms lasted for about nine days.… Read the rest
What Happens When Females are Worthless
Nov 9th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPeople resort to medical technology to do away with the girl child at the foetal stage. … Read the rest
Gina Khan on Breaking the Silence
Nov 9th, 2007 | By Ophelia BensonLast February an article by Mary Ann Sieghart in the Times (London) introduced us to Gina Khan: ‘a very brave woman. Born in Birmingham 38 years ago to Pakistani parents, she has run away from an arranged marriage, dressed herself in jeans and dared to speak out against the increasing radicalisation of her community.’ Here she tells us more and brings us up to date on her campaign.
What prompted you to start speaking out?
I had been doing my own research for a few years. After all, being a British Asian woman from a Pakistani ethnic background, a Muslim, the atrocities commited in the name of Islam effected me profoundly. Being a Pakistani had its own stigmas – being … Read the rest
HRCP on the Emergency in Pakistan
Nov 8th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAsma Jahangir and others in Human Rights Commission send messages.… Read the rest
Catholic School Drops Terrence Higgins Trust
Nov 8th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘London Oratory school will always want to work with organisations whose practices support Christian values.’… Read the rest
Richard Norman on the Complications of Faith
Nov 8th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA mistaken argument is still an argument, still an appeal to reason and evidence.… Read the rest
Noah Feldman on Cosmopolitanism [pdf]
Nov 8th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCan we make legal demands on people with whom we are not joined in a political association?… Read the rest
Priests Fret at Lower Alcohol Limit for Drivers
Nov 8th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt’s the Mass you see. The wine isn’t wine, it’s blood, but it still makes you drunk.… Read the rest
Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial
Nov 8th, 2007 | By Barbara ForrestNOVA Documentary: “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial”
When: Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Louisiana Public Broadcasting, 7-9 p.m.
WYES, New Orleans, 7:30-9:30 p.m.
View online on Wednesday, November 14, 2007.
The story of the first legal case involving intelligent design creationism, Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District (2005), will be told in a two-hour documentary, “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial,” that will air on PBS’s NOVA on Tuesday, November 13. Barbara Forrest, Professor of Philosophy in the Dept. of History and Political Science at Southeastern Louisiana University, served as one of the expert witnesses for the plaintiffs and will be featured in the documentary along with other participants in the case.
In December 2004, eleven parents of … Read the rest
Fiction and unreality
Nov 7th, 2007 5:22 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe post on fictional characters has spawned a lot of offspring – Norm’s, George Szirtes’s, Mick Hartley’s, Tom Freeman’s.
The subject is related to one that Jean and I talked about a little today – when you’ve been in the blogosphere, have you been to a real place? When you interact via a blog, is that really interacting? Jean has a related post at Talking Philosophy.
I think Internet interaction is decidedly real interaction, but only for the people for whom it is so; that could be everyone, for all I know, but I don’t think it necessarily is. But I think it is so, at least, for people for whom language, thinking, writing, talking … Read the rest
Evangelical Appointed to Human Rights Watchdog
Nov 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonVocal opponent of legislation banning anti-gay discrimination on Equality and Human Rights Commission.… Read the rest
Witnesses Say Gough Did the Right Thing
Nov 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘The biblical instruction is coupled with adultery and sexual immorality,’ Witness said.… Read the rest
Background: Women Under Siege in Afghanistan
Nov 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe state cannot protect women and ensure that they can go about their work safely.… Read the rest
Afghanistan Mourns Bomb Victims
Nov 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMPs, children and teachers were among those killed.… Read the rest
Women: Either too Girly or too Butch
Nov 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonYale researcher found that angry men gain stature, but angry women are seen as being out of control.… Read the rest
A rule is a rule
Nov 7th, 2007 10:40 am | By Ophelia BensonWe haven’t had a round of spot-the-community in a long time, so let’s have one now. Let’s look at the way the peculiar insistence on describing everything as a ‘community’ and everyone as a member of a ‘community’ can cause reporters to write what ends up being just plain inaccurate.
There’s a piece in the Independent about an Evangelical Chistian reverend who has been appointed to a human rights outfit.
Secular groups have asked for the removal of the Rev Joel Edwards, a vocal campaigner against legislation banning discrimination against the gay community, from the post of commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
But the legislation doesn’t ban discrimination against ‘the gay community,’ it bans discrimination against gay … Read the rest
Normblog on Feeling for Fictional Characters
Nov 6th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhy do we care about them?… Read the rest