Sara Azmeh Rasmussen burned her hijab to protest the oppression of women in Islam. [French]… Read the rest
Shut Up He Explained 
Mar 14th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Mo says there must be an international law against defamation of religion.… Read the rest
Roger Scruton on ‘New’ Humanism
Mar 14th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Says his parents would not have approved.… Read the rest
HRW Urges Pardon for Pervez Kambakhsh
Mar 14th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Kambakhsh has committed no crime. Now it is up to President Karzai to act on principle and free him.’… Read the rest
News Media Under Pressure in Afghanistan
Mar 14th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Three established journalists have left Kandahar after receiving threats from the Taliban.… Read the rest
The Freethinker on Pervez Kambakhsh
Mar 14th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Journalists flourished in the post-Taliban years but now are increasingly pressured by fundamentalists.… Read the rest
Nice Fellow Killed Two and Wounded Six
Mar 14th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Man who shot up a church told police he was a nice fellow ‘but hated gays, liberals and Democrats.’… Read the rest
What Scruton’s parents would have said
Mar 14th, 2009 10:53 am | By Ophelia BensonRoger Scruton has a hilariously funny piece in The American Spectator in which he starts from the familiar conceit of comparing a Good Past with a Fallen Present, doing it by way of his parents and their sensible modest patriotic postwar humanism. It looks suspicious from the outset, given the obvious harmony between the views Scruton attributes to his parents and his own (notwithstanding the basic difference in religious belief). It looks suspicious from the outset, and it looks more suspicious as it goes on, and then there comes a moment when suspension of disbelief falls apart altogether amid snorts of laughter.
… Read the restThe British Humanist Association is currently running a campaign against religious faith. It has bought advertising space on
The Sarcastic Times
Mar 13th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Rachel Maddow’s humor is, actually, pretty serious stuff.… Read the rest
Review of Nigel Warburton on Free Speech
Mar 13th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
With admirable clarity, this VSI shows us how wobbly, hazy, but unavoidable that line turns out to be.… Read the rest
Sea Levels Will Rise Twice as Fast as Predicted
Mar 13th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
New studies suggest that global warming could strike harder and sooner than expected.… Read the rest
Climate Change Already at Worst-case
Mar 13th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Waters could rise by over a metre across the world with huge impacts for hundreds of millions of people. … Read the rest
German Teenage Gunman Hated Women
Mar 13th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Kretschmer was a woman-hater who killed to take revenge on the whole female sex, a neighbour said.… Read the rest
Pope ‘Hurt’ by Hostility Over Holocaust-denier
Mar 13th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Saddened by the fact that even Catholics thought they had to attack me with open hostility.’… Read the rest
Kambakhsh’s Brother on Bad Day for Afghanistan
Mar 13th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
There is no rule of law, even at the Supreme Court in Kabul, so what chance do people in the provinces have?… Read the rest
He knows how many people are supporting him, and that gives him strength
Mar 13th, 2009 11:56 am | By Ophelia BensonThe brother of Pervez Kambakhsh is angry and upset not just for his brother but for the people of Afghanistan.
… Read the restPeople want justice, but this shows that justice is impossible. People want fairness, not only for my brother, but for the whole of Afghanistan, because everyone is a victim of this…Last year there were protests in 15 provinces on a single day, to try to get justice for Pervez. The people who marched were marching for democracy, marching for justice, and they have been disappointed. These people are the future of Afghanistan, but they have been ignored by the people who are fighting against democracy and against human rights. They are fundamentalists…These fundamentalists have put pressure on the court. No
Pervez Kambaksh Faces 20 Years in Hell
Mar 12th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Afghanistan’s highest court ruled against Kambaksh without even hearing his defence.… Read the rest
Pervez Kambaksh and the Advance of the Taliban
Mar 12th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
20 years for circulating an article about women’s rights would make a mockery of any judicial system.… Read the rest
Johann Hari: Africa’s Hidden War on Women
Mar 12th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Girls have their genitals chopped off; old women risk being killed as witches.… Read the rest
Fewer Billionaires
Mar 12th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Of the 1,125 billionaires who made last year’s ranking, 373 fell off the list.… Read the rest
