Some people know a threat when they see one.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Stalemate on ‘mahram’ condition continues 
May 7th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Saudi women who win scholarships to study abroad can’t use them unless their male “guardian” goes with them for the duration.… Read the rest
‘Saudi Women Revolution’ for equal rights
May 7th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“Our freedom is very restricted. I can’t move without permission, I can’t travel without permission, I can’t rent a flat without permission.”… Read the rest
Best and worst places to be a mother
May 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Norway, Australia, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Belgium, Netherlands, France the best. The US is at # 31.… Read the rest
The ten worst places to be a mother
May 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Afghanistan, Niger, Guinea-Bissau, Yemen, Chad, DRCongo, Eritrea, Mali, Sudan, Central African Republic.… Read the rest
John Yoo tells Obama what’s what
May 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“Mr. Obama would rather kill al Qaeda leaders—whether by drones or special ops teams—than wade through the difficult questions raised by their detention.”… Read the rest
John Yoo says torture got bin Laden
May 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He was right, Bush was right, torture was right, Obama owes them big time for all their rightness.… Read the rest
The new atheist response to being told to quiet down
May 6th, 2011 12:29 pm | By Ophelia BensonGreg Laden puts the matter neatly:
… Read the restThe “new” part of “New Atheism” to me has always been this: You are willing to get up into some[one’s] face to make your argument because religion, with its centuries of experience in being on the scene for every aspect of everyone’s life every minute of every day, is already there in the face making its argument. The new atheist response to being told to quiet down is to point out that being told to quiet down (or be more civil or follow certain rules) is step one (or two) in a series of steps that the established religio-normative culture routinely uses to end the argument and let things get back to what
Greg Laden does a meta-post on meta-atheism
May 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The established religio-normative culture routinely tells atheists to quiet down in order to end the argument and let things get back to what the culture thinks is normal.… Read the rest
David Barash asks: does god hate amputees?
May 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If masturbation is the epitome of safe sex, beatification and canonization represent its theological equivalent.… Read the rest
Michael Weiss on the suicide of Siamak Pourzand
May 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Secular and cosmopolitan to the core, Pourzand had no time for the guardianship of the sadists and made a point of saying so.… Read the rest
Salil Tripathi on Rabindranath Tagore
May 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Tagore’s “nation” had no boundaries. Cultures changed a bit and became different along the flow of a river, but the borders didn’t have guards.… Read the rest
National trust in god day
May 5th, 2011 4:33 pm | By Ophelia BensonOh I didn’t know it was National Prayer Day. I never do know it’s National Prayer Day. It’s not something that looms large in my schedule. But I got a press release from the Secular Coalition for America, so I read some more of their press releases, and doing that led me to something that mentioned National Prayer Day.
Well I know what it was: it was googling for information on an idiotic house bill making “In God We Trust” the “national motto,” whatever the hell that is. Googling for the one turned up mentions of the other. Life is like that. When the state tells you to do god, news of it turns up on related google searches. Whaddya … Read the rest
Man kills stepdaughter for not honoring Islam
May 5th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
She had stopped wearing hijab and was becoming more “Westernized” blah blah blah.… Read the rest
Praise for Rep Pete Stark’s Reason Day declaration
May 5th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The National Day of Reason has been celebrated since 2003 as an alternative to the congressionally mandated National Day of Prayer.… Read the rest
Bad things
May 5th, 2011 11:08 am | By Ophelia BensonThis morning I keep seeing bad stuff at the Guardian, via different directions – Terry Glavin at Facebook, Norm at Normblog, like that. I’ve seen so much bad stuff this morning that I feel as if I ought to point at it in disgust.
Like Adam Curtis at CisF, via Norm.
The horrific thing about Osama bin Laden was that he helped to kill thousands of innocent people throughout the world. But he was also in a strange way a godsend to the west. He simplified the world.
That “but” is interesting. So is that “the horrific thing.” The but is interesting because given what comes before, why have a “but” at all? There is no but. … Read the rest
Palin tells Obama “no pussy-footing around”
May 5th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Yes really.… Read the rest
Andrew Potter on the treatment of Michael Ignatieff
May 5th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
His torment by Tory cynics and liars testifies to the suspicion Canadians have of leaders with a modicum of intelligence, accomplishment, and worldliness.… Read the rest
Vicar accuses model of sacrilege
May 5th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In the ITV programme “Ghosthunting With…”, Katie Price visited a church in Great Tew and tried to use a Ouija board to contact spirits. Vicar not pleased.… Read the rest
Contaminated “holy water” from Mecca sold in UK
May 5th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Zam Zam water is taken from a well in Mecca and is considered sacred to Muslims, but samples from the source suggested it held dangerous chemicals.… Read the rest
