Points out that MPs will be debating “the place of the Church of England in a reformed, mainly elected Second Chamber.”… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Saudi Arabia: women test driving ban 
Jun 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Women in Saudi Arabia are also banned from voting and from leaving home without a male guardian.… Read the rest
Tea Party summer camp for Tampa
Jun 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Will teach “principles” such as “I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.” … Read the rest
A ‘witch girl’, Esther, rescued for the second time
Jun 16th, 2011 | By Leo Igwe
Yesterday, I rescued for the second time an 8 year old girl, Esther Obot Moses who was branded a witch and exiled by her family in Nsit Ubium in Akwa Ibom state in Southern Nigeria.
Some weeks ago, I was informed by my local contacts that Esther, who was handed over to the Ministry of Women Affairs of the Akwa Ibom state government for proper care and rehabilitation, had returned to the ‘lunatic’, Okokon, who kidnapped her some time ago.
I met Esther and Okokon wearing pants in the same filthy house where I found them in January this year. Esther looked depressed and traumatized. Okokon, who is believed to have some mental problems, lives alone in a dirty two-room … Read the rest
New Books in Philosophy podcast
Jun 16th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Peer-to-peer discussions with philosophers about ideas in their newly published books. Co-hosted by Carrie Figdor and Robert Talisse.… Read the rest
NCH is not a wedge
Jun 16th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
How can it be defensible to oppose something that seeks to promote quality in education, and that is publicly committed to accessibility?… Read the rest
Grayling explains NCH plans and intentions
Jun 16th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why must independent initiatives be demonised or blocked because of our anxiety about what is happening in the public domain?… Read the rest
Grayling will not become BHA President
Jun 16th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The ridiculous controversy over the NCH got in the way, so he decided to step aside.… Read the rest
Vancouver: riots after Bruins win Stanley Cup
Jun 16th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Witnesses said some people took out their anger on nearby cars. Human intelligence in action.… Read the rest
What’s the panic about sharia, asks clown
Jun 16th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
They’re all about freedom.… Read the rest
Islamist bullying in Tower Hamlets
Jun 16th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Teachers say they feel “under pressure” from Islamists who have campaigned to enforce the compulsory wearing of hijab for Muslim girls.… Read the rest
Michelle Goldberg on Michele Bachmann
Jun 16th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Lots of politicians talk about a sinister homosexual agenda. Bachmann seems genuinely to believe in one.… Read the rest
Indictments over Italian quake cause a furor
Jun 15th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Discussion of the Italian indictments was “intense” during meetings this week at the Southern California Earthquake Center, said its director.… Read the rest
We will be coerced to violate our deepest beliefs
Jun 15th, 2011 3:56 pm | By Ophelia BensonWe’ve encountered Archbishop Timothy Dolan before. He wrote a blog post about the Catholic church’s way with those sexy little children who keep seducing its dear innocent priests, or rather about the world’s harsh attitude to the church’s way with the tiny little harlots.
What causes us Catholics to bristle is not only the latest revelations of sickening sexual abuse by priests, and blindness on the part of some who wrongly reassigned them — such stories, unending though they appear to be, are fair enough, — but also that the sexual abuse of minors is presented as a tragedy unique to the Church alone.
Italics his. Self-pity and moral obtuseness also his.
Now he’s pitying himself over gay marriage and … Read the rest
Archbishop Timothy Dolan on gay marriage
Jun 15th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“We believers worry that we will be coerced to violate our deepest beliefs to accommodate the newest state decree.”… Read the rest
Maryam Namazie speech at Dublin Atheist Conference
Jun 15th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“Islam matters to us today because we are living under an Islamic Inquisition, and not because it is becoming more ‘popular,’ as its proponents like to argue.”… Read the rest
Bill aims to curb sharia courts in Britain
Jun 15th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A parliamentary Bill would stop UK sharia courts claiming that they have legal jurisdiction over criminal or family law.… Read the rest
US opposed minimum wage rise in Haiti
Jun 15th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
US embassy in Haiti worked closely with factory owners to aggressively block a paltry minimum wage rise for assembly zone workers.… Read the rest
Orellana to the infirmary
Jun 15th, 2011 10:20 am | By Ophelia BensonUpdate: I got this partly wrong, because the Guardian article is at least misleading.
Oh.my.god. I didn’t know about this.
Marta Orellana says she was playing with friends at the orphanage when the summons sounded: “Orellana to the infirmary. Orellana to the infirmary.”
Waiting for her were several doctors she had never seen before. Tall men with fair complexions who spoke what she guessed was English, plus a Guatemalan doctor. They had syringes and little bottles.
They ordered her to lie down and open her legs. Embarrassed, she locked her knees together and shook her head. The Guatemalan medic slapped her cheek and she began to cry. “I did what I was told,” she recalls.
Guatemala: victims of US syphilis study
Jun 15th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The US infected orphan children and others with syphilis in the 1940s, to test penicillin.… Read the rest
