This is an error so basic and obvious that someone scientifically trained should not miss it; Harris would probably not miss it, if it weren’t his own reasoning he’s defending.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Aikin and Talisse on Warnock on god [link fixed] 
May 3rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
No discussion of the merits of religious practices and institutions should be permitted to evade the fundamental question of the truth of distinctively religious claims.… Read the rest
Ahmed Rashid on what’s next for al-Qaeda
May 3rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Today every European country has an al-Qaeda cell. Hundreds of European Muslims have travelled to Pakistan for training and returned to Europe. … Read the rest
In the compound: how the bin Ladens lived
May 3rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Their newspaper guy says every now and then he saw a red pick-up vehicle, with a goat inside, being driven to the compound.… Read the rest
“How dare you” aka “Patrick’s fallacy”
May 3rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
P makes an analogy between X and Y. A spots a way in which X is not like Y, and expresses shock-horror.… Read the rest
Atheists and freethinkers in Africa
May 3rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Leo Igwe and Adebowale Ojowuro in Nigeria, Kwadwo Obeng from Ghana, Ayaan Hirsi Ali from Somalia, Annette Nalunga and Betty Nassaka in Uganda.… Read the rest
Rushdie on Pakistan and bin Laden
May 2nd, 2011 6:09 pm | By Ophelia BensonExcellent, no need to quote Facebook updates any more; Salman has written an article on the subject.
Many of us didn’t believe in the image of bin Laden as a wandering Old Man of the Mountains, living on plants and insects in an inhospitable cave somewhere on the porous Pakistan-Afghan border…Bin Laden was born filthy rich and died in a rich man’s house, which he had painstakingly built to the highest specifications. The U.S. administration confesses it was “shocked” by the elaborate nature of the compound.
Died in a rich man’s house, with women and children carefully placed around him as shields. What a guy.
… Read the restOsama bin Laden, the world’s most wanted man, was found living at the end of
Salman Rushdie on Pakistan’s deadly game
May 2nd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
We are supposed to believe that Pakistan didn’t know he was there, while he ran al Qaeda, with couriers coming and going, for five years?… Read the rest
Questions arising
May 2nd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Who owned the land on which the house was constructed? How was the land acquired, and from whom? Who designed the house, purpose-built to secure bin Laden?… Read the rest
Jeffrey Toobin: was the killing of ObL legal?
May 2nd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If it was an assassination, then no.… Read the rest
Nick Cohen on Charles the Meddler
May 2nd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
To say that Prince Charles’s views are reactionary is to libel honest conservatives.… Read the rest
Red faces in Pakistan
May 2nd, 2011 10:16 am | By Ophelia BensonSalman Rushdie’s Facebook page is an interesting place today. He noticed right off the bat that the location of bin Laden’s vacation home raises some tricky questions. So did William Dalrymple. 13 hours ago – which was 9 last night Pacific Time, so before Obama made the announcement.
Dalrymple: In Abbotabad next to the Pakistan’s main military academy. Funny that.
Rushdie: That’s right. Army town. Just the place for the world’s most wanted man to live unobserved.
Quite. I’ve been trying to picture it. Giant compound, 8 times the size of anything else in the neighborhood; 12 to 18 foot walls; mystery occupants; important military academy a few hundred meters away; retired military people all around. Nobody notices; nobody worries; … Read the rest
ObL’s location an embarrassment for Pakistan
May 2nd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Oh gee, there’s a huge mysterious walled compound a few hundred meters from a military academy – what could possibly go wrong?… Read the rest
It’s all about a beautiful dress
May 1st, 2011 3:56 pm | By Ophelia BensonOh yes child (that is, girl) beauty pageants, one of my favorite things. It’s so obviously a good idea to train girls from infancy to act, move, walk, and look as much like prostitutes as possible. Australia had, in its innocence, forgotten to have such things, but they are now on their way their thanks to the helpful interventions of US pageanters.
The anti-pageant groups claim pageants sexualise children
But the pro-pageant people, absurdly, say they don’t. No no, it’s
a positive and fun-filled family occasion that will boost participants’ self-confidence.Self-confidence at what? Attracting sexual attention? Why would anyone want to boost a six-year-old girl’s confidence at attracting sexual attention? If it’s so positive and fun-filled, why don’t… Read the rest
Child “beauty pageants” arrive in Australia
May 1st, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
”The title is ‘child beauty pageant’ but if you look at the way the children are dressed and required to act, it’s actually a child sexualisation pageant.”… Read the rest
Mr. Obama: We, the Real Americans, Demand That You Show Us More Stuff
May 1st, 2011 | By Phil MoléPresident Obama (if that is your real name), we are real Americans, the ones who’ve patiently demanded that you release your long-form birth certificate – a demand you have apparently now met thanks to the counterfeiting skills you learned in your true birthplace of Kenya. Your clever forgery may quell the suspicions of some Americans, but not us. We’ve already swapped demands for your long-form birth certificate for demands that you show your college records. But that’s just the beginning. We demand that you show us more stuff, and that you show us now.
Here is a list of what we will need to see, at a minimum, if we are ever going to stop drawing Hitler mustaches on your … Read the rest
A mystery solved; Behe please note
May 1st, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Researchers unravel the molecular mechanism whereby sickle cell hemoglobin confers a survival advantage against malaria.… Read the rest
The high cost of low teacher salaries
May 1st, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It’s grueling work, for low pay, with little respect and lots of blame. Surprise surprise: lots of teachers quit!… Read the rest
How Goldman Sachs created the food crisis
May 1st, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The more the price of food commodities increases, the more money pours into the sector, and the higher prices rise.… Read the rest
Jill Lepore on Ben Franklin’s sister
Apr 30th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Bright but uneducated, married early, constantly pregnant. She wanted more and never got it.… Read the rest
