Many parents, asked about the ban, are likely to wonder what took Blair so long.… Read the rest
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Olivier Roy on the Confusion of Issues
Aug 12th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe real goal of Islamist terrorism is destruction of political integration.… Read the rest
Starry Booker Prize Longlist
Aug 12th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBarnes, McEwan, Rushdie, Ishiguro, Smith A, Smith Z, Coetzee, Mantel, Banville.… Read the rest
Richard Dawkins Urges: Start Shouting
Aug 12th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMillions of atheists out there are too frightened to come out and admit it.… Read the rest
Sam Harris on the Politics of Ignorance
Aug 12th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTrojan Horse of ID has entered the city, scary religious imbeciles are now spilling out.… Read the rest
Strident Shmident
Aug 11th, 2005 4:28 pm | By Ophelia BensonWell, we’re doomed anyway. There are Pakistan’s nukes, and Iran’s potential nukes, and, Karl tells me, Saudi Arabia’s potential nukes – my head hurts. And that’s not to mention North Korea whose nukes are probably pointed directly at my desk. And never even mind all that because with that Siberian peat bog the size of Germany and France combined melting and releasing billions of tons of methane – warming will be drastically speeded up and there is nothing we can do about it. Floods, droughts, crop failures, famines, migrations of peoples, food wars…(And there’s that pandemic lurking, don’t forget that.)
So maybe it would make sense to just shrug and start eating a lot of ice cream while awaiting the … Read the rest
‘Teach the Controversy’
Aug 11th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEvolution as the theory of a powerful elite that suppresses legitimate dissent.… Read the rest
The Republican War on Science
Aug 11th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonChris Mooney’s new book. … Read the rest
Enough With the Retreads of Frankenstein Myth
Aug 11th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEnough caricatures of mad-scientists wanting powers reserved only for God.… Read the rest
Chris Mooney on the Discovery Institute
Aug 11th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonID hawkers say public schools should ‘teach the controversy’ they themselves have manufactured.… Read the rest
Climate Warming as Siberia Melts
Aug 11th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe entire western Siberian sub-Arctic region has begun to melt.… Read the rest
The Thaw Will Speed Global Warming
Aug 11th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonKnock-on effects could make temperatures around the world rise faster and faster.… Read the rest
There Are No Brakes You Can Apply
Aug 11th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFrozen peat bog in Siberia is melting, will release billions of tons of methane.… Read the rest
Indigenous Groups Object to Genographic Research
Aug 11th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘What is the point of challenging generations of oral history and spiritual belief?’… Read the rest
We Know Our Stories
Aug 11th, 2005 3:37 am | By Ophelia BensonA reader sent me this infuriating item. It’s all too familiar, but that doesn’t make it any less irritating.
… Read the restBut now scientists want to step around the mythology and tell a different story, using the DNA of Maori and other indigenous people to work out how prehistoric humans spread around the world from the “true” home of Homo sapiens, Africa. Many Maori do not want to hear that story…As soon as the scheme was announced in April, indigenous groups began objecting, and none more loudly than Maori. We already know where we came from, thanks very much, they said, and what’s in it for indigenous people? What is the point of challenging generations of oral history and spiritual belief?
Press Release
Aug 10th, 2005 8:03 pm | By Ophelia BensonAyaan Hrsi Ali to speak at Toronto Sharia law conference, August 12th
Press conference begins at 6:30pm.
Together with Theo van Gogh, Ayaan Hrsi Ali made the 2004 film ‘Submission’ about the oppression of women in Islamic cultures. Dutch Muslims criticized the film for being disgraceful and blasphemous. Van Gogh was murdered by Mohammed Bouyeri on November, 2nd, 2004. Ayaan now lives under police protection in a safe house in the Netherlands. Time Magazine named Ayaan one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005. Ayaan has been a Member of Parliament in the Dutch (Liberal) VVD party in the Tweede Kamer (Lower House) since January 30th 2003.
Irshad Manji and Homa Arjomand will also speak.
Irshad … Read the rest
Two Professors Hired to Teach Islamic Law
Aug 10th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUniversity of Toronto pleased, campaigners against sharia in Ontario not pleased.… Read the rest
Toledo Blade Blows the Whistle on the Cops
Aug 10th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThose sworn to enforce law have aided diocese in covering up sexual abuse by priests.… Read the rest
Irshad Manji on Multiculturalism as Orthodoxy
Aug 10th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNeither watery word ‘tolerance’ nor slippery phrase ‘mutual respect’ will cut it.… Read the rest
Denis MacEoin on Hizb ut-Tahrir
Aug 10th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt derides democracy as a western evil and justifies the execution of apostates.… Read the rest