The EU is now shutting off the tap of affordable medicines by attacking the production, registration, transportation and exportation of generic medicines.
Category: Latest News
Welcome to our archive of news stories relevant to the project of fighting fashionable nonsense. The stories are drawn from the electronic pages of the world’s media. On this page, you’ll find links to those stories that have been featured on Butterflies and Wheels during the current year. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find links to separate archives of stories from previous years.
We’re always pleased to hear about news stories that you think should be featured on Butterflies and Wheels. Just send an email here, if you want to point one out to us.
A note about links
Inevitably links go out of date. We suggest, therefore, that you make hard-copies of the stories that particularly interest you.
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Boris Johnson on Bush and torture
It is hard to overstate the enormity of Bush’s admission.
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Bush admits torture in his book
He admits that when asked to approve waterboarding, his response was, “Damn right.”
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Iran hangs Shahla Jahed
Amnesty International made a last-minute appeal for the sentence to be halted, saying Jahed had not received a fair trial.
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Natasha Fatah on arranged marriages
When families place advertisements for suitors, they set out a list of criteria that would make you think they were picking out a new car. -
Tom Clark on Sam Harris on free will
In The Moral Landscape, Harris debunks contra-causal free will and draws out the progressive implications for our beliefs and social practices.
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Hitchens talks to Jeremy Paxman
“Mellower? There’s something about that word I don’t like.”
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Shahla Jahed’s message to the world from Evin
Shahla didn’t call to just say goodbye. Shahla’s last message is indeed a call to us, to do whatever in our power to save her life. Mina Ahadi.
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Act Now! Shahla Jahed to be executed tomorrow
We are asking everyone to immediately voice your protest by calling, faxing and emailing your protests.
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Paul Sims reports on Behe-Reiss debate
Reiss argued that in the UK we should address religious questions around origins in RE classes, leaving science teachers to deal with science.
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Multiple choice for men, no choice for women
Polygamy perpetuates women’s already lower social and economic status by forcing women to share already scarce resources.
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Catholic spokesman says what must be cast out
“Let no-one be in any doubt, with this shameful episode, Catholics in Scotland have drawn a line in the sand.”
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Bishop suspended for dissing royal wedding
He apologized, he groveled, he said he knew it was “deeply offensive,” but it was no use.
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Updated NIV bible reverts to male-centered translation
Went back to using words like “mankind” and “man” instead of “human beings” and “people” in order to appease critics.
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Saudi women sue male “guardians”
Judges throw the women in jail.
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Catholic church gets football referee fired
Because he allegedly forwarded an e-mail during the Pope’s visit that referred to the child abuse scandal.
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The Independent on Hitchens v Blair
To make sure that religion is indeed a positive force, Blair teaches about it at Yale.
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The Guardian on Hitchens v Blair
Hitchens landed “blow after blow, many of them decidedly low – especially those about circumcision or women’s rights.” Eh?
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Transcript of Hitchens-Blair debate
Blair points out that “there are many situations in which wrong has been done, without religion playing any part in it at all.”
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Yemen: a barefaced advocate for women’s rights
“I couldn’t breathe. I saw the world in dark colors. I decided I wanted to see the beautiful colors of life — red, blue, green. Not black.”