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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Inevitably links go out of date.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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Taliban Destroying Education in Swat
Destroying the education infrastructure is part of the Taleban’s campaign to uproot the existing system.
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Johann Hari on ‘Respect’ for Oppressive Religions
The right to think and speak freely failed to ‘respect’ the ‘unique sensitivities’ of the religious.
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Trial for Parents Who Chose ‘Faith’ Over Medicine
Parents of child dying of diabetes prayed for her recovery but did not take her to a doctor.
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Natalie Angier on Geek Chic, Obama, Women
Now that ‘smart is the new cool’ how about seeking out starry women in science?
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Hindutva Bullies Attack Women in Mangalore
SRS mob assaulted women at a bar because they are ‘the custodians of Indian culture.’
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India: Congress Attacks BJP Ideology
‘Whether you call it BJP, RSS or Ram Sena…it is the same thing. Wherever this philosophy has travelled, it has manifested in such incidents.’
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Islamists Take Baidoa, Promise Sharia
‘We shall make changes in the town and will rule by Islamic law,’ spokesman told hundreds at stadium.
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A Step Forward in Texas Science Education
Texas State Board of Ed elected to get rid of bogus ‘strengths and weaknesses’ claim in textbooks.
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Islamists Kidnap Teachers in Southern Philippines
Officials warned: the kidnapping would discourage others from teaching poor children in Muslim areas.
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Attenborough Gets Hate Mail From God Fans
They tell him to burn in hell for not giving God credit for hummingbirds.
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Jerry Coyne on Seeing and Believing
The real question is whether there is a philosophical incompatibility between religion and science.
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John Updike 1932-2009
David Foster Wallace consigned Updike, with Mailer and Roth, to the authorial category of Great Male Narcissists.
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Obama Tells Regulators to Tighten Auto Rules
The directives make good on a campaign pledge and signal a sharp reversal of Bush administration policy.
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New Guy Ditches 8 Years of Bad Policies
Moves on freedom of information, presidential archives, all in direction of more transparency.
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Tom Hanks Calls Prop 8 Un-American
‘I do not like to see any discrimination codified on any piece of paper in any of the 50 states in America.’
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Tom Hanks Apologizes to Mormons
A Mormon said it is ‘un-American to tell people that they shouldn’t vote their conscience.’
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Atlanta: Father Accused of ‘Honor’ Killing
Sandeela Kanwal wanted out of her arranged marriage, father thought a divorce would shame the family.
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Thailand: Writer Sentenced for Lèse Majesté
Harry Nicolaides alluded in a novel to the way King Bhumipol’s son treated one of his mistresses.
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Thailand Bans Current Issue of The Economist
The issue contains an article about an Australian writer who was jailed for slandering the monarchy.