He didn’t drown every single person in New Orleans, and he wiped out much of the sin there.
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Inevitably links go out of date.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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Wisdom Lingers – Not
Complacency is the deadly enemy of thinking well.
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Leaving the Science Bit Out of Science Reporting
Papers think the ‘science bit’ is too hard, so stories on science must be dumbed down.
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Timothy Garton Ash on What’s Underneath
Civilization sits on a very thin, fragile crust. We fall through so easily.
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The Bridge Was Blocked by Armed Sheriffs
The West Bank was not going to become New Orleans, there would be no Superdomes in their City.
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‘Improperly Veiled Women’ Are Criminals in Iran
Crimes such as mal-veiling are evident crimes and must be dealt with in accordance with the law.
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Flogging Promised for ‘Bad Veiling’
Individuals whose attire is against religious laws in public will be sentenced to flogging and fines.
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Heading an Inquiry into Oneself Not Best Practice
Tax cuts for rich, Medicaid reuctions also dubious in wake of catastrophic hurricane.
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Women’s Rights Conference in Islamabad
Activists note that crimes against women are not an ‘image problem.’
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Julian Baggini on Our Role as Cosmic Measurers
Humans have to do the job not because we’re so great but because there’s no one else.
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Eric Foner on Katrina as a New Selma
The sight of the emaciated children of Lawrence strikers transformed public opinion.
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Burqa Ban in Belgium
One woman resists law; her husband is suspect in Madrid bombing.
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Hostility to French Hijab Ban Fades
‘School is not a place for religion. It is a place where we are all French and we are all equal.’
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Shakespeare in Kabul
Audiences enthusiastic, conservative press sees ‘imposition of western values.’
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What a Treat for the Wretched of New Orleans
They get to go to Houston! Barbara Bush is so pleased for them.
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Overenthusiasm for Drowning
Conservatives want to cut government ‘down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.’
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Barash on Lloyd on Female Orgasm
Plasticity is not evidence against selection.
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Pray Harder
Allbaugh called FEMA an oversized entitlement program, urged reliance on ‘faith-based organizations.’
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Return of Book Reviewing
Scott McLemee notes that journalism has its own metaphysics.
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Scott McLemee on Views on Katrina
Bush doesn’t read, but there were pictures. Niall Ferguson has an odd take.