One of the best sources for well thought out essays on current news is the following: You should look through and check out some of the stories.
From: update@butterfliesandwheels.com
Date: Mon Jul 12, 2004 10:03:01 PM Asia/Tokyo
To: carsurf@dragon.email.ne.jp
Subject: Butterflies and Wheels weekly update

Hello

This email provides details of the content that has been added to ButterfliesandWheels.com over the last week.


NEW ARTICLES

Machiavellian Monkeys
http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/articleprint.php?num=64

Lesson Plans
http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/articleprint.php?num=65


NOTES AND COMMENT

There are new notes and comments to view:
--The Moore Files
--Judy, Judy, Judy
--There Are Limits, After All
--Blunkett on Today
--How About Religious Mild Dislike?
--Borrowing From Chomsky
--A Quick Twirl
http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/notes.php


LATEST NEWS

The Hubble's Last Years?
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian/issues04/jul04/hubble.html
NASA has canceled missions to service telescope.

High Art v Low is a False Dichotomy
http://www.azcentral.com/ent/arts/articles/0704artinamerica04.html
'In America, even the intellectuals are anti-intellectual.'

Tupac Shakur not Some Sort of Byron
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4960930-110760,00.html
John McWhorter says rap teaches 'recreational outrage.'

The 'No Ectoplasm Clause'
http://www.newhumanist.org.uk/rationallyspeaking_more.php?id=820_0_7_0_M
Massimo Pigliucci on the neurobiology of regret.


Arab News Media and the 'Blood of Martyrs'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A24987-2004Jul3
'al Qaeda has become mainstream and being part of the movement is "cool" in the eyes of young people.'

Moore Could be Better and Still Be Moore
http://www.opendemocracy.net/themes/article-3-1988.jsp#
'He could show us that war kills and Bush is appalling, and yet be more scrupulous.'

Sucking Up to Judith Butler
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2004/07/06/butler/print.html
Superstar, classic, defining work, platinum album, seminal work, provocative, immense success, etc.

Open Democracy on Multiculturalism
http://www.opendemocracy.net/articles/ViewPopUpArticle.jsp?id=1&articleId=1991
Does multiculturalism lead to cultural relativism? What about the universal standards of human rights?

The Nuances of That Word
http://fray.slate.msn.com/id/2103467/
You? Yourself? Or off? Hitchens suggests off is best.

In Biology Everyone Stands in Mayr's Shadow
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/07/05/MNGFV7GBAS1.DTL&type=printable
'Mayr's life defies the myth that elderly scientists are incapable of changing their minds.'

Interview with Ernst Mayr
http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=0004D8E1-178C-10EB-978C83414B7F012C
'Biology is an autonomous science and should not be mixed up with physics.'

On Alexis de Tocqueville
http://www.the-tls.co.uk/this_week/story.aspx?story_id=2107722
The physics of democracy.

Is There a Shortage of Scientists in the US?
http://chronicle.com/cgi2-bin/printable.cgi?article=http://chronicle.com/free/v50/i44/44a01001.htm
The inaccuracy of past pronouncements creates a woof-woof problem.

BHL Has Views That Annoy
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-levy6jul06,1,5078897,print.story?coll=la-headlines-world
'The Palestinian "victimocracy" has a tendency to hide wars that are infinitely longer and more murderous.'

A Theosophical Heir to the Throne
http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/ArticleView.asp?P_Article=12672
'Much of this assault on contemporary rationalism flows from the prince's rather eclectic spiritualism.'

What Price 'Life of Brian'?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3871867.stm
David Blunkett wants to outlaw 'inciting religious hatred'.

Blunkett Renews Bid to Outlaw Religious Hatred
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/07/07/nrace07.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/07/07/ixhome.html
Inappropriate to punish those who merely offend people's religious sensibilities?


That's a Relief
http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CA5D8.htm
We can criticise religion, as long as we do it sensibly.

Blunkett's Well-meaning Waffle
http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2004/07/08/dl0801.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2004/07/08/ixopinion.html
Beyond the remit and power of home secretaries to compel people to be kind.

Hormonal Birth Control as 'Silent' Abortionist
http://www.prevention.com/cda/feature2002/0,2479,s1-7342-P,00.html
Pharmacists and doctors are denying patients access to birth control pills.

Hear Blunkett on Today
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/ram/today4_blunkett_20040707.ram
No worry, we can say what we like about religion, as long as it's sensible.

Campaigns Against Vaccinations Can Do Harm
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v26/n13/penn01_.html
How can doctors be persuaded to comport themselves as scientists?

Surely Ethical Tobacco is an Oxymoron?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1256877,00.html
Well but they grow it with ever such nice organic fertilizer.

Study of Environmental Causes of Autism
http://society.guardian.co.uk/publichealth/story/0,11098,1256741,00.html?gusrc=ticker-103704
Colin Blakemore says MRC's 2001 review of autism research highlighted gaps in knowledge.

Meghnad Desai on Religious Hatred Laws
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=539082&host=3&dir=70
Secular democracy should get away from privileging religion, not give it special status.

Polly Toynbee Named 'Islamophobe of Year'
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6AAA43FD-D8BE-4188-BE72-B2D5D64799BA.htm
Perhaps it's time to start naming 'Secularophobe of the Year'.

Union of Concerned Scientists
http://www.chriscmooney.com/blog.asp?Id=921
Chris Mooney reports on their press conference.

Surgeon Rebukes Prince over Alternative Therapy
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=SORGB0XM0PYR5QFIQMGSM54AVCBQWJVC?xml=/news/2004/07/09/nsurg09.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/07/09/ixportal.html
Authority via study and research v. authority via accident of birth.

Surprise! Americans Don't Read Much
http://chronicle.com/free/2004/07/2004070901n.htm
From On Native Grounds to Amusing Ourselves to Death.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi Will Not Face Charges
http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1258170,00.html
Insufficient evidence, cautious speech, interest in the truth.

Doubts About Religious Hatred Law
http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1256001,00.html
'...where people feel free to be able to express sensible views and have sensible arguments.'

How to End 'Honour' Killings
http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1254995,00.html
Create communities where people believe there is no honour in honour killing.

Swami Agnivesh Opposes Hindutva
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1087373602732&p=1012571727132
'If the BJP comes back, it will come back with a vengeance. I fear it will.'

Some Arguments Against a Religious-Hatred Law
http://www.civitas.org.uk/pubs/religiousHatred.php
From Civitas, the Institute for the Study of Civil Society.


A Cultural Change
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=5625949
Bush administration still packing science advisory panels with ideologues.

Washington Post on MMR and Wakefield
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A41450-2004Jul10?language=printer
Media panics create a debate where there isn't one.

See Gwyneth Paltrow's Cupping Bruises!
http://www.blacktriangle.org/blog/2004/07/allsorted_quack.html
Hey, it's an ancient Chinese practice, so it must be healthy, right?

With Respect, YH, You've Got it Wrong
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/329/7457/118
Michael Baum tells Charles Windsor what's wrong with anecdotal 'evidence'.

Nick Cohen on Blunkett's Cunning Plan
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1258540,00.html
'a religion is a system of ideas like any other.'


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