There is a disconcerting trend in the modern media which holds that all opinions are equally valid, and that it is not appropriate for ostensibly unbiased journalists to declare which opinions are right, and which are wrong . . .

Calling bullshit "bullshit" is not bias. It is journalism.

I have taken the "all opinions are equally valid" approach in the past and found it lacking--many opinions are uninformed, and some opinions are, well, stupid. (Including mine sometimes.) I like it when knowledgeable people in general, not just journalists, make clear where they stand. I respect them for being up front instead of falling into held-back, never-offend-anyone wishy-washiness. So I'm trying to be more direct like that, and John's encouraging me.

[via What Do I Know]


12:16:18 PM |  See also media opinions bias journalism   

In order for us human beings to commit ourselves personally to the inhumanity of war, we find it necessary first to dehumanize our opponents, which is in itself a violation of the beliefs of all religions . . .

War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children.

The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices. God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes--and we must.

If you're reading this after being redirected from the old URL, Bryce Yehl gets the credit--I used his Radio Migration Tool to provide the redirects. Thanks, Bryce.

I've accumulated some notes about the transition. I plan to flesh them out more in the next day or two.
2:55:00 PM |  See also radio blog migration   

As one of my first steps, I've taken a pointer from Jon and edited each hardcoded occurrence of http://radio.weblogs.com/0100629/ in my links, changing it to the domain-independent <%radio.weblog.getUrl()%>. (Finding the posts involved was easy using Mark's Kit tool--I just searched for "0100629" in my local Radio database.)

I don't know yet if these changes will spew out all the edited items in my RSS feed. If you see a large number of Tread lightly posts in your news aggregator, now you know why.
3:14:38 PM |  See also radio   

• Bush to End Rule Allowing Jobless Money for New Parents
• Bush Restoring Cash Bonuses for Political Appointees

"Bush is not an imbecile. He's not a puppet. I think that Bush is a sociopathic personality. I think he's incapable of empathy. He has an inordinate sense of his own entitlement, and he's a very skilled manipulator . . .

"He has no trouble speaking off the cuff when he's speaking punitively, when he's talking about violence, when he's talking about revenge . . .

"I call him the feel bad president, because he's all about punishment and death."

Might there actually be a personality disorder involved? That arouses in me compassion for the man, but further anger at our system that put him in charge.

John passionately observes that as a result,

On everything from health care to education to Social Security, we can expect less than zero by way of compassion or mercy . . . Name a problem, it will not be addressed. There is no one at the federal level looking out for people who need help. These are truly the most perilous times I have ever witnessed. It's down to you and your Maker, folks, unless we vote to take back the country and make it what we want it to be.

Indeed, whether Bush is a "sociopathic personality" or not, his administration's lack of concern for--and action in behalf of--the poor (in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and in the U.S.) puts the administration, the president, and those of us in the U.S. who bear responsibility for allowing the present situation squarely at odds with Jesus' teaching about community and the poor.

[via FarrFeed]
11:31:32 PM |  See also bush sociopathic entitlement violence empathy   

Yes. We are not powerless. To make so many of us think we are is quite an accomplishment.

Now, some of my Christian brothers and sisters don't like the ACLU, but I admire what its freedom-fighting activists accomplish. When I weigh the constructive/destructive outcomes of the ACLU vs. the stereotypical "Religious Right" in the unfolding of the Kingdom of God, I give the nod for constructiveness (whether intended or not) to the ACLU. I'm glad they're on the job. Time to support 'em?
11:03:44 PM |  See also freedom aclu   

If you want to see America turn into a police state, just go on about your daily life as if nothing has changed. After all, your silent assent is what Bush and his constitutional wrecking crew expect from the American public.

If the executive branch has the unilateral authority to invalidate your legal protections, the Constitution is basically dead. And if you think that this power won't be abused more and more over time, you have never read any history.

Even very recent history: Is not the progressive abuse of power a hallmark of this administration?

A representative paragraph in the article stands out:

Probably the most hotly disputed element of the administration's approach is its contention that the president alone can designate individuals, including U.S. citizens, as enemy combatants, who can be detained with no access to lawyers or family members unless and until the president determines, in effect, that hostilities between the United States and that individual have ended.

Why would any one person think he or she has the wisdom to do this? Is this "divine right of kings" thinking? It's pride run amok, that's what it is. What was the cause of Lucifer's downfall again?
10:15:55 PM |  See also bush pride injustice   

Yes. I'm only a few minutes into exploring, and I already see this qualifies as amazing! For starters, here's its rendition of books I mention in this blog. The interrelatedness of people, books, and interests expands outward from there.

My favorite bookseller is Books-a-Million, in large part because of their attractive pricing as seen via price lookup service Pricefarmer.com. With this newfound immersion in what others I respect are reading, I guess BAMM is ensured even more business from me from now on . . . )

[via Cox Crow]
7:26:28 PM |  See also books reading blogspace   

For example, here's my account of going to Ohio to get our rescue bouvier girls, this time in redneck. I'm not sure but what I talk almost like dat ennyway.
6:44:34 PM |  See also dialectizer   

A country whose leader has the power to imprison any citizen whatsoever, on his order alone, and hold them indefinitely, in military custody, without access to the courts, without a lawyer, without any charges, their fate determined solely by the leader's arbitrary whim--that country is a tyranny, not a democracy, not a republic, not a union of free citizens.
Rough Beast Slouching: The Birth of an American Tyranny [via Cox Crow]

I like Will's apocalyptic commentary here and here, and much as I want to, I can't think what else to add at the moment.
3:31:50 PM |  See also bush democracy tyranny   

So I built Perl 5.8.0 myself and rebuilt the other pieces as described here. I think I got it right this time!
12:26:11 PM |  See also perl mod_perl apache php   

Are you healthy? Sign up now at your nearest blood donor location.
5:42:49 PM |  See also marrow donor   

While others pontificate and theorize about war, veterans know about its realities. The present Administration is led by men and women who chose not to go into the military and today have little understanding of war and no comprehension of its horrors. They do not know what you know, or feel what you feel. For all too many of them, war is an abstract exercise in geopolitics.

[via Stand Down]
2:16:02 PM |  See also war iraq veterans   

Most often in human endeavors and relations, pride ultimately results in conceit, attitudes of superiority, greatness, ambition, arrogance or self-exultation. As Christians, we need to constantly remind ourselves of what Christ taught us and of the example he gave us through his life and death. We are called to a life of humble servanthood, the exact opposite of a prideful life.

Amen, and amen.
11:52:48 AM |  See also bless pride humility   

1. Install Perl 5.8.0 in place of Jaguar's aging Perl 5.6.0 using Aaron Faby's easy Perl 5.8.0 Installer. This installer replaces Apple's Perl 5.6.0 with 5.8.0, but backs up the original 5.6.0 pieces in a tarball so you can revert if you choose to. (You can also build Perl 5.8.0 using Morbus Iff's article Installing Perl 5.8 on Jaguar, but getting the build configuration correct is tricky and time-consuming, at least for me.)
2. Build mod_perl then Apache using David Wheeler's article, Build Your Own Apache Server with mod_perl. (I only varied from David's build instructions by adding these apache configure parameters: '--prefix=/opt/apache/l.3.27', '--enable-module=most', and '--enable-shared=max'.
3. Build PHP 4.2.3 using Marc Liyanage's PHP 4.2.x build instructions to create a libphp4.so module for apache.

2002-11-21 update: Oops, this threaded Perl build is incompatible with DBI as Aaron notes and as discussed here, and DBI incompatibility is a pretty big deal. Nonthreaded Perl 5.8.0 works okay with DBI. Hmmm.

2002-11-25 update: I built Perl 5.8.0 myself and rebuilt the other pieces as described here. I think I got it right this time!
2:53:54 PM |  See also perl apache mod_perl php mac   

Indeed, here is an intelligent person discussing world issues with wisdom and compassion. Bravo. We have nearly no visible intelligence, wisdom, or compassion in current U.S. national leadership. But I will not settle for less, from any political party. Neither should you.
11:17:35 AM |  See also clinton politics