"'Socialism' is generally understood to mean excessive government ibvolvement [sic]." Yes, it is understood that way…by people who don't understand what socialism is, and couldn't distinguish it from, say, fascism even if you held them at gunpoint.

"Charlie Victor Romeo"? I gotta see it! It sounds right up my alley. Just from your description, I had to go looking into it.

UWIR, that's still not the definition of socialism. You can call it coercive, you can call it any number of things, but it's not socialist, except for the very, very poor, who are now eligible for Medicaid. That's an expansion of socialism, of a sort.

The press originally called the two boys, "The heir and the spare." Explains a lot about HRH Prince Henry, I think.

Don't we wish.

My cousin prays for a white Christmas, apparently ignoring that this wish makes Christmas rather less pleasant for the homeless, or the people who die in car crashes on slippery roads.

Not just the Peaches approach, unfortunately, bfred.

NYPD Blue takes the cake for best scriptural passages. "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Sipowicz, 10:47 [said while looking at watch]." Apropos in this case, too.

And Leviticus is basically the worst EULA ever written.

Ancient people who lived in desert river valleys: "Remember the time it rained a bunch and the river overflowed?"

Your dad seems to do that, at least in the Old Testament.

It feels lovely, if C.S. Lewis and Madeline L'Engle are to be believed.

My econ profs all told me that the minimum wage is simply a poor tool for combating income inequality, because it leads to higher unemployment by setting the equivalent of a quota. They were fairly liberal people.

Ahhh, Christian Democrats. Say what you will about the separation of church and state, but it's amazing and refreshing to see party platforms that specifically endorse a Christian duty to the poor as a raisson d'etre for government, even it's a smaller government than social democrats would prefer. It's a fascinating…

"Tendentious" is the most generous description one can give to any of Fox's news reporting these days. It's a word tailor-made for their nonsensical drivel.

I am, unfortunately, that overly-pedantic guy, so I'll point out that ignorance is an attribute (that is, a characteristic) regardless of whether you look at it positively or negatively. If you were trying to suggest that ignorance looks positive from the wrong end, then you wanted to use the word virtue. However,…

I did, or I thought I did. Until last month.

Huh?

Malachai is nice, if you want a "God is big enough for everyone, not just the Chosen People," vibe.

Anything (well, not "I'm Proud to be an American," but anything decent) would improve on "The Star-Spangled Banner." The register is all wrong, and nobody sings it with the proper number of syllables. I really wish we'd pick something else.