2.<\/strong> Chad Michael Murray says the Left Behind<\/em> re-boot will be a \u201creally, really rad version<\/a>\u201d of the story. So either he\u2019s in on the joke, or else he is the only person still using the word \u201crad\u201d in an unironic sense.<\/p>\n Murray also said \u201che didn\u2019t watch [the original movies] because he didn\u2019t want Kirk Cameron\u2019s acting to impact his own interpretation of the character.\u201d And again I\u2019m not sure whether the apparent irony is intentional.<\/p>\n 3.<\/strong> Rachel Marie Stone<\/a> responds to Dave Ramsey by quoting John Calvin (yes, that Calvin): \u201cThe Lord commands us to do \u2018good unto all people,\u2019 universally, a great part of whom, estimated according to their own merits,\u00a0are very undeserving<\/em>; but here Scripture assists us with an excellent rule when it inculcates that we must not regard the intrinsic merit of a person,\u00a0but must consider the image of God in them, to which we owe all possible honor and love.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n 4.<\/strong> Perpetually aggrieved direct-mail fundraiser Bill Donohue of the Catholic League gets into the Festivus<\/a> spirit by airing his grievances on Fox News<\/a> (where the airing of grievances is a year-round thing).<\/p>\n Donohue is on TV a lot as a self-appointed defender of Catholic honor. It\u2019s interesting, then, that he was oddly quiet when his fellow right-wingers Rush Limbaugh and Stuart Varney decided to bash the pope for his forceful reiteration of Catholic teaching on wealth and poverty. Donohue hasn\u2019t said a word about Limbaugh\u2019s calling Pope Francis a \u201cpure Marxist\u201d who\u2019s \u201cripping America.\u201d His only comment on the right-wing backlash against Francis\u2019 Gaudium Evangelii was a fundraising news release<\/a> condemning \u201cbogus\u201d Catholics who dared to criticize Limbaugh.<\/p>\n You know what honest brokers look like? Bill Donohue doesn\u2019t look anything like that.<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0<\/strong>Texas<\/a>.\u00a0Texas<\/a>.\u00a0Texas<\/a>.\u00a0Texas<\/a>.\u00a0Texas<\/a>.\u00a0Texas<\/a>.\u00a0Texas<\/a>.\u00a0Texas<\/a>.\u00a0Texas<\/a>.\u00a0Texas<\/a>.\u00a0Texas<\/a>.\u00a0Texas<\/a>.\u00a0Texas<\/a>. (The first 10 are quite dismaying, but the last two are kind of awesome.)<\/p>\n 6.<\/strong> Kevin Drum<\/a> on the Republican attempt to sabotage Obamacare by wasting money and screwing poor people:<\/p>\n The refusal of Republican states to accept Obamacare\u2019s Medicaid expansion surely ranks as one of the most sordid acts in recent American history.\u00a0The cost to the states is tiny,<\/a>\u00a0and the help it would bring to the poor is immense. It\u2019s paid for by taxes that residents of these states\u00a0are going to pay regardless<\/a>\u00a0of whether they receive any of the benefits. And yet, merely because it has Obama\u2019s name attached to it, they\u2019ve decided that immiserating millions of poor people is worth it. It\u2019s hard to imagine a decision more depraved.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n 7.<\/strong> This is sometimes regarded as an angry or cynical Christmas song, but listen closer. The singer isn\u2019t expressing that anger himself, he\u2019s just quoting the group of kids who just mugged him. We only hear his perspective in the bridge \u2014 in which he doesn\u2019t just forgive those kids who attacked him, but urges the rest of us to \u201cremember\u201d them and to share with them as well. That\u2019s actually kind of Christmas-y, if you think about it:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/52\/2013\/12\/WiFiEgg.jpg\")
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