Spare thoughts on . . .

• Editing.I can't always tell whether I'm taking out mistakes -- or attempts at originality. Also, I do a lot of replacing "we" with "a" -- that is, turning "were" into "are". I like movie reviews to take place in the present tense.
•  God's mercy. How is it different from just getting out of something you had coming to you? For one thing, you're required to pass it on.
• "Personal matters". If religion is one, then contempt for religion ought to be one too -- not to be tossed around casually among people who might not be on board with it, and certainly not to be allowed to influence public policy. We'll call it separation of contempt and state.