Today's vocabulary word: evolve

evolve, v.i. to be altered to suit changing political expediency: The candidate's position on that issue has evolved.

Today's vocabulary term: appeal to nature

appeal to nature, n. phr. an informal logical fallacy that says that something is good because it is natural or bad because it is unnatural. When I read a letter to the editor saying that nonhuman animals don't do such-and-such, I wonder how often nonhuman animals write letters to the editor.

Today's vocabulary word: bipartisanship

bipartisanship, n. an agreement between two parties, one of which holds that 2+2=3, and the other of which holds that 2+2=5. The agreement involves determining whether, for a given situation, 2+2 shall equal 3, 5, or both simultaneously.

Today's vocabulary word: apostrophe

apostrophe, n. a punctuation mark having two purposes: signaling an impending letter s and spelling extraterrestrial beings' names

Today's vocabulary word: blighted

blighted, adj. occupied by people or businesses that we should prefer to see somewhere else; desired by a politically connected developer: The city should step in and do something about this blighted neighborhood.

Today's vocabulary word: suicide

suicide, n. the act of taking one's own life. In some legal systems, suicide is a crime because it involves the destruction of government property.

Today's vocabulary word: majoritarianism

majoritarianism, n. the belief that since people lack the intelligence, responsibility, or moral authority to run their own lives, we need the same people to elect a government to run everyone's life, including the lives of majoritarians

Today's vocabulary term: circular logic

circular logic, n. phr. the best kind of logic, since it always gives exactly the result that the person using it wants

Today's vocabulary word: period

period, n. asterisk: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period.

Today's vocabulary word: dialogue

dialogue, n. monologue: We need to have a dialogue about [pet topic].

Today's vocabulary term: free market

free market, n. phr. whatever I don't like

From Jezebel.com:

From the PRI report (which names Microsoft as a major supporter of the increase in the H-1B quota):

So, why does the US need to import labor for this lower-skilled work? Matloff says it has to do with wages and immobility. He argues that since employers sponsor H-1Bs visas, foreigners have a limited ability to negotiate higher salaries or switch jobs. If they do manage to change employers, it means they must restart any green card applications. Matloff says these realities "handcuff" H-1B visa holders to their employers.

Ahh, the grim realities of our beloved free market system!

Today's vocabulary word: imitation

imitation, n. the act of observing and replicating another's behavior; a reproduction or copy of a genuine article. It is often said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but stealing the credit is an even sincerer form.

Today's vocabulary word: interpret

interpret, v.t. to ignore; to rewrite from scratch

Today's vocabulary word: non-issue

non-issue, n. something that does not affect me personally

Today's vocabulary word: American

American, adj. having any characteristic that I don't like, regardless of actual country of origin; used by Internet arguers who cannot be bothered to check facts

Today's vocabulary word: absurd

absurd, adj. having the characteristics of other people's belief systems, as opposed to my own

Today's vocabulary word: cynical

cynical, adj. observant

Today's vocabulary term: moral compass

moral compass, n. phr. homophobia; see here and here.

Today's vocabulary word: omniscience

omniscience, n. the state of knowing everything; a special privilege belonging to gods, undergraduates, talking heads, and no one else. Omniscience, while one of the most awesome divine attributes, is also one of the most fragile; it dissipates like the dew as soon as one has to do or say something that matters in the real world.

Today's vocabulary word: fair

fair, adj. favorable to me; in accordance with what I want