Carnival of the Liberals - Valentine's Day Edition

Yes, it's Valentine's Day. Its origins are shrouded in some slight mystery, at least - dedicated to one of three possible - but all mythical and now dropped from the calendar - saints, each named Valentine. Geoffrey Chaucer made up most of the "traditions" out of the whole cloth when he wrote "Parliament of Foules (The Parliament of Birds)", though he probably meant May 2 (the feast day of the very real St Valentine of Genoa). Thus, it's a day marked by confusion and making things up from the very beginning, a holiday celebrating romantic love - which means, in practice, obsession, stalking, unrequited love, sex, and desperately searching for a date. Plus conspicuous consumption and marketing.

But it's also a holiday celebrating love and family and the hopeful virtues and values.

As I said in the call for submissions: priority was given to those posts dealing with the traditional Valentine's topics - love, birds, chocolate, Chaucer, jail, conspiracies, making things up, death, and political persecution ... but any good post dealing with liberalism in any form was considered, and the ten best were chosen. It wasn't easy - most of the posts were excellent - but ten is the limit.

So, here they are:

Reality-based government : Barry at Staring at Empty Pages explains why we don't have it - and do need it


Ode to the Great Molly Ivins : Mad Kane, she of Political Madness, offers a tribute to the late and much missed columnist


Between the Needle and the Noose : Ruchira Paul at Accidental Blogger asks, 'why is the man who gleefully presided over more than 150 executions now fighting to save Saddam Hussein's former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan?'


For my friends and readers who are not parents : Blue Gal offers a reassurance to those who miss having children


Dear Representatives and Senators : Montag at Stump Lane writes his congressfolk on a topic near and dear to his heart


The problem with detention without trial : Idiot/Savant at No Right Turn looks at the erosion of human rights in the war on terror


Trust Matters : Charles H Green at Trusted Advisor Associates explores how capitalism may be killing democracy


Top 5 Reforms Nobody's Talking About : The Soggy Liberal applauds the first 100 days and offers an agenda for the next


On Edwards, Bloggers, and Religion : Coturnix at A Blog Around the Clock takes a look at the Edwards blogger brouhaha and why it played out as it did, considering the realities of politics, the blogosphere, and the role of religion in today's America


And finally George W Bush's Netflix Queue : The DVD Dossier Blog explores the president's movie viewing preferences and habits and what he's got queued up


That's it for the 32nd edition of Carnival of the Liberals. Next time (Feb 28) Blue Gal is the host. See you then!