Not much here, I just wanted to comment on how refreshing it is to me to see Barack Obama make the wise choice, in the middle of a long and grueling campaign, to take a real vacation.

A substantial amount of work has come from this desk recently that has sought to explain complex economics, change the nature of corporations, offer alternatives to a pointless corporate merger, and recognize a pair of youthful Constitutional heroes.

All of that deep thinking has begun to tax the ol’ melon, however; and in an effort to ensure continued mental harmony and balance we take leave of those subjects for today to discuss, instead, an oddly commercial look at love, a linguistically odd take on caffeine and the English language, and a story that oddly manages to link Valentine’s Day, death, and the commercial inevitability of smoked meat.

To quote Frank Zappa: "Get your shoes and socks on people, it’s right around the corner..."

copyright © 2008 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org

We met in December.  The year was 2007.  He was a friend of my cousin's.  The two were best of buds; they still are.  Cousin Paul has known James for decades.  Jim moved to my hometown only months earlier.  He felt alone.  James longed for a friend, locally.  Paul introduced us on the Internet.  After my relative played the mediator, the man in the middle, the means for a message, he asked if he might share our electronic mail addresses.  James and I each consented, and from then on, we exchanged epistles directly.  

In letters, we liked each other.  Admittedly, for us, the electronic medium was limited.  We decided to share a drink together; although I let him know, I only imbibe water.  James said that was not a problem.  We arranged to get together at Starbucks.  The coffee shop was near to his home and mine.  Neither of us wished to share where we lived exactly.  We were hesitant, cautious, or just not willing to chance the unknown.

I’ve never shared Ebenezer Scrooge’s contempt for Christmas. The bustle of the holiday season, the bright lights and the attitude of goodwill toward men affected by even the most avowed secularist all appeal to me. It would never occur to me to extinguish that glow of seasonal joy that is shared by so many.

Valentine’s Day? Now that’s another story. The idea of a cherubic, fashion-challenged and/or incontinent archer firing off darts at various and sundry passersby in an effort to stir up romance is preposterous and slightly creepy. If a human being were playing Cupid in this manner, they’d be branded a stalker.

http://rayrandomly.blogspot.com/

I know that this is not political at all, and that no candidates will be mentioned, and I might even be flamed for totally irrelevant crap.  But I will take the opportunity anyway.

How did you spend St. Valentine's Day?

Are you a pull out all the stops and damn the cost romantic?
Or are you more the pick a bunch of dandelions type?
Perhaps a book of verse? Or Victoria's Secret and a quart of warm honey?

Where did you develop your sense of romance, such as it is? Did you take your cue from your parents? Or develop your own style?
Do you ignore it because it is consumerist bullshit?
Or do you ignore it because, after all, every day is Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day my fellow Kossacks!
Since I am spending Valentine's Day alone (my hopefully soon to be ex-husband is thankfully not around; and the man I am head-over-heels in love with is a big jerk), I thought what better place to spend the night.....and maybe, just maybe......I will get a few Valentines from some of you.

So please come on in and take a little break from the political....

I refer, of course, to the recent encounter between President Bush's derrière and Matt Frei, butt-kisser extraordinaire. Not for Frei are half-measures and almost-there's, like standard BBC reporting which, while undoubtedly deferrential to power, typically affects at least a pretense of concern about 'balance' and 'impartiality'. No: Frei is content with nothing less than total and utter servility to power, and by God no amount of ethical standards or (perish the thought!) residual journalistic integrity will stand in his way.

It's been kind of funny to watch.  My father, smug now because he's supported Obama since last May (he'd read both books already), has gotten to see us all move over from our respective candidates.

My mom was the last convert.  (Okay, partly that was that her original candidate, Hillary, stayed in the race) -- deciding to change her support Obama only after listening to Bill campaigning in SC. But Mom's fond of Hillary on a lot of levels, even as Obama is reminding her more and more of her own experiences campaigning for RFK back in 1968.

So why do I say she's now in the hearts category?  Because I just got an email with this.   A second look shows it's gone out to all her friends and family.  

Yeah.  Momma's spammin' for Obama.  

I admit it's hard. Every day, several times per day, I stifle mean thoughts about passers-by. The S.U.V. driver taking up two lanes. The teenagers blocking the sidewalk. The person who keeps stealing my paper, who I've never even seen but bother to imagine just so I can be mad at them.

Remember how Winston Churchill once said, "Democracy is an awful way to run a country, but it's the best system we have." He had trouble just co-existing with everyone. So loving everyone seems a very high bar.

The Bible commands to love they neighbor as thyself. Clearly, Jesus' neighbor wasn't stealing his paper.

Whether you know it or not. I'm not sure about the etiquette of calling a poster by name in a diary title, but i'm hoping this will be forgiven. We all owe a debt to mcjoan.

Appropriately for Valentine's Day, i have a valentine for mcjoan. Since we seem to have a brief lull in the FISA storm, now seems as good a time as any for a little recognition. How do i love thee? Let me count the ways...

Ug bring you pretty rock.  Ug bring meat.  You cook meat and look at rock.  We have squeaky squeaky time now.  Happy Ug Day.  

by Lucia Bill/North Star Writers Group

Watching U.S. leaders snap and backbite, do you ever ask yourself: Where is the love? Do you ever wonder what the love lives of the presidential candidates are like? Me neither, but if there is a fitting time to inquire into their romantic practices, Valentine’s Day is it. The office comes with expectations of personal accountability as much as it does with political accountability, and a nation that reads more Us Weekly than Newsweek is bound to be curious.  

When the Kenneth Starr report appeared, outraged politicians from both ends of the spectrum deemed it "pornographic" and "dirt and filth." That’s not to say they didn’t like it. Still, even the political science students across the country who read the report for its fascinating tips about the alternative uses of Altoids have to admit that Bill Clinton didn’t help our image.

Read more here: http://www.northstarwriters.com/...

The National Retail Federation predicts that Americans will spend $17.02 billion this year on Valentine's Day gifts. It is anticipated that men will spend an average of $163, women $85 for this annual orgy of consumption. Make what you will of the disparity. Besides flowers - 214 million in roses alone - chocolate will ring the cash registers at an estimated $323 million. Other candy sales will hit $414 million.

Commodification of human emotion on Valentine's Day and Mother's Day - the two days for which the most flowers, greeting cards and chocolates are sold - is hardly new. But, at least among a few people, there's a new attitude.

From Diane Marie Amann IntLawGrrls:

Socially responsible sweethearts

It's that time of year again. Young one's hearts, and the hearts of all who are young at heart, turn to love. Mindful that tomorrow's Valentine's Day we prepare, many of us, to "say it with flowers": Lilacs to our 1st love. Magnolias to the nature-lover. Violets for faithfulness. Forget-me-nots for, well, you can guess.

But what do we really say when we use flowers to talk about love?

To the true nature-lover, some flowers convey a message of woe, of megafarms in Colombia and Ecuador where, Nora Ferm ... of the International Labor Rights Forum said in this New York Times article, "workers ... can suffer pesticide-related illnesses like headaches, rashes and birth abnormalities among their children."

The Forum's just one of the groups pushing now for fair trade in flowers; another's the Natural Resources Defense Council. They're working for development of labels to alert consumers that the bouquet they bestow on their beloved was grown in a way that minimizes harm to workers and the environment in which they live and work.

Here's a bit more of that article from The New York Times:

And as in other industries with increasing demand for green products, the floral industry is debating what is environmentally correct. Should flowers be organic — that is, grown without synthetic or toxic pesticides? Or should the emphasis be on fair trade, meaning that the workers who grow and cut them are safe and well paid? Or should consumers favor flowers grown locally, not flown or trucked over long distances? In other words, what, exactly, is a green flower?

A vast majority of cut flowers sold in the United States, 79 percent, are imported, mostly from countries with mild climates, like Colombia and Ecuador. But only a small minority of flower farms have adopted environmentally friendly methods, like banning toxic chemicals for pest control, said Nora Ferm of the International Labor Rights Forum, an advocacy organization where she is the program director of a "fairness in flowers" public education campaign that began a few years ago.

As for that chocolate?

Cocoa bean harvest puts kids at risk despite chocolate makers' efforts

Even as the chocolate industry is trying to curb unsavoury cocoa-farming practices in Ivory Coast and Ghana, Canadian aid workers, among others, are disappointed in the industry's snail's pace at dealing with the issue.

Cadbury Schweppes announced late last month it would spend millions over the next few years to boost cocoa yields and improve the lives of cocoa farmers, a move intended to guarantee a long-term supply of the most important ingredient used in its signature candies.

"It's not only the right thing to do but ... also we really rely on the quality and taste profile of Ghanaian cocoa and that is something that is really important to our brand," Alex Cole, corporate affairs director at Cadbury, said from her office in London.

David Morley, the president and CEO of Save the Children Canada in Toronto was cautiously optimistic about Cadbury's announcement.

"Some of what the companies are doing is good - making the crops more sustainable and all - but we feel there should be more power put in the hands of the farmers," said Morley. "The wonderful free hand of the market is not working here."

Days since Mission Accomplished: 1750

Number of coalition soldiers killed since then: 4094

Number of Iraqis killed: Unknown - estimates range from 200,000 to 1.2 million

Here is the Overnight News Digest.

The Irony of Valentine's Day is that so much of what we give as gifts are awash in pain and suffering. It does not have to be that way.

THE TOPICS:
In this diary I'll talk about possible gifts for your Valentines as well as alternatives, providing many options and further reading at your discretion. Among the topics included are:

♥ Flowers
♥ Non-Sweets
♥ Chocolate
♥ Coffee
♥ Doing Without
♥ Dinner & a Show
♥ Jewelry
♥ Wine
♥ How to find "Love" and support kossoks too

Part of how I ended up at dKos was finding out how Republican the grocery store Safeway was. I already despised Wal-Mart (and more with each new thing I discovered about them) but was still to discover just how neck-deep in Neo-Con they are.

Essentially, I didn't want another damn dollar of mine going to support Bushco keeping them in power. As Dr. Phil would say:

I have at least a dozen different things competing for my attention this evening.  Tomorrow will be another day off from school, so I have to readjust my plans yet again.  The school year may be extended, but I do not get days of instruction back before the AP exam nor before the mandatory state exams.  

There are so many things about which I think I should write.  Yet I find it hard to pick and choose.  So this diary will be a brief excursus over a number of topics.  Ignore if not interested, keep reading if curious.  Thanks.

Happy Valentines Day Daily Kos!