"The Ides" was the ancient Roman way of saying the 15th day of March, May, July, or October, or, the 13th day of any other month.

On the Ides of March in 44 BCE, Julius Caesar, the dictator of Rome, was stabbed to death by a group of senators who called themselves the Liberatores ("Liberators"); they justified their action on the grounds they committed tyrannicide, not murder, and were preserving the Republic from Caesar's alleged monarchical ambitions. (*)

To this day, "The Ides Of March" has come to mean a foreboding of doom for powerful people or ideas.

The assassination did nothing to prevent Rome from falling into tyranny. Within a decade, Octavian was declared Emperor - the first in a long line of absolute rulers over the Roman Empire.

It's one of history's greatest ironies that a city based on the ideal a free people did not need monarchs - would be ruled by individuals who would set the template for the word "Emperor" in the West.

The lesson: Killing dictators does not make a society free, and often leads to something worse.

American Liberals understand this - which is why we prefer the rule of law over violence in order to remove would-be tyrants.

Using existing institutions over stabbing your opponent in the well of the Senate requires creativity and patience. Thankfully, Liberals have both qualities in abundance - as is demonstrated in today's "Carnival of the Liberals". (CotL)

Let this year's Ides of March be a call to Liberals to use our energies creatively to rain political doom upon the heads of would-be emperors of the American Republic.

"CapeTownDissentator" of the blog Dissentators.blogspot.com is a pro-gun Liberal and not afraid to explain why. However, he doesn't understand why anyone would think the Constitution grants you the right to have an unlicensed bazooka.

To hammer home the point that the Iraq War is un-American "Montag" of the blog I Miss Fafblog, Spot presents us with a new recepe for the all-American apple pie.

Are you tired of Republicans accusing Democrats of wanting to cut-and-run? "The Ridger, FCD" of The Greenbelt shows us who the real cut-and-runners are.

"Praveen" of the blog Tao of Simplicity, wrote an excellent post about the surprising results of global warming.

"Terrance" of the blog The Republic Of T, wrote an excellent article about what it's like to raise his son in a world that condemns him for his sexuality.

It's sad so many conservatives want to oppress people for their sexual preference - and especially hypocritical since, as "GRP" of the blog /etc/cron.whenever/ points out, there are likely far more closeted gays in the Republican party than the Democrats will ever have.

Hypocrisy is also the subject of MW's post on Divided We Stand, United We Fall blog. Take the Looking Glass Liars & The Partisan Hypocrite Test.

While we are on the subject of gay-bashing homophobes who are probably in the closet themselves. "Mad Kane" of Mad Kane’s Political Madness explains why she will no longer mention what's-her-name in her blog.

However, if you DO want to use what's-her-name in a creative way, why not use haiku like "Bubbles" of OgMog.com?

If Haiku isn't creative enough for you "Blue Steel" of the blog Pollyticks.com has a great step-by-step guide on how to make political cartoons.

Congratulations and thank-you to all of this week's selected bloggers. Next weeks CotL will be at the Framed on March 28th, 2007. Use the submission form at the official Carnival of the Liberals website.

Tags: Carnival of the Liberals - Ides of March

Note: Many apologies for being late with the carnival. This was supposed to be posted on Wednesday.