Carnival of the Liberals #17: The Birthday Edition

Today's blog carnival invokes the idea of "Birthdays" because it's the beginning of a persons development. I'm going to attempt to tie each selected blog entry into some aspect of a humans life-cycle: Birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, maturity and death.

Birthdays have a special place in Westersn civilization since we don't have formal coming-of-age rites. A birthday fills the role of signaling to the rest of society that a particular individual now has the full privileges and responsibilities of adulthood.

Also, the birthday celebration is our culture's way of giving an opportunity to tell a member of our our social circle that they are valued.

And you thought it was all about funny hats and cake, didn't you?

Title: Happy Birthday USA!

Blog: RigorVitae

Makes a good point that perhaps Americans should celebrate our countries birthday on March 4th rather than July 4th, since that is the day in 1789 that the US Constitution went into effect.

Title: "Hadji Girl" Song Turns Stalking and Murder Into Good Clean Fun

Blog: Abyss2hope

One of the reasons the song "Hadji Girl" was so abhorrent to most people was because childhood is supposed to be a time of innocence and playfulness - not death.

Title: Politicians and emotional vampires

Blog: Writings On The Wall

We all start life immature. The key to growth is to acknowledge this.

Title: The DailyKos Fallacy (i.e., why DailyKos does not matter)

Blog: ReyOnTheHill

As we get older, we start to become aware of the social hierarchies around us, and begin to connect with an affinity group. Within all such cliques, there are individuals whom outsiders point to and say "That person speaks for the entire subculture." (Much to the consternation of other members of that clique.)

Title: blogblogblogblogblog....

Blog: BlueGal

What I found interesting about this article is that BlueGal isn't whining that Kos gets so much attention. She's just chaffing against being lumped into a group by the media. To quote her blog directly:

"Markos is not the king of Daily Kos, but he is its center, and hell, he and his team did all the work to get it going. He deserves his success. I guess I see Daily Kos posters as either too time-crunched to have their own blog or else pimping their own blog, as I do myself there from time to time. As we individual bloggers continue to shine with creativity, images, (something a lot of Kossacks don't bother with), open-mindedness, and maturity panties, the blogosphere will sort itself out."

Title: My husband sucks, but he can't help it - nature made him that way

Blog: Heavens to mergatroyd

After spending a few years being obsessed with what our peers are doing, most of us settle down and find a partner. I suppose it's easier to worry about what one person thinks, than an entire group.

In this article, the author makes astute comments about how pundits wring their hands over how feminism is changing relationships.

Title: Challenging the Religious Right on Pollution

Blog: Edgy Mama

Once your own relationships and intellectual development is solid, it becomes easier to explain, and acknowledge, how the actions of other groups effect you.

It also becomes easier to teach others how to take action to improve things.

Title: Of public opinion, exit polls and fraud (or the lack thereof)

Blog: NeuralGourmet

One of the signs of maturity is being able to see the other side of the argument.

This is one of the best interviews I've seen about how there was no election fraud. This is something all BBV activists should read.

Title: National Review labels Joschka Fischer as Nazi Propaganda Minister

Blog: AtlanticReview

And conversely, a sign of immaturity is comparing anything you don't like to Nazis. (Admittedly, this is something we on the left do a lot of.)

Title: RIP Roger Keith Barrett

Blog: Don't Floss With Tinsel

Death is the final stage of life. This blog post addresses something most obituaries don't address about Roger Barret: His mental illness.

Thanks for joining us for Carnival of the Liberals #17. The next carnival will be held at ReyOnTheHill on August 2nd, 2006. Use this form to submit your entires.

Tags: Blog Carnival - Carnival of the Liberals

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