This week in OtherWords, Jill Richardson explains what’s wrong with most of the roses that populate our Valentine’s Day bouquets, Don Kraus proposes a great Valentine for women everywhere, and Donald Kaul sizes up the latest inaction on gun control.

This is Kaul’s third column on guns since his return from a five-month break. As I explained in an earlier blog post, the first one was widely quoted out of context. That generated a torrent of hate mail, to which Kaul responded with a follow-up column.

I would like to take this opportunity to RSVP to the hundreds of people who invited Donald Kaul to go visit you in person and take your guns away. He sends his regrets. And while I’m speaking on his behalf, I’d like to thank the NRA for including him on its blindingly long list of gun-control advocates. Yes Wayne LaPierre, Donald Kaul is certainly as important in this fight as the CEO of Stoneyfield Farms Yogurt and actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Below you’ll find links to our latest work. If you haven’t already subscribed to our weekly newsletter, please do.

1. The. Very. Best. Valentine. Ever. / Don Kraus
   The United States is one of only seven countries not to ratify a landmark international agreement that affirms principles of fundamental human rights and equality for women.
2. Zero Dark Thirty’s Losing Premise / Chris Toensing
   Torture doesn’t “work” but that’s not the point.
3. Stronger At Home, More Respected Abroad / Jeff Blum
   We must cut the things we don’t need, including Pentagon pork, to pay for the things we do.
4. Banning Assault Weapons Makes More Sense than Arming Teachers / Donald Kaul
   If what you need weapons for is to fight the government, semi-automatics don’t cut it.
5. The Ever-So-Brief Success of the Income Tax / Sam Pizzigati
   Federal taxes, once upon a time, put a squeeze on grand fortunes.
6. A Better Way to Say I Love You / Jill Richardson
   Most of the roses sold in the United States are grown in Colombia and Ecuador, where they are doused with toxic pesticides.
7. High Time for Hemp / Jim Hightower
   This commonsense crop should become commonplace in the United States again.
8. The Road Back to Serfdom / William A. Collins
   Today’s robber barons have little interest in long-term, full-time employees.
9. Free Trade Economics 101 / Khalil Bendib cartoon

Emily Schwartz Greco is the managing editor of OtherWords, a non-profit national editorial service run by the Institute for Policy Studies OtherWords.org