There will be no Valentine-themed masthead for Anatreptic.

Its a symbolic and minor protest against a holiday designed to extort money from men by threatening to sow discord in their relationships. Come to think of it, its no great boon to women either, as promotion of the holiday creates expectations that in the vast majority of cases can't and won't be met.

I have a recommendation though, for men suffering from Valentine's day induced anxiety.

Decide on a reasonable and economical celebration of Valentine's day with your lover and then do the same thing every year. Dinner, movie, roses, done. Dinner, movie, roses, done.

Don't deviate. You are managing expectations here and deviation defeats the purpose. Don't under-perform and don't over-perform. If you are flush with cash and want to buy your honey something nice--do it on a Wednesday, in March, far from any annual celebration. You'll get all the joy, but still be able to manage expectations. If you do it on Valentines day, no matter how rationale your significant other is, there will be that day-dreaming about what they'll be getting this year, and then suffer the inevitable disappointment. We are dealing with emotions here and you can't talk them down with "logic".

It also means you don't skip any part of Dinner, movie, roses.

Remember, consistency is the key to avoiding unnecessary trauma or drama.

Are there exceptions? Theoretically yes, but they are rare, perhaps too rare for you to even contemplate ignoring my advice.

UPDATE: Bob Owens of Confederate Yankee writes:

I got a baby last year.

Should I inform my wife she's not meeting expectations this year?

I did say there were rare exceptions...

Glenn Beck clearly has what it takes to attract an audience. He's been a top five radio host for years at this point, and arguably number three behind Hannity and Rush (Arbitron ratings are largely B.S....).

Its understandable that the far-left doesn't like him--let's face it, they're waiting for the day when they can line up all up against the wall, but you can tell who the left fears the most by where they get criticized.

Beck was often the focus of criticism by media (doesn't) matters and other left-wing media watchers, who were angry with CNN for trying to broaden their viewer base.

Clearly Beck has not lived up to the expectations CNN expressed when they hired him. And his performance over time suggests that there is not much reason to believe that he will improve. A responsible programmer would be seeking to cut their losses. And it’s not as if they don’t have a broad variety of AAA players that could be called up: Ed Schultz, Randi Rhodes, Thom Hartmann, Rachel Maddow, Stephanie Miller, Sam Seder, Taylor Marsh, Jim Hightower, Laura Flanders, Harry Shearer, or any other of the many distinguished progressive commentators. They could even draft their own Jack Cafferty who has developed a cult following on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.

Remember Scott Ritter?

Scott Ritter made a good living for a few years as the left's "credible source" that there were never any WMD in Iraq and that both Clinton and Bush administration officials had lied to the American people about the threat Saddam represented.

That was a little odd, since he claimed to have voted for Bush, and resigned from the U.N. weapons inspection program in protest of the U.N. and U.S unwillingness to back up the Gulf War sanctions with effective action. His post-resignation commentary boiled down to his view that without effective sanctions, it was just a matter of time before Saddam rebuilt his WMD program.

Curiously, only a few years later, he predicted the failure of the invasion, and after it succeeded, predicted it would be "another Vietnam". The WMD he was concerned enough about to have resigned from the U.N. became 'insignificant' in later commentary, although he never addressed the question of how much WMD in the hands of terrorists bent on attacking the U.S., would be an acceptable amount.

Ritter created a documentary in 2000 which was partially financed by an Iraqi American later convicted for fraud under the UN oil-for-food-program.

In 2001, Ritter was arrested twice for soliciting under-aged girls, but got off with probation, possibly because of his political activities made the arrests look suspect.

...and eight years later, here he is again. Under arrest for masturbating on web cam for what he thought was a 15 year old girl.

The online conversation occurred in February 2009, but the investigation lasted until November, when Ritter was charged, because police had to undergo the lengthy process of obtaining court orders to get Ritter's cell phone and computer information.

Ritter is awaiting his next appearance in Monroe County Common Pleas Court. He waived his right last month to a preliminary hearing and is free on $25,000 unsecured bail.

I wonder what you could do with the knowledge that a U.N. weapons inspector was a pedophile? Its not like the left haven't threatened to 'out' anyone before...

Remember Scott Ritter?

Scott Ritter made a good living for a few years as the left's "credible source" that there were never any WMD in Iraq and that both Clinton and Bush administration officials had lied to the American people about the threat Saddam represented.

That was a little odd, since he claimed to have voted for Bush, and resigned from the U.N. weapons inspection program in protest of the U.N. and U.S unwillingness to back up the Gulf War sanctions with effective action. His post-resignation commentary boiled down to his view that without effective sanctions, it was just a matter of time before Saddam rebuilt his WMD program.

Curiously, only a few years later, he predicted the failure of the invasion, and after it succeeded, predicted it would be "another Vietnam". The WMD he was concerned enough about to have resigned from the U.N. became 'insignificant' in later commentary, although he never addressed the question of how much WMD in the hands of terrorists bent on attacking the U.S., would be an acceptable amount.

Ritter created a documentary in 2000 which was partially financed by an Iraqi American later convicted for fraud under the UN oil-for-food-program.

In 2001, Ritter was arrested twice for soliciting under-aged girls, but got off with probation, possibly because of his political activities made the arrests look suspect.

...and eight years later, here he is again. Under arrest for masturbating on web cam for what he thought was a 15 year old girl.

The online conversation occurred in February 2009, but the investigation lasted until November, when Ritter was charged, because police had to undergo the lengthy process of obtaining court orders to get Ritter's cell phone and computer information.

Ritter is awaiting his next appearance in Monroe County Common Pleas Court. He waived his right last month to a preliminary hearing and is free on $25,000 unsecured bail.

I wonder what you could do with the knowledge that a U.N. weapons inspector was a pedophile? Its not like the left haven't threatened to 'out' anyone before...