The July 4th edition of the Carnival of the Liberals!

Hello! Dr. Zaius here! I am your host for the July 4th edition of the Carnival of the Liberals! It is a great honor that I probably don't deserve - but I have fooled them thus far! Maybe I'll get away with it.

The topic of this edition of the carnival was to write something along the lines of "defining patriotism," or something like that. I can say with great pride that the vast majority of the submissions did not fall into that category at all. That is what I like about liberals - Absolutely no herding instinct whatsoever!

The vast river of organic progressive raw material was particularly deep and fertile this carnival, so I just put my hip waders on and dove right in! I must admit that I found it very difficult to choose among the many different entries because all of the authors were excellent, and each had a strong message of their own to share with the world. But Leo says I have to only choose ten posts, so I present these in alphabetical order, the results of the July 4th edition of the Carnival of the Liberals!

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Avant News serves up some snarky goodness in this story, "President Ron Paul Deported Under Ron Paul's No Amnesty Law".

An Expression of Hope is succinct and to the point in his post, "Conservatives Will Stop Questioning Our Patriotism When They Start Losing Because Of It".

The Greenbelt presents "It's a Grand Old Flag". The author states, "This action - this waving of the flag in all places and at all times - is certainly founded upon an emotion. But what is that emotion? Most people would say, it's patriotism." Hey, anybody that quotes Ambrose Bierce within a post is OK by me.

Hakim Abdullah presents "Is Islam Compatible with Democracy?" This is an article that is well written, seemingly reasonably argued and apparently well researched. In short, this article is all of the things that Zaius Nation is not! Nevertheless, I liked it despite these shortcomings.

Jon the Intergalactic Gladiator tells you how it was, how it is, and how it's going to be in his humorous opinion piece, "Freedom". Jon asks the burning question, "how much more freedom do you think that you can possibly stand?"

I am going to count two submissions by Jon Swift as one submission, so don't tell Leo. (I can make them all fit if just I squish really, really hard.) The first is "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Ann Althouse", which is perhaps even more than I really wanted to know about the woman, but it is definitely well worth reading. The second a tale of an unfinished manuscript, "Jonah Goldberg's Shining". You just have to read this one because there are some kitty pictures, OK?

Michael Leon: MAL Contends... presents a rather frightening tale in the dead serious story of an American soldier, "US Atty Biskupic and VA Defied US Law to Convict Wisconsin Veteran". Leon says, "Innocent veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder persecuted by the Veterans Administration, and prosecuted by Bush US DoJ that defied federal law."

So Sioux Me presents "Shut Up John Mayer, Stop Waiting On the World to Change". The author states, "Voting for Hillary because she's a woman is a valid and legitimate reason. One woman in the White House changes the potential of every girl in America."

Millard Fillmore's Bathtub presents "Didn't know insanity is contagious: Sen. Tom Coburn". The author states, "Oklahoma's Sen. Tom Coburn has decided to go to the mat to prevent naming a post office for Rachel Carson. Rachel Carson, of course, is a leading environmentalist of the 20th century. She's also a winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. So, why is Coburn going after a patriotic American?"

Sometimes it's all about how you say it. Miss Elisa's world speaks from the heart and blurts it out quite eloquently in her article, "For the Fourth...Freedom to think for ourselves".

I would like to give an honorable mention to Edith Yeung for a very brief post that had absolutely nothing to do with politics or patriotism or liberals. It was just a very nice post about getting out of a rut. The article is called, How to Say Goodbye to Someday Isle. I can't even manage to organize my sock drawer!