Ah, the 4th of July. It's a day to kick back and celebrate American independence from Great Britain, taxation without representation and tea-time. But before you fire up your grill and relax under a fireworks-lit sky, join us for the Weekly Washup, and check out what is going on in America the beautiful. Rebecca Tapscott, Weekend Edition intern, gathered some of this week's blog news.

Patriotics

These bloggers discuss the patriotism of constituents, rather than of the candidates themselves. Is there an inherent difference between Republicans and Democrats, when it comes to national pride? Check out these posts and then tell us what you think:

--Rebecca Tapscott

Get My Vote is an online space created by NPR for people to explain their core political beliefs and share personal stories this election season. We are working ahead on a series about Race and Politics that will air in August on Weekend Edition Sunday with Liane Hansen as well as on Sunday Soapbox with interviews by our vlogger Jacob Soboroff.

Click here and help us build the series by telling us how your life experience has shaped your opinion about race and politics. Here are some examples:

Cecilia Munoz on her experience with immigration:

Sunday Soapbox vlogger Jacob Soboroff and I caught up with Chuck DeFeo, Vice-President and General Manager of Townhall.com for the next in our series of interviews from PDF2008. Here we are in our temporary NPR mini-studio -- aka a backstage dressing room at Jazz at Lincoln Center during the Personal Democracy Forum in New York this past week.

While at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York, Sunday Soapbox vlogger Jacob Soboroff and I caught up with Mark SooHoo, Deputy e-campaign Director for John McCain 2008. Here we are in our temporary NPR mini-studio -- aka a backstage dressing room at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Try John McCain's new online game Pork Invaders:

We're ready to throw Sunday Soapbox into full swing... lol.

Time again to scrub behind your ears and wash between your toes. Yes, Sunday Soapbox fans, it's the Weekly Washup! Rebecca Tapscott, the capable and talented Weekend Edition intern, drew up a list of this week's more interesting topics.

And the endorsement goes to...
You might think we'd be done with high-profile political endorsements now that the presidential candidates are all but locked in. You'd be wrong. It's still open season and speculation abounds as to whether political bigwigs will support McCain or Obama. Some guesses are surprising, others not so much.

In the mood to gamble? The 2008 presidential candidates are pretty much locked in - no fun to be had there. But the vice presidential candidates? That field is wide open and even the most politically savvy insiders don't know who the potential running mates will be. But maybe you're smarter than those insiders. Maybe, just maybe, you've got a solid hunch about the veeps-to-be. If so, our intern, Rebecca Tapscott, suggests checking out "Veepstakes" at PajamasMedia.com and pick your winners for both Democratic and Republican vice presidential nominees. Get them both right and your gambling ways might pay off big time.

Greetings from Personal Democracy Forum 2008, the conference about how technology is changing politics. WESUN Senior Supervisory Producer Davar Iran Ardalan and I rounded up some movers and shakers here yesterday and invited them to sit with us in our temporary NPR mini-studio -- aka a backstage dressing room at Jazz at Lincoln Center -- to share their thoughts on the conference and more. You'll notice Davar recording the audio for a segment coming up on Weekend Edition Sunday!

Yesterday afternoon Davar and I sat down with Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, MySpace IMPACT Director Lee Brenner and blogger Matt Stoller of OpenLeft.com for a 10-minute conversation about how what they do is literally changing politics as we know it -- and maybe public radio too. NPR's very own Andy Carvin makes a cameo appearance too. He streamed our entire chat live andycarvin.com on the internet yesterday with his Qik camera.

Andy is at the Personal Democracy Forum in NY too and posting notes on his website andycarvin.com. Here are Andy's notes on a presentation by GOP Strategist Chuck DeFeo, in which he invokes John Adams' writings on freedom of the press and how his words are more true than ever before.

Brian Lehrer, the Host of WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show moderated a panel that included citizen journalist Mayhill Fowler of Off the Bus at the Huffington Post, Amy Holmes of CNN, and Jay Rosen of Pressthink.org. Rosen teaches journalism at New York University and is a leading proponent of public journalism.

As someone who has been in public radio for seventeen years, Jay Rosen's talk spoke to me the most. As the Senior Producer of an NPR Newsmagazine, I do think about the new digital platform and what role I will play in taking our show in that direction. One of my goals is to continue strengthening our craft as storytellers both on the radio and on the web.

I'm here at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York. Micah Sifry, one of the organizers will be sending live feeds from time to time on the Personal Democracy website. Check it out!

I'm sitting in front of the Yahoo exhibit, to my right is a group from the National Journal and behind me are folks from Politico.com.

This morning, OpenCongress.org, unveiled a searchable database called, "Lawmaker Profiler." The database includes all online video archives on US House and Senate proceedings going back to January 2006. David Moore, Executive Director of OpenCongress talked about "one-click transparency for members of Congress" and how this open source and non-partisan site can be used as a resource to track legislation and lawmaker's votes.

Stay tuned!

We'll see you at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York on Monday. Jacob Soboroff and I will be blogging from the conference and interviewing some big names in internet and politics.

Click below the video for an interview Liane Hansen of Weekend Edition Sunday did with Andrew Rasiej, the Founder of the Personal Democracy Forum. The interview will air tomorrow between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. on most NPR stations across the country.

Everyone (including us) seems to have a political website these days. But our intern, Rebecca Tapscott, has found a rather racy site that stands out from the field: SexyPolitics.com.

The website's creators had this to say about their work:

"We believe sexy is being informed. Sexy is clear and simple. Sexy is understanding why global events often have local impacts. We think a political news story is sexy when it simplifies a misunderstood concept or illuminates a trend that should be followed. When a person is sexy, they inspire those around them. When a movement is sexy, it makes others jump on board."

In other words, caring about politics is sexy. One might even say it's "dead sexy."

So here's how the website works: you select a stripper persona and a costume. Then, you answer trivia questions about the presidential candidates (including some now ex-candidates). If you get a question right, your stripper loses a piece of clothing. But don't worry - it's very PG - there's no nudity to offend anyone's delicate sensibilities.

As a double bonus, you can also earn points for your correct answers, to be redeemed for merchandise or donated to charity. Political fun for the whole family! Not to mention that top scorers are also featured on the website. (We couldn't help but notice that all the winners appear to be men...)