Happy nation

A hardy band of patriotic cartoonists spent the weekend before July 4 at our annual convention, pursuing happiness. Our host, the dependable John Branch of the San Antonio Express-News, recovered in time to depict Uncle Sam in a dependent fix. Mike Peters’ 2nd Amendment offering was first-rate. And I took the liberty of going to the files for a classic Clay Bennett, who keeps his scissors, and his pencil, razor sharp.

For those keeping score, all the ink-stained wretches in San Antonio wore flag-lapel pins ... but only to stick each other with.

-- Joel Pett