GOLD STAR AWARDS, April, 2011

As has been becoming an unfortunate tradition lately, here are April's Gold star winners, one day late.  We're up to 1962, that's two Gold's and a Silver.  PLUS, as my HoF is a living document (just like the U.S. Constitution!) I need to issue a replacement silver for a website that has disappeared and now just hawks crappy T-Shirts. LOL.  Any way, here we go!:


The Bob Feller Gold Star #35: No Labels

No Labels describes itself as a non-partisan organization, who’s philosophy is that we need to come together, stop the partisan bickering, and focus on solving the problems that face this country in the way that is the best for… (wait for it…) AMERICA. Imagine that! Now… one MIGHT be tempted to say that this is what President Obama has been trying to do since 1/22/08, and look at what it’s brought us! (And the funny thing? Both conservatives and liberals can say those exact same words, without any sense of irony!) In all seriousness, President Obama’s big mistake was in the assumption that the Right would just come along, if he played nice. Of course… the Democrats ALWAYS play nice. That’s their biggest weakness! And that is the first reason that while No Labels might be non-partisan in their positions, they are inherently Progressive in their philosophy. Partisan bickering only, EVER, helps those who wish to stand in the way of social change.  Secondly, what we have now, in Congress? Is exactly what President Washington was warning against when he advised not to create “factions.” (PARTIES, as it played out, but the same thing.) But finally, here is why there message and their movement is so critical. Here is why eliminating the LABELS is inherently, flamingly, screamingly LIBERAL. If you argue with a Liberal, they’ll try to prove you WRONG. Which is a much higher bar than Conservatives set when you argue with them and they try to prove you LIBERAL. See… I don’t self-identify as “Progressive” because I need to cling to an ideology and believe it to be inherently good. I identify that way because 99% of the time, the Progressive (and/or Liberal) position on a given issue just MAKES MORE SENSE, SEEMS MORE PRINCIPLED and is FAR MORE DEFENSIBLE. Not always, granted, but GENERALLY. And whenever hear a Conservative try to defend their position, they start from the assumption that the Conservatives are always right, the Liberals always wrong, and thus identifying the opponent or their position as Liberal is sufficient for chalking up a “win.” Lose the labels? And the Liberal will win the argument 99% of the time. Regardless of what these guys propose on any specific issue, position-wise, ditching political labels can only help Liberals. (Unless we’re wrong!) ;)


The Jackie Robinson Gold Star #36: Project Censored
 
IIRC, I think it was one of the commenters here that first turned me on to this site.  (ClassicLiberal maybe? My apologies, if it was someone else and I forgot.)  ANYWAY, for all the accusations of "liberal bias" in the press, and the Himalayan amounts of evidence to the contrary, this site can, once and for all, kill that myth and kill it with fire.  Project Censored collects all of the stories that get buried and remain largely untold by the biggest "news" outlets. And surpriiiiise, surpriiiise!  99% of these are stories that are inconvenient to the powers that be!  Industry. Corporate Sponsors. Their Political Whores. Their Media whores. The Church. The Right. The Rich. The Powerful.  Check them out.  What they AREN'T telling you is an order of magnitude more infuriating than the misinformation they ARE.
 
 
The Edd Rousch Silver Star #27: eBay
 
E-BAY?! Are you fucking KIDDING me?!
 
LOL. No. I'm not. Of all the dot-com's to come out of the 1990's tech "bubble" - and in all truth, it wasn't a bubble at all - the one that was the biggest game-changer, IMHO, was eBay.  And I can hear it now... All the whining about fees, and the effect it's had of the price of collectibles, and how big a rip-off it is, and how much they completely suck, in general....
 
Fuck all that.  I've been an eBay junkie for YEARS, both buying and selling.  And you know what? I've yet to have a single negative experience that wasn't my own fault.  You read that right. 
 
And before we go arguing about their policies, fee structure, service, etc... Let's realize what eBay actually DOES: It's bring entrepreneurialism to every single person in America. (In the WORLD, really.)  If you've got something to sell?  You've got the entire market - the U.S., North America, the Western Hemisphere and the Entire WORLD at your disposal.  Call it this liberal's way fo showing his love for the truly free market, but eBay has changed the world.
 
SO to all you "feeBay" haters? Fuck off. I LOVE eBay.  (How's THAT for going against the status quo? LOL) :P :P :P :P :P :P
 
 
OK, and since "Item not as described" is now completely defunct (and hawking crappy T-Shirts, the last time I checked) I will need to re-issue Fred Clarke's Silver Star #6.  So, in an effort to keep my HoF remotely relevant, here is the NEW...
 
Fred Clarke's Silver Star #6: Brightest
 
If you're getting the idea that I read a LOT of webcomics, you're right. I do. And I do for one simple reason: THEY'RE GOOD.  Brightest tells the story of Charlene (Charlie) an out-of-work, overweight, relationship-challenged, possible lesbian and the trals and tribulations in her life.  In addition to an awesomely quirky art-style, it is a poignant, sometimes painful, at times ironically funny story that avoids falling into stereotypes.  I think what I like the most about the main character is that her characteristics do not DEFINE her. They do not LIMIT her persona.  She's overweight, yes.  But she doesn't obsess over it.  There none of the constant, neurotic dieting or sweating over her appearance that you might get in another work with a heavier heroine. Nor is her self-esteem tied up in her weight.  (No, she has low self esteem for 100 other reasons! LOL.) And also, while she's a Lesbian (or might be) this is also not the defining characteristic or the character or the comic. Most of the time, the conflict over her sexuality never enters into the story. And when it DOES? It handled so... realistically.  And what results is an amazingly HUMAN character.  Flawed, neurotic, but completely FAMILIAR - we ALL know someone like this, and sometimes we ARE that person!  Anyway, I've really enjoyed the ride so far, and as always, I recommend reading it from the beginning.