Gold Star Awards, October, 2011

It never fails.

I get some great comments, find some related articles and plan to do a whole mess of writing over the weekend and… life happens instead. So we had a fun and busy weekend with the kids, and I did NOT get to the Abortion / Contraception post as I had planned to. And now here I am on the last day of the month with a different post in mind, and several comments that need replying to, and instead of doing anything INTERESTING, I’ve got to put up my Gold Star’s for the month of October. (It’s a pet peeve, but I HATE posting these on the first of the following month!)

So, here we go. The year is 1968, and there was one BWAA inductee and two from the Veterans committee:


The Ducky Medwick Gold Star #40: Progressive Punch

Presumably so named because “Left Hook” was taken! ;)

Progressive Punch is a non-Partisan, yet strongly Progressive, web site that tracks the votes of members of congress on issues of concern to progressives. It rates and ranks MoC’s and is a great resource, if a bit overwhelming at times (and depressing at others!) Good information though. No reason that both parties whouldn’t be held accountable for their votes and actions!

The Goose Goslin Wooden Star: The Economnic Collapse

Believe it or not, this collection of Right Wing Propaganda was actually up for GOLD Star at one point. Now, it’s a throwaway. I did write-up on one of their articles a while back. They’re a great example of the most insidious kind of Right Wing writing: it SOUNDS principled and well-reasoned at first, but once you dig a little bit deeper, you find out how dishonest they’re being. I mention it here because the first couple of articles I came across DID do a fairly good job of blaming Republicans for the bad economy. So they did pique my interest… But once you see all of the “buy gold” and “food insurance” ads in the banners, you realize what their true agenda really is. (See... the Republicans weren't being Conservative enough, apparently!) Overall?  I'd descibe it as pessimistic alarmism to the point of being almost Right-Wing parody.  (Scary part?  They're so convinced they're right! Some pretty creepy sycophants in the comments section. I think I know where MMFA gets their trolls form now!) They have a comments section – mostly RW Nut-Jobs and the occasional Liberal talking sense. Personally, I’d like to see how long it would take me to get banned from there! LOL


The Kiki Cuyler Silver Star #38: Count Your Sheep

A long-running and thoroughly adorable web comic about a single-mom and her precocious little girl who share the same imaginary friend: “Ship,” a “counting sheep.” (If you count him, (“one,”) you IMMEDIATELY fall asleep.) The strips are most cute stuff – often enough to give you a sugar-high – and are reminiscent of “Calvin and Hobbes,” only with a female Calvin and a struggling, single mom (who sees and interacts with Ship) instead of Calvin’s nameless, and relatively comfortable, middle class parents (who only ever saw Hobbes as a stuffed toy.) It does on occasion, however, delve into social politics – lightly enough to remain inoffensive, yet enough to give it some topical relevance – and has stretches where it becomes darker, even depressing at times, bordering on tear-inducing. (Laurie was widowed while pregnant with Katie, and the strips where she talks about how much she loved Marty and misses him can be absolutely heart-wrenching.) (You’ve been warned!) Anyway… it’s completely wonderful and I highly recommend it. There’s no single, on-going storyline but, since I’m kind of aspie that way, I still recommend reading it from the beginning! XP

And Happy Halloween, everyone!!!