Who IS this guy?!

'Niceguy' Eddie

Political Talk Show Host and Internet Radio Personality. My show, In My Humble Opinion, aired on RainbowRadio from 2015-2017, and has returned for 2021! Feel free to contact me at niceguy9418@usa.com. You can also friend me on Facebook.

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Showing posts with label gold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gold. Show all posts

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Gold Star Awards, June, 2012

Only four posts last month. That's what happens when work kicks up and you're travelling. (OK, fair enough: That's what happens when work kicks up and I'M travelling. Other people still manage to update their blogs on a regular basis!) And the first casualty of that, aside from spelling, grammar and the profundity of content, is the Monthly Gold Star Awards.  So here they are for June.  I'll have July's up... sometime in July. (Hopefully.)

1976, if you're still counting - 2 Golds and 2 Silvers...


The ROBIN ROBERTS Gold Star #52: Imagine2050

I came across this fairly recently. Great blog / news site, covering the stories that the so-called "liberal press" won't touch, with a focus on issues of race, immigration, cultural diversity and tolerance.

On their website, they describe themselves as: Activists, immigrants, artists and students who are invested in a future nation that embodies a multiracial democracy. By the year 2050, one out of five Americans will be foreign born. Latino and Asian communities will increase significantly. There will be no clear racial or ethnic majority.  We will become a nation of minorities. Today’s perceptions of foreignness will challenge how Americans identify themselves over the coming decades. In light of these challenges, Imagine 2050 is committed to igniting candid conversations around race, immigration, environment, and American identity.

Great and profound stuff.  Check them out!


The BOB LEMON Gold Star #53: Press Pass TV

Most of my regular readers are already of the opinion that the main stream media is useless and that journalism is a dying art.  Well, the work being done by this organization, teaching young people about the issues that go unreported on, and training them in the skills they'll need to present these issues, may just revive it. And that's a good thing. I'll let their own site speak for itself:

We work with Boston and Worcester area youth to produce short news segments that tackle underrepresented social justice issues and celebrates those organizations and individuals working to make their community a better place. Middle school, High school, and College age students engage in all aspects of production, from developing questions to editing video.
Our content is intended to promote civic awareness and action. We create curriculum around our segments to increase awareness, action and accountability. We also hold meetings to continue the discussion of issues raised in our work and support local campaigns for civic action by producing stories on their initiatives.

Recent psychological studies show that when people are exposed to others engaging in benevolent acts, they are more likely to do the same. At Press Pass TV, we operate on this principle and know that for real change to occur, people must regularly witness the amazing acts that others commit on a daily basis.


The Freddie Lindstrom Linoleum Star: Accuracy in Media

Just as Freddie Lindstrom does not belong in Baseball's Hall of Fame, the almost comically Orwellian named "Accuracy in Media" does not belong on anyone's list of honors. (Right-wing Jackasses notwithstanding.) But just as the Baseball Hall of Fame has the dubious distinction of honoring mediocre talents like Lindstrom, so do does this mediocre blog occasionally hand out a dubious honor to an outfit like AIM.  What can I say? A Liberal will prove you're wrong, while a Conservative will prove you're Liberal. 

(BTW... I wish I had though of reserving the Chick Hafey's and Lloyd Waner's and Highpocket's Kelly's of the world for the dogshit sites that I sometimes "highlight"back at the beginning. Unfortunately so good sites were linked to lousy players and some lousy sites were linked to good ones. Oh well.)


The Roger Connor Silver Star #50: Invisible Bread

This is a webcomic about every day humor.  Elegant in it's simplicity, it features just stick figures and smiley faces (like Political Symmetry, if it were in color) and yet still manages to convey emotion and depth and touch on all of the funny situation that we've had to deal with, or (thankfully) managed to avoid as well as soem truly abstract and absurdly off the wall stuff.  There a lot of college humor, about late night cram sessions, video games addiction and snack food, as well as awkward social and relationship material. Hey: It's funny. Read it! ;)

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Gold Star Awards, March, 2012

So as not to be late again, I'm doing March's and February's back-to-back. These be fairly brief, only because I'm short on time. I'll also get to the comments as soon as I can, as I mentioned before, I know I'm behind on those as well.


It's 1973: Two BWAA Inductees, and two from the Veteran's Committee.


The Roberto Clemente Gold Star #47: Truth-Out


I was turned onto these guys by a referral from Conchobhar. A must-have for any regular of MMFA, FAIR, Foxhounds, Newscorpse, etc…


The Warren Spahn Gold Star #48: Politics Plus

"Overcoming right wing insanity, one day at a time." One of the better written, more well-informed Progressive Blogs out there.  Great content, updated constantly.


The Mickey Welch Silver Star #45: Living with Insanity

A webcomic about a webcomic writer. Having done a webcomic myself for a couple years, not to mention having lived with insantiy, I can relate to so much of what goes on in this. (Except that part about selling out, making tons of money and having millions of fans. I had a few fans, but the opportunity to sell out never quite came my way. LOL)  The plot isn't super-involved, but I still recommend reading from the beginning. (That link skips over a bunch of earlier, non-LWI stuff, BTW!)


The George “Highpockets” Kelly Polyester Star: Fixed Earth
Do you think the Global Warming deniers are un-Scientific? How about Young Earth Creationists? What about FLAT-EARTHERS? Well: You ain’t seen nothin’ yet! Check THESE GUYS out. If someone can convince me that this is a parody, I will promote them to a Silver, and possibly a Gold Star, because if it IS parody, it’s fucking brilliant. But there combination of the earnestness of their posts and the fairly crappy appearance of the website makes me want to believe it’s legit. Which makes for a frightening read. (Becuase some of these people probably VOTE!)

Gold Star Awards, February, 2012

Late again. So I'm going to do March's and February's back-to-back to get caught up.  These will also be fairly brief, only because I'm short on time.  I'll also get to the comments as soon as I can, I know I'm behind on those as well. Work's been crazy lately. I don't even have time for Video Games! LOL

It's 1972: Three BWAA Inductees, one for the Veteran's Committee.



The Yogi Berra God Star #44: Feministing

Much like Phil Rizuto is only in the Hall of Fame because his crosstown ‘rival’ Pee Wee Reese was put in, I can hardly honor Jezebel without giving a shout-out to their spiritual sisters over at Feministing. And if I need any more burnishing of my feminist cred…


The Sandy Koufax God Star #45: Boycott Rush

Some truly fine and noble work being done here. Of course, I guess this makes that “slut,” Sandra Fluke happy. I mean, WTF, people? He offered to buy them all the aspirin’s they needed to hold between their knees! What more do you people WANT?!

(See, Rush? THAT’S what satire looks like! Asshole.)


The Early Wynn Gold Star #46: Disinformation

I have to admit that it’s been awhile since I’ve been a regular here. I’ve been meaning to endorse them for rather a long time now, and one site after another kept making me put this one off. But I do enjoy their insightful writing about a wide variety of topics.


The Lefty Gomez Silver Star #44: XKCD

Funny as hell. Similar to SMBC and The Bad Chemicals, only black and white, more poorly drawn and yet possibly even more sublime. Check them out!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Gold Star Awards, December, 2011

Just so you know, I'm PROBABLY going to be signing off for the year with this post. We'll be travelling from the 25th on and my laptop got a paralyzing virus that will not be able to be removed until after the new Year, when I can take it to the IT Dept back at work. (They're the admins on it, not me.) So until the 5th of January, this is probably it.  I hope all have a save and happy holiday season, stay warm (I'll be in Florida myself!) and try not to get into too many argument with any of the Conservatives in your families. ;)

OK were up to 1970 and have one inductee from the BWAA and two from the Veteran's Committee.


The Lou Boudreau GOLD STAR #43: This Can't Be Happening!

This Blog is a fairly recent discovery for me. It's written by Dave Lindorff, John Grant, Linn Washington, Charles Young and Lori Spencer.  Four writers that can be broadly characterized as principled progressives who are not afraid to be critical of the Administration or the Democrats.  I've not read as much of the work here as I have in other cases, but I have been very impressed by what I read and feel that it is something that you guys would also enjoy and be interested in.  So check 'em out!


The Earle Combs SILVER STAR #41: Atomic Laundromat

This webcomic tells a tongue in cheek story of Superheroes from one of the most unique perspectives I can imagine: The point of view of the guy who runs the laundromat where they all get their tights cleaned!  It has a lot of fun with the typical tropes and cliches from the Super-Hero genre, but also contains some very down to earth themes such as a son's desire to protect his Super-Powered but aging father and the unrequited love he has for his long-time friend. (A fiery red-headed lawyer that I fell in love with almost from the get-go.) A lot of the strips are stand-alones or short 2-3 piece gags, but their is a general storyline and continuity, so I recommend reading it from the beginning.


The Jesse Haines SILVER STAR #42: Hate by Numbers

Next to MMFA, I've probably referenced Cracked.com more often than any other site here.  And this is the personal site of Cracked.com contributor Gladstone. It's funny, topical, political and most importantly of all, unlike Conservative humor, generally well informed.  His recent take on Fox's response to the Muppet Movie is priceless. Check it out!

Merry Christmas, and a Happy Chistmahaunakwanzica to you all!  Hope to see you all back here in the New Year!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Gold Star Awards: November, 2011

Yep. A day late.  And I was doing so good, too. What can I say. Worst work-week I've had in TEN YEARS.

The year is 1969, and it saw two indictees from the BWAA andf two from the Veteran's Committee.


The Stan Musial Gold Star #41: The Representative Press and his YouTube Channel.

His YouTube Channel has an almost obssessive focus on issues relating to Israel but is, at it's heart, remains a Media Criticism channel, focusing on the failures on the mainstream media to tell the REAL story about such things as the motivation behind the 9/11 attacks (hint: It was our support of Israel) and the Police enforced media black out when the Occupy movement was evicted in New York. Ths guy has the the REAL SCOOP on what the Mainstream Media isn't telling you.

(Maybe William will look into  some of these items and then try to explain where that systematic Mainstream Liberal Media Bias comes in.)

The Roy Campanella Gold Star #42: What The Heck Has Obama Done So Far?

OK, I certainly hope that I don't now need to re-establish any of my cred as a CRITIC of the President, BUT... the next time some Right Wing Jackoff Rick Perry type comes talking smack about how "nothing's gotten done," send him to THIS site. Stuff's happened. Progress has been made. That may not make up for the missed opportunities and the progress that hasn't but that doesn't mean that the useless half of this country should be able to run there yaps scott-free without a rebuke.  Good resource.


The Stan Coveleski Silver Star #39: Modest  Medusa

This cute little web comic started out as little more than a guilty pleasure for me, but I'm always happy to recognize an artist that's willing to lend their talents to a good cause... so go buy this T-Shirt!:
And, in any case, it's a fun little take on mythology, monsters, family, friends, fitting in and sticking it to authority.  And, as I always recommend, read it from the beginning!


The Waite Hoyt Silver Star #40: The Bad Chemicals

For biting social, political and philisophical satire, I've only found one Comic that can hold it's own against Saturday Mornign Breakfast Cereal.  And THIS IS IT. Rather than say anythign more, just let me share a few gems:

and BEST of all...

OK, so more than just a few, but serioulsy... GOLD, right?  So check it out. They're mostly topical and always hilarious.

Monday, October 31, 2011

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!!!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Gold Star Awards, September, 2011

It's the end of the month and that (usually) means two things:

1) I get paid tomorrow.
2) Time for more Hall of Fame inductees!

It's the year of Boston's Impossible Dream - fitting, or ironic, seeing as how they blew their 2011 Season last night in final game after pissing away the biggest lead in history (9 Games) every to be blown in September - but we've got one Gold, one Silver and one Revision from a previous month.  Here we go:


The Red Ruffing GOLD STAR #39: Laughing in Purgatory

While I've been focusing more on the Economy and anti-Corporatism lately, I haven't entirely lost site of the second biggest part of my political agenda: the Separation of Church and state.  Laughing in Purgatory is a blog about raising children in an atheist household in a (*wink*) Christian Nation. It is delightfully irreverent, and anti-religious and does a fantastic job of poking the nose of organized religion and singing the praises of raising our children to be rational, critical and free thinkers.


 
The Lloyd Waner SILVER STAR #37: The Bleacher Report
 
They're kind of like the Cracked.com of online Sports Magazine, with all kinds of top-10, top-50 and even top-100 lists spanning all major sports - Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey,Soccer, Golf, Boxing... you name it, they cover it all.  Their writing style is fairly informal (even someone like me catches several typo's in each post) but it gives the feel of having a conversation with a well-informed amateur, rather than a high-and-mighty sports writer.  It always makes for an interesting read, and it should be a regular stop for any sports fan.
 
 
And finally, a revision...
 
I'm hereby officially stripping Netflix of their Silver Star.  (See me previous post for more info.) So...
 
 
 
The NEW Frank Chance SILVER STAR #13: The Chive
 
"Possibly the best site in the world." ~The Chive
 
They've got humor, sports, videos, pictures of girls... What's not to love?  Cracked.com links to their stuff fairly often.  Worth checking out.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Gold Star Awards. August, 2011

MADE IT! lol

This was a weird month. I started it with only a handful of reserve sites left for the HoF - nothing I was really excited about, just some sites I keep in my back pocket in case I run out of ideas.  Well... I ran out of ideas!  Then about six or seven different sites, blogs, web comics, etc... All came to my attention at once and I'm set with enough Golds and Silvers to carry me though the end of the year!  The only question was who to put into which month. LOL.  That's of particular importance this month, since the year is 1966 and the lone inductee is...


The Ted Williams GOLD STAR #38: Potholer54

I don't know how I managed to have missed this channel for so long.  I got linked to it recently via a comment on MMFA, and the minute I started watching I was HOOKED.  Complex Science about Climate Change, the Creation of the Earth and the Universe, the beginning of life on this planet, Human Evolution, and other things, all boiled down to perfectly digestible short documentaries that even the most brain-dead Right Winger can understand.  And beyond the fact that they are FASCINATING in and of themselves, they represent a solid argument that no Right-Wing True-Believer can deny or debunk, especially since he often specifically addresses the very talking points and urban myths that those on the Right try to use to discredit the Science they can't accept.  Very well done, and a FANTASTIC resource for arguing with Conservatives.  I HIGHLY recommend subscribing.

Also... I want to thank everyone who's read and commented on Utopia.  If you haven't checked it out yet, please take a look. I'd love to hear what you have to say, even if it's only to tell me that it's an incoherent mess! But please feel free to leave comments there, here or email me at niceguy9418@usa.com. (That goes for anything, anytime, BTW, not just that!)  I'm not always on top of every comment and email, but I do try to reply as soon and as often as possible.  And thanks again to ALL of you, for all of your participation in this conversation over the past two years. (It will be two years, officially, in just one more week - 9/7/11.)

Monday, July 25, 2011

Silver Star Awards, July, 2010, and some maintainaence...

I serioulsy hope no reads this. And I really hope that no one checks out this month's Silver Star Winner, representing the lone Vet's committee pick from 1965. And WHATEVER YOU DO, I hope no one gets any ideas about searching for a certain liberal blogger's contribution to the site.

Pud Galvin's SILVER STAR #36: SingSnap

As embarrassing as it is to admit, I LOVE Karaoke. I've done in on Caribean Cruises, I've done it in Japan, I'll do it any chance I get.  It is SO MUCH FUN!  So... If you ever wanted to take a shot at it, but were too chicken to get in front of a LIVE audience, here's your chance. They've got lots of free songs, and a SHIT-TON of songs if you subscribe. (Plus some reverb & audio software that makes you sound a whole lot better - again, for subscribers only.) In any case, it's a LOT of fun. And no, I've never done it. No way. So don't even TRY looking for "NiceguyEddie" on there, because you'll be VERY disappointed!

;)

(Hey: As Randle Patrick Murphy said to Chief Bromden in Ken Kesey's classic novel and film staring Jack Nicholson: At least I tried!)

In all seriousness? There's a lot of UTTER CRAP on there. (Look who's talkin', right?) And don't get me wrong: that's still fun to listen to on occasion.  But I have also discovered some TRULY AMAZING singers there as well. So please DO poke around a bit, becuase there are some real gems there as well.

...
Anyway, that's all for the Month of July, 2010.  There will be some heavy hitting Gold winners coming in the months ahead, but at the moment I'm constrained by the format I chose. Sorry!

But there is also soem long overdue housekeeping that is needed, so I'm making the following changed to my personal HoF:

The Walter John Gold Star Winner, Armchair Subversive, is, as of today and for the past few months, now completely defunct.  So as I have linked to them so many times in the past and because I truly believe that they transcend mere entertainment and have proven themselves top be a site of truly profound Political, Social and Academic value, I hereby promote Cracked.Com from it's former honor of a Silver Star to the NEW WALTER JOHNSON, GOLD STAR #4. That's a pretty coveted spot,  BTW, but it is an honor well deserved.

Taking it's place, as the new ED WALSH, SILVER STAR #18 is: Kawaii Not, the web-comic for cute gone bad. What can I say? It's twisted. I love it.

Also, since the gifted and lovely Julia Wertz has decided to end Fartparty, but pick up where it left off ovetr on Museum of Mistakes, I'm addoing that site to the KID NICHOLS SILVER STAR award.

In other fronts, since JESSE BUIRKETT'S and JOHNNY EVERS' SILVER STAR Winners Ugliest Tatoos and Very Demotivational are both actually part of a larger site, related to FailBlog's "Cheezeburger Network," they are being changed to I Can Has Cheezburger and Memebase respectively.  These are still all part of FAILBlog/Cheezburger network site, but at least this way, I recognize the rest of the content as well, and only stay about a year behind the times. (Hey: In the immortal words of Daniel Lawrence Whitney, "I don't care who you are, that's funny right there!")

Finally, Seanbaby's Superfriends site, is being changed to Seanbaby's main site, which still includes the Superfriends material... Which is still the funniest thing I've ever read... and so much more. But then: What else would I expect form the man who "invented being funny on the internet?"

Cheers, my friends!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Gold Star Awards, June, 2011

Here we go, once a gain a day late: The Gold and Silver Star awards for June! The year is 1964, and there was one BWAA Inductee and a whopping five from the Veterans committee. So, here we go:



The Luke Appling Gold Star #37: AWOLBush / Who Served?

Are you tired of how the Right is always belly-aching about who supports the troops and who doesn’t? How Liberals, and by extension the Democrats, hate their country? And hate the military? And how they love to point out that Barack Obama or Bill Clinton or some other Democrat or Liberal never served in the Military? (Neither did Ronald W. Reagan, but they always seem to leave that one out!) Well, HERE’S a site that turns the tables on those Right-Wing jack-holes by showing that, in fact, there are rather a large number of prominent Democrats who did serve and quite a few Prominent Republincs (read: ALL OF THE LOUDEST AMONG THEM!) who did not. So keep the pressure up on these hypocritical, and at times downright un-American, neo-con chicken-hawks and, check this out!  (And as a side note, let's be honest here: When 50,000 men are dying in the jungles of Southeast Asia while you're fighting Communism in the skies over Texas? YOU'RE A DRAFT-DODGER!)


The Red Faber Silver Star #31: Five Second Films

The extended version of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy is over three hours long. It’s truly a masterpiece of modern American Cinema (and made in New Zealand, by a New Zealander no less!) but WHO HAS THAT KIND OF TIME! (If you do? Get a JOB you lazy bum!)  But THESE films? Are NOT Lord of the Rings. Most of them? Are merely funny. Some are hilarious. And some of them really suck. But at five seconds apiece? You can watch 12 of them in ONE MINUTE and have as many laughs as Peter Jackson gives you in 12 HOURS! Beat that!


The Burleigh Grimes Silver Star #32: Off Planet Films

This YouTube channel is just fucking twisted. And fucking hilarious. I can’t even BEGIN to describe them, other than to say that they produce animated shorts (~three-five minutes or less) with a bizarre, dark, and at times downright psychotic sense of humor about them.


The Tim Keefe Silver Star #33: On the Spectrum

The first of three web-comics I’d like to mention this month centers on an issue that's near and dear to me: Autsim. This comic is a series of strips about one family’s experiences raising autistic children. Although some of the humor is aimed at people who are familiar with Autism, and thus can understand the mind of an Autistic child, a lot of it is pretty general family-humor stuff that anyone (with kids) can be relate to. The artwork is not as professional like most of the web-comics I read (and share here) but it’s cute. You should check it out. Unfortunately, also like a few other comics that I’ve mentioned here, this one hasn’t been updated in a while, and I'm afraid it may be on hiatus permanently at this point. I hope not, because it’s definitely helped me see things in a different light with my own children.



The Heinie Manush Silver Star #34: Selkie

The next web-comic also deals with a personal issue for me: Adoption. And while I never spent time in an orphanage, I am adopted, and so relate to many of the things that the characters talk about and deal with. Similar to "On teh Specturm," it’s not the most polished comic art-wise, but he still manages to capture the charecters' facial expressions and emotions very well, and there are panels such as this, which gives a glimpse at both the soul and the potential of the series:

Its charecters have dpeth, and it's heroine is one of the most sympathetic you will find - just impossible not to absolutely fall in love with. It deals with issues of acceptance (Selkie is a sea-creature living amongst humans), discrimination and diversity, as well as what it means to be a good parent, good son or daughter and good friend. It worth checking out, and should be read from the beginning.

The Monte Ward Silver Star #35: Alone in a Crowd

Most people might initially find this comic to be silly. But keep an open mind. Like Selkie, it is about acceptance, both of yourself and others, and being true to yourself. These themes permeate all of the characters, for the hopelessly idealist Hope, to Grace, the Girls with Cat-Ears, to the Girl who’s taken advantage of at work, to the Aunt who manages a pornographic film studio to the geeky guy who collects action figures. It’s very cutely drawn, and reminds us that, at some point, we’ve all Alone in a Crowd at some point. So check it out! (From the Beginning!)

Sunday, May 1, 2011

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 GOODBrightest 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.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Gold Star Awards, December, 2010

This is a day later than I'd expected, mainly because I've spent about 42 of the last 44 hours in bed, sick as a dog.  (The other two hours were spent visiting Doctor Obvious who told me to "get lots of rest" and "stay hydrated.")  And on a different note, modeling these personal  "Hall of Fame" inductees after the MLB Hall of Fame Election has taken on an increasing somber feeling these past couple of weeks, first with the passing of former Cubs Third Basemen, Ron Santo (who's not in the Hall of Fame, but should be!) and then last week with the passing of former Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame Pitcher, Bob Feller.  I'm actually going to do a piece on Feller before signing off for the year, but BOTH of these men were not only fine ballplayers, but fine gentlemen, citizens, human beings and heroes.  Too often in our society, we put athletes on pedestals who don't belong there.  Part of that, however, is due to the fact that they just don't make 'em like Santo and Feller any more.

Now without further ado, here's thins month's HoF inductees.  In accordance with the 1956 HoF election, there will be two Gold Stars.


The Joe Cronin Gold Star #33: FAIR

I want to thank ClassicLiberal for turning me on to these guys.  Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting has been in the media watchdog biz since 1986.  And despite the rapid growth of rabidly Right Wing media in that time, they have not allowed that to cause them to narrow their focus and start giving mainstream media a pass (a trap that a certain other media watchdog has unfortunately fallen into.)  While the individual piece do not have the same depth as the average MMFA piece, and the comment sections are not nearly as interesting (which means that haven't attracted a high enough class of partisan troll) FAIR gets full credit for staying true to its original mission, and not being distracted by the loudest clown vying for their attention.


The Hank Greenberg Gold Star #34: The Democratic Underground

Putting aside the reams of great content and ironic humor, can you really come up with a cooler site-name that this one?  I mean... who doesn't want to be part of an "underground?" (Sorry, I'm tapped. Just like with the last blog I nominated, not much I can say that I haven't said a dozen before. Great stuff, though. Check it out.)

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Gold Star Awards, November, 2010

The Joe DiMaggio Gold Star #29: ALECWatch

Well, this month started with a piece about ALEC, which may have (finally) represented my loss of innocence when it comes to American Democracy and the death of any remaining idealistic misconceptions I may have had about who’s really in charge in this country. So it’s only appropriate that I start out the final post of the month by awarding the prestigious (ha!) Joe DiMaggio Gold Star to a group dedicated to exposing the truth behind the greatest shadowy political conspiracy the world over that nobody’s talking about.  Now… Unfortunately, it seems that this site has not been updated for several years. And I think that’s a shame, because what they DO have there is critically important information that people need to know about. So, if anyone has some information about a more up-to-date ALEC watchdog site, PLEASE let me know and I will be sure to highlight them as well. IMHO, ALEC, more so than any other organization in the world, represents the single greatest threat to the American Democracy. Al Qaeda are bush-league compared to ALEC. Al Qaeda can only know down buildings and kill a few people. That’s horrible, to be sure, but we lost more Americans last year due to reduced vaccination rates than we typically lose to terrorism.  (So Al Qaeda's roughly as dangerous  to America as Jenny McCarthy.) ALEC, OTOH, is actively and effectively destroying the very soul and fabric of the Country and of the very ideals of popular, representative Democracy that the terrorists hate so much. And at least we’re actually FIGHTING Al-Qaeda. ALEC is a CANCER that we WELCOME into our political system the way an addict welcomes his own chosen poison. They are WINNING in territory that terrorists never even considered fighting for.


The Gabby Hartnett Gold Star #30: Mother Jones

I’ve made no secret of the contempt that I feel for what remains of mainstream journalism. IMHO, even the least of the bloggers do a passably better job of analysis than the average Cable news show, who so often can’t even get basic FACTS right. But if there is a website anywhere that’s more than a blog, and yet practiced journalism the way it is MEANT to be practiced, that site is Mother Jones. I’m a newcomer to their publication, but I have been consistently impressed at the depth and fearlessness with which the pursue their stories. To call them the “NPR of the web” would not even be complimentary. Check them out.


The Ted Lyons Gold Star #31: Down with Tyranny

I’ll have to apologize to the folks at DWT… I am having an increasingly difficult time finding ways to praise my favorite blogs in a way that differentiates them from those that I’ve honored before. The problem is that when I come across a blog that I want to add here, it is usually for the same reasons that I’ve included so many others: Well written; witty, if not humorous; makes me think / challenges me intellectually; etc… And in that regard Down With Tyranny is right up there with Left Hook, Midnight Review, Political Irony, etc… So while I hate to say, “One more great blog that I follow,” unfortunately there is not much I can say that hasn’t been said two or three times before. But they rock. So check them out!


The Dazzy Vance Gold Star #32: Beck Unhinged

Who can’t admire a site that highlight just how utterly bat-shit crazy the now face of Fox News, Glenn Beck, is. Funny in the same way as “$#!t my Dad Says” or Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin (using Palin’s own words) this site makes Glenn Beck look ridiculous but using only quotes from… GLENN BECK. If that’s not doing the Lord’s good work, I don’t know what is. LOL.


The Frank “Home Run” Baker Silver Star #21: Blip

Blip is another of my favorite web comics. It’s about a girl who’s existence was not fated to happen, and thus represents a threat to fabric of reality itself. Heaven has set about suppressing the girl’s creative talents – in order to save the universe, but making her miserable in the process – while Lucifer attempts to unleash her power – by allowing her a modicum of well-deserved happiness. It’s a well written story, with crative and original characters, taking place in a well conceived world of angels, demos and even ancient Gods. It’s at times philosophical, hilarious, poignant, romantic and (recently) tear-jerking. In short this is #1 on my list of favorite web comics at the moments, and well worth checking out. As with all web-comics, I recommend reading it from the beginning.


The Ray Schalk Silver Star #22: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

I’ve recently used several pieces of SMBC that I’ve found relevant, but in truth, if I didn’t stop myself, I’d probably be able to find a use for about 99% of the site’s content. They’re absolutely hilarious and absolute relevant, politically and philosophically. You will seldom find a comic that is both finnier and more intelligent. Check them out. You’ll laugh. A lot. (And since the strip is not serial, this is not one you have to read in any particular order.)


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BTW... The Fred Clarke Silver Star winner, Item Not as Described has been taken down and/or been devoured by the Cheeseburger Network.  And that's cool, but since (1) They're no longer maintaining the "Free Shit from Craig's List" content, and (2) they already has several Silver Stars to their credit already (FailBlog, Ugliest Tattoos, Engrish) I'm going to replace this link with a new one at some point.


One More Piece of News... The Hughie Jennings' Silver Star winner, web comic YU&ME: Dream has finished it's run. (*sad*) The author, Megan Gedris, finished the story on her own terms and created what I honestly believe to be one of the most complex, creative, whimsical, romantic, thoughtful, and just flat out cool, (not to mention COMPLETED!) web comic around, and has now moved on to another project, which is also totally worth checking out.  I'll read anything she writes at this point, but only time will tell if it'll get a Star of it's own in the future.  If you haven't read YU&ME: Dream yet, you can do so now, knowing that you will actually be able to FINISH it.  And I guarantee you won't be disappointed!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Gold Star Awards, October, 2010

Wow.  It's been a busy month, here at IMHO.  26 Posts to date - well over my previous, personal record.  And some of them were even pretty good, if I do say so myself.  I've got at least one more post that needs to go up before election day, and there are some un-replied-to comments that I have to answer (or at least acknowledge) as well.  (And hanks again to everyone who comments - it's hearing from all of you that really makes this worthwhile for me!) And before the month is over, I want to make sure I get the new GOLD STAR's announced for October, while we're still IN October.  So, without further ado, we're up to 1954 now, and that means three Gold's, no Silver's.


The Bill Dickey Gold Star #26: YouTube

This has been SUCH a long time coming.  Of all of the iconic, marquis web pages out there (ebay, google, amazon, etc...) YouTube is, far and away, the most important. In fact, I'll go so far as to call it the greatest innovation in and tool for freedom of speech and freedom of information since the First Amendment.  YouTube makes each and every one of us a journalist, as political commentator, an infotainer, a pundit, a talk show host, and an activist.  It gives everyone a voice and everyone a platform.  And with the Mainstream Media growing more useless every year, stories such as those of Lauren Valle and Kenneth Gladney get what might be the best, most objective treatment, in the chaotic free-for-all that is YouTube.  Never again will "they" be able to suppress the story, or hide the truth.  It' possible that YouTube didn't think they'd change the world when they started out.  And given the preponderance of 10 year old i-Carly wannabe's, there's some fairness in rolling your eye's at this depiction of them.  But we now live in a world in which the information is controlled by the people, and once a single person has it, the WORLD has it.  And that may be the most powerful tool for Democracy since the Constitution.


The Rabbit Maranville Gold Star #27: HuffPo

Right up front, let me clear something up: I am not a huge fan of HuffPo.  But "Rabbit Maranville" is about as obscure a Gold Star as you can get, so now is as good a time as any to acknowledge, and give due credit, to what HuffPo represents.  A Liberal Platform, yes, but far more importantly a MODEL combining blogging, journalism, editorializing, punditry and reader input.  Many have followed, and few have achieved the scope, reach, audience or level of name recognition that the Huffington Post has.  Arianna is the reason many of us are here, doing what we do, and why we might be taken the least bit seriously by anyone outside our core audience.  So what DON'T I like?  Meh...  IMHO, there's just too much Celebrity Fluff more my tastes.  Not enough Kutner and Reich, and way to much Baldwin.  But that's fine.  It is what it is.  It's not The American Prospect, after all, nor is it...


The Bill Terry Gold Star #28: The Humanist

THIS is more like it.  I'll admit that I read them less than I read some other (like TAP) and less than I probably SHOULD or NEED TO, because they really do a fantastic job of digging into the really meaty, political and philosophical issues, going well beyond merely a liberal, or even a humanist perspective and looking at things from all angles.  Which, if they have one, may be their biggest flaw: They make my head spin.  But I highly recommend them for anyone who really wants to THINK.  (Of course, given the polls of late, that's a painfully minute audience, but still: It's still about the strongest endorsement I can give.)


I should get to everyone's comments tonight.  Have great weekend and a safe and fun Halloween everybody!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Gold Star Awards, September, 2010

Yeah, yeah, I know, they're a day late.  No one reads these entries anyway, so sue me. LOL

We're up to 1953 - and that means two golds, and two... (*ahem*) lesser metals.


The Dizzy Dean Gold Star #24: Republicans for Obama

I just like these guys!  If the Republican Party, were more like these dudes? I'd still be a Republican. Oh, I'd still be a centrist / maverick / soclially liberal / libertarian type, but these guys support Obama for pretty much the same reason I DO: He's a moderate, and he's got good ideas.

If there is a single element of the Republican Party left that doesn't put Party interests WAAAY ahead of those of the country, these guys represent it.


The Al Simmons Gold Star #25: Open Secrets

If there is a single force in politics MORE destrucutive than Religion... Wait... No, sorry, strike that: Religion will ALWAYS be number one. 

But what will consistantly rank a very distant second is CORPORATE INTERESTS.  And I absolutley hold to this principle regardless of Party.  (After all, all of the worst parts of every Obama policy have corporate fingerprints all over them!)  So I'd have no problem requiring public disclsoure from politicians recieveing money from ANY such group.  (Even those whiny little bitches over at the NRA!)  Since we'll basically NEVER have that, I salute these guys who are doing the next best thing and EXPOSING who's getting what.  It sad that this is needed in an open, Democratic society, but as long as it is I hope these guys keep up the good work!


The Chief Bender Iron Star: BigGovernment

September 2010 markes the one-year anniversary of a website "presented by" the worst journalist who ever lived, not named "James O'Keefe:" Andrew Brietbart's BigGovernment.  Few greater repositories of Rigth-Wing spin and out-Right misinformation have ever been spawned.  Mister Breitbart? You have accomplished a truly ignoble achievement in your work. Congratulations. If there is a God in heaven and justice on this earth, you will die a very poor, very hungry, very lonely and despised man.

BTW... This "honor" is meant to represent ALL of the "Big" sites.  I'm not wasting anymore keystrokes in the future on a waste of donor organs like Andrew Brietbart.


The Bobby Wallace Iron Oxide Star: The Blaze

What better way to honor the birthday of one of the web's most vomit inducing sites than to simulataneously honor the site it inspired: Glen Beck's, the Blaze.

Um...

Do I really need to say anything else here? I mean... It's fucking Glenn Beck for fucksake!  Glenn Beck, following the inspiration of Andrew Breitbart!  Do you really expect me to top that?!

"Can you lead me though this minefield?" said Ray Charles to Stevie Wonder.


I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Gold Star Awards, August, 2010

I got a few things in my in-box (RW Propaganda Video, Tomas Sowell article) that I'd like to savage, but I've been in such a pissy mood lately that I thought I'd do a more positive piece.  So, once again, it's time to immortalize a few more websites with what might be the single most meaningless, over-rated and over-the-top award in the world: Induction into Niceguy Eddie's Hall of Fame!

This month we're following the election of 1952, which saw two BWAA inductees (Gold Stars) but none from the Veterans Committee. (So no Silvers this month.)


The Harry Heilmann, Gold Star #22: The Midnight Review

Folks, let me first say Kevin K's blog has been on my short list since about January. And yet every month it seemed like I'd remember some other site, or some site would come to my attention that I felt I just HAD to talk about.  But enough's enough.  This has been a LOOOONG time coming.  Kevin K is a prolific blogger, with incredibly in-depth, well-researched and well-cited posts.  He's a great source for a well-informed take and keen insight on everything that's going on in the world of politics.  Comparing my blog to his would be like comparing AM Talk Radio to the way a News and Political media source SHOULD work.  (I'd point to an example, but given the sad state of our media, none really comes to mind! NPR?) Anyway, check it out. The only reason I occasionally sound like I know what I’m talking about is because the are people like Kevin K. (and ClassicLiberal and other Gold Stars that I've mentioned) who do a much better job at this than I do.


The Paul Waner Gold Star #23: Political Irony

I first became aware of Iron Knee’s blog last month when one of their readers left a comment on IMHO saying they found their way here because he had posted something of mine. So I checked out his site and very quickly became absolutely crazy about it. You see… I LOVE irony; especially the kind that comes in the form of Political Hypocrisy. And pointing out this politically hypocritical brand of irony is pretty much ALL THEY DO. It’s fantastic. It’s hilarious. It’s like what “Countdown” would be if all KO did was “Worst Person in the World” for an hour strait! I love the cartoons, I love the posts, I love that he found something I wrote to be worth his while to post… (LOL/wink) I can pay it only the highest compliment that I can think of: That I wish I had done my own blog like that! It’s a riot. Check it out.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

GOLD STAR AWARDS, July, 2010

I actually had two other sites in mind this month, but these two both came to my attention fairly recently and made such an impact on my consiousness that I felt compelled to speak out on their behalf.  Continuing to follow the Baseball HoF elections, I'm skipping over 1950, which saw no ne inductees, and moving up to 1951 which saw two BWAA inductees (Gold Stars) but none from the Veterans Committee (so no Silvers this month.)

The Jimmie Foxx Gold Star #20: Jezebel

I've said many times in my life that the sexiest part of a woman's body is between her ears.  And as anyone who's heard the story of how my (then future) wife bloodied my nose while I "taught" her how to box (or tried to, anyway!) knows: I REALLY dig ballsy broads.  (Sexist irony in that statement fully intended.)  This site is one of my wife's favorties and I can happily admit to being a big fan as well.  As the bumper sticker says: "Well behaved women rarely made history."  So... You go, girls!  Keep kicking ass!

"Men of quality are not threatened by women of equality."

On a side note, DW and I started watching an anime last night called "The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye."  The main charecter is a tough, female, tom-boyish, swordsman, mechanic, pilot, independant, jack/jill-of-all-trades, who's just a real ass-kicker.  When DW (who enjoyed it) asked me how I knew she'd enjoy it, I said, "Simple: We have the same taste in women!" LOL


The Mel Ott Gold Star#21: Thrity-Thousand

When George Washing first took office in 1789, the population of the United States was about 3.9 Million. Today it’s just over 300 Million.  Congressional districts that were never supposed to be larger than 50,000 people are now averaging over 700,000.  Is it any wonder that the individual feels helpless, like his voice is being drowned out by the elites and the special interests?  30K.org explores the history of why we have only 435 Representatives when, according to the will of the Founding Fathers, we should have over 6,000.  Our Democracy IS slipping away from us, and these guys have some really interesting ideas about what is really needed to restore it.  Their FAQ does a fantrastic job of addressing many of the most of the obvious questions and concerns, and what I like the most is that while their goals are philisophiocally LIBERAL (meaning they go against the status quo and the vested interests) they are also Consructionist and inherently non-partisan.  (And while Cities and urban areas (with tend to vote for Democrats) would get more delegates, many of the most under-represented STATES are, in fact, Red States!)  And if their goals WERE to come to fruition, we would not only realize just how "purple" most states really are, but third (fourth, fifth, etc...) parties would have a much more serious chance at getting SOME representation.  In effect it would return REAL Democracy to this country, and return the People's House to the PEOPLE.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

GOLD STAR AWARDS, June, 2010

Time once again to expand my personal Hall of Fame, now prominently displayed on the right hand side of my blog.  (I just realized, shouldn't a liberal's HoF be displayed on the LEFT? Oh well. LOL)  Paralelling Major League Baseball's HoF elections, we're up to 1949 which saw one BWAA induction and two by the Verteran's Committee.  So that's one Gold, two Silvers:


The Charlie Gehringer Gold Star #19: Left Hook!

Many of you will already be familiar with ClassicLiberal and his blog.  He's a regular commenter here, and I've referenced and linked to his work many times.  If there's any one source that I go to find out where the REAL Liberals mindset is - not those who are merely democrats, or Obama supporters - this is where I start.  And I highly recommend his blog as a great source of analysis and information on just about any issue.  And the best thing, for me anyway, are the times I've actually disagreed with him!  There's nothing both more rewarding and more frustrating than debating with someone who you don't really disagree with in any broad idealogical way.  I still disagree with him about the healthcare bill and filibusters, for example, but I also found his opposition to these things to be among the most well informed and well reasoned out there.  (Hence my repeated recomendation of his blog during the health care debate.)  This will likely be the first of many blogs that I've found becuase they're written by people who have commented here, but I'm happy to make it the first.


The Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown Silver Star #19: Engrish

I'm sorry.  There's nothing funnier than the unintentionally hilarity that comes from a botched translation.  And the fact is that translating between Japanese and English (and vice-versa, I'm well told) is HARD.  All the same, some of these pictures will make laugh so hard it will be the equivalent of 20 sit-ups.  I need it translating more!


The Kid Nichols Silver Star #20: Fartparty

Julia Wertz is the coolest, funniest, most dark and twisted chick I've never met.  I only recently discovered her amazing work, but I'm totally hooked.  It's not a web-comic, per se, since her books have been published, but she's got a good smattering of example strips covering many different, personal topics on her website.  She's just totally, awesomely funny.

I posted one of her strips a couple days back.. Here's anoyther one. Click to see it full-sized.  (And BUY HER BOOKS!!! LOL)

Monday, May 31, 2010

GOLD STAR AWARDS, May, 2010

I was a little bit nervous that my follow-up to my last post would end up being really lame by comparison.  Which is just silly of course - since this is now the last day of the month, it time once again to do the Gold Star Awards. (So... this was pretty much GUARENTEED to be really lame in comparison to my last post! LOL)

(We're up to 1948 - 2 Golds, No Silvers)

The Herb Pennock Gold Start #17: The National Debt Clock

This may seem a bit odd for a liberal call out, no?  I mean - isn't it the Right that's always harping about the deficit?  Aren't they the ones that want to cut spending?  Yeah.  If you believe that. I've got some tax services to sell you.  The Right (Republicans, Conservtaives, etc...) only give two shits about the deficit when the DEMOCRATS are in power.  I've done some write-ups on this before.  Reagan, Bush'41, Bush'34 - it's THESE guys who creatd and perpetuated the problem.  The National didn't budge, after you adjust for inflation, between Harry Truman and Jimmy Carter - and Carter's last two budgets ended up with surpluses.  Clinton's did too, even after inheriting record debt from Bush'41 at the start of his term.  The jury's still out on Obama, and it's the BUSH tax cuts that need to be repealed first, once the economy is really going again.  In any case, I think the Debt and Deficit is every bit as much a Republican problem, more so actually, as it is a Democratic one.  What you here from the right is no more than hypocritcal posturing.  And this IS an important issue.

The Pie Traynor Gold Star #18: The Daily Kos

At one point, I think I viewed Kos as kind of a somewhat more underground, more 'real' version of HuffPo; sans all the celebrity crap that brought the latter farther into the forefront at the cost of diminshed quality and seriousness.  Of course, once you're under Bill O'Rielly skin the way Kos has gotten, you've pretty much arrived at the forefront of liberal blogging.  There's some really great stuff there.  And I dig almost anything that get's under the skin of conservatives as much as Kos does.

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I'm STILL in the process of adding my HOF to the main page of the blog, but, for reference, previous inductees include:

Ty Cobb's GOLD STAR #1: Media Matters for America
Babe Ruth's GOLD STAR #2: The Skeptic's Dictionary
Honus Wagner's GOLD STAR #3: Snopes
Walter Johnson GOLD STAR #4: Armchair Subversive
Christy Mathewson GOLD STAR #5: Humanism by Joe
Cy Young's GOLD STAR #6: The American Prospect
Nap Lajoie's GOLD STAR #7: The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity
Tris Speaker's GOLD STAR #8: Rational Wiki
Pete Alexander's GOLD STAR #9: Republican Offenders
George Sisler's GOLD STAR #10: Newshounds
Willie Keeler's GOLD STAR #11: Newscorpse
Eddie Collins' GOLD STAR #12: Wikipedia
Lou Gehrig's GOLD STAR #13: FactCheck.org
Rogers Hornsly's GOLD STAR #14: Election-Projection
Michey Cochrane's GOLD STAR #15: Think Progress
Frankei Frisch's GOLD STAR #16: People for the American Way
- and -
Hoss Radbourne's SILVER STAR #1: FAILBlog
Cap Anson's SILVER STAR #2: Some Grey Bloke
Buck Ewing's SILVER STAR #3: Sore Thumbs
Roger Bresnahan's SILVER STAR  #4: The Dictatorship.com
Dan Brouthers' SILVER STAR  #5: Seanbaby's Super Friends Page
Fred Clarke's SILVER STAR  #6: Item Not as Described
Jimmy Collins' SILVER STAR  #7: I-am-bored.com
Ed Delahanty's SILVER STAR  #8: Baseball-Reference.com
Hugh Duffy's SILVER STAR  #9: Menage a 3
Hughie Jennings' SILVER STAR  #10: YU&ME: Dream
King Kelly's SILVER STAR  #11: Anime News Network
Jessie Burkett's SILVER STAR  #11: Ugliest Tattoos, A Gallery of Regret.
Frank Chance's SILVER STAR #13: Netflix
Johnny Evers' SILVER STAR #14: Very Demotivational
Joe McGinnity's SILVER STAR #16: Runescape
Joe Tinker's SILVER STAR #17: Baseball Almanac
Rube Waddell's SILVER STAR #18: Sporcle
Ed Walsh's SILVER STAR #19: Cracked
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Jim O'Rourke's TIN STAR : Conservapedia
Jack Chesbro's CARBON STAR: The Global Warming Petition Project
Eddie Plank's LEAD STAR: FoxNation
Tommy McCarthy's PYRITE STAR #15: The Drudge Report

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

One of my Heroes: Harry Chapin

(Just 'cause I'm getting a little sick of writing about Kagan and politics.)

While some of you may already be familiar with Harry Chapin, I'm sure that many of you will not have heard him.  He was a singer-songwriter in the 1970's, most famous for what became known as his "story songs."  Sad, melancholy tales of real life, defeat, missed opportunities and regret.  (Yay!)  His biggest hit, and the one that everyone actually KNOWS him for was "Cats in the Cradle."  He had others, but that was what really put him on the map.  It was also the first song I ever learned how to sing, the only song I really sing well (hey, I've been singin' it for 35 years now!), and to date the only song I've ever sung in front of a large group of people.  (To a great deal of applause I might add. LOL) 

When my wife introduced my brother-in-law to our music collection she described Chapin as "[my] favorite artist." I'd never really though of him that way up until that point. I have far too broad a taste in music to really pick any ONE band or person as my favorite.  But if I HAD to name someone, I supposed it would be Harry.  To really describe how I really feel about him, however, I have to say a lot more than just that he's my favorite artist... He's one of my heroes.

That's an odd way to descibe a musician, but to understand it you have to understand how active Harry was in various political causes, and political activism, most prominently in fighting wolrd hunger.  He felt that poverty and hunger in THIS country were "insulting" to America and established "World Hunger Year" in 1975, a charity that remains active to this day.  In addition to this, over a large portion of career over half of his concerts were done as benefits.  He gave a away more money than anyone else at the time, and very few have even come close in the many years since.  It was his generosity, political activism, world outlook and pure artistic integrity and freedom that elevates him from merely my favorite artist to my hero.  When he died in 1981, though I was only seven years old, I was keenly aware of what the world had lost that day.  He remains one of only about two famous people that I cried at hearing of their passing, and it is only these two that I still find difficult to talk about today.  (If you're wondering, the other is Jim Henson.)  In 1987, on what would have been his 45th birthday,Hharry Chapin was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his campaigning on social issues, the single highest honor that can be bestowed on a Civilian by our government. 

I guess he was more than just MY hero.

Politically, it should be pretty obvious that he was a Liberal Democrat, and he wrote several pieces that dealt directly with the political issues of the  (racism, sexism, poverty, intoelrance, exploitation, freedom, etc...) but if there was ever a song that summed up the Liberal Philosophy (and liberal FRUSTRATION) perfectly, albeit in a completely allegorical way, it's THE ROCK

Here's a youtube video for it.  Think Global Warming, or just about ANY issue that Liberals have to swim upstream agaist the status quo on, and TELL ME this isn't how you feel:



Another great one, which deals in non-conformity and arguably strays into neural diversity three decades before that term even exsisted, is FLOWER ARE RED:



Finally one of the greatest inditements of sexism that I've ever come accross: WHY DID THE LITTLE GIRLS? (Remember, this was in the late 1970's.)



For a sampling of his less political stuff, his 'story songs,' here are some more links to YouTube:

A Better Place to Be
Cats in the Cradle
Mr. Tanner
Taxi
W.O.L.D.

...and what just might be my favorite SONG of all time: SNIPER

There are many, MANY others.  He was a musician that defied genre, broke convention, and wrote amazing stories.  What's more, he was a PERSON who accomplished more that most can even dream to and yet still died, at a tragically young age, with his life's work left largely unfinished.



Oh if a man tried
To take his time on Earth
And prove before he died
What one man's life could be worth
I wonder what would happen
to this world
~Harry Chapin (1942-1981)