Vero Possumus - Did I just see that?

Yes, it's true. In a speech this weekend, Barack Obama unveiled his latest marketing tool. It is a large and stylized version of the presidential seal that Mr Obama has in front of the podium or lectern where he delivers his speeches.

To be honest I thought of this type of thing a few years ago and was very amazed that it hadn't been tried. In a way I am very happy that it is Obama that has opened up this can of worms because his design department did a great job with it and now everyone who follows suit will be seen to be copying him. I may be in the minority on this but I would bet that there are few people who will even really notice except as a subliminal nod to his "presidential-ness."

I guess they say that you have to dress for the job you want. This is in some way what Mr. Obama is doing with the seal. It will remain to be seen whether it will be effective, but I have my bet that it will.

George Carlin Passes

CNN.com has the story that I headr on NPR on my way in to work this morning. George Carlin has passed away. He will be deeply missed. I loved his humor and his biting sarcasm. He left his mark on the world with his "Seven Words" but and showed a generation of comics how it was done.

Political Radar: Gore Backs Obama's Presidential Run

ABC News has the latest on Obama's endorsement count and it's one higher this evening. The big guy has spoken. Al Gore will endorse Barack Obama for the Dem nomination.

I do a little unscientific research...

If you go to YouTube and search for "McCain" you are innundated with videos that make fun of the presidential candidate in every manner that the intertubes has to offer. It goes on for pages. In fact to find any video posted on You Tube that is not overtly critical of John McCain you have to go to the second page of offerings and then there are really no more than one or two. The content is more than a little bit tilted against him.

In contrast, if you look up "Obama," you get a significantly different type of video offering. There are hundreds of highly complimentary videos posted that tell the story of Barack Obama in many different ways.

Is this an omen? I don't know. It is obvious that the digerati and the You Tube users demographic is much more in tune with Obama and much more likely to deride the accomplishments of McCain. There may not be too much value in this information but, then again, there may. I mean by this that people are obviously taking the time to create these videos and upload them to You Tube. Inherent in that level of activity is a perceived dissatisfaction with the McCain campaign and what it represents. That in itself is very illuminating.

Food for thought.

Now for some better news.

Shakesville gives us the cockles-warmer-of-the-day. Really great story.

Katherine Patrick, 18, tells her parents she has to talk to them about something serious, then comes out to them; her mother laughs with relief; her father, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, tells her they love her no matter what and arranges an interview with a gay publication to come out publicly. Father and daughter plan to march together tomorrow in Boston's Pride Parade.

Now THAT is parenting done right!

‘McCain Cribs’ Tours The Straight Talk Express

Via Wonkette comes the best piece of dear-god-make-it-stop McCain crazyness. In an effort to "relate" to the "younger crowd" the McCain for Preznit team has turned out an MTV cribs style look into the "Straight Talk" Express. If you feel like getting a chuckle you can follow the above link to Wonkette and go from there to points McCain. It's pretty funny.

It must be all of that California Tolernace

Kern County is going out of the wedding business.

You heard right. If you want to get married in Kern County you will be out of luck as of this weekend.

Its seems that the County Clerk doesn't want to allow Gays to get married there so she has declared that there won't be any more civil weddings at the courthouse. None.

Here is the piece in it's entirety:

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Heterosexual couples are rushing to get married in a conservative California county that plans to halt all civil wedding ceremonies as gay marriage is set to be legalized.

Kern County Clerk Ann Barnett says Friday is the last day the county will perform civil weddings.

Starting Tuesday, when the California Supreme Court's order legalizing same-sex marriage takes effect, Kern will issue new gender-neutral marriage licenses as required by law. But couples seeking to get hitched will have to go somewhere else for the ceremony.

Barnett says the increased demand for ceremonies would overwhelm her staff and pose office security risks. She made the announcement after learning she could not marry only couples of her choosing.

I guess that's her way of making sure that bigotry and hatred are indeed the family values that Kern County are founded upon. The county elders must be proud.

NBC's Tim Russert dead at 58 - U.S. news- msnbc.com

NBCIs reportign that Tim Russert has died of a sudden heart attack.

He was a powerful figure in the political scene. He will be missed. Our thoughts go out to his family and colleagues

Holy shit!

Looks like we have a job of work to educate some Party officials about the candidate.

The following appeared as a reason for Fred Hobbs of TN not to endorse Obama:

Maybe [it’s] the same reason I don’t want to — I don’t exactly approve of a lot of the things he stands for and I’m not sure we know enough about him,” Hobbs said when asked why he thought Davis wasn’t endorsing Obama. “He’s got some bad connections, and he may be terrorist connected for all I can tell. It sounds kind of like he may be.”

You might think that Mr. Hobbs was a died-in-the-wool Republican or at the very least an Independent, but you'd be wrong. Fred Hobbs is a member of the TN State Democratic Executive Committee and a superdelegate.

If this is how the mainstream southern white Democratic leaders see the presumptive nominee this far into a presidential campaign the party is in deep shit. Obama is going to need to dust off all of his considerable skills and speechmaking prowess to drill into the southern/appalachia states that he is a true blue American, and he needs to do it fast.

It will remain to be seen if there will be any traction in those states with mainstream whites but I know that this comment will spur on the conversation about who Mr. Obama is and why he would make a great leader. Not to mention that calling the leader of your party possibly "terrorist connected" may result in some "reshuffling" of the local superdelegate and committee membership in the future.

Get ready for an interesting next few months in the south!

What is it with these guys?

Via WLKY in Louisville

There has always been, it seems, a fascination of the GOP with "family values," but they seem to be the people who are the most likely to be closeted gays, and in this case pretty forceful about getting what they want. Behold the antics of one Glenn Murphy Jr., former chairman of the Clark county, IN. Republican party...

Police reports said Murphy shared a bunk bed with his victim, a 22-year-old who had had too much to drink, and the next morning the victim said he awoke to find Murphy performing a sex act on him. The victim said he told Murphy to stop and pushed him away.
Prosecutor Stanley Levco said other incidents involving Murphy would have been presented as evidence had the case gone to trial. A Clarksville police report shows Murphy was involved in a similar incident in 1988, but no charges were filed.

It is really interesting that those who are so righteous about their values are often the most egregious violators of the trust of others. Wish I were surprised by this these days.

Hypocrites.

Fox News: Michelle Obama is "Obama's Baby Mama"

Fox News has done it again. Seriously. "Obama's Baby Mama?" I now qualify as an outraged liberal.

STFU Fox News! Racist fucktards.

Keeping the fight going in the right direction

Rather than facing a growing rumor mill and the inevitable backpedaling and re-education that that can cause, the Barack Obama campaign has createdFighttheSmears.com, a fact checking section of the main campaign site that can be used to preemptively dispel the most common rumors about the candidate. So far there are only four entries on the page but look for it to grow as we go into the general election. There is a change for people to sign up and help to "spread the truth." We may be seeing a new weapon in the battle over how the democrats fight back against rumors and innuendo in the media and the blogosphere. It will be interesting to see how effective this is in the long run but just seeing a politician that puts the most horrible smears against him up for the world to see and debunks them on his own public website is a great encouragement.

Fafblog Returns!

Fafblog! the whole world's only source for Fafblog. has returned! Back from the brink of destruction it has returned with vim, vigor and a heavy dose of Gibletsian humor. Giblets, Fafnir and the Medium Lobster are back to turn over your head with interesting anecdotes about the state of the world.

Oh well done, fair Fafblog! We have missed you!

I'm Voting Republican

No Not really.

But here's a great video that talks about the big republican agenda pretty well.

Take a look.

John McCain 2008 - John McCain for GOLF?!

John McCain's 2008 website has it all folks! Obama and Iraq, The decision center, and what's that? Golf Gear? Yep! He has himself a full line of golf products including tees, a towel and also... Yes you guessed it balls and a sack! I guess we all get the idea of what GOP supporters really need this year don't we? More balls in a nice big ball sack.

I think the democrats have taken them all this election cycle.