YES!  US President Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize for...doing...um...something.  Even supporters are saying, "Really?" while opponents are saying, "HITLER!!!"

For we gay people, the timing is especially awkward because, on Sunday, tens of thousands of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender activists will arrive in Washington DC for the National Equality March to protest Obama's painfully slow (if non-existant) pace in fulfilling his campaign promises to his gay citizens:

Will Obama simply shrug and say, "Nobel Peace Prize, bitches!" or will he arrive with new hate crime legislation (eleven years too late)? Gay congessman Barney Frank is telling people to stay home but others are more hopeful.

Meanwhile, in California this weekend, word is that governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (am I the only one who still can't friggin' believe I have to call him that?) plans to do a mass veto of hundreds of bills, including one to proclaim a day in honour of Harvey Milk.  Activists are angry, with State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano calling him a liar to his face and ending with a very memorable "Kiss my gay ass!"  Who says politics is dull?

But careful, Tom -- kissing your gay ass might lead to this:

The big story today, of course, was NASA thrusting their rockets into the moon but only finding a "dry hole." There's a sex joke in there somewhere but I just can't find it.

All this moon talk, however, distracts us all from what Xtra's brilliant Ottawa blogger Dale Smith says is the real story:  Stephen Harper's ongoing dishonesty and contempt for government.  If you follow any link on this page, make it that one!  The pictures of Levi Johnson working out for his Playgirl shoot can wait a few minutes!

And finally, this weekend is, of course, Thanksgiving. 

I'm thankful that we live in a country more rational and free than our neighbours to the south, I'm thankful that I've got tickets to see Kylie Minogue in Toronto tonight (you can be thankful I haven't gone on about all week!), I'm thankful that the awesome Bryan Safi listens to homophobic hip-hop so that I don't have to, and I'm thankful for you, the lovely readers who inspire all of us at Xtra to keep our eyes, ears and big mouths open.

Hope your holiday is less crappy than Ellen Page's and we'll see you on the other side!

Today, we've got what it says on the tin...

Thanks to the internet, I'd thought I'd encountered every possible fetish by this point but no -- here comes Dinosaurs Fucking Robots!  I was this close to coining the term 'bi-ceratops' but knew someone would slap me.

Xtra's man in Parliament Dale Smith is spending today covering the people who are covering the people who are covering Barack Obama's first presidential visit.  Smith's not impressed, even if Obama "comes in riding on a unicorn with trumpeting angels heralding his arrival."  If only -- it'd be better than the treatment Obama got from the foul, anti-gay editorial cartoonist Sean Delonas, who proves once again that the pen is douchier than the sword! 

Sure, you're asking, "What the hell is with the horse peeing rainbows?" but the bigger question is, can you make through all 1:21 of its "song?"

Who knew Canada had its own X-Files? I can sleep at night knowing that someone is out there, trying to catch the Wendigo.  And I still maintain that the Chinook is caused by aliens.

Speaking of aliens, while we wait for the new season of 'Torchwood' later this year, the UK TV site has an adorable online comic that proves Captain Jack will flirt in any medium:

Of course, since aliens don't exist, homosexuals are our greatest threat, says Utah state senator Chris Buttars. Gay people, he insists, are "the meanest buggers I have ever seen...just like the Muslims." As always, the facts prove him completely wrong but who needs facts when you're a senator?

Now I'd love to see Buttars locked in a UFC cage with Margaret Atwood, who has refused to attend a Dubai literary festival because the organizers banned a book that contained a gay character. Go, Peggy!

I was going to go out on a limb and say that this was the weirdest video I have ever seen but that was even before CBC hosts Steven and Chris showed up:

But finally, some good music -- as I mentioned on Tuesday, the Pet Shop Boys received their "Outstanding Contribution to Music" honour at the Brit Awards last night and had Lady Gaga and Brandon Flowers join them for a very weird, very wonderful medley of their two decades of hits:

And yes, I promise I won't mention them again until at least, say, March 24th...