Call it propaganda if you must but damn, Obama knows how to work a campaign video!  This, our American friends, is what it's all about today: 

Of the many, many reasons for Americans not to vote Republican today, the most bizarre is that they can't spell!  Then again, CNN political writer Hilary Rosen points out that John McCain actually lost the election two years ago while this video looks to the future as McCain rekindles his grudge match with Sarah Palin!

The LA Times this weekend had a masterful editoral on why the California vote to revoke 'Will & Grace' creator Max Mutchnick's disturbingly perfect marriage is a "rare and terrible" thing.

Here in Canada, a counter-intuitive new study in the Canadian Journal of Economics says that straight men and women make slightly less money than lesbians and more money than gay men.  Really?  How are gay guys paying for all those iPhones?

On the set of Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes" movie, Jude Law suddenly leapt at Robert Downey Jr.'s hot, hot crotch!  Okay, he was actually helping to put out a fire caused by Downey's pipe but the image should start a couple of pants-fires of its own.

Meanwhile, the director himself was attacked by a knife-wielding 16-year-old shouting, "I love Madonna, where's Guy? I am going to kill him! I'm Madonna's biggest fan! I'm going to kill Guy." This divorce is going to be even messier than we thought!

Hopefully, such ugliness will be a thing of the past after Obama wins and ushers in a new Xanadu era of brotherhood and healing, like watching adorable dancing nerd Corey Vidal profess his heterosexual love for his pal Brent:

Seriously, it's not even funny anymore! This weekend, the US Republican Vice-Presidential nominee declared war on Iran, all-but-announced her own bid for president in 2012 already and insisted that the First Amendment right to free speech is in jeopardy because the press is criticizing her. She has gone through the looking glass, people.

Most astonishing of all Palin's slip-ups is this prank phone call from Canadian comedy duo The Masked Avengers pretending to be French president Nicolas Sarkozy. Despite the caller's goofy accent, weird comments and admission that he's calling from Montreal, Palin still didn't realize she was being had. No, I'm wrong and I take it back: it is still funny!

Gay singer/songwriter James Collins has found his inner Tina Fey, cowriting a cute anti-Palin ditty, but the real surprise was watching John McCain join Fey in making fun of his running mate on SNL this weekend. By tomorrow's election, the only person taking her seriously will be Trig!

At least the gays in her home state are done with her: a new poll says that 87 percent of LGBT Alaskans are voting for Barack Obama and Joe Biden. By this point, I'd ask what the hell the other 13 percent are smoking but oh yeah...Palin's hometown has been called "the meth capital of Alaska."

I laugh at the phrase "the gays" but Rachel Maddow laughs more at "the gay."

One typically classy Ayn Rand reader suggests that conservatives protest an Obama presidency by not tipping waitresses. The thought of these people winning again has a great number of Canadians wishing we could vote in this election too. This poll shows who for and this video shows why (won't someone think of the hogs?):

Journalist Rex Wockner bravely went to the giant Christian anti-gay-marriage rally in San Diego this weekend and, despite being surrounded by 15,000 people praying for homosexuals to be cured, came away from it still gay! That is one unredeemable heathen! 

Meanwhile, in LA, "Borat" star Sasha Baron Cohen infiltrated a right-wing rally and caused his usual trouble.  Very niiice!

One conservative Christian writer suggests it's time the homophobes rethink their marriage stance but I don't see it happening, especially when the deep-pocketed Mormons have come to help:

Fortunately, not everyone in these faith groups hates us: some Mormon moms staged a vigil for gay rights while more and more research is showing that evangelical Christian attitudes towards sex are more complicated than they seem.

A Catholic priest in New York has been suspended for having an affair with a woman he picked up when she was in his confessional booth! The story has shocked the public -- the priest had sex with a woman?

And finally, the 22nd annual Fashion Cares benefit for the AIDS Committee of Toronto was held this weekend and it was a terrific return to form, summed up in three words: Dame! Shirley! Bassey!

Wow, normally I'll rather eat my own foot than watch "Dr. Phil" but this week, Oprah's favourite TV therapist came through, devoting an hour to the delicate topic of "gender confused children." The comments on his website are a fascinating window on where people are at on this. Now if we could just get these kind of shows to quit "balancing" the views of, in this case, a professional child psychiatrist guest with some lesser-light from the anti-gay activist group "Focus on the Family." It's like having a discussion on the rainforest with a National Geographic researcher and a member of the Flat Earth Society!

Also looking out for children is the Catholic Church -- in an effort to solve their decades-old problem of paedophile priests (better late than never!), the Vatican will now have psychological screening for "homosexual tendencies." Openly gay priests will be cast out while child molesters, who don't see themselves as gay, will continue to infect their ranks. Nice shooting, Tex.

Here's a fun drinking game for tonight: a shot for every drag queen dressed as Sarah Palin!

Godwin's Law says the first debater to compare his opponent to a Nazi or Hitler loses the argument. Let's hope that's true in the gay marriage vote in California because, oh yes, they went there:

Another rough day on the campaign trail for John McCain: his spokespeople...well...just aren't very good and now, in a really embarrassing moment, even Joe the Plumber has abandoned him!

On election night Tuesday, CNN will try something new: Wolf Blitzer won't talk to McCain and Obama surrogates via split-screen as usual but via holograms of them in the studio.

With this experiment on Blitzer's show, the news network is curious how people will react to a fuzzy simulation slightly out of phase with reality. Not to mention the hologram!

“Sometimes homophobia is seen as less important than racism,” says Irish president Mary McAleese, “Nobody should have to suffer because of their sexual orientation in this country.” Someone across the pond please buy the lady a Guinness!

Hospitals are finding their blood reserves at their lowest in ten years. Anything I could say right now would just sound even more snide than usual so let's wrap things up with a blast from the past: KISS performing on a 1976 Halloween special hosted by legendary bitch Paul Lynde.  Happy Halloween everybody!

Oh no! Those damn Hollywood liberals are back, bugging everyone to vote (You're not my dad, Harrison Ford!!!). Aww but wait -- there's Borat!  And Neil Patrick Harris, being extra-adorable! Okay fine, I'll watch it -- just please stop Jason Segal yelling at me:

So sure, I love a good left-wing, pro-environment public service announcement as much as the next organic food store shopper but someone seriously needs to take Greenpeace aside and say, "What the fuck were you thinking?" Their new ad, with its just-in-time-for-Halloween zombie JFK, is beyond creepy:

But, in the interest of fairness, it's important to note that there are Republican celebrities too (at least I think they're celebrities). They've joined forces against Minnesota candidate and former "Saturday Night Live" writer Al Franken, creator of nelly advice guru Stuart Smalley. Franken's good enough, he's smart enough, but doggone it, they really don't like him:

And while anything can happen with the US election next Tuesday, I have to admit to feeling a little sorry for John McCain: he got shafted today, not just in this drop-the-hammer ad from Barack Obama but by his own running mate Sarah Palin! It's like they say in Alaska: "Never trust a pitbull in lipstick with your moose from Neiman Marcus." Or something like that.

But since we're talking politics just before Halloween, check out this ad for anti-gay-marriage rally in San Diego -- I find the voiceover hilarious even as the content chills me down to my bones:

Fortunately, the LA Times has an excellent point/counterpoint on the whole ugly debate and, whatever happens in California on Tuesday, blogger Brian Frank gives us "Five Reasons Why the Opponents of Gay Marriage Will Ultimately Fail."

Suitably reassured, I can turn to more fictional Halloween terrors. I'm thinking of digging up an old favourite: "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" is the Gayest. Movie. Ever. (Yes, I'm including "Showgirls") Here's just one example:

Australian researchers have found a genetic link between male-to-female transsexuality and the genes that control testosterone. Now if you're a man who looks fabulous in a dress, you can say, "I know! I was born this way!"  (No word yet on any genetic basis for preferring a Vera Wang over a Marc Jacobs)

Despite the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US military fired on Syria this weekend. War is like potato chips to these guys.

But we're just over a week until the US election and things look grim for John McCain. Check out these numbers from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Saturday night:
Crowd for Senator Obama: 35,000 inside the venue and another 10,000-15,000 outside.
Crowd for Senator McCain: 1,400 according to the McCain campaign, 1,000 or less according to reporters.

Next day, Obama spoke in Denver:

No wonder the McCain people are freaking out and mailing Jewish voters weird reminders of the Holocaust -- implosion!

Meanwhile, Sarah Palin is now disobeying him on the campaign trail.  Poor guy.  It's an old story: old man meets ambitious working girl, introduces her to his influential friends, buys her $150,000 worth of fancy clothes and then watches her run off in her new red powerdress. It's 'Pretty Woman' but with a Washington ending!

And, in the other ballot-box drama: here's something new about the people trying to stop gay marriage in California -- they really hate being filmed!

This level of anger makes it all the weirder that Mormon and sci-fi author Orson Scott Card can't understand why gay people are upset about their right to marry in California being taken away:  "What's the hurry? Why the hostility toward even the slightest opposition? Can't our opponents wait to get their way until they have persuaded a clear majority? Can't they listen to people with ideas that are different from theirs?" Orson, Orson, we've talked about this before:  go read some Martin Luther King and then come and rant us again, okay?  Kisses!