** The first Presidential Debate was on Friday. Afterwards each candidate's campaign quickly called a victory for their guy. Having watched the debate I think Barack Obama was the winner - though it was honestly very close. A CNN poll found 51% believed Obama won and only 38% thought McCain won. Most pundits handed this victory to Barack Obama. A USA Today/Gallup Poll also had Obama winning on several fronts.

For those of you that didn't watch three things stuck out to me: 1.) McCain never ONCE mentioned the middle class, 2.) McCain never once looked at Obama during the entire debate, and 3.) Barack held his own on foreign policy against McCain.

** Clay Aiken finally comes out via People cover. Sporting his favorite new accessary - his newborn baby boy - he tells People that, "I cannot raise a child to lie or hide things."

** Global warming is melting Arctic sea ice to the devastation of polar bears. The roaming and feeding grounds of polar bears gets smaller every year. In an effort for self preservation these creatures have turned to cannibalism. A male polar bear recently broke into the den of a female polar bear and ravaged her to death.

** Gov. Sarah Palin claimed - reportedly on several occasions - that dinosaurs and people coexisted. She apparently saw a human footprint in the dinosaur footprint. Really?!?!

And two of the latest campaign videos made by and for our great friends - the Jews.

The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.

These last two weeks I have been submerged in political news. Which for a political junkie like me is heaven! BUT, I can't begin to tell you how thoroughly disgusted I have been with VP Sarah Palin and this fiasco of a Republican Convention.

I don't have enough time right now to even begin to lay out my criticisms of the Republican "Beauty & The Beast" ticket - but, trust, that in the next few days I'll unleash on my keyboard.

I can say that Sarah Palin effectively read her speech and was immensely successful in exciting the diehard Republican base. And, since the bar is so low for Republicans, she actually seemed like a great speaker, comparatively. She was WAY too sarcastic and her lies about Obama and overall being through me into an irate anger.

She lied! A lot. In fact, she had so many lies in her speech it's hard to tell if there was any truth at all. And, what was that line about rights - something about upholding the Constitution? Which apparently is a big hassle to the GOP. Who knew? Geesh.

In the meantime check out this great clip from Jon Stewart! He bashes Rove, some fat white guy, and Palin. It's wonderful...

Unless you live in a cave or have a phobia of being in contact with the world on the weekends you've probably already heard that Sen. Barack Obama has chosen Sen. Joe Biden to be his VP. The announcement came in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

The Democratic National Convention begins on Monday in Denver. The theme for Monday is ONE NATION. Some of the speakers will include Nancy Keenan, NARAL Pro-Choice America; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Sen. Claire McCaskill; and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Keynote speaker will be Michelle Obama. Also rumored to speak on Monday is former GOP Congressman Jim Leach who has endorsed Obama and is a member of Republicans for Obama.

The McCain campaign wasted no time creating attack ads. They released an ad featuring HIllary Clinton alluding that she was passed over because she "spoke the truth".

Proving exactly who the real "elitist" in this election is, John McCain had to have his staff answer a question from Politico. The question certainly wasn't that difficult - your average American wouldn't need more than a few seconds to provide an answer - but McCain couldn't remember how many homes he owned. (He owns at least 4 and up to 7-10.)

And, lastly an inspiring video by Dave Stewart for his song, American Prayer. It features a plethora of celebrities including Whoopi Goldberg, Cyndi Lauper, Perez Hilton, Forest Whitaker, Margaret Cho, Barry Manilow, Linda Perry, and Joan Baez to name a few.

This might just be the funniest - albeit random - story I've read all day. The folks over at Gawker posted this little gem of a story. Back in May 1973 shortly after John McCain was released from his POW camp he gave an interview to US News & World Report.

"Now I don't hate them any more—not these particular guys. I hate and detest the leaders. Some guards would just come in and do their job. When they were told to beat you they would come in and do it. Some seemed to get a big bang out of it. A lot of them were homosexual, although never toward us. Some, who were pretty damned sadistic, seemed to get a big thrill out of the beatings."

And according to the Bush administration's definition of torture, John McCain was not tortured in Vietnam.

<> The release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince will be pushed back until Summer 2009.

<> Jared Polis wins the Democratic primary in Colorado's 2nd district for the U.S. House beating out former state senator Joan Fitz-Gerald while running as an openly gay man. The heavily democratic district almost certainly means he'll be going to Washington this fall.

<> Michael Phelps continues to rack up gold medals - currently has 6 gold medals from the 2008 Olympics. Consumes 11,000 calories per day. Gets a nap in the afternoon?

<> Isaac Hayes - voice of South Park's Chef - dies at age 65. Bernie Mac dies at age 50 of pneumonia complications.

<> Edwards the cheater? Relentless media keeps spinning the story over and over and over. Alan Colmes snaps during Edwards panel.

<> Manhunt.net Co-Founder Jonathan Crutchley contributes $2300 to the McCain campaign. After days of intense membership cancellations Crutchley was asked to step down as Chairman of the Board.

<> Hillary Clinton will be nominated and have her name announced during the role call at the Democratic Convention in Denver. Marc Ambinder reports that Obama/Clinton tensions are fabricated - mostly by the Republican National Committee.

AND THE LATEST CAMPAIGN ADS OF THE WEEK:

Last week John McCain released his attack ad on Barack Obama where he compared his celebrity status to that of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Now, Paris has her very own rebuttal.

Paris' mother, Kathy Hilton, criticized the McCain campaign for their "Celebrity" ad. She says, "It is a complete waste of the money John McCain's contributors have donated to his campaign. It is a complete waste of the country's time and attention at the very moment when millions of people are losing their homes and their jobs. And it is a completely frivolous way to choose the next President of the United States."

It may be just me but I am baffled at how terrible the McCain campaign has been these last several weeks. I used to just not like John McCain because I thought he was a pretend "maverick" that sucked on most of the issues that I care about. Now, I've grown so disgusted by him that seeing him makes me puke a little in my mouth. Does this guy even have any policies?

Which brings me to the McCain camps last two attack ads on Barack Obama. First we had the Britney Spears/Paris Hilton ad that praised Obama for being the worlds biggest celebrity and chided him for not supporting off shore drilling. Now "Juvenile" McCain has released another web ad that compares Obama to Moses.

I can't begin to tell you how absolutely angry this whole political process has made me. I am pissed that virtually every outlet in the MSM (that's mainstream media, btw) has given John "Juvenile" McCain the easy ride. How come Obama gets called presumptuous for doing what EVERY single candidate before him has done? He starts planning for a White House transition - which Bush & Kerry both did in 2004 at this time - and he's not congratulated for being prepared he's called arrogant and presumptuous. I might be going out on a limb here but might that be because he's a relatively young, black man? And for those of you "conservatives" that might be reading this blog and think - "See those liberals all think everyone is racist!" - step back and look at how this has played out against Barack thus far.

They question his patriotism, they question the validity of his birth certificate, they call him Muslim (not in an attempt to classify his religion but to associate him with "those" types of Muslims), they call him elitist, they call him presumptuous, they call him "the chosen one".

How can anyone come to any other conclusion? Perhaps after 8 years of Bush we've grown accustomed to setting the bar really, really low and anything above that is considered arrogant, elitist or presumptuous.

Anyways, it's been disappointing to not see a higher caliber out of this election. And, while these McCain ads are humorous (mostly because they are terrible) it's a shame that the candidates McCain campaign is not talking about issues that actually matter. Like the economy, health care, and the war.

* Poor, poor Maggie Gyllenhaal! Promoting her upcoming film, The Dark Knight, she graces the cover of Tatler but something terribly wrong happened in the dressing room. Fug that!

* The Los Angeles Times focuses on the LA Gay & Lesbian Center's - along with the West Hollywood Health department - HIV prevention online soap targeting young gay and bisexual men.

* Pretty boy Wentworth Miller joy riding on hydrogen.

* Sarah Silverman is no longer f*cking Jimmy Kimmel. It's over.

* Sen. John McCain says he doesn't support gay adoption. "I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no I don’t believe in gay adoption."

* The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts has created an HIV prevention toolkit that aims to educate young women worldwide about the disease. At their international launch in Boksburg, South Africa CEO Mary McPhail stated, "We wanted to develop teaching methods which would get the message to young women that they are at risk. We wanted to get across that they can also be responsible for empowering their own lives and making their own decisions."

Now, if only the Boy Scouts could get over their gay bashing to do something as equally impressive. Rock on Girl Scouts! Rock on...

* The Gay Pimp - Jonny McGovern - has a new hit out. This time however he's dedicating the song to the ladies. Check out his new single, Don't Fall In Love With A Homo.