Is anyone surprised that the area the park is in is a GOP stronghold?

Add this to the list of ways the President of the United States woos young voters in an election-year: He slow jams the news.

Obama, appearing on NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" show, joined the comedy host in a popular feature of his program. The president, looking in the camera, talked earnestly about student interest rates as The Roots, Fallon's hip house band, laid down a rhythm.

Then the camera cut to Fallon in the foreground, where he punched up the message in his own way.

So, time for a caption contest... Put your captions in the comments and the best one will receive a fabulous gift, courtesy of the Bilerico Project.

The video is after the break.

Well, not totally out. With a Congressional voting record as centrist as any GOPer can be, David Dreier also happens to be a closeted gay man. The sad part is that he could have had a very successful career without his anti-gay votes and shed of the closet he has wrapped himself in. And let's be real here, his colleagues knew he was gay as it's an open secret here in DC.

In September of 2004, I exposed David Dreier as yet another closeted member of Congress who was doing things that were not in the interest of the LGBT community. At the time, I awarded him my Blog's not-so-coveted Roy Cohn Award (right).

That report was quickly followed up with a story by John Byrne in Raw Story (a site I am now a partner in, but was not then). And a piece in Hustler magazine.

In, Outrage, the film about closeted gay politicians who work against the LGBT community, Dreier's double life as legislator by day, gay man by night is exposed. Despite his picture appearing on the front of the SF Chronicle's site for an entire day, he was re-elected by a margin of 17% over his nearest opponent. The LA Times was comfortable enough with the story that they included Dreier in a list of the film's subjects.

What David Dreier could have been...

Those words greeted me in October when I went to Las Vegas for a conference. The hotel was a mix between over the top décor, a huge casino, a convention center and shopping mall. Looking around, the place didn't scream homophobia - quite the opposite. The mall that was part of the hotel was filled with the same stores on Rodeo Drive, Fifth Avenue or the Miracle Mile; hardly bastions of anti-gay hatred. The unbelievable displays of plants and flowers certainly had the influence of a couple of gay designers. All of this is expected, but nothing had prepared me for what happened upstairs.

The room was your standard Las Vegas high-end casino hotel, with one exception. As I unpacked I noticed a book on the room's desk. I was more than a bit surprised when I picked up the book and read the title. I never thought I'd have to prepare for a moment like this, but it was odd to hold a book entitled, How to Kill Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Trans Americans.

Swirling in my head all at once was a bundle of questions:

How did this book get here? Was it left by the person who last cleaned the room? Was it left by an unauthorized visitor the the room? Did Fred Phelps stay in this hotel room before me?

While it's highly unlikely that the head of the most notorious anti-gay, anti-American hate church would stay at a major Las Vegas Casino, at that point I would not have been surprised.

The experience also raised the question of what to do:

Call the hotel manager and demand an explanation? Demand the housekeeping staff justify the book being in the room? Throw it away?

Walking up and down "streets" (paths between tents) it had the feel of a really hip flea market with hundreds of visitors walking aimlessly looking at everything they could see. Like a flea market, many of the tents were selling things. Want a supportive button or t-shirt? You can find dozens of designs in the park. Want to a piece of original artwork? That's there too. And so are the queers...

When I bought the bike, I put a rainbow sticker on the crossbar under the seat. In the mid 90's it seemed almost a requirement to put a rainbow sticker on moving vehicles. Car bumpers, bicycles, rollerblades... wherever you turned there was a rainbow flag basically saying "I'm gay."

So, as soon as I bought a car in DC I put a rainbow sticker on it, too. I wouldn't be seen driving around town without it. Could one really be an activist without one?

Fast forward to 2011. I took my bicycle out of the closet (so to speak) and set it up for a ride. I looked at the bike and something seemed almost wrong. The bike frame is black and just one thing stood out on the frame: the rainbow sticker on the crossbar. Today, the sticker almost seems out of place, serving the role of announcing "I'm gay" to every person I encounter.

From Blue Jersey:

Warm congratulations and a Blue Jersey Woo Hoo! to Babs Casbar Siperstein, who broke ground again just a few minutes ago by her election to the DNC's Executive Committee. That vote came at the DNC Fall Meeting in Chicago. Babs, the first out transgender person in the DNC's history now rises to help lead the national Democrats, joining its top-most leadership committee.

Congratulations, Babs!

Today a friend sent me this video of a right wing wacko preacher. The only reason he doesn't win first or second place is because he doesn't blame the gays. That is always a shoo-in for Fred Phelps or Yehuda Levin.

Lot's of fun Bible quoting. This guy is from Indiana (sorry Bil and Jerame).

Now, I wonder what this guy would have to say if he realized the quake was not in DC, but at the center of Eric Cantor's Congressional district.

Wacky video after the jump.

(H/T Karl Frish for the Tweets. H/T Bill Feldman for the video find.)

Did he blow his chances to be mayor of the nation’s largest city? Yep.

Should he resign? I am not in a position to say.

The chair of the RNC — the one who replaced the closeted chair of the RNC — feels it’s his place to call out Weiner but when it comes time to ask about Ensign and Vitter he gets this whole “I’m not revisiting that, Ed” bullshit. Let’s look at some of the differences, after the jump.

For the next eight weeks we'll be running a caption this contest using her work. Zina has generously offered to donate a signed print of her work on archival watercolor paper. At the end of the eight weeks, an esteemed blue ribbon panel will select the best overall caption and award the print.

Here is today's contest photo:

Obama's limo gets stuck in Ireland.

You can see the video after the jump.

"Oh. My. God. Look at that screen. How did Bristol Palin survive another round of Dancing with the Stars?"

"If you think this is tense, imagine if it was The Donald and The Palin instead of Joe and Barack."

"Lock the doors. Only so many people can squeeze into a Glee party."

This just might be your chance!

I am pleased to announce scholarships for Netroots Nation, the nation's preeminent and largest gathering of bloggers, citizen journalists, online activists, and traditional media. The conference dates are June 15-18/19. In Minneapolis.

Important: the scholarship programs provides support for LGBT bloggers, citizen journalists, and online activists. In order to be eligible for a scholarship, you must have a site that you post to regularly (at least five times per week).

Application after the jump.