It's not just the presidential candidates who are getting nasty this nearly-there election season.

Right-wing activists supporting California's Proposition 8, which will re-ban gay marriage, have invoked Barack Obama in their fight, saying the Senator's race lends them an inadvertent helping hand…

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Many of you may think we lead exceedingly glamorous lives and party hop all night long. We don't.

For example, rather than going out on the town last night, we stayed in and relived the magic of Paul Mooney's 2006 show, Jesus Is Black. Mooney, of course, made his name as Richard Pryor's side kick back in the day.

Pryor may be gone, but Mooney's carrying the comedic torch.

Since it's Friday and everyone needs a laugh in the morning hours, here are two clips from Mooney's show. The language ain't safe for work. Also, if you're offended by race talk, you may want to just look away.

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Contrary to what some believe, all black opinion is not informed by what is discussed in houses of worship and barber shops.

However, it would be foolish to deny that black churches, especially in the south, yield a lot of political and social power.

That power could be used to help fight HIV and AIDS in the black community, but, by many accounts, the church is not doing its job in that arena.

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Conventional wisdom says that blacks will turn out in droves in California — and in every other state — to support Barack Obama come November 4th. Conventional wisdom also says that blacks are a generally homophobic lot who will vote for the anti-gay marriage resolution that will be on the ballot in the Golden State. So we can conclude that on election day, blacks will greatly contribute to the end of gay marriage in California. Right?

Wrong, says Timothy Stewart-Winter in the LA Times. Sure, we all know that blacks will be voting in record numbers this election, but do we really know that blacks are more against gay marriage than anyone else?

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John McCain's campaign sure knows how to evolve! Realizing that their Barack Obama as Paris Hilton angle wasn't sticking, the Republican's ad team has thrown together this Biblically-proportion video: "Praise The One," which paints Obama as a self-entitled, self-professed messiah.

A placidly sarcastic narrator opens the piece, "Let it be known that in 2008, the world will be blessed. They call him 'The One." Thus begins a collection of Obama footage that a fearful person might read as evidence of a false prophet - or, perhaps, as an exceedingly presumptuous charlatan.

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One expects Ralph Nader to say things like, “there’s no difference between Democrats and Republicans,” which is a really crazy statement for someone to continue to say after the eight years we’ve had. One also expects Nader to say some things that a lot of liberals might agree with. But now it seems we should expect Ralph Nader to say things like this:

There’s only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He’s half African-American. Whether that will make any difference, I don’t know. I haven’t heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What’s keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white?

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Despite the edict that church is supposed to be separate from state, the intersection of religion and politics has never been more clear than during the Bush administration. And, under this administration, many have come to think that the more religious the American, the more likely said American is to vote Republican.

That is, of course, unless you’re a religious African American…
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The Utah-based purveyors of this Obama monkey doll say, in response to a barrage of criticism, that they “perhaps naively” felt that there was nothing wrong with portraying a black man as a monkey.

They suggest that “this might be a great opportunity to take this moment to really try and transcend still existing racial biases.”

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Oh, Bill, Bill, Bill.

If you're going to tell someone they're misquoting you, make sure you're right. Reporter Mike Memoli caught up with Mr. Clinton today in Pennsylvania and asked him about his remark that Obama played the "race card" after the Jesse Jackson debacle last January.

And, like Hillary's Bosnia memory, Bill's remains a bit hazy.

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As the Democrats duke it out in Pennsylvania, Republican presidential candidate John McCain's launched yet ridiculously entitled tour.

His last jaunt across the nation, the "Service To America" tour meant to spread McCain's war-torn story and other biographical bits.

Now the Senator from Arizona's launched his "Time For Action" adventure, which is also being referred to as the "Forgotten Places" tour.

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It's usually gay men who are the target of HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns, but a new one launching in New York this week is going after a particular group: black women.

The initiative comes from the Gay Men's Health Crisis (which, of course, is launching a parallel campaign aimed at men-on-men) on the back of statistics that show new HIV diagnoses among black and Hispanic women and women aged 13-29 in NYC is on the rise, even though, city-wide, the number is decreasing (down 5 percent between '05 and '06).

Our one caveat: This looks to be yet another campaign that encourages testing, but doesn't have any message for those who walk into a clinic and learn they're actually infected. Perhaps we'll just rely on HIV counselors to tell them their options?

Nine out of ten doctor's agree: Barack Obama's "race speech" spurred some serious discussion. Of course, yesterday's remarks were more than just a speech - and they were definitely about more than just race.

Obama wasn't simply addressing political woes. He wasn't making excuses for past associations. This was not some political media play. It was a lesson in liberation - and it's up to Americans to take up the Senator's challenge.

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