"You should go to some city that's a little more Klan friendly"

By GottaLaff

Mr. Laffy went to the market today. As he entered, he noticed a tall, young, blond-haired man and a spaced-out-looking twentysomething woman standing next to a poster of Obama. The poster read, "I've changed", and depicted President Obama with a Hitler mustache. The young man rattled on, saying something about Lyndon LaRouche, but Mr. Laffy was so put off that he cut him short.

One reason (other than the obvious) Mr. Laffy was so taken aback was that this was a highly unusual occurrence in our neck of the woods. The guy wanted to talk to him some more, but Mr. Laffy interrupted with, "I don't talk to people who have pictures of Obama with a Hitler mustache."

Hitler Guy retorted, brimming with wit, "Well, then he should shave it!"

Mr. Laffy SO wanted to mock him with, "Well if you like it so much, why don't you marry it?" But he took the high road.

Instead, Mr. Laffy retorted, "You picked the wrong town to put up a picture like that. You should go to some city that's a little more Klan friendly," and went inside to shop. As he walked away, he heard the blond man say, "A lot of people are listening to us."

Mr. L went straight to the store manager and told him that he hated being accosted like that, and could he do anything? The manager said, "There's no law against it, we can't prevent them from standing there. Maybe if enough people complain to the county supervisor or other local representative, maybe they could pass some kind of law."

While we wait for that to happen, wingnuts continue to hang out at our grocery stores and harass people with their vile hatred.

Happy Saturday.

Secret Service looking into Obama-Joker fax

By GottaLaff

By now, you've all seen this image of President Obama (I posted about it here):

That image was sent to Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) in a fax, with the message, "“death to all Marxists." The Secret Service is taking this insanity seriously, as they should:

The Secret Service may investigate a fax sent to a Democratic lawmaker that depicts President Barack Obama as the Joker and warns of “death to all Marxists.” [...]

On Obama’s forehead is a communist hammer-and-sickle insignia, and beneath the image is the text: “Death to All Marxists! Foreign and Domestic!”

Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) received the fax and passed it along to U.S. Capitol Police.

The Secret Service investigates threats made against the president. Ed Donovan, of Secret Service Public Affairs, said that the fax was “potentially an investigative intelligence matter.” [...]

The message made no specific reference to Baird and it is unclear why it was sent to his office. No other congressional office reported receiving a similar fax.

Baird has compared protesters who have shown up at lawmaker town halls during the recess to the Nazis.

“What we're seeing right now is close to Brown Shirt tactics,” Baird said in an interview with the Vancouver, Wash., Columbian on Thursday. “I mean that very seriously.” [...]

Baird has also compared protester tactics to those of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, which drew calls for an apology from Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Gary Jones.

“For Congressman Baird to use the tragedy [of] Oklahoma families and the loved ones of those who were injured and lost their lives for political gain is inexcusable,” he said.

Hey Gary, here's a thought: Substitute "Republican mob" for "Congressman Baird", and "those who are sick, dying, and can't afford health care because of Big Pharma/Insurance/Rushpublic obstructionists" for "Oklahoma families". Then someone might take you seriously.

Hide the kids! Socialist Obama the Joker posters all over L.A.!

By GottaLaff

Via Andrew Sullivan: Look what's showing up all over L.A.:

It seems to be a new variant of "Obama is a terrorist" - or at least that he's very, very scary. But as Robert Dougherty points out, the messaging gets a bit muddled from there:

The Joker was many things, but was hardly a socialist. In fact, the Joker is the polar opposite of a socialist, and anyone who watched The Dark Knight would know that.

Just for bad measure:

Oh em gee! Hide the kids!

Actually, as disturbing as these are, they ain't got nothin' on Orly Taitz.

The Fairey tale continues: Artist sues AP

By GottaLaff

Lawsuit v. Lawsuit:

An artist whose poster of Barack Obama became an iconic image of the 2008 presidential campaign filed a lawsuit against the US news agency the Associated Press (AP) on Monday.

Los Angeles artist Shepard Fairey and his Obey Giant Art Inc. claimed in the suit, filed in US District Court in Manhattan, that his use of an AP photograph to create the poster was not a violation of copyright law.

In his suit, Fairey acknowledged using an AP photograph of Obama from April 2006 to create the poster of Obama tinted in red, white and blue and staring into the sky above the word "HOPE."

But Fairey's lawyers said the artist had created an "image that creates powerful new meaning and conveys a radically different message that has no analogue in the original photograph."

I believe in Faireys.

The mystery of the Obama Hope photo source

By GottaLaff

James Danziger, over at the Daily Beast, found the original photographer of the now-famous image used in the Fairey poster of Obama that we've all Obamicon'd. The guy had no idea it was his photo:

Reuters was initially—and understandably—put out that they hadn’t been credited as the original source of what turned out to be the presidential campaign’s most enduring visual image, but no laws had been broken.

Like it or not, Fairey's use of the picture is well within the parameters of what’s considered "fair use." His transformation of the image—flipping and re-orienting it, adding jacket, tie and the "O" Obama logo, and converting it to his block print style—make it consistent with all legal precedents for public use. (Fairey is the artist behind the now-famous Andre the Giant prints that are probably wheat-pasted all over your city.)

But perhaps the best proof that Fairey transformed the photo into something all his own is that Young, a Washington-based photographer who has taken, in his words, “thousands” of pictures of Obama, was not even aware that the most ubiquitous image of the election was based on his photograph. He’d seen the HOPE poster countless times and never made the connection to his own photograph, which he snapped at a 2007 Senate confirmation hearing.

Go read the whole article to follow the winding trail to the oblivious photographer. Imagine, not realizing it was your photo that was plastered everywhere on the Blogosphere and well, everywhere else.

I may take credit for an updated version of the Mona Lisa. I'll give her a new outfit, flip and re-orient, add a touch of make-up to her sly smile, and block print it. I could make a fortune! Anyone else in?

It would be like putting lipstick on a painting.

Be the change

By GottaLaff

We have another winner:

[...] Advertising Age, the bible of Madison Avenue, named the Obama campaign “Marketer of the Year” last fall, citing in particular its ability to brand itself. Obama beat out marketing heavyweights like Apple, Nike and Coors. And that was before he got elected.

Mr. Obama’s inaugural committee is now marketing a new version of the iconic “Hope” poster that became a phenomenon during the campaign and helped brand the candidate, certainly in the minds of the young.

The new poster was created by Shepard Fairey, the California street artist who created the original image.

He designed this one specifically for the inauguration. “Be The Change,” the poster instructs. It takes the now-familiar red and blue image of Mr. Obama and sets it against a backdrop of the Capitol and the White House.

Here's the original:

The new poster, unlike the old, is a limited edition — and the money goes to Mr. Obama’s inaugural committee.

Let's hope Obama's presidency is as successful as his marketing efforts.