* Wonkette live-blogged Barack Obama's television infomercial last night on "poverty and murder." All you need to know:

8:22 — Nevermind, the mother wasn’t the fourth Poor in his story. It’s Joe Biden.
8:22 — No — it’s Claire McCaskill.
8:22 — No — It’s Barack Obama. He is the fourth Poor in his own story.
8:23 — No, REALLY, It’s some guy named Mark, Louisville, lost job at factory, unemployment lines, can’t afford shit, THIS IS MOVING SO FAST, he wants to– THE END OBAMA SHOOTS A THREE POINTER.

* Playgirl editor forces Jezebel editor to consider Barack Obama's penis.

* The New Gay takes 9:30 club patrons to task for dancing, homophobia, tallness.

* John Dickerson for Slate: Why is the McCain camp so happy?

* GWU blog The Colonialist finds something fishy within the new McCain attack ad.

* And in this newspaper:

- The Battle For the Mid-Atlantic: CP chronicles the last legs of the local campaign. Justin Moyer takes McCain; Franklin Schneider takes Obama.

- Which D.C. Pharmacies won't stock your contraception.

- Loose Lips tells you to write-in for Carol Schwartz. Bring a pencil.

- And in arts: Maura Judkis on Richard Avadon; Aaron Leitko reviews Gang Gang Dance.

Photo of the 9:30 Club by rpongsaj.

My friend, Todd, was recently walking back from a Saturday night at the bars with two other friends when they were jumped and savagely beaten by six guys. The victims were gay. They did not provoke. . . . My friend was beaten so badly that he has little recollection beyond the first punch, and he did not wake up until many hours later in the hospital. He has relied on witnesses to tell him how brutal the beating was and the fact that the word “fags” repeatedly flew from the mouths of the attackers.

After recounting attack, Farris launches into a critique of MPD's response to the beating:

While DC has a Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU), the police assigned to investigate the attack have little connection or, it seems, respect for the GLLU. As Todd put it, "The GLLU was involved in my case at the beginning. And although they were polite and offered to help, it was made very clear to me by the officer in charge that they were not in charge of the case and any dealings must go through them and not the GLLU."

One of Farris' prescriptions for raising awareness about D.C.-area gay-bashings is to keep blogging them:

One way to wake up local officials—and, frankly, ourselves—is to document gay-bashings (even those some call “muggings”) so that we can all see what is happening. We need to list all of the bashings that have occurred in the past year or so, with locations and outcomes, to we can demonstrate that the problem is real and that the problem is urgent.

TNG is encouraging readers to send their personal stories to the following address: stophate@thenewgay.net.