Elementary schoolkids chanting "assassinate Obama" on a bus in ultra-conservative Madison County, Idaho.

It's not the only pocket of ignorance and racism exposed in the aftermath of the election of Barack Obama....

There's also that football bimbo down at the U of Texas. And a certain northern governor whose fifteen minutes of fame ran out days ago. And a swath of voters in the Ozarks-Appalachian region....

And scatterings wherever ignorance and fearmongering from pulpit or email and extremist hate building from the likes of the NRA and Hannity and Limbaugh and Lieberman terrorized the sheep.

So I thought today might be a good day to tell you that things do change.

Growing up in North Dakota, one of the ground zeroes for ultra-right and John Bircher politics was a tiny town called Gilby.

And in 2008, when all the votes were counted, John McCain had 137.

And Barack Obama, 138.

Call it the Gilby Effect, or voting your conscience even if you won't admit it, or backlash against Gov. Gypsy-Grifter that even the Republicans couldn't accept, or whatever.

North Dakota was still a red state this year overall. But the Red River Valley of the North was decidedly blue--and that included a tiny speck on the map named Gilby.

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(Crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette)