It seems racism is alive and well in…who’d have guessed…CANADA. I shouldn’t be surprised that at a time when a black man has managed to secure the Democratic Candidacy for President of the United States, there are people out there attempting to profit from the racist & bigoted attitudes that are still so prevalent. Yes, it’s a sock puppet of Obama that captures the vibe of the racist heyday of whiteface and “yes’m'boss”. The thing that surprised me most was that the product isn’t produced by some hayseed from the states; the domain is registered to Binkley Custom Products, of Hamilton, Ontario. Interestingly, the products’ home page proclaims: “TheSockObama™ is born and raised in the United States of America”. If you visit their main site at binkley-toys.com, it re-directs to customplushtoys.com, which for some reason (!) doesn’t seem to feature the Sock Obama product very prominently, although it has some peculiar items like the Alexa Jesus (whatever that means) and the macabre disembodied head of “Sgt. Paddy”, pictured here. If you want to contact them, here’s part of their Whois information: Robert Bishop – Binkley Custom Products. Tel: +00.19053128962 Fax: +00.19055474245. For the full Whois record click the “more” link.

domain: thesockobama.com
owner-name: Binkley Custom Products
owner-address: 163 Beach Rd.
owner-address: L8L4A4
owner-address: Hamilton
owner-address: Ontario
owner-address: Canada
admin-c: RB306-GANDI
tech-c: RB306-GANDI
bill-c: RB306-GANDI
nserver: ns1.binkley-toys.com 209.61.241.75
nserver: ns2.binkley-toys.com 209.61.241.76
reg_created: 2008-04-16 15:40:19
expires: 2009-04-16 15:40:19
created: 2008-04-16 17:36:03
changed: 2008-04-16 17:36:03

person: Robert Bishop
nic-hdl: RB306-GANDI
address: Binkley Custom Products
address: 163 Beach Rd.
address: L8L4A4
address: Hamilton
address: Ontario
address: Canada
phone: +00.19053128962
fax: +00.19055474245
e-mail: 05c43f8e6866b140a554983f9c2a5a23-rb306@contact.gandi.net
lastupdated: 2006-09-19 17:11:13

The previous information has been obtained either directly from the registrant or a registrar of the domain name other than Network Solutions. Network Solutions, therefore, does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.

Current Registrar: GANDI SAS
IP Address: 209.61.238.233 (ARIN & RIPE IP search)
IP Location: US(UNITED STATES)-ILLINOIS-CHICAGO
Lock Status: clientTransferProhibited
DMOZ no listings
Y! Directory: see listings
Data as of: 14-Jun-2005