While east coast earthquakes and high-profile reality TV weddings may be a blip on the brains of some, the 2012 election season is certainly coming to a head – well, many heads – in the form of potential candidates planning their campaigns to run against President Obama. And CafePress users are following and creating the trends.

Take Rick Perry, the Texas governor who made his intentions of presidential proportions official this month – and soon after his announcement, Rick Perry gifts were as popular and plentiful as his state’s beloved longhorn.

And also making a splash on Cultural Barometer scene: enter Ron Paul. No stranger to the Republican race to the White House, the House representative has a strong following with Ron Paul Revolution gifts after formally announcing his candidacy back in May of this year.

Politics is already heating up for 2012 – and its only August. I wonder if all those politicians wearing suits in the summer heat has anything to do with it…

Surf’s up, critters. Animals are riding high on our Cultural Barometer wave of popular products this week.

We know how much dogs love food, but they rarely talk about it. But one poor dog speaks his mind as his owner taunts him with delicious food in the ultimate talking dog video. And almost overnight, a canine star was born – and now he could even wear one of his own talking dog t-shirts…or if he feels like sharing, get one for his owner. As long as he shares the maple bacon.

Normally penguins are cute and cuddly, but don’t piss them off…like the bad penguin, which topped our seller charts this week. He’s got a gripe about something – don’t let it be you. And he’s not the only evil penguin on CafePress – he has company in the form of a penguin demotivational poster.

Assuming Darwin was correct about survival of the fittest – this trending T-Rex t-shirt may explain why the deadly dino is now extinct. After all, if you can’t pass the pushups portion of your physical fitness test, you may be out of luck.

With the maddening billionaire NFL team owners reaching an 11th-hour (4^th and long?) agreement with the infuriating Prima Dona multi-millionaire players, it looks like the professional football season is set to kick-off as scheduled. Now that the ink is dry on the lock-out (or lack thereof), designers and buyers are sprinting towards the goal of a grid-iron celebration.

It looks like the American public is in a forgive & forget mood, as we’re seeing a huge up-swing in football-themed merchandise in the CafePress marketplace. Chances are fantasy football gear will be hot on its tail.

Not to be overshadowed by such a fall-and-winter-centric activity as football, the summer season is still sizzling just like your grill. With the mercury soaring across the nation, sun worshippers are temporarily chilling in their air-conditioned homes and offices, making, sharing and buying Summer-themed products. You’ll see them on the streets again soon, sporting fun white t-shirts celebrating El Sol.

People are weird. Period.

Of all the quirks that make you who you are, you bring them with you everywhere you go, including the Apple Store. Sometimes that means a grumpy pout. Sometimes that means your pet goat.

And the Apple Store is OK with this – just ask comedian Mark Malkoff, who put this idea to the test in a recent video to assess the boundaries of absurdity our favorite fruitful store would put up with. Malkoff visited various Apple stores in the NYC area and held a few interesting “experiments” with the stores and their employees – including getting a pizza delivered, dressing up as Darth Vader in need of assistance with a broken iPhone, and bringing in a pet goat.

We LOVE this video for many reasons. And, we also figured that since goats and the Apple store are cool with each other…why not adorn your beloved iPhone with a humorous goat iPhone case or other delightful goat gifts? Just don’t let them near the hardware…you know how they love to snack.

It must have been a long, c-c-c-cold winter. We’re seeing a lot of new designs and increased interest around big sisters and big brothers. The population explosion is, at least here at CafePress, back in fashion.

Speaking of kids…with students getting ready for back-to-school, there’s a spike in dorm-room worthy products. Whether it be funny demotivational posters to laugh at on the walls of your room, or a clock that tells time your way, these products tell its time to get your learn on. Teachers are also getting ready for their classes, as education themed products are scorching (but maybe not as much as the summer heat).

CafePress shoppers seem to be in a positively giddy mood these days, as the pastafarian themed products are trending high. And who can blame them, when the Flying Spaghetti Monster is at the center of it all. Our favorite carbohydrate creature is at it again, making a cultural splash on the scene, and this time, he’s got more designs up his…noodly…sleeve. Did he grace your shopping cart with his presence the first time around, or did you decide to become a pastafarian member recently? Featuring fun designs with the combination of pasta, Rastafarian hair-dos and aliens from outer space, the Flying Spaghetti Monster products are sure to earn you a chuckle for more years to come.

Speaking of a laugher, it turns out the dreaded Carmageddon in LA fizzled. With a section of Interstate 405 closed for the weekend, fears of gridlock kept people at home. Hence, traffic was smooth. But that didn’t stop people from designing and buying lots of fun products to celebrate the “non-event.”

The US Women’s soccer team is kicking some serious booty in Germany, and soccer-themed gear is equally hot. With the last-minute dramatics and two more games to play (“Hope”fully – pun intended), there should be a lot of soccer designs scoring big in the days and weeks to come. You go girls!

Wedding-themed products are also making a splash as Summer nuptials are happening from coast-to-coast (and around the globe). From buttons and car magnets for bachelorette parties to wedding invitations, the matrimony cottage industry is in full swing. This on the heals of the Royal Wedding, which is still trending pretty high – given the lucky couple’s honeymoon-like trip to Canada and the US.

Helping to manage which designs appear (and don’t appear) on the CafePress site, Bobby has seen it all. And we mean, it ALL. He gets to scrutinize first hand what content people across the globe are adding to their shops and to the CafePress Marketplace. Naturally, he comes across designs for every taste (including the tasteless).

This unique view of an often-obscure world has obviously biased Bobby’s outlook, as he leans towards the more random and thought-provoking designs. In short, the ones which cause you to stop, scratch your head, and think, “huh?”. And there’s not shortage of these designs among our millions of designs.

“Some are cool looking, some are cute, and others are just outright confusing,” notes Bobby. “I think they’re all fun, though. I do get drawn to the more obscure type of things … as these designs may show.”

We second his opinion and choice of designs, and applaud the randomness of this great big beautiful world around us.

Bai Ling Magnet: I’m not sure what this says, and didn’t get the chance to ask her. Yes, I actually spoke with THE Bai Ling when she was setting up her shop! Alas, I didn’t get the chance to ask her about her appearance in Lost (or what Jack’s tattoo means).

“Earl’s Gym” Gym Bag: What better inspiration for your trip to the gym than this anatomically impossible muscleman! Check out some of the other designs from this shop. They’re, uh… interesting!

Laser Disc Fitted T-Shirt: If you know what CAV and CLV mean, then this shirt is for YOU! I am in fact the proud owner of the 6 disc Aliens SE. It’s great, with only a few slight delays as I flip and exchange discs (each side only holds 30 minutes after all).

Dental Cuteness T-Shirt: Soda is bad for your teeth. If you don’t brush, your teeth may be forced to take matters into their own tooth-hands and use an umbrella. You don’t want that.

America themes continue to trend high as the summer days are longer and distance to the BBQ and swimming pool gets closer and closer. From Independence Day designs to patriotism, the colors of our flag are hot, hot, hot. Red hot, in fact.

But not to be out done, 2012 election themes are ramping up for the upcoming debates. Everyone wants to speak their peace on the best candidate and show what issues are important.

After the long cold winter, it appears that lots of little sisters and little brothers seem to be joining the world. This is pretty obvious from the number of big brother and big sister products that are selling. Lots of new designs in this area too. Must be a lot of proud parents out there?

The quickly-approaching July 4th celebration has people seeing red, white & blue. Independence Day designs and Americana themes are hotter than the bumper of a ’76 Buick cruising in a holiday parade. Hopefully the weather will be nice for people to get outdoors and enjoy their summer merchandise.

Also exploding on the scene are new Obama designs, pro and con, as the rhetoric picks up between Republicans and Democrats. Sales are starting to skyrocket as voters hope to spread the word on their unique assessment of the President’s performance to date – and chance for the 2012 election.

And because people need to relax and unwind with some less taxing matters, pop culture is a rising tide this early summer. The TV show Blue Mountain State is trending high, and designs are selling particularly well. Ditto for the daytime talk show The View, which continues to rack up significant sales.