From LedHed's Wiki
To remove the login Splash:
use the gconf editor. (The Ubuntu Package is called gconf-editor)
from the command line type:
Note: do this as the user you want to apply this setting for not root
gconf-editor
Then Navigate to: /apps/gnome-session/options/
and uncheck the show_splash_screen key
Alternately type this at the command line:
gconftool-2 \ --type bool \ --set /apps/gnome-session/options/show_splash_screen false