You Said You Wanted to See a Big Tent Party

Apparently, the RNC spent $2000 at a bondage strip club, which is kind of an oxymoron if you think about it. Is the dancer wearing a dominatrix suit or is she topless? How do you experience bondage when no touching is allowed at strip clubs (or so I've heard, I wouldn't know for sure.) Isn't the pain brought on by Obama's policies enough for you people?!

I'm not sure this is even a news story. It's not like the DNC spends all its money on gummy bears and bunny rabbits. Isn't porn pusher Larry Flynt, publisher of Penthouse, a huge Democratic supporter who fiercely campaigned against Bush? Didn't Hugh Hefner raise money for Obama in 2008? How many people know that once upon a time Barney Frank's boyfriend was busted for running a prostitution ring out of his D.C. apartment? Does anyone remember when Congressman Lloyd Doggett (TX-25) held a fundraiser at a gay bar in which donors stuffed dollar bills into the jockstrap of someone named "The Banana Queen"? I'm not even going to mention the ACORN pimp/prostitute story that no one covered but Fox News.

Has the mainstream media ever cared or blinked an eye?

That silence you hear is a resounding NO. But the lamestream media is more interested in how the RNC spends its privately raised donations than how the government (and in particular the Democrat controlled Congress) wastes our tax dollars and spends us into unsustainable debt. Unbelievable.

There's no policy analysis anymore. It's just demonize the other guy and play "gotcha" politics. Shame on us for being voyeurs of the most disgusting spectacle of all.

It is a shame that the RNC is wasting money on limos and entertainment that would be better spent on media and support for conservative candidates. That's why I recommend giving directly to the candidate instead of going through the political machine. But this shouldn't stop donations from coming in given the unpopularity of FauxbamaCare, nor will it be the end of Michael Steele.

And my apologies for the headline. I couldn't resist.

Shocker: Ricky Martin Reveals He's Puerto Rican

I know what you're thinking. Ricky Who? Apparently, he was a pop star in the 1990s. Today, the former teen idol relinquished his dream of ever recording another relevant hit song and decided instead to return to the spotlight and make his first headlines in decades by coming out as a Puerto Rican. Here's what Ricardo wrote on his official website, which I visit weekly.


"Mucha gente me dijo que no era importante hacerlo, que no valía la pena, que todo lo que trabaje y todo lo que había logrado se colapsaría. Que muchos en este mundo no estarían preparados para aceptar mi verdad, mi naturaleza. Y como  estos consejos venían de personas que amo con locura, decidí seguir adelante con mi "casi verdad". MUY MAL. Dejarme seducir por el miedo fue un verdadero sabotaje a mi vida. Hoy me responsabilizo por completo de todas mis decisiones, y de todas mis accione."


Wow. Now if that doesn't take courage, I don't know the definition of courage. And the definition I know has always been "shameless self-promotion by B-level talent." I can only imagine how courageous this statement would seem if I actually understood Spanish. Although frankly, I'm surprised no one figured out Ricky's secret earlier considering his accent, flair for the dramatic, and rhythmic hip-shaking skills.


Oh good, here's the English translation:

"Many people told me: "Ricky it's not important", "it's not worth it", "all the years you've worked and everything you've built will collapse", "many people in the world are not ready to accept your truth, your reality, your nature". Because all this advice came from people who I love dearly, I decided to move on with my life not sharing with the world my entire truth.  Allowing myself to be seduced by fear and insecurity became a self-fulfilling prophecy of sabotage. Today I take full responsibility for my decisions and my actions. These years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within, and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn't even know that existed."

That's one small step for Ricky, one giant leap for Menudo. May Puerto Ricans everywhere celebrate this shining moment in history. There's no reason to feel shame anymore for the incalculable damage done by Jennifer Lopez.


Mr. Martin also reminded everyone at the end of his personal blog that he was "a fortunate homosexual", which of course is hard to forget since Menudo was one of the gayest bands ever. And you thought that go-go dancer at The Open Fly only looked like Ricky Martin.


In what some media watchdogs are calling "Rainbow Monday", two other alternative lifestyle stories made front page news today. Just about 50% of Americans said they would be comfortable with a gay president, to which Hillary responded, "Hey, I gave it my best shot." However, that level of support dipped to 3% when it was revealed the gay president could be Barney Frank.

Voice of a New Generation

Show the Obamabots how cool you think they really are. From far away they'll think you are one of the cult. Up close, they'll realize they've been duped. Warning: you might see some extended middle fingers. Buy the sticker here for your car or office.

The Joker Was Here

Maybe it's the botox frozen grin, maybe it's the purple suit, or perhaps it's the huge mallot being brandished about like a prop from the Incredible Shrinking Woman, but this photo says everything that ever needs to be said about Nancy Pelosi. I know the president is supposed to be the Joker, but there's something eerily familiar about this march by Madam Speaker and her minions and a certain scene in 1989's Batman starring Jack Nicholson. And like Jack vandalized that museum, Nancy just destroyed our health care system. "As my plastic surgeon always said, if you got to go, go with a smile."

Somebody cue the Prince soundtrack. It's not the Dark Knight, but it has its moments.

First They Came for the Health Insurance Companies...

I was lucky enough to catch this exchange on the Rush Limbaugh show yesterday. A pretty accurate prediction, I'm afraid, from a caller in the health insurance industry. These people were demonized, their intentions were questioned, the president did everything he could to destroy them. The federal government just ran over an entire private industry under the guise of "compassion." Welcome to fascism, boys and girls. We have one or two elections to change this. Stand strong and donate to a conservative Republican candidate for Congress in your state or county. They will need every penny they can get to unseat the Leviathan in Washington funded by George Soros and drooled over by the willing servants of the mainstream media.

Here's part of the transcript from the Rush Limbaugh show with a hat tip to neo-neocon.

CALLER: Okay. For time immemorial, both state and federal regulation — and also just the industry standard — has been a 65-35 percentage arrangement: 65 in claims payment and 35 for administration and claims expense. Withholding that you store for, you know, a major catastrophe or something.

HOST: This is to pay your claims?

CALLER: No, 65% is to pay the claims. Thirty-five percent is for everything else.

HOST: That means 35% is salaries, administration costs, and the offices, all the paperwork, that kind of thing?

CALLER: It’s that as well as, you know, we are required to keep a certain amount of cash on hand as a percentage of our claims exposure to pay claims. . . .

HOST: Now, I just want to make sure I understand here. State and federal regulations set those percentages?

CALLER: State and federal regulations, yes.

HOST: So if you wanted to have 85% set aside for claims, you couldn’t. You had to go at 65%?

CALLER: Exactly.

HOST: If you wanted 30% set aside for claims and the rest were administration, you couldn’t do it. It had to be 65%.

CALLER: That’s illegal, yes. It has to be 65-35, and there’s a couple of percentage either way, but generally when an insurance company falls outside of those guidelines, they are considered financially unstable.

HOST: Well, who audits you all to make sure you are within the ratio?

CALLER: We’re audited by the state insurance departments, primarily. There are some plans that are audited both state and federally, and then you have your private auditors who will come in as part of the stock market and that kind of thing. So we’re audited often.
. . .
CALLER: . . . So what Obama just did an hour and a half ago is make every insurance company in the country financially unstable. Remember, the 15% that we are left has not only to pay salaries, maintenance, upkeep of buildings; it also has to pay the 40% increased taxes that we’ve got. I mean, there’s just no way. You can’t do it.

HOST: Well, you’re getting a little bit ahead of me here. What did Obama sign that changes this 65-35 split? In what way did Obama now sign you into permanent instability?

CALLER: The provision in the Senate bill requires that all insurance companies pay 85% of premiums collected every year in claims.

HOST: So the 65 is now 85?

CALLER: Exactly. It doesn’t matter how much we increase the premium, it won’t matter.
. . .
HOST: . . . You originally thought that your industry would survive. You’re speaking industry or just your particular company?

CALLER: I would say 99% of all insurance companies, health insurance companies in the country.

HOST: Okay. So you originally thought you might have three to five years to stay in business under Obama. Now you said it’s two to three. Why?

CALLER: Because of the 85-15. Plus the additional expenses were going to incur. Additionally, the mandates, what people don’t understand when CMS (which is the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare) push a mandate down on insurance companies, we have to pay to complement those mandates. We don’t know how many of those are in this monstrosity. So we can have our mandate budget doubled, our taxes already up 40% or whatever it is, and our cash flow immediately cut.

HOST: Well, how can you know in advance of paying any claims? Because they’ve now shifted to 65% that you have to set aside for claims to 85%. How in the world can anybody know in advance of paying claims that it’s going to amount to 85%?

CALLER: Well –

HOST: Of course 65%? It seems to be like this is a ridiculous dictate made by people that have no clue how your business works.

CALLER: Well, they don’t have a clue. But the way that that amount of money is calculated is you look at the past year, past five years, past ten years, and you see what your claims expense have been those years. Then based on your enrollment and your demographics you project forward into what you expect to be paying in the future, in the next year and the next five years. So you can do that. It’s not precise to a dollar, but you usually get pretty close. What he’s done is by saying, for example, the preventative services now –

HOST: Those are free. Those are, quote, unquote, “free.”

CALLER: Yeah, exactly.

HOST: What the hell is a preventative service covered by an insurance company anyway?

CALLER: Well, that would be your colonoscopies, your mammograms, your yearly physicals, your lab work.

HOST: Oh, so those are free now! So if I want to go get a colonoscopy today and I have an insurance policy, I’m not going to pay for it?

CALLER: Exactly.

HOST: But you will.

CALLER: Well, we will. We’ll pay out the nose for it.

HOST: (laughing) Well…

CALLER: I know, bad analogy. I’m sorry.

HOST: It is Christmas!

CALLER: But, Sir –

HOST: Well, no, I don’t look at a colonoscopy as Christmas. Don’t misunderstand. . . . But it is Christmas in the sense that I’m not paying for it. I don’t know how you can stay in business even two to three years with this kind of thing happening to you this year alone.

CALLER: I don’t think we will and that’s why I am seriously considering leaving this industry. I’m updating my resume. You know, people who I work with — even people who voted for Obama and thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread — are shell-shocked.

Worth the Paper it's Printed On?

Michael Ramirez nails it again.

The Slippery Slope to Tyranny Just Got a Lot Slicker

The America you wake up in tomorrow won't be the same America as today. It won't be the America you grew up in or that your parents and grandparents knew. It won't be the America you hoped to pass down to your children. It won't be a free America or a prosperous America, and it certainly won't be a peaceful America. If the health care bill the president and Congress passed is allowed to stand as the law of the land, then this is probably the beginning of the end of the United States of America. We've gone from Madison to Marxism in less than 250 years.

Let's be clear. The health care bill isn't about anyone's health. For a cool 50 billion dollars, we could have literally handed out $10,000 checks to 5 million sick uninsured individuals to help them pay their medical bills. It's not a perfect solution, but it would have been smarter and cheaper than remaking the entire health care system in the image of Big Government. The truth is this is all about power, and the new bill puts one-sixth of the economy under total and direct federal supervision. The president's health care bill wrestles power away from the people and strips many decisions from individuals, families, employers, doctors, and private health insurance companies. If you are a health care provider, you will now be forced to comply with 2700 pages of rules, regulations, tax increases, and federal mandates. If you are an individual, the government will pick "the right coverage for you" or you will be fined.

Nowhere does the Constitution give the federal government the power to tax individuals for not buying a particular commercial product. This is, for lack of a better word, fascism. If the government can force you to buy a certain type of health insurance coverage, what's to keep them from making you buy a certain type of car like a hybrid or requiring you to put solar panels on the roof of your house? What's to stop them from getting in bed with all sorts of businesses and industries, forcing you to buy an energy-efficient, government-subsidized GE appliance for instance? When government takes this kind of control of our economy, what does that do to the private sector? It lessens choice and competition while discouraging innovation in the marketplace. That's never good for the people.

Under President Obama, the slippery slope to tyranny just got a lot slicker. If the federal government is no longer restricted by the enumerated powers listed in the Constitution, then it has carte blanche to control every aspect of our lives. In other words, it has infinite power. The Madisonian social contract we entered into as citizens to protect our freedoms has been turned into a leviathan that asks every citizen to submit to the government's ever-expanding will. That's why even if the health care bill somehow manages to lower premiums and provide affordable insurance for a few extra million people (which I highly doubt), the precedent it establishes for usurping our founding principles isn't worth it. Period.

The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen. And as the citizen gets smaller and feels the unjust burden of the government's iron fist coming down, as they see their choices limited, they will act out in panic. They will fight for the few liberties they have left. Dissidents will be deemed enemies of the state. Neighbors will stop trusting neighbors. The nation that remains will be deeply divided. This is the "permanent revolution" Marxism promises, and what is progressivism if not a sister ideology of Marxism? Who is the trusted steward on the Left who will keep these philosophies separate? When you dance with the devil, he usually leads.

If the courts allow this law to stand, we are staring at the face of totalitarianism. That some see this as benevolent totalitarianism in the short term is of little comfort. America cannot and will not stand for such a dramatic shift in the balance of power. The good news is the Supreme Court is currently in our favor and there are still a couple of elections to turn this thing around. I don't want to sound like an alarmist, but I believe that if we fail to undo this, the United States will cease to exist. Government won't have the consent of the governed, and states will most likely secede. This is a more realistic scenario than it has been in the past 150 years. It could happen in our lifetime.

No one can accuse Obama and Pelosi of being cowards. Their plan has been put into action. Was it worth it, Democrats? Does the end justify the means?

What Freedom Demands

This is the full text from Agent Zero's post at the Green Room. He is one of my favorite conservative writers, and the whole thing is worth reading and sharing with your loved ones. Now that the battle for America has begun, it is time to renew our vows. "Go proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof!"

Originally Posted on 3/21/10:

Tonight, self-appointed wise men in Washington are steamrolling the objections of sixty percent of the population, and forcing a massive health-care bill down our throats “for our own good.” Presumably the backroom deals, corrupt payoffs, Congressional Budget Office accounting tricks, threats of unconstitutional parliamentary maneuvers, and betrayals of principle are also for our own good. What do you know? Banana republics turn out to be the highest evolution of government – the only form of the State equipped to take proper care of its citizens, by lying to them and trapping them in legislative cages over their howling protests.

Tonight is not the end of the ObamaCare saga, but it does mark the beginning of a slow turn by the American ship of state. It doesn’t have to be a turn to the left. On the contrary, it could be the first overture in a rebirth of our commitment to freedom, and the last gasp of an exhausted statist ideology, long overdue for its disposal in the waste bin of history.

The decision is up to us. Our representatives will fight various legislative battles in the months to come… and then we will speak in November. As the voters of the United States ponder what to say, it would profit us to think long and hard about the freedom Democrats are trying to take from us tonight, and what freedom demands.

Yes, it makes demands. Freedom is not a gift. It is not given to you by the government, in a precise dosage that can be adjusted to match a politician’s diagnosis of what ails the body politic. Your forefathers won an impossible Revolution against an invincible foe to declare the self-evident truth that your rights descend from your Creator. Whether that Creator is a transcendent God, or a random combination of genetic material in the primordial soup, it is a power that existed before the first king assumed his throne, or the first president was elected. Liberty burns in your imagination, flows through your veins, and rings through your words. 

This radiant idea has burned through all the bloody clouds of the last three centuries: you are not clay to be sculpted by the will of another. You are not a racially inferior inconvenience, to be marched into a concentration camp. You aren’t a class enemy to be exiled by dictators. You are not a disposable cog in the machinery of collectivist economics, or a mouth to be starved by the failure of collective agriculture. You are an American, and through a dereliction of their duty as elected representatives, the Democrats have forced you to choose whether you will retain the full measure of the honor and dignity your Constitution asserts for you.

If you choose to obey their demands, it will be the last such choice you make. Your opinion was disregarded on this travesty of a health-care bill. It will not be solicited in the future. Fifteen thousand new IRS agents will ensure that you comply with endless future “adjustments” to socialized insurance, until it mutates into socialist medicine, and bankrupts us along with the crushing weight of other unsustainable entitlements. On that dark day, you will be fighting battles, not making choices.

Like your muscles, heart, and lungs, freedom is a part of you, and it makes demands. You cannot exercise freedom in the absence of responsibility. That means you must accept the challenges of a complex, fast-moving world. You must exercise your influence in that world, and money is the medium of exchange that transforms your labor into your will. You have to demand the best return on your investments, and the best quality for your purchases. This requires education, to gather the information necessary for making wise decisions.

We are currently paying the price for decades of turning away from those demands, and trusting government to insure our quality of life. It’s understandable. The free market is huge and powerful, and it does not pause to adore the millions of individuals passing through it… and occasionally stumbling. We feel overwhelmed by the waves of information crashing around us. In the case of an arcane discipline like medicine, we don’t feel as if we understand it well enough to make informed decisions, and our will is expressed through an insurance system that has already been turned into an incomprehensible mess by government regulation. It would be so easy to let righteous politicians with limitless power and money take care of us, tapping into the vast fortunes of the super-rich for the benefit of all, and transforming health care into a “human right” – which means the little people won’t have to think about it any more.

If you are in thrall to this temptation, consider what you are being asked to surrender. Hidden in ObamaCare’s thousands of pages are countless legislative snares, and subsidies designed to convert your freedom into benefits for favored constituencies. The money drained from our economy into this health-care sinkhole will reduce your freedom – even when it’s money from the wallets of other people. That’s because a collapsing free market will eliminate choices and options you currently take for granted. Mandates that wipe out part-time employment will destroy services your family needs. Jobs shipped overseas to avoid crushing penalties are employment opportunities forever denied to you. Higher taxes on corporations slither down to you as elevated prices on goods you may no longer be able to afford.

A swelling government reduces the size of the private sector… the galaxy in which free Americans burn as stars. Common sense tells you that a nation with a gigantic government is less free. What is the proper name for a system in which the State controls everything, and the private sector is completely gone? Why should free men applaud heavy steps taken in that direction? What about the freedom of Bart Stupak’s constituents, who foolishly trusted him to resist the tyranny of forcing pro-life taxpayers to fund abortions? Today they watched Stupak’s honor shrivel into a meaningless piece of paper, offered by a compulsive liar, whose every commitment comes with an expiration date.

The call of freedom requires you to turn away easy solutions offered by corrupt politicians. It’s not a “solution” anyway – just the gateway to another, heavier imposition on your liberty down the line. If its authors believed otherwise, why would they use tricks and lies to chisel out a “deficit-neutral” ten-year forecast from the Congressional Budget Office? A free man dismisses such deception with contempt, and demands to know what happens in Year Eleven. A free woman looks at a “crisis” in a heavily regulated market and commands government to remove itself to undo the damage it has already caused. What is the final form of a State that is rewarded for its failures with more power? We already know that name, don’t we?

Tonight, the Democrat Party declares war on the American middle class. They are gambling on the forced creation of an entitlement we’ll be too exhausted and weary to reject – no matter how poor its quality, corrupt its inception, or unbearable its cost. We do have one last chance to strike this down. There is no reason any Democrat up for re-election in 2010 or 2012 needs to retain their seats. They don’t own those seats, any more than the Kennedys owned Massachussetts. There’s no reason the Democrats need to exist as a viable political party after 2012. Obama can be their last President.

It would be incredible if the American people could bring about such a transformation of their decadent political class, in these coming elections. Sometimes freedom demands that you do the incredible to preserve it.