Now that I've had time to read and gnaw on Judge Walker's ruling, I can only say that to this non-lawyer, it is a masterful work of art. I may not be a lawyer, but I read a lot of court rulings, and this one transcends most in terms of its construction, its logic, and its thoroughness. No corner was left with dust in it.

Which means, of course, that the crazy is now beginning. Even as the party rolls on in the Castro district and West Hollywood tonight, the wingers have begun to roll out statements of their own -- statements which have only one message for those with ears to hear. "Fear the gays."

It's the same message they used to ram Proposition 8 down the throats of California voters in the first place. Crazy doesn't like to be called crazy, and especially not in the venue they use most to cling to crazy -- the courts. So we have some notable statements from the Proposition 8 proponents.

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I think I need to do some real investigative reporting to check out why the RNC's favorite LA hangout club is Voyeur.

Washington Post:

Although it is not unusual for either party to spend money in tony settings to cater to wealthy donors, the RNC's latest filings captured widespread attention for one expenditure at a risque nightclub: $1,946.25 for "meals" at Voyeur in West Hollywood, which features topless dancers wearing horse bridles and other bondage gear while mimicking sex acts.

The committee fired an unidentified staff member as a result of the disbursement and emphasized Monday that Steele had not visited the club and was not aware of the expenditure. The reimbursement went to Erik Brown, a Southern California GOP donor who has spent time with Steele in the past and whose marketing firm has earned more than $160,000 from the RNC and other Republican committees, according to campaign disclosure records.

I believe it's important to think like a conservative in this climate so that we can better understand their ridiculous actions and what better way than to check out Voyeur for myself. I'm sure David Vitter could fill me in too, but my attempts at contacting Diaper Dan's office has not resulted in an interview.

Vitter still loves the South, though.

The hooker-loving Vitter shot back with this:

"I'm on the side of conservatives getting back to core conservative values," said Mr. Vitter, Louisiana Republican and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "There are a lot of us from the South who hold those values, which I think the party is supposed to be about. We strayed from them in the past few years, and that's why we performed so badly in the national elections."

...Mr. Vitter also criticized Mr. Voinovich for voting last week against a failed amendment sponsored by Mr. Vitter and Sen. John Thune, South Dakota Republican, to expand Americans' ability to carry concealed weapons.

"He's a moderate, really wishy-washy," Mr. Vitter said.

Let's see who has it right---a moderate, or a diaper dandy?

Vitter was pretty hard on Voinovich, but I guess he feels he has to uphold true conservative values---like going to clubs like Voyeur.

I wouldn't ask for almost two grand to go to the club if it wasn't absolutely necessary. Since there will be no real travel costs except some gas, I'll be able to get the real sense of the place.

Do your part for investigative journalism. Our motto: Hey, at least we're more honest than Breitbart!

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The Daily Caller article that exposed Micheal Steele and the RNC to more criticism has been a two fold blessing. First of course is that Steele looks like a jackass again which is fun, but the second is seeing Tucker have to beat back his conservative brethren.

The complaints from the RNC about this morning’s Daily Caller article, “High Flyer: RNC Chairman Steele suggested buying private jet with RNC funds,” while loud, lack substance. Despite claims to the contrary, no one from the committee has ever explained the specific circumstances of any of the expenses listed in its most recent disclosure filings.

Our questions remain: Why did the committee spend more than $17,000 on private jets in the month of February? How and why was RNC business conducted in a bondage-themed nightclub, and how and why were the nearly $2,000 in charges that resulted approved by RNC staff?

To be clear: We did not claim that Michael Steele personally visited Voyeur West Hollywood. In fact, and unfortunately, we still know almost nothing about that trip, including its purpose. If the RNC provides details, we’ll put them on the site immediately.

The Daily Caller requested interviews with Michael Steele on Jan. 14, Jan. 15, Jan. 18, Feb. 10, Feb. 23 and again on March 23. All were denied.

The story we ran today is accurate, as the RNC knows.

It's a twofer. Yes ma'am, may I have another.

Michael Steele says either STFU or fire me.

Michael Steele is the gift that keeps on giving. In a depressed economy this man is asking for private jets and spending thousands on hotels in Beverly Hills. Well, the bigwigs of the GOP aren't too happy.

On Monday morning, the Daily Caller reported that the RNC spent thousands of dollars on high-end travel arrangements, swanky hotels and, most remarkably, "meals" at a lesbian-and-bondage-themed nightclub in West Hollywood. The latter expense, naturally, grabbed most of the attention and the cleverest of headlines -- prompting the RNC to simultaneously state that it would investigate the expenditures and that it wasn't Steele who went to the club.

But the damage had already been done. While several GOP strategists are willing to grant Steele a pass -- under the rubric that one has to spend lavishly to raise lavish amounts of money -- several big donors and party officials are completely baffled.

"For those donors who truly believe in conservative values, this latest news about Steele has to be very disturbing," said Douglas MacKinnon, former press secretary to Majority Leader Robert Dole. "No matter which side of the aisle you find yourself, if you are giving a political party your hard-earned money, you should have no doubts that it is going to be spent as advertised and not to provide a spoiled, egocentric, out-of-touch chairman with frivolous luxuries which are out of reach of the vast majority of the American people. Michael Steele needs to resign and let the RNC vote in a man or woman who understands that his or her needs do not come before the needs of the nation or the party."

Steele knows he's in the driver's seat because if they boot him he can play the racism card. As much as conservatives try and lie and write bogus articles claiming that since people are just yelling 'n--ger' at African Americans, racism is long gone. Funny how that makes no sense, but it's conservatives.

It would appear that conservatives are leaking these embarrassing stores to hurt him, but Marc Ambinder makes an observation.

The flashy implications of the story are going to hurt Steele, who absorbs body blows (like the leak of a devastating internal fundraising memo) as if he had guts of, well, steel. But the sad truth for the RNC chairman is that he escapes censure because his party isn't organized enough to censure him, because Steele wields too little power to be considered a threat, and because the locus of Republican energy these days can be found in the House. These last two errors have been made by staffers, but they point to a culture of casualty at the RNC. No one, it seems, is afraid of enough the boss to go out of their way to avoid embarrassing him or the party.

Oh, like I wasn't gonna photoshop THAT. Original marketing image from Voyeur Nightclub, West Hollywood, found here. Attempts to reach the actual Voyeur website resulted in "server busy" errors.

Changing the image of the Republican Par-tay, Chairman Michael Steele spent almost two grand at a nightclub designed around a less-than-family-values theme, ahem.

Via Daily Caller:

FEC filings suggest, Steele travels in style. A February RNC trip to California, for example, included a $9,099 stop at the Beverly Hills Hotel, $6,596 dropped at the nearby Four Seasons, and $1,620.71 spent [update: the amount is actually $1,946.25] at Voyeur West Hollywood, a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex....

Steele himself declined numerous interview requests, though his defenders point out that luxurious accommodations are sometimes necessary to attract big-time donors, especially since Republicans remain in the minority in Washington.

Still, the nature and size of Steele’s expenses are likely to reignite persistent complaints from high-end donors and key party figures that the RNC is bleeding cash in the months before a pivotal midterm election.

Several sources indicate that one must reserve a table well in advance at Voyeur, which anyone with a web browser could research as being "bad for publicity with the Christian wing, if you know what I mean":

West Hollywood’s newest corset, leather, and other trap door lingerie-inspired den, Voyeur, has an inescapable link to Eyes Wide Shut – women in various states of undress line the club, some hanging from the ceiling above you in nets (equipped with whips, so watch yourself), and a photo booth to document the whole thing are just the tip of the iceberg. Around the room, you can catch men and women undulating (er, dancing) in cages, the décor distinctly feels as if you’re unveiling something naughty, and you’re met with a constant stream of various erotic multimedia like film clips and risqué photography. Sorry to have gotten you all worked up at the office.

Did they go on Gay Night? Honestly, I can't decide which is worse: that some GOP fundraiser committee thought the way to reach big donors was to spend two grand at an S&M-sex themed bar, or that GOP big donors are actually courted this way, in complete disregard for the "family values" planks in the party's platform.

And did they think the word "Voyeur" in the FEC filings would go overlooked by us bloggers? Just how stupid are they? Nevermind.

UPDATE: RNC releases a statement; Steele has "no knowledge" of expenditure.

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Sure enough, just as Nicole wondered, Juan Williams was pretty bent out of shape over Warren Ballentine's calling him out -- using black cultural lingo -- for being such a willing supplicant to the "Limbaugh is being oppressed by mean black people" meme currently popular in right-wing circles.

So who does he bring on to buttress his claim that liberals are being bigots? Why, none other than Tammy Bruce and ... the Rev. Ken Hutcherson!

Bruce is bad enough. This is the person who called Michelle Obama "trash"

But Hutcherson? That's rich.

Folks outside the Seattle area may not know a lot about Hutcherson, so

they just see him as a black conservative. Which is common enough, especially on Fox. It's more genuine than being a fake liberal like Williams, at least.

But he's also one of the most prominent anti-gay bigots in the state, and for that matter on the West Coast.

This is a man who told his flock that "God hates effeminate men".

He also headed up an initiative to legalize anti-gay discrimination in Washington state. (It went down in flames.)

Of even deeper concern is his heavy involvement in promoting a virulent and violent anti-gay organization called Watchmen on the Walls. This is a global evangelical-Christian outfit that, elsewhere in the world (particularly in Eastern Europe) is associated with violent anti-gay hate crimes.

I reported on a Watchmen gathering in nearby Lynnwood a couple of years ago (photos here). I also remember his sermon very clearly:

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"This is going to be an issue in 2006, and it's going to be an issue in 2008," [DNC chairman Howard] Dean told about 200 people at a gay rights group's breakfast in West Hollywood, "because we're going to have an ad with a picture of Tom DeLay saying, 'Do you want this guy to decide whether you die or not? Or is that going to be up to your loved ones?' "

Dean, a practicing physician until he became governor of Vermont in 1991, added: "The issue is: Are we going to live in a theocracy where the highest powers tell us what to do? Or are we going to be allowed to consult our own high powers when we make very difficult decisions?"

"This is going to be an issue in 2006, and it's going to be an issue in 2008," [DNC chairman Howard] Dean told about 200 people at a gay rights group's breakfast in West Hollywood, "because we're going to have an ad with a picture of Tom DeLay saying, 'Do you want this guy to decide whether you die or not? Or is that going to be up to your loved ones?' "

Dean, a practicing physician until he became governor of Vermont in 1991, added: "The issue is: Are we going to live in a theocracy where the highest powers tell us what to do? Or are we going to be allowed to consult our own high powers when we make very difficult decisions?"

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Danny Sugerman, longtime manager of the Doors and the principal caretaker of the Los Angeles band's legend, died Wednesday in West Hollywood after a long battle with cancer. He was 50...read on

He was a friend and a lot of people outside of the music industry didn't know him that well, but he will sorely be missed! His life was fillied music and writiing and intensity, craziness, beauty, strength, vision, hope and he was also married to Fawn Hall. I always asked him how that happened, and he would say," It was meant to be!"