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Bill Maher wound up his New Rules segment on this Friday evening's Real Time by going after today's crop of Ayn Rand worshiping Libertarians in a rant where Maher basically said he didn't leave Libertarianism, it left him. As he noted, even though he's expressed support for the philosophy in the past, it was because it "meant he didn't want big government my bedroom, or my medicine chest and especially not on the second drawer of the nightstand on the left side of my bed."

I'm sure he'll have all of the Ron and Rand Paul supporters mad at him after he lumped them in with their fellow Ayn Rand fan, Paul Ryan, for basically taking the movement and turning it into a “creepy obsession with free market capitalism.”

Maher thinks the movement has basically lost its collective mind these days, and I would argue you could say the same for the Republican party as well, which as a whole has adopted these very same "principles" if you want to be generous enough to call them that.

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Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) and freshman state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione have a plan to create a "Fort Knox of Texas" so that the state can start hoarding gold.

Giovanni has filed a bill to establish a Texas Bullion Depository to store the $1 billion worth of gold bars that are owned by University of Texas Investment Management Co. (UTIMCO), which are currently being housed by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Speaking to conservative radio host Glenn Beck on Tuesday, Perry said that lawmakers were in the process of "bringing gold that belongs to the state of Texas back into the state." Beck has been a longtime paid spokesperson for the precious metal seller Goldline, which agreed to refund up to $4.5 million to former customers last year after being sued for marking up gold more than 50 percent.

"If we own it, I will suggest to you that that's not someone else's determination whether we can take possession of it back or not," Perry told Beck.

Former Rep. Ron Paul on Thursday explained to The Texas Tribune that the gold would be safer in the hands of Texans.

"If you think gold is a hedge, or a protection, you always want it as close to the individual and the entity as possible," Paul said. "Texas is better served if it knows exactly where the gold is rather than depending on the security of the Federal Reserve."

For his part, Capriglione said that he had gotten the idea while attending a tea party rally with Perry in Tarrant County earlier this year.

"Something on the scorecards of a lot of these businesses in deciding whether they want to come to Texas is stability and gold as being one of those items," Capriglione insisted. "I think it's been in his consciousness for a while in trying to get some sort of depository in the state of Texas."

"We don't want just the certificates. We want our gold. And if you're the state of Texas, you should be able to get your gold."

Tangent Capital Partners senior managing director Jim Rickards speculated to Yahoo Finance on Thursday that creating a "Fort Knox of Texas" could be a step in Texas creating its own currency and eventually moving to secede.

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The charisma-hungry Republicans are fanboys at heart, desperate for new heroes. So it's not surprising that the chairman of the Republican Party on Thursday said that Sen. Rand Paul's (R-KY) filibuster of CIA Director John Brennan was "completely awesome."

Like, totally.

During a stop on his listening tour in Iowa, Priebus was asked if Paul's filibuster over President Barack Obama's use of drones had energized the party.

"Listen, I think it was completely awesome," the RNC chairman said. "I was excited about it myself. I couldn't go to bed. I'm still excited about it."

(Hey Reince, we'd really rather not hear you use the words "bed" and "excited" in the same sentence, mmkay? Some things are private.)

"You know what I'm excited about?" Priebus continued. "I think our party needs some unity sometimes and it's not easy not having the White House and sometimes you've got scrap and claw for issues that can unify a party. Now, that's not totally unity, but this was great issue in standing up against the president, asking some simple and important questions. And I was happy to see so many other Republican senators support Sen. Paul."

(No, it's not easy having all that money, ALEC, the Heritage Foundation, Fox News, Politico, The Daily Caller, the American Enterprise Institute, the National Rifle Association... why, the Republican party is just like a little lamb, lost in the woods.)

According to the Des Moines Register, conservative activists in Iowa told Priebus that they wanted to see more integration between former Rep. Ron Paul's "liberty movement" and the Republican Party.

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A group of Tea Party students say they are outraged after North Carolina State University purchased about $300 worth of items to demonstrate safe sex -- including an "anal plug," six vibrators, three dildos and a "booty booster."

According to Campus Reform, Union Activities Board (UAB) purchased the sex toys as prizes for a "Dirty Bingo" event scheduled for Feb. 12.

In a letter posted to Facebook, UAB President Lauryn A. Collier explained that $304.69 has been spent on "a few edible undergarments, Fifty Shades of Grey book and game, six vibrators, four surprise packs, three dildos, a toy cleaner, lube, a sex game, a sex position book, an anal plug and a booty booster."

"The purpose of this event is to find an innovative and entertaining way to talk about sex and sex education, particularly on a college campus, which deviates the norm and expected," she wrote. "The certified educators plan to use some of the purchased items (those that are appropriate) to demonstrate safe and healthy sex practices. The programmers of this event wanted to include some ‘gag’ or non-educational prizes to add to the humorous and ‘dirty’ themed event."

Members of the group Young Americans for Liberty, which was originally formed to support former Rep. Ron Paul's (R-TX) 2008 presidential campaign, expressed outrage at the use of student funds for the event.

"The fact that a public university is going to spend mandatory student fees on such an event is just repulsive," Young Americans for Liberty North Carolina co-chair Emma Benson told Campus Reform. "There is nothing that involves reading 50 Shades of Grey or using a butt plug that promotes safe sex."

The group is calling on students to show up at the "Dirty Bingo" event on Tuesday in protest.

"NCSU is not Chapel Hill," NC State student Jason Voluntaryist wrote on Facebook. "We still have some sense of integrity, and we ought to understand the difference between a truly academically relevant event and simply screwing around."

But Collier insisted that the cost of the program works out to be less than a penny per student and that the sexually-explicit prizes were the real issue for some.

"From the concerned students I have spoken to, the issue is not the topic of the event; more so the specific ‘inappropriate’ prizes that were purchased and visualized online," she said. "I have stated that if any of the items are truly offensive and unacceptable, we will not give them away."

"From here I will be working with the programmers and concerned students to pull any items we deem unsuitable for this student event. I do support having events such as this and the traditional 'I [heart] Female Orgasm; program to allow students freedom to learn about healthy sex practices and have pure entertainment doing so."

She concluded: "We understand that not every student will like every event – especially with films, concerts, and tough topics like sex education – but we will continue to listen to students when they voice both concern and appreciation or interest."

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National conventions are tightly scripted, mostly made-for-tv events these days. What drama there was during the roll call vote by the states at the Republican National Convention was mostly confined to some anger from Ron Paul supporters on their shabby treatment. Case in point, the rather strange decision to not announce Ron Paul's votes at all from the stage. Someone from each state would come to the microphone, proudly announce their state totals for each candidate, and then when repeated from the stage, any votes not for Mitt Romney would not be named at all . A bit surreal. John King on CNN called the move "petty" and "fifth grade level". (Even Wolf Blitzer put on his serious face for that one.) A few minutes later John Sununu, a Romney surrogate and rules committee chairman for the convention, came on to explain that there were still hard feelings at some state levels where they felt the Ron Paul supporters had "hijacked" their conventions.

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Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul on Tuesday admitted that he got a monthly Social Security check, a program that he eventually wants to eliminate.

During an interview on MSNBC, Paul insisted that he would preserve Social Security longer than some of the others in his party.

"I want young people to opt out of Social Security," the Texas congressman told MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle. "In my more pragmatic stands on how we get to the place I want to go, actually I'm probably offering a program where some of these programs that we have taught people to be so dependant on, I would probably preserve them longer than others because we are going to lose them because of the bankruptcy that is coming."

"Are you on Social Security," The Huffington Post's Sam Stein wondered. "Do you get Social Security checks?"

"I do," Paul replied.

"You just told younger generations that they should wean themselves off of this social contract but you haven't done it yourself," Stein noted. "You're not the wealthiest man in Congress, I'm not saying that. But you have enough means to take care of yourself in retirement. Shouldn't you provide an example?"

"No," Paul said. "I think the programs are so designed, just as I use the post office too. I use government highways. I do that too. I use the banks. I use the Federal Reserve system. But that doesn't mean you can't work to remove this. The same way on Social Security, I am trying to make a transition."

"I personally don't see any inconsistency in that," he added.

(h/t: Mediaite)

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What a mess. It seems the Missouri Republicans had their hands full trying to deal with Ron Paul supporters this weekend at their caucus in St. Charles county -- Missouri Republican Caucus Meltdown Caught On Tape:

YouTube user ‘ IamBrandonElliott ‘ caught the republican caucus meltdown in St. Charles County caucus held in St. Peters, MO. A crowd, of more than 1,000 people at Francis Howell North high school could not agree to a rule that no recording devices be allowed and would not agree on who should lead the caucus.

St. Peters Police cleared the caucus after the unrest started. There never was any voting for delegates for any candidate. St. Peters Police arrested two men for trespassing, after being warned repeatedly to leave the school. They were released on summonses.

Police Intervene, Arrest Ron Paul Backers at Missouri Caucus:

Police and organizers shut down proceedings at one of Missouri’s largest caucuses today, as Ron Paul supporters feuded with local GOP leaders.

“It’s like the Hatfields and the McCoys around here,” St. Charles County’s former GOP chairman told ABC News, after police arrived on-scene with a helicopter and removed Paul backers.

In St. Charles, an exurb of St. Louis and one of the state’s largest GOP counties, Paul supporters sought to elect their own chairman and adopt their own rules when proceedings opened — both of which are part of standard caucus rules and procedure. But as they argued with the caucus chair, Paul supporters held video cameras — against caucus rules, according to a GOP official who was there — and things became contentious.

“It turned into a little food fight within the caucus, between the caucus chairman trying to control the caucus and certain elements, I guess with Ron Paul, trying to be heard,” said Tom Kipers, a former chairman of the St. Charles GOP, who attended the caucus at Francis Howell North High School.

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Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has seen some dirty campaigns in career, but on Sunday he said the 2012 Republican primary was "nastiest" one ever.

During the 2000 Republican presidential primary, then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush's top strategist, Karl Rove, put forward the idea that McCain had "fathered an illegitimate black child." As The Nation noted, McCain had been campaigning with his dark-skinned daughter who he had adopted from Bangladesh. The dirty trick gave Bush the boost he needed to win South Carolina.

During a Sunday interview on NBC, the Arizona senator said that unlimited money from super PACs have made the 2012 primary campaign even worse.

"Super PACs have played a key role, unfortunately in my view," McCain told NBC's David Gregory. "Most of them run negative ads. They've driven the unfavorables of all the candidates and made it much more difficult, frankly, to win the election in November."

"This is the nastiest I have ever seen," he added. "It's a result the of the worst decision the United States Supreme Court has made in many years, the Citizens United decision, where out of naivety and sheer ignorance, the Supreme Court just released all money [into the political process]."

FlackCheck.org, a project of Penn's Annenberg Public Policy Center, released a video spoofing the Republican Primaries on Monday, set to the tune of 'Yankee Doodle' and other classic American songs. Titled 'The GOP (Day Before) Super Tuesday Musical', the video shows animated versions of Republican presidential candidates and takes a sharp knife to the tough primary battle and the candidates themselves.

Transcript:

Romney, Santorum, Gingrich: Since Obama came to town, we all called him a phoney. Now we'll see who voters pick...

Gingrich: ...If it's not me, it's baloney. I'm the most experienced

Romney: I'm a business titan.

Santorum: I'm the guy who's winning states while you're so busy fighting.

Paul: They try to ignore me, but I'm their man, Ron Paul, Ron Paul. The veteran with the hippest fans, Ron Paul, Ron Paul

Santorum: I'm a conservative, a real conservative, hence the gay jihad on my head, it's true.

Romney: [unintelligible]

Gingrich: And your vests aren't cute.

Romney & Gingrich: And voters can't even Google you!

Romney, Santorum, Gingrich: Super PACs let's keep it up, we preach that we despise you, but you say things we cannot.

Romney: You're a corporation, can I buy you?

Romney: Congress reprimanded you...

Gingrich: I'm awesome at debating.

Santorum: You're high-risk and erratic.

Gingrich: So, my best friend was Reagan.

Romney, Santorum, Gingrich: Sigh.

Gingrich: You come from Massachusetts with a doggie your on your roof.

Santorum: You're just like dear Obama, you're liberal and aloof!

Romney: But I did release my taxes.

Gingrich and Santorum: You were asked ten thousand times!

Romney: I don't make much, but if I did, I wouldn't apologize!

Romney, Santorum, Gingrich: Oh, America, we're here to set you free from socialist Obamacare...

Paul: ...and maybe gravity!

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Here we go again with Ron Paul telling victims of natural disasters that they'd be better off without FEMA or federal disaster relief. On CNN's State of the Union, we got Ron Paul redux from his statements back in August of last year he said "we should be like 1900" and return to the era before there was government assistance to help rebuild cities devastated by natural disasters.

Transcript via:

CROWLEY: Let me turn you to a domestic issue. I'm sure you know that tornadoes have hit a wide swath of states, particularly in the Midwest, about 10 states. The damage is enormous.

You have frequently been critical of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the federal money that is given to some of these home owners and those that are also -- other victims of storms like this. Is there a role for federal money in helping all of these citizens get their lives back together?

PAUL: Not really, because it's not authorized and there is no such thing as federal money. Federal money is just what they steal from the states and steal from you and me. So there is no federal money unless you say, well, they can print it and cause internal problems.

But to say you don't support federal money doesn't mean you don't care about people, because FEMA is inefficient. I've lived on the Gulf Coast and I got re-elected constantly by criticizing FEMA because of people who had to put up with FEMA after the hurricanes, had nothing but frustration and anger with them.

And to point out, well, they might give you a home, yes, they bought a lot of trailers for Katrina, you know, and it's just so wasteful, inefficient. But, you know, the Guard units and other things within the states certainly is there. The people who live in Tornado Alley just as I live in a hurricane alley, they should have insurance for doing this.

But under major emergency, natural disasters, if there is a need, you know, for some help such as the military to come in, that is not a tragic violation, but to say that any accident that happens in the country, send in FEMA, send in the money, the government has all this money, it's totally out of control and it's not efficient.

There's a much better way of doing this and helping it. The FEMA, I was constantly told by the people of my district, they just get in the way. They take over law enforcement. They take over and they hinder the voluntary group and they hinder the state organization, exactly opposite of what we should be doing.

So if you were one of the unfortunate people to find themselves with their homes destroyed during these monstrous storms that ripped a good deal of the country apart over the weekend, Ron Paul doesn't want FEMA getting in the way of that recovery. I wonder who he thinks is going to rebuild those towns that literally got wiped off the map with virtually nothing left of them?