If you're a regular reader of The Burning Taper, you'll remember the firestorm a couple of weeks ago, when my endorsement of U.S. Rep. Dr. Ron Paul for President was met with critical commentary about whether a Freemason should publicly endorse a political candidate.If you missed it, or just want to relive the fun we all had, read "'Burning Taper' endorses Dr. Ron Paul for President" and "'Every generation needs a new revolution.'" and the associated comments. (Sorry — the comments that ignited the issue were later deleted by their author.)
The Iowa caucuses are this week, and the New Hampshire primary is just over a week away. I wouldn't be a very good endorser of my candidate if I didn't do a bit of politicking for him this week.
You may have noticed I like to post photos of attractive women whenever I can appropriately do so without straying too far from the point of an article. For example, I used a photo of Diane Kruger instead of Nicolas Cage in a story about National Treasure: Book of Secrets and Freemasonry, and way back in July, 2006 I used a photo of Hugh Hefner and six hot blondes to accent a story about Muslim conspiracy theories.
But apparently I've digressed into the Land of Tangent. It's taken me
Singer Juliet Annerino, a Ron Paul supporter, has created a pin-up calendar called "Hotties 4 Ron Paul." Forty percent of sales are donated to the Ron Paul campaign. The calender is tastefully G-rated, featuring attractive women and select quotations about freedom by Ron Paul and other great statesman, authors, and visionaries.
"Hotties 4 Ron Paul" also has a page at MySpace.com.
The lovely lady atop this article is Michelle Shinghal, a longtime Libertarian. She is featured on the month of March page of the calendar. Michelle blogs at LibertarianLady.com. She is a former stripper, and has been interviewed many times on television recently regarding her support for Ron Paul. She currently serves as chairman of Collin County, Texas Libertarian Party, a position she has held since March, 2002.
Masons | Ron Paul | Michelle Shinghal | Freedom | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com
Went to the Clevealnd Browns game today and there were many Ron Paul supporters with signs out front.
ReplyDeleteI hope none were masons
TV cuts candidates from debates, angering Paul backers
ReplyDeleteNEW YORK (AP) -- ABC and Fox News Channel are narrowing the field of presidential candidates invited to debates this weekend just before the New Hampshire primary, in Fox's case infuriating supporters of Republican Rep. Ron Paul.
Fox News says it has limited space in its studio, which leaves Rep. Ron Paul out of a weekend debate.
The roster of participants for ABC's back-to-back, prime-time Republican and Democratic debates Saturday in New Hampshire will be determined after results of Thursday's Iowa caucus become clear.
Fox, meanwhile, has invited five GOP candidates to a forum with Chris Wallace scheduled for its mobile studio in New Hampshire on Sunday. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee received invites, leaving Paul of Texas and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California on the sidelines.
The network said it had limited space in its studio -- a souped-up bus -- and that it invited candidates who had received double-digit support in recent polls.
In a nationwide poll conducted December 14-20 by The Associated Press and Yahoo, Thompson had the support of 11 percent of GOP voters and Paul was at 3 percent. Paul's support is at 6 percent in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted in early December.
Paul was tied with Thompson for fifth in New Hampshire in the most recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, each with the support of 4 percent of likely voters. Among all New Hampshire voters, Paul led Thompson 6 percent to 4 percent, but that was within the poll's margin of error.
Jesse Benton, Paul's spokesman, said it was a "big mistake" not to include Paul, especially given Paul's recent success in fundraising. He said the campaign has been trying to reach Fox News to get an explanation for the decision, but its calls had not been returned.
"There very well might be some bias," Benton said. "Ron brings up some topics that aren't very popular with Fox News, as in fiscal responsibility and withdrawing from the war in Iraq ... that does leave us scratching our heads a little bit about whether it was deliberate. Based on metrics, I don't see how you can possibly exclude Dr. Paul."
Some livid Paul supporters are distributing e-mails calling for a boycott of Fox advertisers.
A Fox representative did not immediately return calls for comment about the complaints.
Paul has been invited to a GOP forum that Fox News is sponsoring in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on January 10, Benton said.
To participate in ABC's Saturday night debate, Republican and Democratic candidates must meet at least one of three benchmarks: place first through fourth in Iowa, poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major New Hampshire surveys, or poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major national surveys.
ABC News anchor Charles Gibson said the criteria were actually quite inclusive. He defended the network taking the initiative in effectively narrowing the field at a point when no actual voters had cast a ballot, except for Iowa caucus-goers.
"You will have had a year's politicking," he said. "You will have had, I think by count, about 641 debates. You will have had national polls and state polls and one state's vote. I think that's pretty indicative."
Gibson said ABC explained the rules for participation in a conference call with all the campaigns and "nobody said, "How dare you!' " E-mail to a friend