Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing
click to enlarge
Ron Paul, and what will go down in history as a genius fund-raising idea, raked in 4.2 million dollars over this past weekend in honor of Guy Fawkes.
With a barage of YouTube videos (best one IMO), MySpace comments, emails and the assorted MeetUp set a goal of 100,000 people donating $100 on Guy Fawkes Day.
Who is Guy Fawkes and why does he have his own day?
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, or the Powder Treason, as it was known at the time, was a failed attempt by a group of provincial English Catholics to kill King James I of England and VI of Scotland, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in a single attack by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening on 5 November 1605. The conspirators had also planned to abduct the royal children, not present in Parliament, and incite a revolt in the Midlands.
The Gunpowder Plot was one of many unsuccessful assassination attempts against James I, and followed the Main Plot and Bye Plot of 1603. Some popular historians have put forward a debate about government involvement in the plot.
Guy Fawkes Night (more commonly known as Bonfire Night and sometimes Fireworks Night) is an annual celebration on the evening of the 5th of November. It celebrates the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of the 5th of November 1605 in which a number of Roman Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament.
It is primarily marked in the United Kingdom, but also in former British colonies including New Zealand, parts of Canada, and parts of the British Caribbean. Bonfire Night was also common in Australia until the 1980s, but it was held on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend in June.
Festivities are centered around the use of fireworks and the lighting of bonfires.
There was also a movie made about Guy Fawkes recently titled V for Vendetta derived form the comic book of the same name – a cautionary tale about the Thatcher government.
TCD has a character called The Magic Talking Mask Of Guy Fawkes. At the local liberal Apocalyptic Lodge of Allied Mystical Oddfellows, hangs the magical talking mask of Guy Fawkes. The mask will give advice and philosophical wisdom to those that tends the strange artifact. Sometimes it talks to itself.
So this was the inspiration behind the super-whammy fund-raising weekend of Ron Paul. To go on the record, I agree with only one of his positions and it is to get out of Iraq YESTERDAY, otherwise, he makes me nervous. I do like the karma of the Ron Paul money, especially since Sean Hannity is doing everything he can to undermine the Paul campaign and its message of “war is bad.”
Anytime we can get more egg on Hannity’s face, the more I like it.
P.S. Just a reminder to vote for The Bilerico Project for the best LGBT Blog of 2007. The poll can be freeped HERE