As a point of information, before a man can be a Shriner or Jester, he must first become a Master Mason. He can then join other sub groups like the Scottish Rite, the Knights Templar or the Shriners. So, a man who is a member of the Royal Order of Jesters was first an invited Shriner who was first a Master Mason. The Shriners are best known for their $8.4 billion network of 22 hosptials that provide free medical care to burned and crippled children.
In the case of the Jesters, two of them have pleaded guilty to felony counts of facilitating prostitution for their weekend parties via sex/human trafficking, article here. Their national "court" throws weekend bashes that cost over half a million dollars. Or at least this is what the Jesters National Court told the IRS on their tax 2007 returns. And some may be involved with child sex tourism, articles here and here.
Remember, these groups have been classified as "non profit" and "tax exempt" by the IRS so they get tax breaks at taxpayer expense.
Instead of ripping into these guys like Hunter, I'd rather offer experience, strength and hope to those who are suffering.
A recent Interim Report describes leaders in serious trouble; those who have been caught doing unethical, if not illegal, things.
These behaviors are typical of drunks, addicts and junkies.
Or those willing to do anything for their next fix.
Like Hunter wrote, maybe they are political junkies who will do anything for the rush of winning?
Here is a definition of "addiction" from a website that ties former New York governor Elliott Spitzer to sex addition:
"Addiction can make both the best and the worst among us grandiose and blind. The addict feels somehow bullet proof. Their thinking becomes so twisted with chronic lying, sneaking, and bending reality to suit their needs and desire that they truly imagine that they are getting away with something and that they will continue to do so.
And for a while, even a long time, they generally do. They are grandiose; medicating their own insecurity, anxiety, and fears of fraudulence with substances or behaviors that take away -- albeit it temporarily -- feelings that they cannot bear to feel. And they have a primary relationship with their addictive substance or behavior that they will do anything, lose anything, risk anything to maintain."
Back to Hunter.
He had this particular aversion towards Richard Nixon, too. The first paragraph of Nixon's obit goes like this:
"Richard Nixon is gone now, and I am poorer for it. He was the real thing --a political monster straight out of Grendel and a very dangerous enemy. He could shake your hand and stab you in the back at the same time. He lied to his friends and betrayed the trust of his family. Not even Gerald Ford, the unhappy ex-president who pardoned Nixon and kept him out of prison was immune to the evil fallout. Ford, who believes strongly in heaven and hell, has told more than one of his celebrity golf partners that "I know I will go to hell, because I pardoned Richard Nixon."
It's kind of ironic that Ford was also a Shriner as well as a member of the Royal Order of Jesters.
It looks like there is no Betty Ford Center for those needing this type of help, huh?
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