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Post by sonofbarcelonabob on Jul 22, 2004 19:40:40 GMT -5
Two versions of the story of The Ant and The Grasshopper
OLD VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!
MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why we should allow the ant to be warm and well-fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green." Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Tom Daschle & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Peter Jennings that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share." Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act," retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, the government confiscates his home. Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and they try the case before a panel of federal judges that Bill appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients. The ant loses the case. The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Vote Republican
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Post by Gorf on Jul 22, 2004 20:46:46 GMT -5
Lets see Cheney is Republican.
Cheney was in favor of cuts in military spending as well as a balanced budget when he was in office under Papa Bush.
Something seems to be wrong with your moral.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2004 20:48:14 GMT -5
Thank you for displaying the typical, racist, Right-Wing Republican mindset.
This is what people like you believe. That it's all about hard work. If you are poor, you are lazy. It's a game, isn't it?
You are the sort of person who writes Letters to the Editor saying YOU know how to spend YOUR money. Why should the Government have your hard-earned dough?
Of course, this conveniently overlooks the fact that were it not for the Government, you would not HAVE your hard-earned dough. Because you, after all, did it all by yourself, through will-power, strength of character, and, of course, Hard Work.
It's not your fault that people are out of work, and/or have no health insurance. Nope. It's THEIR fault.
Right-wing Republicans. The most anti-Christian people I know. Ironic, isn't it?
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Post by sonofbarcelonabob on Jul 22, 2004 23:10:49 GMT -5
LOL!
Have you ever been to the some of the economically depressed areas across our country? Ever spent time with the out-of-work, poor people you hold so dear to your heart? I have. And yes, there are poor people out there who are just plain lazy. They'll take any handout you can give them, and most times they won't even say "Thank You".
As far as being Right-Wing Republican, I am certainly not that. I am however, a pragmatist. I'll vote for someone who will make tough decisions and stay the course, than someone who is unreliable and more than willing to change political positions at the drop of a hat.
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Post by sonofbarcelonabob on Jul 22, 2004 23:12:20 GMT -5
>-(Gorf)-<[} link=board=news&thread=1090543240&start=1#0 date=1090547206]Lets see Cheney is Republican. Cheney was in favor of cuts in military spending as well as a balanced budget when he was in office under Papa Bush. Something seems to be wrong with your moral. I missed the part of the story that mentioned the military spending and the balanced budget part. |
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Post by Barefoot In Kailua on Jul 23, 2004 0:01:57 GMT -5
I missed the part of the story that mentioned the military spending and the balanced budget part. As did I. Gorf must be confused, No surprise! |
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Post by Gorf on Jul 23, 2004 9:38:08 GMT -5
LOL! I'll vote for someone who will make tough decisions and stay the course, than someone who is unreliable and more than willing to change political positions at the drop of a hat. OMG. Have you totally missed the plethora of political position changes of GWB? |
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Post by Gorf on Jul 23, 2004 9:39:14 GMT -5
As did I. Gorf must be confused, No surprise! As confused as the entire story as well as its moral? |
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Post by islandgirl on Jul 23, 2004 10:14:50 GMT -5
I am also appalled at the elitist/racist assertion that poor people are in that situation because they are just lazy. This mindset, of course, would explain why minorities are always on the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. They are just lazy and stupid. Now, I understand. It has absolutely nothing to so with oppression or the unequal start or opportunities in life.  |
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Post by islandgirl on Jul 23, 2004 10:15:50 GMT -5
Day in the Life of Joe Middle-Class Republican
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By John Gray Cincinnati, Ohio - jgray7@cinci.rr.com - July - 2004
Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.
All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn’t think he should loose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
Its noon time, Joe needs to make a Bank Deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time.
Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republican’s would still be sitting in the dark)
He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.
He turns on a radio talk show, the host’s keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn’t tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day) Joe agrees, “We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have”.
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Post by sonofbarcelonabob on Jul 23, 2004 22:13:16 GMT -5
I am also appalled at the elitist/racist assertion that poor people are in that situation because they are just lazy. This mindset, of course, would explain why minorities are always on the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. They are just lazy and stupid. Now, I understand. It has absolutely nothing to so with oppression or the unequal start or opportunities in life. Here....have a tissue. |
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Post by Barefoot In Kailua on Jul 23, 2004 22:22:58 GMT -5
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Post by islandgirl on Jul 23, 2004 22:28:00 GMT -5
Thank you but I really don't need one. Unless, of course, too much eye-rolling can make a person's eyes water.  |
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Post by sonofbarcelonabob on Jul 23, 2004 22:33:57 GMT -5
Thank you but I really don't need one. Unless, of course, too much eye-rolling can make a person's eyes water. Wait! What's that sound? Oh...it's the WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMBULANCE coming to pick you up. |
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chunkymonkey
Freshman
My wife thinks I should change my moniker.
Posts: 58
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Post by chunkymonkey on Jul 23, 2004 23:51:27 GMT -5
Wednesday was a bad day for Kerry and the Grasshoper ...  Alan Greenspan spoke to Congress this week. Here's what USA Today, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC left out of their reporting ... (this comes directly from the Federal Reserve site ... Greenspan's speech) Chairman Greenspan presented identical testimony before the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, on July 21, 2004 [glow=red,2,300]Economic developments in the United States have generally been quite favorable in 2004, lending increasing support to the view that the expansion is self-sustaining ... Capital spending had increased markedly in the second half of last year, no doubt spurred by significantly improving profits, a low cost of capital, and the investment tax incentives enacted in 2002 and enhanced in 2003[/u] ... Expanding employment should provide a lift to personal disposable income, adding to the support stemming from cuts in personal income taxes over the past year[/u] ... Both equity prices and capital goods spending have turned up over the past year, and the probability that economic activity might stagnate has receded ... Capital spending had increased markedly in the second half of last year, no doubt spurred by significantly improving profits, a low cost of capital, and the investment tax incentives enacted in 2002 and enhanced in 2003.[/u][/glow] In other words ... if the liberals had their way, we would not have had tax cuts and we would not see a recovering economy ... instead, there would be more unemployed grasshopers. |
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