****TRADITIONAL VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his
house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is 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 long, building his
house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is 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 the ant should be warm and well fed while others
are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, 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 gr oup singing, 'We shall overcome.' Jesse
then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's
sake.

Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with
Larry King 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, his home is confiscated by
the government.

Hillary Clinton gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in
a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a
panel of federal judges that Bill Clinton 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: Be very careful how you vote in 2008

 

yeah, because we are all well aware of the fact that hillary clinton is resonposible for ruining this country over the past 6 years.

 

No. But only because she hasn't had the power. If this country is dumb enough to give it to her, then you will see the type of damage she is capable of.
Do you have an argument with any of the points in the parable?

 

LMAO!!!

Good point. They got to have something to say because they sure as h&ll can't talk about their performance. Get ready for more terrorist alerts too.

I love the political season. I just wish people would read, learn and think for themselves, instead of getting "Hannitized", becoming a "Ditto-head" or otherwise not being part of a solution. Whether you lean left or right there is too much at stake for any of us to let ourselves be assimilated into the Borg.

 

Matt,

It's time for Conservatives to say what they intend to do, why it is a good idea and what they need to get the job done. If (by some miracle) they actually don't lose more ground in'08, they'll need to concentrate on being honest with the American people and limiting huge financial/moral scandals to oh, maybe 1 per year.

It's time for them to STOP using fear as a reason to follow them, to show true leadership so they become the one Americans want to follow and then to ask us to re-elect them because of THEIR deeds and not through scare tactics.

Basically, they need to be good Scouts. It's all in the Scout Oath:

Just substitute the word "Constitution" for the term "Scout Law"

 

Great story

 

dude, the bush administration has been the worst thing to happen to america and the world. they have lied, violated civil liberties, the constitution, the bill of rights, started wars and military occupations on false intelligence, and the republican can't go a month without scandals.

 

Sure.... they've done all that and more (like torture). But seriously, if we don't keep them in power, it'll REALLY go bad for us should HILLARY get power!

One good thing all the cheating, lying and stealing has done is it has gotten more of America to wake up.

 

seriously, nobody could do a worse job than the bush administration. for the 2008 election, i really don't think we can lose, anybody at this point would be a welcome change. and hillary would do a great job. for all those people who thought bush was the better choice over gore and kerry, look where we are now.

 

LOL...I knew this one would be fun.

OK, let's see:

Amen brother.


Yeah, because we all know that the democrats and the Clinton administration didn't have any financial/moral scandals.


LOL. I love all of these new buzz words that the liberals and media have planted firmly in our heads like "scare tactics". I suppose you think 9/11 was a fluke? Did it not really happen or was I dreaming? Do you honestly think the danger of it ever happening again is gone? Why are so many people willing to stick their head in the sand and pretend that nobody wants to hurt us?


So you think the dems are a nice honest group with no scandals? You need to do some reading my friend.

 

Matt,

Clinton cheated on his wife. Other than that, most everything you THINK you know is a product of the Republican Party's imagination. Just like the Swift Boat garbage they created for Kerry. Yes, the Dems have had their issues, but nothing like the moral bankruptcy on display by the Republican party over the past 8 years.

The attacks of 9/11 happened on Republican watch, after they collectively ignored what intelligence they had. And it was GEORGE BUSH that sat in that classroom like a deer caught in bin Laden's headlights.

We went after them in Afghanistan, I was behind that, but the move to Iraq was asinine. If we REALLY were about smashing terrorism we'd gone after the money and the shelter. Iraq was not high on the list for either of those items. Odd though, it WAS the scene of G.H.W. Bush's big mistake. Hmmmmm.....

Mission Accomplished!

You can keep telling yourself what you know is real, it won't make any of it true. When you decide you want the truth you'll stop regurgitating the sound-bites you've allowed yourself to be programmed with and you move away from slamming the Dems and, instead, begin telling all of us what is right with the Conservative movement. Again, it goes to real leadership. You can't run on what might happen if Hillary gets elected. But the Dems can run on Bush's record and paint any Republican with the same brush when they do not have the nuts to put any distance between themselves and Bush's mistakes, bad judgments and bad policies. I know, they need the party in order to get elected. Unfortunately, that kind of selling out isn't just about that individual, it's about our whole country. I love my country and I know you do too. But do you love America enough to step back and take an honest open look at what is real? Or are you just going to dismiss everyone that does not think like you?

No more scare tactics.

No veiled threats to our freedom or families.

No Chicken Little-isms.

Tell me why your guys should be trusted with my grand-children's future. Tell me why the negative mood of the country is a good thing. Explain to me why Bush's record-setting low approval ratings are just American's not understanding the world they live in. His numbers are so low that they could only be achieved with the help and support of his own party. Stop telling me what's wrong with my choice and start trying to make me see the light of yours. There IS some light there, right? If there isn't then you need to come out of the darkness.

And there has been MUCH darkness.

WMD Lies
Haliburton's 7 Billion No-Bid Contracts
Abu Ghraib - Torture
Kellogg, Brown & Root (Haliburton) Overcharges The Military For Fuel In Iraq
Scooter Libby
Karl Rove
Jack Abramoff
Tom DeLay
Alberto Gonzales
Cheney - The Armed & Dangerous Version
Guantanamo Bay - Torture
Mark Foley
Rush Limbaugh
Bill O'Reilly
Bob Packwood
Blackwater

And the "Hits" just keep on coming!

 

bbcrud, you seem fairly intelligent. Do you honestly believe that the only scandal or questionable activity surrounding the Clinton administration was the Monica Lewinsky thing? I won’t bore you with a lengthy cut-n-paste list, but you can certainly look them up if you want to.

Yes..9/11 happened while Bush was the President. He was in office for about 8 months when the attack occurred…(an attack which took a few years to plan and orchestrate). So who ignored intelligence?

Oh..and for the record; the Republican party aren’t “my guys” as you called them. I never just blindly vote for anyone based on party affiliation. I have a list of issues that are a priority to me and my family *. I study the candidates and see where they stand on those issues and I base my vote on that information. Then I pray that it wasn't an empty campaign promise which they will promptly forget about once elected. It just so happens that 90% of the time, the candidates whom I agree with are Republican.

*see parable in original post for example.

 

RON PAUL 2008!!! FTMFW!

 

Thats the problem I see all the time...People dont educate themselves enough to make a descion for themselves...They rely on what their parents taught them or "followed" or just go with the flow. Or the pick which ever canidate makes the best promises.

 

Wow, another political debate on SL. I'm not even going to try and state my opinions, for those who agree it's preaching to the choir and those who don't will not be swayed anyways.

I found this site most helpful and seemingly unbiased. take it for what it's worth. Candidate info is taken from quotes or voting records, data may be cherrypicked but at least it's based on what the candidates actually said / did. Read up and make your decisions, when the Daily Show has the same quotient of fact as other news outlets none can be relied on.

www.ontheissues.org

The only opinion I will give is for the Ron Paul supporters. He aligns pretty well to my views on most things, however he believes stem cell research is not constitutionally authorized, will not support funding for it and may support legislation making it illegal. This affects me personally as my wife has Multiple Sclerosis. In the past seven years I have watched her go from a beautiful and healthy and educated woman to a person unable to fulfil their ambitions because she can no longer walk, dress herself, eat or swallow without choking, type or do anything else that requires fine motor skill, and is now losing her ability to talk and see.

Sorry if you don't share my viewpoint but I value my wife's health and well being over that of a cell mass with the slight potential to become a human being. It is a greater waste of life to have these cells discarded and destroyed in research labs because they are blocked for using them when they could be saving a life.

 

Who can i vote for... let's see. Obama or Hillary can represent the democrats. One won't recite the pledge of allegiance, and the other will pledge allegiance to anyone and anything if you vote for her. Romney or Rudy can represent the republicans. One is a Boston Republican... for whatever that's worth, and the other is an anti-gun, pro-abortion Republican, who may or may not believe in God depending on which network is interviewing him, and suddenly decides to jump ship from the Yankees to the Red Sox (noooo... he's not wishy washy).

Basically, everyone sucks. It'd be far more advantageous to stay home on election day, not start the car up and destroy the environment. Ever pinched your finger? You think that initial pain is going to kill you. It feels like the world is ending. But then, about half a minute later the real pain starts and lasts for hours? Bush was that initial pain.

The way I see it, we're all screwed no matter who gets elected. Deal with it however you want. I'm welding steel plates onto the back of my underoos, and stocking up on vaseline in case they break through. The next 10 years will suck people.

 

Amen on it all.

For anyone to say that 9/11 was all Bush is a retard. And lies are lies and they didn’t start with the Bush admin they are a thing of politics and will never stop no matter who gets elected. Also the torture thing is just getting reviled and to say that it is the Bush Administration’s fault for military tactics that have been in place for quite a long time.

War is an ugly thing and yes it should never be established but this is not a perfect world and bad things happen and bad decisions sometimes get made, however I am glad that some one stood up and made a decision, that was backed up my many of the people that are ducking out and saying it was a horrible thing to do from the beginning all because one half thinks we were mislead and the other thinks everyone else was mislead. Yes President Bush made some bad decisions and got us deeper then we wanted but he was in charge and the people around him gave him intelligence that was overall the right intelligence “I think”. He stood his ground and is still taking a beating like many other Presidents that were elected during a war. On that note how can I vote for a set of people that don’t know where they stand on any given day? Whether Democrat or Republican they candidate needs to be some one who makes a dominate stand and doesn’t waiver on the important issues that we as an American people should lie before them.

So we are in a war and that will go on for a bit longer so who has a fool proof plan on how to fix it. Who can say for sure what they are going to do about it. Also war is not the only thing what about healthcare, Social Security, and Mortgage rates. Who is going to establish an economy for the generations that are following behind the baby boomers. These are the things I want to know

And to say you are just going to sit this one out means you have no right to be in this conversation, no right to complain to anyone about how crappy life is for you and your family.

 

No, I'm not saying that Clinton was without issues. I'm saying that 99% of what Fox news ran at him was fabricated. Because of the general smear tactics the Right uses there is so much BS in the air that people have a hard time sorting out what is real. Smoke screens are great in battle but they really should not be used in politics. If we love our Country then we should all love Democracy. If we all love Democracy then we should want to see it healthy and working. Democracy doesn't work when the truth is twisted and misinterpreted by either party.

As for the intelligence. That was Bush's responsibility on his watch and he ignored it. Maybe we had no shot at stopping the attacks (I doubt it though) but we did not try. WE DID NOT TRY!!!

Richard Clark was ignored because he was a remnant of the Clinton administration. The rest of the clues that came in via FBI and other assets were never coordinated because the Bush administration wasn't interested.

As for lists of scandals, go ahead and list them. Just be real and make sure there is some substance to them. Be sure to list the scandal where our economy was better, Americans felt good about their future and we had a balanced budget. Bill Clinton was an ___ for cheating on his wife but, whether you agree with his policies or not, no one can say he cheated on his country. Not without lying.

One more thing:
Except for the "Retard" comment I can accept your point and disagree.

You're probably right about torture but the difference is that no one ever went to their puppet Attorney General to ask him to okay it. Why? Because it was outlawed by the Geneva Conventions. "Why should we worry about the Geneva Conventions, we're the U.S. of frickin' A", you might be thinking? That's exactly why. We ARE the US of frickin' A and we should stand as high and proud as we can at all times because we ARE the leaders of the free world and (once upon a time) the country that most others wished theirs could become or that they could someday be part of.

As for health care, Social Security and the economy, do you think we're better off now? I don't think so. I think unemployment has dropped under Bush (EXTREMELY SLIGHTLY) but average household income has gone down. I think unemployment has dropped because many people have been forced back into the workforce because their average household income has dropped.

Health Care? How many other modern, industrialized and FREE nations, besides the USA, do not have health care for ALL their citizens? Of those that have a national system, how many are complaining that their system does not work? The only people that say those other systems do not work are Americans that, for their own selfish reasons, do not want some sort of plan here at home.

You want a brighter future? Let's try raising healthier, better-educated children. They are our future, aren't they? Bush vetoed the children's health care bill (SCHIP) because he was afraid it opened a door to more spending in the future? BS. There's another 6 million children left behind.

Social Security? It would be in a lot better shape if the Senate was not allowed to borrow from it.

And Barack NEVER refused to say the Pledge. That's one more example of a lie by one side being accepted by people as fact. Again, it's time for people to start reading and thinking for themselves.

Which takes me back to my original point. Your country needs you, each one of you, to get involved in our future. PLEASE stop repeating the political mantra your party (either one) has issued you and start REALLY thinking for yourself. Try to think about the greater good and not simply what you care about.

 

All I care about...is ditching those ugly Caddillacs the Prez drives around in and trading it for this.



But on a serious note...
It doesnt get anymore true than that, but the problem with this election, and any election for that matter. You cant really embody a countries opinions into one person. The concept is ridiculous. Lets just hope we get a laid back president who isnt going to fxxx up like Bush, and maybe we'll get through 4 more years without having to worry about bombs going off.

 

And you don't think that's EXACTLY what the dems are doing now? Come on.

Kinda like how Clinton ignored things he knew leading up to the attack on the USS Cole and his total lack of follow-up? I guess he was "preoccupied".

That's funny...I was just going to say that's exactly what you seem to be doing. Everything you've said so far has been spouted off in the media dozens of times. Why do feel that your thoughts and comments are all original and accurate, but every point made to the contrary is just repaeting what we've heard?