The American Spectator : The Grasshopper and the Ants

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Once upon a time, there was a happy-go-lucky grasshopper who lived only to have fun. All through the long summer days, he would sing and dance, and laugh at the industrious ants who were busily preparing for winter. But then cruel winter came, and the grasshopper was starving. In desperation, he approached the ants' nest and begged for food. "You should have danced less and worked more," the ants scolded him, but then, being basically kind-hearted creatures, they decided to give him a few of their hard-won crumbs.

The next summer was exactly like the one before: Once more, the ants worked without pause, while the grasshopper sang and danced. When winter came, he appealed to the ants again, only this time, he brought his 10,000 children along with him. "It's thanks to your kindness," he said, "that I made it through the winter, and was able to father these little ones. Surely, you won't let us all starve to death."

The ants convened a meeting of their Council to decide what to do. On the one hand, they felt a certain responsibility for the grasshopper and his huge brood; on the other hand, feeding 10,000 growing grasshoppers could make a serious dent in their winter provisions.

Finally, one Council member had a brilliant idea. "Let's just take some food from the hardest-working ants. They've got more than enough, and won't mind sharing their good fortune with the needy grasshoppers."

The Council-of-Ants thought this was a splendid plan, and quickly acted on it. As a result, the grasshoppers survived the winter, the ants congratulated themselves on their compassion, and hardly anyone noticed that the hardest-working ants, whose food had been seized, left the nest in disgust.

Summer came around once again, and once again the grasshoppers danced and sang, while the ants toiled and saved. But without the hardest-working ants to do the heavy-lifting, the ants did not get very much accomplished, and barely accumulated enough food to get themselves through the winter.

And then, one cold and snowy day, the ants heard an ominous rumble approaching ever-closer. It was the sound of a million grasshoppers, all converging on their tiny ant-hill. "Since time immemorial," Grandfather Grasshopper solemnly declared, "the ant people have shared their winter provisions with the grasshopper people. We demand that you do so now, immediately, or we'll destroy your nest, and take by force what is rightfully ours."

This is how the Dilemma of the Welfare State, aka the Entitlement Crisis, came into the world.

Letter to the Editor

Kenny| 3.9.10 @ 6:55AM

We've become a nation of grasshoppers.

According to John Stossel, the Tax Foundation says already 60% of the population gets more from the government than it contributes.

Has the tipping point has been reached? I hope not, but it maybe it has.

Alan Brooks| 3.9.10 @ 11:56AM

You guys take politics too seriously (and perhaps yourselves as well). Politics is a serious game, but a game nonetheless.
All intellectuals are tricksters to some extent; they are selling you their versions of reality-- they're not charities trying to help anyone. If you buy into their schemes, then they win. If their ways of doing things is adopted, then they are the princes and princesses of the Earth-- we are their intellectual subjects.

Alan Brooks| 3.9.10 @ 12:02PM

... what does that mean?: you want the guvmint to transfer funds to your Grannies and Grampses, when some of them don't even need the funds at all? who do you think you're fooling?-- no one will fall for it anymore.

Only an intellectual could be so stupid.

California70| 3.11.10 @ 12:23PM

It is a game to be sure. But, never underestimate it's seriousness. Anytime you think these guys don't play "hardball" you had better think again! And now that we have the "Chicago thugs" in office and fully entrenched in our government, things will be worse than ever. So, my friend, please do take it seriously because these people are for sure taking away our freedom in leaps and bounds. Not to mention our money. Hold on to you're hat, it is not going to be a pleasant ride!

Great Granny | 3.11.10 @ 2:31PM

Good Gosh Alan Brooks! Is there no way to reach you libs on how the entitlement mentality works. What about the riots and strikes in Greese because the government ran out of money. Entitlement people are not nearly as good as dirt. At least dirt is useful to grow food. Entitlement people are good for nothing.

Carolina Don| 3.12.10 @ 10:46PM

I was 100% disabled in Vietnam. Do you mean that I am worth less than dirt?

ItsMe| 3.13.10 @ 11:17AM

Typing skills, can navigate the internet, submits comments on websites...you don't sound worthless to me. How are you using your time & talent?

permial| 5.27.10 @ 9:46AM

Actually it's closer to 1%. The 1% that owns 80% of the wealth in the country. The 1% that doesn't allow their sons and daughters to fight for this country. The 1% that have prospered under deregulation while the rest of us lose jobs, homes and freedoms. The same 1% that complains because several billion dollars isn't enough to live on.

Keep getting your children deferments from military service, keep soaking up the benefits and keep complaining that you're not getting a fair shake in this country. I think it's time the top 1% of the ants (grasshoppers in disguise) to move somewhere else. How about North Korea!

oof oof| 3.9.10 @ 8:31AM

Some of us are the hard working ants that left the mound right away. We are off providing for ourselves, in many ways "outside" the system.

Alan Brooks| 3.9.10 @ 8:59AM

You have a good point there (much as I wish not to reply to someone whose handle is "oof oof"). Libertopians are hard working people; but their small morals negate that.

Alan Brooks| 3.9.10 @ 9:05AM

... am curious, though:
"oof oof" as in "woof woof" ?
signifying you are a good dog who wants to be patted on the head?

Eric Cartman| 3.9.10 @ 11:09AM

Don't make fun of Oof oof. The evil insurance companies refuse to give the poor dog teeth so he can bark correctly. Look at him! Sitting there with those sad eyes! Drooling because his lips don't fit right without teeth! And you mean people want to stop Obama's health care program so he can get his teeth. Your just a Nazi, that's what you are. A Nazi, Tea Bagging, Obama hating, dog killer! Poor Oof oof. Here's some gruel and dirt soup for you. Better hurry and eat it before the Republicans come and take it away! Dog killer!

Alan Brooks| 3.9.10 @ 11:54AM

Libertarians are good people-- they wanna have fun, too. But a girl is always SOMEBODY'S daughter.

You can drive in the fast lane, but you don't stay there long.

Tin Foil Hat| 3.9.10 @ 3:14PM

TFH to AB, Roger! Message received! A rolling stone gathers no moss. Repeat. A rolling stone gathers no moss. The woods are dark and deep. Repeat. The woods are dark and deep. TFH, over and out!

California70| 3.11.10 @ 12:53PM

To: Tin Foil Hat,
Right you are, except haven't you heard...our government owns 95% of all the woods in the western-half of the U.S. - - -you know, that is where all the natural resources are... - So, be carefull in the dark and deep woods, you might just run into a government lackey.

permial| 5.27.10 @ 9:49AM

You must remember that President Cheney sold those leases to his crony's while The Shrub was walking around holding hands and smooching with the Saudi Prince.

nobamabinlyin| 3.11.10 @ 9:23PM

Typical dumocrat lib sarcasm. Name calling and personal attacks. Ok, I'll stoop to your level. Let's start with some basic education. Hitler was a socialist, like Stalin, Castro, Chavez & Obamy. It should be an insult to your beloved, exhalted and annointed leader to include Bush in that most respectable and exclusive club. So why do you? Stupidity and ignorance. In your sarcastic rant you show everyone your lack of intelligence. (And lack of grasp on reality) Yippee! You found some other moronic losers who share your opinion and have made alliances! Impressive. But I guess when you have no substantive point or argument to make, sophmoric badgering of others who don't share your delusional visions are probably great victories in your small minded thinking right? Careful with those windmills! How pathetic that the Dums, in control of everything right now, can fail on every issue so utterly! And you openly try to rationalize and defend this? Massive moron! Well, attack away dum dums because your time is short. Try to look further than the end of your lying Pinocchio nose and see which way the wind is blowing. It's in your face. I'll try not to fart.

permial| 5.27.10 @ 9:53AM

Since you disagree with the leadership that the majority elected, you might want to move to a theocracy. Anywhere in the Arabian peninsula would work. Please take your prophets with you (Beck, O'Reily, Limbaugh, etc...). You can also take the Texas Board of Education while you're at it. Name calling? Let's just call an idiot an idiot and leave it at that. Read the legislation before you join the party of NO.

oof oof| 3.9.10 @ 4:37PM

Thanks for the reply Eric. Alan: I guess we were trolling somewhere else that day, too bad, the posts were hilarious. Oof oof is code to signify membership of the conservative underground, or as the leftist idiots call it "the vast right wing conspiracy.

oooooof ooooooooof

Eric Cartman| 3.9.10 @ 4:43PM

You're welcome, Oof oof! How was the soup? Hope you could eat it before those evil, heartless Republicans grabbed it away from you. Dog killers!

oof oof| 3.9.10 @ 7:16PM

Good thing about the dirt soup and gruel is you don't have to wait for your turn with the teeth. It's definitely an "aquired tatse", but it sure beats eating your own poop.

oof oof

Eric Cartman| 3.10.10 @ 1:18AM

Ewwwww!

permial| 5.27.10 @ 9:54AM

You mean like Baby Paul?

MTB| 3.10.10 @ 7:44PM

Was that comment really necessary? Grow up!

saleboter| 3.9.10 @ 8:38AM

Not only the hard working ants are leaving the nest. Wait until a couple of high profile international companies like Exxon Mobile become incorporated in Dubai or some low tax region.

spaced| 3.9.10 @ 9:47AM

saleboter -
Some high profile companies have already left the states - in the oil industry both TransOcean and Noble Energy have offices elsewhere. Microsoft has threatened to move to Vancouver.

Brian Mc| 3.9.10 @ 9:01AM

I would like to make a bumper sticker:

"What part of 'Thou Shalt Not Covet' do you fail to understand?"

Forcing the ignorant to think before they leap is a thankless task...worthy of the effort?

Alan Brooks| 3.9.10 @ 9:09AM

"Wait until a couple of high profile international companies like Exxon Mobile become incorporated in Dubai or some low tax region."

Wait 'til everyone sees what a good deal offshore Islands are. There's no taxes in the Caymans.

Jim-in-GA| 3.11.10 @ 4:28PM

Yup...no taxes in the Caymans but their economy is collapsing too. No longer a tax haven due to IRS threats and pressure, the offshorers are leaving the Caymans for Ireland where ther is a treaty in palce to protect them, i.e. Accenture and others.

Pingback| 3.9.10 @ 9:10AM

The Entitlement Crisis | Patriotic Dissent links to this page.

russel| 3.9.10 @ 9:15AM

The Ants knew how and when to leave New Orleans too

Adam Wade| 3.9.10 @ 12:03PM

And Detroit, and California, and New York state too!

fbom| 3.9.10 @ 12:09PM

You can add Maryland to that list. Maryland passed a special tax on people of independent means and were astonished to discover that they had less revenue. Guess what - people that could - got out!!!!

Charles Martel| 3.9.10 @ 1:13PM

We in Texas welcome hard working ant immigrants from other states. We require, however, that you leave your yankee-grasshopper-voting ways at the border before entry.

Marcus Boyd| 3.10.10 @ 12:19AM

We are hiding out in the Texas boonies. Left the ant hill scene over 10 years ago. And we are armed to the teeth. Grasshoppers and their spawn will be shot on sight. My 12 GA Riot Shotgun is by the front door. Loaded and safed. No. 00 Buck. Bring it on!

You sneak inside, You are dead meat. Like that will ever happen, .45 ACP tripple tap. Oh, my wife shoots too.

Pingback| 3.9.10 @ 9:18AM

IBM Cognos Performance event highlights how business analytics are … | Business Intel links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…business by enabling decision-making throughout the organization. … More: IBM Cognos Performance event highlights how business analytics are … Related Blogs on And The The American Spectator : The Grasshopper and the Ants Save Both the Economy and the Environment | KabirCares Cornyn and the NRSC's Hard Lesson Learned: Stay Out of Primaries … Related Posts IBM Refreshes Cognos Performance…

Tim| 3.9.10 @ 9:25AM

Human beings are not insects. Insects are predictable.

LarryK| 3.9.10 @ 10:11AM

... predictable. "And so are Liberals!"

They are kinda like insects.

philhoey| 3.9.10 @ 12:10PM

So is Congress. If they see a dollar laying there they create a tax to take two.

Ned | 3.9.10 @ 10:04AM

Don't know any ants, but in about 460 days when my son graduates from Joseph Stalin Teachers College (UW Montlake Campus) my family and all that we have accummulated are leaving Washington state... Chris can't tax me if I don't live here anymore...

Pete| 3.9.10 @ 10:06AM

I wish it were raw force being used to steal from the productive, because then there could be armed revolt and a resolution to the problem. The subtlety with which our liberal grasshoppers have operated over many decades would be almost admirable if it weren't so dangerous. I know it wouldn't fit in the original fable, but there should be some mention of how the grasshopper elders confiscated a majority of the ants' produce for themsleves, giving just enough to the hordes to stay in office.

LarryK| 3.9.10 @ 10:49AM

Both my wife and I work and our combined income is not in the six figures. I just did our taxes this weekend and they did go up from last year ( Thanks for that LIE Mr President!) not by much but they did go up (and Yes I am talking about FIT). When I added up what we pay in FIT, SS, Medicare, FICA, State , Local, property taxes, it is as much as my wife grosses. When I told her, she said, "Maybe we should just chuck it all and let the government take care of us." I knew she was kidding. It is discouraging to see 27% of your gross income go to the pig of all pigs - GOVERNMENT!

MTB| 3.10.10 @ 7:47PM

I'm with you, Larry, and it's going to get worse. Obama and the dems want complete control over our lives. When the iron wall came down, a local radio talk show host asked, "Can America exist without the Soviet Union?" I thought then he was an idiot, but you know what? We are becoming each day more and more like the Soviet Union of old. Never thought I'd see it in my lifetime.

Ken (Old Texican)| 3.9.10 @ 10:51AM

I am tip-toeing out on a limb here, but in keeping with the fable, could we not give out one year contraception implants to females on welfare...with their first welfare check of the year?

In the fable above, the biggest thing sticking out in my mind was that the grasshoppers were doing more than singing and dancing through the summers.....they were multiplying.
It would be cheaper and more humane than repeat abortions wouldn't it?

As one of the guys above mentioned, conservative candidates are not going to get those votes anyway.

Pete| 3.9.10 @ 11:06AM

Ken...

Welfare programs encourage reproduction for precisely the reason in the modified fable above. More dependents. More votes. After all, you wouldn't want to take away anyone's "freedom" to reproduce, right?

george powers| 3.9.10 @ 2:08PM

The hell I don't. Mankind should mandate an IUD upon a first live birth. For two generations. The nicest way to reduce mankind by 75%. Instead of forecasting 9-billion in the next generation. The Pope and his ilk have never lived in a submarine.

Frank Lee| 3.13.10 @ 7:34PM

You can set the example. How about a retroactive IUD on your birth?

Don Meaker| 3.14.10 @ 12:01PM

cha-ching!

danfromatlanta| 3.9.10 @ 11:03AM

As an extension of Ken's idea, how about incorporating the idea of grasshoppers devouring thier own offspring as an analogy to liberal devotion to abortion. The ant's initially object, because they have an enduring tradition for the value of insect life, but then, outnumbered, the ants relent to the insistence of grasshoppers to help them devour their own when winter rations run low. Bingo! The grasshopper numbers dwindle, the ants no longer fear their threat, and the grasshoppers wander off to another ant hill to fool a new ant colony.

maverick muse| 3.9.10 @ 11:13AM

The revised fable explains revisionism, the power that permeated in order to dominate both major American political parties in order to pirate our government today.

Historical record should never be altered. So as far as the moral of this revised fable is concerned, never negate the past in order to correct the present. Historically since the Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression, records prove the huge disparity separating robber barons and workers practicable unalienable rights. Do not revise those so as to erase the era preceding today's over-extension of reason into the absurd.

Labor was abused not only by the industrial barons but by the law enforcement "owned" by the wealthy. Early 20th Century strikers, starving and poisoned workers, were shot dead by sheriffs or Pinkerton mercenaries. Their plight must not be forgotten by any. That does not excuse corruption.

Labor Unions were and are as corrupt as any other organization, feeding off the defenseless while promising protection. Since their inception, labor laws protecting workers have been established and are now overseen by federal bureaucrats. The point of union extension in society is now redundant.

At this point, unions who promoted "entitlements" have gone too far, destroying the very fabric they presume to have woven. The ultimate "benefits" from Labor Union demands has been the dissolution of American Industry, aided by Congressional mandates and Kissinger-Nixon's "favored nation" status given to China since 1970.

Labor Unions as with progressive political parties running our government have effectively become organized criminal parasites.

Rousseau and Marx never provided competent arguments to disprove the ideal government that our Founders established. They did, however, provide the rationalization protecting thieves and slave owners OF THEIR OWN PARTY.

That so many people avow to the corruption of socialism is a pox on civilization.

Information exists. "The free distribution of information" in public schools no longer includes the historical records proving the infamy and abuse of human rights of Socialism that negates our Constitution and usurps the authority of government.

UNALIENABLE RIGHTS can not be usurped. Only the illegitimate would abuse that fact. And the revisionists reference "inalienable" rights in order to establish their own fraud as reality.

California70| 3.11.10 @ 1:20PM

Well said, Maverick Muse. I applaud you.

Pingback| 3.9.10 @ 11:45AM

The American Spectator : The Grasshopper and the Ants capital university links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…and the Environment | KabirCares Cornyn and the NRSC’s Hard Lesson Learned: Stay Out of Primaries … Related P osts IBM Refreshes Cognos … Read the original post: The American Spectator : The Grasshopper and the Ants tags: both-the-economy, cares-cornyn, decidedly-more, environment, ideas, kabir, lesson, projected-onto, refreshes, related, spectator, turmoil | Concurring Opinions » American…

Peter| 3.9.10 @ 12:13PM

The ending should read
"And the following spring there was only silence, the grasshoppers and the ants had all perished."

John II| 3.9.10 @ 5:52PM

Best to leave that ending out. It's exactly what those roosting on the green-wacko branch of the Obamanation want: the demise of vermin mankind.

Mary| 3.9.10 @ 12:27PM

Explains not only the welfare state ala California, but also shows the state of illegal immigration in this country-where by 2050 they will be the majority and we become a third world nation. Ain't that grand!

Able Lee| 3.13.10 @ 7:30PM

All thanks to the Libtards and their promotion of Child Abortion.

Pingback| 3.9.10 @ 12:35PM

The Grasshopper and the Ants « The Republican Heretic links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…f Kansas Home > National Politics > The Grasshopper and the Ants The Grasshopper and the Ants Tue 09 Mar 2010 The Republican Heretic Leave a comment Go to comments From Joeseph Shattan at the American Thinker: Atlas Shrugged, but with bugs. The ants convened a meeting of their Council to decide what to do. On the one hand, they felt a certain responsibility for the grasshopper and his huge…

The Republican Heretic| 3.9.10 @ 12:37PM

Trackback: http://republicanheretic.wordp.....-the-ants/

Barkerby| 3.9.10 @ 12:40PM

Wait...wait. Is it not possible that the reason the Grashopper sang and danced was because grasshoppers are sun insects and have a natural rythm--far more than the cold, selfish, chilly ants, (ice insects if there ever were!)--and so cannot be held responsible for his, and those of his innumerbale offspiring, actions?

danfromatlanta| 3.9.10 @ 1:49PM

Yes! I think we can point to the nature of liberalism as a mental disorder, but the reason they aren't held responsible is that we allow them to get away with all of the destruction caused by liberalism by resorting to enabling excuses such as, "oh, they're just too ignorant to know better ...", or "we just have differing points of view ...". That's abdication of our responsibility to smack these commies down whenever they raise their ugly heads to threaten our country!

Pingback| 3.9.10 @ 1:38PM

The American Spectator : The Grasshopper and the Ants American Me links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…and the Environment | KabirCares Cornyn and the NRSC’s Hard Lesson Learned: Stay Out of Primaries … Related P osts IBM Refreshes Cognos … Originally posted here: The American Spectator : The Grasshopper and the Ants tags: both-the-economy, did-say, grasshopper, keep-pitches, nrsc, related, spectator, url | The American Spectator : Goldman Paulson Sachs The rise and certain fall of the…

Buz Ozburn| 3.9.10 @ 5:55PM

Hmm... stupid Ants.

They forgot that they can dismantle and EAT grasshoppers.

Just like the "Gun Grabbing Socialist" have forgotten that the Good Hardworking Conservatives have most of the guns. (Wink)

oof oof| 3.9.10 @ 7:21PM

and plenty of ammo!

Ken (Old Texican)| 3.9.10 @ 6:35PM

I shamlessly copy paste this from another thread. I hope more of you see it.

Ken (Old Texican)| 3.9.10 @ 6:19PM
Well,
None of us has read the entire bill yet. None of us knows what tiny little phrases buried in the text will be used to try to end our republic.
This we do know:

We know the players and their goals. We know their arrogant attitude toward those of us who make the country run, one paycheck to an employee at a time. We know they want to degrade and "humble" us...or perhaps "house-break" us.

We also know that the leftists, (as opposed to Liberals), have been quietly promoting racial slavery by building a multi-generational welfare class among minorities. That welfare class sees absolutely no option except to squat in their "ghettos of the mind and spirit".

We older folks have more or less gone along with a grumble or two, not truly realising that we have become "enablers" of these leftist bastards...until just recently. The leftists have finally rubbed our noses in the poop, literally, with glee.

And look where we are.

I personally want to apologise to you younger people. We are on the verge of putting you in the middle of a civil war that will determine whether freedom and personal hopes and dreams as envisioned by our forefathers will be something you too can enjoy for a life time as many of us have.

These communists, (pardon the shorthand), are going to try to break you. They are going to try to make your "careers" a nasty chore instead of a self-directed vocation utilizing your best talents and skills....that you decide to employ in your own way.

In short terms...these communists, (pardon the shorthand), want you to be pliable, frightened, and alone in your thoughts and fears.
So.
The one last gift we old fartes can give you, is our outright refusal to let these communists take over your futures.
We can refuse to comply, and the economy crashes in a way that will make the great depression look like a sunday school pik-nik...though for a shorter period.
I spoke yesterday about "push-back is going to be a bitch".
I don't truly know what ways we shall choose to stop them. I don't know what precise methods will be employed to stop them.
But
Freedom and Liberty for the rest of history is at stake.
We know that "America" is the last hope on this earth. These days, we still have the power to stop this slide into oblivion.
One way or another we will use that power.
You have our word of honor.

oof oof | 3.9.10 @ 7:25PM

Ken,

Truly a commentary worthy of John Galt, or Ronald Reagan.

Thank you

California70| 3.11.10 @ 1:41PM

These are beautiful words, and "our word of honor", is what I have tried to live my life by.

However, are there enough of us who actually still know the history of this great Country, and will "stand-up and be counted"?

We are being hit from all sides at once, and the young people in this Country (high-school and college), have been taught by their progressive teachers and professors to think communism (paradon the shorthand), is democracy! Their "values" have been sorely compromised because they didn't really think about "what their values" were or are, and where those values come from! Therefore, once in "progressive" school...they are taught the opposite of what our forefathers stood for, came here and accomplished!

Maddox| 3.9.10 @ 7:14PM

re: Ken (OldTexican)
Amen!
Beautifully worded.
It will be done.

PWW| 3.9.10 @ 10:11PM

As the Utopians remind us "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man how to confiscate other peoples fish and he'll eat for a lifetime."

Pingback| 3.10.10 @ 2:35AM

Amisco Emi 30 High Upholstered Seat and Contoured Back Swivel Bar Stool – BUY BAR STO links to this page.

Anonymous| 3.10.10 @ 7:11AM

What "progessive" left/liberals seek to progress toward.

Rick V.| 3.10.10 @ 10:24AM

Thank you Mr. Shattan, you have written a parable for our times. "To the ants, thou sluggard!"

PolishKnight| 3.10.10 @ 11:21AM

The author, and most conservatives, need to deal with the unpleasant realization that the grasshopper isn't a "he". The child-producing welfare state is comprised of women and male grasshoppers are largely sent to the streets hence minority and working class men's incarceration and homeless rates soaring after the "civil rights" movement.

The notion of women enjoying chivalrous protections and entitlements combined with "equality" reduces men to 2nd class citizen slaves and brings out the worst behavior in women. Responsible men are punished and women are rewarded for behavior that would have been scandalous as little as a generation ago.

Consider how the welfare state evolved. 40 years ago, conservatives allied with liberals to solve the welfare problem by limiting welfare to families with fathers present AND rewarding single mothers. Result? Fatherless families became the norm. 40 years later, we have a conservative sanctioned police state checking everyone's identities to try to catch "deadbeat dads" even as identify theft is epidemic in the hopes of reducing the welfare rolls. The consequence? RESPONSIBLE men have exited and deadbeat dads truly are "deadbeats". Next, the chivalrous citizenry will try to get blood from a stone rather than face the obvious truth.

So yes, I think conservatives need to face up to the fact that they have had a hand in feminism and socialism due to their own romantic silly delusions. Own it people!

California70| 3.11.10 @ 1:57PM

Convervatives have had an extremely "large" hand in all of this because they "went along" with the "stupid and unintelligent" lies being put forward by the liberal progressives. Such as Angela Davis should be allowed to teach at Berekely because we all needed to be able to "learn" about both sides of the question, i.e., communism and democracy! What a lot of BS that was! But, everybody went along to get along. And who got screwed? Our kids, and us for being so dump as to allow subversive thinking to be taught to our children under the guise of "openness". We were all afraid to be labeled a bad name by the "progressives". Well, now we have a black, liberal, progressive in the white house because we all believed what he said...and what exactly did he say? Nothing!!! He was absolutely, and completely vague on everything. He simply used the word "change". WE are the ones who subscribed "what change" that would be in our own minds. The change we wanted, that we thought would be GOOD for our great Country. We all got exactly what we deserved, because we did NOT THINK at all. We just subscribed to the word "change" whatever we individually thought it should be. When are we as Americans going to wake-up to this kind of minipulation by our politicians?? We see it in advertising everyday. WAKE-UP AMERICA! Know when you are being had!

Fable1| 3.10.10 @ 12:08PM

Two Goats, frisking gaily on the rocky steeps of a mountain valley, chanced to meet, one on each side of a deep chasm through which poured a mighty mountain torrent. The trunk of a fallen tree formed the only means of crossing the chasm, and on this not even two squirrels could have passed each other in safety. The narrow path would have made the bravest tremble. Not so our Goats. Their pride would not permit either to stand aside for the other.

One set her foot on the log. The other did likewise. In the middle they met horn to horn. Neither would give way, and so they both fell, to be swept away by the roaring torrent below.

FabuloUS| 3.10.10 @ 12:36PM

A farmer set off on a journey with many baskets,
taking both his horse and his donkey to carry the load.

But after many miles the little donkey could no longer carry all his burden.

He begged the horse to help him,
but the horse was quite comfortable as he was and refused.
Soon the exhausted donkey could walk no further,
and he collapsed in the road.
The farmer, who had no intention of stopping,
put all the donkey's baskets on the horse's back
and continued on his way.

"I wish I had helped the donkey earlier," wailed the horse.
"Now I have to carry the whole burden alone."

(P.S. The horse is the selfish fortunate conservative and the donkey is the uninsured and underpaid worker . Better support reform now before it is too late.)

MTB| 3.10.10 @ 7:54PM

And then the horse collapsed under the load and the poor farmer had no one to help him carry his goods, so he had to leave them behind. Eventually, there will be nothing left for anyone, including the poor, underinsured, underpaid worker.

PolishKnight| 3.11.10 @ 10:28AM

Or better yet, after the horse collapsed under the load the donkey brayed: "He was too weak anyway so who cares about him?"

Leftists are openly UNCARING and even CRUEL towards disadvantaged members of groups that they have deemed to be not politically useful. Working class white males were courted by the leftist socialists at the end of the 19th century and now they're viewed as a bunch of "privileged" "losers" (never mind the contradiction in terms) who are "angry and bitter" at getting their just desserts.

Just wait, tovarish, your turn will come...

Ike| 3.11.10 @ 12:22PM

Try this fable on for size:

A Soviet Commissar was explaining communism to a peasant. Said he, "Comrade Peasant, if you had a 150-room mansion and your comrade villagers were freezing in the snows of the winter in the Rodina, surely you would share your mansion with them?"
And the peasant replied, "Of course, Comrade!"
So the Commisar says, "And Comrade Peasant, if you had 150 head of cattle and your fellow villagers were starving in the summer of the Motherland, surely you would share your cattle?"
And the Peasant replied, "But, of course, Comrade Commisar!"
So, the Commisar says, "And Comrade Peasant, if your fellow villagers were suffering the mud in the autumn of the Soviet Union and you had 150 pairs of boots, surely you would share your boots?"
And the Peasant replied, "Of course I would!"
And finally the Commisar asks, "And if you had 30 pigs and your fellow villagers were starved for bacon in the Spring of the Russians, surely you would share?"
And the Peasant exclaims, indignantly, "Never! No! Nyet!"
And the Commisar querries, "But, why, Comrade?"
And the Peasant says, "Because I have 30 pigs."

And that is the rock of human nature upon which the ship of communism and socialism and all those -isms founders and sinks; after that, of course, the Commisar shoots the Peasant and takes the late Peasant's 30 pigs.

ONTIME| 3.11.10 @ 2:26PM

And so the great Goof said unto the majority congress at his beck and call, "Ya'll make me a plan and pass it in both houses and I will sign it and take the credit. If you cannot, then you in the houses will take the blame for all the foolishness you have made for me."

Those in the congress have been unable to digest this message of support and are asking for more Immodium, to calm the inablity to control their bowels.

support health care now| 3.11.10 @ 2:31PM

Right, that is why is better to reform health care now before it's too late.

MattZ| 3.11.10 @ 2:56PM

This is disgusting.
Only in America could this vulgar garbage be considered a political philosophy.
MZ

Frankfurter| 3.12.10 @ 10:50PM

Nice piece about the ants and the grasshoppers.
I makes me think of asian ants and american
grasshoppers moving around with in carrier groups and war planes, payed for by others. Accompanied by a fat locust named Halliburton.

Frank Lee| 3.13.10 @ 7:25PM

Oh no. The big evil Oil Companies have made their appearance. And I bet you don't use plastics either, made from oil and a host of other products.

I thought the entitlement programs were a way for those who control them to fill their own pockets. And those who believe they should exist are the useful idiots. The grasshoppers are the objects to focus the useful idiots' attention on, while the shell game is played under their noses.

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“Who’s the Boss?” 10 ways to start taking control (time management, goal setting, rec links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…In More Applications « Pogovor Get rid of ants @ Vreeman.net Blog Red ants a delicacy for Jharkhand tribals | National News Organic Bug Killers: Beware Of The Yellow Crazy Ant The American Spectator : The Grasshopper and the Ants I Can't Navigate My Location Friend Requests – GigaOM Gabourey Sidibe, please be my friend | EW.com Georgia Man Arrested for Threatening Elton John's Life : Rolling…

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The grasshoppers and the ants (2010 version) links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

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H32| 4.2.10 @ 10:56PM

Dear Mr. Shatton,
The story I know doesn't involve the grasshoppers singing and dancing (in fact they would quite rather be working) and it ends with the birth of White Privelage. But I'm guessing you don't know any grasshoppers.

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The American Spectator

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