IF AESOP WERE ALIVE TODAY

Who doesn't love a good old Aesop's Fable to make a point in the name of education for a child. Well, here's an excellent fable, adapted for our current events, from PajamasMedia:


If Aesop Were Alive Today
by Roger Kimball, September 12, 2009

It is not widely known that Aesop (floruit circa 550 B.C.), a visionary writer if there ever was one, composed two versions of the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper. The traditional version used to be very widely known — you’ll see in a moment why it is out of favor today — and it can be outlined briefly:

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

A friend recently sent me that pithy summary and supplemented it with Aesop’s secret version for the 21st-century. It’s a bit longer, but — in addition to demonstrating Aesop’s extraordinary powers of divination — it is a Tale for Our Time. My friend did not say where he uncovered this version, but I am sure you will appreciate its pertinence to our situation today:

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 allowed to 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.’

Acorn stages a demonstration in front of the ant ’s house where the news stations film the group singing, ‘We shall overcome.’ Rev. Jeremiah Wright then has the group curse God for the grasshopper’s sake.

Nancy Pelosi & 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 & 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 Green Czar.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ants 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 careful how you vote in 2010.

Is it any wonder Aesop is rarely taught anymore?

BREAKING: The Mob Attacks A News Crew!

Let's all be respectful and polite at Townhall meetings and rallys. And to set a good example, let's attack a news crew.

Caleb Howe at RedState describes:


BREAKING: The Mob Attacks A News Crew!
By Caleb Howe, August 16, 2009

Sometimes rhetoric gets out of hand. We all know this. There is a difference between disagreeing with someone and villainizing them as Hitler 2.0. So when you paint the President as a monster causing the death of innocents, and the media as his Goebbels, are you inciting violent reaction? Sometimes, apparently so.

I shot the shocking video below myself. I have not editing the foul language so please be warned: not safe for young ears.

Like me, you’ve been hearing about an angry mob. Well it exists. Watch this, then read on for important eyewitness details.

That violent mob was, as you no doubt guessed during my transparent buildup, from the left. I filmed this attack on Griff Jenkins and Fox News at the Recreate 68/World Can’t Wait xxxriotsxxx protests in Denver during the Democrats’ xxxcoronationxxx convention last fall. If you want to hear something even more vile, which I filmed at a protest outside the RNC, click here. Please understand, though, I did not edit the profanity or vulgarity, which are shocking and abundant.

Also in that Denver protest, and in those at the RNC, were ample depictions of Bush as Hitler. For those of you with short memory (media), back then the comparison was so commonplace it became abbreviated: Bushitler. Don’t remember any of that? Allow me to assist you (http://tinyurl.com/qq9u26).

But that’s cool. Because remember, in 2006, shouting and interrupting town halls was teh hip (http://tinyurl.com/nhdb2y). It really didn’t drop out of fashion until … well, you know, he won (http://tinyurl.com/r7u8m5).

Anyway, for all you KosKids (I’m looking at you Boxer) and mainstream media talking heads out there who so recently grew a sense of propriety … we’ll just call this a reminder. You have my permission to think about that Fox crew the next time you’re calling old people given microphones at events designed to solicit their feedback an “angry mob”. K? You’re welcome.

What’s that about Astroturfing, Mr. President?

Many Americans are planning to speak to their representatives during the August summer recess. America has growing concerns about the direction of their country, and have carefully laid out questions they desperately want answered.

All of this in the face of being labeled 'mob rule', Astroturfers, and sucker-punchers. Well, Obama has a plan, as reported in RedState. Read Obama's message, and look for that knock on your door:


What’s that about Astroturfing, Mr. President?
By Jeff Emanuel, August 5, 2009

The former Community Organizer is at it again. Not content to request that any who question his health care proposal online or “in casual conversation” be reported to the White House by their fellow citizens, the Astroturfer in Chief is seeking to rally his remaining foot soldiers in an effort to out-demonstrate and out-protest the regular Americans who have had enough of the trillions in spending added, and the choices and decision-making freedom lost, under the Obama administration.

In an email sent via his permanent campaign organization, Organizing for America, and titled “This is the moment,” Obama said the following:

........................................................
This is the moment our movement was built for.

For one month, the fight for health insurance reform leaves the backrooms of Washington, D.C., and returns to communities across America. Throughout August, members of Congress are back home, where the hands they shake and the voices they hear will not belong to lobbyists, but to people like you.

Home is where we’re strongest. We didn’t win last year’s election together at a committee hearing in D.C. We won it on the doorsteps and the phone lines, at the softball games and the town meetings, and in every part of this great country where people gather to talk about what matters most. And if you’re willing to step up once again, that’s exactly where we’re going to win this historic campaign for the guaranteed, affordable health insurance that every American deserves.

There are those who profit from the status quo, or see this debate as a political game, and they will stop at nothing to block reform. They are filling the airwaves and the internet with outrageous falsehoods to scare people into opposing change. And some people, not surprisingly, are getting pretty nervous. So we’ve got to get out there, fight lies with truth, and set the record straight.

That’s why Organizing for America is putting together thousands of events this month where you can reach out to neighbors, show your support, and make certain your members of Congress know that you’re counting on them to act.

But these canvasses, town halls, and gatherings only make a difference if you turn up to knock on doors, share your views, and show your support. So here’s what I need from you:

Can you commit to join at least one event in your community this month?

In politics, there’s a rule that says when you ask people to get involved, always tell them it’ll be easy. Well, let’s be honest here: Passing comprehensive health insurance reform will not be easy. Every President since Harry Truman has talked about it, and the most powerful and experienced lobbyists in Washington stand in the way.

But every day we don’t act, Americans watch their premiums rise three times faster than wages, small businesses and families are pushed towards bankruptcy, and 14,000 people lose their coverage entirely. The cost of inaction is simply too much for the people of this nation to bear.

So yes, fixing this crisis will not be easy. Our opponents will attack us every day for daring to try. It will require time, and hard work, and there will be days when we don’t know if we have anything more to give. But there comes a moment when we all have to choose between doing what’s easy, and doing what’s right.

This is one of those times. And moments like this are what this movement was built for. So, are you ready?

Please commit now to taking at least one action in your community this month to build support for health insurance reform:

http://my.barackobama.com/CommitAugust

Let’s seize this moment and win this historic victory for our economy, our health and our families.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama
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The astroturfer-in-chief has declared this “the moment” his astroturfing apparatus “was built for.” Let’s see if his manufactured outrage can actually stand up to - and defeat - the efforts of regular Americans who are sincerely concerned about the direction their country is headed.

Personally, my money’s on the American people rather than on the former community organizer and his band of goons.