Our American cousins have their own problems it appears!

[Calimachon]

Recognise any of this:

OLD 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 and the rain 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 he is 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.” Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper’s sake.

President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper’s plight.

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 and given to the grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant’s old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn’t maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.

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 ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood.

The entire Nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010!

[Durendal]

So you are a Right wing Republican now then Cali?

You are seriously confused!

[Calimachon]

Not confused!  Just researching.

Will probably get splinters too from  much fence sitting!  Remember I am a very late starter regarding politics.

Surely one has to assimilate lots of information from every area before one can finally make a decision upon which side of the fence one will eventually jump down on. 

Too many people on PJ assume they already know where a fellow poster's sympathy lies. 

Some long-term members like to bully posters into submission that their particular leanings are the correct ones.  I like to keep an open mind and draw on sensible debate before coming to any conclusions.

I am only seeking justice and equality - after all there must be a better way of doing things.  I look forward to a new world order where everyone's needs are catered for. Is that a sin?  Don't assume by my use of the word sin that I am religious

No one likes freeloaders!

But you have to have a society where the bottom of the tier gets assistance and motivation or help if they can't get on themselves.

[David Rotherham]

The metaphor is wilfully confused in the second version. In Aesop's classic form, the tale illustrates the benefits of hard work and contingency planning. In the American rendering, the grasshopper seems in places to represent the working class and non-whites in various parts, and compounds its un-American lack of Christian values with snide racism.
A better, but still imperfect view would be to liken all humans to ants. The question would be then, who is represented by the ordinary ants, who is a queen ant, and who is a drone whose only contribution is to potentially breed?

[Calimachon]

In the American rendering, the grasshopper seems in places to represent the working class and non-whites in various parts, and compounds its un-American lack of Christian values with snide racism.

The fable was sent to me by a Republican US Citizen who voted against their normal choice of party for (Democrat) Obama.  They have  become disenchanted with Obama (The honey moom period was over once he submitted his controversial health plans and other reasons relating to the military presence still remaining in Iraq) so your view that the metaphor has been wilfully confused with snide racism concurrs. 

Some in the US seem to think that Obama was nurtured and sponsored by the US Finance Industry.  If he was:  Wow! What impeccable timing - didn't he get into office and get his feet under the table just in time to save most of them with tax payers money in return.

But the debate goes on if he had not saved them where would the tax-payer be now, probably in the same sad mess as the poor 'b' tax-payers were back in 1924!

[Durendal]

The fable was sent to me by a Republican US Citizen who voted against their normal choice of party for (Democrat) Obama.  They have  become disenchanted with Obama (The honey moom period was over once he submitted his controversial health plans and other reasons relating to the military presence still remaining in Iraq) so your view that the metaphor has been wilfully confused with snide racism concurrs. 

Some in the US seem to think that Obama was nurtured and sponsored by the US Finance Industry.  If he was:  Wow! What impeccable timing - didn't he get into office and get his feet under the table just in time to save most of them with tax payers money in return.

But the debate goes on if he had not saved them where would the tax-payer be now, probably in the same sad mess as the poor 'b' tax-payers were back in 1924!

That would be 1929!

[Calimachon]

Yes!  I apologise!  A tupo! The Great Wall Street Crash of 1929.

[Durendal]

Yes!  I apologise!  A tupo! The Great Wall Street Crash of 1929.

A tupo indeed!

[danrok]

I'd guess this has something to do with the health care reforms.

Seems incredible to me, that anyone with an ounce of intelligence would object to state run health care.  Why would anyone want to deny someone medical treatment, just because they don't have a job, and private health care?

[Durendal]

I'd guess this has something to do with the health care reforms.

Seems incredible to me, that anyone with an ounce of intelligence would object to state run health care.  Why would anyone want to deny someone medical treatment, just because they don't have a job, and private health care?

I was in the US recently on holiday and believe me they do object most vehemently!

[Chevalier Blanc]

You are spot on there Cali with voting in 2010.

[Calimachon]

I was in the US recently on holiday and believe me they do object most vehemently!

I was lucky enough to be in Missouri on the day the great American public voted for Obama.  Republicans by the score queued for very long hours to get their vote in for Obama.  I sat in conversation with people who adored him, trusted in him and I am afraid worshipped him.  There was a lot of euphoria.  Obama took on a very difficult task.  Voters are so very fickle and it takes such a long time to sweep up the mistakes of a former Government.  In my opinion the American people expected too much, too soon from the Obama administration.  The debate about the proposed Health Legislation has caused an almighty stir, no doubt about it.  The staunch followers for the 'status quo' feel that they will  bei indirectly taxed through their own health insurance payments to offer support for the poor and infirm.  Interesting though  - some of those in favour of the new Health Scheme have said they don't want to go down the way of introducing a National Health System similar to that of the UK.

As an aside it looks as though multi-island (Jersey, Guersney and IOM) talks are proceeding with regard to bringing a new  reciprocal agreement to the meeting table.

Many people in who live in the more affluents nations of Europe would not measure up in the US.  Americans work long hours, get fewer paid holidays and don't get much in the way of benefits.  They have to live by their wits, unless they have a good, well-paid profession or job and can afford health insurance.

[Fritz]

Easy answer.

If you are honest and hard-working, Dont ever get ill, or you,ll be fecked.

If, on the other hand, you are a skiving,coniving c*nt you will be financed from cradle to grave by folk with just a tad more dignity.