Free Republic

Romney has the least-impressive electoral history of any Republican frontrunner in a very long time. Most of the politicians who chase the White House are proven vote-getters with very few electoral blemishes on their record. John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, George W. Bush, Bob Dole, Michael Dukakis—what unites all of these men is that before getting to the presidential level, they had demonstrated a talent for getting people to vote for them. (Barack Obama is the exception who proves the rule.) Over the years, Mitt Romney has faced voters in 22 contests. He won 5 of those...

We have forgotten what money is. Money is really easy to understand, but most people have no idea what it is. We all understand that barter is an inefficient way to foster economic growth and money is a good thing for the economy. But money isn’t a piece of paper. Let me create a kind of fable to illustrate this. Please bear with me here. Think of this as an amusing weekend read. (snip)

President Obama traveled to the economically hard hit Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania to say, "I know times are tough." To illustrate his message of commiseration, he suggested that joblessness hits close to home. He told a community college audience in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, "Michelle and I were talking the other day. There are members of our families that are out of work." A White House official declined to identify any unemployed relatives of the Obamas except to say, "I don't think they are close close" family members.

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...

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER This one is a little different... Two Different Versions! Two Different Morals!

A Parable about Socialism A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words, redistribution of wealth. She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish...

By now you’ve probably all marveled at the physical dexterity of the Great Leader and Teacher, BO2, as he valiantly swatted down a malevolent fly in the middle of polishing his hagiography with a properly prostrate CNBC/New York Times reporter named John Harwood. It was an amazing feat of athleticism, as befits a second-string player on the Punahou basketball team, and one more example of the mythological status BHO II has achieved in a mere five months. Is there anything he can’t do, except maybe charm Benjamin Netanyahu out of Jerusalem? Still, I’m a little nervous about this fly stuff...

The Little Red Hen 2009 Once upon a time, there was a little red hen who lived on a farm . She was friends with a dog , a cat , and a yellow duck . One day the little red hen found some seeds on the ground. The little red hen had an idea. She would plant the seeds . The little red hen asked her friends, "Who will help me plant the seeds ?" "Not I," barked the dog . "Not I," purred the cat . "Not I," quacked the yellow duck . "Then I will," said the...

For most, they are innocent tales that define childhood. But some parents are ditching fairytales, believing they are politically incorrect or 'too dark' to read to children, a survey has found. One in four mothers has abandoned the likes of Cinderella and Rapunzel in favour of The Gruffalo or The Very Hungry Caterpillar, written in 1969 by Eric Carle. One in ten parents even said Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs should be re-titled - because 'the dwarf reference is not PC'. Rapunzel is considered 'too dark' and Cinderella outdated, because she is forced to do the housework. The poll...

Favourites such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Rapunzel are being dropped by some families who fear children are being emotionally damaged. A third of parents refused to read Little Red Riding Hood because she walks through woods alone and finds her grandmother eaten by a wolf. One in 10 said Snow White should be re-named because "the dwarf reference is not PC". Rapunzel was considered "too dark" and Cinderella has been dumped amid fears she is treated like a slave and forced to do all the housework.

With what looks like imminent passage of the Mother of All Bailouts (following on the heels of a year's worth of government-funded rescues of private homeowners, lenders, insurers and automakers), Washington has turned Aesop's famous fable about prudence and hard work on its head. The time is ripe for a revised 2008 edition of "The Ant and the Grasshopper:" In a meadow on a hot summer's day, a Grasshopper was chirping and carousing his time away. He watched scornfully as an Ant nearby struggled to store up large kernels of food and build a secure nest. The Ant pulled overtime...

While tar baby can be used as a racist attack on black people, it isn't used that way in any of these examples. John Kerry used it in the same manner as John McCain and Mitt Romney. I, for the first time, find myself coming to the defense of John Kerry. He isn't racist because of what he said here (but he is still an elitist windbag.) The fact is this: You are being played, and those playing you for a fool rely on your ignorance. Pick up a copy of "The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus" by Joel Chandler...

The Ant & the Grasshopper 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....

Readers may recall Aesop's fable of the snake persuading a buffalo to give him a ride across the river if the snake promised not to bite. Once across, the snake of course bites the bison and responds with, "Well, you knew what I was when you gave me the ride".And so, we continue to embrace the culture of Islam, ever-so hopeful that a cult which has nurtured and nourished the last eleven thousand terrorist plots killing thousands of men, women and children, will not pick us to be next. Under the banner of tolerance we have failed to take Muslims...

A modern day little red hen may not sound like or appear to be a quotable authority on economics but then some authorities aren't worth quoting. I'll be right back. About a year ago I imposed a little poetry on you. It was called "The Incredible Bread Machine" and made a lot of sense with reference to matters economic. You didn't object too much so having gotten away with it once I'm going to try again. This is a little treatise on basic economics called "The Modern little Red Hen." Once upon a time there was a little red hen...

Subject: LITTLE RED HEN..MODERN The Little Red Hen - Modern Version Once upon a time, on a farm in Texas, there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered quite a few grains of wheat. She called all of her neighbors together and said, "If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?" "Not I," said the cow. "Not I," said the duck. "Not I," said the pig. "Not I," said the goose. "Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen. And so...

Once upon a time, there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered some grains of wheat. She called to her barnyard neighbors and said, "If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?" "Not I," mood the cow. "Not I," quacked the duck. "Not I," grunted the pig. "Not I," whistled the goose. "Then I will," said the little red hen. And she did. Her wheat grew tall and ripened into golden grain. So the little red hen asked her neighbors,"who will help me harvest my...

Charles Darwin, the 19th century geologist who wrote the treatise 'The Origin of Species, by means of Natural Selection' defined evolution as "descent with modification". Darwin hypothesized that all forms of life descended from a common ancestor, branching out over time into various unique life forms, due primarily to a process called natural selection. However, the fossil record shows that all of the major animal groups (phyla) appeared fully formed about 540 million years ago, and virtually no transitional life forms have been discovered which suggest that they evolved from earlier forms. This sudden eruption of multiple, complex organisms is...

The Billy Goats Gruff Once upon a time there were three billy goats called Gruff. In the winter they lived in a barn in the valley where they paid outrageous utility rates thanks to Gray Davis. When spring came, they longed to travel up to the mountains to eat the lush sweet grass, have a big steak, and drink beer. They loved driving their gas-guzzling SUV. On their way to the mountains the three Billy Goats Gruff had to cross a rushing river. But there was only one bridge across it, made of wooden planks. There would have been more...

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

A new twist to the story of: THE LITTLE RED HEN Once upon a time, on a farm , there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered quite a few grains of wheat. She called all of her neighbors together and said, "If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?" "Not I," said the cow. "Not I," said the duck. "Not I," said the pig. "Not I," said the goose. "Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen. And so she did....

I’ll never forget the day that Mr. Wright came to teach our kindergarten class while Ms. Simpleton was out having surgery. The day before she left for the hospital she was teaching us how President Bush was giving tax cuts to the rich instead of ordinary Americans. That was during our math lesson. When Mr. Wright came to our class, he taught us about taxes by using Oreo cookies. We had used Oreo cookies in class once before when Mrs. Simpleton was talking about Clarence Thomas. She said he was black on the outside and white on the inside. I...

I’ll never forget the day that Mr. Wright came to teach our kindergarten class while Ms. Simpleton was out having surgery. The day before she left for the hospital she was teaching us how President Bush was giving tax cuts to the rich instead of ordinary Americans. That was during our math lesson. When Mr. Wright came to our class, he taught us about taxes by using Oreo cookies. We had used Oreo cookies in class once before when Mrs. Simpleton was talking about Clarence Thomas. She said he was black on the outside and white on the inside. I...

GEORGE W BUSH We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road or not. The chicken is either against us or for us. There is no middle ground here. COLIN POWELL Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road HANS BLIX We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road. JOHN KERRY Although I voted...

The Ant and the Grasshopper 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 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 ORIGINAL 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...

I happened recently upon a boxed gift set of the beloved Beatrix Potter tales-which I promptly purchased and brought home to my wife." Imagine the fun we'll have-reading this to our Great grandson next year !" Later, I looked through the books, and saw certain things had changed ....... Mr. Owl woke up to a terrible clatter. Blinking in the sun,he peered out from his pantry window. "Whooo? Whoooo? Whooo'se making all that noise?",he grumbled. "Oh,hi, Mr. Owl !",cried Squirrel Nutkin. " It's just me and Chadwick Chipmunk ." Squirrel Nutkin put his paw around Chadwick ( who was...

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, 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 the ant should be allowed 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...

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 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:

Charles Berlitz, who just died, was known as one of the world's top linguists and grandson of the founder of the Berlitz language schools. Yet his true claim to fame was as author of "truth is stranger than fiction" books that were actually just plain fiction. A Time magazine reviewer summarized all of Berlitz's paranormal works in describing one as taking "off from established facts, then proceed[ing] to lace its theses with a hodgepodge of half-truths, unsubstantiated reports and unsubstantial science." Among his vast repertoire: "The Mystery of Atlantis" (1969), "Mysteries from Forgotten Worlds" (1972), "The Bermuda Triangle (1974), "The...

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

(Previously posted on 04/08/2003 2:36:43 PM PDT by Scothia) One day as the Little Red, White and Blue Hens were scratching in the yard, they found a kernel of wheat. "This kernel ought to be planted to produce food for lots of hungry animals," they said. "But it's a big job, and the foxes prowl the gardens. Who will help us plant it?" "We will not," honked the Goose Gaggle. "Nor I," said Le Chat, yawning. "Nor I!" said Der Hund. "Then we will do it ourselves," said the Little Red, White and Blue Hens. And they did. Soon the...

"The Pentagon has barred French, German and Russian companies from competing for $18.6 billion in contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq, saying it was acting to protect "the essential security interests of the United States."– The Dallas Morning News, Dec. 10 Once upon a time, four friends shared the forest. When an evil dictator threatened the peace and security of them all, one of the friends concluded that the bad man had to be driven out of the forest. "Who will help me disarm and depose this dictator?" asked the American Eagle. "Not I!" said the French Cock. "Not I!"...

Once upon a time, on a farm in Arkansas, there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered quite a few grains of wheat. She called all of her neighbors together and said, "If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?" "Not I," said the cow. "Not I," said the duck. "Not I," said the pig. "Not I," said the goose. "Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen. And so she did; The wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden...

Mary had a little lamb, His fleece was white as snow. And everywhere that Mary went, The Lamb was sure to go. He followed her to school each day, T'wasn't even in the rule. It made the children laugh and play, To have a Lamb at school. And then the rules all changed one day, Illegal it became, To bring the Lamb of God to school, Or even speak His Name! Every day got worse and worse, And days turned into years. Instead of hearing children laugh, We heard gun shots and tears. What must we do to stop the...

Hansel and Gretel Hansel and Gretel were lost in the woods when they came upon a house made of candy and cake. An old witch invited them in and then captured both of them intending to eat them. Gretel had a chance save both of them by pushing the old woman in an oven but she decided that it would be wrong not to respect the witch's cultural traditions. So Gretel and her brother allowed themselves to be cooked and eaten. The witch was so happy with the children's actions that she invited all of her witch friends to the...

Here's a news item from the too-lame-to-be-true category. But it is. It seems Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev have collaborated on a retelling of Prokofiev's beloved children's classic, ''Peter And The Wolf.'' In the original, you'll recall, Peter and his friend the duck are out frolicking in the meadow when the slavering wolf shows up and embarks on his reign of terror. He gulps down the duck as his hors d'oeuvre, and has the cat lined up to follow. But fortunately, Peter gets hold of a rope and uses it as a noose with which to muzzle the wolf and...

<p>Before humans used chlorophyll and carotenoids to explain fall leaves, they drew on a mother's grief over the kidnapping of her daughter or the persistence of a group of bear hunters to account for the spectacle of summer green giving way to autumn's fiery blaze.</p>

Clinton Narrates Wolf-Friendly Peter and the Wolf Fri August 29, 2003 06:56 AM ET LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sergei Prokofiev's musical fairy tale Peter and the Wolf is popular with children but not with wolf lovers, and two former world leaders -- Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev -- aim to put that right in a new recording. They have teamed up in a new recording that couples the tale with a contemporary version featuring the same two protagonists but a very different ending. Prokofiev's version ends with Peter capturing the wolf and leading a triumphant procession to the zoo, paining...

IF NOAH WERE ALIVE TODAY It is the year 2003 and Noah lives in the United States. The Lord speaks to Noah and says: “In one year I am going to make it rain and cover the whole earth with water until all is destroyed. But I want you to save the righteous people and two of every kind of living thing on the earth. Therefore, I am commanding you to build an Ark.” In a flash of lightning, God delivered the specifications for an Ark. Fearful and trembling, Noah took the plans and agreed to build the Ark. “Remember,”...

When two small Russians, each barely 165 centimeters in height, place for-sale advertisements for $3 billion apiece in the Financial Times of London, a tall story is certain to be in the offing — though not much taller than the Mother Goose tales, which are truer than you think. In “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” for example, a father is overwhelmed by having to care for too many children. Accordingly, when a new infant arrives, the father sells it to the Devil in exchange for enough to eat for twelve years. At the end of that period, the boy returns home. Once...

CLASSIC 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 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 long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and...

{Adapted for correctness} A girl going to college prided herself on her liberal activism. Her father though was a staunch conservative. When she came home for spring break she challenged her father to defend his unfair conservative beliefs. Her father asked her, "How are your grades?" She proudly announced she had a straight 4.0, but it took a lot of work. She wasn't able to go out nights and couldn't take weekends off from studying. She stayed up late working hard for her grades during the week. Her father asked her, "Well how are your best friend's grades?" "She's barely...

While critics and opponents of George W. Bush try to argue that a 16-word sentence in his State of the Union address was based on faulty intelligence, we risk losing sight of much larger issues. Bush's policy of ousting Saddam Hussein's vicious regime has been having positive repercussions throughout the Middle East, and a council of Iraqis has now been given the power to run everyday affairs throughout the country and put together a democratic constitution rooted in the rule of law. Confronting and overthrowing terrorists and evil regimes is messy business, with tragic side effects; but it works. What...

CLASSIC 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 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 long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs...

Posted by Jim Sparkman Sunday, June 01, 2003 ChronWatch received this item by anonymous e-mail. We thought it good enough to post, even though we don't know the origin. If anyone knows the proper credits, we'll gladly add them. Subject: The Ant and the Grasshopper CLASSIC 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 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...

There is a picture on my wall that was drawn by an elder of the local Indian tribe. He was a wise old man who always tried to teach everyone around him, and I wasn’t allowed to buy the picture from him until he taught me what it was about. “Wolf and Crow are together for a reason. They hate each other,” he said, “but they need each other to survive. See?” He pointed to the crow, flying high above the wolf and cawing loudly as he looked down. The wolf was clearly understanding the crow, and, on the alert,...

Was the Pied Piper of Hamelin a child molester? 31-Dec-2002 Dear Straight Dope: I was recently reading A World Lit Only by Fire (1992) by William Manchester.  In it he makes a passing reference to the Pied Piper of Hamelin. According to Manchester the piper was a psychopath and a pederast who was involved in some sort of mass child killing. I realize that many of our children's stories are based on real events, many of them sinister and certainly not the type of thing you would want to lull your child to sleep with, but this seems especially grim....

<p>Goldilocks was free to get lost in the woods again after a jury acquitted her of burglary charges Thursday, apparently buying into the defense's argument that no child would break into a house just to eat Mama Bear's awful porridge.</p>

One day as the Little Red Hen was scratching in a field, she found a grain of wheat. "This wheat should be planted," she said. "Who will plant this grain of wheat?" "Not I," said the Duck. "Not I," said the Cat. "Not I," said the Dog. "Then I will," said the Little Red Hen. And she did. Soon the wheat grew to be tall and yellow. "The wheat is ripe," said the Little Red Hen. "Who will cut the wheat?" "Not I," said the Duck. "Not I," said the Cat. "Not I," said the Dog. "Then I will," said...

One day as the Little Red, White and Blue Hens were scratching in the yard, they found a kernel of wheat. "This kernel ought to be planted to produce food for lots of hungry animals," they said. "But it's a big job, and the foxes prowl the gardens. Who will help us plant it?" "We will not," honked the Goose Gaggle. "Nor I," said Le Chat, yawning. "Nor I!" said Der Hund. "Then we will do it ourselves," said the Little Red, White and Blue Hens. And they did. Soon the wheat sprouted, and grew tall in the hot sun....