THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

This one is a little different......

Two Different Versions....

Two Different Morals  

---

 

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 aunt’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 thegrasshopper, 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 thegrasshopper 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.

 

I’ve sent this to you because I believe that you are an ant, not a grasshopper! Make sure that you pass this on to otherants.

 Don’t bother sending it on to any grasshoppers because they wouldn’t understand it, anyway.

President Promises Hope & Change, Castelli Delivers with 89th District Special Election Win

 With a victory of 55% to 45% over his challenger, Republican State Assemblyman-elect Robert “Bob” Castelli proved that his message and exorbitant taxes are more important than his Democratic opponent Peter Harckham’s rhetoric. In a phone conversation with Bob early this morning, he told me he was anxious to get to Albany to get to work, but didn’t know what the time table was for his swearing-in and “seating” in Albany. He also hoped to be able to thank his supporters and those who helped in with his campaign in short time.

Bob Castelli has been a dedicated public servant, as a Vietnam veteran who, after a distinguished 21-year career in the New York State Police, received his graduate degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Bob uses his experience to help shape the future leaders of our government as a college professor. He is a small businessman, operating a security consulting business where he provides expert advice and commentary to television and print media on criminal justice and homeland security matters. He is a former Lewisboro Councilman, and was chair of the Public Safety and Emergency Services Committees of County Executive Rob Astorino's transition team. Bob is the father of two sons: Christian, a Lt. Colonel in the United States Army Special Forces, and also a graduate of the Kennedy School, and Paul, an ordained Minister, serving a congregation in southern Florida.

Harckham, who had won the November reelection of his county legislative seat, was thought to be disingenuous with his run for county legislator and by ignoring his constituent’s trust running for another office, with ultimately nothing to lose. We’ve seen this same scenario before with Thomas Abinanti, also a Westchester County legislator who fell back to his “safe” county position after being similarly defeated. One more County Legislator, Mike Kaplowitz, is currently pursuing a comparable move. Harckham, has been a county legislator since 2007, and served on six county legislative committees this past term. The lowest amount of additional money paid to a committee member is $3,000. Multiply this amount by his six committees and he made at least an additional $18,000 on top of his $49,000 yearly salary for a part-time job. In these tough times, maybe he and his colleagues should forego their extra salary perks for simply doing their part-time job. 

If the electorate is truly fed up with the shenanigans of our legislators, Bob Castelli’s victory, right after Rob Astorino’s in Westchester and Scott Brown’s in Massachusetts, may be a sign of the hope and change President Obama promised during his campaign. Both candidates sold themselves as outsiders whose main goal was to reform Albany's dysfunctional operations. Interestingly, at a forum held in Chappaqua with Castelli and Harckham, both men discussed the reforms they planned to initiate if elected. Apparently, the electorate could not get past Harckham’s contradictory claims of being a reformer and in the forefront of the uncontrollable and über-bloated Spano administration.

The record setting snowstorm that just ended may delay Bob Castelli’s getting to Albany by a day or two. Hopefully, that will be the only delay in the beginning of a new era of reform in Albany. God knows we're ready!

Help Lower Oil Dependency & Prices

   Gas rationing in the 70's worked even though we grumbled about it.  It might even have been good for us! 

   The Saudi's are boycotting American products and yet we continue to buy their oil. They are gouging us ans we continue to purchase gasoline from them at alarming rates.
 
Shouldn't we return the favor?  Can't we take control of our own destiny and let these giant oil importers know who REALLY generates their profits, their livings?  How about leaving American Dollars in America and reduce the import/export deficit?

An appealing remedy might be to boycott their GAS.  Every time you fill up your car you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia .  Just purchase gas from companies that do not import from the Saudis.

Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill up my tank, I'm sending my money to people who want me, my family and my friends dead.

The following gas companies import Middle Eastern oil:

Shell: 205,742,000 barrels
Chevron/Texaco: 144,332,000 barrels
Exxon /Mobil: 130,082,000 barrels
Marathon/Speedway: 117,740,000 barrels
Amoco: 62,231,000 barrels

And CITGO oil is imported from Venezuela by Dictator Hugo Chavez who hates America and openly avows our economic destruction!  (We pay Chavez's regime nearly $10 Billion per year in oil revenues!)

The U.S. currently imports 5,517,000 barrels of crude oil per day from OPEC.  If you do the math at $100 per barrel, that's over $550 million PER DAY ($200 BILLION per year!) handed over to OPEC, many of whose members are our confirmed enemies!!!!! It won't stop here - oil prices could go to $200 a barrel or higher if we keep buying their product. 

Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:

545 People vs. 300,000,000 Americans

Everyone should read what Charlie Reese has written, pass it on, discuss it with friends and really think about our current political debacle. Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years.

545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red ..

If the Army &Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees, we should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

What you do with this article now that you have read it........... Is up to you.

This might be funny if it weren't so darned true.
Be sure to read all the way to the end:

Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table
At which he's fed.

Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.

Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for peanuts
Anyway!

Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.

Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.

Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.

Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won't be done
Till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He's good and sore.
Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he's laid.

Put these words
Upon his tomb,
Taxes drove me
to my doom...'

When he's gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge T ax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Sales Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Ser vice FeeTax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY? Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What in the hell happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'
And I still have to 'press 1' for English!?

I hope this goes around THE USA at least 100 times!!! YOU can help it get there!!!
GO AHEAD - - - BE AN AMERICAN!!!

Who Really Spoke and Who Just Mumbled?

Well, the election is over and Alfreda Williams won. Congratulations to her. They had everything on their side, including money (Lois Bronz's campaign war chest), Lois Bronz's mailing and support lists, but mostly pure democratic volume over other parties. Once she began to play the race card, she was able to capture the majority of the vote of color. She agreed with the democratic incumbents decision to do-nothing and simply let the numbers roll her into office. The incumbent legislature which voted to settle on the Housing Desegregation Lawsuit, was a torch she carried throughout the campaign as though she had voted for it herself.

The democrats who came out to vote certainly helped her win. I accepted that outcome when I began the campaign and even now that it's over. I'm disappointed to lose but not bitter or upset. I ran a great campaign on the issues, something she still has little, if any, knowledge of. In fact, her victory will allow her to go back to the laissez-faire mentality practiced by her predecessor and ignore not only the issues of the district and county, but sadly and more importantly, the people that have been continually ignored for years.

If you look at the numbers, it was democratic voters who simply, simplistically, and as uninformed and uneducated voters, voted across the party line. Shame on them. Not because I didn't win, but because they blindly follow their leaders without thinking, questioning or trying. I'm not saying we are there, but this is how most dictatorships begin. Just look at Italy, Germany and the others in the 30's and 40's, and now in the middle east. Blindly following is costing us in more ways than financial but that is the most significant problem with following and not thinking. I'm reminded of my parents old adage, "If so-and-so walked off a cliff, would you follow them?"

So how did, or will District 8 win from this election? It remains to be seen. To paraphrase Lois Bronz, she said she was happy Alfreda was able to get up to speed on the issues so quickly. This highlights just how out of touch she is. She didn't win because she was involved or knowledgeable. She was the heir apparent from a legislator who ignored her constituency throughout the district. The only people she did anything for was the Fairview section of Greenburgh. How sad a commentary that we go from one poor representative to another.

In spite of all of this, I wish Alfreda and the constituents of District 8 well. But with Alfreda and her ilk in power, it should prove to be a nightmare. Perhaps Rob Astorino, and the other Republican legislators can make a dent and begin turning around our county. The people began to speak in this election and I believe they will be even louder in the next one. I know I will be.

We Must Stop Overdevelopment

In many of our local neighborhoods, and in a broad sense throughout Westchester, we have seen the darkest side of development, human behavior, greed and social engineering run amuck. For example, in the Town of Greenburgh, we've witnessed uncontrolled development with the "sanction" by all the subordinate departments following Paul Feiner's misguided statist lead toward subsidized housing.

In fact, the Greenburgh Planning Board prejudiciously closed the public hearing as a proliferation of questions of the project site plan at 22 Tarrytown Road abound. Several people in the audience objected vehemently when Planning chairwoman Mclaughlin ignored their and several board members' pleas to hold the hearing open, insisting and receiving a motion to close the hearing at breakneck speed. Mclaughlin, whose strings are ostensibly dragged by Supervisor Feiner, could not seem to move fast enough to ignore the objections of so many and hand the silver platter to the developer! I don't know why she continues so anxiously to please the King and his “court” as he and his jesters have already disregarded the Planning Board's recommendation to not change the zoning for this property and then changed it right after reading the recommendation letter openly at a Board meeting. This charade must stop!

In Tarrytown we're witnessing the over-saturation of one of the most beautiful and significant waterfront areas in Westchester with immensely scaled condominiums. To the best of my knowledge, they are expensive; and many units remain vacant. Sleepy Hollow is wrestling with it's own demons as their waterfront property has had a bulls-eye placed on it by developers and their superstructure schemes slowly evolve into more than the area can handle. Why are we allowing developers such a free rein? Many suggest if we don't, then they will leave and build elsewhere. Okay, does that mean there is only one developer in Westchester and we should feel honored that they are here? I don't think so.

Another question is why were none of the housing units there designated as affordable or low income housing A.K.A. subsidized housing? Perhaps because the Village a) didn't think of it; b) thought of it and knew it would devalue the rest of the area they are trying to improve; c) realized that the housing that doesn't get sold might be rented and become Section 8 voucher housing or d) did not want the crime that follows so many of these lower socio-economic renters. Maybe there is an “e, f, g” and more.

There was a study that was conducted recently in Memphis, Tennessee that tracks Section 8 housing, it's voucher participants and the crime that travels with them. In what the study calls the “rabbit ears” affect, when you overlay the high crime areas on top of the Section 8 housing, now located in the suburbs from the inner city, it's the “rabbit ear” exact match! Crime is proven to go up commensurate with Section 8 housing. But that doesn’t mean let’s simple do away with Section 8 housing. Of course there are valid reasons to support some of it.

Just because there is a parcel of land without a building on it, doesn't mean we must build something on it and maximize its use with an out-of-character, over-sized building placed on it. This is why most neighborhoods and thinking people object to many developer plans. It's what has been the over-riding issue at 22 Tarrytown Road. After being punished with Westhab's hapless homeless facility for over 25 years, the neighborhood started to see some relief once the County closed the facility. But giving back to the neighborhood isn't in the cards for this workforce group of people. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished. So, the county purchased the property and gave it to Westhab to develop.

Supervisor Feiner endorses subsidized housing, and came to the neighborhood and said this was workforce housing for Greenburgh's municipal employees and teachers. Then it wasn't. Oops. He lied. Then Westhab’s Robert Sanborn perpetuated the same lie, obviously believing if they say it enough, “everyone” will believe it. But the neighborhood and the surrounding area organizations didn't drink their Kool Aid (not to give Kool Aid a bad name), and knew they had been politically, blatantly, and openly lied to. To spread his standing with the lame-stream media, the supervisor wrote several op-ed pieces pining how the Fulton Park neighborhood were NIMBY's. And yet, all they ever said was build something to scale in the area at 22 Tarrytown Road.

The often pushed-aside-by-Supervisor Feiner, Greenburgh Comprehensive Plan would be a step in the right direction in the Town of Greenburgh as well as one for the County. The Town Board seems to have no issue urinating away $405k on it and then doing what they can to circumvent it before it's adoption for one law firm and it's developer client. People at the Comprehensive planning meetings continue to say the same thing: give us less impervious space, smaller buildings or same-sized buildings to replace what's torn down, more sidewalks, bike paths, parks and green space and less congestion. But alas, the Greenburgh Town Board won't listen. And, they'll continue to travel to the Villages, where they are greeted with open arms as Supervisor Feiner, who continues to praise the Villages he cannot destroy, mock the unincorporated areas he can destroy, and paint the people and findings who participate in the Comprehensive Planning meetings openly as kooks. There's only one real kook here and it’s not the residents.

It's time we change the way government operates. It's time to take out the career politicians and the wannabes who have worked with them for years. We need fresh ideas and people who know how to make tough decisions and take government back and hand it over to the people, where it rightly belongs.

Is Westchester Guilty?

Sure, it's a pretty tough question to answer, and for most thinking people his HUD settlement plea certainly is an admission of guilt, regardless of the terms of the settlement. Whatever Andy Spano or the other legislators claim, when you settle any suit, even with the inclusion of a "no admission of guilt" clause, you've admitted guilt! He's just trying to "hedge his (compensatory) bet."

I don't believe Westchester is racist, and yes, there is certainly an economic divide. Even if Andy Spano admits he and his failed incumbent board of legislators are racists through this settlement, will a complacent electorate return them the to business as usual on November 3? As they scamper away with their political tail between their legs toward the darkness of say, New Jersey, where shenanigans like this may be acceptable, will Westchester ever get past this uncaring and apathetic routine? I hope so. It's why I'm running for office.

Westchester County is comprised of a very diverse group of peoples. My neighborhood exemplifies this as do so many others. But there is a commonality as well. The people owning homes here, work for everything they get. Many of us struggle, living paycheck to paycheck and fear what may happen if their health and/or employment fails. Yet, they persevere and they really ARE the community they live in. They are not subsidized by government and yet government insists they subsidize others. Why? Because it's the incumbents way of buying more votes through dependency. We know it works - just look at how long so many have stayed in office.

There is an incumbency, no pun intended, to help others in need, whenever possible. But our system for helping others has evolved from a temporary helping hand, to one of dependency, and a multi-million dollar cradle-to-the-grave industry. On top of that, when you saddle private industry with an inordinate amount of regulations, the small companies, or "the little guys" get wiped into oblivion. These are the businesses that need the assistance of government, not to be strangled by it. They are the ones that can help these same people in need the most, through employment, to improve their lives. I'm pretty sure the system as it is now is not what our founding leaders envisioned America would become.

So, is Andy Spano admitting he is a racist? I think he is. To say lets settle this lawsuit is disingenuous to the majority of good people in Westchester. We sit at the crest of the tide of political correctness because of a racist decision, made by a liberal judge with an agenda. This is an issue purely of economics and whether or not you can afford to own property in the southern part of New York State. If you cannot, you can rent an apartment and still live here. There is no "right" to own property as some would suggest. But if you want to own property, go to school, get a good viable education, get a job, work hard and save. And when the right time comes, you can purchase what you can afford, be it a co-op, condominium or a house, anywhere you want. Until then, people in power should rethink, retool and reduce some of the programs that encourage recipients to do nothing and be rewarded for it.

As we retool, rethink and reduce, we should take these same people and insist they go back to school and/or learn a trade so that eventually, they will not be a burden on society, but a contributor to it. Westchester is not racist - it is rich. Rich with ideas, rich with entrepreneurs and self-starters who buckled down and achieved a lot and rich with charity. Our burden of entitlements, created and bastardized by our politicians, needs to change if we are to turn the tide that the elitists have shoved down our throats. And for those that truly need help, we will always be there to offer assistance.