THE MONKEY STORY

[FOsteology]

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a
banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a
monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana.

As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all the other monkeys with
cold water. After a while another monkey makes the attempt with same
result, all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon
when another Monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will
try to prevent it.

Now, put the cold water away. Remove one monkey from the cage and
replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to
climb the stairs.
To his shock, all of the other monkeys beat the snot out of him. After
another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the
stairs he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with
a new one.
The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous
newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.

Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a
fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the
stairs he is attacked.

Most of the monkeys that are beating him up have no idea why they were
not permitted to climb the stairs OR even why they are participating
in the beating of the newest monkey. Finally, after replacing all of
the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been
sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches
the stairs to try for the banana.

Why not?

Because as far as they know, that is the way it has always been done
around here.

And that, my fellow monkeys, is how Congress operates - And precisely
why we need to REPLACE all the original monkeys this November.

[FinsnFur]

Very interesting theory

[Todd Rahm]

Very interesting theory

Go ahead Jim, climb the stairs for the banana. 

[Hawks Feather]

The second paragraphy was my rant to an email that ended with a re-elect no one line and I think it applies to REPLACE all the original monkeys in Congress.  If your members of Congress (House or Senate) are not voting the way you think they should - call (most have an 800 number), email (them and their chief of staff), and/or send snail mail.  What also works very well is to financially support the candidate that supports your interests - either the incumbent or the person running against the one you want.  As much as I hate seeing political ads on TV or hearing them on the radio, advertising sells, and it is NOT cheap.  Finally, talk with your member and ask them why they voted for or against a bill.  In almost every bill there are add-ons to get the support (blackmail) of an individual or group of the members.  The flip side of that is when a member votes agains obamacare and similar bills there are add-ons (usually small) that could/would help residents in many states.  The democrats will use that vote in their campaign against the incumbent by saying that he/she voted AGAINST the add-on.  For example, if the obamacare bill had an add-on (enticement) added {I am sure there were some, but I am just making this one up} that would offer low interest loans to small businesses (something that I agree with since to me the best way to get people off of welfare is to get them to work) it would have been a very small fraction of what would be needed.  But when the next election comes around the democrats would NOT say that the Member voted against obamacare, but that the Member voted against trying to get people back to work by not supporting the low interest loans to small businesses.  Anyway, on to my next rant.

Sorry, but I beg to differ with the opinion stated in the big red letters at the end of this email  “Re-elect no one“.   I can support the idea of not re-electing the ones that voted for legislation like this and many others that have been forced through by the democrats in DC, but my Member of Congress did not vote in favor of it.  Since this is going to several people in all fairness I should also add that my Member of Congress, Representative Robert Latta (Republican for the fifth district of Ohio), is also my cousin.  But while blood might be thicker than water, had he been one of the Members of Congress that had voted for the give aways and putting the US deeper and deeper in debt, I would vote against him, but he is not voting that way.  He is one of the Members of Congress that (at least I feel) needs to be supported and re-elected.  While it is easy to hit the forward button on the computer, when I read things like this I have to wonder â€" do people think that EVERY elected person in DC is voting in favor of this type of legislation?  If so, you need to start checking the voting record.  And if that voting record is not what you think, then vote against that person â€" be that person Republican or Democrat.  But personally I think it is time to move beyond “guild by association” and get to “guilt by vote”.

Jerry

[THO Game Calls]

At last, some common sense

[FOsteology]

Apparently Hawk and THO are no longer monkey's, and have evolved into Apes. 

[FinsnFur]

 

[THO Game Calls]

The problem is not with the monkeys, the problem is with the zoo keepers who "take care of" the monkeys.

You see, sooner or later, one of the zoo keepers is going to take one of the monkeys aside and tell him to wait until all the other monkeys are asleep, and then to sneak up and eat the banana.   In the morning, he will tell him to blame it on the strongest monkey in the group, and encourage the others to beat the crap out of him.   He tells him not only will he have a full stomach, but he will have eliminated a major security threat and positioned himself as the leader of the group.  While the honest monkey may balk at this, he is told, if he doesn't do this, the zoo keeper will just get someone else who will.   When faced with being fed and secure vs. being hungry and beat up, he goes along with the zoo keeper.

Remember, if no one had been hosing down the monkeys to begin with, things would not be the way they are, and everyone might be able to share in a bite of the banana today.

Put another way, do you really think John McCain would spend 10.2 million dollars of his own money to get elected to a job that pays 174,000 a year?

Well, John McCain spent more than $10.2 million on his re-election bid in the last quarter that ended June 30, according to Federal Election Commission.

That's 10.2 million in just the last 3 months, but not of his own money.  And he was able to raise that money during a sever recession, when people are losing or have lost their jobs, their homes, their way of life.   So where did that 10.2 million come from?  From the people suffering?   No, it came from the Zoo Keepers.  

So, what we need to do, is to start thinking for ourselves, and find a way to root out all of the zoo keepers and banish them from the zoo.   We can do that by spending more time looking at the voting records of our elected officials and less time forwarding and posting mindless dribble that is more often than not false, or planted by the zoo keepers themselves to ensure their continued existence.

I agree with Hawk, and if that makes me an ape, so be it.   There is nothing wrong with evolution.   Who wants to go around dragging their knuckles on the ground all day anyway?   Evolve, stand up, think for yourself, and work to find a way to solve the root cause of the problem.  

Remember, if you continue to jump on the band wagon because of what you are sent in E mail or read in blogs or on biased TV shows, and use that to beat the other guy up with, because it is what you are being conditioned to believe, you are really no different than the monkeys in the cage, and nothing will ever change.  

Which is what the Zoo Keepers want.    

[slagmaker]

"Replace the Zoo Keepers"


That is an excellent motto.

[FOsteology]

I agree with Hawk, and if that makes me an ape, so be it.   There is nothing wrong with evolution.   Who wants to go around dragging their knuckles on the ground all day anyway?   Evolve, stand up, think for yourself, and work to find a way to solve the root cause of the problem.

Exactly! Then you know it wasn't meant as a slight nor dig.


Al, you take some of these post too seriously. You're obviously aware that you're preaching to the choir. You and I know nothing is going to change (at least not in either of our lifetimes) as people in general are apathetic and blissfully ignorant. I'd wager that a considerable percentage above 50% view and treat elections similar to American Idol. Sad, frustrating, infuriating.....

[FinsnFur]

American Idol

Sorry, that just got me chuckling

[THO Game Calls]

Fos - I don't care if it was a slight or dig.  But it proves a point.   They have us right where they want us.   Fighting amongst each other.

Your premise is that we dump everyone in congress and start over.  

My premise is that that will never work.

Here is why.  Just one case in point from a small insignificant state.....

Republican Frank Guinta is running for congress in New Hampshire.   He's the former Mayor of Manchester, where I live.   Again, he's supposed to be one of the good guys, a Republican.  Some of us would get behind him just because he IS a republican.   Well........

He filed his financial disclosure statements as required by law when he started his campaign.   His campaign ran out of money, so he made a personal loan of $250,000 to his campaign from his personal accounts.  All perfectly legal.

But.........

His financial disclosure statements, filed when he began his campaign, show that he didn't have anywhere near that kind of money or assets to make a personal loan to anyone, let alone his campaign.

So, where did that $250,000 come from?  

Republican Frank Guinta says it was an oversight on his part and he forgot he had an extra quarter of a million dollars of personal money just laying around.  

Really?  A quarter of a mill just slipped your mind?   Would it slip yours?  Would it slip your mind when for the last 4 years you controlled the budget of the largest city in New Hampshire and claim you are a fiscal conservative who cut taxes and lowered spending?   Would you forgot you had a extra quarter mill sitting in the bank?   Hmmmmm............



This country was formed as a Republic by mostly wealthy businessmen who knew what they were doing.  Most people think we are a Democracy, and don't even know the difference between the two or how it impacts them.  They go about forwarding silly e mails or making post from the e mails they get telling everyone that the Democrats are all bad and the Republicans are all good, or liberals are all over educated whack jobs and conservatives are gun toting Constitutionalists rednecks, not even knowing that they are being programed to do and believe those things by a handful of men who actually run this country because they know the difference between a Republic and Democracy, and have put that knowledge to use for their own benefit.  

Did you know that the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence was a wealthy business man, and Harvard Graduate?   Would that make John Hancock an over educated east coast liberal whack job today not worthy of our political support?

When people understand that our system of government at the local and state levels is a Democracy which derives it's power from the Majority,  but a Republic at the Federal Level which derives it's power from a charter, ie the Constitution, the solution to our countries problems becomes clear.

Simply put. special interest and big business cannot control the populace,  but they can control and influence the elected officials who write the legislation that makes up the Charter that our country is governed by.  You don't need any more proof of this than to look at news stories of politicians who have been caught with 50 grand in their freezer, or who are convicted of 7 felony counts for not disclosing gifts or forget they had an extra quarter million sitting in the bank.  

We need to come to the understanding that the people who run this county simply do not care what we think because in reality, it doesn't matter.   What matters are the 535 members of Congress, not the other 380 Million of us.

We need to focus our anger, our energies, and our resources on electing those people who will not succumb to the back room deals, money, gifts and political power plays that have shaped what this country has become, and who will have the guts to stand up and try and do away with the special interest groups and big business influence that benefits no one but them.  We need to elect AND reelect people with integrity and guts.    Instead of electing Democrats or Republicans, we should focus on electing and reelecting HONEST men and women no matter what their political leanings are.   It's the ONLY way there will ever be change in our country.

Can we change it in our lifetimes?   Not if we all act like Monkeys, so maybe it is time for a few Apes to step up.

[FOsteology]

Your premise is that we dump everyone in congress and start over.   

My premise is that that will never work.

We need to come to the understanding that the people who run this county simply do not care what we think because in reality, it doesn't matter. What matters are the 535 members of Congress, not the other 380 Million of us.
We need to focus our anger, our energies, and our resources on electing those people who will not succumb to the back room deals, money, gifts and political power plays that have shaped what this country has become, and who will have the guts to stand up and try and do away with the special interest groups and big business influence that benefits no one but them. We need to elect AND reelect people with integrity and guts. Instead of electing Democrats or Republicans, we should focus on electing and reelecting HONEST men and women no matter what their political leanings are. It's the ONLY way there will ever be change in our country.

I'm not following you AL.... your post reads like a contradiction to me.

electing those people who will not succumb to the back room deals, money, gifts and political power plays that have shaped what this country has become, and who will have the guts to stand up and try and do away with the special interest groups and big business influence that benefits no one but them.

Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely

[THO Game Calls]

I'm not following you AL.... your post reads like a contradiction to me.

I apologize if I lost you.  I should have added "To Them" at the end of the statement.....

"We need to come to the understanding that the people who run this county simply do not care what we think because in reality, it doesn't matter TO THEM"

Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely

And will continue to do so until enough people get fed up with the way things are and actually take some intelligent action to change them.   Copy and pasting talking points, quotes and e mails isn't intelligent action, and quite often leaves one vulnerable to opposing view points because they don't have any research to fall back on, and are left with the rather lame rebuttal  "well, I heard it on the Glenn Beck show" or "well, I got it in E mail so it must be true".

[FOsteology]

Al, I think you attempted to read too much into the humorous tongue in cheek analogy of monkeys and Congress.

However, since you brought it up, I'll play along. 

You stated that voting everyone out of office wasn't the correct course of action, and in your opinion wouldn't work.... however, the examples you provided only illustrated that they DO indeed need to be tossed out on their ear. 

You go on to say that politicians don't care what we the public want or what we have to say (sure does seem that way indeed), and that society will have to rise up and take control and change things. Ok..... to me that sounds like advocating voting politicians that are not serving the people and the public's interests out of power. Yes? Or are you advocating or inferring for anarchy??

[THO Game Calls]

However, since you brought it up, I'll play along.

Well, I have deer stands to hang today, and lots of other things to do, so,  since you didn't get what I wrote, and in effect I'm just wasting band width "preaching the choir"  I'll pass.

Please continue to take a cavalier attitude towards our countries problems, forward and post mindless and often inaccurate propaganda put out by those who seek to control your thoughts and actions, listen to the bastions of freedom who tell us everything that is wrong, while never telling us what to do.  Attend their rallies, watch their shows, allow them to brainwash you, tell you what they want you to believe, and we can discuss this in another couple of years when we're all trying to figure out why we went to hell in a hand basket and just who paid for the trip.

Resistance is Futile.   We have been absorbed into the collective; but don't despair too much, smarter men than you and I figured out how to manipulate the system to their own benefit.   It's not our fault.  

If on the other hand, you want to make a real difference, work to get rid of the lobbyist and special interest groups that write the legislation that our legislatures vote into law, Work to weed out the lawmakers who show up in Washington with their hand out looking for their piece of the American Dream.  No, not all of them do.  There are still some honest men in DC, few and far between, but it's a start, which is why it would be bad to vote everyone out of office and start over.   All it takes for a garden to grow is to plant a few seeds and continuously take out the weeds.  

Until we do that, people like Republican Frank Guinta of NH will continue to spend $250,000 bucks of his own money to get elected to a job that is going to pay him a grand total of $348,000 (before taxes) over the next two years.    

You might also start asking questions, like, who coughed up the 10.2 million dollars John McCain spent in the last three months of his reelection campaign in Arizona and what they might expect to get as a return on their investment?  

But thanks for playing anyway.  It's been fun!

[FOsteology]

Al proceeds to dip his little cyber fountain-pen filler into pots of oily venom and to squirt the mixture all over. 
That's always been your problem Al. Instead of having a civil conversation or debate, you always rush to jump up on your little soapbox and spew forth your negative rhetoric in effort to make the other person look like a heel, when in reality you yourself come off as douche bag.

You are without doubt a pompous, bitter, sad little old curmudgeon. You don't like or approve of me or the content of my posts. Fine. Quite an easy task to either place me on ignore or scroll past my postings.
However, to dictate what I should or shouldn't do as you personally don't agree or find meaningful..... go pound sand.

[THO Game Calls]

A typical response from the Collective.   You have no argument, so you choose to call names and take pot shots.  

Just like your post on Gay Marriage.  You asked for one good reason, I gave you one, and you sat there with your mouth open trying to come up with a response.   I guess you did not have one.   I am not for gay marriage, but I'm smart enough to know that if your sole argument is based on God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, you're going to lose.  


These post that are simply copy and pastes of e mails that in many cases, are either distortions of the truth, flat out lies, or taken out of context to further an agenda leave you wide open for questions, and in fairness to those who read these post and then respond to them, you should be prepared with answers.    Suggesting that someone is an Ape because they question your post makes you look like a mindless robot who has been programed by the Rush Limbaughs, Glenn Beck's, Shawn Hanady's and John Gibson's of the world.  

If that's how you want look, then by all means keep  posting them.  

If the people sitting on the fence trying to make an intelligent decision on who to vote for or who to support, want intelligent discourse on the subject, they can always go listen to the other side, right?  

I submeit that if you are going to make a post suggesting that Gay Marriage will lead to bestiality, incest and polygamy, or that every member of congress should be voted out,  you should be prepared to defend those post intelligently when asked about their validity, and their wisdom.


 "Go Pound Sand", or calling Hawk and me "Apes" falls well short of an intelligent response, but to be honest, is about what I expected, and pretty much sums up why this country is in the shape it is.  

[FOsteology]

A typical response from the Collective.   You have no argument, so you choose to call names and take pot shots.

"Collective"???  

"I make no case for argument"???  With YOU, typically not as generally other than reading in amusement your myriad rants, and shocked and dismayed at the manner of your negativity (I'm sorry, but you DO come across as bitter and unhappy) you spew with your rants, you're not much fun.

calling Hawk and me "Apes" falls well short of an intelligent response. Suggesting that someone is an Ape because they question your post makes you look like a mindless robot who has been programed by the Rush Limbaughs, Glenn Beck's, Shawn Hanady's and John Gibson's of the world.

Reading comprehension isn't your forte, is it? Your delicate feelers still hurt because you perceived that I insulted you?

Also, as per usual you're wrong again. I don't listen to Rush, Hanady, Beck. I'll admit to ignorance in that I don't even know who John Gibson is??  

I agree with Hawk, and if that makes me an ape, so be it.   There is nothing wrong with evolution.   Who wants to go around dragging their knuckles on the ground all day anyway?   Evolve, stand up, think for yourself, and work to find a way to solve the root cause of the problem.

Exactly! Then you know it wasn't meant as a slight nor dig.

Since the obvious escapes you, my tongue in cheek and pun about having evolved into apes was NOT nor was it meant as a put-down.
Just as you posted in your response, an ape was further along the evolutionary ladder than a monkey, that was my POINT. The two of you were past the "monkey" stage as you've both given some thought to the issue.

Just like your post on Gay Marriage.  You asked for one good reason, I gave you one, and you sat there with your mouth open trying to come up with a response. I guess you did not have one. I am not for gay marriage, but I'm smart enough to know that if your sole argument is based on God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, you're going to lose.

Now you're hurt because I didn't bother to go back to that thread?

If it means that much to you Al, and will placate your delicate sensibilities, I will return to the thread in question when I have time. I'll read what what you posted and make a response. However, a quick summation regarding my question: In a nutshell, Gay "marriage" involves a politically protected class (and one that generally votes Democrat), polygamy generally doesn't.

These post that are simply copy and pastes of e mails that in many cases, are either distortions of the truth, flat out lies, or taken out of context to further an agenda leave you wide open for questions, and in fairness to those who read these post and then respond to them, you should be prepared with answers.

Aside from the monkey chronicles, what other posts of mine has your hair up in a dander? And since you've brought this up more than once, what distortions, lies, and out of context are you referring?? If you're going to "call me out" then please be specific.

If the people sitting on the fence trying to make an intelligent decision on who to vote for or who to support, want intelligent discourse on the subject, they can always go listen to the other side, right?

Other than you getting caught-up in online pissing matches, and threads full of drama, I haven't seen you post anything of interest NOR value (let alone educational) in this regard.

If it bothers you so much, and is causing you angst, you could start your own thread(s) and hop up on your soapbox.

I submeit that if you are going to make a post suggesting that Gay Marriage will lead to bestiality, incest and polygamy, or that every member of congress should be voted out,  you should be prepared to defend those post intelligently when asked about their validity, and their wisdom.

And I submit you've failed to notice and realize that some things I post (whether or not my actual belief or opinion), is me PURPOSELY tossing something like this aloft.....fuse lit,
.....seeing how loud of a bang I get.

This one has been GRATIFYING !  Although NOT in the direction I foresaw.  

[FOsteology]

chirp chirp chirp........

What's that I hear? Crickets....