Once upon a time there was a king who wanted to go fishing.

He called the royal weather forecaster, a very important position, and inquired as to the weather
forecast for the next few hours.

The weatherman assured him that there was no chance of rain in the coming days.
So the king went fishing with his wife, the queen. On the way he met a farmer on his donkey.
Upon seeing the king the farmer said, "Your Majesty, you should return to the palace at once
because in just a short time I expect a huge amount of rain to fall in this area".

The king was polite and considerate, he replied: "I hold the palace meteorologist in high
regard. He is an extensively educated and experienced professional. Besides, I pay him very
high wages. He gave me a very different forecast. I trust him and I will continue on my way."
So he continued on his way.

A short time later a torrential rain fell from the sky. The King and Queen were totally soaked
and their entourage chuckled upon seeing them in such a shameful condition.

Furious, the king returned to the palace and gave the order to fire the weatherman at once!

Then he summoned the farmer and offered him the prestigious and high paying role of royal forecaster.

The farmer said, "Your Majesty, I do not know anything about forecasting. I obtain my information
from my donkey. If I see my donkey's ears drooping, it means with certainty that it will rain."

So the king hired the donkey.

And so began the practice of hiring asses to work in the government and occupy its highest and most influential positions.

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> Subject:
> FW: We didn't have this 'green thing'
>
> Checking out at the store,
> the young cashier suggested to the
> much older lady that she should bring her own grocery
> bags, because plastic bags are not
> good for the environment.
>
>
>
>
> The woman apologized
> to the young girl and explained, "We
> didn't have this 'green thing' back in my
> earlier days."
>
> The
> young clerk responded, "That's our problem today.
> Your generation did not care enough to save our environment
> for future generations."
>
> The
> older lady said that she was right -- our generation
> didn't have the "green thing" in its
> day. The older lady went on to explain:
>
>
>
>
> Back then, we returned milk
> bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The
> store sent them back to the plant to be washed and
> sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles
> over and over. So they really were recycled.
> But we didn't have the "green thing" back in
> our day.
>
> Grocery stores bagged our
> groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous
> things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was
> the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school
> books. This was to ensure that public property (the books
> provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our
> scribbling's. Then we were able to personalize our books
> on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn't do the
> "green thing" back then.
>
>
>
>
> We walked up stairs because we
> didn't have an escalator in every store and office
> building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't
> climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go
> two blocks.
>
> But
> she was right. We didn't have the "green
> thing" in our day.
>
> Back
> then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't
> have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in
> an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and
> solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early
> days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes
> from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new
> clothing.
>
>
> But
> that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green
> thing" back in our day.
> Back
> then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in
> every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a
> handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the
> state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by
> hand because we didn't have electric machines to do
> everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send
> in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it,
> not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we
> didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut
> the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We
> exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health
> club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
>
> But
> she's right; we didn't have the "green
> thing" back then.
>
> We
> drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using
> a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of
> water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a
> new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a
> razor instead of throwing away the
> whole razor just because the blade got dull.
>
> But
> we didn't have the "green thing" back then.
>
> Back
> then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their
> bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into
> a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or
> van, which cost what a whole house did before the"green
> thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an
> entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we
> didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal
> beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to
> find the nearest burger joint.
>
> But
> isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful
> we old folks were just because we didn't have the
> "green thing" back then?
>
> Please forward this on to
> another selfish old person who needs a lesson in
> conservation from a smart ass young
> person.
>
>
>
>
> We don't like being old in
> the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us
> off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass
> who can't make change without the cash register telling
> them how much.
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