The Fireside Post

The Rat In The Corner - Iran, Health Care, etc.

bpc621@gmail.com (bryan clark www.thefiresidepost.com) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:49:21 +0000

To paraphrase Henry Kissinger: Never back a rat in to a corner - he will come out fighting. Always leave your opponent an escape route - a means by which they can save face. President Obama recently used a phrase much as this when referring to Iran. He said something like, “We are trying to [...]

Marketing War to Children

bpc621@gmail.com (bryan clark www.thefiresidepost.com) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:47:07 +0000

At a Fourth of July carnival last weekend, I was pushing our double stroller and sweating to the tinny sound of bad music while my children begged their grandparents for tickets to ride the Ferris Wheel. I was looking around and considering the impact that these events have on my children, since I remember being naively fond of them when I was young. It was almost as though things came into focus all of a sudden when I realized that about half of the games and vendors and rides had guns.

Celebrity Medicine, The AMA, Ethics, and Health Care Reform

bpc621@gmail.com (bryan clark www.thefiresidepost.com) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:14:18 +0000

What is going on with medical practitioners and celebrities? Michael Jackson is just the latest in an ever increasing list of celebrities who have died at the hands of their enabling medical doctors. Where is the American Medical Association (AMA) on this issue? Is the AMA the go-to-guy for advice on health care reform? This is [...]

Michael Jackson, Legendary Hero or Villian

bpc621@gmail.com (bryan clark www.thefiresidepost.com) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:38:00 +0000

Michael Jackson is dead at age 50. Already the hype has taken over the airways. Even in death Jackson continues to shock the sensibilities of the entire populace, fans and foes. Farrah Faucett died today at age 62 - no offense intended but Farrah has been bumped off the news cycle. Michael Jackson was as [...]

Is Ten Percent Too Much For Health Care?

bpc621@gmail.com (bryan clark www.thefiresidepost.com) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:36:30 +0000

President Obama is having his fourth news conference as I type. He is suggesting health care will cost us ten percent of our national budget if we do not gain control over costs. Is that a bad thing? How do we measure the health of our population against other priorities? When President Eisenhower left office in [...]

Tobacco Legislation - Save Our Children

bpc621@gmail.com (bryan clark www.thefiresidepost.com) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:00:36 +0000

President Obama signed legislation today placing tobacco under the authority of the Food and Drug Administration. Well, finally!. Nicotine is a drug; a very powerful drug. Nicotine should be regulated, as much as heroine or cocaine or methamphetimines. Actually, regulation is not the correct word, or correct response to nicotine. Nicotine has an addiction rate of [...]

Tehran, Iran, is not Birmingham, Alabama

bpc621@gmail.com (bryan clark www.thefiresidepost.com) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:23:18 +0000

Riots erupt. The police respond. Riot gear is employed with relish. The authorities are determined to quell the violence - determined to stop the demonstrators. Unwittingly - it is the authority of government that is the source of the violence. But Tehran, Iran, is not Birmingham, Alabama. Limited access to actual events on the ground in [...]

Obama Apologies - Appropriate? Or Not?

bpc621@gmail.com (bryan clark www.thefiresidepost.com) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:50:46 +0000

Does President Obama apologize unnecessarily for America? President Obama faces the world with legitimate humility, humbled by the embarrassment of the past administration. President Obama is working hard to remove the plank from our own eye before trying to remove the splinter from adversaries. We live in a harsh and brutal world, a world of [...]

Polite Manners With Name Prefixes

bpc621@gmail.com (bryan clark www.thefiresidepost.com) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:42:08 +0000

How do you address others? How are we supposed to address others? The internet serves to mix cultures and polite manners. My internet friend in San Francisco calls me Mr. Tone. I call her Ann - thinking by so doing I would subtly give her permission to call me Ohg. She figured me out and [...]

Confirmed As A Friend - Social Networking

bpc621@gmail.com (bryan clark www.thefiresidepost.com) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:54:49 +0000

Friends. What a wonderful concept. Everyone hopes to have at least one. There are actually psychological studies affirming the value of friendship. That affirmation comes with caveats - such as your friend has to actually like you for who you are. Cyber friendships on social networking sites bring all of the joys and pitfalls of [...]

The Zodiac Predicts Modern Holidays

bpc621@gmail.com (bryan clark www.thefiresidepost.com) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:43:10 +0000

Astrology - the predictor of the Christ. The three wise men followed their star charts to find the young King of men in his manger. Who, we ask, can argue with the validity of astrology. Even today, some 2,000 years later - the Zodiac accounts for, and often predicts, the activities of American holidays. I have [...]

Of Fear, Faith, and Foreign Affairs

bpc621@gmail.com (bryan clark www.thefiresidepost.com) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:10:38 +0000

Fear and faith do not live in the same home. The word ‘faith’ conjures images of peace of mind, hope for the future, for the fellowship of man. Faith speaks to the lion lying with the lamb - and the lamb can sleep with both eyes closed. Fear exists in a troubled mind, a troubled [...]

The Seven Points of Obama’s Cairo Speech

bpc621@gmail.com (bryan clark www.thefiresidepost.com) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:58:33 +0000

United States President Barack Obama is carrying the dove of peace. The dove is in a cage, surrounded by the guards of ignorance, prejudice, deep anger, and fear. President Obama would like to release the dove - but he knows he must first educate the guards. The President is in the middle east, holding the [...]

Obama Speech in Cairo, Egypt 6-4-09

bpc621@gmail.com (bryan clark www.thefiresidepost.com) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:19:22 +0000

President Obama spoke in Cairo, Egypt. The text of the speech follows the video. I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning, and for over a century, Cairo University has been [...]

Christian Sponsored Terrorism

bpc621@gmail.com (bryan clark www.thefiresidepost.com) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:30:42 +0000

The Associated Press has composed a list of recent abortion-related violence. As an aside, we find their headline rather ironic - because it suggests the violence is a result of abortion. But more important than the headline are the facts of fundamentalist Christian violence (we prefer to call this behavior Christian Terrorism). We have written warnings [...]