Category:Featured | The Fireside Post Featured | The Fireside Post
wpedon id=8560

Featured

post thumbnail

Of Bankruptcies and Health Care

My friend, Frank, has big problems – financial problems. Like so many people today, his youth was consumed with self gratification. I remember those days – living like there is no tomorrow. Now he is fifty years old, has marginal labor skills, and the financial shock of an encounter with modern health care.

1Mar2009 | | Comments Off on Of Bankruptcies and Health Care | Continued
post thumbnail

Obama – Spending or Investing, Big Differences

President Obama has proposed a huge federal budget.  In actual adjusted dollars the budget is the largest since 1945, just as we were coming out of WWII.  The Republicans are shouting and whining and crying the traditional refrain: “The Liberal are spending our money!  Run for your life!”  Obviously, there is much spending – but […]

26Feb2009 | | 1 comment | Continued
post thumbnail

The Curious Case of Nadya Suleman – Octo-Mom

Is Nadya Suleman crazy, or what? She had six children by in-vitro fertilization, then had a whole bunch of frozen embryos implanted, resulting in eight babies at one birth. She now has fourteen children. She has no husband and no job. She lives with her mother in a home that is about to be foreclosed. Is she crazy, or what? This is a case of immaturity meeting Dr. Frankenstein.

25Feb2009 | | 5 comments | Continued
post thumbnail

Promoting the Liberal Myth

There seems to be a mythology of the liberal cause. The term ‘Liberal’ is used as a noun to describe a secret sect of devil worshipers. The implication is something like this: Liberals meet in secret places, conduct secret rituals, and are the root of the new world order meant to destroy freedom and prosperity. Liberals prefer socialism to capitalism. Liberals prefer dictators to democracy. Liberals want to reward terrorists. Liberals think Labor Unions should run businesses. They are like the Freemasons, except they are more organized and more evil.

23Feb2009 | | Comments Off on Promoting the Liberal Myth | Continued
post thumbnail

Where Have All the Liberals Gone?

So many people are unclear today about what it means to be liberal and conservative, democrat or republican, Methodist or Episcopalian. I think it would be a good idea to examine these things and to make conscious decisions and form intentional and reasonable conclusions about current events, rather than subscribe to an ideology or system of beliefs because our parents did, because the media is in an uproar, or because of the all-to-common cult of personality.

16Feb2009 | | 5 comments | Continued
post thumbnail

Homeless Community

This writer has worked and volunteered at the same social service agencies dedicated to cleaning up the river banks, to rescuing the downtrodden, to saving the helpless, threading the eye of the needle as a gateway to Heaven. We will walk through the Pearly Gates and God will thump us on the forehead with his middle finger, look at us in disgust, and then invite us in to the ultimate shelter from damnation. We will be seated in the middle row, the homeless will have front row seats.

9Feb2009 | | 3 comments | Continued
post thumbnail

Non Combat Troops – An Oxy Moron

We should take all ‘non-combat troops’ out of Iraq. That is one of the compromises proposed as a resolution to the conflict in Iraq. The suggestion is that American troops will not be dying in Iraq. That sounds pretty good to most of us. But is there such a thing as ‘non-combat troops?”

8Feb2009 | | 1 comment | Continued
post thumbnail

Lincoln and Obama, Saving the Union

What is President Obama really saying about the economic stimulus package before Congress.  Here is what I heard, “It is of the right scope, and addresses the right issues.”  What does he mean by that?  Does he agree with all of the details of the package? When Abraham Lincoln faced the Ciivil War, the most […]

6Feb2009 | | 1 comment | Continued
post thumbnail

Republican Peanut Butter

Have you bought any peanut butter lately? If so, perhaps you should check the label for signs of the GOP. The current wide spread salmonella poisoning of peanut butter is a great metaphor for the leadership of the GOP for the past eight years. The Bush administration, supported by the same congressmen who now oppose Obama, had one simple philosophy in domestic affairs: Leave Business Alone!

29Jan2009 | | 1 comment | Continued
post thumbnail

Delusional Politicians, Pelosi, Boehner, Blago

These folks are really off the rail, sidetracked, stumbling over old rhetoric. I am talking about politicians who somehow think that worn out political tactics can continue to fool the public.

The most obvious is the Illinois Governor. The Illinois Senate is holding impeachment hearings for unethical practices by the Governor. The Governor, known now simply as Blago, is tooting his horn in any parade that will have him. Blago made the rounds of the New York based talking head shows – he claims he is a martyr, being nailed to the cross of injustice by local politicians who want to rape the Illinois treasury. It is only Blago who stands between the corruption of the Illinois Congress and the safety of America. Just about everyone is entertained – and not convinced.

28Jan2009 | | 2 comments | Continued
post thumbnail

Political Parlor Games and Obama’s Oracle

The Obama Oracle predicts the need for at least 825 BILLION in additional stimulus to the economy. It seems the parlor games are in full swing. The Democrats put some dubious spending in the proposal. Things like re-sodding the lawn on the Washington Mall. The oinking could be heard across the aisle. Too much pork the Republicans cried. Not enough tax cuts was the simple refrain. Obama was listening to the poetry of the Congress. Obama chose to go to Capital Hill himself to meet with Republican leaders (Republican Leader is an official oxy moron).

28Jan2009 | | 3 comments | Continued
post thumbnail

Economic Illiteracy

Illiteracy. Generally we think of this word in terms of simple reading and writing. Some have changed the phraseology to ‘functional illiteracy.’ I suppose this means that a person knows the alphabet, can discern some words, and can perhaps sign their name. People are ‘functionally illiterate’ when their comprehension of reading impairs their ability to function in a complex society. If we apply this axiom to our economy, we might easily conclude that most of us are economically functionally illiterate.

27Jan2009 | | 1 comment | Continued
post thumbnail

Packed With Pork – Economic Stimulus in Perspective

One might think that the Republicans have been on the ropes for about twenty years – judging merely from the whining coming out of Congress. That Republican Congressman Boehner talks like he and his biddies have been the standard bearers for fiscal moderation for many years. Boehner and his cohorts are claim the economic stimulus package proposed by President Obama is packed with pork.

26Jan2009 | | 3 comments | Continued
post thumbnail

Detainee Hypocrisy of Politicians

Sam Brownback (an appropriate name for this man) is busy covering his tracks. He is a Republican Senator from the great state of Kansas. Senator Brownback ran for President and brought the morque of the Republican candidates down about 20 points. (Morque is the scale of combined morals and IQ). Senator Brownback is in a big toot about potentially having the detainees at GITMO being moved to the Federal Prison at Leavenworth, Kansas.

23Jan2009 | | Comments Off on Detainee Hypocrisy of Politicians | Continued
post thumbnail

Amazing Grace – Dr. Wintley Phipps

Dr. Wintley Phipps can make an atheist believe. There is no way to listen to this man sing without feeling something divine. We are truly living in a blessed time – a time when this talent can be readily shared across the globe.

23Jan2009 | | Comments Off on Amazing Grace – Dr. Wintley Phipps | Continued
post thumbnail

Super Nigger

Richard Pryor broke the rules, and we are grateful. Pryor was most effective in using humor to contrast the insanity of racism and the ultimate humor inherent in absurd words. Oprah will not like this post – but she failed to renew her advertising so we got nothing to lose, bro.

21Jan2009 | | Comments Off on Super Nigger | Continued
post thumbnail

Inauguration 2009: Exploring the Hero Myth

The idea of hero is old, and treasured in mythology. The hero metaphor influences our understanding of the world. This ancient value of hero lends credence to the fierce patriotism of America. No Congressman will vote against our military, our heroes.

20Jan2009 | | 5 comments | Continued
post thumbnail

The Changing Face of Etiquette

As we, our culture, are catered to by technology and the marketing machine, we begin to feel more entitled to the things that we consume and the benefits of our service industry. The idea of serving others is lost on those who become complacent with being served themselves.

20Jan2009 | | Comments Off on The Changing Face of Etiquette | Continued
post thumbnail

Jesus: Radical Rabbi or Practical Mystic?

There is a lot of talk these days about being “spiritual” but not being “religious.” We often hear, “I see myself as a spiritual person, but not as a religious person.” This is the mantra of the children of the counter cultural movement of alternative spirituality. It is so much the mantra of a movement that it is no longer counter cultural, but represents the mainstream American thought process.

19Jan2009 | | 1 comment | Continued
post thumbnail

Politics of Racism, 1903, 1968, 1988, 2009

I collect political memorabilia. As I looked through my junk last night I realized how much we have changed.

I have a George Wallace neck tie from his 1968 run at the Presidency. It is a thin white tie with bold red letters horizontally positioned that reads Wallace ’68. Twenty years ago I attached a campaign button to the Wallace tie – it reads Jesse Jackson ’88.

19Jan2009 | | 2 comments | Continued
post thumbnail

Obama, Cheney, Gitmo, and the Founding Fathers

In the beginning there was a revolution. Talk of revolution whispered through the ranks of community leaders. The whispering was necessary because if King George III heard of the treasonous acts he would have the perpetrators jailed, and the possibly deported to some far off prison colony – all with out the benefit of due process. The leaders finally agreed on revolution, a Declaration of Independence was drafted, and the participants secretly stole into Philadelphia to sign the now historic document.

14Jan2009 | | 2 comments | Continued