Free Republic

        COPPERMAN While walking through San Francisco's Union Square recently I ran into COPPERMAN. He is a street entertainer, a young actor in copper paint from head to toe, who sits motionless as people walk by on the busy street. Many stop, awe-struck to see this statue-like man. You cannot even see him breathing. People leave contributions in his copper pot in appreciation for this fine "performance??" COPPERMAN sits for 25 minutes at time and then takes a break. During the break he is quite animated and eagerly shares his story with his audience. He told...

KABUL, Afghanistan (Jan. 19, 2011) — On Jan. 4, after a prayer for protection and safe travel from Chaplain (Capt.) Martha Kester, chaplain, 334th Brigade Support Battalion, soldiers from Company A, 334th Brigade Support Battalion, began a logistical package, known as a LOGPAC from Bagram Airfield to Combat Outpost Pushtayshark. These LOGPACs run every few days, and are an important part of the outpost’s lifeline and a morale booster for the soldiers stationed there. “It’s their sustainment of life,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Mike Helton of Company A. “We bring them their food, fuel and other supplies, like ammo. To...

        CONFLICTING LOYALTIES An interviewer once asked the late Senator Sam Ervin, Jr. how he had developed such insight into human behavior. "I had a good teacher, Henry Horace Williams," replied Ervin. "He said the things that try people's souls do not consist of choosing between good and evil. The thing that tries a person's soul is having to choose between conflicting loyalties." Ervin went on to say that understanding that concept had not only helped him to make better decisions, but to judge other people more fairly as well. Sometimes unwise choices were simply the...

        TEN WAYS TO BE PERFECTLY MISERABLE 1. Think about yourself. 2. Talk about yourself. 3. Use "I" as often as possible. 4. Expect to be appreciated. 5. Be suspicious. 6. Be sensitive to slights. 7. Never forgive. 8. Trust no one but yourself. 9. Do as little as possible for others. 10. Always consider "What is in it for me."    

        CHARACTER A wise person once said, "You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing to him or for him." (author unknown) Columnist Ann Landers put it this way, "The best index of a person’s character is how he treats people who can do him absolutely no good." In the Christian Scriptures, the Apostle Paul talks about entertaining "angels unawares." (Hebrews 13:1) What these writers are talking about here is more than an act. It’s an attitude - about life, about people, and most importantly, about...

        PERSISTENCE -- THE KEY TO SUCCESS? Walter Wintle once wrote: "If you think you are beaten, you are; if you think you dare not, you don't; If you'd like to win, but think that you can't, it's almost a cinch that you won't. If you think you'll lose, you're lost, for out in the world we find Success begins with a fellow's will; it's all in the state of mind. If you think you're outclassed, you are; you've got to think high to rise. You've got to be sure of yourself before you can ever...

          THE REAL MEANING OF PEACE There once was a King who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The King looked at all the pictures, but there were only two he really liked and he had to choose between them. One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for the peaceful towering mountains all around. Overhead was a blue sky fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace. The other...

        A GREAT MARINE Several years ago as the H & S Battalion Chaplain at MCB, Camp Lejeune, I visited the people in the different work spaces, including the rather large main post office. One day a little conversation took place with a young Marine Lance Corporal. This unplanned encounter has remained with me, and it seems worth passing on... The Lance Corporal was standing by a very large sack of mail. His job, every day, six days a week for many hours was to sort the mail from that large sack and place the letters...

A former inspector general for the Defense Department is calling on Congress to investigate and oversee the vetting process for Muslim clerics who are nominated to serve as U.S. military chaplains. In a letter sent earlier this month to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, former Inspector General Joseph Schmitz outlined what he believes is the potential risk to national security posed by the military’s current chaplain vetting system.

        CHANGE FOR BETTER SERVICE Have you ever noticed that the typewriter keyboard places the most frequently used keys far apart from each other? The purpose of this arrangement was to slow down the typing speed. Keys on the machines of the 1800s used to jam if the typist went too fast. About 40 years ago, the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard was developed. On this keyboard, the most frequently used keys were in the home row, and the right hand did 56 percent more work than the left. Typists using this keyboard could increase their speed up...

          YOU’RE THE ONE Lees tells the story proudly now. With an ending is one that few would ever predicted when he was in high school. He remembers the turning point as though it were yesterday. Just a chance encounter and an offhand comment... but it changed his life forever. He had slipped quietly into the back of a classroom to wait for a friend that day. The last thing he wanted was to be noticed. But the teacher asked him to go to the board and work out a problem. Les pointed out that...

Darren Huff, who has been charged with “riot” and “intimidation” by the Monroe County, TN court as well as federal firearms violations. He maintains his innocence and is scheduled to go to trial in Monroe County on December 1 with co-defendant Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III. In Part 1 of Mr. Huff’s interview, he stated that he was arrested on April 30 for something which he states “never happened.”

        DISAPPOINTMENTS Disappointments come to all of us; and the more I see of life, the more convinced I am that one of the most important lessons anyone can learn is how to handle these disappointments. One of the great disappointments in my youth happened during my sophomore year in high school when I was running for class president. The class elected a cute brunette cheerleader. Another popular girl, another of the cheerleaders, came in second. And I trailed the field with only four votes. That was quite a blow to a cocky young boy to...

          CONCRETE LOVE "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:3 The story is told of a child psychologist who spent many hours constructing a new driveway at his home. Just after he smoothed the surface of the freshly poured concrete, his small children chased a ball across the driveway, leaving deep footprints. The man yelled after them with a torrent of angry words. His shocked wife said, "You're a psychologist who's supposed...

LITTLE ROCK — The 19-year-old man charged in the Christmas Eve shooting death of a Salvation Army major pleaded guilty Friday to a murder charge and was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Laquan Fitzpatrick was arrested March 16, nearly three months after the Dec. 24, 2009 killing of Philip Wise outside a Salvation Army community center in North Little Rock. Wise was shot in front of his three young children. Fitzpatrick entered the court shortly after 9:30 a.m. and told Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims he understood his rights and was entering the plea. Sims accepted the agreed...

        CELEBRATING THE SUCCESS OF OTHERS "Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend's success." -Oscar Wilde It is natural and understandable to feel pangs of envy when we see someone else get promoted while we may have not been; or to see someone else get a NAM and we were not recognized for our hard work. It is human. Life is full of many disappointments large and small, and it is tough to accept that others may enjoy greater fortune when we...

Khalid Latif, a chaplain for New York University, here complains that moderate and peaceful understandings of Islam are being unfairly discounted: "As much as Muslims need to acknowledge the existence of a minority voice that is radicalized, so too does a broader society need to acknowledge the existence of a majority voice that is not radicalized and more importantly condemns radical thought." That's just great, and I am happy to accommodate him in this. It is also worth noting, however, that a few years ago, when NYU students planned to display the Danish cartoons of Muhammad at a campus event,...

        IN GENTLENESS THERE IS STRENGTH The parents were devastated. Their young adopted daughter had died in an unusual accident. She suffocated when the drawstring on the hood of her jacket became caught in a playground slide. It was later learned their child was not the first to die this way. Design flaws in both the hood and the slide made this an accident waiting to happen. Some people might have viewed this tragedy as an opportunity to sue the two major corporations for a lucrative settlement. The parents, however, refused. In an interview, the mother...

        THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK Sowing a thought reaps an act. Sowing an act reaps a habit. Sowing a habit reaps a character. Sowing a character reaps a destiny. The battle for the soul and the very essence of life goes on in our thought life. We are what we think (Proverbs 23:7). What we think, therefore, needs protection and can be controlled. II Corinthians 10:5 tells us to bring every thought into captivity. Good thoughts will produce good habits. For believers there are four keys in helping to develop good habits: 1. Follow God's Word...

        CARDINAL JOHN J. O’CONNOR Cardinal John J. O’Connor passed away May 3, 2000 at the age of eighty. Much has been said and written about this remarkable man of faith. Most obituaries mentioned that he served as a Navy Chaplain, but failed to mention that at one time he headed all Chaplains in Vietnam, and then later served as Chief of Chaplains with the rank of Rear Admiral. As Cardinal for New York he reached out to people of all faiths and to people who had no faith. He cared for the homeless, AIDS victims,...