Free Republic

We're taking Larry deer hunting this weekend. After 35 years in the woods with Larry, sadly, this will be our last together. After 40 years at the same job, he finally had enough and retired this past spring. He's a mere 62 years old. He left his job on a Friday and started his new job the next Monday. Working at a local golf course. Cutting grass, doing maintenance, free lunch everyday and free golf on Mondays. He was in heaven. About three months ago, his eyesight was suddenly failing him. The eye doctor said that there was something affecting...

Following the Supreme Court’s majority decision in June to legalise same-sex marriage in the United States, New York Times columnist David Brooks appealed to “conservatives” (those who do not accept the possibility of marriage between people of the same sex) to stop fighting a losing battle over sexual morality. Instead, he suggested, they should take their Christian values into underprivileged areas and help people overcome material and spiritual poverty.This struck Dr Thomas Lickona, director of the character education centre at the State University of New York and a fan of Brooks’ writing on character, as a false choice, and he...

Former first lady of Arkansas, former first lady of the United States, former senator from New York, former secretary of state and -- by all appearances -- future candidate for presidency, Hillary Clinton, has been part of public life for more than 30 years, but her appearance this week before reporters revealed much about her that we had never known. Clinton's performance on Tuesday at a news conference at the United Nations came after a week during which she avoided public discussion about why she had used her personal email to carry out public business while serving as secretary of...

I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life. The life of toil and effort, of labor gold strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph. A life of slothful ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as little...

Sir Winston Spencer-Churchill 1874-1965 He was that providential man who, more than any other figure, kept Hitler's Third Reich from an even longer and more murderous run. He also, in a famous speech in Fulton, Missouri, first named the Iron Curtain and the Cold War. We've long lacked leaders of such courage and clarity. But there are deeper reasons for remembering Churchill. Witness this lecture last Thursday by my friend Leon Kass. A physician and ethicist (former head of the President's Commission on Bioethics), as well as a long-time professor at the University of Chicago, Kass gives a fascinating reading...

============================================= . The Accounting of Simon Peter's Six Denials of Christ ============================================= Abstract: Harmonizing the Scripture passages concerning Peter's denial of Jesus at the time of His pre-crucifixion trial shows that Peter denied Christ six times, not three as some insist. These were predicted by Jesus to His disciples the night before He was executed. The denials occurred in groups of three, each group marked by a cockcrow. The denials were Peter's responses, twice to a doorkeeper maidservant, and once each to another maidservant, to a subordinate of the high priest conducting the trial, to a group of other menservants,...

Seeing that the first debates have been scheduled for August of this year, I thought it was not too early to start elaborating the character traits we are looking for in a candidate for president, as well as any other political offices we'll be voting for this cycle. It is just as important to remember that taking more seats in each state's legislature helps conservatism to grow. I will start the list with a few ideals and you can add. Maybe I can rewrite the list in a couple weeks or so and we can examine the comments others have...

It seems that men aren’t very popular these days. There are books o’plenty on the shortcomings and irrelevancy of men. There are songs, and websites, and fabricated stories about bad, bad men. We’re in the midst of a gender war, and men are squarely in the crosshairs of a few tetchy man-scolders. Despite the ruckus, most people seem disinterested in quarreling with the opposite sex. There are very few gender warriors outside academia and a few circles of the media. I think that’s because most people simply want to have fun and enjoy good relationships. If so, that strikes me...

Toward the end of the romantic comedy film The American President, Michael Douglas’s President Shepherd tells the assembled press corps, “Being president of this country is entirely about character.” This 1995 movie was made as a way of rescuing the scurrilous character of Bill Clinton from accusations of womanizing. It’s a pleasant and entertaining film but this line of dialogue, like just about everything else in the picture, is untrue. Being president of this country is somewhat about character — everything in life is — but it is also, very much, about ideas. There have been times over this past...

http://youtu.be/dKsiDV1LuJA (Not allowed to copy text in description)

They were both sergeants. Neither liked war, one being a pacifist. But both served, one in Afghanistan, the other in World War I. Yet Bowe Bergdahl and Alvin York could not possibly be more different. And that difference speaks directly to a difference in character that wound up having a decided effect on each man’s comrades in arms. A difference in character that former Army Lt. Col. Ralph Peters nails exactly in a superb piece in National Review. But first — Sergeant York. Not many people mention Sergeant Alvin York these days. But they should. In fact, as the tenth...

"Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." ––Abraham Lincoln The 149th anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln provides an appropriate opportunity to appreciate the character of the man beyond the customary veneration afforded by his memorials in statuary, currency and the names of thousands of streets and commercial institutions. He was, in his own words, “the real thing.” This was a man of humble origins whose determination and perseverance led him to the highest office in the land. At no point in...

Touching moment that high school wrestler lost state title – and first person he hugged was his opponent’s father who has terminal cancer A high school wrestler who lost the state wrestling championship won over the crowd, when instead of getting upset he hugged his opponent's father, who has terminal cancer. Blaine High School sophomore Malik Stewart from Minnesota lost the 120-pound title match in the Class 3A wrestling tournament to opponent Mitchell McKee, when McKee pinned him in the final face-off match. McKee said: 'It was a big match for him and to be able to hug my dad...

"Character is what you do when no one is watching." It's a bit of a trite saying, attributed to coaches, motivational speakers and fortune cookie writers (by the way, whose idea was it to replace fortune cookie predictions with treacly aphorisms from the "Successories" reject pile?). Still, the expression's popularity illustrates the power of the idea behind it. Character is what you do when the only controlling authority is your conscience. Because young people do not yet have fully formed characters, they often need incentives beyond exhortations to do the right thing. That's one reason most parents reward good behavior...

"............................Broadly speaking, tea-party hysteria seems to be originated and peddled by three factions. The first, and most cynical, is made up of perfidious progressives who, because they oppose the Tea Party’s economic agenda and fear its electoral and political clout, have set out with malice aforethought to destroy the group’s reputation. Into this bloc we can reliably throw almost everybody at MSNBC, the Democratic National Committee, the Obama administration, and the parade of political operatives who work around the clock to make politics intolerable for everyone. Given that these people are more committed than they are creative, you will notice...

The other day, I was thinking about leaders, in everything from the White House to my own house to countries such as Syria to companies such as Apple. I was reflecting upon revolutionaries, from Nelson Mandela to Rosa Parks to the single parent of three who inspires her or his children with hard work and tough love. I was contemplating the power of influence and influencers who make a difference by their command and control to others who demand respect with their silence and servitude. From Jesus to James Dean and prosperity to prowess, leaders and what attracts others to...

The sexting scandal of Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former congressman and current New York mayoral candidate, puts into focus the importance of character to public service. Weiner's texts, tweets and photos show not just a tawdry person but a risk-taking, deceitful individual who continued his serial texting and lied about it even as he prepared to run again for office. His wife, Huma Abedin, is standing by her man and expects the public to defer to her judgment as to his fitness for office. It is Abedin's personal business as to whether she will forgive and support Weiner, but it...

10 Black child geniuses you should know June 28, 2013 by Amir Shaw If you only watched the evening news or depended on pop culture to paint a picture of young Blacks, you would probably think that the majority of Black youngsters were only ambitious about sports and music – or caught up in crime and debauchery. However, the face of Black success isn’t limited to the fields that are occupied by Jay-Z, Beyonce and LeBron James. There are a multitude of young Blacks who are achieving at a high level in science, math, classical music, chess and other knowledge-based...

MEN with strong upper body strength are more likely to vote conservatively while physically weaker males have a greater tendency towards left-leaning views. And stronger men are more likely to protect their resources while weaker males favour more socialist views such as wealth distribution, researchers claim. Psychological scientists Michael Bang Petersen of Denmark’s Aarhus University, and Daniel Sznycer of the University of California, say political motivations may have evolutionary links to physical strength. The scientists say men's upper body strength predicts and influences their political opinions and this link reflects psychological traits that evolved in response to our early ancestral...

Here’s an excerpt from a letter I received the other day from a college professor: “….throughout this election I discussed with students the differences between ideologies. The majority of them are on federal financial aid. They are fine with more taxes as long as they will be taken care of. It is disturbing to hear that they are willing to spend their own money on tattoos and cell phones but cannot buy the book for class until the financial aid comes in.” For those who see social conservatism as an annoyance and argue that Republicans must purge this agenda from...