Your His Moment: Ten Things

On the eve of the holiday that Abraham Lincoln established to give thanks to God for all of His many blessings, it seems appropriate to share this reminder to be thankful, as we see in this new trailer for The Ultimate Life movie, a sequel to The Ultimate Gift (here’s the full movie):

Pay special attention around the one minute mark of The Ultimate Life trailer when the train jumper changes the main character’s life with his “10 things.”

So despite a difficult year, or maybe even a difficult five years, we all have at least 10 things to give thanks for tomorrow.

Here’s mine:

1.  My faith in Jesus Christ, who “Psalm 40’ed” me when I didn’t care about Him.

2.  My wife, who is a true gift from Him.

3.  My kids, both wonderful people who I am very proud of every day.

4.  Our health is not an issue.

5.  Other than our home mortgage, we have no real debt.

6.  My writing ability (from Him), and finishing a book and a screenplay.

7.  Getting to see my mom and dad again, as well as some very famous people like Lincoln, the Apostle Paul, Lee, and Stonewall Jackson.

8.  Being able to approach His throne of grace any time I want with any request, and knowing He hears me, and like any good father…longs to give me my desires.

9.  My childhood, and my parents who made it so wonderful, especially my brothers.

10.  Death isn’t scary anymore… just a door to an eternal life of Paradise:

A Door, A Jar

What made hospitals smell so bad?

I stepped off the elevator and turned left.  It wouldn’t be long now.

The doctors thought Monday at the latest.  We hadn’t discussed it much, not at all really.  Perhaps that was my fault.  Maybe it was mutual.  Probably wishful thinking on both our parts; trying to ignore the inevitable, I guess.

But we both knew it now.

You could feel it in the room the last time.  It was almost like “it” was an unseen person.  We couldn’t pretend anymore.  Sort of eerie, like something was slipping away, something that you couldn’t stop.  I was glad that I’d taken the time to write it all down.  With a deep, unconscious breath, I pushed against his heavy door.

“How ya’ feelin’ today?”  I asked with a cautious smile, pulling up a chair.  It felt awkward and stiff.

“Not much different.”  He sighed heavily.  “Physically, anyway.”  He seemed to know how bad he looked.

He was very matter-of-fact.  No real emotion.  Almost as if he’d just resigned a chess match.  I probed a bit more.

“Are you afraid at all?  I mean, have you thought about….”

“Yeah.  I guess.”  He cut me off, thankfully.  “More like curious excitement, mixed up with…fear.”

There was a long, long silence.  And then, just as I opened my mouth, he spoke again.  Slow and deliberate.

“Ya’ know, Phil.”  His voice cracked a little.  “We’ve never really talked about dying, not in a real way.  Whaddya’ think’s gonna’ happen first?  I mean, as a pastor, what do you think goes on?  Will I see Him…right away?”

Our eyes met.  Mine watered.  I think I sniffled a little too.

That’s when I handed it to him, the same paper you’re reading now.  It felt like it weighed fifty pounds, then.

I cleared my throat.  “I thought it might be easier to read about it, instead of trying to talk about it; so I put this together.”  I lifted it up tentatively toward his bed, not sure if he’d want it.  His eyes fell on the first sentence….

In the movie Patton, with George C. Scott, the general is reflecting on the glory of battle and makes a stunning remark to one of his officers.  Amidst the haze of battle smoke, he says, “Did you ever stop to think that death might be more exciting than life?” 

What an amazing statement to make on a battlefield strewn with dead and dying men!  But precisely what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians:  “…to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much the better.”  And in Second Corinthians “…to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”

Is it possible that to be dead is a good thing?  No, a great and wonderful thing?

That’s what Patton wondered.  Is it just a door to a better existence with more wonder than this shadow we call “life?”

So what does happen at the precise moment of death?  In that twinkle of a millisecond when our heart has just beat and pumped it’s last, what actually takes place?

I’ve often wondered about it, passing into the world of spirits and vacating our clay jar.  What actually occurs in that first sliver of true timelessness?  Perhaps it’s something like this….

A searing flash of light so bright that your eyes are useless, but you can see it all!

You can make out what you know to be your close friend and you know beyond a doubt that he’s more than that; he’s your angel.

He is so familiar to you!  He’s enormous, at least three times your size, and with a smile that’s so reassuring that you feel it more than see it.  He’s so real and vibrant, in every detail.  It’s like he’s lightening frozen into form.  No, more like solid flames in a white-hot fire.

There is such a silent excitement around you!  Now a strange sensation of being pulled toward him; but from behind you, a heavy sense, like thick, syrupy water parting from your form.  Something has definitely separated itself from the back.

You feel freed from the heaviness and slide joyously closer to your guardian angel.  There’s an awareness, an overwhelming air of emotion, like tranquility or gentle peace.  But it’s not around you, per se.  You are part of it!  It’s inside of you.

So nice; refreshing, like something you once knew, but somehow forgot.  How?!  How could anyone forget this?  It’s all so recent, so …perfect.  A firm sense of goodness, or is it love?  It’s overpowering, like a fragrance.

An inescapable fog of goodness, kindness, and some other emotion that’s new, rushes through you.  All of it is gushing quietly and calmly through your form, exhilarating every sense you thought you knew.  It feels like you’re grinning uncontrollably.

As you rise toward the angel, an undeniable presence of safety and confidence securely grips you like a vice of velvet.  It has a hold on you somehow, by the middle area, or from within maybe.  Are you floating?  There is definite movement though, of some kind.

There’s a flowing  sensation, but no “wind”.  Thing’s are passing by, and you’re rising higher.  You’re moving together.  Are you talking or listening?  It’s both.

You know his name, but you don’t know how you know.  The stars gleam intensely all around.  And then you’re standing…before a great and massive door!  It’s mammoth!  You’re awed by how tiny and insignificant you are in front of this door.

The whole moment, up to this point, seems like a blink.

It slowly and silently swings inward and there He is!!

At the end of an aisle.  It’s Jesus, seated upon a glowing, thundering rainbow throne!

You sense trembling as your angel releases you.  On either side of a long runway are millions upon millions of cheering saints–you know them all!  You recognize every single face!

But you’re not facing them, yet you see them all.  Your “eyes” are riveted upon the most absolutely divine face.  It’s Him—-Jesus—sweet, wonderful King!  He’s magnificent!

As you near the throne, you’re aware of the cheers from your friends.  He rises to His feet and extends a hand…right to you!

There’s brassy music, soothing and silvery notes you’ve never even thought of that are like a memory, from childhood?  No, before that.  As a baby?  Or maybe even before that, if that’s possible.

There’s the scar on his wrist.  The music, seemingly alive, pierces like a sword of brass and strings.  You can’t stand any longer, but you can’t seem to fall either.

And then He speaks, audible words, like golden crashes of a thousand waterfalls, “WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT.  ENTER IN TO THE JOY OF YOUR FATHER.”

What a voice, like your dear mother, tender and firm.

It radiates throughout the hall.  A hush falls over everyone, hanging on the melody of God’s pure voice.  It seems to echo in your soul.

Everything is right, so very right.  It’s as if you’d never been anywhere else.  And so, we shall ever be…with the Lord of all, forever and ever.

His eyes, now glistening, look up from the trembling paper.  The first real smile in weeks told me I’d jarred him back to the reality of what it means to be a true believer.

Death can be more exciting.

His door, on the way out, never swung so easy.  And the busy hallways didn’t really seem to smell that bad anymore.  “Oh, death, where is Thy sting?”

I thought,  “Yeah…where is Thy sting?”

So, what are your 10 Things?

Your Hopersberger Moment: 7 Things

Hmmm…let me think now.

Recently a friend on Facebook assigned me the number 7, to talk about 7 Things most folks don’t know about me.  I don’t normally engage in any of the FB “games,” but this might be interesting.

1.  I was hung once as a child.

We were playing cops and robbers, I got caught, and sentenced to hang.  Up on a milk crate, hands tied behind my back, he tossed the rope over a big pear tree branch, and…kicked the crate out from under me!  As a six-year old, I thought it was all just pretend until I was strangling!

I twisted in the wind for some time, before his mom and aunt happened to see me and cut me down.  I had a rope burn on my neck for several months.  Years later, when I was 12 or 13, I beat the crap out of that kid.

2.  I got in a big fight in a Howard Johnson restaurant in Los Angeles when two guys came after me, thinking I was my older brother, Biker Jack (as they knew him…I was only 16).

The one guy was huge and came after me with a crowbar in the parking lot, tapping it against the palm of his hand as I backed up…until I bumped into a half wall.  I was trapped.

As he got close enough to swing, I leaned back on the wall, and as quick as I could, and with all of my might, I kicked him right in the face (I was wearing boots and put the heel right on his chin!).  He went flying and I hopped over the wall, raced around to the front door, and ran inside to warn my brother (who was in the bathroom).

When we came out, Jack’s girlfriend (who I had been walking out with after our dinner and got separated when the two guys came after me) pulled a pistol out of her car that made the two guys fly out of there in their El Camino, the big bloody mouthed guy diving into the back as it peeled out!  I remember he said to her, “Don’t you shoot me!”

We left and filled Jack in on everything that had happened while he was in the bathroom (he admitted he’d heard there was a “contract” out for him and they thought I was him…long hair, leather jacket…an easy mistake), but when we got back to his apartment we realized he had left his keys in the booth at Howard Johnson’s.

So back we went.  This time I stopped into the bathroom, while Jack and Shelli went to our booth to find his keys.

Now the scene reversed, as Shelli came flying into the bathroom to tell me Jack was fighting the two guys and to come quick (they had returned and were sitting in our booth!)!

Crazy!

I came flying out just as Jack threw the smaller guy to me, who I grabbed in a choke hold, while Jack beat the daylights out of my boot-lipped friend, and kicked him out the door.

All the while I’m screaming for Shelli to give me a ketchup bottle to bust over the guy’s head I’m holding (and everyone having dinner is scrambling to the other side of the room, grabbing their kids, managers on the phone calling the cops…PANDEMONIUM!).

Long story, but suffice it to say we got the keys, they got a serious whoopin’, and we bailed out of there as the sirens approached.

3.  My mom saw a vision of a ram on his haunches in a sunset as a teenager (she called her aunt over to see it at the same time to make sure she wasn’t crazy and she saw it too!).

Forty years later, when I arrived at MSU each of the six dorms in my complex had a Zodiac sign on the outside…my dorm had Aries…a massive ram on his haunches, which is the same building where I gave my heart to Jesus in 1980.

4.  I’ve written a novel and a screenplay.  Here’s the trailers for both:

5.  As a teenager, I was at a Rainbow concert where Ritchie Blackmore (formerly of Deep Purple) broke his guitar and threw it into the audience.  I caught one of the two pieces, along with another guy.  He had a better grip, so after a brief struggle I let go.

Several years later, while in college in that same dorm, I was comparing past concert experiences with my roommate…who turned out to be that very same guy!

I also got to go backstage afterwards to meet Ritchie and the band.  We partied and sang old Beatle tunes around a baby grand piano.

6.  I went to every home game for the Detroit Tigers’ World Series in 1984.  Each ticket was under $15.00!  Here’s one of them:

7.  I hoisted the Stanley Cup over my head, when my good friend, Dan Bylsma, beat my Red Wings as the Penguins head coach (I doubt Mike Babcock would have let me do that at his Cup Party, let alone invite me!).

Here’s a story I wrote about that:  http://bleacherreport.com/articles/185865-this-red-wings-fan-is-okay-if-bylsmas-penguins-win-the-cup

Yer Hawkey Moment: Who Was The Best?

WAYNE GRETZKY

Years ago, during my son’s hockey tournament in Toronto, our family went to his restaurant and it was fabulous.  Great service, wonderful food (my son’s hamburger had 99 burned into it), and it felt just like a hockey museum.

A few interesting tidbits from all the memorabilia inside.

He had a Honus Wagner baseball card on display valued at $500,000, but with Wayne’s signature on it the value doubled!  Imagine anyone else defacing a trophy card like that, but The Great One’s scrawl actually increased the value.

He also has his rookie sweater hanging next to his hawkey idol’s rookie sweater, Gordie Howe. Quite a treat for fans of the game.

There’s also a plexiglass case with about 40 of his game used sticks.  My son noticed that they were really short, about the same length of his stick as an eight year old (then).  I asked the waiter why they were so short and he explained that Wayne’s hunched over skating style was the result of cutting off an inch after each period (to keep him leaning over, the proper form for skating).

Later we went to the Hall of Fame and Wayne practically had his very own wing. Quite impressive and appropriate for all his records–he holds or shares 61 NHL records!

He’s also a big fan of his fans.

When I was playing hawkey at Penn State, one of my teammates said his high school coach was Wayne’s best friend and if I wanted he’d ask Wayne to sign my Gretzky book by Rick Reilly, which had just come out.  I didn’t really believe Brett, but gave him my copy to take home for Christmas break.

So what’s he been up to since leaving the limelight of the NHL?

http://www.nj.com/devils/index.ssf/2013/11/wayne_gretzky_at_hockey_hall_of_fame_i_just_want_to_be_a_fan.html

If you want to visit his restaurant or attend his fantasy camp (on my Bucket List), here’s the link:

http://www.gretzky.com/

Oh yeah, Brett brought back my book with Wayne’s signature and a note on the inside…and Brett lived in Ohio.  Amazing!  How does Gretzky have time to do that?

One more Great to add to his Greatness!

Your History Moment: Was Lee A Traitor?

This article got me thinking about Marse Robert…again.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/what-an-oath-means

There has been a lot written about this man, and I was fortunate to meet him at the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg…twice actually.

And although a paragon in many ways, I struggle with his decision to fight against his own country, one he had taken a solemn oath to defend.  Here’s Ron Maxwell’s portrayal of that moment in Gods & Generals:

I know we have to consider the time, that he considered Virginia his country too, but that’s hard to swallow…now.  Can a man really have two countries?  There were many generals of Southern birth who kept their oath, over 30 if memory serves, so his decision was not a given.

I go back and forth on my opinion of Lee.  He was a Christian, a tremendous officer at West Point, and an amazing general during the war.  And if possible to improve upon his legacy, he was even more remarkable after the war when he led Washington College as president.

He said to a member of the faculty during that time, “The greatest mistake of my life was taking a military education.”

If you’d like to read what sort of man he was, Freeman does a nice job:

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Robert_E_Lee/FREREL/4/16*.html

I remain torn on how to view him, withholding final judgment, without talking to him myself.  I look forward to that day, speaking with him in person about his choice in depth, along with Lincoln.

Hopefully they’ve gotten past this little disagreement by the time I arrive.

Your Hemingway Moment: WIRNing

What I’m Reading Now

http://www.amazon.com/Victory-at-Yorktown-A-Novel/dp/0312607075/ref=pd_sim_b_2

Victory at Yorktown is the third book in the series by Gingrich and Forstchen.

Initially, I read their series on The Civil War, which was fascinating because they had the Union lose at Gettysburg and re-wrote a “What if” history (it is a novel, after all).

Here’s the first novel in this American Revolution trilogy and an interview with Newt:

http://www.amazon.com/To-Try-Mens-Souls-Washington/dp/0312591063/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1

Can’t read enough about these men who sacrificed so much for us, but it’s bittersweet, heartbreaking really, to read about their incredible trials to give us our country’s freedom when we look at the selfish mess in Washington, D.C. today.

But if you love historical fiction, imagining what it may have been like to hear Washington, Lafayette, and Nathanael Greene speak, then by all means be sure to check out their novels.  They’re pretty entertaining.

Oh, and don’t be alarmed by that collective thump you may hear as you read about these heroic patriots…it’s just them rolling over in their graves as their souls are “tried’ once more.

Your History Moment: Dale Myers Interview, JFK Assassination Expert

On the 50th anniversary of JFK’s murder, and the premiere of Bill O’Reilly’s  Killing Kennedy tonight on The National Geographic Channel, questions still remain about what happened in Dallas, Texas on November 22nd.

Was it a conspiracy to cover up a Mob hit for Bobby Kennedy’s attack on organized crime…a payback from Castro for The Bay of Pigs…LBJ’s power grab…the Secret Service’s accidental misfire…a Russian Cold War assassination for The Cuban Missile Crisis…or one lone madman?

Most Americans do not think Oswald acted alone.  It seems too easy, but could that be the best answer?

To help answer some of those questions, the author of With Malice: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Murder of Officer J.D. Tippit, Dale Myers, has agreed to an exclusive interview for YHM.

1.  Who do you think killed JFK, and what convinces you?

Lee Harvey Oswald, alone.

The evidence is overwhelming. The rifle used in the murder was purchased and owned by Oswald. Oswald fled the building immediately after the shooting. He returned to his room, re-armed himself with a revolver he owned, and returned to the street where ninth-tenths of a mile away he murdered Dallas police Officer J.D.

Tippit who had stopped to question him. Oswald fled to the Texas Theater. When arresting officers ordered him to get on his feet, he stood up, said, “It’s all over now,” and pulled the revolver again. He was subdued before he could fire it again. In custody, Oswald repeatedly lied about his ownership of the murder weapon, the false identification cards in his wallet, and that he brought a long package to work that morning.

All of the ballistic and medical evidence proves that all of the shots were fired from behind and originated from Oswald’s rifle to the exclusion of all other weapons. The fact that Oswald left $170 on Marina’s bedroom dresser the morning of the assassination (along with his wedding ring) and had only $13.87 on him when he was arrested shows that Oswald didn’t plan an escape and was probably surprised when he managed to get out of the Depository without being arrested.

All of his actions after leaving the Depository are those of a person who is desperate but who also has done little planning. Finally, Oswald was a sociopath. I doubt seriously that he would have (a) allowed himself to get close enough to anyone to be used unwittingly as a patsy as some have suggested, or (b) allowed anyone to get close enough to him to develop a relationship that would lead to a conspiracy. The closest person in Oswald’s life was his wife Marina, and he was separated from her at the time of the assassination.

2.  There’s so much information out there, various theories that all sound so plausible, until you hear the next one.  Can you debunk the top 3 conspiracy theories?

Anyone who believes in a vast conspiracy is unlikely to be swayed by anything I could say here.

It has been my experience that conspiracy thinkers embrace a conspiracy in this case for reasons that have nothing to do with the case itself. Most conspiracy thinkers begin with motive – who had the motive to kill Kennedy?

Well, that will simply produce a large list of possibilities that can all sound plausible. But real homicide investigations don’t begin with motive (in fact criminal cases rarely even consider motive when looking for a conviction), they begin with facts. In this case, the facts are overwhelming and conclusive – not just beyond a reasonable doubt, but beyond any and all doubt – that Oswald was the lone gunman.

And so, the question becomes in any conspiracy theory – no matter who you think was behind it (CIA, FBI, KGB, Cubans, LBJ, big oil, the Trilateral Commission, etc.) – what is the connection of XYZ Group to Oswald?

That is where every single conspiracy theory fails. Oswald was a loner – a lone wolf – who wasn’t connected directly to any of the groups who conspiracy theorists claim were behind the assassination. And it was precisely Oswald’s “lone wolf” status that made it impossible to stop him. What are the top three conspiracy theories? Let’s stick with the shooting itself:

(a) Oswald could not have gotten off three shots in the allotted time.

Obviously he could have, and did. First, the shooting occurred over a span of 8.5 seconds. Most people divide that number by three and claim that Oswald could not fire a bolt-action rifle every 2.8 seconds. But, the timing begins with the first shot which means you only divide the 8.5 seconds by the two remaining shots. That means Oswald had 4.25 seconds for each shot.

Second, everyone who travels to Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas (site of the assassination), makes an amazing discovery. Everything – the Depository, Elm Street, the grassy knoll fence – are bunched close together. Wide angle photographs of the plaza tend to make everything look far away. In fact the road is so close to the Depository, Oswald could have tossed a box of books out the window and hit Kennedy. Almost everyone I’ve met that has been to the plaza realizes that it would not have been a very hard shot to make.

And third, there are many conspiracy theorists who claim that Oswald was using an inferior weapon and therefore couldn’t possibly have accomplished the task with his Italian Carcano. The reality, of course, is that even if you gave Oswald’s rifle to a monkey and perched him in the sixth floor window with enough ammunition, he’s going to kill someone.

In fact, I’ve got an identical rifle and have challenged conspiracy theorists to test their theory. I propose to give them a running start and when they get out in front of the rifle at the same distance Oswald was shooting from, I’ll fire a few shots in their direction and see if I can hit them with the so-called “humanitarian rifle.” Not so surprisingly, I’ve had no takers.

(b) The magic bullet was a plant designed to frame Oswald.

The so-called pristine bullet is not “pristine” at all. It is squished as if in a vice, it is bowed slightly – like a banana, and the lead core is protruding from the base like toothpaste. The so-called “zig-zag” path claimed by conspiracy theorists is also a lie foisted on the American public.

The alignment is straight and true from the sixth floor window through both Kennedy and Connally. This has been proven in spades. The single bullet theory is the only reasonable theory that explains what happened to the bullet that entered Kennedy’s back and exited his throat. It must have hit the car or someone in it. Because the car showed no damage like the kind that would be caused by a bullet moving at 1,800 feet/sec after exiting Kennedy’s throat, there is only one possibility left – someone in the car must have been hit. In fact, someone was! And it turns out that person – Governor Connally – was seated directly in front of the President.

Conspiracy theorists crank up the rhetoric about a so-called magic pristine bullet that zig-zags through the air in order to sell the idea that the bullet recovered from Connally’s stretcher could only have been planted by some co-conspirator. Doesn’t it make far more sense that the bullet recovered was in fact the one that penetrated Kennedy’s neck and struck Connally? Ballistic experts agree that the recovered bullet is in the exact condition that they would expect it to be given its path through the two men. Only those ignorant of reality continue to believe in “magic” in the Kennedy shooting.

(c) Kennedy’s head snapped backward due to a bullet fired from the grassy knoll.

Any ballistic expert will tell you that (unlike Hollywood movies) an ounce of lead cannot move a human head weighing fifteen pounds and attached to the torso with bone and muscles more than an inch or two.

So going in we already know that the snap to Kennedy’s head cannot be the result of a bullet strike. But more importantly, there is no medical evidence to support a shot from anywhere but behind the President. A shot from the right-front of the limousine (i.e., the grassy knoll) necessitates a bullet track that penetrates the left side of Kennedy’s brain and likely leaves an exit hole on the left side of the skull. Yet, the authenticated X-rays of Kennedy’s head taken at the autopsy prove beyond any and all doubt that there are no bullet fragments located to the left of the mid-line of Kennedy’s skull.

There is no medical evidence of a bullet strike from the grassy knoll, period. The only entry wound in Kennedy’s skull was found in the cowlick area of the rear of the head. That wound had a beveled crater on the inside table of the skull – proof positive that it was an entry wound and not an exit wound.

Finally, my own 3D computer reconstruction shows that Kennedy’s position in the car and the orientation of his head at the moment of the head shot precludes the grassy knoll as the source of a shot? Why? Kennedy was leaning to his left with his head bobbed forward at the time of the fatal shot. That means that Kennedy’s right-front was in reality the left front of the car. Again, all of the evidence shows the fatal shot did not originate from the grassy knoll.

3.  What is the deal clincher for you personally, the smoking gun, on what we should believe?

My computer work convinced me that all of the shots were fired from the sixth floor sniper’s nest in the Texas School Book Depository. The ballistic and medical evidence is in complete agreement with those results. Oswald’s murder of Dallas patrolman J.D. Tippit – a second murder within 45 minutes of the first – is equally conclusive. So, when Oswald told reporters, “I didn’t shoot anybody,” he was clearly and blatantly lying, just one of the many things he lied about while in custody.

4.  What is the one piece of evidence that gives you some pause…that might make you question your own conclusions?

I can’t think of anything. After 38 years of investigation, I’m convinced beyond any and all doubt of Oswald’s guilt, which is not to say that there were not others who may have encouraged Oswald. Oswald certainly acted on his own and without help in the shootings of Kennedy and Tippit.

However, there is a remote possibility – and there is some scant evidence – that Oswald may have been encouraged by Cuban agents in Mexico City to commit the act. I’m not saying Castro ordered Kennedy’s assassination, rather there is evidence to suggestion that Oswald might have been encouraged by pro-Castro supporters to kill Kennedy in order to prove his worthiness and gain a visa to Cuba. Even if the suggestion is true, I think they would have been surprised that he actually did it.

5.  When there are so many books out there about JFK, why did you write your book?

I wrote With Malice: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Murder of Officer J.D. Tippit in order to document a pivotal yet little known aspect of the Kennedy assassination. Tippit is the Dallas cop who stopped Oswald on a Oak Cliff side street for questioning only to be shot and killed.

The Tippit murder, considered the “Rosetta Stone” of the case against Oswald, proves Oswald had a capacity for violence less than an hour after the Kennedy shooting. For nearly fifty years, conspiracy theorists have attempted to exonerate Oswald of Tippit’s death.

My work shows his guilt beyond any doubt. The new, updated edition – the definitive work on the Tippit slaying – documents Tippit’s life and death through exclusive family interviews and photographs.

6. How can we get a copy of your book?

With Malice can be ordered at: http://www.oakcliffpress.com. For an in depth look at the life of J.D. Tippit, visit the official home page: http://www.jdtippit.com

Many thanks to Mr. Myers for taking the time out of his busy schedule to answers some of America’s questions.

Here’s a brief interview on 48 Hours:  http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50159161n

Here are some of his upcoming appearances:

Monday, Nov.11    8:15 am    WHMI 93.5 FM Howell, MI    15 min radio interview via telephone.

Saturday, Nov. 16    9:00 pm    CBS-TV    “As It Happened: John F. Kennedy, 50 Years”     A look at the assassination produced by the “48 Hours” team and hosted by Bob Schieffer.

Thursday, Nov. 21    8:16 am    The Bill Martinez Show 15-30 min interview via telephone. With JD Tippit’s nieces, Linda Chaney and Carol Christopher. Coast to coast radio show available in 235 markets across the U.S.; or stream it live via the Internet at http://billmartinezlive.com/.

Thursday, Nov. 21    11:00 pm    WJRT-TV Flint, MI    ABC affiliate.

Friday, Nov. 22    10:45 am    WJR 760 AM    Detroit, MI    Frank Beckmann Show – 15 min radio interview via telephone.

Friday, Nov. 22    10:00 pm    History Channel    “Oswald: 48 Hours To Live”    Two-hour special.

Your Hopersberger Moment: Who Was Our Greatest Veteran?

Happy Veteran’s Day!

Established to commemorate the end of World War I, we now recognize it as a day to honor our living vets.

In our long and storied military history, there have been countless heroes in our battle for freedom, but who is the greatest American veteran ever?

Some would instantly say George Washington!

But when you start to think about the last 237 years, there are thousands who made a difference:

Andrew Jackson

Robert E. Lee

U.S. Grant

Alvin York

Audie Murphy

Patton

Nimitz

Chesty Puller

It is nearly an impossible task, but for me, there can be only one choice.

You may not have heard of him, but I owe my very life and freedom to him:

Joseph William Hopersberger (at 21, 1942)

Who would you pick?

Your History Moment: A Mere 272 Words

Later this month, the greatest speech ever given by an American President will be celebrated in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania…150 years ago to the day that Abraham Lincoln delivered “a few appropriate remarks.”

Word for word, it may be the greatest speech ever given under 300 words.

Recently new identifications of Lincoln at the event have made some news.  This is a fascinating interactive link to verify this new discovery.  Be sure to view and click all three pages.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Interactive_Seeking_Abraham_Lincoln_at_the_Gettysburg_Address.html

Here’s the text of those 272 words, and a glimpse of what will happen again this year at The National Cemetery in Gettysburg:

http://www.gettysburgcivilwar150.com/pages/lincoln__the_gettysburg_address.aspx

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.  It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

http://gettysburgaddress.civilwar.org/

Your Hollywood Moment: Top Ten Films

This is a LOT harder than it sounds.

If you could only pick 10 films, and not necessarily the best movies ever made, but the ones YOU would watch over and over and over…you know one of those all-time favorites that when it comes on the TV you change plans to watch it…what would your top 10 films be for your personal collection?

Here’s my desert island choices:

1.  Casablanca

2.  It Happened One Night

3.  Arsenic and Old Lace

4.  The Great Escape

5.  The Dirty Dozen

6.  Stalag 17

7.  The Undefeated

8.  The Magnificent Seven

9.  Gettysburg

10.  Lawrence of Arabia

If you need a little nudge, here’s some reminders:

Top 100 Films

Your Hemingway Moment: Worth A Thousand Words

Writers love to write, but sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.  

Here are 30 pictures that need to be seen.  

Some are hard to look at, but nevertheless….

30 Of The Most Powerful Images Ever