A Life Athwart History

By George Will
Real Clear Politics

WASHINGTON - Those who think Jack Nicholson's neon smile is the last word in smiles never saw William F. Buckley's. It could light up an auditorium; it did light up half a century of elegant advocacy that made him an engaging public intellectual and the 20th century's most consequential journalist.

Before there could be Ronald Reagan's presidency, there had to be Barry Goldwater's candidacy. It made conservatism confident and placed the Republican Party in the hands of its adherents.

Before there could be Goldwater's insurgency, there had to be National Review magazine. From the creative clutter of its Manhattan offices flowed the ideological electricity that powered the transformation of American conservatism from a mere sensibility into a fighting faith and a blueprint for governance.

Before there was National Review, there was Buckley, spoiling for a philosophic fight, to be followed, of course, by a flute of champagne with his adversaries. He was 29 when, in 1955, he launched National Review with the vow that it "stands athwart history, yelling Stop." Actually, it helped Bill take history by the lapels, shake it to get its attention, and then propel it in a new direction. Bill died Wednesday in his home, in his study, at his desk, diligent at his life-long task of putting words together well and to good use.

Woman Gives Birth To Child Nearly Her Own Size

CINCINNATI (WLWT.com) - A northern Kentucky woman believes she is the smallest woman who ever gave birth to such a large baby.

Stacey Herald, 33, gave birth five weeks ago to an 18-inch daughter who is not much smaller than her mother.

“I'm 28 1/2 inches, head to heel,” said Herald, who was born with osteogenesis imperfecta.

State Democrats say Clinton camp may sue

Legal action could disrupt or delay caucuses, party says

AUSTIN (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) — The Texas Democratic Party warned Thursday that election night caucuses scheduled for Tuesday could be delayed or disrupted after aides to Hillary Rodham Clinton threatened to sue over the party's complicated delegate selection process.

In a letter sent out late Thursday to both the Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns, Texas Democratic Party lawyer Chad Dunn warned a lawsuit could ruin the Democrats' effort to re-energize voters just as they are turning out in record numbers.

Spokesmen for both campaigns said there were no plans to sue ahead of the March 4 election.

Obama aide: Clinton will ‘fail' Tuesday

(The Politico) - Obama campaign manager David Plouffe predicted flatly Friday that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) will “fail” to make meaningful progress toward the presidential nomination in the big Ohio and Texas primaries on Tuesday.

“They have a huge task in front of them, which is to try to erase this pledged delegate lead,” Plouffe said on a conference call with reporters. “They are going to fail by that measure. … This isn’t whether they can skate by and win the popular vote narrowly.”

Plouffe’s tough talk also showed the Obama campaign is going to hit back hard at Clinton for her new ad designed to tap into voters’ fears about national security.

Driver Shot By Deputy During Traffic Stop

CLEMMONS, N.C. (WGHP) - A Forsyth County sheriff's deputy was involved in a shooting around 10 a.m. Friday morning near West Forsyth High School, according to officials. No students were injured in the shooting.

According to Sheriff Bill Schatzman, a deputy pulled a vehicle over in the parking lot of the Champ Mart and Smoke Shop on Holder Rd. As the deputy approached the car, the driver raced the car and appeared ready to try to run over the deputy.

When other deputies arrived on the scene, they began shooting at the car. The driver, who hasn't yet been identified, eventually stopped the car a couple of blocks away. He was taken to the hospital.

Oops! McCain Makes the Slip Conservatives Feared All Along

"I'm a proud conservative liberal republic -- conservative Republican. Hello, easy there. Let me say this. I am a proud conservative Republican and both of my possible or likely opponents are liberal Democrats."

John McCain

Michelle Obama: "Don't Go Into Corporate America"

(National Review Online) - I have a new story today about Michelle Obama's visit to Zanesville, Ohio, where she met with a group of women at a local day care center. According to the U.S. Census, Muskingum County, where Zanesville is located, had a median household income of $37,192 in 2004, below both the Ohio and national averages. Just 12.2 percent of adults in the county have a bachelor's degree or higher, also well below the state and national averages. About 20 percent don't have a high school degree. Nevertheless, Mrs. Obama urged them to foreswear lucrative professions like corporate law or hedge fund management and go into the helping industry, even if the sacrifice is great...

Family Feud

(Fox News) - Two sons of the late Texas Governor Ann Richards are upset with the Hillary Clinton campaign over an Internet video commercial suggesting Richards would have supported Clinton. The campaign says it has permission from Richards' youngest daughter — who says that her mother would be working for Clinton if she were alive.

But sons Dan and Clark Richards say no one can know whom their mother would have supported. They twice denied their permission but the campaign released the ad anyway. A former aide to Governor Richards who is working with the Clinton campaign says after the sons objected — a family photo was removed from the video. She says — "we're not saying we speak for the family."

Unconventional Wisdom

(Fox News) - A prominent meteorologist and former NASA scientist has gone public with her questions about the global warming movement. Joanne Simpson was chief scientist for meteorology at the Earth Sciences Directorate at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Institute. She has authored more than 190 studies. She contends the conventional wisdom that man-made greenhouse gasses are fueling climate change is based almost entirely upon computer models she describes as "frail."

She adds — "One distinguished scientist has shown that many aspects of climate change are regional, some of the most harmful caused by changes in human land use. No one seems to have properly factored in population growth and land use, particularly in tropical and coastal areas."

Simpson says both sides in the global warming debate have resorted to hurling personal insults at each other — which she says is a bad development for science.

We're Number One

(Fox News) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran is the world's number one power — and is also striking back at one domestic critic he accuses of siding with the enemy.

Ahmadinejad said in a televised address — "Today the name of Iran means a firm punch in the teeth of the powerful and it puts them in their place."

Iran's former top nuclear negotiator has accused Ahmadinejad of undermining Iranian national interest with what was called "coarse slogans and grandstanding."

Ahmadinejad said the comments were an attempt to materialize the plans of the enemy, and show that Iran is small and the enemy is big.

Jimmy Carter - Peacemaker (1980 Political Commercial)

Civil rights leader John Lewis switches to Obama

The Georgia congressman, who had previously endorsed Clinton, says he wants 'to be on the side of the people.'

Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — Civil rights leader John Lewis dropped his support for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid Wednesday in favor of Barack Obama.

Lewis, a Democratic congressman from Atlanta, is the most prominent black leader to defect from Clinton's campaign in the face of near-unanimous black support for Obama in recent voting. He also is a superdelegate who gets a vote at this summer's national convention in Denver.

In a written statement, Lewis said the Illinois senator's campaign "represents the beginning of a new movement in American political history" and that he wants "to be on the side of the people."

Rush Limbaugh's Morning Update: Saint Hillary!

In a desperate effort to shore up her vanishing female base, Hillary Clinton has come up with yet another nanny-government entitlement package. This one promises more nutrition for children, nurses' visits for pregnant women, and a "universal nursery school program" for kids lucky enough to survive the sickness of pregnancy, in Hillary's world.

For a paltry $5 or $6 billion, Mrs. Clinton will give children "greater access to healthy, fresh food." A "universal school breakfast program" will be targeted to low-income neighborhoods; junk food will be banned from the skrools. Pregnant women -- for the first time in American history -- will see a nurse. Teen pregnancies will be abolished. And as an added bonus, irresponsible men who father children will also get nailed with tougher child-support enforcement. (Damn predators!)

Now, this is what we've been waiting for, folks: real solutions, not based in hope -- real change! American children will finally have access to healthy food. Poor fat slob kids will no longer suffer the stigma of being obese. There'll be a chicken in every pot, and a private nurse for every prego! (Except for teenage girls, who will be mandated not to get pregnant.) Brutish ex-husbands and boyfriends will finally pay their fare share for children they sire and then abandon.

My friends, the skies will open, light will come down, and celestial choirs will be singing the praises of Mother Hillary the Compassionate, the Patron Saint of Presidential Experience! And America will be screwed once again.

Read the Background Material on the Morning Update...
• AP: Clinton Offers Child Poverty Plan

McCain in A Glass House

By George Will
Real Clear Politics

WASHINGTON - Certain kinds of conservatives, distrusting Richard Nixon's ideological elasticity, rejected him -- until 1973. Although it had become clear his administration was a crime wave, they embraced him because the media were his tormentors. Today such conservatives, whose political compasses are controlled, albeit negatively, by The New York Times, have embraced John McCain. He, although no stickler about social niceties (see below), should thank the Times, for two reasons.

First, the Times muddied, with unsubstantiated sexual innuendo about a female lobbyist, a story about McCain's flights on jets owned by corporations with business before the Senate Commerce Committee, and his meeting with a broadcaster (McCain at first denied it happened; the broadcaster insists it did, and McCain now agrees) who sought and received McCain's help in pressuring the Federal Communications Commission. Perhaps McCain did nothing corrupt, but he promiscuously accuses others of corruption, or the "appearance" thereof. And he insists that the appearance of corruption justifies laws criminalizing political behavior -- e.g., broadcasting an electioneering communication that "refers to" a federal candidate during the McCain-Feingold blackout period close to an election.

McCain should thank the Times also because its semi-steamy story distracted attention from an unsavory story about McCain's dexterity in gaming the system for taxpayer financing of campaigns. Last summer, when his mismanagement of his campaign left it destitute, he applied for public funding, which entails spending limits. He seemed to promise to use taxpayer dollars as partial collateral for a bank loan.

William F. Buckley: R.I.P., Enfant Terrible

By Ann Coulter
Human Events

William F. Buckley was the original enfant terrible.

As with Ronald Reagan, everyone prefers to remember great men when they weren't being great, but later, when they were being admired. Having changed the world, there came a point when Buckley no longer needed to shock it.

But to call Buckley an "enfant terrible" and then to recall only his days as a grandee is like calling a liberal actress "courageous." Back in the day, Buckley truly was courageous. I prefer to remember the Buckley who scandalized to the bien-pensant.

Men Not Allowed

(Fox News) - Harvard University has instituted women-only access times to its school gymnasium in order to accommodate female Muslim students. A Boston University student newspaper reports six hours per week have been set aside in which men are prohibited from working out — after requests from the Harvard Islamic Society and its women's center.

One male student says the women-only hours are inconvenient — discriminate against men — and are impractical and purely symbolic measures to further a useless policy.

But an officer with the Islamic Society says the new policy does not discriminate against men — and is not a case of minority rights trumping majority preference.

Burning Issue

(Fox News) - Recent reports have said that the use of ethanol may cause more harm than good to the environment — and now there is word that the transportation of ethanol also poses a real danger.

It turns out that ethanol fires are harder to put out than gasoline fires. Water cannot be used — and the foam that is sprayed on gasoline fires does not work on ethanol. Many fire departments do not have the ethanol foam — or have not been trained how to use the foam or approach the fires. The foam is 30-percent more expensive than the foam used on gasoline fires. Experts say wrecks involving cars and trucks are not the major concerns. But fires involving tankers transporting large amounts of ethanol can pose significant dangers.

Playing Defense

(Fox News) - Three taxpayer advocacy groups plan to protest outside Congressman John Murtha's annual fundraising event tonight for defense industry lobbyists who have benefited — or hope to benefit — from millions of dollars worth of earmarks. Robert Novak calls the event Murtha's "annual payback dinner by defense contractors." Tickets for the Pennsylvania Democrat's dinner go for $1,500 for individuals and 5,000 for political action committees.

Murtha has $115 million worth of earmarks in the 2008 Defense Appropriations bill. He was recently voted the 2007 "Porker of the Year" by Citizens Against Government Waste — for his total of $150 million in earmarks in the 2008 budget.

Evidence of Global Cooling

Cold Reception

(Fox News) - Tuesday we told you about several areas around the planet experiencing record cold and snowpack — in the face of all the predictions of global warming.

Now there is word that all four major global temperature tracking outlets have released data showing that temperatures have dropped significantly over the last year. California meteorologist Anthony Watts says the amount of cooling ranges from 65-hundredths of a degree Centigrade to 75-hundreds of a degree.

That is said to be a value large enough to erase nearly all the global warming recorded over the past 100 years. It is reportedly the single fastest temperature change ever recorded — up or down.

Some scientists contend the cooling is the result of reduced solar activity — which they say is a larger driver of climate change than man-made greenhouse gases.

Incumbents file for commissioner positions

(The Stokes News) - Two incumbents for county commissioner filed their intents to run for re-election last Wednesday.

Republican candidates Leon Inman and Jimmy Walker, both of King, filed for candidacy for the two seats on the board of commissioners that they both already hold.

As of Tuesday of this week, no other candidates had filed for any open seats.

Former police chief planning next step after appeal denied

(The Stokes News) - Walnut Cove still has an interim police chief and the former police chief will not be reinstated to his job with the town.

While Town Manager Homer Dearmin said he could not comment on the contents of a letter to Barry Conaway, former police chief, following a grievance hearing two weeks ago about his termination on Jan. 7 citing personnel matters, he did say that Conaway is still no longer an employee of the town.

Sgt. James Hill remains the town’s interim police chief, Dearmin said, and the town will begin its recruitment of a new police chief soon as it is developing a job announcement and strategy for selecting the next chief. The job vacancy will be posted next Wednesday.

McCain’s Canal Zone Birth Prompts Queries About Whether That Rules Him Out

WASHINGTON (The New York Times) — The question has nagged at the parents of Americans born outside the continental United States for generations: Dare their children aspire to grow up and become president? In the case of Senator John McCain of Arizona, the issue is becoming more than a matter of parental daydreaming.

Mr. McCain’s likely nomination as the Republican candidate for president and the happenstance of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 are reviving a musty debate that has surfaced periodically since the founders first set quill to parchment and declared that only a “natural-born citizen” can hold the nation’s highest office.

Almost since those words were written in 1787 with scant explanation, their precise meaning has been the stuff of confusion, law school review articles, whisper campaigns and civics class debates over whether only those delivered on American soil can be truly natural born. To date, no American to take the presidential oath has had an official birthplace outside the 50 states.

'Virtual Fence' Along Border To Be Delayed

U.S. Retooling High-Tech Barrier After 28-Mile Pilot Project Fails

(Washington Post) - The Bush administration has scaled back plans to quickly build a "virtual fence" along the U.S.-Mexico border, delaying completion of the first phase of the project by at least three years and shifting away from a network of tower-mounted sensors and surveillance gear, federal officials said yesterday.

Technical problems discovered in a 28-mile pilot project south of Tucson prompted the change in plans, Department of Homeland Security officials and congressional auditors told a House subcommittee.

Though the department took over that initial stretch Friday from Boeing, authorities confirmed that Project 28, the initial deployment of the Secure Border Initiative network, did not work as planned or meet the needs of the U.S. Border Patrol.

Jagger a 'power freak', fellow Stone Richards says

(Breitbart.com) - Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger is a "power freak" who is also a "bit vain", bandmate Keith Richards said in an interview set to be published Thursday.

Speaking to Uncut magazine in an interview to promote a Martin Scorsese documentary about the band, "Shine A Light", the guitarist also said he would have told his younger self to "lay off" drugs.

"Mick's a maniac. He can't get up in the morning without knowing immediately who he's going to call," the 64-year-old Richards said.

Nancy Reagan (1980 Political Commercial)

Rush Limbaugh's Morning Update: The Cost

We have three items for you today, folks. First: With crude oil hovering over a hundred bucks a barrel, Nancy Pelosi scheduled a vote to raise taxes on America's oil companies. To the tune of $18 billion. That tax increase, naturally, would be passed on to you, the consumer. Some of the money, say Democrats, would be used to invest in "alternative energy sources."

Which brings us to Item No. 2: The Democrat-Party-inspired move to produce more ethanol has already led to soaring food prices -- which you are paying every day. And now a new safety threat's emerged. Huge tankers laden with ethanol now crisscross American highways, but many fire departments don't have the special foam that's needed to put out the ethanol fires -- which are more intense than gasoline fires (water doesn't work). The ethanol foam costs about 30 percent more than the foam used to put out gas fires, so cash-strapped communities are left totally exposed.

Now the final item: Democrat Senate Majority Leader Dingy Harry Reid recently declared that coal used to generate electricity is, quote, "ruining the world." Henry Nostrilitis Waxman, California Democrat, supports a ban on new coal-fired power plants. Now Democrat attacks on the coal industry are getting the desired results. Big Coal is "donating" millions to candidates this cycle, mostly to Democrats. The No. 1 recipient is Barack Obama. The No. 2 recipient, Hillary Clinton. Just call it "protection money."

Now, what do these three news items have in common? They represent just a fraction of the cost -- of the left's manmade global warming hoax.

Read the Background Material on the Morning Update...
• AP: Democrats Try Again to Tax Oil Giants
• AP: Ethanol Fuels Fire Concerns
• AP: Coal Industry Spending on Election Ads

Obama's supporters view him as their savior, but a savior might have more to say (Patriot Post)

Wednesday Funnies :-)

David Letterman: “Top Ralph Nader Campaign Promises”: Fund universal healthcare by making Wesley Snipes pay his taxes; Give the presidency a rumpled, Walter Matthau quality; The freezing over of Hell should solve our global warming crisis; Can fill out a pantsuit better than Hillary; Will hover in polls between one percent and “Statistically Insignificant.

Jay Leno: In political news, Ralph Nader has decided to run for president. Well, you thought Mike Huckabee didn’t know when to quit, huh? There you go. In fact, Ralph Nader’s campaign slogan—”It’s me again.“ ... What do you call somebody at a Ralph Nader campaign rally? Ralph Nader. He’s the only one there. ... He’s gonna be 74 next week. In fact, the good news: If Ralph gets sick, his younger brother, Raul Nader, will then take over. ... Well, you know who’s thrilled that Nader is back in the race? John McCain. He’s not the oldest guy anymore. ... Oh, and Barack Obama made another woman faint today. The bad news, it was Hillary when she saw the poll numbers... The New York Times alleged that John McCain had an inappropriate relationship with a young female lobbyist. I haven’t seen McCain this angry since ”Matlock“ was canceled. ... A lot of people are questioning the source of this story. See, it’s never good when an article begins, ”Dude, guess what I heard.“

Conservative Writer, Commentator William F. Buckley Jr. Dies at 82

NEW YORK (Fox News) - William F. Buckley Jr., the erudite Ivy Leaguer and conservative herald who showered huge and scornful words on liberalism as he observed, abetted and cheered on the right's post-World War II rise from the fringes to the White House, died Wednesday. He was 82.

His assistant Linda Bridges said Buckley was found dead by his cook at his home in Stamford, Conn. The cause of death was unknown, but he had been ill with emphysema, she said.

Editor, columnist, novelist, debater, TV talk show star of "Firing Line," harpsichordist, trans-oceanic sailor and even a good-natured loser in a New York mayor's race, Buckley worked at a daunting pace, taking as little as 20 minutes to write a column for his magazine, the National Review.

Luxury Accommodations

(Fox News) - The city of Atlanta is spending $1.5 million tax dollars on constructing and maintaining five new public toilets for use by homeless people. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports each toilet costs $300,000. The toilets feature running warm water, automatic toilet paper dispensers, and piped in, soft jazz music, including the tune "What the World Needs Now Is Love."

Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr points out this comes as Atlanta's infrastructure is crumbling, the city faces a water supply crisis, and its roads are among the most congested in the nation.

One resident who lives near one of the new toilets says it wrecks his view of a local park. But the head of the Atlanta Community Food Bank says having a clean, sanitized toilet is something all citizens deserve.

Cold Reception

(Fox News) - New information from the U.S. National Climatic Data Center indicates much of the world is suffering through record cold and snow this winter. Snow cover over North America and much of Asia is greater than at any time since 1966. The average January temperature was three-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit colder than the average for the 20th century. China is said to be experiencing its must brutal winter in 100 years.

And despite fears by some that the Arctic ice pack is melting — one senior forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service tells the National Post that ice is up to 20 centimeters thicker in many places than at this time last year. Experts from the National Research Council — and the Russian Academy of Natural sciences — both predict global cooling in the near future if sunspot activity does not increase soon.

Bad Press

(Fox News) - Members of the national media are complaining that Barack Obama is the least accessible of all the remaining candidates. The Politico newspaper reports Obama's campaign is concentrating on interviews with local media — instead of national press. It is limiting access to those interviews — not permitting national media even to monitor them — something the Clinton campaign allows. There are restrictions on media access at events — requiring reporters to have staff escorts through security gates. And Obama staffers are trying to keep conversations with the senator aboard his campaign plane off the record.

The Politico reports this is in stark contrast to John McCain — who is said to be the most accessible Republican candidate in decades. McCain talks and jokes with reporters on his campaign bus — and answers questions until reporters are finished.

More Stories of the Hillary Clinton Campaign Stiffing Vendors

Late Payment

(Fox News) - The Hillary Clinton campaign has finally paid a bill to a Manhattan deli owner who went to small claims court and filed suit. Peter Semetis had catered a campaign event in mid-December.

He tells FOX News that he received payment for the $2,500 Monday — after his trouble getting the money was reported in Saturday's New York Times. Semetis had said he was concerned Clinton would lose in Texas — quit the campaign — and stiff him for the money.

There have been numerous reports of vendors having difficulty collecting from the Clinton staff — including landlords in New Hampshire and Iowa who reported not being paid for extended periods — and messes left on their property. A cleaning service and a hotel in Iowa both were not paid until TV stories were aired about their situations. A Clinton spokesman tells FOX News the campaign has thousands of vendors who are paid on time and that those incidents were just oversights.

Fearing Ronald Reagan (1980 Jimmy Carter Commercial)

Campaign Transcript

Python Stalked, Then Ate Family Dog in Front of Children

A 16-foot python swallows a pet dog whole in Kuranda, Australia.

BRISBANE, Australia (Fox News) - A 16-foot python stalked a family dog for days before swallowing the pet whole in front of horrified children in the Australian tropics, animal experts said Wednesday.

The boy and girl, aged 5 and 7, watched as the scrub python devoured their silky terrier-Chihuahua crossbreed Monday at their home near Kuranda in Queensland state.

Stuart Douglas, owner of the Australian Venom Zoo in Kuranda, said scrub pythons typically eat wild animals such as wallabies, a smaller relative of the kangaroo, but sometimes turn to pets in urban areas.

Pimp Yourself: Vote for Hillary! :-)

Rush Limbaugh's Morning Update: Dr. No!

Due to intense political pressure, Pfizer -- Big Pharma's giant -- has taken ads for Lipitor featuring Dr. Robert Jarvik off the air.

Lipitor, the cholesterol-lowering drug, is the world's best-selling medication, generating over $12 billion last year. Dr. Jarvik, inventor of the artificial heart, has been Lipitor's pitchman on TV since 2006. But the Democrats in the House of Representatives charged that Jarvik was an unacceptable spokesman for the drug because, though he has a medical degree, he is not licensed to practice medicine.

Democrat Bart Stupak said that "when consumers see and hear a doctor endorsing a medication, they expect the doctor is a credible individual with requisite knowledge of the drug." Democrats have demanded that Pfizer turn over all their records involving their contract with Dr. Jarvik as part of a "larger investigation" of celebrity spokesmen that Big Pharma uses. Pure intimidation here, folks!

Now, who do you suppose knows more about medicine? Dr. Jarvik? Or nitwit House Democrats who have no "requisite knowledge" of damn near anything? Besides, you don't just walk into a drugstore and say Dr. Jarvik sent you for Lipitor -- your own doctor has to prescribe this stuff!

One reason health-care costs are so high is that wholesale idiots like Bart Stupak and the rest of the Democrats insert themselves into every aspect of industries they are not the least bit competent to manage, run, or regulate... or, for that matter, even open their mouths about! Idiots!

Read the Background Material on the Morning Update...
• AP: Pfizer Pulls Jarvik Lipitor Ads

Woman pays for someone else's mistake - but whose?

By Scott Sexton
Winston-Salem Journal

Hien Tran pays her bills. She works for a bank and knows the importance of staying on top of financial matters.

So imagine her surprise when she learned last month that she had a $325 bill from Forsyth County EMS that came from a wreck in August 2000.

“It came to my aunt’s house. I don’t even live there anymore,” Tran said. “She called me and told me about it. I thought ‘This has to be a mistake. Someone’s stolen my identity or something.’”

It was a mistake, all right.

But it was not one of her making, an error that almost certainly won’t get rectified without an unnecessary (and protracted) hassle.

A $325 check dated June 5, 2001, payable to Forsyth EMS was indeed cut from the trust account of David Bartenfield, an attorney from Greensboro whom Tran hired to help with a mountain of insurance paperwork. The check was deposited into the account of an organization called the Forsyth County Rescue Squad.

Nevertheless, EMS grabbed Tran’s state tax refund and so far has refused to repay her.

“This is a mess, and she’s upset,” Bartenfield said. “I told her not to cry. This will be resolved. It might take seven more years. But in the meantime, she’s in the red over it.”

Que Sarah, Sarah

By Thomas Cheplick
The American Spectator

As John McCain inches closer to the 1,191 delegates he needs to secure the Republican nomination, attention has turned to the vice presidential sweepstakes. Who should McCain pick as his running mate? The answer will be especially important if the aging four-term senator's general election foe is a youthful freshman agitating for change.

Sarah Palin, the beautiful conservative Republican governor of Alaska, would be an ideal choice to help McCain slay this unholy ObamaOprah beast which is set to rake in nearly $50 million a month in campaign donations alone, and has intense auxiliary support coming from the unions, George Soros's billions-infused Democracy Alliance organization, and other rich Democratic networks.

Mrs. Palin is one of conservatism's own, and would be the first female vice president. She's young being only 44 (two years behind Senator Obama), she is wildly known to despise government corruption. She defeated a horribly entrenched and corrupt Republican political machine in Alaska. She has a son in the U.S. military. She's strongly pro-life, belonging, in fact, to Feminists for Life.

I have to say that Gov. Palin is an attractive woman...

Turning Obama Into Jimmy Carter

By Steve Kornacki
The New York Observer

Late in the summer of 1976, President Gerald Ford and his inner circle huddled in Vail, Colorado, facing the grimmest general election outlook for a Republican since the L.B.J. landslide of ‘64.

An unelected president, Ford had barely secured the Republican nomination against a fierce challenge from Ronald Reagan, leaving the party’s conservative base dispirited and even more distrustful of Ford than they already had been. And the stench of Watergate—and Ford’s politically damaging pardon of Richard Nixon—stubbornly hung in the air. After eight years of Republican rule, an amorphous but potent yearning for change had taken hold.

At the Vail strategy session, the Ford team zeroed in on the chief vulnerabilities of their Democratic opponent, Jimmy Carter: His lack of experience, his lack of accomplishments and his lack of specificity on the issues. These had to be exploited mercilessly.

March 4 Will Determine Whether Clinton Will Go Forward or Not, Aide Says

(Fox News) - When the dust settles after next Tuesday’s election battle in Texas and Ohio, Hillary Clinton will know “whether to go forward or not” in the quest for the White House, in the opinion of one of her top campaign strategists.

Harold Ickes made the remark in an interview with political print journalists Monday as Clinton’s campaign faces the daunting task of reversing the trend of Democratic rival Barack Obama, who has now won 11 straight primary contests.

After making the argument that media are showing favoritism toward Obama, Ickes made a rare acknowledgment from within the Clinton campaign: her odds are shrinking.

More Dirty Hotel Secrets: Beware of Glasses

(Fox 8 News) - When you check into a nice hotel, take a close look before using the drinking glasses or coffee mugs in the room. An undercover investigation that began in suburban Atlanta revealed a dirty secret about hotels across the U.S. Video of the investigation went viral when published online. Reporter Dana Fowle found out even after the bad news got out, some housekeepers have still not cleaned up their act.

Iron worker used birthdays to choose winning numbers

ATLANTA (Winston-Salem Journal) - An iron worker and his wife said that their days of living paycheck to paycheck were behind them after presenting the winning ticket yesterday for a $275 million Mega Millions jackpot.

Robert and Tonya Harris said they also plan to replace their trailer home with a new house, and buy a new four-wheel-drive truck first thing this morning. “I was having to work overtime to make ends meet,” said Robert Harris, who quit his job as soon as he found out his lottery ticket was a winner. “Now we don’t have to do that.”

The jackpot is the largest won by a single player in the history of the 15-year-old Georgia Lottery and the third largest in Mega Millions history, lottery officials said. Robert Harris said he picked the winning numbers from Friday’s multistate drawing - 7, 12, 13, 19 and 22, plus the Mega Ball number 10 - by using his grandchildren’s birthdays.

Couple agree to $800,000 for 95-acre farm

Surry County will use it to expand its adjoining landfill

DOBSON (Winston-Salem Journal) - A retired couple who had refused to sell their farm to Surry County for 10 years signed a settlement for $800,000 last night.

Don and Faye Terrell agreed to a selling price of $725,000 and an additional $75,000 for relocation expenses after more than five hours of talks. The 95-acre farm will eventually be used for a landfill.

“We’re very relieved,” Faye Terrell said. “It takes a lot of stress off to just have it over with.”

Smooth Operators?

(Fox News) - Fifty-seven men have been arrested in Saudi Arabia for flirting with women in front of shopping centers in the holy city of Mecca. Media reports say the men are also accused of dancing to pop music blaring from their cars and wearing improper clothing.

The country's religious police often target young people accused of not adhering to a strict Islamic lifestyle. People who know some of those arrested say the young men were just having fun and were not violating laws governing the segregation of the sexes.

Money Crunch

(Fox News) - Police in the suburban Chicago town of Carpentersville say the Internal Revenue Service is seeking back taxes on $60,000 of income and unemployment benefits from a 7-year-old whose identity was stolen.

The victim's mother tried to claim the boy as a dependent on her 2007 income tax return. But she was told by the IRS she could not because his Social Security number was being used by someone else. Police say a suspect in custody used the boy's personal information to get work, buy a truck, pay bills and collect benefits.

Now the IRS is said to be holding the second-grader liable for the taxes and has sent him a notice demanding payment.

Perfect Stranger

(Fox News) - Karl Rove says he does not recall ever meeting the woman who is accusing him of asking her to help dig up dirt on former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and was never given a chance to respond to charges she made Sunday on "60 Minutes." Rove is the former top political adviser to President Bush and is now a FOX News contributor.

Sunday night, an Alabama lawyer named Jill Simpson said on CBS' "60 Minutes" that Rove was behind an effort to derail Democrat Siegelman's effort to win back his office in 2006 -- after losing it in 2002. Simpson said Rove asked her to get pictures of Siegelman in a compromising sexual position with an aide. But the Associated Press reports Simpson has never made that allegation before -- despite several hours of interviews with congressional lawyers, reporters and a sworn affidavit.

"60 Minutes" said in its piece, "We contacted Rove. Through his lawyer, he denied Simpson's allegations." But Rove and his attorney Robert Luskin say CBS brought up the allegations only in an off-the-record telephone interview last October. Luskin says, "After '60 Minutes' made the decision to publicize these charges, no one from '60 Minutes' approached Mister Rove or gave him an opportunity to respond on the record."

No More Jimmy Carter! (1980 Reagan Campaign Commercial)

Commercial Transcript

Clinton Campaign Starts 5-Point Attack on Obama

(The New York Times) - After struggling for months to dent Senator Barack Obama’s candidacy, the campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is now unleashing what one Clinton aide called a “kitchen sink” fusillade against Mr. Obama, pursuing five lines of attack since Saturday in hopes of stopping his political momentum.

The effort underscores not only Mrs. Clinton’s recognition that the next round of primaries — in Ohio and Texas on March 4 — are must-win contests for her. It also reflects her advisers’ belief that they can persuade many undecided voters to embrace her at the last minute by finally drawing sharply worded, attention-grabbing contrasts with Mr. Obama.

After denouncing Mr. Obama over the weekend for an anti-Clinton flier about the NAFTA trade treaty, and then sarcastically portraying his message of hope Sunday as naïve, Mrs. Clinton delivered a blistering speech on Monday that compared Mr. Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience to that of the candidate George W. Bush.

Few speak on Stokes voting districts

Committee chairman says many will wait until lines are drawn

DANBURY (Winston-Salem Journal) - Few voters in Stokes County turned out to speak during hearings on the potential for drawing up voting districts throughout the county, according to a report by a voting-district committee.

About 50 people of the more than 25,000 registered voters in Stokes County attended meetings held across the county by the voting-district committee this winter. And some people came to more than one meeting, said Mark Johnson, the chairman of the voting-district committee.

Johnson presented the committee’s findings to the Stokes County Board of Commissioners at the board’s regular meeting last night.

Fight On, Mrs. Clinton!!! :-)

Rush Limbaugh's Morning Update: Wrong Again!

Last week, in a stunning projection of our military's power, the US Navy blew up one of our own dead and potentially dangerous spy satellites up there in outer space; it was orbiting the earth.

Now, analysts dug up by the Drive-By Media, are complaining that our success knocking out that satellite also undercut diplomacy. That's right, my friends: Our military, taking out our own dead satellite, "blew another hole in hopes that the world's nations could forge a treaty making outer space a weapons-free realm." And it couldn't have come at a worse time! Why, just days after Russia and China submitted a draft treaty to the UN Conference on Disarmament! (And not to mention the fact that the ChiComs knocked a satellite out of orbit without first telling anybody last year, and they're in the midst of a huge military buildup -- as are the Russians. )

Now, a few points here, folks. First off, both Hillary and Obama have signaled they're willing to ban space weapons -- which would put us at a deadly military disadvantage. I'm here to tell you, no matter what the ChiComs or the Russians say or sign, they will strive for supremacy in space-based weapons -- and they will continue stealing our technology if they have to.

And let's not forget where this all came from: Ronaldus Magnus. Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. Star Wars -- which liberals went bonkers over, claiming it would never work and shouldn't be tried. (The Reagan legacy, thankfully, lives on.)

Then, like now, the liberals were completely wrong: underestimating our own capabilities and underestimating the need for us to defend this nation... in an increasingly dangerous world.

Read the Background Material on the Morning Update...
• AP: Satellite Strike Struck Diplomacy, Too

Remembering the Gipper...

“Leadership is a great burden. We grow weary of it at times... But if we are not to shoulder the burdens of leadership in the free world, then who will?... We grew from that small, weak republic which had as its assets spirit, optimism, faith in God and an unshakeable belief that free men and women could govern themselves wisely. We became the leader of the free world, an example for all those who cherish freedom. If we are to continue to be that example—if we are to preserve our own freedom—we must understand those who would dominate us and deal with them with determination. We must shoulder our burden with our eyes fixed on the future, but recognizing the realities of today, not counting on mere hope or wishes. We must be willing to carry out our responsibility as the custodian of individual freedom. Then we will achieve our destiny to be as a shining city on a hill for all mankind to see.”

Ronald Reagan

Searching for McCain's VP

By George Will
Real Clear Politics

WASHINGTON -- "Do you think he'd do it?" That was the first question Ronald Reagan asked when, 24 days before the 1976 Republican convention, his campaign manager suggested that Reagan immediately name Pennsylvania's Sen. Richard Schweiker as his running mate. Reagan was narrowly behind in the delegate count as he attempted to wrest the nomination from President Gerald Ford. Three days later Schweiker joined the ticket.

This was designed to pry loose some Ford delegates, particularly among the 103 of Pennsylvania's delegation (Schweiker was one of them), and prevent Ford from clinching the nomination before the Kansas City convention.

A callow young columnist without a lick of sense (George F. Will) criticized the tactic as "slapstick," but it worked: Walter Cronkite pulled back what would have been that night's CBS lead story saying Ford's nomination was assured, and the battle raged until the convention.

It’s All About Him

By Bill Kristol
The New York Times

Last October, a reporter asked Barack Obama why he had stopped wearing the American flag lapel pin that he, like many other public officials, had been sporting since soon after Sept. 11. Obama could have responded that his new-found fashion minimalism was no big deal. What matters, obviously, is what you believe and do, not what you wear.

But Obama chose to present his flag-pin removal as a principled gesture. “You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin. Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we’re talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest.”

Leave aside the claim that “speaking out on issues” constitutes true patriotism. What’s striking is that Obama couldn’t resist a grandiose explanation. Obama’s unnecessary and imprudent statement impugns the sincerity or intelligence of those vulgar sorts who still choose to wear a flag pin. But moral vanity prevailed. He wanted to explain that he was too good — too patriotic! — to wear a flag pin on his chest.

Who Will Bell Hillary?

By Bob Novak
Real Clear Politics

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Even before Sen. Barack Obama won his ninth-straight contest against Sen. Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin last Tuesday, wise old heads in the Democratic Party were asking this question: Who will tell her that it's over, that she cannot win the presidential nomination and the sooner she leaves the race the more it will improve chances of defeating Sen. John McCain in November?

In an ideal though unattainable world, Clinton would have dropped out when it became clear even before Wisconsin that she could not be nominated. The nightmare scenario was that she would win in Wisconsin, claiming a "comeback" that would propel her to narrow victories in Texas and Ohio March 4. That still would not cut her a path to the nomination. Telling her then to end her candidacy and avoid a bloody battle stretching to the party's Denver national convention might not be achievable.

The Democratic dilemma recalls the Republican problem, in a much different context, 34 years ago, when GOP graybeards asked: "Who will bell the cat?" -- go to Richard M. Nixon and inform him he had lost his support in the party and must resign the presidency. Sen. Barry Goldwater successfully performed that mission in 1974, but there is no Goldwater facsimile in today's Democratic Party (except for Sen. Ted Kennedy, who could not do it because he has endorsed Obama).

Pakistan causes worldwide YouTube outage

(Yahoo News) - Most of the world's Internet users lost access to YouTube for several hours Sunday after an attempt by Pakistan's government to block access domestically affected other countries.

The outage highlighted yet another of the Internet's vulnerabilities, coming less than a month after broken fiber-optic cables in the Mediterranean took Egypt off line and caused communications problems from the Middle East to India.

An Internet expert likened the cause of the outage to "identity theft" by a Pakistani telecommunications company, which accidentally started advertising itself as the fastest route to YouTube. But instead of serving up videos of skateboarding dogs, it sent the traffic into oblivion.

Scientists Predict When World Will End

(Fox News) - Scientist have nailed down how and when the Earth will cease to exist.

The sun will slowly expand into a red giant, pushing the Earth further out into space, but not far enough.

Our home planet will be snagged by the sun's outer atmosphere, gradually plunging to its doom inside the fiery stellar furnace.

In-Law Political Dispute Ends In Stabbing

UPPER PROVIDENCE, Pa. (CBS 3) ― The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office is investigating a politically motivated stabbing that left one in-law hospitalized and another in prison.

Authorities said brother-in-laws Jose Ortiz and Sean Shurelds were involved in a verbal altercation over Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton when the argument escalated into a stabbing inside their family home on Honey Locust Court in Upper Providence.

Authorities said Ortiz, a registered Republican and Clinton supporter, allegedly stabbed Shurelds, an Obama supporter, in the stomach.

Shurelds was flown to an area hospital and was listed in critical condition.

Ortiz was jailed on $20,000 bail. If convicted of a felony crime, he will not be able to vote in the upcoming election.

Jimmy Carter — a military man, and a man of peace (1980 Campaign Commercial)

Commercial Transcript

Buckley Report: Church of Environmentalism

(Fox 8 News) - The author Michael Crichton said, "The greatest challenge facing mankind is distinguishing reality from fantasy...truth from propaganda." That may be no more true than in the debate over the environment. FOX8's Bob Buckley takes a look at Crichton's contention that some in the fight don't want to debate, at all.

A spry Farrakhan sings Obama's praises

(Yahoo News) - In his first major public address since a cancer crisis, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said Sunday that presidential candidate Barack Obama is the "hope of the entire world" that the U.S. will change for the better.

The 74-year-old Farrakhan, addressing an estimated crowd of 20,000 people at the annual Saviours' Day celebration, never outrightly endorsed Obama but spent most of the nearly two-hour speech praising the Illinois senator.

"This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better," he said. "This young man is capturing audiences of black and brown and red and yellow. If you look at Barack Obama's audiences and look at the effect of his words, those people are being transformed."

CLINTON STAFFERS CIRCULATE 'DRESSED' OBAMA

(Drudge Report) - With a week to go until the Texas and Ohio primaries, stressed Clinton staffers circulated a photo over the weekend of a "dressed" Barack Obama.

The photo, taken in 2006, shows the Democrat frontrunner fitted as a Somali Elder, during his visit to Wajir, a rural area in northeastern Kenya.

The senator was on a five-country tour of Africa.

"Wouldn't we be seeing this on the cover of every magazine if it were HRC?" questioned one campaign staffer, in an email obtained by the DRUDGE REPORT.

In December, the campaign asked one of its volunteer county coordinators in Iowa to step down after the person forwarded an e-mail falsely stating that Barack Obama is a Muslim.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe quickly accused the Clinton campaign Monday of 'shameful offensive fear-mongering' for circulating the snap.

Development is good fit for Danbury, officials say

A shopping center to be built on 10 acres is first phase of project known as Crawford Village

(Winston-Salem Journal) - Town officials say that preliminary plans for Danbury’s first commercial development fit the area’s small-town character.

Buildings and parking lots in the proposed development, on about 100 acres across from the Stokes County Government Center in Danbury, would mostly be hidden from the road by trees.

“What they’re planning on doing there across from the government center is truly something that will complement the town and set the tone for the future of the town,” Mayor Jane Priddy-Charleville said. “The design is everything that I would like to see if there has to be development on that land.”

Rush's Morning Update: Buzz Off!

You homeowners need to pay extra close attention to this one. A Sunnyvale, California couple was hauled into court -- because the guy next door complained that their redwood trees cast too much shade on his solar panels.

The homeowners planted trees on their property way before their environmentalist-wacko neighbor installed his solar panels in 2001. And the trees did what trees do: they grew.

So the neighbor, Mark Vargas, ran to court, citing "The Solar Shade Control Act" -- which is a law mandating that homeowners keep trees or shrubs form shading more than 10 percent of a neighbor's solar panels between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. every day. (This is ridiculous!) Anyway, existing trees are exempt at the time solar panels are installed, but new growth isn't -- I still can't... We have a law here about shading your neighbor's solar panels from 10 to 2?

Anyway, a judge ordered the homeowners to chop down a quarter of their redwood trees. They've spent 25 grand, here, to defend themselves; they don't have any more money to fund an appeal. Vargas invested 70 grand in his solar panels; he wants the law to be strengthened. He says: "I think it's unfair that a neighbor can take away this source of energy from another neighbor." (This is a bunch of lunatics!)

You remember 2005? Liberals on the US Supreme Court said in that eminent domain case that homeowners' property can be taken and handed over to developers on the whim of politicians? Well, now your trees can be taken at the whims of environmentalist wackos. To those of you who still believe in freedom and "private property rights" in California, I have two words for you: Buzz off!

Read the Background Material on the Morning Update...
• AP: Neighbors Clash Over Trees, Solar Power
• Contra Costa Times: Redwood Growers Told to Let the Sun Shine

Nader to Run, Citing Events of 2004 Race

On Sunday, Mr. Nader officially announced that he would seek the presidency as a third-party candidate one more time — driven in part by his frustration over the efforts to thwart his last run. Mr. Nader, a consumer advocate who made his mark by taking on the car industry more than 40 years ago, turns 74 this week, making him the oldest candidate in the race. In two of his three previous presidential bids, he ran on the Green Party ticket, but he said in the interview that he had not yet worked out his party affiliation for this time.
Told of Mr. Nader’s announcement on her campaign plane, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said: “Wow, that’s really unfortunate. I remember when he did this before. It’s not good for anybody, especially our country.”
Mr. Obama, campaigning in Ohio, said: “Ralph Nader deserves enormous credit for the work he did as a consumer advocate. But his function as a perennial candidate is not putting food on the table of workers.” — By Sarah Wheaton, New York Times

Town plugs water leaks

More users would help, Danbury says

DANBURY (Winston-Salem Journal) - The price tag for an overhaul of the 27-year-old, leaky water system in Danbury is approaching $1 million, about $350,000 more than was projected last year, town officials said this week.

Town officials said in December that the water system was losing more than half of the water that the system’s two wells were pumping. Officials then started making plans to fix the system.

Since then the town has fixed a major leak, and has reduced water usage by 20,000 gallons a day, said Tony Sprinkle, who operates the water system. The wells are now pumping about 1.3 million gallons of water each month, Sprinkle said.

B-2 stealth bomber crashes on Guam

(Yahoo News) - A B-2 stealth bomber crashed at an air base on Guam but both pilots ejected safely and were in good condition, the Air Force said.

Thick black smoke could be seen billowing from the wreckage at Andersen Air Force Base, said Geanne Ward, a resident in the northern village of Yigo who was on the base visiting her husband.

Ward said she didn't witness the crash but noticed a rising plume of smoke behind the base's air control tower...

...Each B-2 bomber costs about $1.2 billion to build. All 21 stealth bombers are based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri but the Air Force has been rotating several of them through Guam since 2004, along with B-1 and B-52 bombers.

Bush admin: U.S. has 'lost intelligence'

The Bush administration informed Congress on Friday that the government has “lost intelligence” because of the expiration of surveillance legislation caught in a political tug of war.

“We have lost intelligence information this past week as a direct result of the uncertainty created by Congress’ failure to act,” says an underlined passage of a six-page letter signed by Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence J. Michael McConnell.

Ok, so forget the unintentional humor for the moment, this is the kind of indefinite scare language that has been the hallmark of the Bush Administration. I think it would be just fabulous to continue "losing intelligence" for a few months to see what kind of credibility the shrub still has. Then again, what am I saying? He has no credibility now, but that doesn't stop the GOP lemmings from jumping every time he barks.

Witness this post from one of the hysterical Chicken Littles over at Free Republic (someone calling himself "ronnie raygun"):

Let us all give thanks to THE TERRORIST HELPERS we have in congress and the senate. Remove all obstacles so they have a clear shot at our children! If and when it happeneds again YOU WILL HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS.

Paranoid much, ronnie?

Historic restoration architectural firm to study Nancy Reynolds School

By Wendy Byerly Wood
The Stokes News

The Stokes County Board of Education took care of several items during its meeting Monday, including approving an architect to perform a construction feasibility study, approving two lists of construction priorities and approving the bid for a roofing project at North Stokes High School.

The school board elected to use Sfl+a as its architect for the long-term facility plan and structural study of the Stokes County Schools’ buildings.

Also, the board agreed to retain Ersoy, Brake, Appleyard to do a facility study on Nancy Reynolds Elementary School. The architecture firm specializes in restoration of historic buildings, and the board wants its opinion on Nancy Reynolds and what the system’s options are. Some of the firms projects include Old Town Elementary School, Atkins Middle School, Wiley Middle School, R.J. Reynolds auditorium and R.J. Reynolds High School.

See Ron Run

By W. James Antle III
The American Spectator

By all accounts, Ron Paul was a reluctant presidential candidate. He was happy in the House, casting his lonely "no" votes against legislation with price tags large and small and contrasting his colleagues' handiwork with the plain text of the Constitution. But the Revolution overtook him: Paul attracted larger crowds than he had dreamed possible and, after raising $19.5 million in the last three months of 2007, won the fourth-quarter Republican money primary.

The purpose of Paul's longshot presidential bid was simple: Win as many delegates to the Republican National Convention as possible and spawn legions of new "Ron Paul Republicans." So Paul's supporters were startled -- and in some cases miffed -- when Paul announced he was scaling back his presidential campaign to focus on his March 4 congressional primary.

Sure, Paul had a disappointing showing in New Hampshire, where he had been expected to do well. Aside from a few caucus states, mostly in the Western part of the country, he was increasingly turning in single-digit performances as the field winnowed. But the crowds were still big and young; the money was still rolling in. Why not continue spreading the message and recruiting new Ron Paul Republicans?

SMU chosen as site for Bush's presidential library

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Southern Methodist University in Dallas has been selected as the home for U.S. President George W. Bush's presidential library, the school said on Friday.

The university had been widely seen as the front-runner to house the facilities which will consist of a library for the Bush administration's documents, a museum and a public policy institute.

Robert A.M. Stern, dean of the Yale University School of Architecture, will design the buildings.

Police concerned about order to stop weapons screening at Obama rally

DALLAS (Star-Telegram) - Security details at Barack Obama's rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena.

The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they believed it was a lapse in security.

Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Police Department's homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order -- apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service -- was meant to speed up the long lines outside and fill the arena's vacant seats before Obama came on.

A Short Course in Brain Surgery

A Short Course in Brain Surgery highlights the plight of an Ontario man with a cancerous brain tumor who crossed the border to the U.S. to get the medical care that is rationed in his home country.

Thinly Sourced

(The Washington Prowler) - "On the substance, we think the story speaks for itself. In all the uproar, no one has challenged what we actually reported." That is what New York Times executive editor Bill Keller claimed during media interviews on Thursday after publication of the Times' attack on Sen. John McCain.

But that isn't entirely true, say Times reporters with knowledge of the debate between reporters and editors at the Times over the past three months. "In fact, several longtime McCain aides and congressional staffers disputed the facts in what the New York Times was trying to push," says one reporter with knowledge of the reporting. "That's why it took them so long to run with the story. People critical to the reporting of the story were disputing the facts and knocking it down."

Officer In Clinton Motorcade Killed In Crash

Clinton Cancels Fort Worth Campaign Rally Following Officer's Death

DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ― A Dallas police motorcycle officer crashed and was killed Friday while escorting the Hillary Clinton motorcade to a campaign rally.

Senior Corporal Victor Lozada, a 20-year veteran of the department, was killed in the accident.

Sources say Corporal Lozada was relatively new to the motorcycle division.

Reagan's Record (1980 Campaign Commercial)

DELI PIGOUT A CLINTON GUT BU$TER

AUSTIN, Texas (New York Post) - Hillary Rodham Clinton's free-spending campaign blew a whopping $95,000 at a low-end supermarket-deli chain last month in Iowa - a telling sign of why she can no longer cut the mustard financially against Barack Obama in critical states.

Clinton's latest campaign filings reveal how a sprawling, top-heavy campaign organization splurged on posh hotels and pricey consultants but still struggles to define its message against Obama, a charismatic opponent whom Clinton's camp now calls the front-runner.

The $95,000 charge came at the Hy-Vee store in West Des Moines, a grocery and deli chain that is a fixture in the state, on Jan. 1, just two days before Obama stunned Clinton by beating her in the Iowa caucuses.

The campaign didn't confirm what the charges were for, but it bragged just a few days before the new year about a plan to provide deli sandwich platters at caucus sites across the state in order to get Clinton's supporters to come early.

At the time, the idea seemed like evidence of Clinton's massive turnout operation, but in hindsight it indicates Clinton's support was soft compared to Obama's hungry army of first-time voters.

The heavy spending helps explain why Clinton's camp ended the year $7.6 million in debt, not including her $5 million loan to her campaign.

The campaign team has plowed through $116 million so far.

Clinton: Obama 'change you can Xerox'

(Yahoo News) - Hillary Rodham Clinton accused presidential rival Barack Obama of political plagiarism Thursday night, but drew boos from a Democratic debate audience when she ridiculed him as the candidate of "change you can Xerox."

Obama dismissed the charge out of hand, then turned the jeers to applause when he countered, "What we shouldn't be spending time doing is tearing each other down. We should be spending time lifting the country up."

The exchange marked an unusually pointed moment in an otherwise civil encounter in the days before March 4 primaries in Texas and Ohio — contests that even some of Clinton's supporters say she must win to sustain her campaign for the White House.

RE: Democrats Dug In For Retreat

Time for Charles' monthly "WE'RE WINNING IN IRAQ, DON'T YOU KNOW!" article. It's almost as if Charles so desperately wants it to be true that just by getting someone else to say it, it will be.

One of the knottiest problems the neocons have (and Charles is a charter member of that group) is how to come up with a working definition of "winning" that doesn't actually entail winning. As a result, they are big on not losing, but can't really tell you what it means to win. They use words like surrender, as if American forces will drop their weapons and hold their hands over their heads in abject subjugation, but the neocons don't ever say exactly who they would be surrendering to. Of course, that's not important in the Orwellian game of rhetoric they are playing. They have vaguely pointed to an Iraq that is free, democratic, and friendly to the West as a general definition of winning, but since there is about as much chance of that happening as there is of it spontaneously happening in Iran, they tend not to go directly there. See, the problem for the neocons is that the Iraqis elected a government full of Iranian spies, and given the choice, they would prefer to live in an Islamic republic under Sharia. In other words, if we did what we have said we were going to do: stand up a freely elected government and leave the Iraqis to their own devices, Iraq would be Iran in six months.

So the neocons point to the forces that would draw Iraq in an undesirable direction, calling them insurgents and terrorists, and generally ignoring the fact that an insurgency can't exist without approval, however tacit, of the indigent population. The Hollywood notion of bullying thugs terrorizing the population is very romantic, but just like every other Hollywood notion of geo-political strife, it is purely mythological. The fact is, and this comes to me from people who, unlike Charles, have actually been there, the Iraqis are simply waiting us out. Yes, they are grateful that we got rid of Saddam for them. Fortunately for us, most of them don't know or remember that it was us who put Saddam there in the first place. But like a tiresome uncle who has overstayed his welcome, most Iraqis wish us well and wish we were gone.

In the end, it isn't that neocons like Charles fear that the Democrats will cut and run from Iraq, it is that they fear the loss of influence they have gained over the last 7 years. It is a simple fact that modern Democrats don't end wars. They manage, through general foreign policy ineptitude to get us embroiled in conflicts all the time. They seem to have a great time lobbing anti-war-rhetoric bombs at Republicans, even when it was they themselves who got us involved. Neither Clinton nor Obama has made any campaign statement flatly promising to end the occupation of Iraq and bring the troops home. Clinton has said the occupation must last until Iraq is stable, vaguely mirroring the neocons' rhetoric, and Obama has said he would favor an expansion of military muscle in the region to suppress Islamic extremism. So the neocons' shrill accusations of Democrats' shaky war nerve is empty rhetoric. Simply put, the Democrats have no intention of giving the neocons the kind of influence they have had under the Republicans (and especially with Bush).

John McCain has already demonstrated that he is, if anything, an even more willing puppet of neocon thought. While George Bush and the neocons have parted company, at least publicly, McCain and the neocons are still in a blissful honeymoon. Given McCain's unbalanced psychological state and his history of throwing allies under the bus at his slightest inclination, the neocons are probably making a deal to sleep with a serial killer, but they deserve what they get in that regard.

The Democrats' rhetoric with regard to the war being already lost has less to do with their view of the war itself and more to do with portraying Republicans and inept and untrustworthy. To that end, they are their own worst enemies. The neocons and the war groupies in the GOP will use that rhetoric against them, portraying them as weaklings and pacifists. Clinton and Obama face a precarious balance in keeping the anti-war extreme left reasonably happy while not alienating the vast middle ground that has bought the Bush Administration's neocon agit-prop on the extreme threat posed to us by Islam. While it doesn't make a penny's worth of difference which of the current contenders achieves the Oval Office, the battle to see who gets there will certainly be...umm...entertaining?

I-40/73 Greensboro Urban Loop Opens

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) - The NCDOT opened the 7.5-mile I-40/73 Greensboro Western Urban Loop to traffic Thursday morning.

The highway runs from I-40 east of Gallimore Dairy Road to the I-85 Bypass/Business interchange.

The opening of the Greensboro Western Urban Loop will allow NCDOT to reroute I-40 around southern Greensboro along the new highway and the existing I-85 Bypass.

Through traffic will be able to bypass a congested area where existing I-40, I-85 Business and U.S. Routes 29, 70, 220 and U.S. 421 all run concurrently. Existing I-40 will be renamed I-40 Business.

The loop will run 12 miles from Bryan Boulevard to Groometown Road. The project has cost an estimated $108 million dollars.

Walnut Cove officials back manager's firing of police chief

Barry Conaway considers suing town, attorney says

(Winston-Salem Journal) - Barry Conaway, the former police chief of Walnut Cove, isn’t getting his job back.

After reviewing a grievance filed by Conaway, town officials said yesterday that they are upholding the decision by Town Manager Homer Dearmin to fire him. Conaway was the town’s police chief for about 15 years.

Dearmin met in closed session with the town board on Feb. 6 about Conaway’s firing and then met with the town attorney and Conaway and his attorney on Feb. 7.

Democrats Dug In For Retreat

By Charles Krauthammer
Real Clear Politics

"No one can spend some 10 days visiting the battlefields in Iraq without seeing major progress in every area. ... If the U.S. provides sustained support to the Iraqi government -- in security, governance, and development -- there is now a very real chance that Iraq will emerge as a secure and stable state." -- Anthony Cordesman, "The Situation in Iraq: A Briefing from the Battlefield," Feb. 13, 2008

WASHINGTON -- This from a man who was a severe critic of the postwar occupation of Iraq and who, as author Peter Wehner points out, is no wide-eyed optimist. In fact, in May 2006 Cordesman had written that "no one can argue that the prospects for stability in Iraq are good." Now, however, there is simply no denying the remarkable improvements in Iraq since the surge began a year ago.

Unless you're a Democrat. As Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., put it, "Democrats have remained emotionally invested in a narrative of defeat and retreat in Iraq." Their Senate leader, Harry Reid, declares the war already lost. Their presidential candidates (eight of them at the time) unanimously oppose the surge. Then the evidence begins trickling in.

Rush Limbaugh's Morning Update: Health Alert!

Hey, folks -- important new study (and I love important new studies, and there's one out there) has been published in the journal "Psycho Med" -- uh, "Psychosomatic Medicine." The research shows that older adults who are both hostile and depressed might be at greater risk of having cardiovascular disease. ("Heart disease", for those of you in Rio Linda.) The study compared over 300 men and women between 50 and 70, and found those who exhibited higher levels of hostility and depression had increased "risk markers."

Now, these findings have troubling ramifications that only I, your highly trained broadcast specialist, can put into context for you. This study represents a vital health alert for you Democrats -- particularly you older ones.

Democrats live with latent, overt hostility and depression every day -- that's how they get up. Their very existence could be called a "hostile life environment." They're hostile to the rich -- anybody who makes more money than they do; they're hostile to business. They're hostile to Wal-Mart. When it comes to prosecuting the war on terror, they're hostile. They especially hate George W. Bush. They despise evangelicals and conservatives; they're depressed about damn near everything! They're always gloomy about the economy, health care, Social Security, school lunches, the environment -- they think global warming will kill us all off, any minute.

And hardest hit, of course, is Hillary Clinton. Now, according to polls, older Democrats are the only ones who haven't thrown her under the bus. Now we learn those older, hostile, depressed Democrats are at greater risk of having cardios -- and we don't even have national health care yet.

Her voters may die. Adios, folks.

Read the Background Material on the Morning Update...
• Reuters: Depression Plus Hostility Poses Heart Risk

Why The Clintons Aren't Done Yet

By John Hood
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH – As both anti-Clinton Democrats and anti-Clinton Republicans celebrate Barack Obama’s solid primary win in Wisconsin, I feel compelled to observe that the presidential nomination is not yet settled. It will last at least another couple of weeks, and possibly all the way through North Carolina’s May 6 primary and the Democratic convention this summer.

Discount the bloggers and columnists pronouncing the race over. The Clintons are not going to throw in the towel, despite Obama's impressive Wisconsin showing among nearly all of the voting constituencies of the Democratic coalition. It's not in the Clinton’s nature, and in their own minds there are still factors in play that could win them the game despite the current odds.

You Decide: Can government waste easily be cut?

By Mike Walden
The Stokes News

I like presidential campaigns.

Obviously, from my professional point of view, interesting policy proposals are discussed. But the excitement, drama and unexpected twists and turns in these big-time contests also spark my interest, and this year’s presidential election will be the 10th in which I will vote.

While the tactics, technology and styles of presidential campaigns may have changed over the decades, some elements remain the same. One is the recommendation to reduce or eliminate wasteful government spending. Calls by candidates to clamp down on waste always receive big rounds of applause.

And for good reason.

Senators in Emergency Landing

WASHINGTON (AP) - Helicopters carrying three senior U.S. senators made emergency landings Thursday in the mountains of Afghanistan because of a snowstorm.

Sens. John Kerry, Joseph Biden and Chuck Hagel were aboard the aircraft. No one was injured, according a statement from Kerry's office. The senators and their delegation returned to Bagram Air Base in a motor convoy, and have left for Turkey.

"After several hours, the senators were evacuated by American troops and returned overland to Bagram Air Base, and left for their next scheduled stop in Ankara, Turkey," the Kerry statement said. "Sen. Kerry thanks the American troops, who were terrific as always and who continue to do an incredible job in Afghanistan."

The lawmakers were on a trip this week that included stops in India, Turkey and Pakistan, where they observed the elections earlier this week.

Kerry and Biden are Democrats from Massachusetts and Delaware, respectively, and the Republican Hagel is from Nebraska.

Consultant spending saps Clinton campaign

(The Politico) - Hillary Rodham Clinton started the year flush with cash, but by the beginning of this month, she'd blazed through most of it — spending $11 million on ads, $3.8 million on messaging guru Mark Penn and $1,300 at Dunkin' Donuts, just to name a few expenditures — leaving her campaign woefully unprepared for an extended battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.

About $15 million — or more than half of the New York senator’s January spending — went to a cadre of high-priced consultants. Though much of the cash went through the campaign media buyer for ad time, the considerable payments to outside consultants mark an increase in a pattern that has irked campaign insiders. From the beginning of the race through the end of last month, Clinton paid the consultants $33 million — nearly one-third of the $105 million spent by the campaign.

That provides some of the backstory behind Clinton’s staff shake-up, her public appeals for campaign cash in the past two weeks and even her string of 10 straight losses to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama since Super Tuesday, Feb. 5.

Statesville Democrat to run against Foxx

(Winston-Salem Journal) - A Statesville Democrat filed yesterday to run for the U.S. House seat now held by Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx, and a Salisbury Republican filed to run against incumbent Democrat Rep. Mel Watt in the 12th Congressional District.

Diane Hamby, a former Iredell County commissioner and an officer in the Iredell County Democratic Party, filed for the 5th Congressional District seat that Foxx holds. Hamby is a partner in D & T Painting Co.

Another Democrat, Roy Carter of Ashe County, has announced that he will also run for the seat but had not formally filed as of yesterday, according to the State Board of Elections.

Foxx, who is running for re-election, has no opposition so far among Republicans.

Georgia, suffering drought, votes to move state line to get water

ATLANTA (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS) - Thirsting for more water in the midst of a drought, Georgia legislators took a step yesterday toward moving the state line and tapping into a powerful river in a neighboring state.

The state Senate unanimously approved a resolution asserting that a flawed 1818 survey mistakenly placed Georgia’s northern line just short of the Tennessee River. The resolution also calls for the governor to establish a commission to sort out the dispute.

The House later voted 136-26 to pass a similar plan, which could soon go to Gov. Sonny Perdue.

McCain: Newspaper report on lobbyist is "not true"

Vicki Iseman

TOLEDO, Ohio (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS) - John McCain denied a romantic relationship with a female telecommunications lobbyist today and said a report by The New York Times suggesting favoritism for her clients is "not true."

"I'm very disappointed in the article. It's not true," McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, said as his wife, Cindy, stood alongside him during a news conference called to address the matter.

McCain described the woman in question, lobbyist Vicki Iseman, as a friend.

Air of Tension: Zealous environmentalists in California are busy outgreening each other in court

SUNNYVALE, Calif. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS) - In an environmental dispute seemingly scripted for ecofriendly California, a man asked prosecutors to file charges against his neighbors because their towering redwoods blocked sunlight to his backyard solar panels.

But the couple next door said they should not have to chop down their trees to accommodate Mark Vargas’ energy demands because they planted the redwoods before he installed his solar panels in 2001.

Experts say that such clashes could become more common as California promotes renewable energy and solar systems become more popular.

Janet Huckabee ‘Stays in Vegas’ — at Hooters Hotel

(Fox News) - The latest political spouse to attract unexpected attention is Janet Huckabee, who decided to stay in Las Vegas last weekend — at the notably unwholesome Hooters Hotel Casino — rather than travel with her husband and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee to the Cayman Islands.

Arkansas’ former first lady apparently wasn’t trying to avoid the sunny Caribbean weather in mid-winter, but instead was attending a middleweight prize fight featuring boxer Jermain Taylor, also known as the “pride of Arkansas.”

The Baptist minister’s wife told The San Francisco Chronicle that she wasn’t expecting the crunch time in her schedule to force her to switch her accommodations from the hotel where the bout was fought to Hooters Casino Hotel.

Three file for judge seats

(The Stokes News) - Filing opened more than a week ago for five elected positions that represent Stokes County, but the Board of Elections office has been quiet since the first two days of the filing period when six candidates filed for the five seats.

According to Elections Director Jason Perry, no new candidates had filed for the available seats as of press time Tuesday.

But that is not the case in Raleigh, where three candidates have filed to run for judge seats which are open this year.

Perry reported that Moses Massey of Mount Airy will be running for re-election as Superior Court judge in District 17B, which covers Surry and Stokes counties. Also, Mark Badgett of Pinnacle is running for re-election as District Court judge in 17B. Badgett will be challenged by William F. “Bill” Southern III of Walnut Cove, who is an assistant district attorney in 17B and also filed for the District Court seat.

Benefit raises $12,000 for Boles fund

(The Stokes News) - On Feb. 9, Stokes County residents gathered at West Stokes High School to attend a benefit dinner and silent auction held for Ty Boles, a former Stokes County School Board member who is fighting brain cancer.

King Elementary School Principal Shannon Boles contacted West Stokes High School Principal Charles McAninch, who gained the assistance of Rhonda Jackson and Whitney Hawkins, and the four of them organized a successful spaghetti dinner and silent auction including entertainment and door prizes.

According to Shannon Boles, 800 tickets were sold, many donations received, numerous walk-ins attended and a silent auction held during the event brought in $12,000 for the night, which has been deposited into the Ty Boles Health Fund at NewBridge Bank in King.

Stokes children receiving high quality child care, state data says

(The Stokes News) - More families with young children have access to and are participating in high quality child care programs in Stokes County, according to data released by the North Carolina Partnership for Children.

NCPC leads the state Smart Start program and evaluates local and statewide progress annually. The latest data shows that Smart Start continues to improve the quality of child care in Stokes County, due to the efforts of the Stokes County Partnership for Children. According to the most recent data, the number of Stokes children enrolled in high quality child care (programs with 4 or 4 stars) has increased 59 percent since 2001, reflecting an improvement in child care quality and an increase in the number of children enrolled in high quality programs.

Cindy Tuttle, executive director of SPC, said Northwest Child Development “is a good example of child care programs dedicated to quality and coming up to Danbury is one of the greatest examples of wanting to serve kids where they are and provide quality.”

Stokes not working with Forsyth on landfill

(The Stokes News) - The Stokes County commissioners have not had any meetings with the city of Winston-Salem which would have lead to the approval of a land purchase in Stokes County for the use of a landfill.

On Feb. 11, Commissioner Leon Inman, chairman of the Stokes County Board of Commissioners, took time during the commissioners meeting to comment on an article by The Winston-Salem Journal that reported Forsyth is still interested in working with Stokes County on opening a landfill on land Inman said the city of Winston-Salem illegally purchased.

During his statement, Inman quoted North Carolina General Statute 153A-15, which, since 1981, has stated that “before any county, city or town, special district, or other unit of local government which is located wholly or primarily outside another county acquires any real property local in the other county by exchange, purchase or lease, it must have the approval of the county board of commissioners of the county where the land is located.”

Playing the 'Fair' Card

By George Will
Real Clear Politics

WASHINGTON -- Judging from complaints by her minions, Hillary Clinton considers it unfair that Barack Obama has been wafted close to the pinnacle of politics by an updraft from the continentwide swoon of millions of Democrats and much of the media brought on by his Delphic utterances such as "We are the change." But disquisitions on fairness are unpersuasive coming from someone from Illinois or Arkansas whose marriage enabled her to treat New York as her home, and the Senate as an entry-level electoral office (only 12 of today's senators have been elected to no other office) and a steppingstone to the presidency.

Rush Limbaugh's Morning Update: Windfall!

Hey, folks -- put aside all that talk about a "looming recession." Our economy has to be chugging along better than the so-called experts say, and, as Lanny Davis used to say, "I've got the poof."

Last year, even with gas prices soaring, subprime mortgages tanking, [and] ATM fees at all-time highs, donations to colleges soared to $30 billion -- that's a new record. This news comes from an annual survey released by the Council for Aid to Education.

But there's a catch, however, my friends. Sadly, it was the "rich" who lucked out. Wealthy skrools -- including the Ivy League giants -- attracted gi-normous donations, like Stanford University, [which] raised over $800 million. Harvard? Over $600 million.

Now, if the Democrats in Congress and on the campaign trail were consistent, given their view of other industries, they would call for an immediate end to all tax breaks for "rich" universities. They'd demand the greedy universities pay a windfall profit tax! Hillary would be threatening to "take" their profits, to spend elsewhere. Democrats would propose an economic stimulus package for poor colleges paid for by the rich ones, and we'd have congressional investigations up the wazoo. If Democrats were consistent, they'd pull out all the stops to end the wealthy colleges' "gouging" of the poor students and parents who face higher tuition fees each year -- while academe racks up billions.

But, of course, Big Education is a liberal "Big Business," so it's perfectly fine that the rich get richer while the poor get poorer... and you pay for it. It's liberal business as usual.

Read the Background Material on the Morning Update...
• AP: College Donations Go Up in 2007

For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk

WASHINGTON (The New York Times) — Early in Senator John McCain’s first run for the White House eight years ago, waves of anxiety swept through his small circle of advisers.

A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.

When news organizations reported that Mr. McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist’s client, the former campaign associates said, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement.

Mr. McCain, 71, and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, 40, both say they never had a romantic relationship. But to his advisers, even the appearance of a close bond with a lobbyist whose clients often had business before the Senate committee Mr. McCain led threatened the story of redemption and rectitude that defined his political identity.