William F. Buckley Jr. Dies
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William F. Buckley Jr., the conservative pioneer and television "Firing Line" host, responds to questions during an interview July 20, 2004 in New York. Buckley died Wednesday morning, Feb. 27, 2008. William F. Buckley Jr., 82, the intellectual founder of the modern conservative movement, who helped define the movement's doctrines of anti-communism, military strength, social order and a capitalist economy, died today at his home in Stamford, Conn. He had diabetes and emphysema, but the precise cause of death has not been determined.

Bet most of you don't know who he was. Some of us remember the days when we couldn't stand the sound of his voice or his accent. He and Gore Vidal represented political opposites in the country. Not that I'm glad he's dead--like our nasty, child-biting dachshund, Buckley mellowed in his old age. and wrote novels.