I’m just seeing the news that William F. Buckley, Jr. passed away this morning.

Author and conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jr. has died at age 82.

His assistant Linda Bridges says Buckley died Wednesday morning at his home in Stamford, Conn. She says he had been ill with emphysema and was found dead by his cook.

Buckley became famous for his intellectual political writings in his magazine, the National Review, and his frequent television appearances, including on his own long-running “Firing Line.”

Some reactions:
Ankle Biting Pundits

Bulldog Pundit — Buckley was one of true greats and the conservative movement owes him a debt that it can never repay.

Patrick Hynes — He was really one of the most significant players in the conservative movement, along with Goldwater and Reagan. He was also one of the most interesting public intellectuals of all time.

American Thinker

Thomas Lifson — Mr. Buckley embodied the notion of living life to its fullest. I owe my standing as a conservative to him, for it was reading National Review that revealed to me that I was a conservative, but didn’t know it at the time.

Captain’s Quarters

Ed Morrissey — Conservatives of all stripes owe Buckley a great debt, and not just for his columns and books that provided a call to arms for individual liberty and property rights. He brought together the disparate factions of the Right into one umbrella and made conservatism a potent political force.

Don Surber

God needed some intelligent conversation.

Today has been an very full day on the reader. It’s been hard to choose what to pick and what to leave alone. The net effect has been I haven’t written anything today. I did just finish the Tuesday night edition of bRight@Night, and that was pretty wide-ranging as well. So, instead of covering all the interesting topics (or nothing, as I’ve done so far today), I’ll just take Potpourri for $100.

Answer: In Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Question: Where is Jeopardy host Alex Trebek?

Longtime “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek was hospitalized Tuesday after a minor heart attack, a spokesman for the game show said.

[...]

A post on the official “Jeopardy!” Web site said Trebek was “resting comfortably in a Los Angeles hospital, and he will be back in the studio for the next scheduled tapings in January.” His heart attack was first reported by “Entertainment Tonight.”

Today has been a big day for endorsements on the Republican side of the presidential primaries. Conservative magazine National Review announced that they will be endorsing Mitt Romney.

Our guiding principle has always been to select the most conservative viable candidate. In our judgment, that candidate is Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts. Unlike some other candidates in the race, Romney is a full-spectrum conservative: a supporter of free-market economics and limited government, moral causes such as the right to life and the preservation of marriage, and a foreign policy based on the national interest.

Surprising many, Gov. Mike Huckabee picked up the endorsement of Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist.

“For months now, I’ve been searching for a candidate to support for president of the United States,” said Gilchrist. He said he settled on Huckabee as the candidate whose plans were most likely to halt “this illegal immigrant invasion problem.”

As I said, this one has many on the right shaking their heads. Michelle Malkin writes:

Yeah, you read it right–the founder of the border control group, the Minuteman Project, is endorsing open-borders-turned-expedient enforcement convert GOP candidate Mike Huckabee.

And yet another endorsement, this one from the founder and president of the Leadership Institute, Morton Blackwell for Fred Thompson.

“Of all the candidates who have a chance of winning the Republican presidential nomination, Fred Thompson is my choice,” said Morton Blackwell. “Senator Thompson has the most conservative instincts on the public policy issues that are important to America.”

Finally (for tonight that is) Pope Benedict XVI has spoken out on the hysterics surrounding global warming.

It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances.

The article also says, “The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering.”

That does it for tonight. I’ll be back at it again in five hours or so. Good Night.