About five years ago when a bunch of us were desperately searching for any scrap of evidence which showed our Robert Boyd's ancestry, a fellow researcher and cousin, Dick Stewart, sent me a sheet of paper which popped my eyes wide open. It was the results of an estate sale in Newberry Co., S.C., for one John Boyd, known to most of us as John Boyd of Ballymena, great-grandfather of the Boyds buried at Bethany UMC in Fayette County.

I first met John F. Douglas, Jr., early in 1971 when I called upon his daughter. It must have been a difficult time for him and his wife Bette for I was not a particularly good prospect as a son-in-law. I was working as a bag boy at a local supermarket, had no idea what I wanted to be, and was taking a few classes at the university, although I wasn’t highly motivated and my grades reflected that fact.

Like Michelle Obama, I am a "woman of color." Like Michelle Obama, I am a working mother of two young children. Like Michelle Obama, I am a member of the 13th generation of Americans born since the founding of our great nation.

The Obama Express hurtles through the night, flattening skeptics and, with especial relish, Clintonites. But the Express's present fuel -- hope and change and whoop-de-do -- is going to run short once the campaign, not against Hillary, but against a generally united Republican Party, commences.

The Berkeley city council has made national news by telling Marine Corps recruiters that they are unwelcome in that bastion of the academic left.

If we look to benefits only, we'll do darn near anything because there's always a benefit. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that there were 43,443 highway fatalities in 2005. If we had a maximum speed law of 15 mph, the death toll wouldn't be nearly as high, probably not even as high as 500. You say, "Williams, that's a crazy idea!" You're right, but let's not call it crazy; it's more accurate to say: saving some 43,000 lives aren't worth the cost and inconvenience of a 15 mph speed limit.

If you’ve browsed this space a dozen times, you may recall my addiction to words and syntax. In Germany there are probably three bookstores per block in every town of any size at all, and what amazes me is that they are invariably packed with customers.

As the halfway mark of the 2008 legislative session approaches, we continue to move legislation through the General Assembly, and key initiatives continue to be heard in committee prior to consideration by the full House.

It was back to business this [past] week in the General Assembly, as senators and representatives returned to the Gold Dome for another week of the 2008 session. We are rapidly approaching the halfway point of the session, and many new bills have been introduced in both chambers.

The other day I was in an out-of-town grocery store when I passed a guy in fresh vegetables, smiled, said, “Hello,” and kept going.

Rep. Virgil Fludd

Thursday, Feb. 14 was the 17th legislative day of the 2008 session of the Georgia General Assembly. The first four weeks have been full of action.

Many preachers dread rainy Sundays. Rain makes the flowers grow and church members disappear. Actually, even the threat of rain often affects Sunday attendance. For some, if the Weather Channel says “rain likely,” then that translates into “church going unlikely.”

Why do so many Republicans pound the table and shout, “I’d rather vote for a Democrat than the ‘insufficiently conservative’ John McCain!”?

It’s Valentine’s Day, so what better day to give a present to my fans (you in the balcony, I see you) and my critics.

The Wife and I were invited out to dinner with friends at a fancy downtown restaurant. Now I know it will come as a shock to many of you that I have friends willing to pay for my dinner, but put your fears at rest. The friends were hers; I just tagged along as her guest.

Thinking about my college roommate last week when, don’tcha know, her Christmas newsletter arrived. The envelope is postmarked 5 Feb 2008. When I’ve been that late, I’ve dubbed it a “holiday” newsletter, or just an annual update, but Mary faces things straight on, admits she’s a procrastinator and hopes friends and relatives had a wonderful Christmas.

I need to apologize to the good folks in Rocky Mount for an error I made last week in naming one of their cemeteries. I was unaware, as I'm sure some of you were, that there are two Bethel Baptist churches in Rocky Mount: one is Bethel Baptist Church (in Rocky Mount), a white church, established in 1829, and the other is Rocky Mount Bethel Baptist Church, a black church, established in 1867.

I was back in my hometown of Kingsport, Tenn., for a special event. My father-in-law, John F. Douglas, Jr., was to be given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 61st Annual Dinner of the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce.

Americans will be learning a lot about themselves as six Islamist terror “suspects” (I guess we have to say, technically) held at Guantanamo Bay finally face trial on murder and war crimes charges connected with 9/11.

Those who put a high value on words may recoil at the title of Jonah Goldberg’s new book, “Liberal Fascism.” As a result, they may refuse to read it, which will be their loss — and a major loss.

For every conservative who is irritated that illegal immigration has never really been addressed ...

For every liberal who can’t understand why the big oil companies and their unbelievable profits haven’t been reigned in, or forced to accelerate development of new refineries or energy alternatives ...

My February 2002 column, “They’re Coming After You,” warned that Americans who enthusiastically supported the anti-tobacco zealots’ attack on smokers were, like decent Germans did during the 1920s and ‘30s, building the Trojan Horse that would one day enable a tyrant to take over.

7th grade dance

We had been going out for a week, although we hadn’t actually gone anywhere.

We had agreed to meet at the school dance, which was to be held in the gym, that Friday. I don’t remember what I wore that night, other than a liberal amount of English Leather, and I can’t remember what she wore either.

While you are doing America’s hardest work in Iraq and Afghanistan, you may have heard the buzz that the Berkeley, Calif., City Council passed a resolution: “... the Marine recruiting office is not welcome in our city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders ...“ and that the council went further to “Encourage all people to avoid cooperation with the Marine Corps recruiting station, and applaud residents and organizations such as Code Pink, that may volunteer to impede, passively or actively, by nonviolent means, the work of any military recruiting office located in the City of Berkeley.”

I picked up the package left on the back porch and read the mailing label that said RCR Racing, Welcome, NC. I smiled and hurried inside to tear it open.

By Senator RONNIE CHANCE

We are well into the 2008 legislative session now, and we have finished 14 days of the required 40 legislative days of business. The pace is increasing daily as senators and representatives introduce new bills, meet in committee, and debate and vote on legislation in chamber.

It seems like only last week the 2008 legislative session got underway, and here we are now in February.

Our committee work on the Amended Fiscal Year 2008 Budget is now complete and we are ready to move forward with our proposals.

The American left clings to the myth that the anti-war movement ended the U.S. war in Vietnam. In fact, the anti-war movement failed to prompt any substantive changes in U.S. war policy.

Most people who run for president, by definition, lose. And most of those unsuccessful candidates depart the presidential contest with their reputations and their influence diminished.

This just in: Ronald Reagan is dead and he’s not coming back. Now, can conservatives please move on?

Reagan always spoke about the future and its possibilities. Today’s conservatives, however, can’t seem to break with the past and the nostalgia for the Reagan years. Even in his letter to the American people in 1994 in which he revealed he suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, Reagan wrote of his “eternal optimism” for the country’s future.