If you are stopping by to read on this busy weekend, you might want to take a few minutes, relax and enjoy this rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

While the song admittedly “belongs” to Judy Garland, Aretha Franklin does it proud and the visuals added are terrific.

Just a few quick stories I thought you might enjoy.

Someone needs stronger glasses, or at the very least to have his gun taken away!

A man says he shot and killed a neighbor’s cow after mistaking it for a coyote.

Authorities and the owner are skeptical.

The undersheriff in northern Michigan’s Benzie County says he doesn’t see how anyone could confuse a 1,400-pound, pregnant cow with a coyote, which typically weighs 20 to 45 pounds.

For those interested in keeping up with the latest sports news, here’s a site for you. If it’s half as good as Real Clear Politics, it’s sure to be a hit.

Mark Noonan at Blogs for Victo(R)y has my vote for the paragraph of the day:

The Times goes on to note that the candidates are going to campaign through the Holiday season rather than take a break - something which is both unprecdented and annoying. Hey, I’m a political junkie, and I’m sick of these candidates endlessly yammering at me. Shut up. Go home. Talk to us again on January 2nd.

Will tax refunds be delayed next year? Robert Novak explains why that might very well be the case:

Habitual congressional gridlock usually has no impact on the lives of ordinary Americans. But what happened on the Senate floor last Friday just before lawmakers left for their Thanksgiving break will delay tax refunds next year for some 50 million taxpayers who count on them.

CNS News relays some thoughts on the upcoming Presidential election as spoken by former Ambassador John Bolton:

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton says the upcoming presidential election will have enormous consequences for America’s national security, and he warned against electing anyone who would not take an aggressive stance towards America’s foreign enemies.

“If we make the wrong decision in 2008, just as if we had made the wrong decision in 2001, it’s our security and our safety that will suffer and our future that will be in jeopardy,” he said.

For my part, I think he’s right.

Last but most certainly not least, a tidbit from Michael Yon’s latest dispatch:

I had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with General Petraeus. Very interesting series of helicopter flights to several bases. Bottom line is that progress is clear and real, but there are tough days ahead and al Qaeda, for instance, is far from dead. The mood is of cautious optimism, with a concern that some of the very positive media lately might set expectations too high. (That’s right: many military leaders are concerned that the media lately might be too positive.)

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and if you are braving the malls and stores today that you not only found a parking spot but that your sanity was in tact when you finished shopping.