RIP Molly

One of my journalistic heroes and a real national treasure, Molly Ivins, has died at the far-too-young age of 62, succumbing to the breast cancer that had laid her low recently. It's a damn shame that someone as vital and witty and talented as she was is gone so soon, while so many more deserving people *coughCheneycough* just seem to go on forever. In one of her last columns, published January 11, she wrote:

"We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, 'Stop it, now!'"

Molly always spoke the truth, and wasn't afraid to call the powerful on their subterfuges and shenanigans. She was a force in the media the likes of which won't soon be matched, and we are all poorer for her passing.

Tonight I think I will raise a glass in her honor, and then bang some pots and pans for a while. Goodbye, Molly, we'll miss you terribly.