Facebook poll on Obama assassination

The big news over this past weekend was a poll posted to Facebook via its Polls application. Its question was: "Should Barack Obama be killed?" There were four possible answers: "Yes," "No," "Maybe," and "Yes if he takes away my healthcare."

I was first alerted to this question by a friend, who chose to report it to Facebook for offensive content. I immediately reported for offensive content myself. By Monday, the uproar was so severe, not only over the brazen threat on the President's safety, but also Facebook's inability to respond in a timely manner. Only in the later hours of Monday did Facebook shut down the Polls application, by which time the Secret Service was also involved, and questioning Facebook.

The recent trend, as well demonstrated by the September 12th teabagger rally in Washington DC, is that the prospect of a nonwhite President with a foreign-sounding name is simply too much for the far right to take. They smell blood, between the Obama agenda which is about to start undoing three decades of the Reagan-Bush legacy, and an equally frustrated liberal camp which is fed up at Obama's inability to undo that legacy faster. America is polarized as ever, Obama's leadership can never be decisive enough, and all of a sudden, it's fair game to call for the murder of the President of the United States, which has always been a felony.

I'll gladly agree or disagree with Obama based on his job performance and positions, but I have zero tolerance for those who want to harm him and destroy the American democracy. I also have zero tolerance for the media outlets, such as Fox News, which have served to encourage the teabaggers and validate their lies (i.e. Obama being a Kenyan-born Muslim extremist). I would rather see raucous but healthy debates on the future of the US, on more important issues like healthcare reform, foreign policy, and immigration reform, than waste time dealing with the barbarians who seek not to help, but to destroy.

Facebook's slow response also further confirms my suspicions, that Facebook's management is sympathetic to far-right causes. Facebook considers me, in fact, to be the heartbeat of California's Republican ethnic theocracy, and sends me tons of ads asking me to support the likes of Glenn Beck (who is largely responsible for the rhetoric), Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and even Joe Wilson (the Congressman who shouted "YOU LIE" to Obama during a congressional speech). Although I have the ability to indicate that I like/dislike individual ads, when it comes to these far-right ads, they only load even more frequently. Many Facebook friends vow to move on to an alternate, more progressive social networking site should one be founded - and I will gladly be joining them.

More signs of the times

I continue to have afterthoughts from my three months in Asia, especially now that my "sudden" replacement of a BMW with a Hyundai has really come to light among my social circles.

Spending the Christmas holidays in South Korea and Hong Kong was a true eye-opener. It didn't hurt that I took in many non-Christian motifs (especially Buddhist) during my trip. More than ever, I am reminded that the different religious belief systems out there are, just like scientific theories, attempts at explaining the world in ways the average human mind can understand. My Seoul acquaintances told me there are over 8,000 different versions of the Christian Bible, all with different takes on the same core belief; this reminds me that I shouldn't be taking the Bible, or any other religious text, word-for-word (especially given that they're all less-than-satisfactory translations anyway), but rather, get the big picture and live by that.

The Christians really hate idolatry, even though some Christian branches, notably the Catholics and the Mormons, are heavy with statues and other imagery. I decided to take my own interpretation on this. It is wrong to worship Jesus because he is Jesus; for me, being obsessed with the being of Jesus himself is itself idolatry. What really counts is what he embodies - the love of God so great, he sends a part of himself in human form and sacrifices himself, just to save the humankind. Without taking this into the picture, and without taking that into one's everyday life, I believe that being Christian becomes utterly meaningless. Too many Christians are of the mindset that "no matter what I do, I am saved by Jesus, and I am not of this world, so I can be a total a-hole especially around those who refuse to be saved" - I'll never accept that. This salvation theme resonates with many other religions, and over in Buddhism, Kwan Yin vows not to save herself until she saves every human first. I will not worship Kwan Yin; what I worship will be all the mercy and love she connotes. (Of course, the fact that Kwan Yin is transgender doesn't hurt either.)

On a different note, while I will continue to boycott unsavory governments and corporations, I will take that to a more sophisticated level. Many Americans showed their stupidity by boycotting everything French, when France dared to oppose the US-led invasion of Iraq. This ignored over two centuries of shared values and friendship between the people of the US and the people of France. The French kept their cool by continuing to welcome Americans with open arms - assuming that the American visitor didn't act like a jerk, anyway. In almost all countries, the people are good, it's the leaders who deviate from the program for their selfish ends. I found that first-hand in Seoul; the South Koreans are great people, despite their government, the Unification Church, and the Korean-Americans. Rick Steves, the travel guru, reminds me of the same thing, after his visit to Iran.

What will this mean for me? My boycotts will target the worst of the worst, while no longer penalizing people who might as well be my friends. By buying a Hyundai automobile and an LG TV set, I've done just that with the Koreans (I will continue to stay far away from Samsung, Korean Air, and Forever 21). With other nations' corporations, I'll do the same. While Toyota's main US manufacturing subsidiary, notorious for its anti-labor activities and support of John Roberts, shall never be forgiven, other parts of the Toyota empire, including the Japanese headquarters and New United Motors in Northern California, are probably not all that bad; that means while I'll never drive a Kentucky-built Camry or a Texas-built Tundra, I'll no longer rule out a Japan-built Prius or a California-built Tacoma. And taking this to non-corporate levels as well, I may reconsider my boycott of CODEPINK organic coffee, which comes from a women's cooperative in Nicaragua. While I can never forgive Nicaragua's government and popular homophobia (enforced by left-wingers, at that), a bit less poverty among the fair-minded women may be what it takes to start changes there. And conversely, evil corporations, even those from "good" nations, will surely see my wrath; I continue to harbor warm thoughts toward modern-day Germany, but I will never buy Krups or BMW products ever again.

I took a few photos at Costco yesterday as I thought of these things.

Here is a children's book - and it is surely a sign of the times. Barack Obama, in his successful run for the Presidency, popularized many phrases that resonated with most of mainstream America. This book is made up of such phrases, and I think this is priceless. Specifically, it reminds the reader that there is no black America, no white America, no red America, no blue America - but only one America. The "divide and conquer" tactic, rising from the suburban cul-de-sacs and the gated communities of Orange County, which had prevailed in the US for the past three decades, must come to an end, and the Obama Presidency is the first step in making that happen.

The neoliberal economics and the neocon ideology have really trashed the US, especially in the last few years. I must continue to remember that Obama is only one man, with only four years' time; he won't get much done. He can, however, get the mentalities changed and the process rolling. The US is still pretty much the only country that can afford to give healthcare to me if I ask for it, but can't give it to me for ideological reasons; Obama won't change that overnight, but he will start a process that will eventually get that changed. I do hope the changes will be soon enough that by the time I do get sick and need healthcare, I'll be able to get it.

But the forces that corrupted the US for the past three decades won't go away overnight. Mann Coulter, the "shock jock" of conservative commentary, continues to put out garbage like this. Never mind that if I am to take the conservative ideology literally, we're looking at a sodomite who is an abomination in the eyes of God, and must be stoned immediately.

There is no doubt in my mind that Coulter is not a woman, but a castrated sodomite, given all his talk about how women must lose their right to vote, and so forth. I am more reminded than ever that one's gender (including my own) is not determined by what is under the person's mini, but rather, what's between the ears. And this is one sodomite that still has tons of testosterone-induced anger management problems.

I do hope that the American public will see past rambling shock jocks like this, and work for what's best for the nation and the world - and ultimately, themselves. Of course, there will be evil entities standing in the way - News Corporation, the Unification Church, BMW, certain foreign governments, and more - but they have NO right to determine my (or any other American's) future or destiny.

It's been 7 years

Seven years ago today, hate-filled crazed lunatics flew some airplanes into buildings, and killed thousands, in the name of a primitive death cult and its patriarchal, judgmental God.

Although I have no personal connection to the victims, I had previously flown on one of the aircraft involved, and that connection alone is more than enough to keep disturbing me whenever I think of the events of that day.

Unfortunately, America seems to have learned very little, thanks to the overbearing influence and the brainwashing by its own death cult. The following New York Times op-ed summarizes it so well.

New York Times

Actually, I'll copy-paste the text below as well:

In the Seventh Year
By Roger Cohen

And in the seventh year after the fall, the dust and debris of the towers cleared. And it became plain at last what had been wrought.

For the wreckage begat greed; and it came to pass that while America’s young men and women fought, other Americans enriched themselves. Beguiling the innocent, they did backdate options, and they did package toxic mortgage securities and they did reprice risk on the basis that it no more existed than famine in a fertile land.

Thereby did the masters of the universe prosper, with gold, with silver shekels, with land rich in cattle and fowl, with illegal manservants and maids, with jewels and silk, and with Gulfstream V business jets; yet the whole land did not prosper with them. And it came to pass, when the housing bubble burst, that Main Street had to pay for the Wall Street party.

For Bush ruled over the whole nation and so sure was he of his righteousness that he did neglect husbandry.

And he took his nation into desert wars and mountain wars, but, lo, he thought not to impose taxation, not one heifer nor sheep nor ox did Bush demand of the rich. And it came to pass that the nation fell into debt as boundless as the wickedness of Sodom. For everyone, Lehman not least, was maxed out.

So heavy was the burden of war, and of bailing out Fannie and Freddie, and of financing debt with China, that not one silver shekel remained to build bridges, nor airports, nor high-speed trains, nor even to take care of wounded vets; and the warriors returning unto their homes from distant combat thought a blight had fallen on the land.

So it was in the seventh year after the fall of the towers. And still Bush did raise his hands to the Lord and proclaim: “I will be proved right in the end!”

And around the whole earth, which had stood with America, there arose a great trouble, for it seemed to peoples abroad that a great nation, rich in flocks and herds and land and water, had been cast among thorns and Philistines; its promise betrayed, its light dimmed, its armies stretched, its budget broken, its principles compromised, its dollar diminished.

And it came to pass that this profligate nation, drinking oil with insatiable thirst, could not cure itself of this addiction, and so its wealth was transferred to other nations that did not always wish it well.

Wherefore the balance of power in the world was altered in grievous ways, and new centers of authority arose, and they were no more persuaded by democracy than was the Pharaoh.
For Bush ruled over the whole nation, and so sure was he of his righteousness that he did neglect the costs of wanton consumption. And he believed that if the Lord created fossil fuel, fossil fuel must flow without end, as surely as the grape will yield wine.

Therefore, in the seventh year after the fall, with 1,126 of the slain still unidentified, their very beings rendered unto dust, their souls inhabiting the air of New York, it seemed that one nation had become two; and loss, far from unifying the people, had sundered the nation.

For the rich, granted tax breaks more generous than any blessing, grew richer, and incomes in the middle ceased to rise, and workers saw jobs leaving the land for that region called Asia. And some fought wars while others shopped; and some got foreclosed while others got clothes. And still Bush spake but few listened.

Behold, so it was in the seventh year, and it seemed that America was doubly smitten, from without and within.

And, lo, a strange thing did come to pass. For as surely as the seasons do alternate, so the ruler and party that have brought woe to a nation must give way to others who can lead their people to plenty. How can the weary, flogged ass bear honey and balm and almonds and myrrh?

Yet many Americans believed the exhausted beast could still provide bounty. They did hold that a people called the French was to blame. They did accuse a creation called the United Nations. They did curse the ungodly sophisticates of Gotham and Hollywood and sinful Chicago; and, lo, they proclaimed God was on their side, and carried a gun, and Darwin was bunk, and truth resided in Alaska.

For Bush ruled over the whole nation and so sure was he of his righteousness that he did foster division until it raged like a plague. Each tribe sent pestilence on the other.

And in the seventh year after the fall, the dust and debris of the towers cleared. And it became plain at last what had been wrought — but not how the damage would be undone.

A quick-and-dirty guide to fascist victory

As appeared in a TruthOut editorial by Rob Kall:

Italics are my emphasis. Brackets are my comments.

Tips to fascists, dictators, corporatists, militarists, imperialists, neocons, right-wingers, theocrats, theofascists and terrorists.

1. Kill the strongest opposition candidate and then pretend that elections should go on as normal, without allowing the opposition party to reorganize. Examples:
• Benazir Bhutto: strategy - hamstring security abilities to the extent that the candidate actually writes a letter accusing the government leadership of intentional sabotage of security.
• Paul Wellstone: rush through a replacement candidate and politicize the funeral. Get the mainstream media "partners" to portray the funeral as despicably political to eliminate sympathy for the new candidate. (Expect something like this with the candidate who replaces Bhutto.
2. Steal elections using e-voting with nonpublic software code, no paper ballot records, purges from lists of eligible voters, phone-bank jamming and fraudulent registration drives, where you throw away the registrations of opposition party registrants. Multiple examples in US - Florida and Ohio, particularly. Essential: this only works with weak, cowardly candidates who fail to aggressively work to prevent these actions and then fail to challenge questionable outcomes. This has been relatively easy, since even when candidates do get tough in response to rigged elections, there are plenty of weak, compromised legislators who will enable the election theft. Clint Curtis's campaign is a good example. The Dems in Congress allowed the theft.
3. Erode constitutional rights. Violate laws and treaties. Make excuses that there are imminent threats to national security, or that the treaties will hurt the nation's economy. Take the most horrific of these and get the media to boost hysteria and fear, then get the most fascist members of the legislature to push through laws retroactively making violations of the law legal. The majority of sold-out legislators will work with your lobbyists, avoid your media mockery and pass the legislation or approve appointees who allow or refuse to not condemn the assaults upon the Constitution and international law. Example - Mukasey approval, FISA approval, continuation of Iraq war (started on lies). [And make new laws and treaties, such as the new free trade agreements, without the knowledge and consent of American people. Thank you, Samsung.]
   
4. Gradually destroy the economy. Engage in "Shock Doctrine" disaster capitalism, so the nation's citizens are more worried about survival than maintaining democracy. Naomi Klein has documented how fascist neocon Milton Friedman economists have used this tried and true approach to destruction of democracy in dozen of nations - usually with the help of the USA's CIA. See Naomi Klein's book, "Shock Doctrine," for detailed examples. [This works so well.]
   
5. Corporatize the nation. Maximize laws that give corporations human rights as persons. Allow corporations to pollute the election process, so their money is the primary factor in deterring the ability of candidates to reach voters, as is the law and policy in the US. Have legislators you own create bogus, chimera laws that look like and call themselves election reform, that are really so full of loopholes that they actually improve the power of corporations while taking away the power of citizens. See US policy for excellent examples.
6. Deregulate the media so a handful of corporate owners control most of the message. Then filter the news so viewers/readers/listeners are turned off to paying attention. Do this by using the same footage over and over again, and numb the viewers' minds with focus on coverage of morally impaired and stupid celebrities, tabloid news such as weird surgeries, kidnappings, horrific mass murders, strange diseases, detachment of Siamese twins.... And when you do cover real news, mock the most serious defenders of democracy. Attempt to embarrass them, to get viewers and readers to think of them as fools and kooks. Especially, use this mockery approach to sabotage and attack any candidates not "with the program" who are surging in polls.
7. Infiltrate alternative media. Hijack comment threads with negative, cynical remarks, or distract commenters from staying on focus. Provoke incivility among regular readers of pro-democracy media.
8. Widen class differences. Keep as many people as possible hungry, without health care, worried about where they will get the money to pay for housing, clothing, education, food and medicine. [Sell the jobs to the lowest foreign bidder - it's great, because domestic labor unions have no counter.]
   
9. Take advantage of natural disasters to weaken democratic factors. Allow floods, hurricanes and fires to "cleanse" unwanted voters in selected regions. Replace them with high-end real estate and corporate assets. Use the disasters as opportunities to spend taxpayer money to reward political allies.
10. Pretend that everything you do is the patriotic support of Democracy, even if it is directly opposed to democracy. Attack the pro-democracy party and organizations as being communist, socialist, fringe, kook, even dangerous to democracy. Depend upon anti-democracy mainstream media allies to help pound this message so the fools produced by the dumbed-down, "most children left behind" educational system buy these messages. Use talk radio to nail this down. See US education laws and policies for examples. This is already working quite effectively in the US as low international scores indicate.
11. Allow candidates to run repeatedly, without term limits. Eventually, candidates who do not toe the anti-democracy line in all parties will burn out or run out of funding. That will leave, even in the supposed liberal parties, reliable legislators who will keep the anti-democracy program going. Eventually, they will get themselves into key leadership positions, either at the top of the party or just below the top. Consider Chuck Schumer, Stenny Hoyer and Rahm Emanuel as excellent examples. [Or until recently, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.]
    
12. Build fear into the culture. Say you are fighting terrorism, but engage in international policies that foment and encourage terrorism, helping terrorists to massively expand recruitment and even training of operatives. See Iraq for Islamic terrorists. See the US for anti-abortion Christian terrorists. [Think South Korea and Taiwan of the Cold War era as well.]

I would also love to add #13 in the form of "bring as many immigrants who support your anti-democratic agenda as you can, and keep out/deport as many immigrants who oppose it as possible." That will explain the special treatment doled out to the Cuban and Korean communities, and the human rights violations occurring against members of Mexican, Chinese, and most other communities.

Any questions?

TruthOut

Tendencies of Different Political Persuasions

Thanks to DiAnne Grieser for the link...

Zogby says conservatives, liberals, and moderates have different and similar tastes in entertainment. Some findings:

• Liberals are more likely to listen to conservative talk shows than vice versa, explaining why Rush Limbaugh is more popular than Air America.
• Conservatives don't like TV - but when they watch, it's Fox and Fox News.
• Liberals love video games - especially The Sims.
• Politically themed shows (such as Brothers and Sisters, starring my former idol Calista Flockhart as a Republican pundit) are a plus for liberals, a minus for moderates.
• Conservatives listen to country and gospel. Liberals listen to most other popular genres.
• Conservatives are into baseball and auto racing. Liberals are most likely to follow soccer.
• Conservatives like nonfiction. Liberals prefer fiction - and read more.
  
• Moderates watch Fox News and daytime and children's programming.
• Conservatives are more likely to predict one's political leanings based on the person's entertainment tastes. Moderates are least likely to do so.

And on a non-entertainment subject:

• Half of conservatives believe that immigrants come to America to get benefits from the government. Almost all liberals believe that immigrants are searching for a better opportunity to work.

Zogby

Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize

The news is hours old already, but it's said and done. Al Gore, the former vice president and the rightful winner of the 2000 presidential race, is now a Nobelaureate, sharing the honor with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Their work in alerting people to the climate change crisis, which may provoke many future wars, was instrumental; hopefully with some action, these alarms - and the resulting wars - will never have to happen.

Response from the US is pathetic at best, dominated by those who still think global warming is a liberal globalist myth. John McCain was especially virulent about his criticism of Gore as an "undeserving" recipient of the Nobel Prize.

It's not enough to come up with Al Gore, America. It's also crucial that the people of America know the facts, admit them, and do something about it, instead of burying their heads in the sand in denial, driving around in 4x4s with "OFF-ROADERS FOR BUSH" bumper stickers. (There are LOTS of them here in Reagan Country.) So even though Gore's win is a plus for the world and America, I am, more than ever, ashamed to be an American (and even more ashamed to be from Southern California), given the nation's poor treatment of its precious hero.

Aftenposten, Norway

Mann Coulter: "Jews need to be perfected"

Mann Coulter

Or so says he on CNBC, since Christianity is the "perfected version of Judaism."

MSNBC Article

The Mann also says that the US would be a much better nation if it were all-Christian. Excuse me, but such a nation would have no use for a sodomite, and everyone now knows the Mann is one. (Despite some in the transgender community who believe that an attack on the Mann is an attack on all transgenders.)

If there is anyone who needs to be banned from visiting Canada, it's not Medea Benjamin, it's the Mann, who actually threatened Canada on several occasions.

Travel as a Political Act

I would probably still be a right-wing Mann Coulter or Michelle Malkin wannabe today, if it were not for my travels, which opened my world up to a whole slew of new ways of thinking and influences.

Travel guru Rick Steves says the same thing, in essence, turning from a hardcore Reaganite to a hardcore progressive as he explored Europe and beyond, for work and for pleasure. He says that America would be a much better place - and a much better global citizen - if Americans actually cared to travel abroad, and take in the local culture at the destination.

Below is a wonderful interview he recently did for the Seattle Times. Fellow blogger DiAnne Grieser shared this interview on her own blog and on Democracy Cell Project.

Seattle Times

Jerry Falwell dead

He used slush funds from the Unification Church to turn Liberty University into a potent force for the evangelical Christians.

He blamed 9/11 on gays, feminists, abortionists, and non-Christians.

He even denounced the Teletubbies because Tinky Winky was "gay."

He's Jerry Falwell, who died today aged 73.

Although he's gone, his brand of hateful Christianity will endure. For example, his Moonie backers in my area are still blabbering his line about 9/11 being the result of the secularization of America. And that will be something I will never forgive.

Now, I need to hear about Sun Myung Moon's passing. He's well into his 80s.

BBC

Two items

First, Nicolas Sarkozy won the French presidential election. Although the French presidency is relatively weak compared to American-style presidency, French presidents are far from being nobody. I'll see how Sarko leads France, and if he starts chanting the praises of the W regime and its policies (much along the lines of Angela Merkel of Germany), maybe I should start considering my own boycott of France.

Second, Pat Buchanan is NOT grateful to the Korean immigrants (and many other immigrant demographics) who have supported his social conservatism. He uses the VT shooting tragedy to correlate immigration with mass murder (and loss of American identity). Given the special relationship that they have with the Korean community, the reactionary elements of American society are damned whether they defend the Koreans (as did Fox News), or blast them (as did Buchanan).

More coverage of VT tragedy

I'm reading through many articles today, expressing various opinions on this senseless tragedy. All the flags at half-staff are reminding me of the tragedy again and again.

Here are some articles worth reading:

• New York Times - The likes of Rush Limbaugh are having a field day over this. The right wingers are making fools of themselves again, by vilifying their Korean buddies.
• Washington Post - A Korean-American community activist remarks on overreaction by first-generation Korean immigrants, comparing their collectivist mindsets with the more individualistic American ones. He says the Korean community is as responsible for Cho's rampage as the African-American community was for the DC area sniper attacks - not at all, in other words.
• AP - Cho's profile resembles that of other mass killers, and experts weigh in on his psychology.
  
• Xinhua News - China's Foreign Minister is furious that the media at first rushed to mis-identify the gunman as a Shanghai native, without confirming the details.

Angry Asian Man is collecting these links, and more, from his readers.

The Mann is at it again

Mann Coulter

It looks like Mann Coulter has labeled John Edwards a "faggot."

Why is s/he so interested in the sexuality of male Democratic politicians? Looks like the Mann is suppressing some hidden desire within him/herself. Not that Edwards (or Clinton or Gore) would ever be interested anyway.

Daily Kos

Two wins for An Inconvenient Truth

Former Vice President Al Gore

An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary film on global warming by former Vice President Al Gore, won the Oscar for Best Documentary last night. Its theme song, "I Need to Wake Up" by lesbian icon Melissa Etheridge, picked up an Oscar of its own.

I recently watched the documentary myself, and it was a very moving one - showing Gore's commitment to environmentalism over his entire political career, and the ridicules he had earned from skeptics over the years. But the fact is clear, and has been backed up by other studies: global warming today is well beyond the normal fluctuations of Earth's temperature over the past half a million years, is only getting worse, and is very likely human in origin.

Perhaps Gore's loss in the disputed 2000 presidential race was a blessing in disguise. Dropping out of the political limelight has enabled Gore to re-direct his energy toward his environmental passion, and re-launch his image and career in ways no political pundit thought possible. Now, Gore is even promoting a series of rock concerts to be held around the world to preserve the environment. The former "Al Bore" (even though he never was that much of a bore, I know from my personal observations) is suddenly cool and hip.

I hope that the environmental movement, which picked up steam in the early 1990s with Earth Day, will pick up even more steam with Gore's efforts. And while at it, I am confident that those who say "environmental protections cost jobs" will be proven utterly wrong, as all the extra work needed to preserve the environment will create new jobs to more than offset possible job losses. Disregard for the environment, in fact, is already costing jobs, as in the case of big layoffs at American car companies, which have concentrated on gas guzzlers for too long.

Stop Global Warming

It's a MAN, baby!

A quick surf through Daily Kos' own Wikipedia entry on Mann Coulter led to this classic quotation:

"I think [women] should be armed but should not [be allowed to] vote. No, they all have to give up their vote, not just, you know, the lady clapping and me. The problem with women voting -- and your Communists will back me up on this -- is that, you know, women have no capacity to understand how money is earned. They have a lot of ideas on how to spend it. And when they take these polls, it's always more money on education, more money on child care, more money on day care."

Only a man could possibly be calling out for the wholesale disenfranchisement of womensfolk, because of the way women think. Proof that Coulter may look like a woman on the outside, but the mentality is still all man.

dKosopedia entry

Molly Ivins passes away

The voice of conscience in Texas, Molly Ivins, lost her battle with cancer yesterday.

I've always enjoyed reading her - particularly her book on W, Shrub.

May she rest in peace.