Missing Molly

Molly Ivins did not go quietly. From her last column, Stand Up Against the Surge, about a month ago:

Bush's call for a "surge" or "escalation" also goes against the Iraq Study Group. Talk is that the White House has planned to do anything but what the group suggested after months of investigation and proposals based on much broader strategic implications. ...

A surge is not acceptable to the people in this country -- we have voted overwhelmingly against this war in polls (about 80 percent of the public is against escalation, and a recent Military Times poll shows only 38 percent of active military want more troops sent) and at the polls. We know this is wrong. The people understand, the people have the right to make this decision, and the people have the obligation to make sure our will is implemented. ...

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. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush's proposed surge. If you can, go to the peace march in Washington on January 27. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, "Stop it, now!"

Rest in peace doesn't seem right somehow. Rest in ruckus, perhaps, with banging pots and pans and the clanging of bells.

A few more choice Molly Ivins tidbits for the road:

"The thing about democracy, beloveds, is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet. It requires a certain relish for confusion."

"Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful."

"What stuns me most about contemporary politics is not even that the system has been so badly corrupted by money. It is that so few people get the connection between their lives and what the bozos do in Washington and our state capitols."

"What you need is sustained outrage...there's far too much unthinking respect given to authority."

"The first rule of holes: when you're in one, stop digging."

Worth reading:

Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?

Nothin' But Good Times Ahead

You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You