Sail On Molly

     Political columnist and satirist Molly (Mary Tyler) Ivins lost her seven-year battle with cancer and joined what her friend Bill Moyers called “that great Purgatory of Journalists in the Sky,” January 31.
     Molly was a frank and hard working journalist who smoked too much and worked too hard and finally was overcome.
     But telling it like it is was never a problem.
     Paul Krugman the columnist wrote in The New York Times of “her extraordinary prescience on the central political issue of our time” – the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
     Molly warned about the dangers of “’the peace, that sure looks like a quagmire,” in January, July and October of 2003.
     Undoubtedly many people disagreed with Molly who described herself as a “loudmouth Texas dame”, while serving as a columnist who was syndicated in 400 newspapers from her Austin, Texas-base.
     Ralph Nader said :
     “Molly Ivins skewered pompous politicians, raked over corporate criminals and spotlighted the struggles of regular folks against the repressions and maraudings of the Big Boys and their Big Power.”
     When the end was near, Molly found time to speak out to aspiring journalists:
     “So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it.
     “Lord, let your laughter ring forth.
     “Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce.
     “And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after you how much fun it was.”
Geoffrey