Molly Ivins--A woman, a Texan, and a Kick-Ass Human Being

Justice, fairness and flipping

Molly Ivins, Creators Syndicate
Published June 29, 2006


AUSTIN, Texas -- And then along comes Cut 'n' Run Casey. We spend all last week listening to cut 'n' run Democrats talking about their cut 'n' run strategy for Iraq, and the only issue is whether they want to cut 'n' run by the end of this year or to cut 'n' run by the end of next year, and oh, by the way, did I mention that Republicans had been choreographed to refer to the Democrats' plans as cut 'n' run?

As Vice President Dick ("Last Throes") Cheney said, redeployment of our troops would be "the worst possible thing we could do. ... No matter how you carve it--you can call it anything you want--but basically it is packing it in, going home, persuading and convincing and validating the theory that the Americans don't have the stomach for this fight."

Then right in the middle of Cut 'n' Run Week, the top American commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., held a classified briefing at the Pentagon and revealed his plan to reduce the 14 combat brigades now in Iraq to five or six. And here's the best part: Rather than wait till the end of this year or, heaven forfend, next year, Casey wants to start moving those troops out in September, just before whatever it is that happens in early November. They don't call him George W. Jr. for nothing.

One has to admit, the party never ends with the Bush administration. The only question about Cut 'n' Run Week is whether they meant to punctuate a weeklong festival of referring to Democrats as the party of "retreat" and "the white flag" with this rather abrupt announcement of their own cut 'n' run program. Was it an error of timing?

I say no. I say Karl Rove doesn't make timing mistakes. This administration thoroughly believes the media and the people have a collective recollection of no more than one day. Five days of cut 'n' run, one day off and BAM, you get your own cut 'n' run plan out there.

Republicans have, in fact, a well-developed sense of aesthetics. Regard the superb pairing of the decision not to raise the minimum wage with the continued push to repeal the estate tax.

Is that suave or what?

Then there was the very slick move on the Voting Rights Act extension. No amendments, no exemptions, the South rose again and blocked the whole deal.

And now, on to flag burning. "What flag burning?" you may well ask. Just because something doesn't happen is no reason not to outlaw it. Or, for that matter, not to amend the Constitution of the United States.

I am considering introducing an amendment to require everyone in the audience at "Peter Pan" to clap for Tinkerbell. I believe 99.8 percent of them do, but that's no reason not to amend the Constitution. I don't believe we should allow people to be different. If someone wants to burn a flag as symbolic political protest, I believe they should be beheaded. Also, flipping the bird at George W. should merit the same--but not flipping off Clinton, Bill or Hillary.

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Molly Ivins is a syndicated columnist based in Austin, Texas. E-mail: [email protected]

Give'm hell Texas!

Molly Ivins

Houston is the Calcutta of America

Click to expand...

She is a Texas pistol

I've always loved Molly Ivins.

Now as for Bush & the Rep........

Bh

Government bent rules for Enron

Government bent rules for Enron

Molly Ivins, Creators Syndicate
Published June 1, 2006


HOUSTON -- A Houston jury convicted both Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, despite the fact that Kenny Boy packed his Bible to the courtroom every day.

Since it is a long and noble Texas tradition for the accused to fight all allegations by finding Jesus, this indicates a major degree of guilt. (While on trial for murder, T. Cullen Davis, the Fort Worth millionaire, not only found Jesus but also threw a big party to celebrate at the mansion, with piles of shrimp and BBQ and a soundtrack that announced over and over throughout the grounds that night, "The son of Stinky Davis has found the son of God.")

Meanwhile, Houston reacted as though the Rockets had won the NBA championship.

Many a thoughtful analyst has given us to understand that Lay and Skilling are guilty of arrogance and hubris. Actually, they were convicted of fraud--massive, overwhelming and monstrous fraud. They also stole money and looted pension funds. They rigged energy markets and almost drove California (seventh-largest economy in the world) into bankruptcy.

And all along the way, this monstrous fraud was connected to government. Enron bought the politicians who bent the rules that let them steal and con. Lay and Skilling talked state after state into following the California model and deregulating electricity. Happy summer, everyone.

And then, of course, there was the thumb-the-nose thievery, the offshore partnerships tricked out with the clever names so insiders would know how slick they were.

As the late Texas U.S. Rep. Wright Patman Sr. observed: "Many of our wealthiest and most powerful citizens are very greedy. This fact has many times been demonstrated."

The interesting thing about Lay and Skilling is they weren't trying to evade the rules, they were rigging the rules in their favor. The fix was in--much of it law passed by former Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, whose wife, Wendy, was on the board of Enron.

Where does that sense of entitlement come from? What makes a Ken Lay think he can call the governor of Texas and ask him to soften up Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania on electricity deregulation? Not that being governor of Texas has ever been an office of much majesty, but a corporate robber wouldn't think of doing that if it were Brian Schweitzer of Montana or Bill Richardson of New Mexico.

The extent to which not just state legislatures but the Congress of the United States are now run by large corporate special interests is beyond mere recognition as fact. The takeover is complete. Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay put in place a system in which it's not a question of letting the head of the camel into the tent--the camels run the place.

It has all happened quite quickly, in less than 20 years. Laws were changed and regulations repealed until an Enron could set sail without responsibility, supervision or accountability. The business pages are fond of trumpeting the merits of "transparency" and "accountability," but you will notice whenever there is a chance to roll back any New Deal regs, the corporations go for broke trying to get rid of them entirely.

I'm not attempting to make this a partisan deal--only 73 percent of Enron's political donations went to Republicans. But I'll be damned if Enron's No. 1 show-pony politician, George W. Bush, should be allowed to walk away from this. Ken Lay gave $139,500 to Bush over the years. He chipped in $100,000 to the Bush-Cheney Inaugural Fund in 2000 and $10,000 to the Bush-Cheney Recount Fund.

Plus, Enron's PAC gave Bush $113,800 for his '94 and '98 political races and another came $312,500 from its executives. Bush got 14 free rides on Enron's corporate jets during the 2000 campaign, including at least two during the recount. Until January 2004, Enron was Bush's top contributor.

And what did it get for its money? Ken Lay was on Bush's short list to be energy secretary. He not only almost certainly served on Cheney's energy task force, there is every indication that the task force's energy plan, the one we have been on for five years, is in fact the Enron plan.

Lay used Bush as an errand boy, calling the governor of Texas and having him phone Ridge to vouch for the swell energy deregulation bills Enron was sponsoring in states all over the country.

It seems to me we all understand this is a systemic problem.

We need to reform the political system or we'll lose the democracy. I don't think it's that hard. It doesn't take rocket science. We've done it before successfully at the presidential level and tried it several places at the state level.

Public campaign financing isn't perfect and can doubtless be improved upon as we go. Let us begin.

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Molly Ivins is a syndicated columnist based in Austin, Texas. E-mail: [email protected]

I love Molly!!

She rocks!

Is the deep-eye look the solution?

Is the deep-eye look the solution?

Molly Ivins, a syndicated columnist based in Austin, Texas: Creators Syndicate

Published June 16, 2006


AUSTIN, Texas -- I think we need to stop President Bush from looking people in the eye. On Tuesday, he told the new prime minister of Iraq that he had come to Iraq to "look you in the eye."

Even if Middle Easterners are kindly disposed toward looking one another in the eye--say it's not considered rude or worse--would they know what to make of Bush's declaration to U.S. troops that he came to look at "Prime Minister Maliki in the eyes and determine whether or not he is as dedicated to a free Iraq as you are."

People interpret things differently. Not long ago, I was in the beautiful home of an exceptionally rich person, even by Texas standards. And I saw what I took to be a lovely sort of "treatment" on the spiral staircase--a swath of cloth draped artistically about the twisting spiral. Commentator and author Bud Trillin was with me, and he thought the painters had been there and just left a drop cloth on the stair rail, which is the reason you can't take Bud anywhere. Maybe it's like that in the Middle East with the deep-eye look--people just can't tell.

Now here's the media all in a tizzy because the president went to Iraq without telling hardly anyone--a big shock. I don't want to ruin anyone's surprise, but I trust you have considered that the president couldn't let anyone know he was coming in advance because the bad guys would try to kill him. Bush said his message to the Iraqi people is, "Seize the moment." Do we think they knew what he meant? Is carpe diem part of Iraqis' general knowledge? Then, the president urged the Iraqis to end sectarian strife. I, too, think this would be a good idea. Thought so for at least three years. Basically, what I'm getting at here is, do you suppose the rest of the world just assumes George W. Bush is a moron when he goes overseas?

I realize the trip was arranged to try to take advantage of the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, for Bush to "get a bounce out of it," as they say back in Washington politics. But I'm just not sure there's much bounce left in Iraq. It's not good enough anymore to turn a corner or see a light at the end of the tunnel--too many corners, too many lights later. I guess we can still seize the moment, although the confusion over how al-Zarqawi died kind of undercuts that.

The trouble with Iraq is what keeps happening there. Number of people killed keeps going up, signs of militias out of control, sectarian violence, spreading anarchy ... not good.

Years ago, Mrs. T. Cullen Davis, of tacky Texas murder trial fame, said as her husband tried to grab a fabulous necklace he gave her, "This ain't no takesie-backsie." (You may now take a deep breath while considering the depth of that comment.)

I feel that Iraq is also a no takesie-backsie. It is a putrid human, social and political disaster. The people who got us into this should not be forgiven--they should not even get a "bounce" from it. There is only one thing I want from them--to get us and our Army out of there, instead of cavalierly announcing that will be left to "future presidents."

An administration in search of morals

An administration in search of morals

Molly Ivins, Creators Syndicate

Published June 22, 2006


AUSTIN, Texas -- Gee, the Republicans seem to have lost their moral compass since Tom DeLay quit Congress as House majority leader. Who knew it could get worse without that pillar of rectitude from Texas? What a snakes' nest of corruption and nastiness.

The latest involves House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and a land deal.

Hastert had sold to a developer a 69-acre portion of a 196-acre farm that had been purchased in his wife's name. The developer also purchased an adjacent plot of roughly equal size owned in a land trust by Hastert and two of his "longtime supporters."

The area west of Chicago is growing madly, and Hastert--through an earmark appropriation process--dedicated $207 million in taxpayer dollars as the first appropriation on the Prairie Parkway, which will run 5.5 miles from the Hastert land. Went through in the fall of 2005. Three months later, Hastert and his partners sold the land for a $3 million total profit, $1.8 million to Hastert.

In a staggering display of brass-faced gall, Hastert is now claiming a freeway running 5.5 miles from his land is not close enough to affect the price of the farm. Then what did the developer pay the extra $3 million for? Hastert is said to be furious with the Sunlight Foundation, a Washington-based ethics advocacy group, which broke the story, and the Chicago newspapers, which pounced on it gleefully. This is what I don't get about Republicans. Apparently they think they are genuinely entitled to get these special deals.

Also making news is Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), who is in deep with a lobbying firm that is el stinko. This wouldn't matter so much if Lewis were just another congressman, but he is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, the one that hands out the money. Lewis' family and friends have profited nicely from contractors and lobbyists who court his favor. Such cozy arrangements.

Just for example, one Lewis aide, who had gone to work for the lobbying firm and then returned to the congressman's staff, was paid $2 million by the firm in 2004 while on the public payroll.

With a fine sense of ethical behavior, members of the House have voted to continue earmarking, including $500,000 for a swimming pool in Lewis' district (bringing the total federal money allotted for this pool to $1 million).

Don't Democrats have scandals, too? Yes, Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana is in deep doo-doo. Among other things, federal agents found $90,000 in cash in his freezer. So the Democratic caucus kicked him off his important seat on the Ways and Means Committee. Republicans just keep on trucking.

Meanwhile, the entire Department of Homeland Security is beginning to look like a Republican playground. According to The New York Times, more than 90 former officials at DHS or the White House Office of Homeland Security are now "executives, consultants or lobbyists for companies that collectively do billions of dollars' worth of domestic security business." Now isn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?

Can Republicans run anything right? Where is the CEO administration that was supposed to straighten out government? It may be that President Bush deserves credit for having initially opposed a DHS, knowing that Republicans would make a giant new federal agency. But he later changed his mind and supported the thing. The rest of us thought we were getting an agency that would provide homeland security, but what an endless saga of misspent money, stupid decisions, waste, fraud, abuse and political logrolling--and still no port protection.

It seems to me there is a direct connection between the Republicans' inability to run anything governmental ("Heckuva job, Brownie") and the fact that they don't believe in government.

The simplest purposes of government have long been defined for us--to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. It is, or should be, a benign enterprise, making life better for citizens.

I carry no special brief for government--many years of studying the Texas Legislature will disenchant anyone. But if you are put in charge of government, the least you can do is run it well. Bush is giving us fat, bloated, inefficient, corrupt government, all of it running on a huge deficit--not counting the expense and growing body count in Iraq.

As the White House said--"2,500 is just a number."

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Molly Ivins is a syndicated columnist based in Austin, Texas. E-mail: [email protected]

MAYBE IF WE TRIED A SLINGSHOT

MAYBE IF WE TRIED A SLINGSHOT

Molly Ivins, Creators Syndicate

THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2006

Y'all, this isn't gonna work.

North Korea is threatening to launch a long-range missile against us, and we're threatening to reply with an anti-missile missile.

Sorry to remind you, but our "missile defense system" does not work. Good old Star Wars flopped again when tested in 2004 -- in fact, it failed to launch. Since then, several tests have been delayed or cancelled due to technical problems. Just because we spend $130 billion on a bad idea doesn't mean we can ever get it to work. The latest Bush budget has $10.7 billion for Star Wars, almost twice as much as Homeland Security is spending on customs and border patrol.

The good news is that the North Korean rocket doesn't work, either. The last time they fired a long-range missile, it went 1,300 kilometers (807 miles) and could not put a payload into orbit.

The Korean missile was supposedly tanked up and ready to go more than a week ago, but, oops, experts now say if that were true it would have been fired by now, since the fuel is highly unstable.

If you think the "military standoff" with North Korea sounds silly, wait'll you hear about the diplomatic maneuvering. As you may recall, the United States refused to have bilateral talks with North Korea on the grounds that A) Kim Jong-Il is a nutcase and B) we were already committed to multilateral talks, including South Korea and China.

This kerfuffle went on for quite some time, but so did the six-party talks. Last year, the North Koreans agreed to abandon their nuclear program in return for a security guarantee and economic aid -- but in the meantime, it has come to doubt U.S. sincerity on these pledges. Hard to see how that could happen with such delicate diplomatic players as Dick Cheney and John Bolton at work.

Whenever I need a good laugh, I just think of Bolton's current title: "Ambassador John Bolton" -- ha, ha, ha. Even better, "Ambassador to the United Nations." While there, he has been making Dale Carnegie proud ("How to Win Friends and Influence People"). Bolton's latest U.N. trick was to pitch a wall-eyed fit over some mild (and justified) criticism by a Brit. Good thing the Brits are our closest allies, at least for now.

I don't mind leaving our relations with the Brits to "Ambassador John Bolton," but do we think it's a good idea to have him in charge of our relations with the nutcase who has a missile with unstable fuel? Then again, we might as well leave it to Bolton, since William Perry, former secretary of defense, a Democrat, thinks we should pre-emptively strike their nuke while it's on the launch pad. Better than trying to hit it in midair, of course.

Republican Richard Lugar, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has called for direct talks with the North Koreans on the issue, which sounds a lot saner.

As the American Progress Action Fund points out, the real problem is that the Bush administration has no policy on North Korea. "For five years, the Bush administration has been paralyzed over North Korea. Hardliners such as Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and U.N. Ambassador Bolton have rejected serious engagement in favor of a confrontational approach that has backfired. Over time, North Korea has withdrawn from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, reprocessed fissionable material, increased its nuclear arsenal and is now on the verge of starting missile testing."

Boy, that policy worked out well.

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Molly Ivins is a syndicated columnist based in Austin, Texas. E-mail: [email protected]

Politics of greed

Politics of greed

Molly Ivins, Creators Syndicate

Published July 13, 2006


AUSTIN, Texas -- I don't get it. What's the percentage in keeping the minimum wage at $5.15 an hour? After nine years? This is such an unnecessary and nasty Republican move. Congress has voted seven times to raise its own wages since last the minimum wage budged. Of course, Congress always raises its own salary in the dark of night, hoping no one will notice. But now it does the same with the minimum wage, quietly killing an increase.

Anyone who doesn't think this is a country where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer needs to check the numbers--this is Bush country, where a rising tide lifts all yachts.

According to the current issue of Mother Jones:

- One in four U.S. jobs pays less than a poverty-level income;

- Since 2000, the number of Americans living below the poverty line at any one time has risen steadily. Now, 13 percent--37 million Americans--are officially poor;

- Bush's tax cuts (extended until 2010) save those earning between $20,000 and $30,000 an average of $10 a year, while those making $1 million are saved $42,700;

- Bush has diverted $750 million to "healthy marriages" by shifting funds from social services, mostly child care;

- Bush has proposed cutting housing programs for low-income people with disabilities by 50 percent.

A series of related stats--starting with the news that two out of three new jobs are in the suburbs--shows how the poor are further disadvantaged in the job hunt by lack of public or private transportation.

Meanwhile, for those who have been following the collapse of the pension system, please note a series in The Wall Street Journal by Ellen Schultz taking a hard look at executive pension obligations:

"Benefits for executives now account for a significant share of pension obligations in the United States, an average of 8 percent [of large companies]. Sometimes a company's obligation for a single executive's pension approaches $100 million.

"These liabilities are largely hidden, because corporations don't distinguish them from overall pension obligations in their federal financial findings.

"As a result, the savings that companies make by curtailing pensions of regular retirees--which have totaled billions of dollars in recent years--can mask a rising cost of benefits for executives.

"Executive pensions, even when they won't be paid until years from now, drag down the earnings today. And they do so in a way that's disproportionate to their size, because they aren't funded with dedicated assets."

It seems to me that we've seen enough evidence over the years that the capitalist system is not going to be destroyed by an outside challenger like communism--it will be destroyed by its own internal greed. Greed is the greatest danger as we develop an increasingly winner-take-all system. And voices like The Wall Street Journal's editorial page encourage this mentality by insisting that any form of regulation is bad. But for whom?

It is so discouraging to watch this country become less and less fair--"justice for all" seems like an embarrassingly archaic tag. Republicans have rigged the "lottery of life" in this country in ways we don't even know about yet. The new bankruptcy law is unfair, and the new college loan rules are worse. The system has been stacked so that large corporations have an inside track over small businesses in getting government contracts. We won't see the full consequences of this mean and careless legislation for years, but it is starting to affect us already.

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Molly Ivins is a syndicated columnist based in Austin, Texas. E-mail: [email protected]

here in the tokers den she's preaching to the choir!

here in the tokers den she's preaching to the choir!

this "neo-capitalist american polictical climate" makes me (and most certainly my comrade scegy) suffer a nuclear winter inside when the current north american governmental sentiment which is teetering on severe karmic retribution is brought to the fore front of our minds.

thanks for shooting molly into my attention passtheboobie, her words are a serious mindfuck, in a very good way.

I got a few bits of bubble hash here which I am going to light up and then reread her articles, because goddamnit Molly makes SENSE. COMMON SENSE! I have daydreamed many a daydream assuming I was Ben Franklin in a previous life and besides mostly "flashbacks" to liberty bong induced pyschedelia sure does irk me to the core that america has a wipe the slate clean or the collective memory of the people and wages a cunningly unscrupulous treacherous harmful-propaganda laden campaign of recreating the political landscape into truely a more republican centralized government with less authority(regard) for the courts and legislative branches of government. When just a few generations ago the american colonies beat the tyrant and their minions into submission the american agenda has repealed its Constitution and the blood tears smiles defeats and victories endorsing each letter.

Why is Russia a member of G-8?

The geo-economical climate is centralized on fossil fuel resources (who got em vs. who doesnt) and or religious affliations it seems. If that isn't a recipe for some more prolonged violence in the short-term since the lack of collective comprehension has an "escapist" attitude ohh what great challenges we have ahead of us.

If you just caught my post be kind and REEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNDDDDD! Molly is a Kickass Human! much love


Besides I have been stomping my hat since the bloody electoral college debacle of the yearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr 2000.
who knew a douche could be so bad!

Fundamental Darkness, we all got it. However, some have it more than others! Thats why I chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, because since I am Myoho Renge Kyo I can percieve my life and know that shit as bad as its dealt I'm dealing with the same hand so to speak and the best I can do is hold my head high and chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo and accept every damn challenge along the way as the next best chance to go above and beyond our expectations. You see all these psuedo victories and defeats are just facts of life, your continuity with Myoho Renge Kyo is/hasbeen/willbe or your BUDDHANATURE shall continue to illuminate your glorious path to enlightenment.

To embrace Molly, is to Embrace the purest essence of life, the Myoho Renge Kyo within Molly yourself and myself.

So then my sincere congratulations are in order for america, its citizen's and the KarlRoves entrenched with the people consumed in a great fire. This challenge will give all humans the greatest challenges that face humanity and we shall catapult ourselves beyond recognition of our former collective self. At least thats where I'm going, I welcome the challenges!

en' garde!

Be brave be strong be COMPASSIONATE, even GW Bush has a Buddhanature just like you! When you see it, let me know....

More Molly....

More Molly....

AUSTIN, Texas -- Never let it never be said our president does not provide laughs, even as we wobble on the rim of war in the Middle East.

Look what a good time Vladimir Putin had with him. Bush, responding to questions from the international press corps on his conversation with Putin the previous evening, said, "I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world like Iraq, where there is a free press and free religion, and I told him that a lot of people in our country, you know, would hope that Russia would do the same thing."

Putin, with a fairly straight face, replied, "We certainly would not like to have the same of kind of democracy they have in Iraq, I'll tell you that quite honestly." Don't you hate it when the international press corps laughs at what a stoop Bush is? Bush, who fancies himself something of a fast-reply artist, said, "Just wait." Heh, heh.

I think the problem is the rest of the world doesn't understand Dekes (Delta Kappa Epsilon). We need a Deke short-course in embassies around the globe.

Another citizen looking a bit nonplussed at the G8 Summit was Tony Blair, listening as Bush, noisily chewing with his mouth open, said, "See, the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it's over. I feel like telling Kofi to get on the phone with Assad and make something happen."

Could he possibly believe that? You could probably suggest unleashing Israel on Syria, except the Israelis don't seem interested in the program. One, they don't know who would replace President Assad. And two, it could get them stuck there for years -- kind of like, oh, you know, that great democracy "what'sitsname."

Meanwhile, the nation needs to take a break from FOX and get a grip -- the 24/7 drumbeat for war is silly.

Back to politics for comic relief. The most luckless candidate so far this year is Katherine Harris, now 30 points behind Democrat Bill Nelson in the Florida Senate race. Three campaign managers have quit on Ms. Harris, not to mention a dozen or so other staffers. The latest defector, Glenn Hodas, said her "tantrums were uncontrollable." Another former campaign manager, Jamie Miller, said no one from Florida would work for her: "It's a nuclear wasteland in there. Anyone who goes in is going to be tainted."

Some of them are upset by the fact that she's involved with a corrupt defense contractor who showed up in the Duke Cunningham scandal. Ms. Harris also loaned her own campaign $3 million, but then took back $100,000 so she could refurbish her house in Washington, D.C.

Also providing comic relief these days is Holy Joe Lieberman, senator from Connecticut, Al Gore's 2000 running mate, and the most annoyingly sanctimonious person in politics. Lieberman has more than miffed Connecticut Democrats by backing the war in Iraq and other Bush policies, setting off a big primary fight. Lieberman now threatens to run as an independent if he loses the primary, thus opening the seat to a Republican and further alienating Democrats.

Brother Ralph Reed, alas, tanked in Georgia. Do you think he knows Baptists don't approve of gambling? Meanwhile, in Texas, we're all excited about the possibility of having Tom DeLay back on the ballot in his old district. You must admit the Republicans have lost their moral compass since DeLay quit. Now, if we could just have a free press and free religion like Iraq!

To find out more about Molly Ivins and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.


Originally Published on Thursday July 20, 2006

REALITY-BASED CANDIDATE

REALITY-BASED CANDIDATE

Molly Ivins, Creators Syndicate


AUSTIN, Texas -- Dear desperate Democrats,

Here's what we do. We run Bill Moyers for president. I am serious as a stroke about this. It's simple, cheap and effective, and it will move the entire spectrum of political discussion in this country. Moyers is the only public figure who can take the entire discussion and shove it toward moral clarity just by being there.

The poor man who is currently our president has reached such a point of befuddlement that he thinks stem cell research is the same as taking human lives, but that 40,000 dead Iraqi civilians are progress toward democracy.

Bill Moyers has been grappling with how to fit moral issues to political issues ever since he left Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and went to work for Lyndon Johnson in the teeth of the Vietnam War. Moyers worked for years in television, seriously addressing the most difficult issues of our day. He has studied all different kinds of religions and different approaches to spirituality. He's no Holy Joe, but he is a serious man. He opens minds -- he doesn't scare people. He includes people in, not out. And he sees through the dark search for a temporary political advantage to the clear ground of the Founders. He listens and he respects others.

Do I think Bill Moyers can win the presidency? No, that seems like a very long shot to me. The nomination? No, that seems like a very long shot to me.

Then why run him? Think, imagine, if seven or eight other Democratic candidates, all beautifully coiffed and triangulated and carefully coached to say nothing that will offend anyone, stand on stage with Bill Moyers in front of cameras for a national debate … what would happen? Bill Moyers would win, would walk away with it, just because he doesn't triangulate or calculate or trim or try to straddle the issues. Bill Moyers doesn't have to endorse a constitutional amendment against flag burning or whatever wedge issue du jour Republicans have come up with. He is not afraid of being called "unpatriotic." And besides, he is a wise and a kind man who knows how to talk on TV.

It won't take much money -- file for him in a couple of early primaries and just get him into the debates. Think about the potential Democratic candidates. Every single one of them needs SPINE, needs political courage. What Moyers can do is not only show them what it looks like and indeed what it is, but also how people respond to it. I'm damned if I want to go through another presidential primary with everyone trying to figure out who has the best chance to win instead of who's right. I want to vote for somebody who's good and brave and who should win.

One time in the Johnson years, LBJ called on Moyers to say the blessing at a dinner. "SPEAK UP, Bill," Lyndon roared. "I can't hear you." Moyers replied, "I wasn't speaking to you, sir." That's the point of a run by Moyers: He doesn't change to whom he is speaking just because some president is yelling at him.

To let Moyers know what you think of this idea, write him at PO Box 309, Bernardsville, NJ, 07924.

Originally Published on Tuesday July 25, 2006

24/7 COVERAGE DOESN'T COVER IT

24/7 COVERAGE DOESN'T COVER IT

Molly Ivins, Creators Syndicate


AUSTIN, Texas -- State of play in the Middle East: Lebanon, extensively damaged plus a half-million refugees; Syria, tired of being dissed; Israel, disproportionate. Are you kidding? Did it work last time they occupied Lebanon? Condi Rice, undercut by neocons at home? Iraq, completely fallen apart. Iran, only winner? Everybody else, mad at Bush. Most under-covered story, collapse of Iraq.

And what do I think this is? A media story, of course.

From the first day of 24/7 coverage, you could tell this was big. By the time Chapter 9,271 of the conflicts in the Middle East had gotten its own logo, everyone knew it was HUGE. I mean, like, bigger than Natalee Holloway. Then anchormen began to arrive in the Middle East and people like Anderson Cooper and Tucker Carlson -- real experts. Then Newt Gingrich -- and who would know better than Newt? -- declared it was World War III. Let's ratchet up the fear here -- probably good for Republican campaigning.

By then, of course, you couldn't find a television story about the back corridors of diplomacy and what was, or more importantly, what was not going on there. Between Anderson Cooper and Tucker Carlson, it was obviously World War III, and besides, there were a bunch of American refugees in Lebanon who couldn't get out, and so, elements of the Katrina story appeared, Thank God Anderson was there.

Meanwhile, people who should have known better were all in a World III SNIT over Chapter 9,271. Actually, they all knew better, but it was a better story if you overplayed it -- sort of like watching a horror movie that you know will turn out OK in the end, but meanwhile you get to enjoy this delicious chill of horror up your spine. … What if it really was The End? I mean, any fool could see it could easily careen out of control, and when George W. Bush is all you've got for rational, fair-minded grown-ups, well, there it is.

If I may raise a nasty political possibility. One good reason for the Bush administration to leave Chapter 9,271 to burn out of control is that this administration thrives on fear. Fear has been the text and the subtext of every Republican campaign since 9/11. Endless replay of the footage from 9/11 has graced every Republican campaign since. Could it be that 9/11 is beginning to pall, to feel as overplayed as Natalee Holloway? Fear is actually more dangerous than war in the Middle East. For those who spin dizzily toward World War III, the Apocalypse, the Rapture -- always with that delicious frisson of terror -- the slow, patient negotiations needed to get it back under control are Not News.

All we have to fear, said FDR, is fear itself. And when we are afraid, we do damage to both ourselves and to the Constitution. Our history is rank with these fits of fear. We get so afraid of some dreadful menace, so afraid of anarchists, Reds, crime or drugs or communism or illegal aliens or terrorists that we think we can make ourselves safer by making ourselves less free. We damage the Constitution because we're so afraid. We engage in torture and worse because we're afraid. We damage our standing in the world, our own finest principles, out of fear. And television enjoys scaring us. One could say cynically, "It's good for their ratings," but in truth, I think television people enjoy scary movies, too. And besides, it makes it all a bigger story for them.

What's fascinating about this as a media story is how much attention can be given to one story while still only about a fifth of it gets told. The amount of misinformation routinely reported on television is astounding. For example, "Israel is our only democratic ally in the Middle East…" How long has Turkey been a real republic and ally?

The more surprising development is how completely one story drives out another. At other times, the collapse of Iraq would have been news.

To find out more about Molly Ivins and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

Originally Published on Thursday July 27, 2006

disco: thank you for encuragiing me to read this through!
passs: i now see even clearer why i SHOULD be on that debate meeting yesterday, i sure will not miss the next one!
mother nature will provail as her father is the universe!
i've lately come across a few political stories and bits of information, i don't get much since i don't have a TV any more(thankyouforthat!). what i summened was that even at the TOP, there are ppl that don't get the benefits or even don't WANT them, and they'r moving back, sticking to their paths. OUR fortune is that we(common ppl) are beggining to see that there are bad and good ways...the situation is becomming obvious, and soon or even now, we have to choose what is good for US not just for me!
under all this grace, there are still laws of the Universe, we are the guests!

i love each and everyone, within YOU is the power to see that!