In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Goddammit.

Zuzu scooped me on the passing of Molly Ivins, Bush’s personal political Alecto, past mistress of righteous verbal asskicking.

This is from a column that ran in the San Francisco Chronicle just a few weeks ago:

This war is being prosecuted in our names, with our money, with our blood, against our will. Polls consistently show that less than 30 percent of the people want to maintain current troop levels. It is obscene and wrong for the president to go against the people in this fashion. And it’s doubly wrong for him to send 20,0000 more soldiers into this hellhole, as he reportedly will announce next week.

What happened to the nation that never tortured? The nation that wasn’t supposed to start wars of choice? The nation that respected human rights and life? A nation that from the beginning was against tyranny? Where have we gone? How did we let these people take us there? How did we let them fool us?

It’s a monstrous idea to put people in prison and keep them there. Since 1215, civil authorities have been obligated to tell people with what they are charged if they’re arrested. This administration has done away with rights first enshrined in the Magna Carta nearly 800 years ago, and we’ve let them do it.

This will be a regular feature of mine, like an old-fashioned newspaper campaign. Every column, I’ll write about this war until we find some way to end it. STOP IT NOW. BAM! Every day, we will review some factor we should have gotten right.


5 thoughts on Goddammit.

  1. I’m very sad. She left a gigantic footprint, though — and that makes me less sad about not having this type of warrior around but happy that she made such a difference with her life. (And, I know that her life influenced others, who will continue to fight for what’s right). … Of course, they won’t be as dead-on funny, especially regarding Shrub; that was a brilliance distinctly Molly’s.

  2. 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 how much fun it was.”

    Quoted at the end of John Nichols’ nice tribute in The Nation online:

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