Molly Ivins died yesterday of cancer at 62

The child of a wealthy Republican Houston family, her nationally syndicated column, which combined strong liberal views and populist humor, was syndicated in more than 400 newspapers. Ivins counted as her highest honors the Minneapolis police force's decision to name its mascot pig after her and her getting banned from the campus of Texas A&M University.

I know that some of you have a difficult time understanding how people with different political views can be friends, in spite of what they might publicly say about one another. Molly knew President Bush from the time they were both affluent teenagers in Houston. "Molly Ivins was a Texas original," the President said yesterday in a statement. "I respected her convictions, her passionate belief in the power of words, and her ability to turn a phrase. She fought her illness [breast cancer] with that same passion." In July, she had written:"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."

My favorite quote: "....our very own dreaded Legislature is almost upon us. Jan. 9 and they'll all be here, leaving many a village without its idiot." .