Molly Ivins is dead, we have lost a great light

It is with great sorrow that HotFlash notes the passing of the gallant Molly Ivins after her last battle with inflammatory breast cancer. This Texas tornado had style, wit and grace to spare. Molly had gone to high school with Dubya and had his number early on. She sounded the alarm before his run for TX governor and repeated it often in her columns over the years. This is from her last article, published January 12, 2007:

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 Jan. 27. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, "Stop it, now!"

The whole article is here as well as links to more of her writing.

More things to click on:

• light a candle for Molly (if you're into such things)
  
• Molly's breast cancer survivor page
  
• a Molly anthology from her old paper, the Texas Observer "Sharp reporting from the strangest state in the union"
• and the Dildo Diaries (adult Molly, for ditto only)
• Buy you some Molly books.
• And the New York Times, which couldn't keep her when she was alive, has written her a fine obituary.

So. We have our orders from the lady. "Stop this war."
(image from the Texas Observer)

Coca Cola and the Polar Bears

I wrote this message to the Coca Cola people today:

Dear Coca Cola Corporation,

I understand that the Coca Cola company was recently asked by Environmental Action www.environmental-action.org to support the US Fish and Wildlife Service's proposed listing of the polar bear as a threatened species. Your response, I have been informed, was, "When the cause is outside of our expertise, as is the case with polar bear conservation, we rely on others to approach us for financial support."

This is not a good answer. Coca Cola was not asked for money but for support -- what did you think Environmental Action was suggesting, that you bribe the US Fish and Wildlife Service? A letter from Coca Cola to F&W would be nice. A linked e-mail support form from your website to F&W would be nice. You already promote several worthy causes/issues on your website -- literacy, education, CO2 emissions, cycling -- you know how this is done.

Environmental Action is now specifically requesting that you link to their send-an-email-to-save-the-polar-bear page, http://www.environmental-action.org/enviroaction.asp?id=2081&id4=HP. That is *really* simple thing for you to do and would take your web techies about 4 minutes, including time for coffee.

I would be really happy to see Coca Cola do this, especially since Coke has associated itself with polar bears for over a decade. This alone would make you something of an 'expert' on polat bears. Your company has done pretty well out of the association but the bears haven't benefitted much so far. Time, I think, to give back.

Sincerely,

HotFlash

BTW, possibly not the biggest Coke drinker on the planet, but we get through 24 cans of diet Coke in a week at my house. It adds up. But it doesn't have to be Coke, you see.

If you like polar bears and have a few minutes to spare, drop the folks at Coke a line via Environment Action.

(image from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and they have more.)

Can I tell my granddaughters I was there when George Bush started WWIII?

Last night in his speech President Bush had the opportunity to change course in Iraq and announce to the American people that he would begin to bring our troops home. Instead, he has made the choice to escalate our involvement in Iraq’s civil war by sending 21,500 more troops to the region. According to ABC news, the first 80 battalions were arriving in Baghdad before he even spoke. This increase in troops is in complete opposition to the will of the majority of the US people and his military advisors, not to mention the people in Iraq who we are supposedly liberating.

He calls this a surge, but it's not even a splash. Even if you wanted to 'win the war', this is too little, and too late, to accomplish what he says it will. 21,500 troops are *nothing*. Consider: Baghdad has (had) a population of 7 million. Chicago has less than 3 million people. 21,500 people would not even half-fill Comiskey Park (capacity 52k). Can anyone seriously think that a bunch of people who wouldn't even half-fill Comiskey Park could 'pacify' the city of Chicago? Factor in that the troops are green recruits fresh from training and battle-weary veterans who have had their tours extended multiple times and their leaves cancelled, and they are fighting against people who are defending their homes and families -- and who also have guns, rockets and IEDs and know the city like the back of their hand. This foolishness will only get more US troops and more Iraqi's killed and maimed.

President Bush's refusal to permit congressional oversight as required by the Constitution is alarming. Together with his insistence on violence on every possible scale it becomes terrifying. We must use every remedy at our disposal and with the utmost urgency to defend the Constitution, the American people and the people of the world against this rampaging man. I fear that we may soon see the nuclear nightmare unleashed and God help us if it is by an American president. We will have the ashes of the world on our hands.

If you think what Pres Bush is doing is OK, that's fine too, but so far it looks like we're being driven off the cliff. And since the point of our elected representatives is to, um , represent us, I am asking you to call or e-mail your Representative and your two Senators and tell them how you feel about the escalation of the war if you have not already done so. CSpan has a searchable directory with by name, state, committee, and party with phone numbers and smail and e-mail addresses here. In addition, could you please visit the website of Senator Harry Reid www.giveemhellharry.com/page/petition/Escalation/fdcblf
and leave a message saying what you want Congress to do about this? As Senate majority leader, Senator Reid is the person coordinating the resistance to President Bush's unconstitutional 'unilateral executive' presidency and his expansion of the war.

Thanks and peace,

HotFlash