Good-bye, Molly Ivins

All of us here at the Dollars & Sense office are mourning the death of a great ally in the struggle for economic and social justice—and for wit, style, and conscience in journalism.

I heard the news from Bob Harris, who links to the New York Times obituary. But visit Molly's journalistic home, The Texas Observer, for the fullest Molly retrospective.

Quintessential Molly:

There are two kinds of humor. One kind makes us chuckle about our foibles and our shared humanity—like what Garrison Keillor does. The other kind holds people up to public contempt and ridicule—that's what I do. Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful. I only aim at the powerful. When satire is aimed at the powerless, it is not only cruel—it's vulgar.

And that's why we loved her, and will miss her and her work.

—Esther, the office Texan