The world is poorer for the loss of Molly Ivins, dead at 62 of breast cancer. Texas, thanks to its political exports, has plenty to be ashamed of these days. But to those who would decry my home state, I can always point to Ivins and say, "They ain’t all bad."

That leaves only Jim Hightower (from the same town as me, I’m proud to say) and Kinky Friedman as nationally known voices of Texan dissent. She leaves some pretty big shoes to fill.

And speaking of shoes

The Wicked Witch of the West may have melted, but the way to make the neocons go away is through pure taunting. They can take a lot of things, but ridicule makes them cry Wolfowitz.

It’s the kind of story that pleases me enormously. Head of the World Bank and one of the neocon "masterminds" of our great war in Iraq, Wolfowitz got caught in a bit of embarrassment while visiting a mosque in Turkey. Should have done the laundry, I guess: