(An interesting question. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that one of the grandest grande dames of Texas, Molly Ivins, has yet to be properly honored by the people of Texas and the city of Austin in particular. We have the Barbara Jordan terminal, the Ann Richards bridge and Lady Bird Johnson Lake--but where is the permanent memorial to Molly?
I've been waiting to read somewhere that someone else has taken the initiative but I haven't seen it. So I thought I would come here and ask:
Is there a memorial in Austin--a street, a plaque, a statue, a capitol building--already named after Molly Ivins, or are there already plans in the works to do so?
If not, why the hell not!
Who will help me get this ball rolling?
Once we answer those questions, we can get onto the most important one: What would be a fitting tribute? What can we name after Molly? It should be something worthy of the enormous contribution that she made to Austin, to Texas, to the country, and to the world, but also something that captures her amazing sense of humor: One friend suggested a doggy water fountain on the hike and bike trail with a sculpture/picture of Molly and some choice Molly quotes.
Vote in the poll below or add your suggestions in the comments.
The Texas Democratic Party has put a lot of video content on their YouTube channel which we'll be posting through today as we reflect on the state convention. Consider subscribing to it.
A mini-tempest is brewing about a video produced for Hillary Clinton asserting that the late Ann Richards would be campaigning for Clinton were she alive today.
I worked for Ann. I support Barack Obama. But I will not presume to intrude upon her children's lives and their disagreements about where their mother would have been in this race. And I would ask that those of us who still honor Ann simply stay out of it. In other words, I'm writing this hoping we don't translate our highly emotional opinions in this primary into an intrusion into Ann's family.
I don't know who she would be supporting. I do know Ann would be fiercely protecting her children (as politically experienced, tough and smart as they all are) at all costs. I want to honor that. Let's leave the issue with them.
Here's what the AP reports, in part:
The two sons of Ann Richards, the late former Texas governor, are objecting to an Internet video published by Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign that suggests their mother would have supported Clinton.
Clinton's campaign had permission from Richards' youngest daughter, Ellen, who said in a statement provided by the campaign that her mother was an "ardent feminist" who would be thrilled by her friend Hillary Clinton's candidacy.
"I believe that if my mom were alive today that she would be stumping across Texas and around the country supporting Hillary for president," her statement said.
Richards was governor from 1991-1995. She died in September 2006 at age 73. The two-minute video on Clinton's campaign Web site comes a week before the Texas primary and targets women voters in the state.
"So many women around Texas and America are saying, `Wish Ann was here, for us and for Hillary,'" a female voiceover says on the video.
"Today Ann would be asking all of us to make a statement. She would be traveling to every small town and big city in Texas, urging us all to take a stand, be counted, to make a difference, to make history," it says while a picture of Richards and Clinton appears on the screen. "This one's for Texas. This one's for our country. This one's for Ann."
But sons Dan and Clark Richards, partners at an Austin law firm, say nobody can know who the outspoken and opinionated former governor would have supported in the race between Clinton and Barack Obama.
"As her children, we never presumed to know her mind when alive and we are not prepared to make a claim as to who she would endorse or what she would do if she were still with us," they wrote in an e-mail last week. "We are not granting permission for her name to be used in advertisements on behalf of either candidate."
Let's allow the family to speak their minds, to differ politically, without presuming that whatever political beliefs we hold should be imposed upon them in this matter.
I know they have themselves willingly entered the political debate, and so they should be willing to publicly debate the matter. But I know how this kind of thing can become a public firestorm that burn the participants more than they've reckoned. Let's just not throw gasoline on them. Can we manage that?
I don't know what remaining neutral and quiet in this matter might mean for the future of the video. The family and their friends will figure that out. In the past, all of them have been kind to me. I'm just returning their kindness, hoping they can avoid the burns all of us have been inflicting on one another in the most interesting, heated and hard-fought primary since Ann's in 1990.
If you don't have the self-implied power of empty executive order privileges like King Rick Perry, you as a Texas taxpayer can put the Lone Star State on the trek to cure cancer in the 21st century.
A new organization, founded by Cathy Bonner, a friend to former Governor Ann Richards, has launched a campaign calling for $3 billion in appropriated bonds for cancer research.
Bonner adds:
"Our goal is to kill cancer in our lifetime making Texas the global leader in cancer cures during the next decade."
I think selling bonds, if Texas voters approve, to fund research grants in order to combat cancer is a great idea. I've always believed we need a 21st century version of John Kennedy's call to put a man on the moon. Americans need a challenge and I believe cancer is a debilitating and costly disease that can be combated. The idea of Texas leading the way is even better. I don't believe Perry leading the charge does the effort justice.
Having said that, Governor Perry need not kill the effort by attempting to revive his terrible plan to privatize the Texas Lottery system. It's a bad idea that would rob Texas of value long-term revenue.
Check out www.killcancer.org and learn more about Bonner's honorable effort.
Well consider that the swifted, most short-lived, ill-planned endorsement ever. And for as much hay as the Kinky campaign was making over it- shame. I was at Ann Richard's funeral service and after a wonderful ceremony- to walk outside and see Friedman standing on the sidewalk chomping a cigar in amusment as reporters rushed over to talk to him... ugh.
Star-Telegram: Lest there be any doubt, Ann Richards went to her grave a Democrat.
That's the final word from the former governor's family, friends and political allies. And even from a Fort Worth native turned New Yorker who had the temerity to suggest otherwise and ended up causing something of a pre-election Texas tornado.
...
Reached at her office in New York, a contrite Smith backtracked.
"I've heard from Ann's family, and they assured me that she'd be with the Democrat no matter what," said Smith, who grew up in Cowtown. "I stand rebuked. I should have never attempted to speak for Ann. I've caused pain to her family, and I'm sorry. I just tried to draw a parallel between Ann and Kinky, the way they use humor and one-liners to make their point."
UPDATE: Of course, over 36 hours later after numerous confirmations in the press, Kinky Friedman refuses to remove, correct, or update the article of Liz Smith's former endorsement of his campaign webite where it is listed on the front page.
Some days ago when I was standing in the rotunda of the State Capitol in Austin, Texas, where Ann Richards' body was lying in state, I went over to take a look at my good friend's portrait, which adorns the circle among all the other Texas governors. Next to her is now-President Bush.
Not a week after Ann Richards has passed away, our leader of Texas and a wannabe politician want to move Texas back to an era of minority oppression and racial slurs.
"These are individuals who know what a racist comment is," Perry said of the leaders of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus and the state NAACP. "Call it politically incorrect if you want, but it's not lost on men and women of color when people make remarks that are clearly racist — if not directly racist, obliquely racist. And I think they have appropriately called his hand."
Richards worked tirelessly to ensure all people were represented in their government regardless of their race, religion, handicap, sex, gender, orientation, or anything else.
Instead of supporting Ann Richard’s “New Texas” Friedman and Perry want to revert to a Texas before the Voting Rights Act, before fair and free representation, and where racial slurs were the status quo.
Why is Perry not more offended? How come Friedman won’t say sorry and pledge to represent all Texans and not just the ones that look like him? Why doesn’t Strayhorn blast her former party?
We know were Bell stands, he supports Ann’s vision of Texas.
Just happened to have found a site with a video of the famous Doritos commercial of Ann Richards and Mario Cuomo. Not sure how long they're going to keep it up though.
If there's one thing that is quick for a guy like me who never met Ann Richards to learn, it's that wit and a funny story are almost always a must when talking about her. So as we move back to full posting strength, I'd like to offer this funny tale and a quip from my mother that I thought was fitting.
Remember last week when Chris Bell went out hunting? In the story they mentioned how Ann Richards started this tradition.
Richards, the most recent Democratic governor, hunted before TV cameras in 1990 and during her years as governor. She said in 1992 that hunting boosted her popularity.
"Man, after that (1990 trip), my numbers went straight up in (rural) East Texas," Richards said.
Well, at the time, Bell may have had some trigger problems. But my mother who writes me from time to time (an understatement if there ever was one) wrote me this quip which is worthy of Richards herself.
"I would rather go dove hunting with Chris Bell with the safety on, than go quail hunting with Dick Cheney and get shot in the face."
