State Representative Jim Dunnam (D-Waco) released the following statement on the passing of Molly Ivins: "I am deeply saddened to learn that my friend Molly Ivins has passed away.

I will always cherish fond memories of fellowship with Molly Ivins when she would visit Waco, and our friend, the late Mayor Mae Jackson.

Molly Ivins fought cancer with the same strength she fought for Texas. Molly – and her unequaled wit and mind – will be deeply missed, but she will always live on through her immeasurable contributions to our state and our country."


Remembering Molly Ivins, the first in a series of tributes from The Nation to Ivins, is available here.

Reaction from Heather Paffe, Texas Association of Planned Parenthood's political director, after the jump.

From the Texas Observer:

Syndicated political columnist Molly Ivins died of breast cancer at her home in Austin, TX, at 5:24 pm Wednesday, January 31. She was 62 years old, and had much, much more to give this world.

She remained cheerful despite Texas politics. She emphasized the more hilarious aspects of both state and national government, and consequently never had to write fiction. She said, "Good thing we've still got politics – finest form of free entertainment ever invented." Molly had a large family, many namesakes, hundreds of close friends, thousands of colleagues and hundreds of thousands of readers.

She and her two siblings, Sara (Ivins) Maley of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Andy Ivins of London, Texas, grew up in Houston. Her father, James Ivins, was a corporate lawyer and a Republican, which meant she always had someone to disagree with over the dinner table. Her mother, Margot, was a homemaker with a B.A. in psychology from Smith College.

Mayor Will Wynn, going through the City Council agenda this week noted that, while they can't put it to a procedural vote until later, the gang will likely postpone the hearing on the Big Box Ordinance.

Ya dig?

UPDATE: Item 5, regarding Austin Energy's possible purchase of land in Matagorda Co. for a cleaner-burning coal plant, won't be taken up until after lunch, following Council's lengthy executive session. Proceed at your own risk.

State Rep. Carl Isett (R-Lubbock) has dusted down his Taxpayer Protection Act for the new lege session. If that name sounds familiar, it's because Isett tried to get it passed in 2001. And 2003. And 2005.

Currently, local governments can increase tax revenues by a maximum of 8% over the previous year's receipts. Isett's new-old bill would cut that down to 5%. Now Isett is claiming it's a cornerstone of Rick Perry's economic plans for Texas (i.e., slash taxes, slash taxes, and then slash some more taxes), will he have the political clout behind him to get it through this time?

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is reporting that syndicated political columnist Molly Ivins has passed away at her home in Austin after her third bout with breast cancer.

The Texas Observer has a heartfelt tribute. Also, you can read her final editorial, "Stand Up Against the "Surge," here.

So the blogosphere says Joe Biden just ended the shortest presidential run in history with this quote from an interview released today: regarding Obama, Biden says "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."

Joe Biden, 1942-2007.

UPDATE: Obama replies: "I didn't take Senator Biden's comments personally, but obviously they are historically inaccurate. After all, we've had presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Mosely Braun and Al Sharpton. They gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns and no one would call them inarticulate."

UPDATE Deuce: Biden was slated to be the guest on tonight's Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Should be an interesting episode, if JB hasn't canceled…

It may be a new year, but the DEA is up to its same old tricks. To wit: on Jan. 18 agents in Los Angeles Co. carried out simultaneous raids on 11 medi-pot dispensaries – in West Hollywood, Venice, Woodland Hills and Sherman Oaks – seizing thousands of pounds of pot, hundreds of live cannabis plants, sacks full of cash and several firearms to boot. Twenty folks were detained but, to date, it appears no charges have been filed against anyone.

Vancouver, B.C., Mayor Sam Sullivan last week announced his plan to ask the Canadian government to grant his city an exemption from portions of the national drug-control policy in order to launch a “substitution therapy” pilot program to treat hundreds of the city’s chronic cocaine and methamphetamine addicts (akin to the classic methadone treatment for heroin addicts).

The therapy plan – seemingly part of a drive to make sure the city is spiffed up and ready for the 2010 Winter Olympics – would target at least 700 of the city’s addicts according to the DRCNet, and is part of Vancouver’s broader Project Civil City, a set of initiatives that seek to reduce homelessness, aggressive panhandling and open-air drug dealing by at least 50% over the next three years.

Texas may not have a nominee in the 2008 Presidential race yet, but that doesn't mean it can't throw some money down. Unlikely Republican hopeful Rudy Giuliani will be in Houston for a fundraiser tomorrow, touching up the great, the good, and the filthy rich for campaign contributions. Giuliani's exploratory committee chair, former Bush pioneer Patrick Oxford is hoping those billfolds that opened up to shower cash on a right-wing Texan nominee will be as forthcoming for a pro-choice, pro-gay-rights East Coast candidate.

But our advice to all those deep pockets in Houston is: don't start signing those checks too soon. America's Mayor may become another (purely political) victim of the Iraq quagmire.

Today, former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton and former Reagan attorney general Ed Meese blamed the U.S. government for the lawlessness in Iraq (duh!) and said the Justice Department should have taken responsibility for training Iraqi police. Instead, they left it to private firms and external consultants - consultants like former NYPD commissioner, and Rudy's one-time personal driver, Bernard Kerik. Kerik was CEO of Giuliani-Kerik LLC (now Giuliani Security & Safety), the security consultancy arm of Rudy's international consultancy firm Giuliani LLC. Kerik oversaw the patently unsuccessful reconstitution of the Iraqi police force. Undaunted by those failures, he tried to be head honcho of Homeland Security. And who recommended Bernie to Dubya for that gig? Yup, Rudy.

As every presidential hopeful tries to to distance themselves from Iraq, and link their opponent to the debacle, does anyone think that this won't be used against the former mayor of New York?