Here's to the Ladies from Texas

A quick word about the passing of spitfire Molly Ivins and, for that matter, that wonderful Ann Richards.

When do the passing of a politician and a journalist make your heart ache? When they are two of the most deliciously outspoken women you've ever known or heard of. At 31, I've grown up in what we call the "post-feminist" generation where excellence and success are assumed to be within our reach. We're aware of the wide trail we're blazing, and with that awareness sometimes comes this need to be the best, the most accomplished, the most correct. And in that process perhaps we lose a little of our rage, our fire, our Voice.

Not so Ms. Ivins or Ms. Richards. Its gotta be the Texan within them. I know some other outspoken Texas women who are delightfully opinionated. They say what's on their minds like no others, and in that way they were the most refreshing kind of Liberals: the unapologetic and uncompromising kind.

Witty, clever, honest, and sharp as nails, a bit of Molly and of Ann will live on in my heart and in my mind and, god willing, in my pen. Forget the toast. Tonight, a good stiff shot of bourbon will be had in their honors. Well done, Ladies. Well done.