Tidbits

I love Condoleezza Rice. I just do. She has risen to the highest ranking American woman in politics and shows grace and dignity daily. She's an accomplished musician, scholar, sports fan, and civil servant. What a life.

But, you know, Condoleezza Rice was not good enough for about 50 Boston University grads yesterday during the commencement ceremony. They felt entitled to stand and turn their backs on her speech and to hang a banner to show disrespect. So much for open minds in academia. I think once these self-indulgent children enter the real working world, something called manners and decorum will enter into their lives.

Madeleine Albright, the woman holding the position currently held by Dr. Rice during the Clinton administration could take a page from an etiquette book, too. Albright, speaking in England, decided to voice her opinion of President Bush's religious beliefs. She is pushing her book, of course, so a few obnoxious comments were certain to make the wires.

Did you know Albright's father was a respected professor at the University of Denver when Dr. Rice was an undergrad and became her mentor in her Russian studies and political philosophy? Small world. I prefer the way Dr. Rice turned out, but that's just me.

Congressman William Jefferson, D-LA, has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Finally. He is caught on tape by the FBI taking $100,000 in cash and $90,000 of it was found in his home's freezer. Talk about hard, cold cash.

This is no surprise, the shadiness of Rep. Jefferson. His wife was relieved of her duties from Dillard University in New Orleans after "misappropriating funds". Yeah, like into her bank account. The FBI searched his office, an action by them not previously used on a sitting member of Congress, and they had a search warrant signed by a Federal judge to justify their action. An aide to Jefferson has already confessed and there is more to come.

Congressman Jefferson, you may remember, was the politican immediately after Hurricane Katrina who used the National Guard to take him to his home for inspection and retrieving what he could from it. While others were stuck on their roofs and at the Convention Center and Superdome. Let's get our priorities straight.

Jefferson gave a little press statement Monday afternoon and whined about the "9 months he and his family have had to endure the hell of a Federal investigation". Hmm. OK. Poor guy. Does the name Tom DeLay ring a bell?

And we're in countdown mode for hurricane season.

Good times.

"We have a choice: to plow new ground or let the weeds grow." - Jonathan Westover