CONDI

Among the many bizarre items uncovered as Libyan rebels ransacked Muammar Gaddafi's Tripoli compound: an album filled with photos of former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The discovery was perhaps not surprising given Gaddafi's much-professed admiration of the former U.S. Secretary of State, MSNBC is noting. "I support my darling black African woman," Gaddafi told al-Jazeera television in 2007, according to The Guardian. "I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders...Leezza, Leezza, Leezza. I love her very much. I admire her and I'm proud of her because she's a black woman of African origin."

In 2008, Rice historically became the first U.S. Secretary of State to visit Tripoli since 1953. She and Gaddafi are reported to have enjoyed a private dinner, during which a State Department report indicates the Libyan leader also showered his visitor with an estimated $212,000 worth of gifts -- including a diamond ring in a wooden box, a lute and an accompanying DVD, and a locket with Qaddafi's own picture inside.

Also included among the gifts: "Wonder-Womanesque wristbands" and an autographed copy of his revolutionary Green Book with an inscription that expressed his "respect and admiration," according to The New York Times.

There are, of course, strict rules about the acceptance of gifts by public officials but when it comes to foreign leaders, diplomatic concerns take priority, as "non-acceptance would cause embarrassment to donor and U.S. Government."

Though Rice praised the meeting with the Libyan leader as "a historic moment," her gift to Gaddafi was considerably less opulent: a plate with the U.S. seal, The Atlantic notes.

Related News From The Huffington Post: BBC Team Attacked By Gaddafi Forces

TIGER AGAIN

Ex-Caddie Slams Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods may want to hire back his former caddie, Steve Williams, whom he fired earlier this year: Williams’ new employer, British golfer Adam Scott, won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational over the weekend. Afterward, Williams did not have kind words for Woods, with whom he worked for 12 years. “This is my 167th win and easily the sweetest of my life,” he said. “I was absolutely shocked that I got the boot, to be honest with you. I've caddied for the guy for 12 years, I've been incredibly loyal to the guy, and I got short-shrifted. I was told on the phone that we need to take a break, and in caddie lingo, that means you're fired, simple as that.” If it makes Williams feel any better, Tag Heuer became the sixth company to end its sponsorship of Woods over the weekend, following in the trail of companies like Gatorade and Gillette.


Read it at The Telegraph
August 8, 2011 7:08 AM

THE GRAPES OF WRATH. Published April, 1939.

Few books have caused as big a stir as John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. A month after it wa published in April 1939, it stood as the nation's No.1 best seller. And by summer in Kern County, California-the Joads' newfound home-the book was burned publicly and banned from local schools and library shelves. The backlash to the publication of The Grapes of Wrath - a book praised by Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and seared into the public's consciousness by the lyrics of Woody Guthrie and the on-screen performanceof Henry Fonda - serves as a window into an extraordinary time when, as Steinbeck put it, there seemed to be " a revolution.. going on.'
The title of the book came "from Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" - a song beloved by Union troops during the Civil War*. Lest anyone miss the reference{Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord/ He is trampling out the vintage where the GRAPES OF WRATH are stored}..."

*CIVIL WAR - an oxymoron.
Nothing is original.