Ladies ...

First it was Laura Bush with her wise cracks, now there's another 1st lady grabbing the headlines -- this time, literally. Witness the weirdo antics of Lucy, wife of Mwai Kibaki, President of African, Kenya. [Both, pictured above.]

Brandishing a copy of the Kenyan newspaper, 'The Daily Nation' -- at midnight last night she stormed the offices of 'Nation Media Group' to stage a personal, all-night, 'sit-in' protest. And, her protest was anything but a peaceful one, according to a BBC report today. Here's a snippet:

* She was angry over reports of how she had interrupted a farewell party for outgoing World Bank Kenya director, saying the music was too loud. She slapped a cameraman and seized mobile phones and notebooks.

Mrs Kibaki said reports about her and her family were "unkind". "If you think Kenyans are blind, and not intelligent, you cheat yourselves," she said. "They know who are the people you support in this country. But you don't have to ruin the lives of others by being so nasty."

Speaking on World Press Freedom Day, cameraman Clifford Derrick said he was "terrified at the way she was behaving" when she slapped him "hard" for refusing to give her his camera.

Apparently, the 1st Lady in question is well known at home for being a real tough cookie, and as someone definitely not to be trifled with. Ironic, isn't it, that the newspaper piece she took such exception to, concerned other wild behaviour of her's?.

She'd three times arrived at her celebrity neighbour's home, demanding the volume on a hi-fi be lowered. On one visit, she personally tried to disconnect the neighbour's electricity supply. On another, she arrived surrounded by a posse of armed guards, and at one point phoned the local police station demanding the neighbour's immediate arrest.

It's not known what her husband thinks of all this. Heh. I'm not surprised. President or no President; just one wrong word .... and .... and .... well .... can you imagine?

Incidentally, talking about ladies and words and all, did you see Condoleeza Rice's recent TV news performance? The usually ice cool, 2nd Lady of America seemed to get a little flustered, from what I've heard. Well, either she got flustered or she's been getting lessons in gobbledygook, from her boss.

She was asked about her lack of a husband. "I don't see these as choices somehow," she said. "I see them as the way life has unfolded. Life has unfolded the way life has unfolded .... I believe it's unfolded as it should have. And I'm awfully glad that it's unfolded this particular way."

So there we are then; clear enough?