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Yeas & Nays: Friday, Apr. 13
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AP Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin cover people, power and politics in the beltway each weekday. Email them at yan@dcexaminer.com . Commencement doesn’t always equal contentmentSome George Washington University undergrads are in an uproar after retiring president Stephen Joel Trachtenberg confirmed on Wednesday that he’s taking it upon himself to give the keynote address at the school’s commencement ceremony next month. Students have already begun circulating a petition to remove and replace Trachtenberg as speaker. It reads, in part: “While I understand that President Steven Joel Trachtenberg deserves to be recognized for his dedication to The George Washington University, and deserves to speak to the graduating class of 2007, I respectfully request that the University remove [him] as keynote speaker.” Several unhappy seniors have also created albums on Facebook.com, including: “Veto SJT as Commencement Speaker,” “Petition Against Stephen Joel Trachtenberg as Commencement Speaker” and “TTN! Tell Trachtenberg No!” The pages contain information about the petition as well as numerous promises to withhold future donations. Brooke Dessinger, a senior at GW and a member of all three groups, said, “It doesn’t really matter who speaks. I’m just shocked that he would do this to us. A lot of people have been saying that there have been former presidents speak and its like he’s comparing himself to them. Its very egotistical.” Last year, former President George H.W. Bush and first lady Barbara Bush addressed the graduating class. According to The Hatchet, GWU’s student paper, Trachtenberg joked, “We explored all our options. We thought we’ve given you such a rich array of speakers during the year, between the president of Afghanistan and the president of Pakistan and former president of the United States. … When people are dining on a high-calorie diet like that, periodically you have to cut back on a little bit of that diet.” Tracy Schario, a university spokeswoman, said, “President Trachtenberg, after 19 years, is himself graduating.” She said it is “not uncommon for a university to have their university president speak,” citing Amherst and Columbia as examples. She said that the school will review any student petitions, also noting that the university has not finished announcing its full slate of speakers and honorary degree recipients. The university has announced that former D.C. Council Chair Linda Cropp will receive an honorary degree at the May 20 ceremony on the National Mall. Schoomaker retired … but not deadAmong the orders of business at Tuesday’s retirement ceremony for Army Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker: confirming that he isn’t dead. “I understand that when Pete came out of retirement [to take over the Army post] his status was changed somehow from retired to deceased,” Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said. “It took General Schoomaker, the highest-ranking officer in the Army, a full six months to iron out the paperwork. Leave it to the Pentagon bureaucracy to prove that you can in fact be brought back from the dead.” That’s not all, added Schoomaker as he took the podium. He said, “You know, on that letter that I received from finance … when I got called back, the interesting thing was they — it was a form letter, and they had my name in there three times, and each time it was misspelled.” Gen. George Casey has now taken over for Schoomaker. Warriors assume control No, there wasn’t a hostile takeover of the Navy Memorial downtown last night. Those were Navy SEALs in full camouflage, with a Humvee and a rigid inflatable boat, joining Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter and other top brass to kick off the memorial’s brand-new exhibit, “Sea-Air-Land: The Navy’s Special Operations Sailors.” On Saturday, SEALs will be all over the plaza, again in full dress and gear, to kick off the “Year of the Navy SEAL.” That event will even feature a mini tall ship (yes, an oxymoron) for rigging demonstrations. There’s even something for the kids, namely video games: Three kiosks for PlayStation2’s “SOCOM: US Navy SEALS Combined Assault.” The event coincides with the much gentler Blessing of the Fleets, which traditionally happens just after the National Cherry Blossom Festival parade. That’s when the 20-foot water fountains are in the plaza turned on. NFL talent in town for James Brown The average weight of guests in the private room at Charlie Palmer Steak on Wednesday was certainly north of 200 pounds, and it wasn’t because of all the steak being eaten. It was because the Rams’ Marshall Faulk; the Saints’ Deuce McAllister, Michael Lewis and Scott Fujita; the Browns’ Darnell Dinkins; former Cowboy Everson Walls and former Redskin Brian Mitchell were on hand at the VIP reception, which preceded Thursday night’s NFL Players Association’s annual gala. Faulk, Walls, McAllister, Lewis and Fujita, as well as Super Bowl-winning Colts coach Tony Dungy, were among the JB (James Brown) Award winners last night at the Washington Hilton. Speakeasy “We have elevated this latter-day Gen. Westmoreland into a symbol of commitment over there.” – Carter-era National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinksi, speaking at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast Thursday about Gen. David Patraeus, the American commander in Iraq “I remember asking myself when I first arrived in the Senate, whether Stevens was ever in a good mood.” – Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., paying tribute to Ted Stevens of Alaska, who became the longest-serving Republican senator in history this week By the numbers145: Number of words on Sen. Arlen Specter’s, R-Pa., postcard-sized “Flat Tax” form, which he introduced this week as part of his “Flat Tax Act of 2007”
16,845: Number of pages in the United States Tax Code |
