AND ALL THE CARROT SLICES ON THE CRUDITE PLATE HAVE TO POINT TO MAGNETIC NORTH

This is a bit disturbing, if it's true:

Before Hillary Clinton has been formally offered the job as Secretary of State, a purge of Barack Obama's top foreign policy team has begun.

The advisers who helped trash the former First Lady's foreign policy credentials on the campaign trail are being brutally shunted aside, as the price of her accepting the job of being the public face of America to the world. In negotiations with Mr Obama this week before agreeing to take the job, she demanded and received assurances that she alone should appoint staff to the State Department. She also got assurances that she will have direct access to the President and will not have to go through his foreign policy advisers on the National Security Council, which is where many of her critics in the Obama team are expected to end up.

... "It would be dreadful if only Clinton loyalists worked at State and Obama loyalists at the N.S.C.," ... a Clinton adviser told the New York Times.

The story is from The Independent. The British press often gets Washington stories wrong, and likes to play up emotion, even in the upmarket papers. So I'm not leaping to assume this is 100% accurate.

But, damn, this Hillary thing has been a long-drawn-out process. And what if this is true, and is just the tip of the iceberg? The Clintons have a lot of entertainment-biz friends -- I hope, just to prove her clout, she's not taking a page from the many celebs who've put elaborate demands in backstage riders:

Take for example Marilyn Manson. The shock rocker demands every room he enters to be chilled to a deathly freeze with air-conditioning on full, a never-ending supply of Coca Cola and a bottomless bucket of ice. Add to that Haribo gummi bears, mini chocolates, Doritos, soy milk, assorted Kool Aid-sweetened, Hanson's cherry vanilla and microwave popcorn....

But the true diva award certainly must go to Mariah "doesn't do stairs" Carey. Some of her demands have included bunny rabbits, puppies, and kittens to keep her company backstage, Cristal champagne, a box of bendy straws to sip it with, and the requirement of a special attendant to take care of all her needs. Once she even asked an attendant to dispose of her used chewing gum! ...

What would be on Clinton's rider? No movies produced by David Geffen on any plane she takes for an overseas trip? A case of Estonian vodka and a case of Crown Royal in case John McCain or some working-class whites stop by for a shot-drinking contest?