Pit Stop

Here are some brief drive-by thoughts, assuming I actually have the time for them....

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From the "No [bleep], what was your first guess" file:

The government wasted millions of dollars in its award of post-Katrina contracts, including at least $3 million for 4,000 beds that were never used, auditors said Thursday.

The five-page briefing paper by the Government Accountability Office, set to be released later Thursday, blamed poor planning and bad communications.

It offers the first preliminary overview of the soundness of contracts - including those awarded without competition - after the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast in August.

{*sniffle*} Isn't "compassion" wonderful?

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Aren't you glad he isn't president anymore?

Former-President Bill Clinton insisted yesterday that he was in complete agreement with wife Hillary's objections on the Dubai ports buyout - even though he reportedly advised the Dubai royal family on how to make the deal fly.

It's like breathing to him, folks. God willing, it isn't community property.

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Chuck Schumer staffer Lauren B. Weiner faces federal charges for stealing credit history information on U.S. Senate candidate Michael Steele, who is currently the Lieutenant-Governor of Maryland.

What did Chucky know, and when did he know it? And can't we just censure him along with Russ Feingold just for the sheer joy of it? (h/t Double-H)

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Speaking of Feingold, his Republican colleague from Colorado, Wayne Allard, reportedly said the following recently:

This week Republican Senator Wayne Allard of Colorado, in an interview with Fox News radio, said in response to Feingold's [censure] action that he has "time and time again [sided] with the terrorists".

Dr. Demented's DNC is trying to act all pissed about this as an "attack on Feingold's patriotism." As though he had any, or such a pathetic diversion was going to reverse this latest Donk PR fiasco.

That's what the DisLoyal Opposition refuses to grasp: patriotism isn't an assumption. And when a senator, and most of his party, do, indeed, side time and time again with the terrorists, it is the minimum thing to do to question their patriotism. That's why it is Senator Feingold who is so much more deserving of censure - and that's just the beginning.

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Next time you hear somebody bitch and gripe and moan about high gas prices and blame it on "Big Oil," remember one thing: roughtly a third of that pump price is federal, state, and local gas taxes.

It's the government that's gouging you, not "Big Oil." And that's just one of the myriad ways in which they do it, every day and every which way.

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Bob Novak raises Hugh Hewitt's pet bone of contention via AmSpecBlog today: Why aren't Senate Republicans moving through the backlog of Bush appellate court nominees that have been languishing in limbo for seemingly ever? Judges are a winning issue for the GOP, and one on which constant pressure should be maintained on the Democrats. Ditto, for that matter, fast-tracking the vote on Russ Feingold's outrageous censure resolution, like the House did Jack Murtha's "RETREAT FROM IRAQ NOW!" resolution last November. And getting serious about border security. And swinging away at entitlements spending with a giant propeller scythe.

It's foolish for frustrated Reaganites like Larry Kudlow to full-bore fratricidal, but it's just astute reading of recent political history to observe that if the majority party doesn't give its base some compelling reason to turn out next fall, they may not be the majority party for much longer. And if they fall with a full quiver of un-shot "arrows," they - and we - will have nobody but themselves to blame for the horrific consequences that will ensue for the nation and the world.