And since JK didn't mention it, I'll do it on his behalf: Will suggests that conservative voters will boycott November's elections in protest of "their" elected representatives fiscal foolishness. It's still a generalization in the face of specific race by race analysis of open seats, but it's another brick in the wall looming on the horizon for the GOP.

More to the point of the fiscal foolishness itself, I contend it's partially a byproduct of the robust economy. Despite being in the midst of a war that, as Will pointed out, has already lasted longer than our involvement in WWII, most Americans live their lives as though nothing of consequence is going on in faraway lands. (By contrast, I recall stories from my father about life during The War when grandpa sold the old tires off his car on the black market because doing so was illegal and they couldn't afford to buy gasoline anyway.) Is it any wonder that if average Americans are financially unaffected by the war that congress is too?

Included with the example of $700 million for Lott's railroad and $20 million for shrimp fisheries research, both of which are specious expenditures of taxpayer's dollars, is that of a new driver's license office in Macon, GA for which $100,000 of FEDERAL dollars have been earmarked. Even if the price is reasonable, and even if a case can be made that it is a federal and not a state liability, is it really a necessary expenditure during WAR TIME?

The bad news is that waste is as much a part of the federal government as ever, if not more so. The good news is we're all productive enough that our economy barely even notices. (As a whole, that is. Imagine how much better off those at the bottom of the income scale would be if the government didn't interfere with their income or the cost of the goods they buy.)