Baby, You Can Drive My Car

Oh, to be a Congressman or woman in this day and age. Knight-Ridder reported this weekend that taxpayers are paying for more than a million bucks in car leases for our leaders in Washington -- details can be seen in this list of car leases by Congressional members. In the full article, the reporter (who must be curious where his next paycheck is coming from) notes that some leased two or three cars. There's nothing partisan about this story -- equal offenders from both sides of the aisle. Even APR favorite Rep. Charley Rangel (D-N.Y.) drives his 16-square-mile Manhattan district in a Cadillac DeVille that costs $1,000 a month. Rep. Michael Ross (D-Ark.) spent a total of $36,300 for an Expidition, a Ford 500 and a Ford Crown Victoria. The writer notes with an eyebrow raised that the "median income of Ross' constituents is about $30,000."

The President finally admitted America is addicted to oil. Perhaps it's because a Congressman can spend almost twice my annual salary on automobiles (not to mention the requisite 44 cents per mile in taxpayer-paid gasoline)...