Kudos to the Washington Post's Al Kamen for an excellent column yesterday full of really interesting, indeed some shocking, items. For example this (buried in the middle, of course, but still there):

An eagle-eyed Senate GOP aide, perusing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Web site, calls attention to her assertion there that "Americans are paying more than double for gas than when President Bush first took office."

She says the average price per gallon when he took office in 2001 was $1.47 and had reached $3.22 by May 21.

So that means gas prices went up by $1.75 a gallon over six years. But more than half of that increase, 90 cents, our source says, has come in the past six months -- the six months that she's been speaker of the House. Our source says the average price per gallon on Jan. 3, the day before she became speaker, was $2.32. [emphases added]

Maybe Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) can lend her a bike.

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao has been in a bit of hot water since the publication Sunday of her interesting observations about American workers and the potential loss of American jobs to overseas workers.

"American employees must be punctual, dress appropriately and have good personal hygiene," says Chao. "They need anger-management and conflict-resolution skills, and they have to be able to accept direction. Too many young people bristle when a supervisor asks them to do something."

The blogosphere was not amused: "Racist" and "corporate toady" were the most polite labels.