According to the National Center for Policy Analysis, only 60 percent of federal gas taxes are spent on highways. The 2005 highway bill allocated nearly $24 billion for 6,500 pork-barrel projects. The bill’s high priority project also missed the mark allocating millions of dollars for questionable projects such as the $315-million Alaskan Bridge to nowhere, $4 million for bike paths in California and $4 million worth of pedestrian improvements in Georgia. The 2008 transportation bill appears to be on the same track.

Here is the question you have to ask yourself when tuning in to the season debut of American Idol tonight: Is there something wrong with me? Do I enjoy seeing pain in others? If there were butterflies around this time of year, am I the sort of person who would tear their wings off for kicks? Then why do I want to watch people who can't sing humiliate themselves on national TV and get thoroughly dissed by judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul before slinking off the stage with their hearts broken and egos shattered?

Depending on how various technologies are applied, the total costs of re-engineering cars to get to an average of 42 mpg (which is short of 55 miles per gallon, of course) would be $54 billion to $63 billion. Some of that cost would reflect the expense of designing small cars to be safer, although the researchers argue that by eliminating the heaviest vehicles from the road, overall safety would be improved. So the real question posed by proposals to boost fuel-efficiency isn't whether 55 miles per gallon is possible. It's who will pick up the tab.

There’s a reason some of John McCain's conservative supporters avoid discussing his record. They want to talk about his personal story, his position on the surge, his supposed electability. But whenever the rest of his career comes up, the knee-jerk reply is to characterize the inquiries as attacks. In fact, the McCain domestic record is a disaster.

What of the efforts to require labeling of products derived from cloned animals or their offspring? Federal law requires that food labels be truthful and not misleading, and prohibits label statements that are likely to be misunderstood by consumers even if they are, strictly speaking, accurate. So a "cholesterol-free" label on fresh broccoli is accurate, but could run afoul of the FDA's rules because it could be interpreted to as implying that broccoli usually does contain cholesterol, even though in fact it does not. So instead of serving a legitimate "right to know," mandatory labels would be misconstrued by some consumers as a warning that food from cloned animals is not as safe or nutritious, even though it is.

Each time I say it's unfair to leave the civilians to the terrorists of al-Qaeda and the Shiite militias, I can practically hear the New York Times editorial board say "yeah, whatever." Maybe the reason Iraq's defence minister suggested 2018 as a U.S. exit date because al-Qaeda is unlikely to wait that long. It's not as though Bush will play the flute when he departs and have all the bad things leave with him. The problems will still be there in January 2009, and the terrorists will murder civilians while you continue to blame Bush.

If you’re Obama or Edwards, you don’t want Democrats crossing over to play mischief in the Republican primary, as Hillary could easily throw more than 100 delegates onto her pile, which may or may not be counted later. (Pulling out of Michigan in accordance to the DNC’s wishes is going to look like a mistake on Obama’s part.)

It seems reasonable to conclude that a state that is 14 percent African-American may have some votes for Obama, and that a state with a workforce that is 21 percent unionized may have some support for the economic populism of Edwards. But since their names are not on the ballot, the best they can hope for is for Michigan Democrats to vote “uncommitted,” and for those uncommitted delegates to vote Obama or Edwards.

In Afghanistan, the hard-won progress of Afghan and international forces is being undermined by NATO’s inefficiency, and it’s a scandal. Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands are looking to withdraw troops by 2010. If these forces remain hindered by the restrictions already imposed upon them, their exit may very well go unnoticed. Some collaborative ingenuity could help forces secure and build upon the advances made in Afghanistan.

However, if NATO doesn’t step up, the heavy lifting may become too much to bear.

50 Cent, Timbaland, Wyclef Jean and Mary J. Blige were prescribed and shipped steroids by a Long Island chiropractor and a South Florida osteopath, says Brendan J. Lyons of the Albany Times Union, who won't name his sources. The entertainers haven't been accused of actually taking the drugs normally associated with baseball players and Olympians, and Mary J.'s spokesperson denies that Blige has ever used any performance-inducing drugs.

But let's pretend they totally took 'em. What exactly would the side effects be, other than an increased ability to beat home-run records with their big muscles?