Coach - $255; Business Class - $794; Corporate Jet - Priceless

Congresspeople are allowed to fly on corporate jets, provided they reimburse the company.
$3.6 million was reimbursed to corporations for air travel from 2001 to 2005. Last year Tom Delay flew to his arraignment on a jet owned by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco.

The reimbursement, however, is not for the actual cost or value of the flight, but the commercial fare for a similar flight. This means that the cost ends a huge bargain. The commercial rate is typically under 1/5th the cost of a private flight.

But what is the cost to us? Companies get to essentially bribe members, and they can fly along and buddy up in the process.

I've got nothing against having important people like Senators and Representatives fly on private planes. But it would be much cheaper in the long run if the government paid for it.

When You Think About It

Noted San Francisco Columnist Herb Caen was really just a blogger.

That may be interesting, but this is funny. When I spell checked this entry (note, the site I use for creating the blog is www.blogger.com) the spell check function didn't recognize "blogger" as a word. AND, I just discovered this very second, that it also doesn't recognize "blog."