by the Way . . .

The $20 million set aside in the military spending bill for a celebration of the success in Iraq and Afghanistan will be carried over until next year. As an efficiency measure, the celebration was to take place this year in the nation's capital instead of the more expensive venue of an aircraft carrier. Diverting those babies from docking pending the top gun fly in is not cheap. The Republican bill also authorized the president to proclaim the day a national holiday, but did not specify whether it had to be on a Monday.

Democrats are calling attention to the carryover, saying they were against it, and the Republicans are saying that is just an attempt to embarrass them right before the election. In truth, though, the Democrats clearly voted for it before they voted against it, as the measure passed the Senate by unanimous consent and the House by overwhelming majority. This was, however, before the Nancy Pelosi rule that requires voting against all Republican proposals, so it would have required some backbone to vote against honoring our troops with a trip to Washington.

At this point, it is not clear whether the national holiday, or the rollover, for that matter, will be permanent.