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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.

When Pelosi promised big change under her watch, who knew she meant higher gas prices?

Then there is this:

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.

The "racist" charge is particularly intriguing. Do critics suppose that the Chinese-American cabinet official is referring to the Caucasian majority? Or do they carry around a racist stereotype of "urban youth" and assume that's what she meant? I don't see any racial content in her remarks. She is talking about the young.

Finally, Kamen reports a true scoop (via the NY Daily News): Senator Charles Schumer does have an ounce of human decency. When Rudy Giuliani's campaign manager John D'Amato suffered a fatal heart attack, Schumer was the only Democrat official to offer public condolences. Which means that Schumer is the most decent Democrat, a truly sobering notion.

Hat tip: Susan Lewis

An MSM columnist actually does his job well