Enjoy the rest of your summer driving because starting October 1, it might be smarter to stay off the roads. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced yesterday that he is “unburdening” taxpayers and scrapping safety inspections of private vehicles. Let's break this down:

• District cost of vehicle safety checks: $400,000
• Average cost of new vehicle: $30,000
• Watching new vehicle get flattened by a clunker with busted brakes: priceless.

The saga of Rep. Joe “You Lie!” Wilson wrapped up yesterday when the House officially disapproved of his conduct by a party-divided vote of 240-179. Perhaps New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wasn’t the only one who heard "boy" tacked on at the end?

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The Patrick Swayze Death Watch is finally over. The 57-year-old actor of Dirty Dancing fame, who "succumbed to cancer," as so many news outlets like to say, died yesterday, which means I won't have to look at National Enquirer covers in the grocery store check-out line anymore showing him gaunter and gaunter and closer to death each week (This morning's nationalenquirer.com headline: "Swayze is Dead. Brave Patrick Swayze succumbs after long battle to cancer." Don't miss their coverage.)

Now, at along last, he can get some peace. But us: What about us? We need someone else's illness to exploit!

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Maureen Dowd, in yesterday's New York Times column, "Boy, Oh Boy," on Joe Wilson's outburst during Barack Obama's speech to Congress: "Some people just can’t believe a black man is president and will never accept it."

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When Joe Wilson, the previously unknown but now infamous South Carolina congressman, shouted out "You lie!" to Barack Obama during the president's health care address to Congress Wednesday night, it seemed, most of all, really, really rude, and you didn't have to be a Democrat to think that.

It was also, some hold, racist - at least on a subconscious level. An online commentary by the Project on Race in Political Communication, called "The Racial Context for Joe Wilson's Outburst," which has been twittering around a good bit, makes the case.

Read More "Joe “You Lie!” Wilson: Rudeness or Racism?" »

ANOTHER HORSE'S ASS NAMED JOE WILSON, this time a Republican, breaks decorum and accidentally says what he thinks. This is a cause of great concern! In American politics, there is a ridiculously precious conceit called decorum, which means you can Twitter a retort or pound your opponents on a chat show later, but you must never, ever, show the passion for your job one would take for granted in a high school football coach.

Someone just called me, from Germany (!) to say that there are 22 ghost bikes in Dupont Circle today to honor Alice Swanson. Great!

AFTER THE JUMP: Trees, eagles, bells, weird traffic circles, Giants fans, Beatles, Big Star
Read More "Morning Roundup: “You Lie!” Edition" »