The Top 10 Everything of 2008

Congress spent more than $200 per resident to help develop a historic walking tour of the tiny southern Virginia town of Boydton, not even one square mile in size. The tour takes visitors to a tavern from 1790, a Greek Revival Courthouse, and "one of the only oval, mile-long race tracks of the day." This piece of not-exactly-essential-spending was secured in a Department of Housing and Urban Development bill by Republican Rep. Virgil Goode — the same lawmaker who lectured late last year that "federal budget spending is too much overall and Congress members should set an example by not spending too much."