A moment of silence, friends.

Ex-Bush aide convicted in D.C. corruption case

The trial consumed eight days of testimony about [former GSA chief David] Safavian's assistance to Abramoff regarding government-owned real estate and the weeklong golfing excursion to Scotland that the lobbyist organized.

Safavian went on the trans-Atlantic trip while he was chief of staff at the General Services Administration, and other participants besides Ney included two of the congressman's aides and Christian Coalition founder Ralph Reed.

A top Bush administration official, all right there in a private plane with Bob Ney and James Dobson's erstwhile heir apparent. Let's get to the good stuff here, shall we? Or has the Justice Department suddenly found it expedient to hold off on dismantling the GOP Crime Syndicate until...next January?