MISSOURIANA

All that noise coming out of Jefferson City these days is the sound of state computers trying to devise ways to make $200 million in budget cuts without laying off any bureaucrats.

---

Missourians don't get much information from all those lobbyists' expense reports, but at least they learn the going price for their state legislators.

---

John Sununu pokes fun at a 70-year-old man getting out of his chair at a Washington banquet. The White House chief of staff may have been miffed because he has to hitchhike to the dinner.

---

Even lobbyists don't get any respect these days. One group in Jefferson City spent $69 for a buff and wax job on a state senator's car and then the lawmaker had the effrontery to resign his office.

---

A taxpayer is the fellow who argues that it takes $3 million to get a winning pitcher for his favorite team but screams when his legislator gets a cost-of-living raise.