This was going to be a daily link, but I think this kind of thing needs a little more visibility:

To wit, Congressman William Jefferson, whose district includes New Orleans, used National Guard troops to check on his house and pick up some of his belongings.

Military sources tells ABC News that Jefferson, an eight-term Democratic congressman, asked the National Guard that night to take him on a tour of the flooded portions of his congressional district. A 5-ton military truck and a half dozen military police were dispatched.

Lt. Col. Pete Schneider of the Louisiana National Guard tells ABC News that during the tour, Jefferson asked that the truck take him to his home on Marengo Street, in the affluent uptown neighborhood in his congressional district. According to Schneider, this was not part of Jefferson's initial request.

Jefferson's side of the story?

Jefferson defended the expedition, saying he set out to see how residents were coping at the Superdome and in his neighborhood. He also insisted that he did not ask the National Guard to transport him.

"I did not seek the use of military assets to help me get around my city," Jefferson told ABC News. "There was shooting going on. There was sniping going on. They thought I should be escorted by some military guards, both to the convention center, the Superdome and uptown."

Wait. "He" did not seek the use of military assets? Then who asked for the 5-ton truck and the MPs? What, we're supposed to believe he just mosied up to the city limits, was recognized, and said "here, take some men and a truck?"

Pull the other one.

And that still doesn't explain/excuse what happened next:

The water reached to the third step of Jefferson's house, a military source familiar with the incident told ABC News, and the vehicle pulled up onto Jefferson's front lawn so he wouldn't have to walk in the water. Jefferson went into the house alone, the source says, while the soldiers waited on the porch for about an hour.

Finally, according to the source, Jefferson emerged with a laptop computer, three suitcases, and a box about the size of a small refrigerator, which the enlisted men loaded up into the truck.

We're then told the truck got stuck, and the MPs distress-signaled a helicopter to get Jefferson out, but he refused. They spent 45 minutes there before leaving. The NG then had to send ANOTHER 5-ton truck to rescue the first truck.

All resources that could have been used to rescue people.

I'm wondering if we'll see pictures of Jefferson carrying his laptop out of his house with the same ubiquity that Kos posted that picture of Bush playing a guitar.....