Example of Unbelievably Inefficient Mail Service

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Running on (Almost) Empty

A Minnesota truck driver is miffed at the Post Office for sending him 300 miles with nothing in his trailer but a post card.

Roy Combs says he arrived in Louisville expecting to haul mail back to Chicago but was told another truck had picked up his load. So he was instead given a work order card and told to deliver that to the Windy City.

Because Combs' trucking company signed a contract with the Postal Service, he couldn't pick up another load despite the empty space. Combs says: "It's just a waste of time, a waste of money, a waste of fuel."

The Louisville Post Office branch says the mistake was an isolated incident and has nothing to do with the cuts in hours or cost-saving measures the Postal Service has been forced to make.

Mad Dash

We've brought you examples of mistakes that can happen when bills are rushed through Congress. The Washington Times reports the massive spending bill signed by President Obama this week included an earmark put in by Congressman James Clyburn.

The South Carolina Democrat had designated that $100,000 go to a one-room library in Jamestown. But somehow along the way, the money ended up targeted for Jamestown, California — 2,700 miles away; a town that doesn't even have a library. Chris Pipkin, the man who runs the Jamestown, South Carolina library that was supposed to get the money isn't surprised: "That figures for government, doesn't it."

Congressional staffers say typos happen and that the mistake can probably be fixed easily.

Poster Child

An advertisement by a Latino group sent out to more than 7,000 churches encouraging Hispanics to participate in the 2010 Census did not bring good tidings of great joy to some people.

The poster uses the story of Jesus' birth and the census that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem as a reason for Hispanics to be counted in 2010.

The National Association of Latino Elected Officials stands by its poster, saying it's been well-received. But a Latino clergy organization says using Jesus out of context is blasphemous.

— Fox News Channel's Lanna Britt contributed to this report.