A lesson in why a government agency should never respond directly to a link regarding sliced ham on the Drudge Report. Go here and here for background.

After the Department of Agriculture attempted to downplay its expenditure of $1.19 million for sliced ham:

The references to “2 pound frozen ham sliced” are to the sizes of the packaging. Press reports suggesting that the Recovery Act spent $1.191 million to buy “2 pounds of ham” are wrong. In fact, the contract in question purchased 760,000 pounds of ham for $1.191 million, at a cost of approximately $1.50 per pound.

Drudge found that the price of a pound of ham at Food Lion is about 79 cents. That would mean that the federal government paid 71 cents more per pound, or a little less than twice as much, than the price of a ham at your local supermarket. Only inside the beltway would that be considered a viable defense.