While the federal government was squeezed on one side by sequester and the other by a looming partial shutdown, the State Department was spending heavily on booze for its embassies abroad.
The Washington Times reports that the department spent about $180,000 on alcohol in September and $400,000 in all of 2012 -- that's three times the $118,000 spent in 2008.
Or is it lingering guilt over the unaddressed deaths of an ambassador and three other Americans?