In the Roger Clemens perjury trial, the Justice Department has finally, mercifully, rested its case:

The government called the last of its 24 witnesses Tuesday, concluding 19 days of testimony. The last witness was a toxicologist from the FBI who testified about the various forms of vitamin B12.

Including jury selection, the trial is now in its seventh week. It was originally expected to take four to six weeks.

Clemens' lawyers say they will need about two weeks to call their witnesses.

Here's what I want to know ... Who's the genius who was doing the original expecting? Because that dude was way, way off.

Maybe that same guy can estimate how much money our government's going to spend on this trial. Once we've got that figure, we can add 50 percent and we'll probably have a good idea.

People ask me why all the fuss. Well, there should be some penalty for lying to Congress, and perhaps a big trial like this one will serve as a deterrent. Especially if Clemens loses.

Of course, we'd all be better served by a system that penalized Congressmen for lying. But that's too much to hope for.