Senator Byrd admits that he put a secret hold on S. 2590. (Via InstaPundit)

And read this week’s Lexingon column in The Economist:

Alaskan licence-plates may growl that this is the “The Last Frontier”, but urban areas—where four-fifths of Alaskans live—are amply stocked with espresso bars, broadband connections and all the comforts of modernity. Alaskans are, on average, slightly richer than Americans who live in the “lower 48” states. Yet they are wrapped in a thick mink coat of subsidies.

Federal spending supports a third of all Alaskan jobs, according to the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. Alaska’s representatives in Washington, DC have a hard-earned reputation for piping federal dollars back home. A proposed $229m “Bridge to Nowhere”, connecting the town of Ketchikan to an airport on an island with a population of 50, is the most notorious boondoggle. But the state is paved with pork—from its half-empty high-speed ferries to the $500,000 that the federally-funded Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board gave to Alaska Airlines to paint a giant king salmon on one of its aeroplanes. Citizens Against Government Waste, a watchdog, calculates that Alaska guzzles more pork per head than any other state.

Pretty appalling.

From TPM Muckraker:

By this morning, the dogged persistence of hundreds of bloggers and blogreaders garnered denials from 98 senators saying they did not hold up the Coburn/Obama spending transparency database bill. Only one senator, Ted “King of Pork” Stevens (R-AK), has admitted placing a hold on the bill.

But do the math — you’ll find that makes 99 senators. And Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) ain’t one.

That’s right: Byrd, whose penchant for pork would probably win him the Pork Crown if he weren’t saddled with minority status, has for days declined to answer constituents and others who have asked if he put a hold on the spending database proposal, S. 2590.

We have called and emailed his office and press secretary at least a half-dozen times over two days. Yesterday, we were promised a statement by the end of the day; none came. This morning, spokesman Tom Gavin continued to blame Byrd’s travel schedule for the lack of response.

What’s more, staff in the personal and leadership offices of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) have been almost uniformly mum on the issue. If Byrd placed a hold on the legislation, he would have had to notify Reid’s office to do so. After several calls and conversations with numerous staffers, Reid spokesman Jon Steinberg would say for the record only that “it’s the policy of our office not to talk about holds.”

However, Reid’s office on Tuesday confirmed that the senator himself had not placed a hold on the bill.

This is not terribly surprising, seeing as Senator Byrd is #1 on Porkbusters’ Hall of Shame. Can you guess who #2 is? Wait for it—Ted Stevens. (Via InstaPundit)

—and already got birthday wishes, but I figure more can’t hurt—but today is this blog’s 2nd birthday. Whoo!

According to this, Senator Ted Stevens, of “series of tubes” and “bridge to nowhere” fame, may be the senator behind the secret hold on S. 2590. (Via InstaPundit)

Update 08/30/2006 18:30: I guess I spoke too soon. Apparently a staffer from Senator Stevens’ office admitted that the senator was the one who put the secret hold on S. 2590. He wanted, get this, a cost-benefit analysis. Which he obviously ordered for the bridge to nowhere, eh? (Hat tip: InstaPundit)

And again: Here’s video of CNN’s coverage of the story.

Now read this blog post detailing Stevens’ frankly appalling attempts to stonewall this proposed legislation, as well as the fact that now a secret hold on the bill has been placed by a Democratic senator. (Again with the InstaPundit)

If you’ve watched the news at all in the last couple of months, you’ve probably heard about the net neutrality issue, or more humorously, Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), the chairman of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and his complete lack of understanding about computers, the internet, and by extension the net neutrality issue. You may not have actually heard the original speech, though. After you listen to it—and everyone should, if only to get a healthy dose of fear about the people we trust to make the laws we live by—make sure to watch this hilarious commentary on the topic by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.

on S. 2590, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, is in for a world of hurt when he or she is identified; the story is getting more and more press coverage, and it’s only a matter of time before he/she is “smoked out”. Updates here, here and here:

Meanwhile, TPM Muckraker reports that the number of Senators denying that they’re behind the “secret hold” has risen to 58.

The circle continues to close! Some readers wonder what happens if the secret-hold Senator just lies about it? Well, if we get to 100 denials, it’s going to be pretty embarrassing for the Senate, which has already had about all the embarrassment it should want in an election year. But I don’t think that will happen.

I wonder the same thing.

Update 08/29/2006 11:25: TPM Muckraker reports that the count of senators denying that they put a secret hold on S. 2590 is up to 84.

about payback:

Declaring himself a “non-combatant,” U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, in remarks at a New Haven press event Friday, raised anew the question of whether his “independent” candidacy will help Republicans hold onto three Congressional seats in Connecticut — and control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Lieberman — who after losing an Aug. 8 Democratic primary to Ned Lamont has launched a third-party bid to hold onto his seat in the Nov. 7 general election — was asked whether he still endorses Diane Farrell, Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy, three Democrats looking to unseat endangered Republican incumbents Chris Shays, Rob Simmons and Nancy Johnson.

“I’m a non-combatant,” Lieberman declared. “I am not going to be involved in other campaigns. I think it’s better if I just focus on my own race.”

Lieberman made the remarks at a Friday morning photo op held in the rain under an I-95 overpass in the Fair Haven neighborhood to tout his role in bringing $50 million to the state to help ease transportation gridlock.

“It’s a little awkward for me now” to endorse the Democratic candidates in the general election, he said, “since they all endorsed my opponent,” Democratic primary winner Ned Lamont.

The comment was significant because analysts from both major parties believe that Lieberman’s campaign could help the three Republicans keep their jobs in the face of tough challenges. Lieberman’s strongest support — 75 percent in the most recent Quinnipiac poll — comes from Republicans. If he succeeds in drawing more Republican voters to the polls to support his candidacy, that could help the Republican Congressional candidates. Those three races are considered among the 10 most competitive Congressional races in the country; both parties consider the races key to deciding which party controls the House in 2007. National Republican strategists and donors have come forward to help Lieberman’s campaign; party leaders have abandoned the nominal Republican in the Senate race, Alan Schlesinger. Prominent Republicans like Shays and former Republican House leader Newt Gingrich have endorsed Lieberman.

And with typical hypocrisy, the netroots are upset:

That’s a “devoted Democrat” for you.

[...]

And there is Joe’s present to the GOP. They want to focus on the House and governor’s race, and he’s clearing the way for them. Not only is he paying GOP pollster Neil Newhouse, who’s working two of those races, he’s refusing to support any Democrats in their races.

Psssst, Joe…. That makes you a Republican. I guess we know now how much stock to put in Joe’s protestations of devotion to the Democratic party. Actually, when you think about it, Joe’s always been a non-combatant when it comes to standing up to the GOP. But that’s the Lieberman Principle for you. If it’s good for Joe, it’s good.

So let me get this straight. First, they stab him in the back. Then the Democratic lemmings desert him. And now they want him to stay a “devoted Democrat”? Do I have that about right? Well, that’s perfectly reasonable.

The Democrats have made a mistake of colossal proportions in discarding Lieberman—the latest in a long string of them. If this race goes the way I hope it will, it could ring a death knell over the Democratic party as we know it. Well, I hope it will; if they haven’t gotten the message after their meltdowns in the last congressional and presidential elections, there’s a good chance they won’t get the message this time. But there’s always hope. (Via InstaPundit)

Penny Arcade has just announced that—this is SO COOL—they’re teaming up with Hothead Games to release a series of episodic Penny Arcade videogames based on the comic:

The first game, entitled Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, will be a comic adventure game for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. No date has yet been set for its release.

The game will be sold and delivered digitally, though the team hasn’t figured out yet who will handle that aspect.

[...]

“We’re really excited to be working with Hothead Games on our first electronic adventure,” said writer Jerry “Tycho” Holkins. “From the moment we laid eyes on them, it was clear they had the technical and creative chops to execute our grim vision. Now that we have pooled our strengths, our dark work may truly begin.”

While the team is excited about the possibility of the game, they also realize how important it is they get it right.

“This is something that they’ve always wanted to do, but at the same time they know how risky it is,” Khoo said. “We have to ensure it is nothing short of awesome.”

I can’t wait to see what this game is like. I asked him if it would have a Sam & Max feel and he said that’s probably the closest thing out there right now to what the Penny Arcade game will be like.

Emphasis mine. Sam & Max? Aww yeah. (Via Slashdot)

Manolo says,

the Manolo writing at the Politics Central? Ayyyyyyyy! The Manolo has the politics? Who could suspect such the thing! He seemed so nice!

Do not worry, the Manolo he has become neither the right winged nut, nor the leftist bat of the moon, and indeed his legendary indifference to the normal flow of the politics it has remained unshaken.

Or, rather, perhaps it is better to say, that his personal politics, which may best be described as the Politics of the Super Fantastic, they have remained unchanged.

In the stead, the Manolo’s friends at the Politics Central they have asked the Manolo to regularly comment upon the intersection of the fashion and the politics, not expound upon his own peculiar political beliefs.

(Via the InstaPundit)

Ever wanted to see your website as a graph, broken down by the HTML DOM? Now you can, at this site. Here’s the graph for my blog:

The legend:

blue: for links (the A tag)
red: for tables (TABLE, TR and TD tags)
green: for the DIV tag
violet: for images (the IMG tag)
yellow: for forms (FORM, INPUT, TEXTAREA, SELECT and OPTION tags)
orange: for linebreaks and blockquotes (BR, P, and BLOCKQUOTE tags)
black: the HTML tag, the root node
gray: all other tags

Pretty cool. (Via Drawn!)