Glorfindel of Gondolin

Here's what Alaska's Ted Stevens had to say on the Senate floor the other day.

"I will put the Senate on notice -- and I don't kid people -- if the Senate decides to * * *, I will resign from this body."

What could so seriously tarnish his sacred honor that Stevens would threaten to resign? It certainly isn't torture. Stevens voted in favor of giving the President carte blanche to torture detainees when he stood with only nine other senators and voted against the McCain amendment. That amendment is only a very, very modest Congressional exercise of its Constitutional responsibility to make rules for the treatment of detainees, but for Ted Stevens, it was too much.

No, Ted Stevens votes for torture, but he threatens to resign over Alaska's disproportionate share of federal pork:

I will put the Senate on notice -- and I don't kid people -- if the Senate decides to discriminate against our state and take money only from our state, I will resign from this body."

I posted a while ago about America's Alaska problem:

At times when it suits them, Alaskans like to clamor for the federal government to leave them alone. Especially when it comes to wilderness land management, politicians from Alaska can be counted on to complain loudly about "federal government meddling" in a subject that is "none of the lower-48's business." Arguments that the Alaskan wilderness jewels are truly national treasures that ought to benefit all Americans fall on deaf ears in Alaska.

When it suits them to say the opposite, though, the Alaskan politicians have no problem changing their tune. Instead of asking the government to leave Alaska alone, they demand that the federal government take extra-special care of Alaska at the rest of the country's expense. Specifically, the Alaskans are never loathe to chase after the most outrageous and embarrassing federal pork. Two egregious examples are homeland-security pork and highway-bill pork.

Back then, Alaska's politicians merely had to ignore deficits and the war in Iraq to bring home the federal bacon. Now we know that the wholesale destruction of the Gulf Coast isn't enough of an added spur to get these politicians to act like statesmen. Even after Katrina, the Alaska delegation still act like tawdry lobbyists. Our Alaska problem is deeper than we thought.