The Strom Thurmond of the Arctic Circle

That is how Sen. Dan Inouye, Sen. Ted Stevens' long-time friend characterized our patron saint of Alaska, some time ago. Stevens, under scrutiny today for a fiscal fiasco involving the 20th Anniversary celebration of the Alaska Volcano Observatory, was feted today at a Washington D.C. fundraiser held by Hawaii's Sen. Inouye:

"Stevens' campaign hoped the noontime lunch just a block from the Capitol would net $50,000 or so from the anticipated 60-70 guests, said campaign treasurer Tim McKeever in Alaska."

These two guys' control over massively expensive and increasingly ineffectual appropriation process, has today earned them the title of The Vast Non-Lower-48 Conspiracy. No doubt they found the noon venue in D.C. more accommodating than they might have found a restaurant in Kodiak, for instance:


image courtesy of midnightjinx