Evens Stevens

So, the ninja-esque parliamentary manoeuvre known as the secret hold we told you about yesterday? Turns out that the guy behind it is the fabulously crabby and crumbly Ted Stevens, senator from Alaska.

Stevens has most recently become internet famous for comparing the net to "a series of tubes". The speech wherein this comparison was made has been "remixed", if by "remix", you mean looped over epically bad downtempo trance music.

Before that he was known as the man that tried to slip a $200 million-plus amendment into a transport bill for a "bridge to nowhere", "which would link Ketchikan, Alaska (population 8,900) with its airport on Gravina Island (population 50)," according to TPMmuckraker, which has taken the lead in hunting down the senator.

TPMm brings this up because Stevens has tried to kill a bill that would place all recipients of federal money onto a single website because he says it is "too expensive". A better description would be "a pain in the arse to implement", but this would hardly be a reasonable plea given the amount that congress has been prepared to spend on stupid IT projects in the past.

Still, the title of "Bridge To Nowhere" does not really deserve to stand, since the bridge basically connects the Anchorage with the only land in the region suitable for additional development. Proof that the project isn't a complete waste of time is that the state is going ahead with the bridge anyway, possibly by funding it with tolls.

Talking of money well spent, I just got round to noticing that Wal-Mart is using the Dirtbombs song "Trainwreck" in their back-to-school commercials. The feedback is mixed - I'm not sure Mick Collins ever claimed to be a punk purist, but I'd be lying if I didn't feel a slight indie shudder at me band getting all exposed, filthy lucre notwithstanding.