* Republican controlled lame duck final session of the 109th Congress begins today. Only innocuous, non-controversial legislation expected to go through — but the White House is still hoping to push for the authorization of domestic wiretapping and the confirmation of John “Mustache of Fury” Bolton as ambassador to the UN. [NYT, WP]
* Nancy Pelosi supports John Murtha for House majority leader citing his early support for withdrawal from Iraq. [WP, NYT]
* Incoming Senate leadership also beating their out-of-Iraq drums, “We need to begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to six months.” [NYT, LAT]
* Newly independent Joe Lieberman, establishing himself as the generic brand alternative on Iraq, says the Democrats’ plan “to pick up an leave” is wrong. [WP]
* California and Nancy Pelosi are all about the pork. [NYT, LAT]
* Everything you never wanted to know about Jon Tester. [NYT]
* George H. W. Bush: “I have some rights of memory in this kingdom, which now to claim my vantage doth invite me.” [Newsweek]

Left and Right banded together for several hours last month over the noble yet boring issue of government-spending transparency, and it looks like there’s a new issue ready to bring minutes of unity back to Washington. Last-minute donations to Senate campaigns are not filed electronically, meaning that nobody really knows which corporations and lobbyists buy which lawmakers in the final days before the election … until it’s too late. MORE »

Even American voters can occasionally figure out something that’s been right in front of them for several years. MORE »

• Maverick McCain and his merry band of outlaws reject Bush’s, “alternative interrogation strategies” legislation, approve their own. [WP, NYT, LAT, USAT]

• Both houses of Congress shelve large ethics bills; do agree to write their name next to kickback payments, er, earmarks. [WP, NYT]
• Congressman Bob Ney will plead guilty to “Abramoff stuff,” but it’s not his fault — the booze made him do it. [WP, NYT]
• Judge in Saddam Hussein trial tells him, “You were not a dictator.” [CNN, LAT]
• World Bank releases list of countries not to visit on vacation this year. [WP]
• FDA goes against Popeye and your parents, issues warning about eating spinach. [WP]

• Two of the White House’s most controversial anti-terror programs are on the hill and multiple incarnations in multiple committees are making for confusing parallel legislation. [NYT, WP, LAT]

• Bush’s approval rating goes up one percentage point for every thousand mentions of phrase, “Iraq and terrorism.” [WSJ]
• House unwilling to give up anonymous earmarks for even a couple of weeks. [NYT]
• International Atomic Energy Agency claims a recent House Intelligence committee report on Iran is “erroneous, misleading and unsubstantiated.” [NYT]
• Nationwide shortage of poll workers; ones we have too old, stupid. [USAT]
• House Republicans want 700 miles of fence built along the border with Mexico. [NYT]
• Who’s the gunslinger now? Novak blasts Armitage. [WP]

• Joe Lieberman’s got a blog up, and it’s just as full of Ned Lamont quotes as you thought it’d be. [Joe2006]

• Lieberman payola! He took millions from Republicans in exchange for promises of obedient voting, if he, you know, gets to keep the job. [Insight]
• Republican plan to scare voters away from Democrats with the specter of a Pelosi speakership will fail because Americans are dumb as fuck. [MyDD]
• CBS worried that FCC will be issuing fines over NYC firefighters’ filthy mouths, thanks to Janet Jackson’s titties. [Hit & Run]
• Iran debuts a homegrown fighter plane and claims it “is similar to the F-18 but more powerful.” American pilots do a collective “bullshit” cough into their hands. [Vodka Pundit]
• Tom Delay using lobbying experience to affect outcome of this season’s Dancing With The Stars, Tucker Carlson is pissed. [Think Progress]
• The secret pork hold is on again, now it’s off, now it’s on. [TPMmuckraker]

There’s so much pork news today, we feel like we’re already at the Labor Day BBQ. But this is the last thing we’re posting on S. 2590 … until at least Tuesday.

The Tubemeister claims his “secret hold” is due to a sudden concern about government spending — Stevens says he’s worried about the $15 million cost for six years of building and running a publicly accessible online database that would show, for example, how many hundreds of millions of dollars Stevens funnels to his cronies in Alaska.

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Mmm, “secret pork blockage.” MORE »

• Ratings dip at Fox News Channel completely unrelated to Americans’ growing distrust of administration. [TVNewser]

• Roger Ailes knows more war equals higher ratings, orders anchors to “Sell! Sell! Sell!” [Think Progress]
• Why is Joe “committed Democrat” Lieberman trying to ruin the party’s chance to take back the House? For spite, that’s why. [The Carpetbagger Report]
• The Office of National Drug Control Policy might as well roll-up their funding and smoke it. [DARE Generation Diary]
• Ted Steven’s spokesmen issues flimsy denial/lie about the pork hold, as the Senator doesn’t deign to answer bloggers directly, or know what a blog is, actually. [Instapundit]
• Handy new “lie-line” covers history of Iraq War from first bullshit uttered in August 1990 to falsities spread in March 2003. [Mother Jones]
• Paul Begala not happy with the direction of the country, fine with herpes. [Washington Fix]

Yes, yes, “Tubes” Stevens has finally admitted putting a secret hold on the leetle tiny Senate proposal to have a website where you could see what crooks are taking all your tax dollars.

But it’s not what you think, really! The senator famous for his bold and principled projects — like that $200-million bridge that didn’t actually go anywhere — is just trying to crack down on wasteful government spending!

That’s because the publicly accessible Google-style online database is going to cost $4 million over the next two years and up to $11 million between now and 2011. Stevens needs that money for Alaska, where he plans to spend it on a new coffee maker for a loyal supporter in Juneau.

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While we’ve been implying, insinuating and plain old accusing — and even encouraging readers to call their senators — turns out the whole S. 2590 porky mystery was solved two weeks ago.

Tom Coburn, one of the few living “fiscal conservatives” and the guy who introduced the bill along with Dem glamour boy Barack Obama, just flat out told an audience back home in Oklahoma that pork-slobberin’ Alaskan Ted “Series of Tubes” Stevens had put the hold on the government-transparency bill.

Read Coburn’s actual words, along with myriad other words, after the jump.

MORE »