One Nation? Indivisbile?

Whose crazy idea was that?

In any case it won't die: the idea that Alaska, to help Hurricane Katrina victims, should forfeit the dough it got in the federal highway bill for the Knik and Gravina bridges.

The New York Times: "Surely Rep. Don Young, the Alaska Republican who is chairman of the transportation committee, might put off that $223 million 'bridge to nowhere' in his state's outback. It's redundant now -- Louisiana suddenly has several bridges to nowhere."

The Wall Street Journal: "That same half a billion dollars (for the two Alaska bridges) could rebuild thousands of homes for suffering New Orleans evacuees."

No doubt to make Alaskans look bad, city leaders in Bozeman, Mont., are investigating whether they can give Katrina victims the $4 million they got in the federal bill for a downtown parking garage.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., raised the charitable pork idea on the Senate floor last week, although he stopped short of endorsing it.

So, how about it, Mr. Chairman?

"They can kiss my ear!" Young boomed when Sam Bishop, Washington correspondent for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, asked him about the many pleas to redirect the bridge money.

My favorite bit is the highlighted part. The people in Bozeman must have been thinking only of making Alaska look bad; because surely it would have nothing to do with compassion, charity, or even shame.

But lest you think that is just editorial snark. Chairman Young sets the record straight:

"That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Young went on, noting that Louisiana did quite well in his highway bill.

And, the congressman said, he helped the seafood industry donate more than $500,000 for hurricane victims. (That was at the "Seafood Invitational," a charity golf tournament Sept. 9 in Roslyn, Wash., Bishop reported Friday.)

"I raised enough money to give back to them voluntarily," he said, "and that's it!"

You see, he's already raised $500,000 for Louisiana. How much more do they need?

People in Louisiana are clearly whiners who don't understand their place in Federal priorities. I bet they got their city flooded just to try to take money away from Alaska. Besides, as the article goes on to note, Young points out he warned that putting FEMA in DHS would lead to problems. People in New Orleans should have thought about that back in 2002. It's not Chairman Young's fault he can't represente Louisiana and Alaska at the same time, what with prophetic vision like that.