Reasons Unbeknownst

“Blogosphere Unites in Pursuit of Masked Senator”…
UPDATE: Mystery Solved.
Ethical witch hunts are rare but the United States is in the midst of a whopper. A small non-profit is holding politicians to the fire. Some background:

The hunt for the senator is turning into a classic political “whodunit,” said Brian Darling, director of senate relations for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative leaning think tank based in Washington.
It could be anyone — Democrat or Republican — Darling said. To place a hold, senators merely have to inform their leader that they don’t want the legislation to move forward, he said.
It remains unclear if the senator responsible will be able to withstand the pressure from the broad array of groups and senators supporting the bill…
The secret hold has prompted conservative and liberal government watchdog groups to band together to “smoke out” the senator responsible.

The mainstream media would never have created something as blatently creative as the corruption countdown over at Porkbusters. They simply lack the courage and credibility to organize something which has the potential to embarass our “leaders”.

UPDATE. The list of suspects is shrinking.
UPDATE II Just called DC with Skypeout and cleared Baucus while eating a footlong Turkey sandwich. Democracy can be delicious. Ted Stevens’ young sounding DC rep wouldn’t answer, just told me to go to the website, hmmm, what does he have to hide? My money is on “Series of Tubes” Stevens.
UPDATE III Sarbanes wouldn’t answer either, said they’d call me back.
UPDATE IV Hey, I’m famous… from TPMMuckraker Update: TPMm Reader KH finally gets an answer out of Sen. Baucus: “Called their Washington DC office and the female staffer’s reply was a flat ‘No.’” 89. It’s really nice to know the guilty Senator is sweating a little more thanks to my Hardy Boy handywork.

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Senators Unknown or Who Refuse Answer (via TPMMuckraker):
(Senators who have refused to answer are in bold and italicized.)

Stevens, Ted- (R – AK)
Baucus, Max- (D – MT)
Crapo, Mike- (R – ID)
Gregg, Judd- (R – NH)
Hatch, Orrin G.- (R – UT)
Murkowski, Lisa- (R – AK)
Reid, Harry- (D – NV)
Rockefeller, John D., IV- (D – WV)
Talent, James M.- (R – MO)
Carper, Thomas R.- (D – DE)*
Chambliss, Saxby- (R – GA)
Sarbanes, Paul S.- (D – MD)
Bond, Christopher S.- (R – MO)

A lot of kids need more exercise. The kid behind me on the flight back from New York needed more exorcise. Instead of sleeping I read Bastiat’s The Law while suffering at the hands of the reincarnation of Sam Kinison. I like reading old philosophers and applying their often timeless wisdom to the world circa now. I read a Goethe quote once that said most of the good ideas have already been imagined but few read enough to realize what they’re missing so they waste time reinventing the wheel. I don’t like wasting time.

The Law is a sort of libertarian manifesto inspired by a life lived in France. You can read voluminous treatises on law and never understand it as well as was made clear by Bastiat.

When a reviewer wishes to give special recognition to a book, he predicts that it will still be read “a hundred years from now.” The Law, first published as a pamphlet in June, 1850, is already more than a hundred years old. And because its truths are eternal, it will still be read when another century has passed. Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) was a French economist, statesman, and author. He did most of his writing during the years just before – and immediately following – the Revolution of February 1848.

I’ll be writing more about it in the near future. But first…

It bothers me to no end that the Federal Reserve and Media did nothing to protect Americans from the inevitable collapse of the housing bubble. Is it really asset price manipulation if truth is the manipulator? Do I feel vindicated that my predictions were right? No, it was obvious unless you ignored fundamentals. I’m frustrated that the general public won’t know why it happened and that most journalists don’t know their economic elbow from their ass.