Defense Department price for a fridge? A cool $23,000

Benjamin Grove and Suzanne Struglinski

Monday, Nov. 14, 2005 | 8:08 a.m.

In one of the more memorable moments on Capitol Hill this week, a small refrigerator the Pentagon had bought was wheeled into the House Armed Services Committee hearing room to muffled laughter from onlookers.

But it wasn't so funny. The Defense Department paid nearly $23,000 for it.

A Knight Ridder newspaper investigation of the Defense Department's "prime vendor" program revealed the Pentagon has paid some outrageous sums for basic equipment, including $20 for plastic ice cube trays that sell for 85 cents.

"This is a real slap in the face to the guy making $13,000 a year who is engaged in a firefight in Ramadi," panel chairman Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said. Two Pentagon officials vowed investigations and changes.

Reid Gets High Marks

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's office proudly touted this favorable news: Democratic pollster Mark Mellman reported last week that Reid is viewed favorably by 65 percent of Nevadans, about the same number he had in October 2004, before he became the high-profile leader of Senate Democrats.

Reid was also named best politician by readers of the Reno News & Review in the alternative weekly's best of Northern Nevada poll. (No. 2 was President Bush and No. 3 was Republican Reno Mayor Bob Cashell.)

Play It Again, Jon

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., will return to his keyboard again next week as the congressional band "The Second Amendments" performs in an end-of-the-year party.

Porter will be joined by Reps. Kenny Hulshof, R-Mo., Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and Dave Weldon, R-Fla. Peterson was previously in another congressional band called the "Amendments," so this being his second band, the name was natural. (All the members coincidentally support the Second Amendment, according to Porter spokesman T.J. Crawford.)

They'll be joined by some pros, including Tom Lee, president of the American Federation of Musicians, and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, who has worked as the lead guitarist of the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan.

Money raised will go to the American Federation of Musicians Gulf Coast Relief Fund.

Great Debate: NPRLiberal?

Congressional lawmakers have an agenda full of hefty issues to deal with in the final days of this year's session -- budget deficits and tax cuts and spending bills. But there was time to discuss this weighty topic: Is National Public Radio liberal?

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, had introduced an amendment to a Defense spending bill that would require federally supported radio delivered to U.S. military stationed overseas to carry "progressive" programming to balance conservative talk shows with hosts including Rush Limbaugh, James Dobson and Laura Schlessinger.

American Forces Radio is 85 percent conservative, Harkin said, calling it "propagandizing our troops."

Conservatives countered that conservative talk shows are balanced by NPR broadcasts.

In a debate this week Sen. John Warner, R-Va., argued that "NPR has always been associated with, should we say, a bit of the left side."

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., called that an "unbelievable assertion."

"What he (Limbaugh) does is, he relentlessly kicks the living daylights out of the opposite party. Is that found on NPR?"

The amendment was killed on a party-line vote 55-44.

Limbaugh told listeners he sent Harkin a T-shirt and coffee mug from his show.

Ensign Fires At Hollywood

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., took special note of a Dartmouth Medical School study, published in the journal Pediatrics, that found adolescents who watched relatively high numbers of movies with actors smoking were more likely to begin smoking themselves.

It reported that 38 percent of adolescents said they started smoking because they saw it on the big screen. Ensign urged the movie industry to curb smoking in its films.

"America's film industry has a responsibility for the impact its products have on young moviegoers," Ensign said in a press release.