More bad news for Senator Ted Stevens. The Anchorage Daily News is reporting that he set up an earmark to finance a real estate bailout for a longtime aid. The $1.6 million earmark to the SeaLife Center in Seward, Alaska was used to buy half a million in property from a former aide, Trevor McCabe.

At least Sen. Stevens can rest secure in the knowledge that he's made life infinitely worse for the polar bears in his state. Thanks in part to his vocal opposition to the listing of the polar bear as an endangered species (because it might interfere with oil drilling and development in Alaska) the Interior Department is going to go ahead and keep selling oil drilling rights in the Chuckshi Sea in the polar bear habitat despite the fact that environmental experts agree it could further harm said habitat which is already threatened by climate change.

No doubt Stevens' friends in the oil industry will continue to reward him with generous campaign contributions for his efforts on their behalf (and he'll certainly need them if these scandals keep popping up) but I would advise the Senator against planning any outdoor recreation up in the Chuckshi Sea area.

Polar bears have pretty big teeth.