PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: This is interesting:

Three members of Tennessee’s congressional delegation, including U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper of Nashville, have taken the unusual step of revealing the lists of local projects they are pushing to be included in next year’s federal budget.

Cooper, a Democrat, along with Democratic Reps. Lincoln Davis of Pall Mall and Harold Ford Jr. of Memphis are seeking more than $500 million for more than 100 projects, although only a handful of those requests will end up being approved.

The practice of funding special requests is viewed by some as controversial because of the secrecy surrounding the requests, the growth in their number, the role lobbyists play in obtaining special funding, and how these projects skew the budget-building process.

Congress placed 12,852 special funding requests in last year’s appropriations bills, with a value of $67 billion, but only 4 percent were actually in the text of the bills where they could be easily found, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service.

“Earmarks (the special funding projects) can be spent wisely, but there is no safeguard,” Cooper said. “I think a process so open to abuse has to be curbed.”

Cooper wants these special requests eliminated and federal funds distributed through the formal budget process based on need, not on political or special-interest power.

Davis thinks requests that come from special-interest lobbyists should be banned, but others in the delegation defend them.

Read the whole thing. (Via Bill Hobbs).

UPDATE: Reader TC Lynch emails (more in response to the last Hobbs item than this one, I think): “As you’ve noted, going after Bill Hobbs has to be one of the dumbest things, in retrospect, any Tenny Democrat could ever have done, in the view of ‘advancing’ the state party’s agenda. Instead of neutering him, they allowed him to totally cut loose.”

POWER LINE is inviting readers to help cover immigration marches around the country by sending in photos and video.

JOSHUA SHARF rounds up some economic news you may have missed. A few tidbits:

Retail store sales were up 4.1% year-over-year

Same-store sales were up 5.1% year-over-year

Consumer Confidence rose to 109.6, well above the consensus estimate range

The housing bust continues to track the elusive Afghan Winter, as existing home sales rose slightly, when they were expected to decline

This was offset somewhat by a decline in mortgage applications

Durable goods orders were up 6.1%

He’s got more. And don’t miss the Carnival of the Capitalists — what better way to celebrate May Day?

I DIDN’T DO A VERY GOOD JOB of posting campus photographs this year, but homesick University of Tennessee alumni can check out this photo pool from Flickr for a lot more.

BAD NEWS FOR MAC OWNERS:

While Apple’s Mac operating system is considered more secure than Microsoft’s Windows, the Cupertino company’s software recently has become more vulnerable to attacks, according to a report coming out today on the top trends in Internet security. . . .

Perhaps the most striking is the “rapid growth in critical vulnerabilities” in Mac OS/X, Apple’s operating system, long considered safer from hacker attacks than Windows, the report said.

“Although OS/X still remains safer than Windows, it’s certainly not a bulletproof alternative to Windows,” said Rohit Dhamankar, editor of @RISK, a SANS Institute newsletter. “The number of vulnerabilities in the Mac OS has certainly increased in the last six-month period.”

No condition is permanent.

UPDATE: A skeptical response, here.

AN ARMY OF CHRENKOFFS: Arthur may be gone, but Bill Crawford is presenting underreported news from Iraq.

And read this piece from The Mudville Gazette, too.