The House and Senate have passed landmark legislation imposing transparency on earmarks in the appropriations process. The Senate is also looking at the John Bolton confirmation, and legislation aimed at trying terrorists before military tribunals.

We managed to catch up with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist this morning and talk about all of these subjects, Frist’s new Blogging for Bolton venture, and the joys of blogging and podcasting.

It’s shorter than usual — less than 20 minutes — but I think you’ll find it interesting.

You can listen directly without downloading by going here and clicking on the gray Flash player. Or you can download directly by clicking right here. A lo-fi version for dialup is available here, and you can subscribe via iTunes by clicking here.

Music is by Todd Steed and the Suns of Phere, from their album Heartbreak and Duct Tape.

And here’s an editorial on the passage of the earmark-reform legislation.

UPDATE: The nice folks at eScribers sent us another free transcript. You can see it here.

If we can work out a deal, we’ll start doing this regularly.