I’ve been meaning to give praise to Mitch McConnell since last week when he began voting against appropriations measures coming out of the Senate. This is a rare thing for McConnell, who normally sides with the appropriators.But he stood up and voted no last week, siding with the Senate conservatives. It was a bold move worthy of praise. Something has happened this week too. McConnell did it again. He sided with Jim DeMint and California farmers against a small fish.What is pathetic and sad is that both Barbara Boxer and Lamar Alexander sided with the fish over the farmers.Jim DeMint offered up an amendment to the Department of Interior’s budget appropriations to sidestep stupid environmental studies about a minnow that a judge used to stop water flow in California’s Central Valley, where 50% of the US fruits and veggies are grown. Senator Feinstein called DeMint’s amendment “a kind of Pearl Harbor.”California’s Senators would rather their farmers be unemployed and crops left to die of thirst than stop a judge from siding with a minnow. Both Boxer and Feinstein sided with the minnow over the farmers.Lamar Alexander sided with them.That’s the funny thing about the United States Senate. Too many senators side with their fellow senators instead of constituents. The fraternity of appropriators in the Senate is a stronger bond than a Senator to his constituents. The people of Tennessee now know where Lamar Alexander’s loyalties lie.And the people of California know that its Senators would rather save a non-voting fish, than voting, working farmers. Chuck Devore should be able to exploit this one.