Don Young has done it again. He has let his passion for defending Alaska carry him beyond the bounds of decorum in the U.S. House of Representatives. Once again, his intemperate bluster has embarrassed Alaska.

This time he did not stand before colleagues with his hand in a leg-hold trap. He did not wave an oosik, the penis bone of a walrus, while angrily making his point.

This time he did it without props.

The occasion for his latest tirade? A Republican colleague's effort to cut a federal program that adds extra education money for indigenous students in Alaska and Hawaii.

It's a helpful program for Alaska, where we struggle to find effective ways of educating Native students. But at a time when federal spending is under lots of scrutiny, it's not beyond the pale for colleagues to wonder if this special program is necessary or appropriate.

Rep. Young decried this legitimate debate as "fighting each other" and compared it to how "mink in my state kill their own."

He might have been OK if he'd stopped there. But he went on:

"There's always another day when those who fight will be killed too, and I am very good at that."

Continuing, he said, "Let's just all have a big donnybrook right here. I'm ready. I'm really ready." He went on to suggest the real motivation at issue was envy. He boasted that he was better at representing his state than his New Jersey colleagues in representing theirs.

"I would suggest New Jersey ought to elect some new congressmen . ... If they can't do the job, elect somebody new."

During his tirade, Rep. Young said his congressional critic is "from a state that doesn't have the greatest reputation in the world."

These days, the same unflattering remark applies to Alaska -- thanks in no small part to Congressman Young.

Alaska has been tagged as a pork-swilling backwater that gobbles up federal money for "bridges to nowhere." Congressman Young has drawn scrutiny in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. He has drawn criticism for two different instances where he did favors for Outside businessmen who also happened to raise about $60,000 for his re-election campaign.

Rep. Young claimed that his New Jersey colleague's attempt to cut the program serving Alaska was downright offensive. He said with indignation, "This is supposed to be a house of honor."

If anyone in this case is helping to call the honor of the House into question, it's Congressman Don Young.

BOTTOM LINE: Don Young's act is getting old.
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