Politicians only lament pork when it's being served to someone else. And it appears a whopping platter could be headed to our hungry neighbors in Mississippi.

Despite stiff competition, Flora, Miss., emerged as one of five finalists last year for a new $451 million Homeland Security Department laboratory to study biological threats. What has people scratching their heads now is the revelation that the Mississippi site earned a score of 81 in an evaluation of suitability by government experts. The other four finalists earned a score of 90 or better.

Homeland Security appears to have overridden the recommendation of its experts who reviewed the prospective locations for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility. One Georgia site — a 66-acre site on the University of Georgia campus — also ended up as a finalist.

While Mississippi's scores may not be stellar, its political connections are dazzling. The chairman of the Homeland Security Department oversight committee in the House is Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, and the senior Republican on the committee that will approve the funding is Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran. Of course, both politicians deny their status played any role in their home state's favorable standing.

But Georgia can't pretend that it's adhered to a pork-free diet. It's dined for years on the defense bacon fried up and served by legendary Congressman Carl Vinson, who chaired the House Armed Services Committee for 14 years before his retirement in 1965, and Sen. Richard Russell, who led the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1951 to 1969.

As Rep. Jack Kingston said last year about pork barrel politics, "Why do you think we have 13 bases in the state of Georgia? That doesn't happen by accident."

— Maureen Downey, for the editorial board