Maybe Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., should have realized an on-camera interview with snarky comedian Bill Maher may not go as well as with, say, a fresh-out-of-college reporter at KFSM in Fort Smith.

The rookie may not have known that “indigously” wasn’t a word. Maher just plastered it across the movie screen when Pryor misspoke so that moviegoers could laugh at the senator.

And that’s what viewers did, repeatedly, Wednesday at an advance screening of Maher’s new movie, “Religulous,” at a Washington theater. The screening was open to reporters and members of various secular groups.

Maher and the film’s producers showed no respect for the state’s junior senator, though Pryor was in good company — there wasn’t respect for the world’s religions, either.

Maher’s blistering rebuke of all things religious framed the faithful as buffoons awaiting a false promise of a happy afterlife.

He interviewed Pryor about two years ago while the senator was a chairman of the annual National Prayer Breakfast. The meeting was in Pryor’s office, where his “Arkansas Comes First” sign is featured prominently on his desk.

Maher’s face time with Pryor takes up about two minutes of the 101-minute film, but it was one of the more amusing segments for Washington movie-goers.

Maher poked fun at Pryor’s use of the word “literacy” in describing his views on the gospel: “I do believe in the actual literacy of that story,” Pryor said.

The audience reserved its loudest laughter of the night for the pair’s discussion of the Old Testament account of Adam and Eve and the serpent.

“You’re a senator, you’re one of the very few people who are really running this country. It worries me that people are running my country, who think, who believe in a talking snake,” Maher said.

Pryor’s response: “You don’t have to pass an IQ test to be in the Senate though.”

“Religulous” opens in limited release Friday.

The Senate on Friday approved a bill that forces the Federal Emergency Management Agency to come up with a plan to get rid of its mobile home and trailer stockpile in Hope.

But what is perhaps the world’s largest trailer park may not go away so quickly. The passage came in the waning days of this congressional session, and House aides said it “would be difficult” to put the measure on the crowded House calendar before adjournment.

Without House passage, the bill dies.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., requires FEMA to say within nine months to either use, sell or dispose of its housing units located across the country.

Nearly 20,000 units are in Hope, where many have collected dust since 2005. FEMA purchased the units for victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but red tape and concerns about chemicals in the trailers have rendered thousands unusable.

Pryor has called the trailer collection at the Hope Municipal Airport an example of government waste that’s “beyond silly.”

Hope officials, however, don’t complain too much. FEMA estimates it spends $1 million a month to maintain the trailer site.  The city receives $25,000 a month in rent.

Five callers to Sen. Mark Pryor’s Washington office got quite the surprise this afternoon when Pryor answered the phone himself.

Constituents rarely have such access to U.S. senators, who are usually shielded from public phone calls by an army of gatekeepers. Aides almost always field phone calls to an office’s main line.

Pryor’s spokeswoman, Lisa Ackerman, said the state’s junior senator wanted to answer his own phone to get a feel for what constituents think about the proposed government bailout of imperiled financial institutions.

They were all uncomfortable with the proposal, she said.

“Some wanted him to do what’s best for the country. Others were just all-out opposed to it,” Ackerman said.

She said Pryor didn’t identify himself as the senator until after callers voiced their concerns. He answered the phone with, “Sen. Pryor’s office,” Ackerman said.

The calls came from all three of the state’s area codes, she added.

Now if Pryor ever loses his Senate seat, he might qualify for a job at a call center.

Congress is set to approve a major appropriations package before lawmakers leave Washington for the year, which means press offices are eager to hit the send button on e-mail press releases that herald the dollars obtained for projects back home.

Thanks to the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, here’s a list of the earmarks in the three appropriations bills headed for the president’s desk — a first look at what Arkansas lawmakers will be touting when they return to the Natural State.

Nearly $50 million worth of earmarks for Arkansas projects are contained in the Defense, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security fiscal 2009 appropriations bills.

Lawmakers are expected to take up the eight other spending bills when a new Congress convenes in January.

Here are the projects for Arkansas, listed by sponsor:

Rep. Marion Berry, D-Gillett, and Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both D-Ark.:

$1.6 million for biological air filtering system technology;

$800,000 for spectroscopic materials identification center;

$2.8 million for a standoff hazardous agent detection and evaluation system;

$10.9 million for a new National Guard readiness center in Cabot.

Berry:

$50,000 for pre-disaster mitigation for the city of Wynne.

Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers:

$750,000 for Sebastian County’s emergency operations center.

Boozman, Lincoln and Pryor:

$3.2 million for development of mobile combat support hospitals, which could be manufactured in Russellville;

$204,000 for a infantry platoon battle course at Fort Chaffee;

Boozman and Rep. Mike Ross, D-Prescott:

$800,000 for the center for nanoscale biosciences at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and UA-Pine Bluff.

Ross, Lincoln and Pryor:

$8.8 million for mortar and grenade production at the Pine Bluff Arsenal.

Ross:

$1.6 million for development of a lightweight, unmanned ground robot;

$1.6 million for grenade production.

Rep. Vic Snyder, Lincoln and Pryor:

$2 million for advanced functional nanomaterials for biological processes;

$1.6 million for silicon carbide torso plates;

$1.6 million for information quality tools for persistent surveillance data sets;

$4 million for the engine shop replacement at Little Rock Air Force Base.

Lincoln and Pryor:

$1.6 million for advanced field artillery tactical data systems;

$2.5 million for nanoscale biosensors;

$800,000 for nanotech lubricants designed for durability, energy-saving and sustainability of oceanic vehicles.

Judging by the noise, Mark Pryor sounded more like a paramedic than a senator Wednesday.

Pryor, D-Ark., apologized twice for the sirens heard in the background during the senator’s weekly conference call with reporters.

He conducted the call from his office rather than in its usual spot, the high-tech Senate Recording Studio in the basement of the Capitol. Maybe next week he’ll have insulated windows.

Pryor apologized for what he called “street noise” of emergency sirens that blared twice during his 30-minute call with Arkansas reporters based in Washington and back in the state.

Pryor had to use the phone to call in rather than the better equipment in the studio because of his upcoming Senate race. By rule, senators are barred from using government-owned television or radio studios or sending mass mailings to constituents during the 60 days before an election.

It’s a safe bet Pryor will play by the rules, even if it means making radio reporters cringe because of a noisy telephone connection. After all, Pryor serves on both the Senate Ethics Committee and its rules panel.

Pryor faces Green Party candidate Rebekah Kennedy of Fort Smith in the Nov. 4 general election.

He’s also limited as to what he can add to his Web site during the 60-day moratorium. Pryor cannot add photos or updates (other than news releases) until after the election.

Kennedy faces no such restrictions.

Arkansas Republicans couldn’t complain about a lack of sleep during this year’s national convention.

Unlike their Democratic counterparts up every day at 7 a.m. for breakfast meetings, the state’s GOP delegates had just one group breakfast — on the convention’s first day.

Tuesday through Thursday, delegates were on their own to attend other meetings or hit the snooze button.

GOP state director Karen Ray said the party decided to save its money for political races instead of using it for breakfasts during convention week.

“Our business is to go out and elect candidates,” Ray said. “We didn’t go out and raise money for the convention. We went out and raised money for our elections this year. We’re trying to be as responsible with our dollars as possible.”

The hotel where the Arkansas delegation stays hosts a free buffet breakfast every day, so delegates didn’t necessarily have to miss a morning meal, Ray said.

Last week in Denver, the Democrats’ daily breakfast meetings included speeches by members of the state’s congressional delegation.

Republicans on Monday heard from former Gov. Mike Huckabee and supporters of John McCain that included North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven and conservative commentator Gary Bauer.

The lone GOP breakfast was sponsored by Wal-Mart. Sponsors last week for Democrats included Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both D-Ark.

Maybe Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers, could have helped GOP delegates with what’s considered the most important meal of the day. Boozman does not have a Democratic opponent this year and had more than $175,000 in the bank at the end of June, according to campaign finance records.

Surely it was only a scheduling mishap that forced reporters this morning to decide whether to attend a speech by Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., or a breakfast meeting with Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.

Pryor spoke at the daily Arkansas delegation breakfast just a few minutes before Lincoln hosted journalists at a restaurant across town.

Surely the senators wouldn’t want to make reporters — especially reporters for companies that only have one man in town, *ahem* — choose which senator to spurn.

The senior senator? The freshman who is up for re-election? The intimate reporters-only roundtable? The breakfast speech intended for the state’s convention delegation? The eggs benedict? The french toast? Oh, the choices!

Well, after days of prayer for the wisdom of Solomon, it turns out the choice for this blogger really didn’t matter.

Ultimately, it was Denver cab company that made the decision. After a 45-minute wait for a cab that never arrived, the ruminating over which event to attend seemed pretty worthless.

Yes, the missing taxi meant both events were missed.

AWOL cabs are the latest in a series of transportation indignities here in Denver.

There has been traffic on a Sunday that made a 15-minute errand a 2-hour ordeal. The commuter rail line runs only when there’s nothing in the street to block it. A hotel shuttle service seemingly only operates within a 5-block radius and, even then, apparently not after sundown.

So here’s hoping the eggs were tasty, Sen. Lincoln! Hope they kept your coffee warm, Sen. Pryor!

It’s off to the Pepsi Center now. It may be time to try hitchhiking.

The Arkansas delegation to the Democratic National Convention has its busiest schedule of events of any day during the convention today in Denver.

After a early-morning breakfast where Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., addressed the group and previewed her 6 p.m. Central time convention speech, delegates boarded buses for downtown Denver. There they will participate in a luncheon and reception sponsored by Entergy Arkansas. Gov. Mike Beebe is the featured speaker.

After that, it’s on to Denver’s historic Union Station for a party sponsored by Union Pacific aboard vintage rail cars owned by the company.

Both the Beebe luncheon and the train station party are closed to the press.

A speech by former Arkansas First Lady Hillary Clinton highlights action on the convention floor tonight.

Then after the speech, it’s off to the official state delegation party at The Tavern, a trendy Denver nightclub.

Delegates who get any sleep at all will have to wake up by 7 a.m. Wednesday for their breakfast featuring Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., as the guest speaker.