Kentucky's junior senator, Jim Bunning, is retiring from politics this year, which is one of those bittersweet moments that is a mix of both good news and bad news.

It's good that he's leaving; it's bad that he isn't already gone.

It's particularly bad for 14,000 jobless Kentuckians and 1.2 million other Americans, who now face losing their unemployment benefits during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, solely because Jim Bunning has chosen this particular moment to throw a temper tantrum.

Here's what's happened: Bunning employed an obscure bit of parliamentary procedure to single-handedly tank a routine piece of legislation that would have extended jobless benefits. Not only that, but Bunning's roadblock also brings billions of dollars worth of transportation projects to a screeching halt and sends thousands of construction workers and Transportation Department employees home for unexpected, unpaid and indefinite vacations.

You see, Bunning has suddenly found the religion of fiscal responsibility. He didn't have it during the first five years of his term, or during his career in the House of Representatives, as he was more than willing to simultaneously slash government receipts while at the same time funding two wars and saddling the country with an expensive and unfunded Medicare prescription drug benefit. But he has it now, just in time to place those who have already been victimized by the "Great Recession" in further jeopardy.

And, not content to simply leave well over a million Americans in economic limbo, Bunning is doing so with a newfound flair for the vulgar. ABC News reporters attempting to question him about his stance have received a middle finger in response. That's a bit better than his fellow senators got when, after they implored him to change his mind, he responded with a hearty "Tough sh--."

Such callous disregard for his fellow man makes it evident that our sociopathic senator could learn a few lessons about compassion from Marie Antoinette.

In the past, we could overlook Bunning because he has been worthless, but largely harmless, to Eastern Kentucky. In fact, we are uncertain whether he is aware that there exists a Kentucky outside of the golden triangle of Covington, Lexington and Louisville.

But his recent hostility toward, well, pretty much everybody makes it clear that Jim Bunning is a cancer on Capitol Hill. We would urge him to end his political gamesmanship for the sake of the country, but his childish behavior makes it clear that there would be no point in doing so.