Get ready, it looks like it’s time to impeach the entire Congress. At least that’s what I would expect after both chambers voted to make the NSA wiretap program law.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 — President Bush signed into law on Sunday legislation that broadly expanded the government’s authority to eavesdrop on the international telephone calls and e-mail messages of American citizens without warrants.

Afterall, Zogby told us that a majority of Americans supported impeachment for the program.

Democrat Senator Jim Webb, in March of this year, called the program a “seriously under-examined issue” and demanded we “restore simple accountability to our government.” This past week, he voted to codify the program.

Democrat Senator Diane Feinstein said of the program in May

“There is one basic in all of this. And that is that domestic surveillance of Americans, regardless of who is on one end of the phone or where they are, must be by individual warrant by a court on a showing of probable cause. That’s the exclusive standard in FISA. The Administration has chosen to disregard this law. For the life of me, I do not understand why.”

And then she voted to make the program legal.

I guess they were just mad they didn’t get any of the credit for the Bush administration’s tough stance on terrorists… so they had to act quickly before the next printing of campaign materials went out…

The primary reason Dianne Feinstein never considered joining the Republican Party?

Because the (D) next to her name prevents her from being jailed for corruption.

Anyone who knows much about real power in Congress knows that almost every member of the House and Senate lusts after a seat on the Appropriations Committee and hopes one day to achieve the status of Cardinal. The Cardinals, of course, are the folks who chair the various Appropriations Committee subcommittees and literally control the billions of dollars that pass through their hands.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) chairs the Senate Rules Committee, but she’s also a Cardinal. She is currently chairwoman of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies subcommittee, but until last year was for six years the top Democrat on the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (or “Milcon”) sub-committee, where she may have directed more than $1 billion to companies controlled by her husband.

If the inferences finally coming out about what she did while on Milcon prove true, she may be on the way to morphing from a respected senior Democrat into another poster child for congressional corruption.

The problems stem from her subcommittee activities from 2001 to late 2005, when she quit. During that period the public record suggests she knowingly took part in decisions that eventually put millions of dollars into her husband’s pocket — the classic conflict of interest that exploited her position and power to channel money to her husband’s companies.

In other words, it appears Sen. Feinstein was up to her ears in the same sort of shenanigans that landed California Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R) in the slammer. Indeed, it may be that the primary difference between the two is basically that Cunningham was a minor leaguer and a lot dumber than his state’s senior senator.

But don’t worry if you missed the 60 Minutes exposé or the in-depth review of every facet of her dirty dealings on the Today show… they have yet to show interest in the story.

Following up on my post about Dianne Feinstein’s apparent conflict of interest while serving on the Senate Committee that approved billions in government contracts to her husband’s companies, several people (myself included) have emailed Feinstein’s hometown newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle.

Michelle posted an email exchange with “Joe S.” in which Mr. Kershner appeared ready to defend the paper’s lack of coverage… while adding a little journalistic snarkiness.

But when it came time to respond to my email, it appears Mr. Kershner is no longer in the mood to be such a smart ass, as he turns from the “yeah, so” attitude to the “hey, you got the wrong guy” tail-between-the-legs posture.

Sent: Monday, April 02, 2007 1:00 PM
To: vk@sfgate.com
Subject: Dianne Feinstein coverage

Ms. Mr. Kershner,
I’m curious whether you see a potential story in the fact that Senator Dianne Feinstein, while sitting on the MILCON committee, approved billions of dollars in awards to contractors owned by her husband? Have you assigned this story to one of your investigative reporters? Have you received any comments from Feinstein’s camp? Do you find it ironic that Feinstein remains on the Senate Ethics Committee despite this apparent conflict of interest on her part?

Basically, I’m just curious whether your paper sees a story here at all. I’m sure if this had been a Republican involved, your paper would’ve done much more investigation on much less evidence. How do you defend the appearance of bias?

Her response:

From: Vlae Kershner
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2007 3:04 PM
Subject: RE: Dianne Feinstein coverage

I’m just the editor of the website — we don’t have any online-only reporters. Maybe you should redirect that question to Dick Rogers, the Chronicle’s reader representative, at readerrep@sfchronicle.com

Somehow, I just picture his hands flying in the air as if to say, “whoa, I’m not involved, I’m innocent I tell ya!”

Except Kershner is a little more than the “website editor”. He’s the News Director.

Oops.

More corrupt dealings from the Democrats:

SEN. Dianne Feinstein has resigned from the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee. As previously and extensively reviewed in these pages, Feinstein was chairperson and ranking member of MILCON for six years, during which time she had a conflict of interest due to her husband Richard C. Blum’s ownership of two major defense contractors, who were awarded billions of dollars for military construction projects approved by Feinstein.

But, hey, at least she took the moral high road and resigned in the face of her corruption…

…or was there another reason for her stepping down?

Perhaps she resigned from MILCON because she could not take the heat generated by Metro’s expose of her ethics (which was partially funded by the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute). Or was her work on the subcommittee finished because Blum divested ownership of his military construction and advanced weapons manufacturing firms in late 2005?

I guess it’s just a matter of nuance.

This is corruption of the worst kind. Think the Democrats will investigate? Think the MSM will cover this story?

Don’t be silly.

UPDATE:
Bryan points out information in the Metroactive article that may tie Feinstein’s scandal to the VA story.

Feinstein abandoned MILCON as her ethical problems were surfacing in the media, and as it was becoming clear that her subcommittee left grievously wounded veterans to rot while her family was profiting from the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. It turns out that Blum also holds large investments in companies that were selling medical equipment and supplies and real estate leases—often without the benefit of competitive bidding—to the Department of Veterans Affairs, even as the system of medical care for veterans collapsed on his wife’s watch.

As of December 2006, according to SEC filings and www.fedspending.org, three corporations in which Blum’s financial entities own a total of $1 billion in stock won considerable favor from the budgets of the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs:

# Boston Scientific Corporation: $17.8 million for medical equipment and supplies; 85 percent of contracts awarded without benefit of competition.

# Kinetic Concepts Inc.: $12 million, medical equipment and supplies; 28 percent noncompetitively awarded.

# CB Richard Ellis: The Blum-controlled international real estate firm holds congressionally funded contracts to lease office space to the Department of Veterans Affairs. It also is involved in redeveloping military bases turned over to the private sector.

Michelle sees that the San Fransisco Chronicle’s priorities are focused on baseball, not some corrupt Democrat in their district.

Rusty contrasts the coverage of this corruption to the coverage given to the Duke Cunningham story. It’s amazing how changing an (R) to a (D) will do for media coverage and calls for Congressional investigations.

UPDATE 2:
Michelle wonders whether Feinstein will also resign from the Senate Rules Committee also. You know, the committee responsible for issues like ETHICS REFORM.

I would add… where is Nancy Pelosi and her swamp-draining boots?