Letters to the Editor
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How about a little shot across her bows before the vote
It may be crude, it may be brutal, but:
The MilCon subcommittee has review over the business of her husbands company. How about picking up a few issues and asking her husband Mr. Blum to testify about Perini in the next few weeks. There are some tough questions that could be asked. As one article put it:
"There are some serious problems with Perini's work in Iraq. In June 2004, the Government Accountability Office reported that Perini's electrical reconstruction contract in southern Iraq suffered from mismanagement and lack of competition. In 2006, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction found that Perini was paid to construct multimillion dollar electrical substations in the desert that could not be connected to the electrical grid. And the company was billing the government for purchasing and subcontracting costs that were not justified, according to the Defense Contract Audit Agency. An October 2005 audit by the Defense Department's Inspector General criticized the execution of Perini's cost-plus military construction work in Afghanistan, saying, "The contractor had an incentive to increase costs, because higher costs resulted in higher profit."
A little whisper to DiFi, how hard do you want us to press the questions? Are you a Democrat? Now people may regard this as outrageous, and for anyone else it would be. But DiFi was removed from MilCon when it became apparent that she was using her position to help Perini and her husband win contracts. If she does not see the line when it suits her, she need to learn that this cuts both ways.
She is such a hack that I think even the possibility that Blum would be testifying soon might make her rediscover her Democratic principles.
As for any writing campaign to try to persuade her, I suggest that everyone include a copy of a letter (FYI) that they are sending to Senate and House MilCon asking tat they demonstrate bipartisanship by not just investigating Republican linked companies, but also those with Democratic links such as Perini -- that will really get her attention. The people to write to are:
Senate:
Tim Johnson, Chairman D-South Dakota
Daniel Inouye D-Hawaii
Mary Landrieu D-Louisiana
Robert Byrd D-West Virginia
Patty Murray D-Washington
Jack Reed D-Rhode Island
Ben Nelson D-Nebraska
On the House side try:
Appropriations
Armed Services
Oversight and Government Reform
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About Feinstein's positions on Judiciary and Intelligence Committees
Can anyone explain the Democratic caucus rules on committee membership? Is there anything the caucus can do to remove her from at least one of these influential committees? (I'm not asking if they will, just if they can. The Democratic leadership has not shown that they have any will to do anything to oppose Bush.)
BTW, I heard Feinstein on NPR a week or so ago. She said she supported Leslie Southwick's nomination because she expected her Republican colleagues to remember this and support her legislative agenda. Courageous? No. She's unprincipled. And deluded: unless her legislative agenda matches the GOP's she'll have a long wait.
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@ Che
From what I can see -- which isn't necessarily all that much -- Californians as a whole are very comfortable with DiFi, even when they disagree with her. She doesn't interact with her constituents to any great extent, letting her staff handle the masses; to the extent they do, they do it with relative courtesy and efficiency.
Huh?
You don't live in CA, do you? I can't explain that poll readily but it is a big state. Is it still the fifth largest economy in world? I don't know. It should be three separate states. There are counties here that make Alaskans look like environmentalists by comparison and where up until not too long ago guys used walk around with six shooters strapped to their legs.
http://www.calitics.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3895
Everybody I talk to who is a Democrat responds to Dianne Feinstein with a roll of the eyes at best, and a torrent of profanity at worst.
I used to keep a collection of the condescending letters I would receive back from her office, all written in the tone of a strict schoolmarm instructing a particularly slow child. It doesn't matter the issue, as long as I disagreed with DiFi, well... it was inferred that I was an idiot.
This happens WAY, WAY, WAY too much.
That sounds like one of the commenters here.
I suppose it all depends on who you talk to and if that poll random called weighted by population density and hit more urban and educated I suspect the result would be quite different.
http://calitics.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4314
DiFi is not a very public person. She lets her appearances and actions in the Senate speak for themselves, and if you watch her there, you will see someone who is very measured, careful, prepared, and apparently on top of things. She appears to be in no way a radical, nor does she seem to be the least bit partisan. She is an exemplar of the Old Line Good Government Progressive.
Thus, she is comforting to many.
Not that many.
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DiFi
Why is this woman popular with her constituents? Does no one pay any attention?
Most of the most egregious things that DiFi has done have been since the 2006 election. In 2006 had DiFI run on the fact that she was going to be more aligned with the neoconservatives she would have lost, she ran as a reliable (and powerful) Dem. It was easy to excuse things before 2006 because the Dem's didn't have control of the Senate.
Now that she's not running for office again, she's completely safe and can do what is best for herself and her family.
Most of the things she is doing would only come to light in a strong primary, because even people that watch the news regularly do NOT know much about telecomm immunity, let alone Southwick's nomination.
She has done a great job at cultivating her image as a smart, classy, sensible, old fashioned Democrat. Hence, the serious journalists and editorialists all treat her that way.
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@ 7: 29 Mack
I'm off to do chores, but,...what you wrote...
"It may be crude, it may be brutal. but..."
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To me, what they do is plain old blood butchery...
Their psychic torment will never end and they need to be shamed over and over again.