And you thought only Cheney and Haliburton were profiteeering warmongers

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

Okay boys and girls, after nearly four years of constant crap about Cheney and Haliburton prosecuting an "illegal war for oil and profit", let's see how much mileage Feinstein's little deal gets in the media.




"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.

...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?

...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 http://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."

[john9001]

i demand a congressional investigation.

[lazs2]

yep.. she would ban guns for everyone except herself and her bodyguards..  She is the perfect example of a sleazy politician who has been in the game too long.

I am not surprised by this.

lazs

[Toad]

Where is the outrage? Where is the outcry?

Oh... that's right... .it's OK......... she's a Democrat.

"These aren't the droids we're looking for......."

[Eagler]

she's a twit as are most of the dumbarsecrats

[Gunthr]

dispicable

[Ripsnort]

its very difficult to find honest politicians anymore (as if there were some in the first place??)  

Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians.” The list, in alphabetical order, includes:

Jack Abramoff, Former Lobbyist – Abramoff is at the center of a massive public corruption investigation by the Department of Justice that, in the end, could involve as many as a dozen members of Congress. Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy, fraud and a host of other charges on January 3, 2006, and was sent to prison in November to serve a five-year, 10-month sentence for defrauding banks of $23 million in Florida in 2000.

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) – In January 2006, Hillary Clinton’s fundraising operation was fined $35,000 by the Federal Election Commission for failing to accurately report more than $700,000 in contributions to Clinton’s Senate 2000 campaign. New information also surfaced in 2006 raising more questions about Hillary and her brother Anthony Rodham’s connection to the Clinton Pardongate scandal, where presidential pardons were allegedly traded in exchange for cash and other favors.

Former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA) – In November 2005, Cunningham pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud, and tax evasion. He was sentenced to 8 years, four months in prison and ordered to pay $2.8 million in restitution in March 2006.

Former Rep. Tom Delay (R-TX) – Tom DeLay, who was forced to step down from his position as House Majority Leader and then resign from Congress, decided in 2006 not to run for re-election. Congressman DeLay has been embroiled in a series of scandals from bribery to influence peddling, and was indicted twice by grand juries in Texas.

Former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) – Foley left the House in disgrace after news broke that he had been sending predatory homosexual emails to a House page. A recent House Ethics Committee report indicated that Republican leaders knew about Foley’s dangerous behavior, but failed to take action. Democrats, meanwhile, shopped the story to the press to influence the elections. Outrageously, the Committee recommended no punishment for those involved.

Rep. Denny Hastert (R-IL) – In addition to mishandling the Foley scandal, outgoing House Speaker Dennis Hastert allowed House ethics process to ground to a halt on his watch. Gary Condit, Cynthia McKinney, William Jefferson, John Conyers, Tom Delay, Duke Cunningham, Jim McDermott, Patrick Kennedy are examples of alleged wrongdoers who faced little-to-no ethics enforcement in the House.

Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) – Hastings is one of only six federal judges to be removed from office through impeachment and has accumulated staggering liabilities ranging from $2,130,006 to $7,350,000. Hastings was “next in line” for Chairmanship of the House Select Committee on Intelligence until a wave of protest forced Nancy Pelosi to select another candidate. Nonetheless, Hastings is expected to continue to serve on the Intelligence Committee.

Rep. William “Dollar Bill” Jefferson (D-LA) – Jefferson is alleged to have accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to help broker high-tech business deals in Nigeria. According to press reports, he was also caught on tape discussing the deals, while an FBI search of his home uncovered $90,000 in cash stuffed in his freezer.

Former Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) – Ohio Republican Congressman Bob Ney resigned in early November 2006, three weeks after pleading guilty for accepting bribes from an Indian casino in exchange for legislative favors. Ney was the first congressman to be convicted of a crime in the web of scandals involving former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and is expected to serve a jail sentence.

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) – Senator Reid came under fire in 2006 for failing to properly report to Congress a $700,000 land deal. Reid also accepted more than $30,000 of Abramoff-tainted money allegedly in return for his ''cooperation'' in matters related Nevada Indian gaming.

Dishonorable Mentions include:

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) – According to complaints released by the House Ethics Committee recently, aides to Representative John Conyers (D-MI) alleged their former boss repeatedly violated House ethics rules, forcing them to serve as his personal servants, valets, and as campaign staff while on the government payroll.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) – In May 2006, Kennedy crashed his car into a Capitol Hill barricade at nearly 3 a.m. in the morning. Kennedy blamed the incident on a reaction to prescription pills, but officers at the scene said he smelled of alcohol. Nonetheless, they escorted him home rather than arresting him.

Former Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) – McKinney assaulted a Capitol Hill police officer in April after refusing to go through a metal detector. While McKinney was never forced to answer in a court of law for her behavior, she lost her bid for re-election in 2006.

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) – Iraq war critic John Murtha was incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s first choice for House Majority Leader despite the ethical skeletons in his closet. Murtha is an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1980 “Abscam” scandal, which included the arrest and convictions of a senator and six congressmen. Murtha, whose current ethics continue to be questioned, lost his bid for Majority Leader to Maryland Democrat Steny Hoyer.

Sen. Barak [sic] Obama (D-IL) – News reports surfaced in 2006 that Illinois Senator Barak Obama entered into an unusual land deal with a now-indicted political fundraiser, Tony Rezko. The complicated real estate transaction occurred when it was widely known that Rezko was under federal investigation in a political corruption scandal.

David Safavian, Former Bush Administration Official – Safavian, the former White House Chief of Procurement and former Chief of Staff for the General Services Administration, was indicted on September 19, 2006 on five counts of lying about his dealings with former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and obstructing a Senate investigation of his dealings. Safavian resigned from his White House position three days prior to his arrest.

[Shifty]

This one hits really close to home for me. I'm not suprised by the scandal or the lack of coverage. My sons going to be needing a lot of medical assistant from the VA in the future. I'd hate to see any of the wounded vets get short changed because of sweetheart deals, and pocket stuffing. Just from what I've witnessed in the past seven weeks, there is going to be quite a strain on the VA as the Vietnam era vets reach their later years, and more of this generation of servicemen and women are coming home wounded.

Damn shame.

[lasersailor184]

Originally posted by Ripsnort
its very difficult to find honest politicians anymore (as if there were some in the first place??)

Very funny list.  It lists some republicans who did nothing wrong on the main list, but goes on and doesn't even bother to mention the corrupt hordes of democrats.

And Cynthia McKinney?  I wouldn't go as far to say she's corrupt.  Dumber then a brick, sure, but I don't think she's gone out of her way to do something wrong.


But then we it doesn't even begin to mention Slick Willy.

[Shamus]

Well the dem fanboys will use the same rhetoric in her defense as the repubs did to justify the no bid Halaberton contracts.

And according to the logic expressed in here so often, thats a valid defense..."those guys on the other side did it, so can we"  

shamus

[john9001]

term limits, if not now, when?

we do not need nor do we want life time career professional politicians

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
Very funny list.  It lists some republicans who did nothing wrong on the main list, but goes on and doesn't even bother to mention the corrupt hordes of democrats.

And Cynthia McKinney?  I wouldn't go as far to say she's corrupt.  Dumber then a brick, sure, but I don't think she's gone out of her way to do something wrong.


But then we it doesn't even begin to mention Slick Willy.

FWIW, its from a conservative website.
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/21353.html

[Toad]

^

Heck, I don't even want them to be insession more than about 2-3 weeks per year.

They should be able to deal with the actual major problems in that amount of time. If they can't... send 'em home anyway.

We've got laws out the wazoo, no shortage there. 2-3 weeks would make them focus on the real problems.

[lasersailor184]

Originally posted by Ripsnort
FWIW, its from a conservative website.
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/21353.html

If it looks like a democrat piece, sounds like a democrat piece...

[Hawco]

You know what boys ?  I've come to realize that both parties play us off as idiots and we are the biggest fools as we swallow it all and vote accordingly.
Wish there was a credible 3rd party out there and we could maybe get some decent folks in there, too many crooks on BOTH sides for my liking.