Free Republic

What a week it's been in California politics, with insiders and oddsmakers having a field day. But beware. Things may not be as they seem. First up, you'd better keep Dianne Feinstein's name on the list of possible candidates for governor. I've known Dianne for years, and the role of chief executive is a much better fit for her than being one of 100 senators. I can also tell you from the meetings I have had with her that she is very serious about California's budget troubles, water troubles and other troubles. She is also serious when she says that...

WASHINGTON – Californians have an overwhelmingly negative view of Congress, with two of every three voters disapproving of its performance, according to the latest Field Poll. Only 23 percent said they approve of the way Congress is conducting itself. It's the highest disapproval rate since 1996. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco doesn't fare much better, with more Californians rating her negatively than positively. About one in three – or 34 percent – gave her good marks, while nearly half – 44 percent – said they disapprove of her performance. That's a sharp turnaround from March, when 48...

WASHINGTON - The nation's nurses have an idea for how to improve health care: Allow more of them to unionize. But as they press Congress to approve a bill that would make it easier to organize, nurses and other unions have identified a big obstacle in California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein. While President Barack Obama and a majority of Democratic senators are behind the Employee Free Choice Act, Feinstein is not. And after she scored a perfect 100 rating from the AFL-CIO last year, many union activists are scratching their heads, wondering why Feinstein has parted ways with them on...

Saying the U.S. mission in Afghanistan is in "serious jeopardy," the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee says more troops are needed to combat an increasingly potent Taliban. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein's views on the issue are more closely aligned with those of key Republicans than members of her own party, including Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee. He wants to hold off on new troops pending revision of U.S. strategy for Afghanistan.

It's pretty bad when a President is to the left of this Liberal Senator from the left coast, this from ABC's This Week Roundtable on what to do in Afghanistan. (Video)

The Obama administration is deep in deliberations over whether to build on its counterinsurgency strategy with thousands more troops in Afghanistan or focus more on taking out top Al Qaeda targets, particularly in Pakistan. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is joining Senate Republicans in calling for the president to approve the request for more troops.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) strongly criticized Barack Obama for dithering over accepting the recommendation for troops increases in Afghanistan by his handpicked Aghan commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and blamed the delay for contributing to the deaths of eight U.S. soldiers at a small base in Nuristan that was nearly overrun by the Taliban last week.Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, made her remarks on a panel discussion on ABC News' This Week with George Stephanopoulos this morning:I don't know how you put somebody in who was as crackerjack as General McChrystal, who gives the president very solid recommendations, and...

Finally acknowledging that there is a significant government-created crisis in the San Joaquin Valley, the Interior Department convened a public hearing Sept. 30, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein has announced she has asked her staff to begin assembling a major piece of legislation to address the water crisis facing the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has issued a "memorandum of understanding" that will keep representatives from six federal agencies talking to various interest groups in California. The problem is that it will take months to make such decisions and years for results to be apparent. The crisis is...

Washington - -- California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, considered a pre-eminent broker in the state's water wars, said Wednesday she is planning one of the biggest pieces of legislation she's ever attempted, to address the water and environmental crisis in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Feinstein told The Chronicle of her plans after a fiery public hearing at the Interior Department in Washington, where Secretary Ken Salazar fended off angry charges from Central Valley congressmen that the Obama administration has failed to respond to the crisis that is devastating California's farm communities. The legislation is still in the idea stage, but...

<p>As one of its very first promises after the inaugural showing of Aretha Franklin's huge hat last Jan. 20, the Obama Democratic administration promised to close the terrorist-housing facility in Guantanamo Bay within one year.</p> <p>They're not going to make that deadline, Obama officials now admit. A big problem is where to put these fellows who want to kill Americans enmasse. The last Bush administration deemed communist Cuba a good spot.</p>

Environmentalism: Sen. Dianne Feinstein votes to deny water to California's drought-stricken San Joaquin Valley. Farmers, families and food are being held hostage to an endangered fish called the delta smelt. (snip) The Senate rejected the amendment by a largely party-line 61-36 margin, with Feinstein opposing the restoration of water deliveries to farmers. The California senator claimed she was blindsided by the amendment to the bill she was managing in the Senate, bizarrely comparing the move to a "Pearl Harbor." "No one from California has called, written or indicated they wanted this on the calendar," Feinstein protested.

WASHINGTON – On the morning of Jan. 28, federal agents knocked on Shirley Tan's door, showed her a deportation letter and put her in handcuffs. "I was put into a van with two men in yellow jumpsuits and chains and searched like a criminal in a way I have only seen on television and in the movies," said Tan, 44, a housewife and mother from Pacifica. But Tan is still in the United States today, and she says there's only one reason why: "the great compassion" of California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein. People seeking to get around U.S. immigration laws...

Delta smelts: Preferred over humans. Environmentalism: Sen. Dianne Feinstein votes to deny water to California's drought-stricken San Joaquin Valley. Farmers, families and food are being held hostage to an endangered fish called the delta smelt.There was a time when the San Joaquin Valley was the most productive agricultural region in the world. It was a large part of what made the Golden State golden.Now it's a place where farmers no longer farm, but instead line up at food banks to feed the families of those who once fed the rest of the country and a good chunk of the...

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein told the San Francisco Chronicle: “I just find that if you’re going to remake a sixth of the American economy, it’s very difficult at this time of great economic angst.” She is actually with Republicans in wanting to open up insurance. Currently, states control health insurance. Under the Interstate Commerce Clause, congress could indeed open insurance competition across state lines. Now just think about that a moment. Universal health care has been the liberal wet dream of the past 97 years. They finally have the president, they have the Congress and they have the Great Depression...

'CZAR' Sunstein Shoots Himself In The Foot Gun Hater Lautenberg Proposes "Extraordinary Powers" Be Given To the U.S. Attorney General To Limit Gun Sales. Obama and the White House are looking the other way as Lautenberg seeks to ban guns from 1,000,000 US citizens on a secret FBI terrorist watch list. Obama has deliberately and repeatedly lied to America's 90 million gun owners across the country when he insisted that he would not try to take away anyone's firearms. Now Obama's silence endorses Lautenberg's latest attempt at banning guns. Lautenberg has now introduced bill S. 1317 that would give the...

Thank you for writing to me regarding the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court. I appreciate hearing from you, and I welcome the opportunity to respond. The nomination of a Supreme Court Justice requires the Senate to engage in a serious and historic debate. As a member of the Senate who also serves on the Judiciary Committee, I consider my Constitutional role to review Supreme Court nominees to be among my foremost and gravest responsibilities. Judge Sotomayor has a 17-year record as a solid, tested, and mainstream Federal judge. She...

Your editorial claims that Congress was complicit in Bush administration human rights abuses. Here are the facts: Until Sept. 6, 2006, only a handful of members of Congress were aware of the CIA's use of "enhanced interrogation techniques." Congress passed the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 to prohibit the CIA's use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" -- the same standard as the Geneva Convention. After learning of the CIA program, Congress took action. I introduced an amendment to the fiscal 2008 intelligence authorization bill to limit the CIA to interrogation techniques authorized by the Army Field Manual....

I never thought I'd enjoy a Democratic senator from California as much as I've enjoyed Dianne Feinstein for the past couple months. … Today, she's hitting Organizing for America, the astroturf totally genuine grassroots operation of the Democratic National Committee, for misleading constituents into thinking they have scheduled meetings with her. When her offices aren't able to accommodate each constituent, they're understandably upset with her, and she's upset with the White House: Aides to Senator Dianne Feinstein have complained to the White House about a deluge of visits to her offices by constituents who thought they had an appointment after...

I received the following e-mail from Organizing for America (The Presidents “grassroots” organization). As you can see they are attempting to pressure Dianne Feinstein into supporting their socialist/Marxist health care agenda. Dianne Feinstein has said: “(07-24) 04:00 PDT Washington - -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Thursday she was not persuaded by President Obama's news conference Wednesday on health care, saying she is leery of expanding access to insurance unless costs are controlled.”Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/article?f=/c/a/2009/07/23/MN4N18U122.DTL#ixzz0NivoUgCQ Frankly, Senator Dianne Feinstein is not my favorite person, but it appears she is willing to not go along with her party on this. I think...

The latest VERY interesting information from the AIP Town Hall Meeting List thread: -------------------------------------------------- California: I spoke with Diane Feinstein's scheduler this morning. She said Senator Feinstein has decided not to have any healthcare town hall meetings during the month of August. Asked if the senator would have any public meetings of any sort during the recess, she indicated there would be none. The scheduler suggested attending a "Constituent Breakfast" on Thursday mornings ... in Washington, D.C. after Sen. Feinstein returns from the August break. So Californians have to fly to Washington, D. C. after the August recess, if they...

Boxer shaky again as campaign looms Dan Walters Aug. 10, 2009 California's U.S. senators tend to fall into two categories – headline-grabbers and dependable workhorses for the state's interests. For the past 17 years, the state's two senators have been Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. Both elected during the much-heralded "year of the woman," they have followed the state's time-honored pattern. Boxer draws media attention with her quixotic political forays, often involving some left-of-center cause having nothing to do with California, while Feinstein is the go-to person for the state's economic and political interests. It explains why voter polls consistently...

AIRBORNE: Hunts allowed with airplanes only when it's a biological emergencyWASHINGTON -- Alaska's predator control program to kill wolves, which drew renewed national scrutiny during former Gov. Sarah Palin's bid for vice president, is under attack in Congress. Two California Democrats have introduced legislation that would all but ban the practice of shooting wolves from airplanes to control their numbers. The legislation, introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. George Miller, would force Alaska game officials to declare a biological emergency that shows the imminent collapse of a species without the program. Even if the state could demonstrate such an...

Can someone post when these three have public appearances in California this month? I'd like to attend and let my voice be heard.

Washington, DC – On the heels of news that all of the $1billion in funding appropriated for the “Cash for Clunkers” or “CARS” program has been exhausted, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) today stated that any extension of the program must adhere to higher fuel efficiency and greater emissions reductions. Senators Feinstein and Collins, along with Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) previously authored an alternative “Cash for Clunkers” proposal that would have achieved 32 to 38 percent greater oil savings and emissions reductions than the enacted program. Following is a joint statement from Senators Feinstein and Collins: “The...

A couple of days ago, we posted an article about an attempt by United States Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, along with co-sponsor Benjamin Cardin of Maryland, to limit predator control. (It seems that Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island has also signed on as a co-sponsor.) When we spotted this, we tipped every reporter and media outlet in Alaska we could think of...and nobody thought it worthy of notice except for Eddie Burke and Alaska Public Radio. I was listening to the Alaska Public Radio bit - here is what they had to say:

Stories have been coming out here and there about elected officials or their staffs not treating constituents with respect. This does not seem to be a good way to win support for Health Care Reform. Last fall and winter many pundits were warning that the difference between a recession and a depression is that the former is part of a normal cycle while the latter requires government interference. The difference between a normal political activism and civil unrest may well turn out to be the arrogant stifling of debate by those in power. Many Congressmen and Senators seem reluctant to...

When a group of older folks refused to leave California Sen. Diane Feinstein's West Los Angles office last week, it could be a sign that Democrats will have to find a places in which to cower to avoid the anger coming from the public. When Feinstein refused to talk to them about Medicare, they remained in her outer office for six hours until the police used a ruse to eject them. Some may be tried for trespassing on property that is being paid for the taxpayers.

Here is video from Los Angeles where a group of senior citizens were escorted from the office of Democrat Sen. Diane Feinstein yesterday by police because they wanted to talk to the senator about the issue of Government Health Care reform. The seniors went there expecting to talk to Feinstein by phone, but were not allowed to do so. . . . . . (Watch Video)

Police were called on a group of retirees who refused to leave Sen. Dianne Feinstein's West Los Angeles office until she talked to them about health care reform.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A group of retirees who refused to leave Sen. Dianne Feinstein's West Los Angeles office until she talked to them about health care reform has been arrested. Los Angeles police Sergeant Rich Brunson said Thursday that at least eight people were being taken into custody and would likely be booked for trespassing and released. Cate Engel, a spokeswoman for the group California Alliance for Retired Americans, says the activists - all between 55 and 87 years old - wanted to talk to Feinstein about strengthening Medicare and using the program as a model for health reform....

In a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago this month, Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates laid out the case for discontinuing the F-22 Raptor: "The F-22, to be blunt, does not make much sense anyplace else in the spectrum of conflict." In English that means that plane has not been used in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Gates wants to slay the beast, but he understands you have to feed the beast before you can kill it. So the administration supports ending the F-22's long $65 billion flight -- after seven new planes budgeted for 2010 bring the...

Feinstein: Supremes are not umpires Sen. Dianne Feinstein's opening statement in the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor indicated she thinks much of what is said and promised by nominees in Senate confirmation hearings is a bunch of bunk. Feinstein is an easy yes vote on Sotomayor, but she used her statement to take a swipe at Chief Justice John Roberts, who in his confirmation described judges as umpires whose job is to call balls and strikes, not play the game. Feinstein's words could be read as part justification for her partisan votes on Roberts and Alito and part...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein's opening statement in the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor indicated she thinks much of what is said and promised by nominees in Senate confirmation hearings is a bunch of bunk. Feinstein is an easy yes vote on Sotomayor, but she used her statement to take a swipe at Chief Justice John Roberts, who in his confirmation described judges as umpires whose job is to call balls and strikes, not play the game. Feinstein's words could be read as part justification for her partisan votes on Roberts and Alito and part concerted strategy by Democrats to...

A few weeks ago, Senator Dianne Feinstein announced that she and other Senate Democrats harbored reservations about President Obama's plans to overhaul the health care system. This came atop previous comments to the effect that she didn't believe in sweeping reform ("I am a bit of an incrementalist"), that the cost of reform might be prohibitive (a concern she failed to raise when voting for the Bush tax cuts in 2001). The reaction from the left was swift and, by the standards of such things, furious. Which is to say, not very furious. Union president Gerald McEntee complained in a...

WASHINGTON -- A secret Central Intelligence Agency initiative terminated by Director Leon Panetta was an attempt to carry out a 2001 presidential authorization to capture or kill al Qaeda operatives, according to former intelligence officials familiar with the matter. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said CIA Director Panetta, above, told lawmakers Vice President Cheney ordered information be withheld from Congress. . The precise nature of the highly classified effort isn't clear, and the CIA won't comment on its substance. According to current and former government officials, the agency spent money on planning and possibly some training. It was acting on a 2001...

With the trojan horse announcement that VP Cheney "hid a super-secret security proram" from Congress, Panetta meekly caves to the Leftist lunatics and it is now a safe bet that Obama will give Holder the OK to send Bush administration lawyers to jail while publicly humiliating Cheney. This lets Pelosi off the hook. Her buddy Feinstein knows this and thus her statement this morning. The DailypsyKOSis crowd owns Obama and wants to kill or injure as many Bush people as possible. I also predict they will try to imprison the former head of the CIA.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein is getting squeezed by business and organized labor over her neutrality on legislation that would make it easier for workers to form unions. Feinstein was a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, commonly known as “card check,” in 2007. But she is the only Democrat in the California congressional delegation who is not a co-sponsor of this year's bill, which is labor's top legislative priority. The senator has expressed reservations about forging ahead with such a fundamental change in union-organizing rules during a deep recession. “This is an extraordinarily difficult economy, and there are very strong...

Democrats on Sunday defended President Barack Obama's hands-off approach to the crisis in Iran, urging him to keep US "fingerprints" off the unfolding events despite pressure from Republicans for bolder US action... ... Feinstein and other Democrats, however, said Obama had struck the right balance between affirming the rights of protesters while staying out of an unfolding, unpredictable internal upheaval. "It is very crucial, as I see it, that we not have our fingerprints on this. That this really be truly inspired by the Iranian people," Feinstein said. "We don't know where this goes. And I sure wouldn't want to...

Voicing one of the strongest cases to date on why U.S. communities would be safe should the Obama administration decide to move detainees ashore, Sen. Dianne Feinstein argued her case on Capitol Hill like a lawyer in a courtroom.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) states that California prisons were “eminently capable” of housing detainees. She accuses conservatives for “fear-baiting”: FEINSTEIN: Yes, we have maximum security prisons in California eminently capable of holding these people as well, and from which people — trust me — do not escape. So I believe that this has really been an exercise in fear-baiting. I hope it’s not going to be successful. Video at link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lAjiNkn75I

During a conversation on politics with an old friend I offered the hope that all his faith in our new president: "Ain't been in vain fer nuthin'."With that he reared up and replied to my comment by saying: You always ridicule with clever solipsisms."Far be it from me to be solipsistic, so I pointed out that he probably meant solecism. Mistake 1: Never quote Lina Lamont at a New York City cocktail party. They won't know what you're talking about. Mistake 2: Never attempt to correct the tortured misuse of the English language by New York intellectuals who pride themselves...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday introduced a bill that would grant amnesty to up to 1.35 million farmworkers who are working in the country illegally, many of them in California. Nicknamed the AgJobs Bill, the measure has been proposed multiple times this decade, without success, by Feinstein and other legislators. Some supporters are hoping it might fare better under the Obama administration. California's labor-intensive agriculture industry and worker advocates, such as the United Farm Workers of America, have long pushed for the reform measure. "We have acknowledged for a number of years that a significant part of our labor force...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California)A pro-family activist says it is "ridiculous" that California Senator Dianne Feinstein has introduced legislation designed to help an illegal alien who is a lesbian remain in the U.S. The case involves 43-year-old Philippines national Shirley Tan, who came to the United States on a visitor's visa in 1989. She overstayed that visa and has been living in a lesbian relationship with a naturalized citizen in Pacifica, California. Immigration authorities have ordered her to leave the country, but at the urging of homosexual rights groups Senator Diane Feinstein (D-California) intervened, arguing that if Tan's homosexual partner was...

Senior Senate Democrats are objecting to the deal Majority Leader Harry Reid made with Sen. Arlen Specter, saying they will vote against letting the former Republican shoot to the top of powerful committees after he switches parties. Several Democrats are furious with Sen. Reid (D-Nev.) for agreeing to let Specter (Pa.) keep his seniority, accrued over more than 28 years as a GOP senator. That agreement would allow Specter to leap past senior Democrats on powerful panels — including the Appropriations and Judiciary committees. “I won’t be happy if I don’t get to chair something because of Arlen Specter,” said...

While Nazi Pelosi and the DNC are outraged at terrorists getting warm lemonade, corporate jet trips by CEO’s or excessive greed by Bankers, they are stealing 10s of $Millions right under our noses. While they throw the ol Bush is Hitler bone to their kook lefties, they are robbing us blind. When President Bush entered the WH w/clinton’s Impeachment/Monica fresh on everyone’s mind, W never brought him up or went after him even though many wanted him to. He knew that there were more important things than satisfying a fringe group who wanted blood since he needed to get this...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein may have violated Senate ethics rules by introducing legislation in January that indirectly benefited her husband. The legislation authorized that $25 billion of taxpayer money be given to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to help finance an FDIC proposal to avoid home foreclosures by promoting loan workouts and increasing federal loan guarantees, The Washington Times reports. The Democratic California senator’s husband, Richard Blum, is chairman of the board of commercial real estate colossus CB Richard Ellis (CBRE). When Feinstein introduced her bill, the FDIC had just signed a contract with the firm to unload foreclosed properties for...

A Phillipines-born lesbian mother who was ordered to leave the country by next month for overstaying her visa will likely be allowed to stay through next year due to Sen. Dianne Feinstein's intervention in the case. Gay marriage supporters rallied in the Bay Area Wednesday before the State Supreme Court's expected hearing on possibly overturning Proposition 8. Feinstein introduced an emergency immigration bill late Wednesday on behalf of Shirley Tan who lives in Pacifica with her 12-year-old twin sons and partner of 19 years. A Feinstein spokeswoman says the 43-year-old Tan can't be deported until Congress acts on the legislation,...

On the day the new Congress convened this year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that had just awarded her husband's real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms. Mrs. Feinstein's intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unusual: the California Democrat isn't a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with jurisdiction over FDIC; and the agency is supposed to operate from money it raises from bank-paid insurance payments - not direct...

On the day the new Congress convened this year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that had just awarded her husband's real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms. Mrs. Feinstein’s intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unusual: the California Democrat isn’t a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with jurisdiction over FDIC; and the agency is supposed to operate from money it raises from bank-paid insurance payments - not direct...

Feinstein sought $25 billion for agency that awarded contract to spouse On the day the new Congress convened this year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that had just awarded her husband's real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms. Mrs. Feinstein's intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unusual: the California Democrat isn't a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with jurisdiction over FDIC; and the agency is supposed to operate...