Servant of American empire Dianne Feinstein dead; mourn not

She shouldn't have run for re-election her last time, and wouldn't have won her primary had the California Democratic Party not cleared the decks for her. Shades of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020 nationally. No wonder both mourn her so much today. The California Democratic Party is one reason why Californians and Americans can't have good things, per the meme.

She was an uncritical servant of American empire abroad, which is to say, she was both a warmonger and a torturemonger. She was fine with snooping on Americans, and the only reason she opposed snooping on foreign leaders was probably the fallout we experienced from getting caught. She was, of course, a faithful servant of Zionism, too.

Domestically, she was a garden-variety plutocratic Democratic senator. A friend of the banksters during the run-up to and aftermath of the Great Recession, most notably. After all, with hubby's money from real estate, protecting banksters was big stuff.

Beyond that? Her infamous sneering at child climate change protestors should be the way we remember her time in the Senate at twilight. She could do that while being a climate destroyer, flying from SF to DC in a fuel-guzzling private jet. She could do THAT because she was worth $70 million on her own and with a billionaire hubby. Don't mourn the youth wing of Sunrise, though, either. The collegiate main wing of Sunrise it itself, after all, the youth wing (and the very White and classist one) of the neoliberals at the Sierra Club. In the second of the three links above, I specifically mention those Sunrise kiddies and say that maybe they were "manipulated," but not in the way that wingnuts claim.

Before that, as San Francisco's mayor? Per one Tweet that I retweeted, Harvey Milk said that she, as a San Francisco politician was a conservative obstruction to progressive transformation. Sadly, the assassination of Milk and then-mayor George Moscone opened the doors for her political ascent.

Although I and we all knew her health frailty, I didn't have anything cued up as long as what I did for him. So, that's a wrap.

The only remaining question is that, since Gov. Pothole, Gavin Newsom, said long ago (and doesn't that mean he should have called for her retirement/resignation?) he would appoint a Black woman to fill a vacancy, but not a Black woman announced candidate (Rep. Barbara Lee), what neoliberal Black women Democrats are running around California these days?

Sen. Betty Crocker — wrong on torture, wrong on American history

Dianne Feinstein, aka Sen. Betty Crocker thinks torture is an "error" to be admitted. That's why any huff she has with the CIA will eventually be solved only to help Congress and not We the People:

Senate Intelligence Committee chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., maintained that the eventual release of the summary and findings will show “that this nation admits its errors, as painful as they may be, and seeks to learn from them.”

She called the findings shocking, adding: “The report exposes brutality that stands in stark contrast to our values as a nation. It chronicles a stain on our history that must never again be allowed to happen. This is not what Americans do.”

The report “certainly depicts the program as much, much worse than generally thought,” said Alberto Mora, a former Navy general counsel and an early critic of the Bush administration program. “Oh my gosh, it’s a devastating critique.”

The finding that 26 detainees were held without legal authorization and the confirmation that the CIA in some cases went beyond the techniques approved by the Justice Department might fuel legal challenges.

Uhh, first, as the likes of Ta-Nehisi Coates would tell you, it's what white Americans did to black Americans for some 200 years, under guise of some legality, until Emancipation, then continued to do a century after that.

And, we did it to other white people elsewhere, too. Perhaps not as much as other countries, but we shot surrendered prisoners of war, in WWII, in Germany and Italy.

And, later than that, we committed a laundry list of atrocities in Vietnam.

And various things to American Indians — though, with one partial exception, the smallpoxed blankets is a myth, and the Indians, even if on the defensive, had no problems inflicting torture themselves.

And, I'm just hitting the high points of the low points.

Second, I doubt the legal challenges. Hamdam and Hamdi, the Supreme Court gave a bare nod to rights of detainees. But, I'm sure a Bush v. Gore type majority will flatly cut off any such suits against the US government or its agents.

No, not every Euro-American in US history is rotten to the core. But, American history has been about more than bad apples. It's been about bad appleseed, too.

And, until the likes of American exceptionalists, including most politicians of both major parties, admit that, we'll still be proving Santayana true, though not Marx.

We'll continue to repeat our unremembered history. Unfortunately, it will be always as tragedy in matters like this and never as farce.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/04/03/4037714/mcclatchy-senate-panel-finds-cia.html#storylink=cpy

Well, boo hoo for Sen. Betty Crocker on CIA snooping

Sen. Dianne Feinstein/Mother Jones file photo

I love how, now that it's her and other Congresscritters that have their balls in a vice and tits in a wringer, depending on sex, on federal agencies snooping on them, that Dianne Feinstein, as chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is in high dudgeon. (As for the nickname? Long-standing joke of mine, based on older photos of her.)

Perhaps the CIA is doing stuff that's illegal. Perhaps not. 

On the actual Patriot Act, at least, I highly suspect that, in their rush to be "patriotic" 12-plus years ago, Members of Congress failed to exempt themselves from its provisions, although I'm not at high enough of a pay grade to wade through the whole damned thing right now to prove or disprove that.  Ditto on whether the CIA did anything criminal in the current snooping.

Second, Congresscritters, if you're dumb enough to presume that the CIA, on CIA computers, wouldn't snoop your computer usage? I have beachfront property in Langley, Va., to sell you.

Third, note to David Corn. We're not British, with a "traditional" unwritten constitution evolving over centuries. Given that courts in general and the Supreme Court in particular, as far as matters of precedent, which DO govern constitutional interpretation here in the USofA, whether or not there's a constitutional issue is arguable at best.

Fourth, I also "love" how Betty Crocker is also so worried about leaking. Hey, that's the national sport inside the Beltway, and you know it, because you've done your own fair share.

Fifth, given that Betty Crocker and other Congresscritters, any time some portion of our snooping has come under question from civil libertarians, have simply expanded the law, this is even "richer":

Feinstein said that the CIA appeared to have violated the Fourth Amendment barring unreasonable searches and seizures—and perhaps other federal laws and a presidential executive order prohibiting the CIA from domestic searches and surveillance.

Sorry, Betty, but that falls under the Patriot Act, too, I'm sure. The CIA is simply making sure you're safe.

Speaking of "expanding the law," remember that Dear Leader himself voted to do that in 2008, when he was still Senator Dear Leader. That would be our President Dear Leader, who's not helping Sen. Betty Crocker much.

Look, if you actually cared about anything beyond Congressional prerogatives, you'd have spoken out about illegal snooping, and spirit-of-illegal snooping, long ago. Ditto on the issue of torture, or, as you probably call it, "enhanced interrogation techniques" that are in the report the CIA won't green-light that lies behind all this.

So, don't worry, folks; Congress will soon exempt itself from all this that it hasn't already, and the outrage will die back down.

Hell, Corn, who knows all this himself, halfway admits it:

Overall, the system of congressional oversight has hardly (as far as the public can tell) been stellar.

As far as I'm concerned, if the NSA, at least, and possibly the CIA, are spying on the rest of us, they can spy on you too, Betty Crocker. 

If you really gave a damn, Sen. Betty Crocker, you'd care about the latest in Edward Snowden's ongoing revelations. But, since you called his leaking "an act of treason," we know you don't. So, yes, per him as well as per me, you're a big effing hypocrite. You're a hypocrite about the snooping and leaking both.

Dammit, California Democrats, get somebody to primary her. If not, Greens, get a credible challenger. Sadly, she was last re-elected in 2012, so, unless she dies off, we're stuck with four-plus years of her to remain.

And, as far as Corn? He's not hugely overrated, but I've found him moderately overrated for years as an investigative reporter on issues like these. (I Tweeted Corn to ask if he, too, has asked Snowden for comment.)

NSA in Dutch with Dianne Feinstein

Sen. Dianne Feinstein/Guardian photo

Sen. Betty Crocker has been probably the most ardent blank-check defender of any and every National Security Agency spying program since 9/11. So, it's a surprising twist indeed when Feinstein says she strongly opposes spying on foreign leaders.

And, as I blogged yesterday, the White House's original non-denial denials eventually morphed into semi-explicit admissions of guilt about spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others.

Meanwhile, the super-snoopers have come up with a new denial, which may actually be true, yet a non-denial denial at the same time.

In France and Spain, the agency says those countries' intelligence agencies were the spies of record.

This may well be true. In Britain, we know that General Communications Headquarters has a formal agreement with the NSA; something at least halfway similar also exists with Canada, Australia and New Zealand. That said, without going into details, Anglo-American sharing of intelligence gathering has long been known, and has been suspected of being pretty deep.

So, a few takeaways.

First, if true, this is like some European countries, in other instances, hiding behind the skirts of NATO, or in France's case, hiding behind the US's Security Council vetos at the UN.

Second, if this is, per the claims of NSA head Keith Alexander, based on misinterpretation of one of those magic slides of Edward Snowden, I'm sure we'll hear more from Snowden soon enough.

Third, this is still only France and Spain. Alexander's latest claim doesn't govern Germany. And therefore, doesn't fully address Sen. Betty Crocker's pique.

Fourth, we still have no indication that in France or Spain, even, national intelligence agencies would have spied on their own heads of state.

Fifth, there's no indication, even if Alexander has some truth, as to how much of this spying would have been done anyway, and how much was on some sort of contract to the NSA.

Sixth, everybody's linking to the Wall Street Journal, whose news page has become more and more politicized under the Reign of Murdoch. Let's hold off on assigning too high of truth value to the story, eh?

Seventh, to the degree this is true, per my first takeaway, this is as ugly as European countries bitching about extraordinary renditions by the CIA a decade ago, until it became clear that some of them (et tu, Sweden of Julian Assange charges) were willing participants in enabling this.

Eighth, and last for now: This is going to get uglier yet, if there's an ounce of truth in the WSJ story.

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Per a friend on Facebook, though, don't expect Dianne Feinstein's touching concern for Angela Merkel being in the NSA's gunsights to extend to We the People, though.

Harry Reid, the man who makes Obama look 'manly'

The one Democrat with even fewer cojones than Barack Obama? (Not counting Blue Dogs in the House, who actually have cojones, but, they have deliberately parked them on the other side of the party line divide.)

You and I both know it’s Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Now, with Obama, he sold one of his nuts to Wall Street for neoliberal Democratic “purposes” and campaign cash that let him snooker John McCain and run for president without public campaign dollars, and he sold the other to Rahm Emanuel, the same “mastermind” of recruiting all those Blue Dogs.

That, at least, we know.

Harry Reid? I’m not even sure he sold his anywhere. I think they just shriveled.

That said, it’s not 100 percent his fault. The Batman-and-Robin duo of ObamNuel put Reid’s cojones in a vice on previous issues, including the stimulus and, above all, health care “reform.”

But, then, if Reid wins, but Senate numbers sink low enough, who would challenge him, and how good of a replacement would they be? Whip Dick Durbin, for better or worse, would theoretically be more attuned to Obama, but perhaps a bit more able to “push” him, at least on the edges. Policy chair Byron Dorgan may not get re-elected. Conference secretary Patty Murray’s never been talked up as a leadership type. I could see Chuck Schumer angling for the job, and he’d be worse than Reid in kowtowing to Wall Street, but, given that he pushed for a tax vote, and can be feisty overall, he wouldn’t be the worst. Feinstein might be interested, but Californians running both houses probably wouldn’t fly, and ugh on Sen. Betty Crocker anyway.

Her stance on the tax vote? Tone deaf:

Feinstein, whose home-state Democratic colleague, Barbara Boxer , is locked in a battle for re-election, said she opposes taking a tax cut vote before the election. “I actually believe taking a vote on taxes right before the election is a mistake — and I’m not up,” she said. “Because the message can be manipulated.”

Dooooohhhhhh, you cabeza de vaca! YOUR PARTY can be the one manipulating the message! I agree with a blogger who said every Democrat who was in office before 1994 but has spent the majority of his or her career, or nearly that, in the post-Gingrich House/Senate, acts like they’ve been pistol-whipped or something.

That said, back to possible Reid challengers.

Jim Webb is the one other Democrat I could see making a leadership move, and he doesn’t thrill me either.

And, what’s with the claim that Barbara Boxer, of all people, was among those who pushed to push back any tax cut vote? Sounds like her ovaries shrank.

Dianne Feinstein, warmonger

Sen. Betty Crocker, the Senate Intelligence Committee chair, is okey-dokey with delaying the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Feinstein right – kill ‘cash for clunkers’ renewal

The House turned the original, more environmental idea, into an auto bailout, especially for SUVs, and Feinstein is again calling the House out.

Here are parts 1, 2,
3, and 4 on why “cash for clunkers” is not just a non-environmental auto bailout plan, but an anti-environmental one.

Feinstein pissed at Obama

Sen. Betty Crocker, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is steamed at Barack Obama’s nomination of Leon Panetta to head the CIA.

She said she wants an intelligence professional to head the Agency.

Worse than that, former Senator Barack Obama committed the cardinal sin of not “stroking” a committee chair, or even notifying a committee chair before news media broke the story.

Feinstein hoist by own petard

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Betty Crocker), who along with Chuck Schumer was key in getting Mike Mukasey approved as Attorney General, is now hoist by her own petard as Mukasey refuses to give her a straight answer as to whether or not John Yoo’s 2001 memo claiming the Fourth Amendment had “no application to domestic military operations.”

Here’s the exchange:

“I’m just asking you, ‘Is this memo in force that the Fourth Amendment does not apply?’”

“The principle that the Fourth Amendment does not apply in wartime is not in force,” Mukasey replied.

“That’s not the principle I asked you about,” Feinstein countered. The memo referred to domestic military operations, she said.

“There are no domestic military operations being carried out today,” Mukasey replied.

“I’m asking you a question. That's not the answer.” …

Finally, Mukasey responded, “The Fourth Amendment applies across the board whether we’re in wartime or peacetime. It applies across the board.”

But, Mukasey then said he didn’t think the Yoo memo had focused on the Fourth Amendment.

I’ve said before, Dianne Feinstein’s political stances would be wonderful if she were a Democratic senator from, say, Oklahoma or Alabama. They would be solid if she were a Democratic senator from Ohio or Missouri.

But, she’s a waste, in essence, as a Democratic senator from California.

Sen. Bill Nelson: The intersection point of timidity and cowardice

Florida Democrat Bill Nelson was one of the “dirty dozen” Democratic senators to vote in favor of FISA renewal bill with immunity for telecommunications companies Jan. 24. But, what he really wants to do is punt the ball. Specifically, he’s cosponsoring an amendment to shove the immunity decision off onto the FISA court.

Oh, and shock me that Dianne Feinstein (D-Betty Crocker) is the other cosponsor.

Dianne Feinstein …

Yes or no, the Betty Crocker of San Francisco? Compare pictures and discuss.