By way of Captain's Quarters comes another bit of news that for some reason hasn't risen to a level of importance that would demand the attention of any of the major news reporting agencies.
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.
There was a time, astounding as this may sound, that just the appearance of such a conflict would impel a Senator to resign a committee assignment rather than risk the erosion of trust in our government. Today, though, instead of good government we get good politics. Good politics demand denial of wrong doing, even when confronted with proof of it. Did we ever come up with a good definition of the word "is", by the way?
In the meantime our free press, guardians of our liberty, throw every effort into a search for something that might be construed as improper in the dismissal of political appointees.
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