Rambo's View - Dianne Feinstein's $4 billion earmark for Beverly Hills

OpinionJournal.com ^ | September 7, 2007 | KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL

[gpapa]

Move over Bridge to Nowhere. Congress is back in town, and clearly back to business even uglier than usual.

It takes hard work to come up with an earmark more egregious than that infamous Alaskan bridge, but California's Dianne Feinstein is an industrious gal. Her latest pork--let's call it Rambo's View--deserves to be the poster child for everything wrong with today's greedy earmark process.

The senator's $4 billion handout (yes, you read that right) to wealthy West L.A. (yes, you read that right, too) is the ultimate example of how powerful members use earmarks to put their own parochial interests above national ones--in this case the needs of veterans. It's a case study in how Congress uses the appropriations process to substitute its petty wants for the considered judgments of agency professionals. And it's just the latest proof that, no matter how much outrage the American public might display over these deals--and no matter how often Congress promises to clean up its act--the elected have no intention of reforming the process.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Extract what the pork actually: Your summary doesn’t say.

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

The VA has a bunch of extra land in West LA (i.e., Hollywood) that they would like to sell, using the profit (possibly as much as $4 billion) for VA programs. Feinstein stuck an earmark on the military construction and veterans affairs bill, preventing the VA from selling the land (since her rich constituents such as Sly Stallone use the parklike land as their private preserve, and my God, we can’t upset Sly, can we?). But the VA, needless to say, could really, really use $4B. When Jim DeMent offered an amendment to strip Feinstein’s earmark from the bill, Boxer got her panties in a wad and threatened to strip DeMent’s earmarks in turn. Now nobody has the, uh, cajones to attack this ridiculous earmark. Our Senators in action, God love ‘em.

[freekitty]

What exactly is the pork and yes veterans do need quality health care which they are not receiving.

[freekitty]

Well, in this case, that’s just too you know what for old Sly.

[Comparative Advantage]

Boxer and Feinstein are both disgusting marxists. They fit in well with their Kalifornia constituents.

[ReignOfError]

Whatever Feinstein’s motives, I don’t like the idea of asking the VA to fund veterans’ health care by playing landlord. If the land is no longer needed, declare it surplus and sell it, and let the rich neighbors pool their funds to preserve it.

But whatever the disposition of the land, it’s Congress’ job to fully fund care for veterans, and it’s the VA’s responsibility to properly allocate and monitor the use of those funds. Do say that veterans are beng deprived of care becase the VA can’t lease out its facilities is to let those folks off the hook.

[cgbg]

The other hilarious angle of this mess is the Boxers and Feinsteins of the planet keep crying about the need for affordable housing.

However, whenever someone actually wants to develop some real estate and add housing units which will increase supply in their Communist stronghold they immediately join with their rich constituents to cry environmental foul and give the developer a bunch of fifteen yard penalties.

I would like to see every square inch of that state strip mined and slant-well drilled until they supply raw materials for the rest of the nation (well, only the parts of the state that actually _have_ oil and other valuable resources, of course, we might have to have a lot of exploratory drilling in the leftist b(*&^es backyards to make sure we didn't miss anything.)

:-)

We have carried them on our backs long enough.

[BunnySlippers]

I work right across the street on the 25th floor from this site.

[Captain Rhino]

There is still one hope that some brave soul will take up this cause and attempt to get Rambo's View stripped from this bill during the House-Senate conference. Democrats have already reneged, and reneged again, on campaign pledges to clean up the earmark swamp, and in any event aren't likely to rally against a powerful member of their own party. But if Republicans had a collective IQ of even 70, they'd be making this particularly offensive pork item a rallying cry that they could use to demonstrate a renewed commitment to spending reform.

Clean up the pork? (SNORT) Surely you jest, sir!

[freekitty]

You are so right. As long as everything is good in their little secluded worlds; it’s okay to trample on America.

[Uncle Hal]

Folks if you do not know LA, this land is about as prime real estate as there is.