Armchairrealist.com

• “Sen. Dianne Feinstein has resigned from the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee… 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…”

The View-Point:

• This story first reached national attention on the 3/28/2007 edition of the Michael Savage radio talk show. Although the reporting newspaper and author are virtual unknowns, some simple Internet research using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine can confirm the basic facts of Feinstein’s exit from the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee:
  
  Wayback Machine archives of: feinstein.senate.gov
  - 7/1/2006 archive lists Feinstein as belonging to the following committees:
  – Appropriations Committee
  – Ranking member of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee
  
  Wayback Machine archives of: appropriations.senate.gov
  - 5/25/2006 archive confirms the above information:
  – SUBCOMMITTEE on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs
  – Senator Dianne Feinstein (Ranking Member) (CA)
  
  The current versions of both of these websites reflect that Feinstein is no longer a member of the subcommittee in question:
  - United States Senator Dianne Feinstein: Committee Assignments
  - United States Senate Committee on Appropriations – Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
  

Bottom Line: If my third-grade level of research can confirm a few of the most basic facts of this story, then I only expect that members of the ‘professional’ (read: paid) media can bust the full details wide open.

UPDATE:

• NewsMax.com has picked up coverage of this story:
  Sen. Feinstein Resigns Military Appropriations Post
  (NewsMax.com, 4/2/2007)

(Originally Posted: 3/28/2007 @ 11:48pm)