California Democrat Nancy Pelosi assumed leadership of the House of Representatives 10 months ago, promising to enact serious, and long overdue, ethical reforms -- to stop the growing trend of legislators and their families accepting gifts, trips, and jobs from lobbyists and corporations, and proposed "a new direction" for America.
Apparently that new direction has taken some detours.
1) The plane, Boss, the plane:
The Speaker of the House, 2nd in line for the presidency (after the VP), has been provided a government jet for official business use since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks because of security concerns.
Former Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert used a military 12-seat jet to carry him mainly from Washington's Andrews Air Force Base to airports near his home district in Chicago's suburbs.
But Ms Pelosi needs a bigger plane, large enough to carry Democratic "supporters" (= family & lobbyists) and Pelosi staff non-stop cross country. The concern apparently included the desire that Pelosi's plane not land for refueling. Pelosi: "It has everything to do with security".
Uh-huh.
Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) called it "Air Force Three" and said it shows "an arrogance of office that just defies common sense".
Then, of course Rep. John Murtha, who chairs the House Military Appropriations subcommittee, got into the act, saying he spoke to Pentagon officials about the need to provide Pelosi with a bigger plane that can fly passengers coast to coast in comfort. But the House Bully-boy denied pressuring the Pentagon. "I don't need to pressure them. I just tell them what they need to do."
2) Junior gets a job:
In February '07, shortly after his mother became the first woman speaker, Paul Pelosi Jr., was hired by InfoUSA for $180,000 a year as its VP for Strategic Planning.
Unlike all of the other InfoUSA employees, he did not report to work at the company's headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska.
InfoUSA is the same company that has been cited by the New York Times for creating marketing lists that were used by con artists to fleece vulnerable elderly people.
Oh, and BTW, Bill Clinton also works as a consultant for InfoUSA, for which Bubba was paid $3.3 million over the past five years. And the Clintons got $900,000 worth of free travel.
Mama Pelosi insisted that Junior's job opportunity had nothing to do with his influential mother. He just sent in an application for a job and they hired him.
Uh-huh.
3) Nancy Meddles in the Middle East:
Ms Pelosi, elected to office by a single voting district, took it upon herself to meddle, unasked, in foreign policy by meeting with Bashar al-Assad, Syria's terrorist-president-dictator, in Damascus.
Then Ms. Pelosi announced that she had delivered a message to Assad from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that "Israel was ready to engage in peace talks" with Syria. And, she added, Mr. Assad was ready to "resume the peace process" as well. Ms. Pelosi even suggested that her shuttle diplomacy was just getting started. Problem: There was no such message from the Israeli prime minister. A statement issued by the Israeli prime minister's office indicated that "What was communicated to the U.S. House Speaker does not contain any change in the policies of Israel".
In fact, Mr. Olmert told Ms. Pelosi that "a number of Senate and House members who recently visited Damascus received the impression that despite the declarations of Bashar Assad, there is no change in the position of his country regarding a possible peace process with Israel".
Ex-President Jimmy Carter supported Ms Pelosi's trip, which is itself enough reason to condemn it.
4) The Genocide Resolution:
Dimwit Dems came up with a controversial resolution to affirm the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide. Ninety-two years ago.
It was a 'symbolic' resolution. Turkey happens to be an important American ally. We haven't got many of those and you would think it fairly important to not piss off the ones we do have.
Newly installed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen, tried to calm tensions by phoning his Turkish counterpart.
All eight living former secretaries of state signed a joint letter to Pelosi warning that the non-binding resolution "would endanger our national security interests."
Three former defense secretaries, in their own letter, said Turkey probably would cut off U.S. access to a critical air base.
But, expert advice be damned, Ms Pelosi intends to move ahead with a full vote on this incredibly idiotic resolution.
Oh, wait. Ms Pelosi has many Armenian-Americans in her California congressional district who have pushed similar proposals for years.
So, Ms Pelosi disregards national security and American foreign policy in the interests of playing to a small, localized interest group in her voting district.
I wonder how many people actually know that this idiot is 2nd in line (after the VP) for the Presidency?
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