Air Pelosi Flight 1 Now Departing at Gate 13

If you should, for some reason, require more proof that the responsibility for the country's current financial crisis rests primarily with the Congress rather than with someone other than Ali Pelosi and the 435 Thieves, I submit the following news item from Judicial Watch for your consideration:

Washington, DC -- March 10, 2009

House Speaker Issued Unprecedented Demands for Military Aircraft and Wasted Taxpayer Resources with Last Minute Cancellations

Judicial Watch ... announced today that it has obtained documents from the Department of Defense (DOD) detailing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's multiple requests for military air travel. The documents, obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), include internal DOD email correspondence detailing attempts by DOD staff to accommodate Pelosi's numerous requests for military escorts and military aircraft as well as the speaker's last minute cancellations and changes ...

[1] In response to a series of requests for military aircraft, one Defense Department official wrote, "Any chance of politely querying [Pelosi's team] if they really intend to do all of these or are they just picking every weekend? ... [T]here's no need to block every weekend 'just in case'..." The email also notes that Pelosi's office had, "a history of canceling many of their past requests ...

[2] The documents include a discussion of House Ethics rules and Defense Department policies as they apply to the speaker's requests for staff, spouses and extended family to accompany her on military aircraft ...

[3] The documents also detail correspondence from intermediaries for Speaker Pelosi issuing demands for certain aircraft and expressing outrage when requested military planes were not available. "It is my understanding there are no G5s (a military transport aircraft that is, essentially, a Boeing 737 commercial airliner) available for the House during the Memorial Day recess. This is totally unacceptable...The speaker will want to know where the planes are..." wrote Kay King, Director of the House Office of Interparliamentary Affairs. In a separate email, when told a certain type of aircraft would not be available, King writes, "This is not good news, and we will have some very disappointed folks, as well as a very upset Speaker."

[4] During another email exchange DOD staff advised Kay King that one Pelosi military aircraft request could not be met because of "crew rest requirements" and offered to help secure commercial travel. Kay King responded: "We appreciate the efforts to help the codel [sic, CODEL = Congressional delegation] fly commercially but you know the problem that creates with spouses. If we can find another way to assist with military assets, we would like to do that."

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If you doubt the veracity of this post, and/or the above-cited news release, visit this link and scroll down to where it says "Documents" and read it for yourself (or, if necessary, have a responsible adult read it to you).

In days of yore, such stunts as those described above by a member of Congress would have resulted in a mob of irate taxpayers descending on the Capitol while brandishing assorted farm implements, buckets of tar, and bags of feathers. Unfortunately, this will not happen because the farm implements were stolen by migrant laborers, buckets of tar are prohibited by the Environmental Protection Agency, and bags of feathers will attract a bunch of annoying pests from PETA.

As an alternative to burning or hanging your local Congressional influence-peddler and vote-seller in effigy (EPA regs again, and hate crime legislation, respectively), I urge you to blow off a little steam and send the clown a very angry e-mail.

As an example, here's the e-mail that I sent to Martin "Marty the Moron" Heinrich, D-NM-1^st District:

"I am outraged to learn that, while the country struggles with very grave economic problems, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been using aircraft belonging to the US Air Force as a substitute for commercial air service when it comes to transportation for herself, her staff, and her family. Such a blatant, wasteful use of scare resources at any time, much less during the current financial crisis, is yet another example of why the public's low approval rating of Congress is exceeded by only that of the Third Reich!

"I call on you to demand that you inform Congresswoman Pelosi that such actions border on a gesture of contempt toward the taxpayers and citizens of the nation and to strongly suggest that that she cease this wasteful practice at once!"

Feel free to cut and paste this message and please, since I waive any and all restrictions of copyright, please feel free to add your own insults. Unfortunately, since current technology does not allow you to transmit messages written with crayons, this may cause your e-mail to be beyond the intellectual capacity of many members of that once-distinguished body.