Okay, this is a long, painful video. Please don’t subject yourself to watching it more than once. (Unless you fancy catching Captain Peace Prize telling a couple of whoppers about “ending the outsized influence of lobbyists.” But more on that later.)
Go ahead and skim it through. Pay special attention to Nancy Pelosi there behind the Prez. Clapping wildly, standing, waving her hands in the air like she just don’t care every time Obama says how he’s gonna whittle away at that government spending.
But, oh, she does care. In so many ways.
First, earmarks. Anyone recall a little news story that was almost successfully buried back in 2007, about how…
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who promised a new era of ethics enforcement in the House of Representatives, snuck a $25 million gift to her husband in a $15 billion Water Resources Development Act recently passed by Congress.
[...]
In this case, the special interest may have been Pelosi’s wealthy husband, Paul Pelosi. And the pet project involved renovating ports in Speaker Pelosi’s home base of San Francisco. Paul Pelosi just happens to own apartment buildings near the areas targeted for improvement, and will almost certainly experience a significant boost in property value as a result of Pelosi’s earmark.
Okay. At this point you’re probably saying “been there, done that.” This is pretty standard politician stuff.
How about this then? From a January 28 Judicial Watch press release about Pelosi’s travel habits (emphasis mine):
According to the documents, obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Speaker’s military travel cost the United States Air Force $2,100,744.59 over a two-year period — $101,429.14 of which was for in-flight expenses, including food and alcohol. The following are highlights from the recent release of about 2,000 documents:
- Speaker Pelosi used Air Force aircraft to travel back to her district at an average cost of $28,210.51 per flight. The average cost of an international CODEL is $228,563.33. Of the 103 Pelosi-led congressional delegations (CODEL), 31 trips included members of the House Speaker’s family.
- One CODEL traveling from Washington, DC, through Tel Aviv, Israel to Baghdad, Iraq May 15-20, 2008, “to discuss matters of mutual concern with government leaders” included members of Congress and their spouses and cost $17,931 per hour in aircraft alone. Purchases for the CODEL included: Johnny Walker Red scotch, Grey Goose vodka, E&J brandy, Bailey’s Irish Crème, Maker’s Mark whiskey, Courvoisier cognac, Bacardi Light rum, Jim Beam whiskey, Beefeater gin, Dewars scotch, Bombay Sapphire gin, Jack Daniels whiskey, Corona beer and several bottles of wine.
- According to a “Memo for Record” from a March 29—April 7, 2007, CODEL that involved a stop in Israel, “CODEL could only bring Kosher items into the Hotel. Kosher alcohol for mixing beverages in the Delegation room was purchased on the local economy i.e. Bourbon, Whiskey, Scotch, Vodka, Gin, Triple Sec, Tequila, etc.”
- The Department of Defense advanced a CODEL of 56 members of Congress and staff $60,000 to travel to Louisiana and Mississippi July 19-22, 2008, to “view flood relief advances from Hurricane Katrina.” The three-day trip cost the U.S. Air Force $65,505.46, exceeding authorized funding by $5,505.46.
Yeah. Way to nip that “out of control” spending in the bud. Over $1 million a year on using military jets like party buses? But hey, I guess that explains her wild clapping.
Party on Nance!
Party on Joe!
Related posts:
- Nancy Pelosi Stands By Her Own Words Until She Doesn’t Last week, South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson uttered the Shout...
- Nancy Pelosi Not As Fond of Disruptors As She Used to Be After Nancy Pelosi’s brilliant “You guys are un-American for disagreeing...
- Nancy Pelosi Makes It Way Too Easy From today’s editorial by Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer in...
- Broccoli for You, Häagen-Dazs for Nancy Pelosi You might think Nancy Pelosi maintains that grotesque semblance of...
- Nancy Pelosi Doesn’t Like Disruptors, Except When She Does First thing Monday morning, Nancy Pelosi took to the pages...
I’m not sure if it was this site or somewhere else, but I remember reading that Pelosi has really pissed off the military for constantly wanting a jet at her beck and call, canceling scheduled flights at the last minute (wasting fuel, manhours and giving major headaches to all involved, as prepping private planes takes time), and some of the other sins mentioned above. For someone who is so gungho on cap and tax – whoops, I mean trade – no, actually I don’t, saving the planet and stopping global warming, she doesn’t seem to have any interest in flying coach. She’ll need to replant the entire Amazon basin at this rate.
Also: how do people fit on the plane with that much booze? No wonder Congress gets nothing done on her watch, they’re all smashed on the taxpayers’ dime.
Second also: how does she get away with flying kids and grandkids around on (private) government flights? She’d better be reimbursing the military for their expenses. The media freaked about the Palin kids traveling on Palin’s intrastate trips in Alaska, and those were state funds. This seems worse to me, as Alaskans at least elected Palin, whereas most of the country did not elect Pelosi, yet she is spending federal money like she’s Heather Mills.
I do not pay taxes so Pelosi can get liquored up before her facelifts!
She is so repugnant. The woman has lost any sense of reality. Horrifying to think she is 2 heartbeats away from the presidency.
again with the “do as I say, not as I do.” She is the first speaker who has insisted on such lavish travel. It is just our money after all.
Considering to whom those hearts belong… would we even notice?
She is so plastic. It looks like her face would melt under pressure quicker than the foundation of lies that she stands on.
and jenn – she produced 5 offsprings. There are more of her out there. How scary is that?
Wow. I learn something new every day; I’d never thought of kosher alcohol as a possibility before. Given that (in another thread here) we’d discussed the issue of buying alcoholic beverages with EBT cards, WHAT THE HELL EXACTLY is Pelosi–or any government employee–doing, buying booze on our dime? For a person constructed entirely of beef jerky, isn’t alcohol a little…drying?
Correct me if I’m wrong–and I’m SURE someone will–but isn’t this the same woman who coined the phrase “culture of corruption” to describe how evil she thought the GWB administration was? Where are all the people who used to scream “HALLIBURTON! HALLIBURTON!”? I don’t think anyone here has posited that the Bush administration was purer than the driven snow, but from the looks of things, NOBODY in Congress or the WH has any business pointing fingers at anyone else.
I have figured it out. Democracts want to tax us more because we don’t know how to spend our money in the appropriate venues….private jets, Kosher alcohol. Next thing you will hear is that Nancy’s face was paid for by tax payers. And at that point, we must get our money back.
LN, according to the news articles out today, taxes will be going up. Bush tax cuts will no longer take place and those in the 25% bracket will now be at the 28% bracket. And this after hearing that Pelosi gets to fly everywhere with liquor on board. I would not doubt the fact that her face was paid for by us as she has excellent health coverage, coverage she will not be losing. I hate this Hope and Change.
FYI, allegedly, the military has changed its travel rules to prevent this apparent fraud waste & abues:
http://www.mudvillegazette.com/033253.html
Dang, homegirl’s got bottle service? She is a baller!
I’m changing my last name to Pelosi. I want in.
Angry Army Wife – the thought that anyone would hit that (and 5 times apparently) is nauseating
What I don’t understand is, if you’re buying booze on someone elses dollar, why get the cheap stuff? I mean, Walker Red? Serious? At least get the Green or Gold. Some people can spend recklessly but can’t even pick out a good scotch.
This POS needs to be drug/alcohol tested. The power she possesses over congress, the law and our well-being?? And she’s probably drunk off her ass the whole time?? It explains a lot about her behavior and thought-processes, really. This entire administration has been a nightmare – I saw a great vid the other day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV1xJad_VB0 – fun!