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« This post... | Main | DoD re-writes Congressional Travel Rules »

February 1, 2010

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The Jet Set

By Greyhawk

For those aircraft aficionados out there, thought you might appreciate a look at part of Nancy Pelosi's fleet:

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Okay, actually it's yours - she just gets to use it. To fly her family around. On official government business. Anyhow, the little one is a C37 (a Gulfstream V for you civilians) and the bigger one is a C40 - a military version of the Boeing 737-700.

And time flies whether you do or not - witness this story is from three years ago today:

The sources, who include those in Congress and in the administration, said the Democrat is seeking regular military flights not only for herself and her staff, but also for relatives and for other members of the California delegation. A knowledgeable source called the request "carte blanche for an aircraft any time."

And this one was from one week after:

Top House Republicans such as Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri and Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida, chairman of the House Republican Conference, agree the speaker merits the use of a military jet for security reasons, but say Pelosi has been pressing the Pentagon to provide her with a bigger jet than used by Hastert so she can ferry family, other lawmakers and lobbyists across the country.

Pelosi and her staff scoff at the criticism, saying she has just asked the Pentagon for guidance because of the travel distance to California and even President Bush believes security concerns warrant military aircraft for her.

But Putnam said Pelosi's bid for a bigger plane, which he dubbed "Air Force Three,'' shows "an arrogance of office that just defies common sense'' and constitutes a major deviation from the previous speaker's perks.

To sort this out a bit, the Speaker's argument, as I understand it, is that there's a terrorist threat ("It has nothing to do with family and friends and everything to do with security," Pelosi said) if she is forced to travel in a smaller aircraft that would have to refuel at any of the red dots along the pink line on this map:

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...but her political opponents claimed she was actually just trying to score a bigger aircraft so she could transport her family (and anyone else she wanted) free of charge. Pelosi countered that as far as family travel went, the only reason they had asked about that at all was to make sure they weren't breaking any rules if the Speaker brought her kids along for the ride. (You know, as long as they're using one of those great big airplanes anyway because of the security threat, and all that extra space was just going to waste...)

In the end, Jack Murtha was able to resolve the issue by accusing the Air Force of being behind the "leaks" regarding Pelosi's "travel plans," and warning them they had best shut up if they knew what was good for them:

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., the Pelosi ally who chairs the House military appropriations subcommittee, said he has spoken to Pentagon officials about the need to provide Pelosi with a bigger plane that can fly passengers coast to coast in comfort.

But he denied pressuring the Pentagon. "I don't need to pressure them. I just tell them what they need to do,'' Murtha said.
<...>
Murtha said he is convinced the Pentagon has been leaking information about the possibility that Pelosi would use large military planes to make her look bad. But he said, "They're making a mistake when they leak it because she decides on allocations for them,'' referring to the Pentagon budget.

While apparently aimed at the military, Murtha's unsubtle reminder of just who held the purse strings controlling all that taxpayer money was heard loud and clear outside the Pentagon, too.

But apparently over the intervening years someone either figured out that the rules did allow Pelosi's children and grandchildren to fly, or they (or she) simply re-wrote the rules.

Rules can be changed, after all. For instance, at that time, military dependents were forbidden to travel on military aircraft (even if space was available) within the United States (unfair government competition with domestic airlines was the explanation I recall), but a late-2007 rule change allowed it if the military member was deployed.

Update - ah, here's the rule:

Members of the speaker's family cannot fly unless the speaker makes a request in writing. The Pelosi family has to reimburse the U.S. Treasury for the cost of a coach ticket per person for the travel, as well as for any food.

Sweet deal - hard to beat 180 bucks - most people pay that for luggage now. But at least Madame Speaker isn't breaking any rules.

The question is: are taxpayers okay with that?


Next: DoD re-writes Congressional Travel Rules


Posted by Greyhawk / February 1, 2010 1:22 PM | Permalink

1 TrackBack

TrackBack URL: http://www.mudvillegazette.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/17293

No, you can not have a fee ride home. No, you can't bring the kids. While accepting their newly-acquired role as "shuttle service" for the Speaker of the House, the Department of Defense is attempting to draw a line in the sand regarding congressional ... Read More

11 Comments

What a racket. One of the richest House members sucking on the public teet and changing rules to hide the theft of our taxpayer dollars.

No worse than the Mob or any other gangster....oh wait...it is much worse!

Alan Davidson

"unless the speaker makes a request in writing" - sounds like the Air Force knows this is bullshit, and wants to make sure there's no doubt who's responsible.

But you damn sure don't get to be as rich as the Pelosis are by spending your money when you could use someone else's instead.

Without a doubt, anyone in the presidential line of succession should have the proper security. Now, since I know her age, I wouldn't say that having her children fly with her would provoke the same answer from me as if they were yound children. I hope to see a woman president some day and I would expect the young children to fly with her. So, then it comes down to, if you were in that spot and going to some political function, and your family was expected to be there....as long as you are paying the going rate for their seat, would it be better for you to fly on a military flight and the taxpayer foot the bill for all the fuel. Or would it be better to have you pay the going rate for a ticket and they fly with you. Hmmmm.

But the question is purely one of security - not convenience. Pelosi reiterated that time and again. Only other people are making a big deal about the family travel thing (according to Pelosi).

Not sure why she believes the many USAF bases (and Naval Air Stations) in this country aren't secure, but that's the reason she cites for a Lear jet not being acceptable.

"...if you were in that spot and going to some political function and your family was expected to be there..."

Nope, against the rules: "No travel to political events." However, "Pelosi's husband can travel for free, but only for official protocol purposes."

That's why Pelosi's 'written' requests all specify the kids (who are all adults) and grandkids are traveling on official government business. (She doesn't provide additional details.)

Also: "Members of Congress cannot fly on the plane unless their travel has been cleared with the House Committee on Standards (the Ethics Committee)."

I recognize the security aspect, particularly immediately following 9/11, but isn't the speaker implying that commercial air travel is unsafe? Isn't that the biggest outrage? That it's fine for us schulbs to be flying around with pantybombers? Shouldn't we now at least have a system that the speaker can be confident of?

It's funny how idiots like Pelosi and her California constituents hate the military, and then she uses our military facilities for her convenience. The military should tell her and her family to take a hike!

chicopanther

Security and range my ass.


Gulfstream 5 has a range of 6300 miles @560mph ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulfstream_V

The 737 is 3500 miles, at 511mph

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-40_Clipper

G-V is faster with longer legs, and has many more emergency divert options.

A sling seat in a C-130 would work for her travel...and plenty of room for baggage to boot!

I can't believe--and am not at all surprised--that a cheap, miserly multi-millionaire like Pelosi (with a family net worth of $12.5 million) would quibble at any time over writing a check for $180 to the US Treasury for any kind of transportation expenses.


She most distinctly has the Marie Antoniette syndrome. What a shame our once-fine country has leaders like this today.

I've seen that net worth quote before - it underestimates how much money the Pelosi's have. They paid that much for a football team.

He has worked hard to avoid such moments, to stand in the shadows, since his more famous wife, Nancy, first went to Congress in 1987 and then rose to become the first female speaker of the House in 2007. He knew the fortune he amassed as an investor and developer in San Francisco -- estimated through her 2008 financial disclosure filings to range from $24 million to $108 million -- would be a distraction.


And then with a single investment in his friend Bill Hambrecht's longtime dream of a second professional football league to challenge the NFL, the curtain had been pulled away. Although he is not a big sports fan, Pelosi paid $12 million for the franchise for the same reason he has made countless other investments over the years: He felt it could bring him a nice return.

Whether 24 million or 108 million or more, it's a crying shame we have to pay the airfare to bring the grandkids to DC.

Leave a comment

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July 19, 2010


Dawn Patrol 07/19/2010
[Greyhawk]

Welcome to the Dawn Patrol, our ongoing roundup of information on war and other topics - from the MilBlogs and other sources around the world.

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Always updating - refresh for updates.

AFGHANISTAN

Prospects for stability in Musa Qala: challenges and possible solutions -- [Bill Ardolino /Long War Journal - in Afghanistan]
Part 3 in a three-part series on Musa Qala. For Part 1, see The checkered history of Musa Qala; for Part 2, see US Marines battle the Taliban for control of Musa Qala.
..."To the west, there are more 'little-t Taliban,' mostly in it for the money and drug smuggling," explains McDowell. "The farther east of the line you go, the more you see 'capital-T Taliban,' the ideologues who are affiliated with the Qetta Shura."
...A third, nebulous category of enemy also exists: violence is often tied to inscrutable local business interests, politics, and simple crime, especially in cases of Afghan-on-Afghan violence.
"Here in the District Center ... it's really strange, it's hard to characterize what is happening," explains H&S Company Commander First Lieutenant Joshua Hartley, who regularly leads patrols through Musa Qala...
Positive factors at present include...

Exploding Culverts -- [Kandahar Diary - in Afghanistan]
The ambush was initiated with a large IED, planted in a road culvert...
The initiation was followed up by sustained and accurate small-arms and RPG fire to the front, middle and rear of the convoy from the high ground on both sides of the MSR. My guards de-bussed and returned fire...

Arbaki -- [Free Range International - in Afghanistan]
It looks like the new boss has convinced President Karzai to reverse his position on using tribal militias. The new name for these soon to be created Arbaki is Local Police Forces (LPF.) This is a plan which has been tried before with minimal success... I'm not sure what is being modified to make this cunning plan more effective than the last time around but I do know this much - the plan is going to fail.

Weather -- [A Major's Perspective - in Afghanistan]
Its hot here right now...but not a hot like you would think...
The wind is something to describe though. Starting in late spring it starts to pickup and everyday around 230PM until Midnight it blows. All of the sand / dust gets picked up by it turning into a swirling maelstorm of junk and dirt.
For the guys in Kandahar and the eastern portions of the country it is different. Kandahar is hot, very hot, reminds me of Iraq hot. The east of the country is hot but also mixed with humidity...

Fête Nationale -- [Field Notes: One Soldier's Perspective - in Afghanistan]
July 14: This morning we had a brief ceremony to recognize and celebrate "Fête Nationale" or French National Day. It is the official national day of France. While it is also known as Bastille Day (anniversary of storming the Bastille in 1789), it actually celebrates the anniversary of the Fête de la Fédération that occurred on 14 July 1790 (one year after the storming of the Bastille)...
This morning's ceremony featured the raising of the French flag over the ISAF Headquarters...

Goodbye "FaST" Food (and good riddance) -- [FaST Surgeon - in Afghanistan]
...I am completely for the elimination of places like BK and Pizza Hut from military installations. Not only in theaters of war, but in ALL military installations. I simply don't believe there is any reason for their existence on our bases / camps / or posts...


IRAQ

On The Iran, Iraq Border -- [J.D. Johannes - in Iraq]
In the 1980s Iran and Iraq fought to a bloody stalemate on a thin strip of desert over access to a waterway, the Shatt al Arab, that had been in dispute since the days of the Ottoman Empire.
The war was a pure fire-power battle resembling the trench warfare of World War I and the set piece charges of the American Civil War.
The tension over the Iran/Iraq border still lingers making border security one of the key missions of US Forces in Iraq.
I spent a day at the Shalamcha Port of Entry, a bustling entry point for Iranian tourists and transhipment point east of Basrah, Iraq...


WAR ON TERROR /TERRORISM

Senators Look For Smoking Gun In BP-Lockerbie Link -- [AP]
...Soon after al-Megrahi's release last year, BP acknowledged that it urged the British government to sign a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya, but stressed it didn't specify his case. It reiterated that stance this week when four U.S. Democratic senators asked the State Department to investigate whether there was a quid pro quo for the Lockerbie bomber's release.
"The evidence here may be circumstantial but if I were a prosecutor, I'd love to take this case to a jury," said New York Sen. Charles Schumer...

No Link Between BP And Lockerbie Release: UK Envoy -- [NPR news blog]
Many people for obvious reasons are more than willing to believe the worst about BP.
So when stories circulated this week that the company had lobbied for Scotland to release convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi in order to secure an oil deal with Libya, many BP haters were perfectly ready to believe that.
But the United Kingdom's ambassador to the U.S., Nigel Sheinwald, says BP played no such a role in the al-Megrahi affair.
The envoy explained in an open letter to Sen. John Kerry, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee...

UK's Cameron: Releasing Lockerbie Bomber Was Wrong -- [AP]
"As leader of opposition, I couldn't have been more clear that I thought the decision to release al-Megrahi was completely and utterly wrong," Cameron told the BBC before leaving Tuesday on his first visit as British leader to the United States, where he is expected to face questioning about the case.
In fact, Cameron's political party did more than just condemn the former Libyan intelligence agent's release. In the weeks following, Britain's Conservatives called for an inquiry into whether trade considerations played any role in the decision.
The party has changed tack, however, since taking control in May of Britain's government in a coalition. Cameron's Downing Street office said a government-commissioned inquiry was "not currently under consideration."
Cameron emphasized that the final decision to release al-Megrahi was made by Scotland's government, which holds some limited powers within the United Kingdom, and not by the previous British government headed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.


U.S. AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

As Cameron and Obama Meet, BP Will Be Top Issue -- [NY Times]
On the eve of a White House meeting with President Obama, Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday stepped into the furor over BP's lobbying for a prisoner-transfer agreement between Britain and Libya by saying he considered the release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber from a Scottish prison last year to be "completely and utterly wrong."
Ten weeks after taking office, Mr. Cameron is making his first visit to the United States as prime minister. He and Mr. Obama have a ledger of issues to discuss, including the Cameron government's decision to set an end date of 2015 for Britain's combat role in Afghanistan...

Afghanistan tops agenda for British PM's visit -- [Washington Times]
The White House on Monday said the war in Afghanistan is "first and foremost" on the agenda for Prime Minister David Cameron's first Washington visit with President Obama, but the new British leader will be walking a political tightrope over the release of the Lockerbie bomber amid questions from Congress about whether BP had a role in the decision.
The meeting Tuesday comes as operations in Afghanistan are at a pivotal point...


WELCOME HOME

Homecoming -- [Rajiv Srinivasan - home from Afghanistan]
..."All 5th Brigade Personnel bound for Joint-Base Lewis-McChord, we'll be boarding you at Gate 4 in five minutes," announced an airline representative over the intercom. A smile broke across my face. I was heading home. I was almost done. This war was over for me, and I could wash my hands of it for at least a year or two. I jumped up from my seat, gave one last grin at the run way, knowing I'd be on it in just a few moments.
"Hey Raj," called out my friend James, a West Point classmate in the brigade.
"What's going on brother?! Ready to kick this pig?!" I slapped him enthusiastically on the back.
"Rajiv...something's happened." James voice became quiet...


STRATEGY & TACTICS

ISAF, SCR Address Military ROE and Tactical Directives -- [ISAF]
"Our rules of engagement are solid, and they have not changed," said Blotz. "They are based on international law and are standardized across 47 nations, and describe the circumstances and limitations under which forces will begin or continue to engage in combat. This defines the"right and left limits" of what we will allow our forces to do as they fight."
...He added that the tactical directives tell troops what they should do while the rules of engagement instruct them what they can do. In an example he describes the difference between the two directives.
"If our troops are fired upon from a compound, under the laws of armed conflict...international law, that compound is a legal target," the general said. "However, the current tactical directive will ask our troops to consider the minimal level of force that's required to handle the situation."
...At the moment, the application of the current tactical directive is being reviewed to ensure it is consistently being used across our force.
"It is important to remember that [ISAF] military forces always retain the right to self defense, if commanders believe their forces are in danger they are required to make decisions to protect themselves," said Blotz..


SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Raytheon's pain gun finally gets deployed in Afghanistan (update: recalled) -- [Engadget]
t's been six long years since we first got wind of the Pentagon's Active Denial System, and four since it was slated to control riots in Iraq, but though we've seen reporters zapped by the device once or twice, it seems the Air Force-approved pain gun is only now entering service in Afghanistan...
Update: Sorry folks, false alarm -- a Air Force spokesperson just informed us that though the pain gun was indeed sent to Afghanistan, it's now being returned to the US without ever seeing use.


Pain Ray Recalled From Afghanistan -- [Noah Shachtman/Danger Room]
...The system's tactical advantages are far outweighed by the strategically-massive propaganda boost that the pain ray would've given the Taliban.

The Active Denial System: the weapon that's a hot topic -- [The Telegraph (UK)]
In 2007, with the situation in Iraq at its most volatile since the invasion, US forces requested the presence of the ADS. It was never sent. Indeed, The Daily Telegraph has learnt that it has now been recalled from Afghanistan, without being fired in anger...
...Other problems come from the limitations of the device itself. Rain, snow and fog hamper its effectiveness, and it can be blocked by highly reflective materials such as aluminium foil...
Yet even if the ADS falls short, the ongoing pressure to keep the civilian body count to a minimum has made the development of similar weapons a top priority for Western forces. The ADS is only one of a raft of new non-lethal measures the US has been developing, under varying levels of secrecy...

World's Fastest Helicopter Boosts Battle Against Insurgents -- [ISAF]
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...The aircraft's value in the battle against insurgents lies in its versatile performance. The Lynx crews can track insurgent movements and watch over vulnerable areas with its sophisticated surveillance camera. This "overwatch" capability helps in the protection of the massive convoys used to re-supply front line troops in the forward operating bases.
The convoys can be vulnerable to attack as they track across vast swathes of desert from base to base but with the Lynx and its formidable weapons systems circling above, the insurgents stay away...




POLITICS

Is it time for a real GI Jane? -- [CNN]


HUMOR/SATIRE

-- []


(Need more? Dawn Patrols Archives are here.)



, , , , , , , ,


Posted 2:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)


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The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
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  • USeFuL Info: I've seen that net worth quote before - it underestimates read more
  • Poshboy: I can't believe--and am not at all surprised--that a cheap, read more
  • Punkindrublic: A sling seat in a C-130 would work for her read more
  • Piper: Security and range my ass. Gulfstream 5 has a range read more
  • chicopanther: It's funny how idiots like Pelosi and her California constituents read more
  • Stephanie: I recognize the security aspect, particularly immediately following 9/11, but read more
  • Greyhawk: "...if you were in that spot and going to some read more
  • Greyhawk: But the question is purely one of security - not read more
  • nanahawk: Without a doubt, anyone in the presidential line of succession read more
  • Ol Sarge: "unless the speaker makes a request in writing" - sounds read more

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The Mudville Gazette is written and produced by Greyhawk. Unless otherwise credited, the opinions expressed are those of the author, and nothing here is to be taken as representing the official position of or endorsement by the United States Department of Defense or any of its subordinate components. Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house.

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