WHAT DO RUSH LIMBAUGH, NANCY PELOSI, GISELLE BUNDCHEN, & THE RED SOX HAVE IN COMMON?

Are they all Liberals? No. Are they all Conservative? No. The one common thread that they all share is their penchant for luxurious $50,000,000 Jets. They specifically enjoy jet-setting around the world in the opulence of the Gulf Stream 550 which is the standard of excellence for aircrafts. This is the plane of choice for many billionaires and celebrities who could care less about money. The plane comes equipped with standard amenites such as DVD Players, LCD T.V.’s, Satellite Phone’s, Wireless Lan, Fax Machine, CD Player & Radio, large galleys for cooking, Leather or Micro-fiber seating for fourteen and even plenty of storage should John KerryJohn Kerry decide to bring along any of his wind sailing gear .

GIVE ME MORE

Not satisfied with flying business class or using the current fleet of Jets available to herself and other members of Congress and the administration, Nancy PelosiNancy Pelosi along with other members of Congress have asked for additional funds for the purpose of purchasing 8 of these G550’s that come along with a price tag of $550 million tax payer dollars. The request was made in part as an upgrade to an aging fleet and to meet the growing traveling demands of Congressional officials. Apparently there is a shortage of military planes for use by these lawmakers when Congress is in recess. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was criticized earlier in the year for preference and frequency of use of these jets on her weekend jaunts to San Francisco.

NANCY PELOSI NOT ALONE

While Nancy Pelosi may be the face of Congressional abuse of travel perks, she is not alone. Last year, members of Congress and their staff spent about $13 million dollars traveling to places like Kuwait, Africa, Switzerland, China, Israel, Japan , Italy and a host of other countries and cities around the world. Republicans like House Minority Leader John BoehnerJohn Boehner and Richard ShelbyRichard Shelby will head delegations to include their spouses, that will take them to trips around the world including a 3 week stint in Europe . Many times the intentions or purpose of these trips are not disclosed by the members - citing security reasons as the excuse. At a time when Americans are continuously being told to do more with less, Congress always seems to come up with more money to accommodate their lavish lifestyles. This coming after Congress turned harshly critical of companies that fly executives on private jets in the weeks following the government bailout of banks and auto makers last year. It was considered too posh for to travel this way and caused enough backlash to some Jet plane manufacturers that had to cut back production as a result of declining revenues. General Motors, Chrysler LLC and Citigroup Inc. were among those that were singled out by Barack Obama & Co.

AIR FORCE SAYS, PLANES NOT NEEDED

Even with an increased demand for travel by lawmakers, there seemed to be sufficient aircraft around to accommodate these requests. According to the Air Force, the request for the additional planes goes far beyond what they had initially requested as part of its annual appropriations.

Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said the Department of Defense didn't request the additional planes and doesn't need them. "We ask for what we need and only what we need," he told reporters Wednesday. "We've always frowned upon earmarks and additives that are above and beyond what we ask for."

WHY CAN”T THEY PRACTICE WHAT THEY PREACH

Once again, we have a situation where the exact opposite of what this administration is asking of Americans, is being done by them. All the talk of conserving energy and trading in your gas guzzlers for more energy efficient cars and being environmentally friendly goes by the wayside when you decide that adding 8 of these Gulfstream Jets will help the cause. These Jets will each suck up about $2300-3000 in fuel and hour, they will each cost about 1 million dollars to maintain and keep flying and no doubt add thousands of pounds of the dreaded CO2 emissions to the environment which Democrats despise so much. It is hypocritical & irresponsible to spend this kind of money on yourself when many hard working Americans are resorting to mass transportation, buses, trains and in some cases their bicycles to get to work. Why should lawmakers have it any better? Because they are members of Congress? We should continue to remind them that they work for us not the other way around.

SHOULD WE HAVE SAME PRIVELEGE?

For the money that is being dished out for these planes, why can’t we, the people that are actually paying for these planes, have the ability to request travel on them once in a while? After all, we all would enjoy taking our families on extended European trips as well. I don’t think this is an unfair request. Do you? If they can somehow scrape up $550 million dollars to satisfy their lavish travel needs, why can’t they come up with an additional $100 or so and build a couple more of these G550’s and make them availible to the general public? I’d like to know.