Posted on 01/27/2011 7:08:05 AM PST by Libloather
Chocolate strawberries among extravagant demands by Nancy Pelosi as she spent $101,000 in two years on services while travelling with US Airforce
By Matt Blake
Last updated at 2:02 PM on 27th January 2011
If the US Airforce did all airline food, it would be strawberries dipped in dark chocolate and grilled chicken salads all round.
Unfortunately this luxury is reserved for top US politicians alone, as new documents detailing Nancy Pelosi's travel expenses reveal.
The former House Speaker was showered with a cornucopia of gourmet food and alcohol as she travelled over 90,000 miles around the world in just nine months last year - all courtesy of the US Airforce (USAF).
On one overseas excursion, her office even wrote to the USAF asking for strawberries dipped in dark chocolate as a birthday treat.
The documents, uncovered by political corruption watchdog Judicial Watch, reveal that the US taxpayer was billed for $101,429 (£64,000) in Mrs Pelosi's in-flight services over a period of two years.
One internal Air Force email sent on March 25, 2010 said: 'The speaker’s office is requesting egg salad sandwiches on wheat toast with fruit (watermelon, etc) for desert [sic].
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
....they would never have done something like this in the first place. That should tell you something.
Do you know Jet A fuel costs $5.00 per gallon? It costs $50,000 in fuel alone to make a flight from Washington to SanFran on that bird. So we're concerned over the $50,000 per year she spent on catering?
This is one of those released stories to head off the debate next month. She can say it's already been settled, and to keep asking makes the person asking look petty.
Her fuel bill alone had to run $3,000,000. So we're entertaining ourselves with some feeling of outrage over a hundred grand?
I really don’t see why she can’t be billed for this, especially given the fact she’s very wealthy.
Stop focusing on the strawberries and sandwiches. That’s the crumbs you’re being shown. The fat is behind the curtain.
Oh, I get it. I’ve worked aerospace since 1983. The “costs” being revealed are minor in comparison.
You’re right, the outrage shouldn’t be about the strawberries. But the strawberries and liqour, etc. are indicative of the pervasive attitude of entitlement that our “representatives” have created.
Cost per flying hour, how many flying hours? Things like wear and tear, parts costs, tires, fuel, aircrew manhours, maintenance man hours [preflights, postflights, maintenance] etc.
TDY costs [per diem, lodging, rental cars, etc.] for the airmen, ground support costs at the airport the USAF gets billed for.
Now you’re getting it.
Which makes me think that “News Shockers” like this one are really press releases from the guilty party in order to control and trivialize the dialogue.
But the next time you pop a strawberry in your mouth, you and pelosi are on even ground. When’s the last time you spent $3,000,000 on gas?
Oh, I understand the REAL costs, all right. “Her” plane, iirc, is the former AF1, which she “needed” because she had to fly NON-STOP from coast to coast, in case of a “critical” vote.
So now, since John Boehner is flying commercial, has Queen Nancy KEPT the former AF1?
Of course, AF1 was also large enough to carry her friends, family, staff, cooks, hairdresser, etc. as well.
Indeed - both SZ and myself would have paid for that strawberry with our own money, just like pelosi used our money to pay for it.
It may be chump change, but is symptomatic of the greater level of corruption shown by her.
Well, I don’t believe I’ll ever spend $3M in my lifetime, let alone on gas.
Most likely, it makes the “complainers” look petty.
She should either pay it all back or do dishes until she works it off.
Yeah, we kept hearing about the clothes that were ordered by the McCain campaign for her and whether she was going to keep them or not.
When they feel so entitled to spend so freely and without consequence on small things like this, there’s no reason to expect that won’t spend the same way with the big ticket items. It’s not their own money, so they don’t care. It’s an attitude that has to be changed.
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I agree!
Here’s another example...
HUD-Funded Housing Projects Wasted Money on Belly Dancers, Sex Offenders and Dead Residents
http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2865/
“The founders intended these elected positions to be TEMPORARY SERVICE positions. - To take them AWAY from their own business at a personal loss for a time, in order to SERVE the PUBLIC.”
I could not agree more. The political class, and the MSM who cover them have turned politics into a form of celebrity. It’s ridiculous and needs to stop. This is why I am in no way exaggerating when I say that it should be a law that all politicians, including the President, be addressed by the public by their first name. Conversely, the same law should require the politicians/elected public servants to address each and every one of their constituents as ‘sir’ and ‘madam’.
Most of us have no interest in running for public office because we have more productive things to do, we have normal sized egos, and we aren’t interested in spending time schmoozing. Those of us who do have such interests deserve no special treatment.
If you take away the celebrity aspect from politics you will have much better elected officials (i.e. those who actually deserve respect because they are their to serve), and you will also do away with the celebrity factor in the news media.
It hasn't devolved. It has been purchased outright by the globalists.
I don’t remember anyone asking the Obamas or the McCains where they got their campaign wardrobes, how much it cost, or who paid for it. I know that question was asked back then, but I never heard an answer.
I like chocolate strawberries as much as she does, but I’ve never expected the government to pay for them.
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