Speaker Pelosi can't be expected to ride in just any old private jet. The Botox Queen demands the best and expects American taxpayers to pay for it even though she and her husband can purchase any jet she wants.

Shortly after taking over as Speaker of the House, Democrat Nancy Pelosi complained that she needed a government jet that would be able to ferry her from Washington to her home district of San Francisco without needing to stop to refuel. After the attacks on 9/11, the federal government provided the Speaker of the House a jet in order to protect the official who is third in line to be president. However, after becoming Speaker, it was quickly reported that Pelosi did not feel that the regular jet was adequate to her needs. Investors Business Daily reported, “In 2007, just a month into the new Democrat majority, Speaker Pelosi asked that taxpayers provide a jet that could make a nonstop flight to her Bay Area district. She reportedly wanted a luxury, stateroom-outfitted version of Boeing’s 757-200 like those the vice president, first lady, and Cabinet officials fly on.” Last year, the Department of Defense released records that showed Pelosi would often complain when she requested to schedule a flight and anything smaller than the largest and most luxurious Gulfstream was available. In order to secure her favored mode of transportation, Pelosi’s office would schedule trips months ahead even if there were no plans to travel on her calendar. Often, the Speaker’s office would call to cancel flights at the very last minute which cost taxpayers thousands of dollars each time because crews would be called in to staff the jet, food and drinks were stocked, the jet was fueled, and flight plans were scheduled. Department of Defense staff reported that Pelosi’s office would regularly threaten anyone who didn’t accommodate the Speaker’s plans. Yes, this is the same lady presiding over the Congress that was infuriated because CEO’s of private corporations flew to Washington on privately-owned jets.

Well, Pelosi seems to have finally taken care of her travel issues. The House Democrats is looking to buy 3 Gulfstream G550’s at a total cost of around $200 million. After dressing-down Big 3 CEO’s which were purchased with private sector income, Congress is now equipping themselves with three very high-end luxury jets for their own use. We wouldn’t want any of our imperialists coming in contact with the smelly, unwashed masses would we?

This action reeks of hypocrisy from so many angles. The same Congress accusing the private sector’s excess of crashing the economy seems perfectly content ego-driven excesses as long as they are the beneficiaries. These are also the same officials who are seeking to raise energy prices in an effort to force every American to reduce the pollution they emit into the atmosphere. Needless to say, one of the new jets emits far more carbon dioxide in a year than the whole fleets of SUV’s that will undoubtedly be waiting at the airport to shuttle the politicians away. Congressional Democrats along with the Napoleon of the green movement, Al Gore, are highly critical of private jets; that is unless they are riding in them. Finally, we are watching government scramble to find enough funds to cover the massive explosion in federal spending over the previous six months. It’s pretty much certain that B. Hussein Obama’s primary campaign promise of cutting taxes for 95% of Americans is going the way of his promises of government transparency and bipartisanship. (In case any liberals are reading, none of the promises have been kept to any degree.) How in the hell does Congress justify asking taxpayers to cough up an additional $200 million just to keep elected officials from (gasp) commercial flights or (double gasp) having to fly in less-than top-of-the-line private jets?

Government no longer feels that they exist to serve the public. Instead, they see the public as an unlimited source of taxable income to fund their ego indulgences. Our president spends at least $50,000 on travel costs alone to take his wife to New York City for a “date night,” he then spends several hundred thousands of dollars to fly his family on a separate 747 to Europe, and now he’s preparing to head off to a $50,000-a-week rental mansion in Martha’s Vineyard for summer vacation. All the while, B. Hussein Obama and Democrats in Congress are labeling anyone as greedy and unpatriotic if they are opposed to paying higher taxes to fund massive expansion of government entitlements. This type of conduct suits third-rate dictators of second-rate banana republics, not the United States. It’s time that elected officials respect their bosses (once again, for any liberals reading the American people are the boss) once again. We won’t be able to afford the bill if our imperialist leaders don’t find some restraint soon.

The story about the potential politics involved in the selection of which Chrysler dealerships closed is gaining momentum. Today, the Washington Examiner ran an article which provided even more damning evidence against the White House. The Examiner article poses the issue like this, “How do we account for the fact that millions of dollars were contributed to GOP candidates by Chrysler who are being closed by the government, but only one has been found so far that is being closed that contributed to the Obama campaign in 2008?” While the article doesn’t mention it, the single Obama donor who saw their dealership axed contributed only $200 to Obama’s presidential campaign. However, other Democrat-supporting owners such as those owned by former Clinton White House chief of staff, Mack McLarty, not only survived the cuts but also received the favor of having his competitors closed.

Even more interesting, as American Thinker mentioned about an Instapundit finding today, A reader notes something about “car czar” Steven Rattner: “Rattner is married to Maureen White, the former National Finance Chair for the Democratic Party.” The comment: “So one of the guys advising SecTreas on this thing is married to someone who used to be one of the people in charge of fundraising for the Democratic Party. This explains so much it’s scary.”  Well, it bears a close look.” Wouldn’t it be interesting if Rattner’s wife was able to look at the list of dealership owners and be able to identify donors to Obama and the Democrats? This does, indeed, deserve a close look.

Today’s article also interviewed Republican Florida Representative, Vern Buchanan, who learned from one of his House colleagues that his dealership in Venice Florida was among those being closed. “It’s an outrage. It’s not about me. I’m going to be fine,” Buchanan told a Florida television station, “You’re talking over 100,000 jobs. We’re supposed to be in the business of creating jobs, not killing jobs.”

The Examiner also expressed the dealership owners’ insistence that the criteria used by Chrysler and the White House’s auto task force to determine which dealers to close is not clear and that many that are currently being closed are actually profitable businesses, despite the current recession.

You can read the Washington Examiner’s article here: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Furor-grows-over-partisan-car-dealer-closings-46261447.html

Check back here frequently because I will post any updates as soon as they appear.

In the name of fairness, it should also be noted that these revelations could be a red herring and purely due to the tendency of small business owners (which car dealership owners are) to be traditionally Republicans. However, it certainly does appear that there are questions which need to be answered.

Capone would be proud of B. Hussein Obama's continuation of Chicago's strong-arm thug tactics perfected and utilized by Chicago gangster.

Yesterday, there was an article from Rick Moran at the American Thinker about evidence showing that politics played a role in deciding which Chrysler dealerships were closed. In comparing list of dealership owners with lists of campaign contributors, it’s been discovered that many of the owners who lost their dealerships had donated to multiple Republican candidates and/or the RNC. This has the potential to be a devastating scandal for the White House through showing that there was probably more than profit and sales equations in determining which owners were allowed to keep their businesses and which owners had their livelihoods snatched out from underneath them.

Today, Moran has uncovered more evidence from other sources that are investigating this claim. A story on Reliapundit explains that a lawyer for the closed dealers believes that the orders to close dealerships came, not from Chrysler executives, but from the White House. Attorney, Leonard Bellavia, of Bellavia Gentile & Associates, who represents some of the closed dealerships, explained that after deposing Chrysler President Jim Press yesterday received the impression that Press was not a supporter of the plan to close 25% of Chrysler’s dealerships. “It became clear to us that Chrysler does not see the wisdom of terminating 25 percent of its dealers,” Bellavia said, “It really wasn’t Chrysler’s decision. They are under enormous pressure from the President’s automotive task force.” Moran also points out that the closings were not ordered by the bankruptcy judge. Rather, the White House issued the order.

Moran also cites a piece by Jim Hoff who found information showing that a politically-connected group of Democrats who own six dealerships were not only spared from the closings. They also had their competitors shut down. Hoff referred to a research published by Joey Smith on www.chryslerdealershipshutdown.blogspot.com which explained that these dealerships are owned by RLJ-McLarty-Landers which has three main owners. Smith states, “The owners are Steve Landers (long-time car dealer, 4th-generation dealer), Thomas “Mack” McLarty (former Chief of Staff for President Clinton), and Robert Johnson (founder of Black Entertainment Television and co-owner of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats). Landers has given money to Republicans in the past, but McLarty campaigned for Obama in 2008, and Johnson has given countless amounts of money to Democrats over the years.”

Moran concludes by explaining that this situation isn’t the product of B. Hussein Obama’s attempt to institute socialism, this is blatant Chicago-style-thuggery. We’ve already the demonization of Chrysler’s secured bondholders in order to reward the UAW. This is just another example of the White House’s willingness to trample on American laws and values to reward his political allies.

Read Moran’s full article here:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/05/more_evidence_emerges_that_chr.html

I’ll be sure to post any more developments on this disturbing story.

Dealerships may have been closed for reasons other than failures to sell ill-conceived models such as the Caliber. Politics may have played a part.

Rick Moran at the American Thinker is following a story that politics might have played a part in selecting which Chrysler dealerships to close. Moran points to evidence uncovered by Doug Rose who compared the list of names of owners of closed dealerships with lists of political donations. Surprisingly, when looking at owners whose names appeared on donor lists more than once, “every single one had donated exclusively to GOP candidates.” Rose cautions the reliance on his conclusion because it is based on preliminary findings. However, his findings have caused plenty of reasons for him to continue pursuing the matter. So far he has uncovered dozens of names and, as Moran says, it’s perfectly rational to believe that there are hundreds more names that fit the above examples.

Rose also stated, “I have thus far found only a single Obama donor (and a minor one at that: $200 from Jeffrey Hunter of Waco, Texas) on the closing list.”

Since the Obama administration has taken unprecedented control of Chrysler’s business decisions, there is plenty of reason for concern that the dealers given the axe may have been chosen for reasons beyond the equations which Chrysler claimed to have used to guide their decisions. This would point to one of the most flagrant abuses of the American rule of law committed by B. Hussein Obama’s administration which claims to be the “most transparent administration in history.”

I’ll keep an eye out for any further findings from Moran or Rose and will definitely report on any developments here on the Donkey-Riding Commies Corral.

Here is a link to a list of donors posted by an unnamed author on Scribd. It shows the trend of GOP contributors almost exclusively having their dealerships closed.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/15760333/Chrysler-Report

Read Moran’s article here: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/05/did_chrysler_play_politics_wit.html