An Inconvenient Truth

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday defended her bid for a large U.S. Air Force jet to take her home and back to Washington nonstop -- and the White House backed her up.

Tony Snow defended Mrs. Pelosi against Republican criticism and labeled as "silly" press coverage of her request for a plane

But while George Bush plays nice(is he really this weak?), the leader of the "People's House" is racking up quite a bill that we are paying for. And by the way, is doing a pretty good job of contributing greenhouse gases(not just methane)in the atmosphere.

The speaker has decided that she needs a personal shuttle between Washington, D.C., and her home out on the Left Coast.

Historically, House speakers flew commercial. Then, after 9/11, Speaker Dennis Hastert cited security reasons in switching to a military-provided plane.

But that was a small jet: It sat 12 passengers, with a crew of five.

In contrast, Pelosi is said to want a top-of-the-line, Air Force passenger jet - the military version of the Boeing 757 - which features 42 business-class seats and a 16-member crew, plus a fully enclosed stateroom, entertainment center, private bed and state-of-the-art communications center.

Is anyone really surprised?

We didn't think Pelosi had any use for the military whatsoever.

As for the taxpayers, they stand to get clipped for $300,000 per trip.

For a lady who stands in the first ranks of the "party of the people," she sure eats pretty high on the hog.

Not to mention that such profligate use of jet fuel would make a mockery out of Pelosi's professed political priorities.

This is the same woman who declared last month: "I promise to do everything in my power to achieve energy independence . . . and to stop global warming."

Just two weeks ago, she added, "The science of global warming and its impact is overwhelming and unequivocal." Then she dedicated a select House committee actually to do something about global warming.

Which, if one accepts the current "science of global warming," she certainly is.

She's making it worse.

The conventional view is that emissions of carbon dioxide - a greenhouse gas - are a major factor in warming. And the jet Pelosi is demanding produces more than 10,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per hour - far more than the commuter plane Hastert used.

Gingrich has a point when he says, "It is useful for members, including the speaker, to go through airport security, just like everybody else."

But that's the point: Nancy Pelosi isn't like everybody else.

She's special.

More special than her commitment to ending global warming - which turns out to be just so much hot air.