Fly the Friendly Skies ...

You had to see this one coming.

A few weeks ago, Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat cronies ripped the automaker CEOs a new one for having the audacity to hitch a private jet -- on the company dime -- from Detroit to D.C. to ask Congress for money. They berated the corporate execs with being out of touch with the rest of America.

Now Pelosi and some of those same cronies are galavanting around Italy -- on our dime -- spending about a quarter of a million dollars on a vacation we can't afford. At $10,000 an hour, the private government jet ride is costing $200,000. Then we're picking up the tab for hotel rooms (you can bet they're not staying at cheap tourist hostels), gourmet meals and chauffuered surface transportation.

They justify these expenses as a "fact-finding trip." To Italy? Let me guess, Pelosi tried to find the facts behind the pope's stance againt abortion during the private audience she and her husband had with the leader of their church. Her agenda so far has included trips to museums and sight-seeing escapades. Pelosi, the descendant of Italian immigrants, also was presented with the birth certificates of her great-grandparents. I'm sure it was an emotional moment for her, but it should have happened at her expense -- not mine.

The Italian trip is just one of several expensive and unnecessary jaunts our leaders are taking while their constituents are losing their homes, their jobs and their futures. Talk about being out of touch!