I find this development a bit disturbing.

The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pressing the Bush administration for routine access to military aircraft for domestic flights, such as trips back to her San Francisco district, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

The sources, who include those in Congress and in the administration, said the Democrat is seeking regular military flights not only for herself and her staff, but also for relatives and for other members of the California delegation. A knowledgeable source called the request "carte blanche for an aircraft any time."

"They are pressing the point of her succession and that the [Department of Defense] needs to play ball with the speaker's needs," one source said. The request originally went to the Pentagon, which then asked the White House to weigh in.

I guess the Whore of Babylon-by-the-Bay thinks that she and her fellow Congresscritters shouldn’t have to mingle with the masses – and neither should their employees and relatives.

Now I’ll concede that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, there were grounds for giving the Speaker special protection in this regards, but I wonder if it should not have ended some time ago. However, I’d be willing to accept the request IF it were limited to the Speaker herself. But it isn’t – she wants to turn the US military into her own personal airline for her the favored few. And that, my friends, is intolerable.

Also, I love this little tidbit from a Pelosi aide.

The aide asserted that the administration was using a Washington Times reporter, in effect, to negotiate with the speaker's office by leaking information about Mrs. Pelosi's request.

I guess we see the Democrat double standard on leaks.

Leaks that embarrass high-ranking Democrats are bad leaks, even if they do no real harm to the nation. This is especially true if the recipient of the leak is from a non-approved media outlet like the Washington Times.

Leaks that endanger national security and undermine the war effort are good leaks, especially when they go to the al-Qaeda Ministry of Intelligence the New York Time, Washington Post, CNN, CBS, or other terrorist left-leaning media outlets.