Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has been the focus of sharp criticism from the Republican National Committee and many Republican politicians regarding which plane she will use to travel between her home in California and her work in Washington DC. Dennis Hastert, the former Speaker, was the first to begin using private transportation in reaction to 9/11 and government security concerns. Given his proximity to Washington DC, the issue of a larger plane never arose.

The current issue surfaced when it appeared that Pelosi would be utilizing the much larger C40...a plane with a laundry list of luxury amenities, a large crew, and a hefty operating cost. Pelosi quickly responded that she hadn't requested the fancier plane but did feel justified in seeking a non-stop flight. She went on to state that she would have been fine with traveling commercially. Nonetheless, now that the elections are over, both the Democrats and the Republicans are looking for issues that might assist them with their 2008 objectives.

Thank goodness our politicians are working on the most important issues facing our country during this time of war and the ongoing threat of terrorism. I found the whole brouhaha overblown so I decided to offer the following visual perspective on the situation.

With the news that the Landmark Legal Foundation has "nominated" Rush Limbaugh for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, it seems appropriate to honor Rush here at Thought Theater...although it would seem he might be better suited for an award that recognizes his knowledge of "medicine".

Al Gore has been on a roll this year. He received an Oscar nomination for his movie An Inconvenient Truth and he has now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. It seemed like an opportunity to have some fun with his recent streak of success and notoriety...especially given his bad luck in the 2000 presidential election.

There are a number of politico's who would like to see Gore run for president again in 2008. We'll have to wait and see if he'll settle for that prize or if he has "loftier" goals.

Mary Cheney's pregnancy has been criticized by many evangelicals and those aligned with the religious right. Her public defense of this pregnancy was reported yesterday in the New York Times. While I fully support Mary and her partner and any other loving homosexual couples right to have and raise children, I couldn't resist having a little fun with the situation. When I read Mary Cheney's quotation contained in the graphic below, I instantly saw the comic value.