PELOSI OFF TO IRAN? At The Corner, Michael Ledeen writes:

I am told that Nancy Pelosi, undoubtedly encouraged by her great diplomatic breakthrough in Damascus, has applied for a visa to Iran. She'd better dress properly if she goes...people are being rounded up all over the country for insufficient modesty.

This runs contrary to what we heard out of The Horse's Mouth--who got it straight from Pelosi's office that she had no intention of going to Iran.

Will her trip be as welcome by striking teachers in Iran as by the Reform Movement in Syria?

Technorati Tag: Nancy Pelosi and Iran.

HAS PELOSI LOST THE PRESS? Reaction to Pelosi's trip has not stopped, and Gateway Pundit has some of the latest, including another editorial from the Washington Post--No Results in Damascus with the byline:

Having finished hosting U.S. politicians, Syria's dictator has returned to jailing dissidents and sponsoring terrorism.

Even the Reform Party in Syria is looking up to President Bush--and not Pelosi.
[Hat tip: Larwyn]

Technorati Tag: Nancy Pelosi.

PELOSI'S FATHER WAS A FRIEND OF ISRAEL: In sidebar to an article in Mishpacha Magazine (Issue 155 4/25/07 p13), Kalman Gordon writes:

There is much irony at play in the fact that the Speaker met and then shook the hand of Assad who, along with Iran, currently funds terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hizbullah, dedicated to Israel's destruction

One such irony is that Pelosi's father, former congressman Thomas d'Alessandro, was one of the few Democrats to pressure President Roosevelt t rescue Jews during the Holocaust and laster strongly supported the creation of the State of Israel. In contrast Assad's father was widely believed to have given sanctuary for decades to several Nazi war criminals, including Alois Brunner.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Thomas d'Alessandro and Nancy Pelosi.

THE HILL COMES TO MOHAMMED: Nancy Pelosi may not be planning to go to Iran, but Javad Zarif, Iran's envoy to the United Nations, met with some Democrats--and Republicans. Pelosi was not there, but Dianne Feinstein and Majority Leader Harry Reid were. Gateway Pundit has the details.

Technorati Tag: Iran and Harry Reid.

PELOSI NOT GOING TO IRAN: Greg Sargent asked and was told by Pelosi's spokesman, Brendan Daly:

The Speaker has no intention of going to Iran.

She has great respect for Mr. Lantos, who is the only Holocaust survivor in the Congress and a staunch supporter of Israel, and who would like to go to begin a dialogue there, as the bipartisan Iraq Study Group recommended.

Now we know.
(Not to be picky, but what does Lantos' being the only Holocaust survivor in the Congress have to do with this?)

Technorati Tag: Nancy Pelosi and Tom Lantos.

PELOSI'S NEXT STOP--IRAN? At a press conference on Tuesday:

"I find the president of Iran's remarks to be so repulsive that they are outside the circle of civilized human behavior,'' Pelosi said, referring to Ahmadinejad's past comments that Israel should be wiped off the face of the map and his questioning of the existence of the Holocaust.

"But a person of Mr. Lantos' stature and personal experience is saying that -- even as a Holocaust survivor and even recognizing the outrageous statements of the president of Iran -- it's important to have dialogue. I think that speaks volumes.''

Apparently there is one leader that Pelosi will refuse to meet:

"What the president invited us to do was come to his office so that we could accept, without any discussion, the bill that he wants," Pelosi said at an afternoon news conference in San Francisco to discuss her trip to the Middle East last week. "That's not worthy of the concerns of the American people. And I join with Senator Reid in rejecting an invitation of that kind."

After all, dialogue does have its limits.

Technorati Tag: Nancy Pelosi.

Nancy Pelosi and Mike Dukakis: Some thoughts from American Thinker.
[Hat tip: Larwyn]

Technorati Tag: Nancy Pelosi.

THE PROOF IS IN THE PELOSI: From World Net Daily:

Abu Abdullah, a leader of Hamas' military wing in the Gaza Strip, said the willingness by some lawmakers to talk with Syria "is proof of the importance of the resistance against the U.S."

She may not get Israel's messages straight, but Palestinian terrorists sure do get hers.
[Hat tip: Powerline]

Technorati Tag: Israel and Palestinians and Nancy Pelosi.

PELOSI PRAISES SAUDI PEACE PLAN: Unfortunately, if this time she says that Olmert told her he was in favor of it, he probably did.

Technorati Tag: Nancy Pelosi and Saudi Arabia.

TOM LANTOS IS A FRIEND OF ISRAEL, BUT...: Tom Lantos, who received the Friend of Israel Award in 2003, has made comments in the wake of Pelosi's Mideast tour such as "we have an alternative Democratic foreign policy. I view my job as beginning with restoring overseas credibility and respect for the United States" and "this is only the beginning of our constructive dialogue with Syria, and we hope to build on it."

The latter comment is troubling, not only in view of how Pelosi so badly botched the alleged message she claims to have been told to give to Assad on Israel's behalf, but also in her obvious lack of credentials for the job.

It is especially troubling to see Lantos enthusiastically advocating a policy espoused by James Baker with one of Israel's intractable enemies.

The Washington Post notes that Pelosi's performance in Syria

offered an excellent demonstration yesterday of why members of Congress should not attempt to supplant the secretary of state when traveling abroad.

While Pelosi doesn't know any better, it is disturbing that Tom Lantos doesn't either.

Update: Claudia Rosett writes in "Pelosi was nuts to visit with Assad" for those who may have forgotten:

The long litany of Syrian depredations includes the long and brutal occupation of Lebanon, Syrian involvement in the brazen car-bombing assassination two years ago of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al- Hariri, and likely Syrian involvement in the continuing series of murders of Lebanese reformers. Syria has been a highway for Hezbollah terrorists trucking weapons from Iran into Lebanon, leading to the war launched by Hezbollah last summer against Israel. Syria provides safety and support for the terrorists of Hamas. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Syria has become a conduit of terrorists inflicting mayhem and murder in Iraq. [Hat tip: Instapundit]

Technorati Tag: Israel and Syria and Nancy Pelosi and Tom Lantos.

WHAT'S SCARIER? RICE IN THE MIDEAST...OR PELOSI? I'm not sure, but Macsmind thinks Pelosi's decision to tour the Middle East is a mistake.

Gateway Pundit covers Pelosi's first stop: Jerusalem, accompanied with Keith Ellison.

[Hat tip: Larwyn]

Update: Republicans are also visiting--Syria, Pelosi's next stop.

Here's a question: is the reason Pelosi refused to allow consideration of a resolution condemning Iran's kidnapping of British soldiers because she didn't want to upset Syria and friends during her Mideast tour?

Technorati Tag: Israel and Nancy Pelosi and Keith Ellison.

SOROS AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Eli Lake writes about the reaction of the Democratic Party to George Soros' essay about AIPAC.

There seems to be a drift towards CAIR by major Democrat players like Conyers and Pelosi, countered by a perceived need felt by Democrats to publicly reiterate their support for Israel and rejection of the "Israel Lobby" accusation--wiggle room for the Democrats may be shrinking.

Technorati Tag: Soros and AIPAC and Democrats.

REPUBLICANS PUSH DEMOCRATS FOR SECOND CAIR DISINVITE. Earlier today, it seemed CAIR was going to be the welcome guest of the Democrats at the Capitol. Now Republicans are calling on Pelosi to cancel the invitation to "terrorist apologists" to hold a seminar there.

Technorati Tag: CAIR and Democrats.

House Ethics Committee: That's All Folks!

According to the House Ethics Committee, the Conyers probe is over--move on, nothing to see here.

The Republican-led House ethics committee -- in possibly its last action before Democrats take over Congress -- closed the three-year investigation of Rep. John Conyers Jr. after he agreed to stop using staffers for campaign work and personal errands.

...The case against Mr. Conyers was closed without punitive action or a letter of reproval from the Committee on Standards of Conduct, the ethics panel, which is comprised of five Democrats and five Republicans.

This slap on the wrist does not exactly inspire confidence. Then again--in Washington, the land of low expectations, some consider this an accomplishment:

"It's a slap on the wrist, but the fact that they did anything is a big deal for [the ethics committee]," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Conyers is not the only Democrat getting off easy--Rep. Jim McDermott was found to have broken ethics rules back in 1997 when he gave reporters taped phone calls of House leaders that had been illegally obtained, yet the committee did not take any action.

A Republican lawmaker familiar with both cases said Democrats on the committee blocked punitive action against their colleagues.

Promises of reform was a major theme sounded by the Democrats during the November election. But Rep. John Murtha is tainted by his involvement in the Abscam scandal of the early 1980s and Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, stepped down from the ethics committee last year when he became the target of a federal corruption probe--though he is slated to head the subcommittee that oversees the Justice Department budget.

But House Speaker Pelosi draws a distinction between the corruption of Republicans and the ethics problems of the Democrats.

"You're talking about two completely different things," Pelosi said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press. The Democratic ethics cases are "individual challenges that those people will have to deal with," she said, noting that she has called for the House ethics committee to investigate Jefferson. Republicans, she charged, have a system of "corruption, cronyism and incompetence" that goes beyond personal indiscretions.

How many corruption scandals make a system?

Technorati Tag: John Conyers and Democrats.

Conyers' "Lack of Clarity"

"You can attack one party for having a lack of ethics, but if any of your own members have problems, it dulls the message with the American people," said Leon Panetta, an ex-Democratic congressman from California and chief of staff under President Clinton. "They begin to put everybody in the same box. It clearly loses some of its impact as a clean campaign issue." USA Today, May 9, 2006

That same USA Today article notes that there were complaints by Conyers' own staff that he would assign workers to babysit, chauffeur and tutor his children and also had his aides work on his campaign on government time. Conyers' lawyer said that Conyers responded to the charges two years earlier and hasn't heard from the ethics committee since then.

But now it is being reported by The Hill that Conyers

has "accepted responsibility" for possibly violating House rules by requiring his official staff to perform campaign-related work, according to a statement quietly released by the House ethics committee late Friday evening.

...Conyers acknowledged a "lack of clarity" in communicating what was expected of his official staff and that he accepted responsibility for his actions.

Representatives Doc Hastings (R) and Howard Berman (D) of the House Ethics Committee were satisfied with stopping short of saying whether there had been any wrongdoing and instead were satisfied with Conyers' office implementing 6 steps to make sure proper standards are upheld. They stated, "We have concluded that this matter should be resolved through the issuance of this public statement."

According to The Detroit Free Press, the actual investigation, which started back in 2003, was originally looking into other allegations: that Conyers’ staff had worked on the campaign of JoAnn Watson for Detroit City Council and Carolyn Moseley Braun's presidential campaign--while getting paid from congressional coffers.

Question: Does the closing of the Ethics Committee investigation include this initial investigation as well, which was not an issue of staffers working for free, but rather for working on the campaigns of others--and getting paid from inappropriate sources?

[Update: In an updated version of the Detroit Free Press, the article makes clear that the earlier infractions were also covered--which just leaves the question of the new headline: "Conyers to monitor staff". I mean, if so, who is going to monitor Conyers, who personally assigned the staff to do what they did?]

According to a statement released by Conyers' office, “he agrees that he could have been more explicit with staff and agrees to do so in the future.”

On the other hand Deanna Maher, Conyers’ chief of staff before she retired in May 2005 and one of the 3 Conyers staffers who filed the complaint with the Ethics Committee, doesn't think Conyers' problem was lack of clarity:

She said she’s surprised that Conyers admitted he might have been wrong during the investigation, calling him a demanding boss who was very clear in his instructions to staff.

The Hill suggests that the findings of the Ethics Committee could cast a shadow on the first week of the incoming-Democratic majority and their plains to change the House ethics rules, as well as raise questions about Conyers’ standing to chair the Judiciary Committee. Maybe so, but The Hill also reports that Conyers will not have worry about any political fallout:

A spokesman for incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Conyers will remain chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Like Panetta said:

You can attack one party for having a lack of ethics, but if any of your own members have problems, it dulls the message with the American people

Check out Doug Ross and his "illustration" on why Conyers' lapse is not the only reason Pelosi is getting swamped with ethics problems.

Update:

From Tapscott's Copy Desk:

Federal law makes it a crime for a Member of Congress to use official staff members to perform campaign or personal duties. Many official staff members participate in their bosses' re-election campaigns every two years but they go off the official staff payroll when doing so.

Update II:

Another issue, recounted by Michelle Malkin

As the Washington Times recounted, Maher also alleged that the congressman allowed a former top aide convicted of fraud to obtain a fake passport through the office, and then fled to Ghana.

The aide was eventually recaptured and extradited to the United States. She also alleges that Mr. Conyers used his staff to work on the campaigns of friends and relatives, including his wife's, without taking leave. In 1998, she says, Mr. Conyers ordered her to live in his Detroit home for six weeks taking care of his children while his wife attended law classes. In a Dec. 22, 2004, letter obtained by the Hill, Miss Maher said Conyers staffer Melody Light "conducts her law practice (charging legal fees) out of the congressional office... She has in effect hung out her shingle on [Conyers'] office door." Says Miss Maher in a Jan. 13 letter to the House ethics panel: "I could not tolerate any longer being involved with continual unethical, if not criminal, practices which were accepted as 'business as usual'. " She quit in May.

More here.

Here's Pelosi's defense of Democrat's corruption back in May:

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California sought to distinguish her party's foibles from the scandals that brought down Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., for bribery and three former Republican congressional aides who had ties to ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Abramoff, a Republican, pleaded guilty in January to corruption charges.

"You're talking about two completely different things," Pelosi said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press. The Democratic ethics cases are "individual challenges that those people will have to deal with," she said, noting that she has called for the House ethics committee to investigate Jefferson. Republicans, she charged, have a system of "corruption, cronyism and incompetence" that goes beyond personal indiscretions.

Introducing the Democratic Congress of 2007: Individually Challenged!

See also Talking Turkey About Conyers and Congressman Conyers and Islam

Technorati Tag: John Conyers.

The Flying Imams: Hidden Agenda

Katherine Kersten of the Star Tribune wrote an article earlier this week, Suspicion about imams grows as terror links pile up. Now in her follow-up article she writes The real purpose behind the imam publicity blitz. She quotes from Madhi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation--the American arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Chicago Tribune describes as "the world's most influential Islamic fundamentalist group."

Bray's initial statement about the incident had an all-American, see-you-in-court ring. He demanded "large financial compensation for the imams," adding, "We want US Airways and any other airline displaying this type of behavior against Muslims to be hit where it hurts, the pocketbook."

The report echoed statements made by the imams themselves. Omar Shahin, their spokesman, has portrayed the incident in a way that's consistent with a lawsuit and a public relations offensive. He's called for a Jesse Jackson-style boycott of US Airways, and applied classic civil-rights rhetoric to the incident: "This is prejudice; this is obvious discrimination," the Star Tribune quoted him as saying. "I cannot change the color of my skin," he told Newsweek.

But the report on the Iranian website, which has appeared on a variety of Muslim websites worldwide, had a larger primary focus. After the imams incident, it quoted Bray as saying Muslims want "new, broad-sweeping legislation that will extract even larger financial and civil penalties for any airline that participates in racial and religious profiling."

Support for such legislation is expected from Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, though he has not yet come out with a statement.

As noted in Congressman Conyers and Islam, Rep. John Conyers of Michigan has come out with an End Racial Profiling Act, which--though it claims to be aimed at helping all minorities--makes a special point of 'protecting' Muslims--in spite of the fact that

• Many incidents of anti-Muslim reported by CAIR have been demonstrated to be bogus
• For 2005 the FBI report on bias attacks indicates that 68.5 were anti-Jewish while only 11.1 were anti-Islamic
• From 2004 to 2004 the FBI reports show that incidents of anti-Muslim bias have gone down.

Another ally for such legislation is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called herself a "proud" cosponsor of Conyer's End Racial Profiling Act in 2004.

Kersten describes what limitations the Conyer's bill would impose, and then assesses the effect:

"A law that would compel security professionals to focus on keeping their statistics within certain norms rather than on their mission keeping airline travel safe would have a devastating effect on our ability to ensure airline safety," said Daniel Horan of the Los Angeles Police Department in an interview. He worked at the Los Angeles airport on profiling-related issues for 6 years.

In the conclusion to her article, Kersten looks at the confluence of events that have re-energized Conyer's bill:

The End of Racial Profiling Act has languished until now. What did it need to reinvigorate it? New congressional leadership, and that's coming in January. But it needed something else in this media age: a high-profile incident to jump-start it.

What better than the media circus at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Nov. 20?

Will the Democratic leadership participate in this?

Instapundit suggests not:

I suspect that the Democrats won't be willing to hop on this bandwagon, as it would make them look weak on terrorism. Once again, though, the absence of major attacks since 9/11 is causing a rise in complacency that some people see as an opportunity.

He may be right. But then again, that has not stopped Democrats from recommending withdrawal from Iraq. In this instance, there is a criticism of Bush wrapped within the protection of individual rights. What is to stop the Democrats as a group to go for this?

Update: Soccer Dad points out the Memeorandum is tracking this story

Technorati Tag: Imams and Conyers and CAIR and Democrats.