TAXPAYER-FUNDED ELECTIONEERING: Obama’s School Vacations: The president campaigns incessantly for the youth vote on the public dime. “There is no piece of legislation, educational initiative, or advocacy issue that justifies such extensive attention to high schools and colleges. Furthermore, a third of the visits from administration officials have been to schools in swing states, where many ‘official’ visits have turned into full-throated campaign stops.”

I don’t want to hear another word about my goddamn carbon footprint, either. But then, they seem to have pretty much shut up about that subject.

THE BARNEY FRANK PRIVATE JET STORY ISN’T FADING AWAY.

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank’s GOP challenger is calling on the congressman to release an ethics opinion that Frank says cleared his trip to the Virgin Islands aboard a $25 million private jet owned by a billionaire hedge fund manager.

“Frank should release the opinion from the Ethics Committee so we know exactly what Frank was claiming,” said Sean Bielat, the Newton Democrat’s Republican opponent. “If he did not disclose all the gifts or undervalued them, he could be in violation of House ethics laws.”

The Herald reported this week that Frank and his partner, Jim Ready, made the tropical getaway just before Christmas 2009 on a jet owned by financier S. Donald Sussman, fiance of U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine). In addition to flying from Maine to the Virgin Islands with Sussman and Pingree, Frank and Ready stayed in Sussman’s mansion on the island, an aide told the Herald.

Frank reported the jet ride as a gift in required House financial disclosures – claiming the cost of the flight was $1,500 – but reported no other expenses related to the vacation. Aviation experts say the cost of flying a private jet between Maine and the Virgin Islands would cost as much as $30,000 each way.

House Ethics rules aren’t exactly stringent — but I don’t want to hear one goddamned word about my freaking carbon footprint from Barney Frank, or his cronies.

Including his crony Nancy Pelosi: New documents uncovered by Judicial Watch show Pelosi took 85 trips on military aircraft.

GETTING HOLD OF Nancy Pelosi’s travel receipts. “According to the documents obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Speaker’s military travel cost the United States Air Force close to $2.2 million over a two-year period.” Like I say, I don’t want to hear one word about my carbon footprint.

IS PELOSI’S AIRPLANE SCANDAL a new version of the House Bank scandal? I don’t want to hear any more crap from her about my carbon footprint, that’s for sure . . . .

UPDATE: Any confirmation or denial of this from Pelosi’s office yet?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Here’s a post that suggests there’s less to this than meets the eye, though it’s not entirely conclusive. Is there, or is there not, unaccompanied travel?

MORE: Further developments at The Mudville Gazette, which says that unaccompanied flights are legal if the Speaker requests it in writing. Hmm. It’s possible that this is a Kinsleyan scandal (“the real scandal is what’s legal”) but either way, as I said, I don’t want to hear one more word from her about my carbon footprint.