REPUBLICAN VULTURES DIVIDING UP RICK RENZI'S BELONGINGS-- AND HE ISN'T EVEN IN PRISON YET!

Gee, a few weeks ago Arizona Rep. Rick Renzi was strolling around Baghdad, basking in the glow of senile old John McCain's celebrity, getting shopping tips from a mad queen from South Carolina and even looking relatively sane standing next to Mike Pence (R-IN). Now he's bargaining with the feds for how long he'll have to serve in prison. Even a lowlife like Minority Leader John Boehner-- best known for handing out semi-legal bribes from tobacco lobbyists on the floor of the House-- couldn't tolerate the degree of Renzi's corruption and forced him to resign all of his committee positions. Then he kicked him out of the GOP incumbent protection plan.

Yesterday, Howdy Doody (R-FL), Chairman of the House Republican Conference started handing out Renzi's committee positions to his loving colleagues. Michigan mama's boy Thaddeus McCotter grabbed a potentially lucrative seat on the Financial Services Committee and the single most extremist wingnut in the GOP caucus, Kevin McCarthy (tied with lunatic fringe maniac Tim Walberg) gobbled up Renzi's base of criminal operations on the Natural Resources Committee. Earlier Boehner had given Renzi's seat on the House Intelligence Committee to Elton Gallegly (R-CA).

Howdy Doody and Boehner made another, far more bizarre move today while they were shuffling seats on the deck of their own personal Titanic. The Hill reported at the end of the day that "The House Republican Steering Committee appointed Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) to fill an open Appropriations Committee seat that has been vacated by embattled Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.)." The Appropriations Committee, which has been used by a dozen GOP congressmen to get themselves into prison or serious trouble, doesn't exactly seem like a proper place for Calvert, especially considering that he's being investigated by the FBI for shoving earmarks through Congress to serve his own personal financial interests.