What is it with these guys?

This is just bizarre. You've already read about Claude Allen, the right-winger who was in charge of abstinence education and not helping hurricane victims in the Bush administration, and how he's been charged with a scheme to defraud department stores of thousands of dollars. If the stories are true (and have you noticed that the R's only believe in the presumption of innocence when it's one of their own being charged) the scheme seems very complicated, especially in light of the relatively small amounts involved.

What you may not remember is that this is not the first time in memory that a Republican extremist has been caught in a crime involving larceny of tiny amounts. This isn't Halliburton, Cunningham, Abramoff, or Delay, just pennies, or single dollars, anyway. Back in 1986 Reagan's president of the Legal Services Corporation, appointed in an unsuccessful attempt to dismantle LSC, was caught in an even smaller shoplifting scheme. James Wentzel was arrested for shoplifting groceries in a Washington area supermarket, and what they found in his pockets was about five dollars worth of food, including some sliced ham and a can of succotash.

He didn't keep his job, either, although I don't recall whether he said it was to spend more time with his family.

Oh yes, another thing about Allen. Before becoming Bush's top advisor on domestic policy Bush nominated him to serve on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Too bad those mean Democrats didn't let him have his up or down vote, huh?