Grudging respect is due the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives' innate ability to hit new lows in the evasion of responsible governing. The latest gimmick was a vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in criminal contempt for failure to release documents.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Nadir, and his minions ignored a White House offer of reams of records related to a federal gun-running sting with fatal consequences for a special agent. They did not want documents, they wanted a cheesy election-year excuse to distract attention from other more pressing business.

Reckless GOP games of chicken with the federal budget have the government on a path toward a nasty term of art, sequestration. In the absence of any real work and compromise on the budget, sequestration requires automatic cuts. In this case it would mean $55 billion axed from defense spending, and $55 billion whacked from non-defense budgets. Shameful.

The Republican welcome of JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon to the House Financial Services Committee should have had an R rating. Instead of C-SPAN, it should have been broadcast on a porn channel. These fawning GOP pillars of conservative rectitude could not have cared less about the $2 billion investment loss on Dimon's watch. How do they feel now about reports the loss might top $9 billion?Republicans are masters of taking care of their own: running up deficits, cutting taxes and starting lucrative military conflicts. They are comfortable with their federal pensions and taxpayer-funded health care. Contempt of Congress? A lot of it going around. OK, maybe Wall Street is held in lower esteem.