Sunday Blues

++SCOTUS rejected the Prop 8 supporters' petition to delay California's same sex marriages. 

++Jim DeMint and Gary Bauer appeared to argue that same sex marriages hurt kids and to argue for transvaginal probes on the Sunday talk shows. Luckily Rachel Maddow was there to shut them down on both items.

++Chris Christie vetoed Medicaid extension in New Jersey indicating he is touching the base to make way for the primaries. 

++The House's anti-abortion law was scored by the CBO and found that it would cost the government $75 to $400 million over 10 years.

++House Republicans are complaining that sequestration will mean that some military bases will not have enough money for July 4th fireworks.

++Republican members of the Senate sent the NFL a letter protesting the idea that they might run ads on Obamacare, claiming the Administration was strong-arming them on a "divisive "issue even though it is law.

++The NYTimes reports that Republicans have come up with a new strategy to fight Hillary Clinton--they claim she is too old to be President while the GOP has younger candidates who just happen to have really old ideas. 

++Linda Greenhouse has a column in today's Times about the real John Roberts. It's not pretty.

++House Republican leadership has sent out hugely mixed signals on immigration reform. Newsmax is horrified that Paul Ryan has spent hours trying to persuade the Republican Caucus that passage of immigration reform is necessary. Eric Cantor said that the "Dream Kids" have to have a country. But the House is going ahead with its own version of reform that would not include a path to citizenship. Stay tuned.

++Ray LaHood,Obama's Transportation Secretary,and former Republican Illinois Congressman, told the Washington Post that he feared the Republican Party was bordering on irrelevancy with regard to their Do Nothing Attitude. He pointed to the immigration bill and the farm bill. The failure to pass the Farm Bill,lingering for two years, will hurt House members. Dairy farmers will go out of business if it isn't passed. It is one of those routine bills that needs to be passed every few years. Like debt ceilings, it almost always has.

++One wise guy noted that Rand Paul's claim same sex marriage would lead to bestiality is strange because in Kentucky bestiality is legal, while same sex marriage isn't.

++The Daily Beast had a piece that said that Rand Paul's problem in winning the Presidency is because he is short. As Randy Newman sang, "Short people got no reason to live." Maybe Rand Paul can run as an incarnation of James Madison, who was also very short.

++In the Beltway, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul,Paul Ryan are considered serious presidential contenders. Forget it,we had only two Senators in my lifetime who made it. Lightening isn't going to strike three times. I bet the governors will lead the race--Chris Christie,Rick Perry (Oh, yes), Mike Huckabee,John Kasich, Gary Pence, and Vishnu Jindal. The question national Republicans are asking is "who can take Ohio?" 

++Most observers like myself believed that gerrymandering gave the GOP the House until at least 2020. Carville and Greenberg say,"Hold on." They have a poll this week that the American people identify Congress with Republicans and that Democrats stand great chances of picking up swing seats in the House. What's interesting is that their findings even baffled them who thought the same way as the rest of us. By the way, Charlie Cook wants to remind everyone that Obama has held a 50% approval rating the last two weeks.

++In their quest for the youth vote, the GOP is letting Elizabeth Warren's bill to cap interests rates die so the loans will double starting tomorrow.

++The New Yorker cover with Bert and Ernie cuddling and watching the television with the five judges who supported same sex marriages has come under flak. Heritage Foundation went out of its way to denounce Bert and Ernie "coming out" and of course this is another reason NPR should be defunded. Brian Fischer claims the New Yorker cover encouraged child sex abuse. 

++Not all evangelical Christians are wackjobs,the New York Times has a nice piece on Mariano Rivera,who keeps chugging along. The article details how in his 19-year career everyone on the field has always known where his pitch will go, even the batter, but he keeps saving games with a single pitch. Go figure!

++But some Christians are wackos. The World Nut Daily has called for a Christian revolution because of same sex marriage and Obamacare and says that the Gary Bauer type Religious Right is just misleading "real Christians" and accepting there is a separation not church and state.

++Sarah Palin is thinking of leaving the Republican Party if it keeps forgetting its platform and joining Mark Levin in the Freedom Party.

++In the Republican quest for the youth vote, they might like to know over 50% of 18-30 say they have no religion. A much larger percentage say they are for same-sex marriage. And even greater percent think dope should be legalized. Rand Paul is talking about the last item but don't hold your breath.

++Nancy Pelosi aims to put the GOP to the test about its minority outreach by sponsoring the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Senator Leahy says he is working on a draft in the Senate.

++The EU is going ballistic over revelations in Der Spiegel that the NSA has been eavesdropping on German citizens and the EU parliament.