Hapless Harry Rides Again

**While President Obama stole the show with his remarks on the Trayvon Martin case, it was Harry Reid who won the week. Threatening his nuclear option to stop the GOP's filibustering of President Obama's nominees, he actually wangled his way to the confirmation of the head of the Consumer Protection Agency,the Environmental Protection Agency,and the Labor Department. More fights are on the way with the Labor Relations Board.

**Harry Reid also was the inadvertent hero in Mark Leibovich's "This Town" where he appears as the only normal person in Washington. If you don't live here,read the book. If you do, it will make you nauseated about how corrupt the D.C. culture is.

**John Kerry in a bit of shuttle diplomacy has brokered an agreement for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and the creation of an independent Palestine. Since the news broke out, all sides are hedging their bets but their noises seem to be the normal ballet before the talks begin.

**Feisty Helen Thomas died at 92, spending nearly 40 years tormenting Presidents. Her most remembered barb was asking George W. Bush,"Mr. President, tell us why you really invaded Iraq?"

**John Boehner said the true measure of success for the House is how many bills they repealed and not how many passed. 0 to date. This Congress is the least productive since the mid-1940s,having sent only 15 bills for the President's signature. The country is safe, the House will be in recess all of August and only meet 9 says in September. Then we are supposed to face the dance on the debt ceiling, even though with the deficit declining by the most rapid pace in history the raising of the debt ceiling may be put off until next year.

**Liz Cheney is getting whomped in the first polls out of Wyoming. Senator Mike Enzi has a huge lead.

**But we may not know anymore about the state of elections with the great "Poblano",the king of 538blog,master baseball statistician,caller of the 2012 election, the one and only Nate "the Great" Silver leaving the New York Times to go to ESPN and ABC News. It's worse than when Steve Benen left Washington Monthly for the Rachel Maddow show. Ah, these careerists!

**This weekend was the first debate between the "Cooch" and "the Macker". The "Cooch" said gays were "soulless" and "destructive", while Terry McAulliffe said he favored same sex marriage and anti-discrimination laws protecting LBGT individuals and couples. The "Cooch" is still pushing the revival of the anti-sodomy laws in Virginia, which had been found unconstitutional. The new law would prohibit oral and anal sex among any couple of any sexual orientation as well as married couples. The good news is that it would outlaw bestiality. The "Cooch" is facing a big backlash by large corporate donors who hate his anti-abortion positions and social conservatism. They are switching sides and going with Best Friend of Bill Terry McAulliffe. The Macker only leads the Cooch by 4 points. 

**After surviving the threat of killer Tampons, the Texas Senate wants to double down and outlaw abortions after 6 weeks. Already with the 20 week law, several clinics have closed down. A federal judge has just stopped North Dakota's Fetal Heartbeat bill that limited abortion ton 6 weeks.

**During the last debate in Texas,the American College of Gynecologists finally after two years of restrictions across the nation came out blasting further diminution of reproductive rights because they claim politicians are interfering with the practice of medicine and actually endangering their patients' lives. What took them so long?

**The Weekly Standard wrote an article that sexual abuse in the military doesn't exist. Since it exists everywhere else, why doesn't it exist in the military?

**The Great City of Detroit has declared bankruptcy. But the judge may not let them do it because the creditors want public sector employees to lose their pensions. Rand Paul vows that President Obama will have to kill him before the administration bails out Detroit. Poor Paul Krugman had to put on his waiters again to walk through the sludge of the Right's arguments about why Detroit must go bankrupt. Well, if the United States isn't Greece, then at least we can make Detroit Greece. CEO Governor Snyder has other cities on his hit list including Pontiac. Stay tuned.

**President Obama will start the week with another series of talks about the economy.And they will not go anywhere because of Congress.