Second Thoughts for June 11, 2012

• First we had a solar eclipse, then Venus crossed the face of the sun, which won't be seen again for 105 years. With all this fun in the heavens, by the time the world ends on Dec. 21 it will seem sort of anti-climactic.
• Of course, this being an election year, politicians had to be careful to not get their special sun-gazing glasses mixed up with their rose-colored glasses.
• The next time Venus crosses between us and the sun will be 2117. So, in other words, this happens about as often as the Senate passes a budget.
• Former Utah state Rep. Carl Wimmer thought he had a political job lined up in Las Vegas last week. But it turns out not all emails from "rich" guys in Nigeria are legitimate.
• Nevada's GOP seems hopelessly divided between Ron Paul supporters and people willing to concede that the mother-ship probably isn't coming to save them from Mitt Romney in time for the convention.
• What's with all the Obama supporters who suddenly feel compelled to tell the truth? Bill Clinton went on CNBC recently and said Congress will likely have to extend all the Bush-era tax cuts. Then a little while later he went on CNN to say he was "very sorry" and that he had misunderstood. It would have been more believable if his thumbs weren't in casts.
• This comes after Newark's Democratic mayor, a former chair of the Democratic National Committee and Obama's former car czar each made comments about how the president's attacks on Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital were misleading and unfair. They, too, beat hasty retreats. We've all had that experience. You know, you accidentally say something like, "Nice day, isn't it?" when what you really meant to say was, "Mitt Romney is a jerk!"
• Miss Pennsylvania, Sheena Monnin, now claims the Miss USA pageant was rigged, mainly because she didn't win.
• Monnin was so certain the pageant was rigged that she decided to wait until she knew it wasn't rigged in her favor before dropping out.
• Pageant owner Donald Trump, ever the gentleman, told Good Morning America it was obvious why Monnin lost. "If you look at her ... you'd understand why she's not in the top 15." If looks equated to success, Trump may well have been fired a long time ago.
• Trump's next move? He's expected to cast doubt on whether Monnin was really born in Pennsylvania. Nevada's Republican Party will conduct the investigation.