• The Senate Republicans have a slew of publications that they flood my inbox with every so often.  Mostly they are a series of missives based upon their ridiculous ideology. But on occasion they put a somewhat fact-based publication on balance billing. They still sneak some of their views in there, but in a subtle way.  But it is a fairly good concise discussion of the court decisions on the issue of billing patients for the difference between cost and insurance payments to hospitals.

• Larry Lessig and http://Change-Congress.org are doing a donor/supporter strike. You can join the strike right here.  The current leader is none other than our very own Dianne Feinstein.

• More horserace gubernatorial coverage, this time from SacBee.  And Newsweek.  Meanwhile, Rasmussen is running head-to-head matchups two years out showing Meg Whitman very competitive.  I’m going to wait until, I don’t know, people even recognize what party she belongs to, before putting any stock in a poll.  She isn’t even riding off her own name recognition, she’s riding off of eBay’s.

• Jeff Denham gets all nitpicky on rules.

• Some takes on the PPIC Infrastructure Report: Wildermuth of the Chronicle and Dan Walters of the Bee. As Robert mentioned today, we must create new revenue streams. I don’t know where they all come from, but we must look beyond simple gas taxes and user fees.  If we fail on infrastructure, our long-term business climate becomes increasingly bleak.

• Richie Ross, consultant to such notables as Carole Migden and Heather Fargo, has a pretty good take on Prop 8, comparing it to Prop 187.  While a lot of people thought Prop 187 was just good politics at the time, the GOP “Southern Strategy” isn’t really paying long term dividends.  Or, actually it is, but just for Democrats. Marriage equality will one day be the law of the land, and those who stood in the way will be nothing greater than a modern George Wallace.