I often argue against the privatization of health care. The general theme behind those criticisms is that if health care becomes a wholly corporate matter rather than a reflection of societal responsibility, the pursuit of health care provision in this country will focus on profits even more than it already does. That state governments are finding private Medicare insurance to be problematic, insufficient, and of little or no use to their citizens is a prime indicator that there might be something to my argument after all.

I forgot to mention - did you see this on Hardball, when John McCain implied we went to war in the Middle East over oil?

The New York Times and McClatchy cannot seem to agree on whether Iran and Hezbollah are arming and training Iraqi insurgents. Hmm. This bears watching.

Oil is hanging out around $120 per barrel today.

Fareed Zakaria discusses his new book "The Post-American World" in the context of whether the world is as dangerous as we think it is. It is worth considering.

MSNBC's National Affairs desk looks at how, in House races, things are tough all over for the GOP.

If you work at the Environmental Protection Agency, you would probably think that your job includes being an Agent for Protecting the Environment. But what happens if you, say, do your job, and go after Dow Chemical to get them to clean up a dioxin contamination? The Bush administration forces you out. ABC's Political Radar and the Chicago Tribune have the story.

Veracifier has a story today about volunteer video journalists getting thrown out of Republican Party events in Minnesota. Some interesting video here.

I knew Cillizza couldn't stay on vacation for a whole week. Here he presents an entertaining (and at times, cringe-inducing) list of the Top Ten Gaffes thus far in the 2008 presidential campaign.

In a one-liner over at Time, they report that early voting turnout in Indiana is double what it was last time, to the tune of 10,000 voters a day.