Sen. John McCain and the Bush administration should be taken to task for failing to address one of the most critical failings of our health care system: our overstressed urban hospitals.

Instead of a silly argument over a "gas tax holiday," we desperately need a serious discussion about the nation's infrastructure. And there is a good legislative proposal that could be the basis for that discussion.

Sen. John McCain and the Bush administration should be taken to task for failing to address one of the most critical failings of our health care system: our overstressed urban hospitals.

Instead of a silly argument over a "gas tax holiday," we desperately need a serious discussion about the nation's infrastructure. And there is a good legislative proposal that could be the basis for that discussion.

The conservative war against the war on poverty continues as Arizona Sen. John McCain goes to the Ninth Ward in New Orleans. He calls his tour of communities where the failures of conservatism have had their most graphic impact the "It's Time for Action Tour." But the only real action on this tour is on behalf of the benefactors of a failed conservative ideology.

• Rick Perlstein uncovers the video that puts McCain's New Orleans speech in context. ALSO: Read and comment on Mother Jones' breakdown of McCain's record on Katrina.

• Bill Scher adds that maybe we don't want McCain taking any action.

It's now more clear than ever that the so-called economic stimulus package Congress passed earlier this year is inadequate. It is now time to demand that Congress get to work on finishing the job by passing a second economic stimulus package in the coming weeks—and do it on its own merits, without falling into the trap of linking its passage to more funding for the war in Iraq.

Perhaps the ultimate workplace expression of conservative "you're-on-your-own" ideology is FedEx Ground, where all of the workers who deliver packages are not FedEx employees but are independent contractors.