Political Wire reports that Paul Sarbanes is getting out of the legislating business. It's too bad; Sarbanes is a very good Senator. He's a strong liberal (he voted against Iraq, both tax cuts, and Ashcroft), but he works harder behind the scenes than Barbara Boxer does in front of the cameras. (Don't get me wrong: I love Barb. But she's not exactly a workhorse.) He was a lawyer, a Rhodes Scholar, and an economic adviser to Kennedy. I'll be sad to see him go.

This week's TNR features dueling pieces on Social Security. The second, by Jon Chait, is a principled case for obstructionism, hitting all the points you blog-readers have now committed to memory. The first, however, is by Greg Mankiw, former Chair of Bush's Council of Economic Advisors, and it argues -- I'm not making this up -- that Social Security privatization is a good thing because he and his colleagues at Harvard have similar pension plans (also known as 401(k)s and they like them fine.

Excuse me?

John Judis's article on the AFL-CIO's need to replace Sweeney makes a lot of excellent points, none of which relate to replacing Sweeney. Read the piece for an all-too-rare counterpoint concerning SEIU's Andy Stern and his restructuring proposals, but don't go looking for the argument it claims to contain -- why the AFL-CIO needs to dump Sweeney.

Hello, fellow Klein enthusiasts! I'm Daniel A. Munz, and I run things down the road at Politics and War. Continuing his admirable experiment in editorial altruism, Ezra has given me run of the place for the weekend. I am, as they say, pleased as punch. I've admired Ezra's writing for a sight longer than he's known about mine. I'm looking forward to posing some questions that have been on my mind to you, his predictably insightful cabal of commenters; there's nothing more instructive than arguing in front of an audience.