A crazy busy week for me totally aside from this Blogging thing. Friday can’t get here fast enough.

Here are some Thursday midday chunks of newsy goodness:

* Excellent National Journal piece by Jordain Carney and Stacy Kaper on long-term problems of VA health system and the broad responsibility for them across party lines and over time.

* House passes what private advocates are calling a watered-down NSA surveillance reform bill. 70 Democrats and 51 Republicans voted against it.

* Thai military seizes power, ending six months of protests by and negotiations between pro- and anti-government factions.

* Abortion provider restrictions spread to Louisiana as legislature passes law similar to those in Texas and Mississippi.

* Nearly $100 million sit idle, collecting interest, in old campaign funds. Former Sen. Evan Bayh’s obsolescent account tops the list at nearly $10 million.

And in non-political news:

* “Hard rock and heavy metal” singer from North Carolina latest American Idol winner.

As we break for lunch, here’s more Canned Heat, with their Woodstock performance of “On the Road Again.”

YouTube video

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Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.