Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announces he will retire at the end of the Summer term. He turns 90 in 11 days, and he has been hinting that he would retire for some time now. This will create some interesting festivities in the Senate when the President names a successor. The GOP can filibuster, if they can keep all 41 members in line, although it will really depend on the person, as this is not a case of a conservative justice leaving the court, but a liberal one, presumably to be replaced by another liberal.

Another one bites the dust as Rep. Bart Stupak calls it quits. Stupak, of course, is the pro-life Michigan Democrat who was at the center of last minute negotiations over abortion language that eventually led to the removal of a major hurdle in the way of the Obama health reform bill. Of course, pro-life folks called it a sell out by Stupak, and pro-choice partisans called it a sell out by Obama and Pelosi. In any event, Stupak was a big target, and now he puts another seat in play for the GOP.

Jonah Goldberg correctly points out that if we become Europeanized, who will play the role of America?

More and more folks are becoming aware of the tax implications of the new health law, and they don't like it, not one bit.

Which is part of the reason why polls show more people unhappy with the new health law, and want it repealed. Will GOP politicians understand these polls and this attitude, and embrace it without fear? If they do, they will run on the issue of repeal.

The Democrats face a branding issue, with their party in the role of Tylenol after the cyanide scare. Unlike Tylenol, they won't simply be able to pull existing stock off the market, change the packaging, and run an ad campaign without contradiction from their competitors.

Elliot Abrams is critical and skeptical when it comes to the idea of the imposition of a U.S. peace plan on unwilling Israelis and Palestinians.

Will China allow its currency to float just a little? I suspect that, if they do, it will be in a minor way. Remember, always remember, the people who run China will always do what is in their interest, no matter who suffers or gets killed in the process. That, of course, includes Chinese as well as foreigners. Once upon a time we used words like tyrant and despot to describe such people. Just because the leaders of China seem like so many faceless bureaucrats does not make them any less tyrannical or despotic.

Could we be in for a strong economic recovery, even if we don't believe the evidence that one may be on the way? I hope for a strong recovery, but I fear there are still icebergs in the water ahead.

Paul Krugman says we should be careful not to learn the wrong lessons from the Greek financial crisis. Generally, I read Krugman to get a good idea on what we ought NOT to do.