Prof. Chemerinsky says Justice Ginsburg “has in her power the ability to prevent a real shift in the balance of power on the court.”  —  “On the other hand, there's the personal.  How do you decide to leave the United States Supreme Court?”  —  Wow!  How much of this kind of moral pressure is being applied to the venerable Justice?

The Failure of Al Gore Part Three: Singing the Climate Blues  —  Some readers are wondering why I am spending so much time analyzing the political problems of a former vice president.  It is not out of any personal animus toward Mr. Gore.  Though I'm not expecting any invitations …

Strauss-Kahn Accuser's Call Alarmed Prosecutors  —  Twenty-eight hours after a housekeeper at the Sofitel New York said she was sexually assaulted by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, she spoke by phone to a boyfriend in an immigration jail in Arizona.  —  Investigators with the Manhattan district …

Obama: We can't afford to keep every tax break  —  President Obama used his weekly address to reiterate his demand for ending tax breaks for “millionaires and billionaires” in any budget deal to raise the nation's debt limit.  —  “It would be nice if we could keep every tax break, but we can't afford them,” Obama said.

It's Reagan's party no more  —  It should cause no shortage of frustration for congressional Republicans that President Obama is in line with the Reagan legacy — and they're actively rejecting it.  Politico's David Rogers had a fine piece of reporting touching on this point yesterday.

Obama's Declaration of Dependence  —  Dozens of countries have “Independence Days.”  November 25th, for example: Independence Day in Suriname.  In that instance as in most others, the designation signifies nothing more than transfer of de jure sovereignty and de facto operational control …

Here's The Legal Complaint WikiLeaks Is Threatening To File Against Visa, MasterCard  —  More than six months have passed since Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and others cut WikiLeaks' purse strings.  And if that blockade lasts six more days, the secret-spilling group plans to take its financial fight to the courtroom.

China's Stimulus  —  Word from Prime Minister Wen Jiabao : … Now obviously what Wen doesn't add to that is “and a lot of this new construction is pretty wasteful.”  But the reality is that it is.  People often say that China has a billion people.  But it doesn't.  It has over 1.3 billion people.

U.S. Expands Its Drone War Into Somalia  —  WASHINGTON — The clandestine American military campaign to combat Al Qaeda's franchise in Yemen is expanding to fight the Islamist militancy in Somalia, as new evidence indicates that insurgents in the two countries are forging closer ties …

Herman Cain's top Iowa staff resigns  —  A few days after two senior aides in New England, the other shoe drops on Herman Cain in Iowa: … Cain spokeswoman Ellen Carmichael told POLITICO a few days ago that the New Hampshire staff would be replaced in short order.

On Obama's visit, presidential seal blew off his limo on I-76; it later was recovered  —  There's nothing quite like that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you just know that you've lost something important.  —  It happens to people all the time - especially travelers.

DOJ: Court Should Not Dismiss Karen Golinski's Health Benefits Claim, Should Instead Find DOMA Unconstitutional  —  Today, the Department of Justice filed a brief in federal court employee Karen Golinski's federal court challenge, supporting her lawsuit seeking access to equal health benefits …