At the NATO summit in Chicago, the much hoped-for deal between the United States and Pakistan to reopen NATO supply routes through Pakistan did not materialize. The experience of the closure and the negotiations has laid bare the changed relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan.

It has been reported that the Obama campaign this year, as in 2008, has disabled or chosen not to use AVS in screening contributions made by credit card. That doesn't sound very important. But it's evidence of a modus operandi that strikes me as thuggish.

During two closed sessions before the luncheon, committee members discussed the latest in financial regulation issues. At a luncheon briefing following these sessions, SFRC members gave several statements and answered questions.

Does a pension plan that takes more investment risk become better funded? Both the current accounting standards and the proposed revisions answer yes, while economic theory and real-world financial markets say no. Until and unless this central question is answered correctly, both the size of pension liabilities and the steps that could address them will be misunderstood.

For several weeks now it’s been clear that Putin won’t attend this month’s NATO summit in Chicago. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen recently spoke with Russia’s new/old president and explained that it’s “not possible and not practical” for Putin to participate because of his “busy domestic calendar.”

Following a defeat in Citizens United, the Obama administration is making an unprecedented assault on free speech through a proposed executive order requiring federal bidders to disclose their political giving during the previous two years.

As NATO summits go, this weekend's meeting of the alliance's members in Chicago may be memorable if only for being the least memorable one in recent history. Of course, quiet summits are not necessarily bad summits. 

If any evidence were ever needed that the president doesn't practice Chicago-style politics, it's with the Ground Zero mosque controversy.