So Pakistan and the Taliban come to a truce, for which they have recieved a fair amount of flack from the US, then Tuesday the US blows up 11 Pakistani troops during a "hot pusuit" of Taliban forces from Afghanistan across the border into Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — American air and artillery strikes killed 11 Pakistani paramilitary soldiers during a clash with insurgents on the Afghan border on Tuesday night, a development that raised concerns about the already strained American relationship with Pakistan.

Coincidence?

...well, yeah, probably. But spectactularly bad timing, nonetheless.

Obama moves DNC operations to Chicago

"As part of the efforts to fully integrate DNC operations with the Obama campaign here in Washington, in Chicago and in the states, political, field and constituency operations are moving to Chicago to work in the Obama headquarters. The goal is to consolidate these efforts into one operation and effectively drive one national strategy."

"The move reflects Obama's desire to maintain an unusually streamlined campaign, as well as his swift and complete takeover of a Democratic Party that isn't always known for its unity."

I have to say, I like Obama's take charge of the change attitude that will hopefully weed out some of crickety, crochety, old time blue dog DLC insiders, that act a lot more like Republicans than Democrats.

Ever read the blog samefacts.com ? Today they have a good article of the above title that discusses a NY Times article written by Michael Luo titled New PAC Seeks to Court Christians for Obama . It's actually a really good perspective on writers, their limitation of the grasp of religious doctrine and what they say any how. A very short example:

"But the practice of accepting and printing explanations that don't explain anything is especially characteristic of how mainstream reporters cover religion. And that explains why they, and the secular politicians who read their stuff, so consistently get religious questions (and not only Christian religious questions) so totally wrong."

It's a good read.

Breaking from CNN: "U.S. Supreme Court says detainees at Guantanamo Bay have constitutional right to challenge their detention in civilian courts."

...this decisison has lead to a little consternation among certain right wing types. Lots of references to Jackson and Marshall, impeachment of the court, constitutional crises...

from the Federal Government?

ABC News runs with Why Did a Lower-Ranked Organization Get Money While Higher-Ranked Groups Were Denied Funding? They note that the group Best Friends:

"-had not complied with federal regulations that it report how it was spending taxpayer money. When faced with a possible cut-off of their funding, the group did belatedly comply and provided the information.
-And then there was the matter of Best Friends having earlier backed out of a congressionally mandated study on abstinence programs even after it had agreed to participate."

Oh...did I mention that Best freinds had asked for $550K but was awarded $1.1 M? The link notes that:

-Out of 104 grants in their category, Best Friends ranked 53rd.
-In its original category, some fifty organizations were given higher scores than Best Friends by Justice Department reviewers. Forty of them, despite having higher rankings than Best Friends, would receive no money at all from the government.
-The administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), J. Robert Flores pushed the selection and is "best friends" with Best Friends leader.
-Best Friends is run by Elayne Bennett, wife of Bill Bennett, noted conservative voice and gambling addict.

Gee....go figure!

I just saw in the news that Tim Russert died today of a heart attack. Very sad. Only 58 years old. Provided an important public service. A very nice guy as far as I could tell through my TV. And someone I "shared" my Sunday mornings with for many, many years.

Awful most for his family, obviously, but awful for everyone. And a terrible reminder of how fragile life is.