The Gulf oil spill has illuminated chilling realities about our federal government's incapability to handle genuine crises. Without a doubt, local officials in the Gulf region have been quicker and more resourceful in their handling of the disaster and the federal government has been a huge impediment. Dick Morris explained how the federal bureaucracy has greatly harmed cleanup efforts:

As expected, Massachusetts' universal health care program (a.k.a. ObamaCare Lite) is running into problems. And the Boston Globe, desperate to find the magic formula to make it all work to justify their demands for it, is auditioning a new villain for the piece. And make no mistake -- they need a bad guy who they can blame for the current system's failures. They need to rally people's passions for "reform" and "change," and the easiest way is to pick a fiend for everyone to hate.

Kristiane Backer scores a moonbat hat trick: an environmentalist Muslim spawned by the European version of the cultural cesspool MTV:

Assuming she's lesbian and reveres Obama, Backer is as close to liberal perfection as a Caucasian can get.

On a tip from Stormfax.

Eleven American warships and one Israeli vessel reportedly have passed through the Suez Canal on their way to the eastern Mediterranean:

International agreements require Egypt to keep the Suez open even for warships, but the armada, led by the USS Truman with 5,000 sailors and marines, was the largest in years. Egypt closed the canal to fishing and other boats as the armada moved through the strategic passageway that connects the Red and Mediterranean Seas.

Here’s some advance information in prep for Rep. Roskam’s testimony in front of the House Ways & Means Committee on Medicare fraud: Roskam’s Straightforward Fix to Medicare Fraud Predictive modeling technology would save billions

WASHINGTON D.C. — Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) and the House Republican Economic Recovery Working Group today announced a new round of YouCut proposals for the public to vote on. So far, more than 860,000 votes have been cast.  As they’ve done every week since the project’s launch, House Republicans will bring the winning cut to the floor next week for a vote.

The definition of a tough crowd? When Obama sycophants like Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews and Ezra Klein all give the President’s speech the worst reviews since the latest Ben Affleck movie, there’s not a whole heckuva lot for the MWU to add. Perhaps Olbermann said it best (didn’t think you’d ever see that line, did you?

Among the New York Times's bogeymen these days are credit default swaps and derivatives in general. On Friday, the paper's editorialists tried to blame such instruments for the financial crisis in Greece. I am not an expert on derivatives, so I asked a friend who is an expert to evaluate the paper's arguments. Here is his response:

U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal has ordered U.S. troops to limit night operations and raids in Afghanistan. According to a report, the Pentagon is worried about rising civilian deaths in its assaults within the southern Taliban stronghold of Marjah. McChrystal issued the classified directive — which isn’t very classified – to garner the support of the Afghan people. Night raids of Afghan homes has created [...]

Among the many reasons I have refused to follow the Academy Awards in recent years is that the whole process has become a self aggrandizing bully pulpit for post modern liberal elites that share very little in common with those that pay millions to watch them. But I'm going to pay attention this year because there are three movies (The Hurt Locker, Blind Side, and Avatar) that I actually watched in a theatre that are in contention, the last of which was Avatar which I saw today with my seventh grade son.

Balancing stupidity with reality: "The White House took great offense this week when conservatives suggested President Obama might be trading a judicial appointment for a wavering Democrat's vote on his health care reform plan. "Absurd," a miffed administration official told Politico.com. Wherever could the American people get such an impression? Let us count the ways.

"On Wednesday, the very day Obama hosted 10 swing Democrats who had opposed the expansive health care takeover bill in November, the White House issued a press release trumpeting the nomination of Scott M. Matheson Jr.