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The allies in the U.S.-led military operation in Libya debated a new command structure Tuesday, with differences over the ultimate aims and scope of the campaign impeding an agreement, as forces loyal to dictator Moammar Gadhafi shelled the coastal city of Misurata. There were also growing questions about how much the Odyssey Dawn operation will cost and who will pay for it [Hint: We will, as usual], as many participating nations are dealing with budget constraints in the aftermath of the global economic downturn.

For the second week in a row, 58% of Likely U.S. Voters favor repeal of the national health care plan adopted into law by Congress in late March. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds 36% oppose repeal. These findings include 47% who Strongly Favor repeal and 28% who are Strongly Opposed. Rasmussen Reports has been tracking sentiments about repeal since the plan’s passage, and opposition to the legislation remains as strong since its adoption as it was beforehand. Support for repeal since March has ranged from a low of 54% to a high of 63% in mid-May. Opposition...

Early this morning a source of mine allowed me to take a sneak peek into the President's address to the nation from the Oval Office. The following are some lines from the prepared speech, and my commentary: Let me be clear: I can handle a crisis. O.K. Maybe he can handle a crisis. Hussein Obama doesn't look stressed... at all. And how could he look stressed when he hits the golf course as often as he can! In my opinion, that line refers to him being calmed in the center of his Katrina. I'm O.K. with sipping with a straw...

When news comes of Muslims engaging in violence, politicians, law enforcement, and the media invariably presume that the perpetrator suffers from some mental or emotional incapacity. (For a quick listing of examples, see my collection at “Sudden Jihad or ‘Inordinate Stress’ at Ft. Hood?”) Instead, they should begin with a presumption of jihadi intent. That is, the default expectation should be ideological passion, not insanity. Spreading Islam and applying Islamic law are the goals. Of course, some insane Muslims exist and they do engage in violence, but they constitute a microscopic percentage of the 15,247 Muslim terrorist incidents since 9/11,...

The signing of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty today in Prague was accompanied by the usual inflated rhetoric. President Obama hailed the treaty as a “milestone.” Russian president Dmitri Medvedev said it was a “win-win situation.” News accounts spoke of a “new chapter” in U.S.-Russian relations. After a long and exhausting negotiating process, it seemed that no one wanted to suggest that the treaty was, at best, meaningless and, at worst, an impediment to American strategic planning. But for anyone attuned to nuances, this implication was hard to miss. In the first place, the START ceiling of 700 deployed...

Obama tossed the ceremonial first pitch to kick off the Washington Nationals’ season opener on Monday afternoon. The crapy first pitch shows Obama can’t do anything right. He isn’t a good President (let’s see: he pushed for a government takeover of 1/6 of the American economy, pushed for a massive spending bill that was meant to create jobs but so far has saved or created 0, he apologized in the name of the greatest nation on Earth, he decided to end the EITs program that helped prevent many terrorist attacks and therefore saved lives, and the list continues but this...

*Waiting times: Wait times were so long in the emergency rooms that the British government came up with one more regulation: patients must be seen in less than four hours. Now, patients are held outside the hospital in a parked ambulance, for five hours or more, before being let into the emergency room. The government-mandated four hour clock doesn’t officially start until the patient actually come through the doors. But the waiting doesn’t end there… Once you went through the doors, you have to wait again until a doctor treats you. If you ever go to the UK, beware: even...

WASHINGTON - -- He was appointed with fanfare as the public watchdog over the government's multi-billion dollar bailout of the nation's financial system. But now Neil Barofsky is embroiled in a dispute with the Obama administration that delayed one recent inquiry and sparked questions about his ability to freely investigate. The disagreement stems from a claim by the Treasury Department that Barofsky is not entirely independent of the agency he is assigned to examine ¿ a claim that has prompted a stern letter from a Republican senator warning that agency officials are encroaching on the integrity of an office created...