"With the world watching how the Obama administration is handling the Gulf oil crisis, we now find out that 16 barges were grounded by the Coast Guard. These barges were sucking up thousands of gallons of oil and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal says they are extremely effective, so why would the Coast Guard shut them down? Because the Guard wanted to confirm that there are life vests and fire extinguishers on board the vessels. Insane? You bet. Halt the cleanup over life jackets! This is why many Americans are furious over the oil debacle. Also, some conservatives are angry with Republican Congressman Joe Barton of Texas, who apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward for what Barton called the Obama administration's 'shakedown.' Talking Points believes President Obama should be applauded for getting BP to pony up $20 billion; in fact, that's the best thing the President has done in this whole mess. This weekend will mark two months that oil has been pouring into the Gulf of Mexico and there's no end in sight."

The Factor was joined by Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who came under fire for using the word "extortion" to describe the administration's treatment of BP. "The company is clearly responsible," Bachmann explained, "but the question is who will run the $20 billion fund, and that was my point. And here we have the President threatening criminal action against BP, so is BP going to take money from the shareholders to keep themselves out of jail? That's crossing lines we have to be careful about." The Factor denounced BP CEO Tony Hayward as a "weasel," and lauded the Obama administration for getting the company to put up the money: "I don't want this fund to be politicized, we want the money to get to the people who are suffering. You keep me posted if you see any evidence of shenanigans."

The enduring war in Afghanistan, which has been overshadowed by the oil spill, has not been going well for U.S. and NATO forces. The Factor asked FNC's Lt. Col. David Hunt and Lt. Col. Ralph Peters for their assessment. "There are hundreds of problems in Afghanistan," Peters said. "Number one, the Afghans don't want what we want them to want; second, the Karzai government is corrupt and widely despised; third, you can't win any conflict on defense, and every one of our 100,000 troops is playing defense." Hunt concurred with that gloomy assessment. "The corruption and incompetence of the Afghan government is so bad and you can't win this way. You can kill every bad guy on the battlefield, but as long as Karzai runs a corrupt government it works against everything we're trying to do." The Factor raised the ominous specter of Vietnam. "There was a corrupt government in South Vietnam and an army that wouldn't fight for the Saigon government. This looks to me like Vietnam redux."

Geraldo Rivera entered the No Spin Zone with an update on Joran Van Der Sloot, who will serve a long prison term in Peru for killing a young woman. "He's in a prison that is really a grim and violent place," Rivera reported. "He killed the daughter of a presidential candidate and I think there are many people in the prison who want to end the life of this miserable misfit. I do not advocate that, but I will not lament it if he is taken care of extra-judicially." Rivera also blasted Laurence Sunderland, whose 16-year-old daughter Abby unsuccessfully tried to sail around the world. "This guy is a scam artist," Rivera declared, "and a Svengali-type whose seven kids rarely socialized with other children or neighbors. He sent Abby out into the southern ocean with reckless disregard for her safety, and he did it to get a TV deal."

The Factor welcomed journalist Rita Cosby, whose book "Quiet Hero" documents her father's ordeal in a World War II German POW camp. "When I was growing up," Cosby revealed, "my father was very emotionally disconnected. I remember seeing these scars on his body and my mother saying, 'Your father went through difficult times and we don't talk about it.' So the door was closed. Later we found a rusted POW tag and other materials and finally he told me. We went back to Poland and he took me to the spot where he said, 'Rita, this is where I lost all emotion.' He saw 500 people killed when a German booby-trapped tank exploded." The Factor pointed out that Cosby "is donating 20% of the proceeds from the book to the USO's 'Operation Enduring Care.'"

During an appearance on Judge Andrew Napolitano's new show on Fox Business, Glenn Beck said he's philosophically closer to Ron Paul than Sarah Palin. The Factor invited Beck to expand and expound. "Sarah Palin is more reasonable than I am," Beck admitted. "We're both for limited government, but I am more and more libertarian every day. Barack Obama is fundamentally transforming America, and to reverse this we have to cut all the spending in a drastic way. I'm not sure Sarah Palin would be for closing the Department of Education, but I would be." Beck also revealed that he is not exactly a fan of the World Cup. "We're not trying to shove American football down the rest of the world's throat, so don't try to shove this crap down our throat. Nobody here wants to see it - it stinks on ice!" The Factor lambasted Beck for his aversion to soccer: "There's a big world out there, you chauvinist. What's wrong with you? You are a pinhead."

The Factor challenged FNC's Brian Kilmeade and Juliet Huddy to name the stupidest people of the week gone by. Huddy went with the young woman known as "Snooki," a cast member of MTV's "The Jersey Shore." "She's very trampy," Huddy said, "but she is now an idol to millions of teenage girls. She went to a restaurant in Bayonne, New Jersey and when people found out she was there it was a mob scene." Kilmeade nominated the parents who allowed their young daughter to dress up like Lady Gaga for an Internet video. "This little girl is dressed like a bondage stripper and this 3-year-old is going to run from that picture for the rest of her life. She doesn't look happy."

Friday's Patriot or Pinhead: North Carolinian Tim Peeler, who swears he came face-to-face with a 10-foot-tall man with "beautiful hair," a real life Bigfoot. Peeler claims he chased the massive Sasquatch off his property, but unfortunately forgot to grab his camera to document the beast's intrusion.