Monthly Archives: July 2011

Grains Of Sand

Featured image We got a wide variety of entrants in the Power Line Prize contest. Some were rowdy and a bit crude, like the “Shovel Ready” video I posted earlier today. Others were sweet and child-oriented, like this one. There really is something for everyone. This one is called “Grains Of Sand;” if you like it, take it. »

Shovel Ready? Not Shovel Ready Enough!

Featured image We and others have been posting entries in the Power Line Prize competition that didn’t quite qualify for a cash prize. This one, a music video called “Shovel Ready,” wasn’t in the top ten, but is a rowdy and effective lampooning of the stimulus bill that cost close to a trillion dollars and accomplished little or nothing. “Shovel Ready” is by Steve Riggs: »

PL Prize Countdown: 7…6…5…

Featured image The top finishers in the Power Line Prize competition are being posted around the web. Number seven, called “Fiscal Child Abuse,” is a video submitted by the Independence Institute in Colorado. It features three young girls who want to start a lawsuit; it is funny, and is one of my favorites in the competition. Roger Simon of Pajamas Media has posted the video. Number six was Hugh Hewitt’s favorite entry »

I would remind you that extremism in defense of solvency is no vice

Featured image Was Obama’s debt ceiling speech last night the most squalid presidential speech ever?  I can think of some other very low moments, especially Franklin Roosevelt implying in 1944 that Republicans were the equivalent of Nazis.  In his state of the union speech in 1944—the same one in which FDR outlined the prototypical liberal view that government exists to give you things and call them “rights”—FDR set the tone for liberal »

List Mania, and Other Observations from the Irish Sea

Featured image Internet service out here off the coast of Scotland and steaming into the Irish Sea continues to be intermittent, slower than smoke signals, and extremely expensive, so posts will continue to be episodic. The Puffington Host and other high traffic websites employ one of the oldest marketing tricks in the book: lists.  The top five diet tips, five best burger joints, the ten most illuminating insights of Barack Obama, and »

The uses of euphemism

Featured image Obama’s speech last night was permeated with the deep dishonesty and poll-tested euphemisms that constitute his contribution to the debt ceiling debate. Here are a few of the euphemisms Obama has contributed: revenues (taxes), shared sacrifice (taxes), asking for something (taxes), millionaires and billionaires (taxes on individuals earning more than $200,000 a year or couples earning more than $250,000 a year), the balanced approach (taxes). The euphemisms are almost laughable. »

On the debt ceiling fight: four observations

Featured image A longtime reader offers the following observations: First, the president may become a marginal figure in the debt debate because if the House and Senate reach an agreement that raises the debt ceiling, he dare not veto it. Obama has some influence because Harry Reid presumably won’t agree to a proposal that hangs him completely out to dry. But this is the influence of a bit player, not a central »

Obama: After 2 1/2 Years, A Has-Been

Featured image I watched President Obama’s and John Boehner’s speeches tonight–it’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it. On the President’s side, it was more cowbell. Obama and his advisers apparently think that he can sway public opinion by going on television. I am not sure why: he persuaded no one on Obamacare, and how has he done on selling the stimulus? Or the moratorium on Gulf drilling? Or the »

The PL Prize Countdown: American Dream

Featured image We are counting down the top finishers in the Power Line Prize contest, and I will be linking to other sites where finishers 7, 6 and 5 will be posted. In the meantime, here is one of my favorite entries in the contest. It didn’t make the Top Ten, but I think it is one of the best songs we received. It is by Fabian Chavez. I don’t know anything »

The Hinderaker-Ward Experience: Food Fight!

Featured image On Friday night we recorded the latest edition of the Hinderaker-Ward Experience. It was fun as always. The podcast includes a terrific (I think) interview with Michelle Bernard on the proposed new federal guidelines that would disapprove of advertising “unhealthy” foods to children. Like Cheerios, oatmeal and yogurt. Michelle is an MSNBC contributor–our first ever, I’m sure–and a great guest. We also discussed the events of the day, dominated by »

Are you with me, David Wu?

Featured image The Oregonian reported late Friday night that the office of Rep. David Wu (D.-Ore.) received a call from a distraught young lady complaining of an “unwanted sexual encounter” with Wu. The young lady is the teen-age daughter of one of Wu’s friends and campaign contributors. Wu has a defense to the charge that he forced himself on the young lady. She says she was the victim of sexual assault; Wu »

The spike, CIA style

Featured image In an important Wall Street Journal column last week, retired CIA officer Fred Fleitz reported on the current National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iran’s nuclear program. According to Fleitz, who has read the estimate, the American intelligence community stands by its collective assessment, first made in 2007, that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and has not restarted it since: In February, the 17 agencies of the U.S. intelligence »

Everton comes to Washington

Featured image A longtime reader attended Saturday’s soccer match between Everton and DC United at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. He filed this report: All things considered, Everton turned in a good performance in defeating DC United 3-1. The home team, in the middle of tough stretch of MLS matches, fielded a side of mostly reserves. Everton, in the middle of its pre-season, fielded a mixture of its top players, its veteran reserves, and some »

The Power Line Prize Ballots Are In

Featured image The Power Line Prize jury met via conference call yesterday afternoon and selected the winners of the Power Line Prize contest. Readers who don’t remember may want to refresh themselves: at the beginning of the summer we offered to give away $100,000 to the Power Line reader who best dramatizes the national debt. Boy did you come through. It wasn’t easy, as we had far more excellent entries than there »

In Defense of Blond Norwegians

Featured image The relief–not to say glee–with which many liberals greeted the news that the Oslo mass murderer was a “tall, blond Norwegian” was palpable. Liberals pilloried those who ostensibly leaped to the conclusion, in the first minutes after the massacre began, that it was probably the work of Islamic jihadists. Scott noted earlier such attacks on Jennifer Rubin. As far as I know, liberals haven’t attacked me for the post I »

Voters Trust Republicans On Economy

Featured image The Democrats’ shameless efforts to demagogue the debt crisis don’t seem to be working. Today’s Rasmussen Reports finds that likely voters trust Republicans over Democrats on the economy by ten points, 45-35. Meanwhile, the Gallup Poll has Obama’s approval rating under water at 42-49, within one point of his worst rating ever. Rasmussen’s Approval Index currently stands at an abysmal -21, which I believe ties Obama’s worst showing ever. A »

Someone is putting words in Jen Rubin’s mouth

Featured image The Washington Post management doesn’t seem to get it. One James Fallows — he who made light of earthquakes in China and never offered a word of apology for his screwy defamation of conservatives in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — and a swarm of foul-mouthed and openly anti-Semitic tweeters have raised a ruckus over a Washington Post/Right Turn post in which Jennifer Rubin speculated that there might have »