Monthly Archives: July 2011

This day in baseball history

Featured image A long-time reader filed this dispatch from the 1961 baseball season: On July 31, 1961, at Fenway Park, baseball held the second of its two All Star games that year. After nine innings, the game was tied 1-1, and ended due to rain. The American League scored its run in the first inning on a home run by Rocky Colavito off of Bob Purkey. The Nationals tied it in the »

Real True Grit

Featured image Long-time readers may recall the strange controversy that erupted in mid-2006 about then-Lt. Tom Cotton. At that time Tom was in charge of a unit that patrolled in Baghdad. He wrote a letter to the New York Times that we published here, chastising the Times for disclosing the government’s highly classified SWIFT financial surveillance program. (Tom’s letter was of course deep-sixed by the Times.) Tom wrote: You may think you »

Is A Debt Ceiling Deal In the Works?

Featured image For once, I hope Harry Reid is right: he says he is not close to a deal with the Republicans to raise the debt ceiling. The hysteria currently in the air is ridiculous. There is no prospect of a default on Treasury obligations. The federal government takes in much more money than it needs to pay principal and interest as it falls due, so default is impossible unless Barack Obama »

More Songs About the Debt

Featured image So far, we have posted the two highest-rated songs that were entered in the Power Line Prize contest. One of them, Don’t You See?, finished second. But we got a lot of good songs. I wouldn’t have thought it possible to write so many enjoyable songs about the national debt, but when we have time after wrapping up the contest on Monday, we will put together a virtual album of »

“Forgive Us”

Featured image This 60-second video would make an excellent television commercial. It packs an emotional punch that is reminiscent of a famous ad in the 1964 presidential race, only this time in a good cause. Called “Forgive Us,” it was submitted to the Power Line Prize contest by Wayne Robertson. »

The Associated Press Covers Gunwalker

Featured image Associated Press reporting on the Gunwalker (“Fast and Furious”) scandal has been sporadic but fair. However, not many newspapers around the country have picked up the AP’s stories on Gunwalker, apparently because they would rather cover up than expose scandals that originate in the Obama administration. (That’s only my theory, but if anyone can think of a better one, feel free to propose it.) Today, the AP released its longest »

“Fiscally Responsible Punk Rock Music”

Featured image That’s a line from this punk rock tune called “You’re Gonna Pay,” by Wilson Getchell, which was an entry in the Power Line Prize contest. It was Glenn Reynolds’ favorite song entry, which is high praise. Here it is: »

Sizing Up the National Debt

Featured image This Power Point by Michael Dopp, which I converted into a video and uploaded to YouTube, was an entry in the Power Line Prize competition. It does a nice job of putting the magnitude if our national debt into perspective: »

Liberalism: A Luxury We Can’t Afford

Featured image It is hard to overstate how bad yesterday’s economic news was. First-quarter GDP growth was revised downward from the originally-estimated 1.9% to an almost-nonexistent 0.4%. Second-quarter GDP growth was estimated at 1.3%; if it is ultimately revised downward to the same extent as the first quarter estimate, it will go negative. A double-dip recession is now a real possibility. It is often said that liberals don’t understand how the economy »

Civility, Obama style

Featured image Andrew Ferguson has undertaken the difficult task of wading through the collected speeches of Obama administration NEH Chairman Jim Leach. Having done so myself, as Andy kindly observes, I can say with authority that he has suffered for his readers. The Weekly Standard has made Andy’s report the cover story of its new issue, out this morning. The appointment of Leach to the NEH represents the degradation of the arts »

After the Crash? Or Before the Deluge?

Featured image I’m anchored for the day in calm waters off the southern Irish coast near Waterford, so the smoke-signal Internet system is working a little bit.  The debt ceiling controversy is on people’s minds even over here, too.  At the William Butler Yeats exhibit in Dublin yesterday the desk agent commented to me (upon picking up my unmistakable Scottish accent?) that the U.S. seems to be trying to imitate Ireland’s sovereign »

The PL Prize: Two More Graphic Images

Featured image Readers have really enjoyed the paintings and editorial cartoons that were entered in the Power Line Prize competition and that we have posted on this site. Here are two more. The first is a collage done in the form of a full-sized movie poster, evoking horror movies of the past. This image is great, but it doesn’t fully do the poster justice, as it is a photo taken by me. »

The Hinderaker-Ward Experience: All Debt, All the Time

Featured image This afternoon Brian Ward and I recorded a new edition of the Hinderaker-Ward Experience that focused entirely on debt: the debt ceiling crisis, the budget impasse, and the Power Line Prize competition. We discussed the most recent events in Washington, played two of the top songs from the contest, and awarded our Loon of the Week and This Week In Gatekeeping prizes. It was a fun hour. You can listen »

Next Up for the Power Line Prize

Featured image We have now announced finishers 2 through 10 in the Power Line Prize competition, and have also posted a number of excellent entries that didn’t quite make the top ten. You might think that leaves just one to go: the winner of the $100,000 grand prize. Fair enough: our plan is to unveil the winner Monday morning. At this moment, the winner does not know that he/she/it has won. Over »

Over to You, Harry

Featured image Thankfully, the House passed Boehner 3 tonight, 218-210. Now it is the Senate’s turn. The House has passed a budget; cut, cap and balance; and now the Speaker’s plan to raise the debt ceiling while simultaneously making modest cuts in current spending. The Senate has passed nothing. The Democrats have been telling us for weeks what disasters will ensue if the debt ceiling isn’t increased. Fine: the House has voted »

About Obama’s secret plan

Featured image The best kept secret in Washington has apparently been President Obama’s secret debt-ceiling plan. It’s the story of the day, and it’s a funny kind of secret. It’s one that Obama’s go-fers are peddling. According to them, the plan has been kept secret because of an understanding among the parties. I guess we are to believe that events have overtaken that understanding, or something. In any event, we are to »

PL Prize Countdown, #2: Don’t You See?

Featured image We have been counting down the top finishers in the Power Line Prize competition, arriving now at number two, a song called “Don’t You See?” This song, written by Jason Nyberg and performed by his nine-year-old daughter, was actually my favorite of the more than 200 entries in the contest. The Nybergs get a $15,000 prize for this song–on which, as the extremely catchy song notes, they’ll be paying some »