Podcast 314

Global Warming Hot Air. The ‘Climate Change Community’ thanks Brian Williams for making up stories, stealing coverage from what could be the biggest scandal in scientific history; It appears the US Government has been cooking the books when it comes to temperature data. Actual temperatures posted from weather stations in Paraguay, Northern Canada and Siberia have been altered (gasp) to show higher readings…for years. A midwinter meltdown would ensue, if this story was actually taken up by the news machine, but they’re too busy with Dirty Laundry from Brian Williams right now. Meanwhile billions of dollars are being spent on wind and solar, and electric car subsidies. Not to mention the legislative roadblock ordered up by Obama Crony Warren Buffett on the Keystone pipeline, due to concerns the EPA has over its environmental ‘impact’. Carbon Credits anyone? Hot Air indeed. More bad news for the IRS and for taxpayers. Thousands of taxpayer numbers and social security numbers have been hacked, and have been used by hackers to file early returns. People are discovering the problem when they file their taxes and get the message, “Your return has already been processed”. The actual taxpayer then has to go through the process of ‘proving’ to the IRS that they have been the victim of identity theft. This, with an agency that is so poorly run they don’t answer the phone, or even respond to letters, and sometimes when they do, they get confused. Solution? Give them more money. Oh Hell No! The solution is a new tax system that does away with the byzantine tax code and the poster child for government inefficiency; The Internal Revenue Non Service. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has kicked up a firestorm after giving his commissioners huge raises. The head of the unelected Met Council now earns well over one hundred thousand dollars a year. Other commissioners will make as much as $155,000 a year. Dayton says these people need this money to take care of their families. Keep in mind the average Minnesotan earns somewhere around forty eight thousand dollars a year, with no pension. State employees can double dip pensions, and their pension is based on their income. Remember, taxpayers pay their salary and fund their pensions. Governor Dayton catches a break though. It was revealed this week that the average dock worker on the west coast earns $147,000 a year, plus benefits paid by the employer and an eighty thousand dollar a year pension. What’s in your wallet? Sponsored by Baklund R & D. 

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Podcast 313

Heroes. What are they, and why are we so hungry for them? In the wake of Brian Williams’ admission and subsequent ‘self imposed hiatus’ from the NBC Nightly News maybe its time to examine what it is about modern society that drives people to embellish and to make themselves heroes, and apparently allows us to accept them at face value. That is, until they are brought down. Are we wired to create and accept heroes? In Greek Mythology Heroes were actually gods. Some believe society is based on hero worship. Our modern media is a brain; a dream machine that mirrors the human consciousness, whether ‘it’ knows it does this, or not. As Brian Williams falls from his perch, new heroes are being created 24/7 by the ‘Borg’. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes; Entertainers who become demigods; Elvis and Michael Jackson, sports ‘heroes’. Movie stars like Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe who live forever. More dangerously, people who are supposed to tell us ‘the truth’, like Brian Williams and people we choose lead us, like the President. All are flawed, because they are human beings. Yet we think of them – in their glory – as untouchable; Heroes, demigods. Sometimes actual heroes, like Chris Kyle, are built up, and torn down. Other times it’s just this week’s hero, like Brian Williams. The mechanism that raises them up, continually tears them down, blurring the lines of reality and the dream. Are we asking for this? Is it surprising, considering the myth making that ‘makes’ the hero, that a fair degree of embellishment goes into the myth? Is it getting worse? After nearly 8 years of struggle, is it possible Americans have begun to conclude they are on their own and the struggle is internal? If that’s true, how do we slay our dragons? How might that change the hero creation machine? Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and by Depotstar. 

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Podcast 312

The IRS Needs More Money? Another update podcast from the newsroom at the Bob Davis Podcasts. The head of the IRS was back on the hill recently crying for more money, saying the agency uses computer programs from the dark ages and can’t do what it is supposed to do, collect taxes, because it has too many things to do. Does the IRS have too much to do, and too little money to do it? Or, is it another VA; another poster child for the failure of big government. Meanwhile, you have a less than one percent chance of being audited, unless you make over a million dollars, or cause red flags (in those archaic computer programs) to be activated. Perhaps it is time to talk about a new head of the agency. Or maybe even a new method of taxation that does away with this agency. Should we pursue tax reform under President Obama or make it a campaign issue in 2016. What proof is there that anyone with an R in front of their on the ballot is going to actually ‘reform’ taxation policy? Colorado’s legalization of Marijuana has caused so many millions of dollars in taxes to be collected that a state law might require it be returned, much to the chagrin of republicans and democrats in the legislature. Guess what? They want to pass a law so they can keep it all … for education. Two shootings that involved police officers in Hennepin county this week provoked some to question how people who were either convicted felons, or known to be unstable (and thus afoul of the law) managed to get guns. While the gun control movement in the US thinks the solution is to pass a law that says people like that can’t have guns…yet they always seem to get them. Fifty Shades of Grey sex toys have hit the shelves … at Target. The company says the Fifty Shades marketing package which contains blindfolds – among other things – will be placed in an adult area of the store, but one pic surfaced of the Fifty Shades stuff next to children’s tooth brushes. Surprisingly, China will have the most robots in use in their manufacturing sector by 2017. Who will make the Robots? Swiss, German and Japanese companies. Expect thousands to be laid off in China’s automotive and technology sectors. Science may have figured out how to reverse the effects of aging and how to end the common cold. Sponsored by My Complete Basement Systems and by Depotstar. 

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