Podcast 316

Midweek Updates. Live from the newsroom at the Bob Davis Podcasts. Bruce Jenner allegedly kills someone and everyone is talking about Brian Williams. Go figure. NBC News still doesn’t know what to do with the news anchor who embellished stories about Iraq, and now apparently Katrina, and whether he saved puppies or not when he ‘was a fireman’. If Williams is forced to leave, NBC will have to write him a check for fifty million dollars. Williams just signed a five year contract with the network for ten million dollars a year, so he might NOT be singing ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’. Alas, the news media IS crying for Williams. The New York Times says Williams is a victim of ‘false memory’, which apparently a lot of us have. The Minneapolis Star Tribune suggests this is a time for forgiveness. Why are they apologizing for Williams when real reporters – not to mention American servicemen and women – are actually dying when they cover the news, or being beheaded, or something like that. Even more sad news than the fall of a ‘hero’ television presenter is the sad story of Whitney Houston’s daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown. The Brown family says they’ll remove Bobby from life support today, February 11th, the same day her mother passed. Bobby always said when Whitney died, she lost more than her mom, she lost her best friend. Yet more sad? IRS head John Koskinen says ILLEGAL aliens will be able to receive back earned income tax credit payments for as long as they have been in the US. Millions of illegals could receive millions of dollars in payouts, financed by American Taxpayers. It seems President Obama executive memoranda which amnestied these people neglected to exempt them from such payments, so Koskinen wants to be on the ‘safe side’. Enough to make us want to remove ourselves from life support. A town in Pennsylvania is placing signs at the edge of town that say, “This is NOT a Gun free Zone”, which is driving the gun control zealots into a frenzy. One of them says the signs will mean criminals will shoot first, and that Conoy Township ‘will be like the wild west’. The town says they’ll take that bet. Minnesota Governor Dayton’s struggle with the House over huge pay raises for his commissioners has descended into a battle over whether the Governor will testify. He says he’ll meet with legislators but won’t testify. He also offered to do what he can to increase the pay of legislators! Meanwhile it appears the Republican House has a little  ‘splainin’ to do as well, since GOP operative and House employee Ben Golnick was also given a huge raise and makes over six figures. Sigh. In Michigan legislators are considering a bill which would outlaw subsidies to businesses. It seems Michigan is on the hook for 6 billion dollars in subsidies to auto companies. And you wonder why Detroit is a wasteland. Great idea, by the way. And eggs are good for you! Sponsored 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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Podcast 301

American Sniper. Updates for Monday morning include a review of American Sniper. What’s all the fuss about? Director Clint Eastwood says he dismayed by the controversy — most of which is being generated by Hollywood — over his movie, which he says portrays one man’s experience in war. Is it possible American Sniper and Wild are two movies which actually portray an individual’s struggle with inner demons? Is Hollywood stumbling onto something going on out here in the rest of the country it is unaware of? While everyone is fighting over the question of whether American Sniper portrays the Iraq war ‘as it should be’ portrayed, maybe in spite of itself its actually about something completely different? Are the American people turning inward to fight their own demons, after so many years of outward focus. The Bob Davis Podcasts will keep track of current movies, characters and TV shows, to see if this pattern can be detected, and report back. Another thing no one is talking about is whether American Sniper touches something in Rural America,  that Urban America does not see, or understand. Particularly touching is the end credit sequence in American Sniper which shows the respect paid to Kyle – regardless of controversy – when he was laid to rest. As the news media is starting to cover this ‘divide’ between Rural and Urban America, of course we have to be careful of story lines … we are ALL Americans … but there are different values, and ‘Sniper’ seems to touch on the values of the rural part of our country rather than say, Manhattan. Get ready, the big snowstorm is hitting the east coast, so prepare yourselves for wall to wall coverage of Snowmageddon, the sequel. If you live in the Upper Midwest the weather has been pretty good the last ten days or so … anyone envious of the east for getting all this snow? And, an IRS story you won’t — er will — believe. Sponsored by Xgovernment Cars. 

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