Podcast 339

Bored With The News? I rarely write these ‘liner notes’ in the first person, but this is one of those times. In the midst of a ‘soul killing’ April snow storm, we’re back by the fire in the Broadcast Bunker. Certainly not as soul killing as the constant snow on the east coast. The Upper Midwest has escaped some of the more distasteful elements of the winter of 2014-15, but now that it’s spring we thought were through it and that’s when April surprises. I was all ready to do news updates for this week, but it’s the same old crap. Talked to a lot of friends and family this weekend who are also just tired of the same goop pumping out of the TV and talk radio over and over. So, I decided to expand on the theme in podcast 338. Actually, this subject picked me, this time. Its seems as though people keep having the same conversations in various groups about the same things over and over, or the same complaints and conversations with each other, that don’t seem to go anywhere. If we are at the end of era, and approaching some catalyst event — and I am increasingly convinced we are — the things people are talking about, and concerned about, may change completely. It may happen before the big election in 2016, or not. How do other pivotal eras compare. My own fascination with the Interwar Period 1919 through 1939 figures prominently in this podcast. Did the people who lived during another era of tumultuous change and development know they were hurtling at top speed into World War 2? What kind of world are we building today? What are we unaware of, as we hurtle at top speed toward … something. I think it’s time to devote a little more time to this discussion. It seems to me the news, politicians and the things they say and do; it all seems well, stale. This only reinforces the idea that some catalyst will move us forward into a new time, with new concerns, and new things to think and talk about, new things to be passionate about. We don’t know what that event may be, but many people I have talked to recently feel very strongly we’re getting close to it. When uncertainty seems to be the order of the day, its hard to take action, or to hold on to old ideas and associations, since you don’t know what is around the next corner. Sure, its always that way, but this time feels different. Sponsored by Xgovernment Cars

Podcast 296

MYSOTU. What started as a courtesy to Congress by President Washington has morphed into an irritating media spectacle, bordering on – no wait, it has become – obscene. It is time for every American to use whatever media you can, to deliver your own State of The Union Message. Line some chairs up, invite friends over, have the postal worker down the block join you, so you can use him as an example during your speech, make sure everyone wears a suit, add klieg lights and cameras for effect. If you have a teleprompter or two laying around, throw them in as well. (Editor’s Note: I invited congress to join me, but they had other things to do, so my State of The Union Address is delivered from the Broadcast Bunker.) The media machine cannot be without a story, and beheadings are getting old, so the new story line is the President is pugnaciously at least, thumbing his nose at Congress. Somehow this is viewed as new behavior, though he has been doing it all along. The results? President Obama lost the House and then the Senate is a series of historically bad election cycles for The President’s party, yet analysts think somehow, now that Republicans are in charge in Congress, he’ll get different results. Moreover, the President’s restless flying around the country and making speeches, offering candy and popcorn to the masses is now considered something called Populism. If you are a media commentator and you say the word ‘Populist’ and another word like, ‘Electorate’ in the same sentence, people think you’re smart. Populism? What’s that. Nothing, really. Nothing that can be defined as a real political philosophy or ‘policy’ per se. Using the standard definitions, your dog could be a ‘Populist’, and probably a pretty good one. The ‘Populist’ President wants to raise taxes on the rich, give it back to the middle class, if the middle class sops perform tricks and jump through rings of fire to get tax ‘credits’. Thanks! Meanwhile, he wants to increase spending by something like 7 percent, to add to an already massive public debt, the largest ever accrued in one administration in history. But hey, we got a baseball cap and a beer can insulator, right? Republicans? They’re going to fix it all so it works, don’t you know that? What it comes down to is Statist, versus Non Statist, and there are an awful lot of Statists in Washington right now. The good news? The Bob Davis Podcasts SOTU is mercifully short. The post SOTU party awaits. Sponsored by X Government Cars

Podcast 199

News Cleanse Day Five. First Day of The Minnesota State Fair. Observations on the final day of the ‘News Cleanse’. Memories of the Minnesota State Fair. Broadcasting live, handing out bags, how the fair has changed over the years. Has an agricultural fair become a food fair, despite being the biggest attraction in the State of Minnesota the whole year? How Podcast 19 (The Lost State Fair Podcast) came about. What is it like to work out at the fair for ten hours a day, ten days straight? This is the last podcast of impressions from the News Cleanse. Back to the news for the next podcast. History is made slowly; we become aware of it only after many years of change. What kinds of changes are happening now, we’re unaware of? An age of disruption (as overused as that term is) is just beginning. All Americans are on this journey together, and all Americans will experience ‘history’ when the journey ends. The media ill serves us in this quest. What are the problems? How do we learn what works to solve those problems? How do we re-learn the citizenship process to help ourselves? Because no one is coming to help…and our ‘leaders’ aren’t creative enough, to solve them. Either informed, responsible citizens will decide the future, through the political process, or the mob will. Which do you prefer? Sponsored by X Government Cars.