Podcast 365

Protecting Your Rights. One example of how the government protects your rights (which is what it is supposed to do) and one example of how government tramples your rights. Ok, maybe more than one example of government trampling your rights. In Garland, Texas, extra security and police at a ‘Draw Muhammed’ contest protected the rights of Americans to think and express what they feel so well, two knuckleheads who called themselves ‘terrorists’  and warriors’ are dead. The mother of one of the dead ‘terrorists’ said, “He wasn’t violent” and, “He wasn’t a terrorist”. Unfortunately mom, he was. Good riddance. God’s work. The officer who took on the two ‘terrorists’ with rifles, with his pistol has not been identified. The Islamic State has ‘claimed’ the bungled attempt at a mass shooting. Beware though, these kinds of attacks may become common. IS claims to have 71 ‘warriors’ ready to go in the US. All the more reason businesses in Minnesota should remove those stupid, so and so “bans guns in these premises” signs. They should say, “Carry Permit holders welcome”. In the case of Garland, Texas … the government protected our rights. The Trans Pacific Fast Track Trade authority republicans want to grant the President is another thing entirely. It is reported that only members of Congress can read the trade agreement, and at that a page or two at a time, in the basement of the Capitol and that it is being considered in secret. No republican or democrat should support anything congress is asked to pass without the American people being able to see and read what it is beforehand. Mitch McConnell should be ashamed. No one likes the IRS these days, but we can all stop beating this dead horse, or so the alternatively whiny and arrogant IRS Head John Koskinen says. Nothing to see here, people. New measures have been put in place to see to it that the agency will not be used as a political cudgel against groups, um, someone we will not name, doesn’t like. This is not an admission we did such things before, you understand. Or is it? Is it a coincidence they found a bunch more emails from Lois Lerner? Why weren’t these kinds of controls put in place decades ago? The answer is, the IRS has been used as a kind of political praetorian guard for the White House since God was a boy. It’s time for a simple, flat tax with no loopholes for individuals and corporations, so simple that John Koskinen and a coffee maker can collect taxes and that’s all they do. Finally, do you like Christmas? Apparently the federal government is very concerned that your crazy uncle, who puts Santa and the Reindeer up on the roof of the house in Saint Louis Park every December could hurt himself and we wouldn’t want that would we? Well, now Christmas decorations will be regulated by the Consumer Protection Agency, since there have been two hundred some deaths from such things since 1980. What about Roller Coasters and Power Drills, or for that matter, treadmills? Yet another example of how the government does not protect our rights. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul

Podcast 357

Wyoming Breakout. Back home from Road Trip II, 2015. The story of the ‘breakout from Wyoming’, going up and down a big mountain in the middle of the spring snow storm, and outrunning the weather heading east. The objective? Don’t stop until warmer weather and or sunshine, whichever occurs first. In this case, it happened to be Sidney, Nebraska. Then, a day’s drive in the pouring rain through the Cornhusker State, onto Iowa for the final leg home from Des Moines to the Twin Cities. The Mobile Podcast Command Unit 8 performed brilliantly under varying conditions. Email from a listener introduced to us through a knock on the window of Unit 8 at midnight, behind a Casino. Plus some thoughts about the 2016 political cycle in the superb setting of the famous Nepenthe, located in the mountains of Big Sur, California, as we wait for a table, through the magic of audio podcasts. One of the things that kept coming up throughout the trip is this question of whether anyone who isn’t a political operative, or junkie, is paying attention to the cattle call of republican candidates, and the farce of democrat presidential candidates in the current time frame. Farmers let their fields lay fallow, so the soil isn’t fatigued. Creatives know sometimes you need to take a break in order to avoid burn out, writer’s block, and to get to the good stuff, creatively speaking. The media knows nothing of this, and continues to sift, and report and sift, and grind until there’s nothing left. What’s important right now isn’t personalities, the outrage of the day, or some expose. People need time to take a break from all the politics so they can actually do some internal thinking about the things that matter most to them. What are the overarching themes? Has any party developed an overall narrative that motivates real people to work and vote for the candidates? Does the candidate him or herself even matter? We’re not hearing those themes. We’re hearing what this one said about that one and how this one is getting more contributions, and the other one looks good or bad. The most divisive institution in American politics is not Congress, it’s the media. Can people tune it out? Sitting in the beautiful sunshine of Big Sur, staring out at the Pacific makes one think it is possible. Sponsored by Baklund R&D. (Image from California Travels) 

Podcast 352

Pacific Coast. From LA, to El Capitan State Park. Back on the road and headed to Napa, California to do a podcast with an old friend. From there, who knows? Have to be back in Minneapolis and Saint Paul on April 25th for the big shindig at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater. While the current news events beckon, once the wheels get rolling, the immediacy of today’s momentary outrage starts to fade. People getting shot by cops? Iran doesn’t like the ‘deal’? Bah. Perhaps part of the reason for that is the perfection of the Pacific Coast heading out of Los Angeles. As California faces tough choices on development, water and budget issues, the biggest concern seems to be too many people will move to the Golden State. LA projects its population to continue growing through 2050 and some claim ‘there’s nowhere to put them’. Forget for a moment California has been losing businesses due to regulation and taxation. Then there is the fact that people who live in no tax, or low tax states decry the regulation and taxes in California, and its easy to see why. Businesses are moving and incorporating in those low or no tax states, especially Texas. California doesn’t seem to care and its easy to see why. From dreamy Los Angeles and the movie set that is Santa Barbara, all the way up the coast, why wouldn’t you want to move here? Oh yeah, taxes and rules, rules, rules! While there are rough places in California, and of course poverty, and a lot of people drive Hondas or beat up Impalas, there are those beach houses in Malibu, State Street in Santa Barbara, coastal villages and the sunsets. Nowhere is the space between those on the lower end of the economic scale and those on the highest more obvious. Live from the state park at El Caspitan beach, some thoughts on the trip so far, a little ‘Californio’ history and oh yeah, a sunset. Sponsored by Autonomous Cad