Media Watch

Michele Bachmann, John Huntsman and Sarah Palin are all saying how they'd help businesses create new jobs by lowering or eliminating corporate taxes, which would shift more of the federal revenue burden on the individuals.  They all mention a fundamental restructuring of the tax code.  I agree. But how is shifting the responsibility for generating government revenue to the individuals good for the American people? I'm running for president and I have my own plan.  It comes in two easy steps. Individual income tax came about within the last century and it's resulted in a power and wealth shift toward big business and an explosive growth of government. The fact is, the earners in this country that have the biggest need and the most to gain from lowering the federal overhead, but are the ones with the least power to influence a change, which creates a fundamental (some say fatal) flaw in the system. Money flows in a circular fashion, from manufacturers to individuals

When a political party identifies itself as a champion against taxes, insisting on extending ten-year tax cuts that benefit rich folks indefinitely, then says it's OK to allow certain other tax cuts to expire (a payroll tax cut that would help low income earners), it becomes clear what the goal is. The 6.2% Social Security payroll tax on employees that was temporarily reduced to 4.6% by Democrats is ending on schedule, thanks to Republicans, who want that particular tax to expire. The tax cut only applies to the first $100,000 in earnings, meaning that a maximum of $2,000 will be gained by any earner.  That is to say, for millionaires it's not that significant of a cut to be concerned with.  Millionaires will forgive their Congress for such a petty loss. But the gains for the federal coffers could be $120B.  So even if it is a tough chunk for earners to swallow, Republicans really have to show fiscal responsibility at this point in time.  They're running for the White

I think what Warren Buffet is saying is that we-the-people have failed the nation in regulating the money flow into the hands of the power class, that it's time to start taxing capital gains and commerce in a meaningful way and stop penalizing the hard work of the earners in America.  It's time to shift the purse strings from the individuals to the revenue generators -- the power class -- in this country. So from all American earners, I say we are sincerely sorry for our weaknesses.  We thought we could hold their feet to the fire, to keep the power class honest, but through some misguided choices on our part, we have failed America. Please help us and our nation by taking the purse strings back. PS -- we're also returning the currency to you.  It's a little dinged up, so you'll have to fix that, too.  Please don't be too mad at us.

While most of the local media is focused on the Butter Cow at the Iowa State Fair, the national press is counting down the days before the year's largest republican fundraiser. You might think, judging by the media frenzy surrounding this early presidential contest, the GOP gathering at Hilton Coliseum is a critical badge to earn in order to become a US president; candidates who don't participate are hurting themselves. Not so fast, pundit breath. Only once in thirty years has the Iowa Straw Poll in Ames predicted a presidential election, when in August of 1999, George W. Bush walked away with seemingly all the honors: Iowa Straw Poll, Iowa caucuses, other US primaries and the general election itself. John McCain, who eventually won his party's nod in '08, earned only a tenth-place showing at the money gala. Needless to say, as a measuring stick, it has little meaning.  Only Bush 41 & 43 have eventually gone on to win the presidency after an Ames Straw Po

I'm not going to talk about the Buggles here, and how their video was the first ever to hit MTV.  So if you thought that's what this article was about, move along, slick! It surprises people when I explain how audio may be more important than the quality of their video.  But it's painfully obvious when we sit together and watch a barely discernable presentation. Watching a poorly lit video, or even one with harsh backlighting, is doable if the audio is outstanding. Try it some time.  Watch a few tutorial videos where the presenter obviously has some sort of headset where he or she is practically spitting into the mic.  You hear every bad breath sound and can practically smell what was for lunch.  Or one where the presenter is talking from across the room.  The viewer turns up the volume only to hear a toilet flushing in the background. The thing about video with horrible audio is that you can look away or become distracted from the visual cues, but the crappy noises

By some measures, the 2012 republican presidential line-up has been set, and but for the primaries have staked their claim on the White House. Despite the media's bombardment of polling data, it's traditionally too early to tell who will lead the pack during the actual election year and some of today's shining stars are likely to be flushed after Iowa's Straw Pole next month. This is my second season shooting (with a camcorder, mind you) interviews of right-leaning candidates at WHO Radio, arguably the most identifiable radio station in the largest population center of the first-in-the-nation state of Iowa. This is where the momentum begins for every President elected in modern times. So it matters who shows up for the party. And while my list is growing almost by the day, a few high profile nomination seekers are conspicuously absent. If history is the best predictor of the future, then establishing a good ground game here with a personable appearance on WHO&