Very true cbc, we seem to have a oligarchy that cares more about their special pet projects and feeling good about themselves, than the will of the people. I know all about it, living a few blocks down from Cesar E Chavez blvd. Its just a real shame that Sam Adam's special bridge for bikes only got cancelled.

Actually the maximum speed aloud here has been 55mps for a long time. I feel so special to live in Portland these days as its getting so much attention. Its a bit strange being a conservative in Portland. Knowing that my views are totally out of line and possibly offensive to the general population. Voting even though nothing I have ever voted for has passed. Watching the city I love fall deeper and deeper into liberal nonsense. Sometimes I fear that this will resemble my life in America as the country slowly but steadily drifts toward the left.

It seems to me that if we live in a society that does not force its citizens to remain equal in wealth, that the more intelligent people will naturally become the wealthier portion of society, since they will figure out how to make money more efficiently. This also seems to be a good thing to me because as the super smart Bill Gates and the late Steve Jobs profited off their brains, all society benefited from their work. The question I have is how much of intelligence is based on genes and how much is from learning? I believe there are a few people born geniuses (not me), but a good education is also a path to intelligence and our nations failing public schools are part of the reason that poor families sometimes remain poor and less intelligent, while more wealthy families can afford to send their kids to private schools.

As far as practical jokes messing with someone's head this is probably my favorite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWa4FDdl6lc

Stupid kids? Yes, but only because we have stupid teachers. I remember having a communist history teacher sophomore year in high school. How did I know we has communist? Well apart from him spewing socialist propaganda every class, he had commie posters all over the classroom. The kids in my class seemed to pretty much accept everything he said, although at the end of the year when the teacher asked the class what they were going to do in light of his teaching most of them said move to Canada, rather than work to reform the US. That made me happy. As long as parents don't talk to their kids about proper government, many lefty teachers will be happy to take their place.

The show can be kind of hit and miss with me, but when they get one right I'm laughing really hard. As a Portland Native I can say that so many of the stereotypes made fun of are just dead on and the best part is like you say R.J., nothing is off limits.

If the American government was replaced by a theocracy that was: Killing its protesters, openly proclaiming that the end of the world was nigh, developing weapons of mass destruction and talking about wiping Canada off the map, then not only would I be ok with a democratic nation covertly working against America without declaring war, but I would probably be helping them. I that really not ok?

If you are a passionate entrepreneur like Gates and Zuckerberg then by all means drop out. There are some jobs however that you cannot do without college. I'm studying at my local community college in order to get into nursing school. I do think however that there are a lot of American in college right now that should be there. Degrees like Peace studies make me scratch my head. I think the country would be better off if more of us went into more apprenticeships and trades rather than higher learning that wastes peoples time and creates six figure debt.

Might I suggest for the new culture shock theme song the electric guitar version of Pachelbel's canon?

Loved the Podcast. Loved the optimism. I just wanted to suggest that if you are looking for some entertaining and brilliant pessimists for next week look no further than Mark Steyn. He just released a new book "After America" which by the title alone lets you know he's a bit of a pessimist, but also a real treat to listen to.

If a radical fundamentalist sect is to take over Egypt I would be glad to see it called the "Nazi" party. Then how would the left deny the radical views held by so many Muslims in Egypt and other middle eastern countries? It might just be a wake up call.