prophetben

I rarely read Slate before I started listening to the podcast. Now, Slate is one of the first places I go for news and commentary. I also especially look for articles from the all three of you because I feel like I know you.

The farm bill really irritates me with all the subsidies going to grains such as corn pushing down the price of corn syrup which is in everything and which could be said directly relates to our country's obesity epidemic. It only comes up, what, once every 5 years, then we are stuck with it. Also what's up with the built-in crop insurance that subsidizes farmers worth millions of dollars so they are guaranteed to get richer. Seems like a super broken system to me, yet no one is talking about it because Iowa get's to pick our next president.

David, I'm really amazed at how good the Political Gabfest is. You guys make it sound so easy, but I've listened to enough other podcasts to know you guys have put a lot of work into making it super special. How were the three of you picked as regular members of the gabfest. You all have great voices for "radio," I love that all three of you have very distinct voices. Was that intentional?

I'm a huge fan of the podcast and your Supreme Court reporting. While, I'm not a parent, the subject of bullying interests me. I saw the documentary Bully that came out in 2011 and it kind of blew me away that kids are so horrible to each-other these days. My question is what's your pitch to me to buy your book. From what I've heard your book has a "how-to" approach to dealing with bullying which seems like would appeal mostly to parents and educators. Did you write the book just for them, or also for childless non-educators who are generally interested in sociological trends?

I know the numbers from iTunes are really important, but do Stitcher listens help you too? How much money do you actually get from sponsors of the podcast, and how many listeners to a podcast would one need to have it be a viable full time job?