What Major State is Losing Its Freedoms?; Dirtiest Cities; My Take on Gay Marriage; Michele Bachmann is Hot

"President Obama said regarding the economy, 'The sky is not falling.' The poll numbers are falling, the market is falling, support for the war in Libya is falling, Anthony Weiner's pants are falling, but the sky is fine."--Leno

With the exception of Leno's joke and the breaking news from the NY Times that Weiner will be resigning, this will be an almost Weiner Free post today.

• Historic Trivia: at the rate Pres. Obama plays golf, he'll have played over 100 rounds at the end of his first term in office. That's, at a minimum, over 400 hours.
• What state do you think is ranked last in the nation when it comes to economic and personal freedoms and fiscal policies?   NY is ranked dead last for all three. It's ranked 48 out of 50 for personal freedoms because of the strict smoking bans, high cigarette taxes, ban on trans fats, firm gun control laws and liberal use of eminent-domain laws thereby curtailing property rights. Which states follow NY? NJ, CA, Hawaii and Mass. in that order. Which states are most free? New Hampshire, S. Carolina, Indiana, Idaho and Missouri. (George Mason University).
• I'm from Philadelphia via New York City. I've often said there are two conspicuous things one notices when in Philadelphia. The first is fat people. Those cheese steaks take their toll.  And secondly---the dirt and litter that's all over the city. Well, CBS News out of Philadelphia reported this week that the City of Brotherly Love is the second dirtiest in America. New Orleans is considered the dirtiest. The cleanest? Salt Lake City. As I reported on my trip, I found much of the South clean. Savannah came in 6th and Orlando was ranked 19th. I would agree with those rankings.
• I'm one of those who is a tad nervous when it comes to re-defining marriage. Having said that, what's wrong with two gay people who want to commit to each other for the rest of their lives? Why should any government interfere? On the other hand, those who support gay marriage should not always call those who do not homophobes. Religious institutions and those who oppose gay marriage on religious grounds have the same right to oppose it as people who support it. In other words, choices and liberties--within reason and legal--should be respected.
• Destiny Mathis? Does the name ring a bell?  Probably not. Destiny was a huge Obama supporter. She worked hard to help him get elected. Unfortunately, she fell on some hard times like many other Americans. She decided to write the president telling him about her sad turn of events. He responded with a nice, short letter--in longhand--and told her to essentially hang in there and that he's rooting for her. Now the rest of the story: In order to help pay the bills, she's decided to sell the letter the president sent her. She hopes it brings about $11,000. Any bets she'll vote for Obama again?
• "Religion of Peace Update"--In Pakistan a growing number of Christian girls are being raped and forced to marry and convert to Islam (Continental News).
• Sidebar: Michele Bachmann is hot.
• No wonder so many politicians don't talk about jobs and the bad economy. The reason might be because: they've become more wealthy during this recession. According to The Hill, Pelosi's wealth grew by 62%. House Speaker's Boehner wealth grew from $1.8 mil to over $2 mil since 2009.
• Yet, as these knuckleheads in congress continue to benefit from even a bad economy, the first time unemployment claims for last week came in, and they are still bad--414,000. Think about that number for a moment. That's almost a 1/2 million people filing every week! That's right.  It's scary. Unemployment first time filers have exceeded 400,000 for almost 140 weeks. Do the math and you can see why we're in the shape we're in. And this administration did not target unemployment and jobs for almost 2 years. And for those George W. Bush bashers out there who still want to blame him for everything, the average unemployment under W was 5.2% with economic growth (GDP) for 52 straight months--an achievement that will probably never be duplicated again.
• And how much are we borrowing to pay the nation's bills every day?--$4 billion!
• I have another one of my questions for almost all politicians? How are you able to lead your life by lying to the nation almost everyday?