Living in Las Vegas appeals more to men than women. Affluent adults are twice as likely as poorer folks to want to live in Boston. Young people like big cities such as New York and Los Angeles. More Americans would rather live in a place with more McDonald’s than one with more Starbucks. Those are some of the findings of a Pew Research Center survey out today on where Americans would most like to live. Whether they favor cities, suburbs or the countryside, almost half wish they lived somewhere else.

While that may the case for some, it is not they way I see it.  I’ve been in over half of the states and in 6 countries. None and I do mean NONE compare to the upstate of South Carolina.  There is a reason so many people are leaving other parts of the U.S. and moving here. 

The reason? Its better here.  The north sucks and the mid-west during the winter is bleak.  We win…hands down.  If you don’t believe just try and get a transplant to move back. You can’t do it with a gun to their head.

You know….I’m all for “self expression.” 

Every day I get paid, such as it is, to express myself on the radio.  During that time I frequently make a total and complete ass of myself.   

Having said that, I think I can recognize when “self expression” has tip-toed over the line. 

THIS might be the worst idea for a tattoo ever.

Now…..for lunch we have steak or sushi. 

Steak it is.

Ever wonder why they call it “dope”?

This is 24-year-old Jessica Parker from New Hampshire (yes, it’s a girl).

She was arrested early Thursday morning for holding people at knife point against their will in her apartment in Nashua. 
Apparently, Jess stole some stuff from a store, evaded police and then held people hanging out at her apartment hostage so they wouldn’t rat her out to the cops.

Cops came to the hostages’ rescue after one of them sent a text message to authorities alerting them of the situation.

Jessica Parker is why you shouldn’t do drugs, kids.

The inauguration of 44 is over and the tons of trash had barley begun to settle when I got my first chance to see “pretention” in living color.

As expected, President Obama and his team were flawless in their execution.  I was wrong in assuming his speech would be written by the team that had given him the message throughout the campaign.  It has been reported he wrote over 90% of the speech and it was a very very good speech.

The pretention I referenced above was delivered by the universal gasbag, Oprah Winfrey.  Wednesday’s edition of her show was predicated on an analysis of the inauguration and the impact on society.  Oprah and her guests were going to review the entire weekend and help us common folk understand how import and life changing the ceremony and surrounding events were.

To do this, Oprah spared no energy in reaching out to a stellar collection of experts on the American psyche, observers of American life, and educators who have dedicated their lives to understanding this country and interpreting the meaningful events and their inherent impact.   Who to get…who to get.

Here are the assembled intellectual  luminaries:

Forrest Whitaker – Actor from Forrest Gump, Good Moring Viet Nam, etc

Jon Bon Jovi – Musician and representative of the hair club for men.

Doris Kerns Goodwin – Author of biographies on Lincoln and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Gayle King – Human hemorrhoid and Oprah’s best “friend.”

Now friends, I admit I’m not the most astute observer of life, but when I look for a well formed opinion regarding historical references, I don’t need Gayle King, Jon Bon Jovi, Forrest Whitaker or Oprah to tell me whats what.  

If this keeps up we may have to reinstate the “Thin the Herd” process.

Early tomorrow afternoon the 44^th President of the United States will have taken the oath and a new era in the body politic will awaken.

President Elect Obama will then be known as President Obama, the first black man to serve as leader of the free world.  After the soaring speeches based on change he will then have to begin the arduous process of actually delivering.  

Delivering the nation from war, economic issues, environmental concerns, and of course having to deal with the re-constituted cast of former Clinton chronies.   

Thomas Jefferson said “Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from bad decisions.”   President Elect Obama’s resume of experience is paper thin.  Will that make him a bad president? Not al all. 
Does he have god given skills? You bet. 
But in addition to his own strengths, he has something the other team didn’t have.  A group of very skilled speech writers and handlers.   No one really believes he wrote those wonderful speeches, or came up with the symbols of his campaign by himself.  He had help.

The point is, he, like EVERY president before the 44^th, has not only had help..but also needed it. 

Regardless of his resume, he is now the leader of the entire country.  Not just the liberal or the black  or the poor portions.  Hopefully he will lead and govern from that position and that team of very smart people who helped get him there, will stay around for the heavy lifting.