"America is an unlikely place - a country built on defiance of the odds; on a belief in the impossible. And I remind you of this because as you set out to live your own stories of success and achievement, it's now your turn to help keep it this way.

It's your turn to keep this daringly radical but unfailingly simple notion of America alive -that no matter where you're born or how much your parents have; no matter what you look like or what you believe in, you can still rise to become whatever you want; still go on to achieve great things; still pursue the happiness you hope for....

You will be tested. You won't always succeed. But know that you have it within your power to try -that generations who have come before you faced these same fears and uncertainties in their own time. And that through our collective labor, and through God's providence, and our willingness to shoulder each other's burdens, America will continue on its journey toward that distant horizon, and a better day."

- Barack Obama US Senator (D) of Illinois speak to the students at the University of Massachusetts at Boston class of 2006.

"A new national poll shows Mitt Romney is in a free fall with Newt Gingrich now leading for the GOP presidential nomination."

Seriously? Gingrich leads in the polls? Didn't the Republican's learn anything from 2008? 

Does anyone think that Gingrich has a chance to win against Obama? Gingrich couldn't finish in the top 3 in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Let's see how this all plays out, but I don't think that Obama has much to worry about if Gingrich is the nominee.

On February 5, 1981, Ronald Reagan said in his Address on the Economy:

"What's happened to that American dream of owning a home? Only 10 years ago a family could buy a home, and the monthly payment averaged little more than a quarter -- 27 cents out of each dollar earned. Today, it takes 42 cents out of every dollar of income. So, fewer than 1 out of 11 families can afford to buy their first new home.

Regulations adopted by government with the best of intentions have added $666 to the cost of an automobile. It is estimated that altogether regulations of every kind, on shopkeepers, farmers, and major industries, add $100 billion or more to the cost of the goods and services we buy. And then another 20 billion is spent by government handling the paperwork created by those regulations.

I'm sure you're getting the idea that the audit presented to me found government policies of the last few decades responsible for our economic troubles. We forgot or just overlooked the fact that government -- any government -- has a built-in tendency to grow. Now, we all had a hand in looking to government for benefits as if government had some source of revenue other than our earnings. Many if not most of the things we thought of or that government offered to us seemed attractive."

Who would have guess that today's election in Massachusetts would be huge:

Latest polls suggest State Senator Scott Brown could defeat state Attorney General Martha Coakley, which would be a huge upset in this traditionally liberal New England state, take away the Democrats' supermajority in congress and thereby reshape President Barack Obama's agenda after just one year in office.

I don't know who will win, but everyone that I have talked to seem to favor Scott Brown. The polls close at 8pm tonight and it will be interesting to see when they call the race.

This election is the first time that voters can change the outcome of a major piece of election in Congress.

Starting January 1, 2010, city and towns in Massachusetts can collect local taxes. This was a rule that allowed City and Towns to collect local sales tax which put in place from the Massachusetts State Legislator.

Framingham and Lexington now charge .75% for sales tax. This means that the consumer now pays 7% sales tax in Framingham and Lexington. Many merchants have posted signs to let consumers know of the change.

Currently there is no list of which city and towns have issued sales tax. This would be something that the Boston Globe or the Boston Herald should do.