Gallup: Republicans Rate Themselves With Better Mental Health

We're just going to publish a couple of these graphs from a recent Gallup Poll and let them speak for themselves:


































































No real surprises here if one carefully thinks through the ramifications.

U.N. Rates "Best", "Worst" Countries In Which To Live

The U.N.'s "Human Development Report" 2007/2008 rated Iceland the most desirable place to live in the world. Countries were rated in terms of their "human development index". After Iceland, the next nine "best places to live" are: Norway, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, the Netherlands, and France. The United States (not pictured) came in 12th, a drop from eighth place in 2006. The AIDS-devastated African nations of Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone came in last. The full report can be found here.

No word yet on why the authors insist upon living in New York.

Nebraska: 40% Of Corn Crop Goes To Ethanol

Apparently, Nebraska is sending a lot of food to be burned.

Nebraska is the third ranked state with regard to corn production in the U.S, and second in the production of ethanol.

With three new plants added in November, annual corn demand for ethanol production in Nebraska passed the 500-million-bushel mark for the first time, using 37% of Nebraska's corn.

Here's Your Share!

Thanks to a loyal reader, we have the Woodford County (2004) Contribution to Property Tax Extensions by type of property. They reflect an interesting disconnect between revenue generators' and homeowners' share of the tax burden:

Property Type % of Total
Residential 68 %
Commercial 20 %
Industrial 11 %
Farm 1.6 %
Railroads .1 %

Eureka Public Library Online Presence

The time has come for us to clear up a few things about the Eureka Public Library, Eureka, Illinois, and the so-called "complaint" registered with the Illinois Attorney General.

A few months ago, Citizens for Transparency in Government, the publisher of WoodfordTaxFacts.org, wrote a note to Lisa Madigan via the Attorney General's online messaging feature, simply asking for clarification on last year's amendments to the "Illinois Open Meetings Act" laws. The changes require that publicly funded entities post minutes and agendas of meetings on their websites if the sites are maintained by employees of the taxing authority.

Next thing we know, we receive a copy of a letter to the library from the Attorney General telling them they have ten days to respond to a "complaint" they received on the library's compliance with the open meetings act provisions.

OK. Fine. There was no "complaint", but we thought it would be interesting to see how the library responded.

We received a copy of the library's letter back to the A.G. Their defense, essentially, is that they are not currently updating their website at all and so are not bound by the Open Meetings Act provisions. They basically shut down their website rather than go to the "expense" of posting agendas and minutes.

We suppose that is one approach to transparency.

The library has a bit of confusion apparent as to the law. They must believe that "full time" employee refers to an employee who's full time job is to maintain the website. This is not the case. "Full time" refers to regular employees who happen to maintain the website - just for clarification.

Our point here though really, is that we never filed a complaint. We simply were asking for clarification on the fine points of the law. We apologize for any trouble we caused Eureka Public Library. We also encourage them to post minutes, agendas, and Board email addresses and phone numbers on their website. It would only take a few minutes a month. We'd be glad to help in any way we can.

Internet Can Enhance Local Government Transparency

The Union Leader in Manchester, N.H. (that bastion of anti-tax sentiment - "Live Free or Die") has an interesting article sounding notes ever more frequently heard across the country on transparency in government and how the internet can help:

Corruption can't flourish with someone watching over your shoulder. In government, that transparency is doubly important. Every government expenditure is made with money taken from people's pockets. Government has an obligation to explain to each of us why it took our money and what exactly it's doing with it . . .

Modern technology has created tools to make even the smallest details of government accessible to everyone. One hundred years ago, opening the books to public inspection would have been burdensome and impractical in all but the smallest of towns. But the Internet has changed that and created a national movement toward government transparency.

. . . Missouri's Web site, www.mapyourtaxes.mo.gov, is a good example of what's possible . . .

The general idea is to list online every government expenditure by name, date and amount . . . A transparency Web site is designed to show not just how much government is spending but the details of what our money is being spent on. Every person, company and amount will be listed so we know who received the money taken from us and what exactly it was for.

Knowing what is happening doesn't necessarily dictate a policy decision. That's why the transparency movement is being encouraged by both Grover Norquist, the most influential conservative taxpayer advocate, and Ralph Nader, longtime liberal consumer advocate.

For smaller towns, this task is relatively simple. Every transaction can be posted online. Credit card statements can be posted in their entirety so we know each charge, regardless of size.

Not everyone will bother checking the town Web site. But in each town there are a few dedicated souls who concern themselves with every little detail of government. Opening up the details to their eyes lets everyone know that someone's watching. That very transparency should keep anything from happening in all but the most extreme cases . . .

Sometimes leadership filters up. Once a few cities and towns start opening the doors of their government to the people, state government might start talking about it.

Unfortunately, today state government can't even tell us how much it spends in total on a regular basis . . . A little kick-start from the towns might be in order.

Or from the counties.

ZOGBY: Clinton Trails Leading GOP Candidates

		Released: November 26, 2007 Zogby Poll: General election match-ups show the New York Senator would lose against every top Republican UTICA, New York – A new Zogby Interactive survey shows Democrat Hillary Clinton of New York would lose to every one of the top five Republican presidential contenders, representing a reversal of fortune for the national Democratic front–runner who had led against all prospective GOP opponents earlier this year. Meanwhile, fellow Democrats Barack Obama of Illinois and John Edwards of North Carolina would defeat or tie every one of the Republicans, this latest survey shows. 11/26/2007 7/14/2007 5/17/2007 Clinton 38% 45% 43% McCain 42% 43% 47% 11/26/2007 7/14/2007 5/17/2007 Clinton 40% 46% 43% Giuliani 43% 41% 48% 11/26/2007 7/14/2007 5/17/2007 Clinton 40% 48% 48% Romney 43% 38% 40% 11/26/2007 7/14/2007 5/17/2007 Clinton 39% N/A N/A Huckabee 44% N/A N/A 11/26/2007 7/14/2007 5/17/2007 Clinton 40% 47% 48% Thompson 44% 41% 41%

Illinois Tax Payers Pay for Open-Source Bias.

The Microsoft fact in Illinois by ZDNet's Paul Murphy -- The Illinois study is one of eight documents from the Microsoft web site, all intended to sell IT managers on the idea that a small commitment to Microsoft can be leveraged to produce significant budget and span of control gains.

Who Pays Property Taxes in Woodford County?

According to the Illinois Department of Revenue, the following is a breakdown of who pays property taxes:

Property Type % of Total
Residential 55.61%
Commercial 27.76%
Industrial 12.28%
Farm 3.89%
Railroads .40%

Could someone point us to these figures for Woodford County?