I see that Fairfield County was shut out and New Haven County nearly so. Perhaps the high cost of, well, everything, has finally caught up with them. What do you think?

See the whole list here: Best Places to Live 2011 – States: Connecticut – from MONEY Magazine.

Connecticut has some $29 billion of assets but the bills are about $63 billion. We’re not in for an easy time any time soon, despite the recent revelations of a budget surplus. Read more here from Raising Hale:

Connecticut named ‘sinkhole state’ by accounting institute | Raising Hale.

Although the Administration claims there is a $2 trillion math error, the damage has been done. Standard & Poor’s has lowered America’s credit rating and given us a “negative outlook.”

We wait eagerly to see what Monday will bring for the markets but the effect could be severe.

Speaking like gown-ups to children, S & P said in its report,

The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America’s governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed. The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy. Despite this year’s wide-ranging debate, in our view, the differences between political parties have proven to be extraordinarily difficult to bridge, and, as we see it, the resulting agreement fell well short of the comprehensive fiscal consolidation program that some proponents had envisaged until quite recently. Republicans and Democrats have only been able to agree to relatively modest savings on discretionary spending while delegating to the Select Committee decisions on more comprehensive measures. It appears that for now, new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options. In addition, the plan envisions only minor policy changes on Medicare and little change in other entitlements, the containment of which we and most other independent observers regard as key to long-term fiscal sustainability.

Click the photo or click here for the full report.

Starting on Aug. 1, the state will begin to capture the boost in the income tax for 2011 approved by lawmakers in May, which is retroactive to the beginning of the calendar year.

That means all of the tax increase for this year will be collected in the next five months. You can calculate your new withholding amount using the tables at the bottom of this story. The W-4 form explains the codes on the withholding table.

Single and joint filers earning $50,000 a year will see about $200 in additional withholding through December, as will joint filers earning $100,000. Single filers making $100,000 will see about $605 disappear from their paychecks.

It starts to jump up for joint filers at the $125,000 level when $510 in additional taxes will be taken out.

At the top end, if your adjusted gross income is $1 million, by the end of December you will have contributed $17,400 more to the state of Connecticut, while those hauling in $2 million in salary will send in $19,400 in additional taxes.

“You are going to see a bit of a jolt in August, but it falls again in January,” said Sarah Kaufman, spokeswoman for the state Department of Revenue Services, as the new rates will be spread out over 12 months rather than five.

More here, if you are brave enough to read it:

Connecticut income tax going up; calculate the bite out of your pay – News – West Hartford News.

Connecticut’s Dr. Ray Pennoyer offers some clear thinking on the matter in a recent blog post in which he reminds us of the bigger picture:

When Jesus was giving his instructions to his followers, he told them to “turn the other cheek” and to “go the extra mile.” When he was reviled, he answered not his accusers. And in submitting to an unjust crucifixion, he changed the whole trajectory of history. Jesus serves as an example to his followers.

Read the whole thing and check out the fledgling New England School of Theology which Dr. Pennoyer and other Connecticut leaders have launched. It looks like a promising resource for the Evangelical Church in our State!

Here is another coined word, cleverly designed to make those who believe in the U.S. Constitution not only keep quiet about the inroads of radical Islam but feel guilty about not viewing Islam as something on a par with the Loyal Order of Moose.

Today we have the spectacle of Muslim clergy seeking police protection so people can worship unmolested during the month of Ramadan.  Courant writer Susan Campbell takes Operation Save America to task for picketing or harassing a Bridgeport mosque. I do not know why this organization chose to do this and I do not approve of such tactics, as they do not reflect the Spirit of Christ.

But despite the lack of wisdom and perhaps charity on the part of those protestors, the concept of Islamophobia is a fraud and a sham. No sooner does Ramadan begin than we see nearly 2,000 articles on Google News concerning Islamophobia, which points to a high level of complicity and cooperation between Islamists and the left-tilting media. In other words, in case you miss my meaning, Ramadan is being used for PR purposes, plain and simple.

What could be more obvious to any unbiased observer than the fact that Muslims have it, well, pretty good in this country. Just for starters, Muslims here have the ability to vote and have a standard of living they don’t have in the Middle East (except in Israel). I would also hasten to add that Muslims of both sexes have equal rights here.

We are sick and tired of hearing about Islamophobia already. I guarantee that if 9/11 had happened under Democratic icon FDR, Muslims would have been rounded up and interned as were the Japanese. In that less gentle day of 1941, there might have been many private reprisals, too. Yet, despite the horrors of 9/11 there were no Muslims dragged out into the streets and killed, there were no firebombings of mosques, no mass deportations, no declarations of martial law. Apparently someone had to go all the way to Texas just to find 12 people rowdy enough to be willing to yell at a Muslim.

So, is America infected with Islamophobia? I don’t think so.

Because Islamophobia – as Muslims define it – is a myth.

And yet for all that Islam is not to be viewed on a par with the Loyal Order of Moose. With apologies to George W. Bush, Islam does not mean “peace,” it means “submission.” Islamists worldwide are hard at work to replace the US Constitution and the governing systems of other nations in favor of Islamic sharia law.

We do not want this.

We do not want to be told that America is not a Christian nation – but that it is a Muslim nation.

We do not want special Islamic prayer rooms in airports and schools.

We do not want judges to excuse criminal behavior by saying that the perpetrator’s religious belief negates a criminal state of mind.

We do not want to be told we can’t eat certain foods and do certain things which we have always done because it may offend Muslims (pay attention to what is happening in Britain and Holland).

We do not want to be told how much Muslims revere Jesus when in fact the Islamic Jesus, they tell us, is coming to abolish Christianity and convert the world to Islam.

We are tired of hearing Muslims say that Jews are the filthy “sons of apes and pigs.”

Where do we learn these things?

Why, we learn them from reading the Koran and other Muslims writings, just as Susan Campbell tells us to.

And even the disgusting anti-Semitic statements mentioned above are supported by the leading Islamic clergy of today – not the year 700 AD – today!

Should we be “phobic” of such a belief system?

Can you help? Check out their site here.

Could this kind of stuff be the reason why people don’t like to watch CNN or MSNBC?

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The new Jobs page at Pray Connecticut

Just a quick heads up to let you know that we now have a Jobs page at Pray Connecticut which you can use to search for jobs or even post a job listing at a reasonable rate ($12 for 30 days).

Lots of people are looking for work, of course, so even if you can’t use this page at the moment you may want to tell a friend about it.  Find it in the navigation or click here.