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And the Last Shall be First -- Mississippi Makes Jesus Proud

An organization called the Catalouge for Philanthropy has compiled what they call the "generosity index." It measures the generosity of each state's citizens. They do this by ranking each state according to its adjusted annual income and ranking each state by its average annual charitable contributions. They then simply take the ranking according to income and subtract the ranking according to charitable contributions. The results are very interesting.

Some have commented on the political implications of the results -- you have to scroll down to no. 26 before you hit a state that went for John Kerry (New York). The first half of the list is completely "red." Michelle Malkin provides a handy chart illustrating the disparity.

But what I found most interesting is that the state with the lowest (No. 50) adjusted annual income -- Mississippi -- is the most generous. In other words, the last literally is the first here.

How about the state with the mostest in income? That would be Conneticut, and it ranks 44th in giving. Not quite the first being dead last, but awfully close to it.

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