Source: Retail Systems Research.

The gig is up, according to an interesting, albeit non-scientific 2009 poll by industry watchers Retail Systems Research.

Given the condition of the U.S. and states’ economies and the loss of tax revenues during this recession, the momentum is building across the country to address this issue. Whether the U.S. Congress will deal with it is an entirely different matter. As long ago as 2001 (when internet sales only represented about 1.5% of total retail sales), 40 State Governors sent a letter to Congress asking that a 1998 moratorium on internet sales tax be lifted. But in October 2007, the House of Representatives voted 405-2 to pass the Internet Tax Freedom Act Amendments Act, extending the moratorium on internet access taxes and other taxes unique to the internet until November 2011.

As promised, RSR ran a “quick take” poll to see what our readers think about the prospect of an Internet Sales Tax (the results are in the chart below). Safe to say, colonial Boston’s Rev. Jonathan Mayhew’s 1750 call for “no taxation without representation” still rings in many Americans’ ears! The most interesting data point from this survey is that not one of the 54 people who answered the question had “no opinion.” Twice as many respondents were adamantly opposed to the new tax as those who were in favor of it. If our readers are any indication, this issue is bound to polarize the voting public.

But what does this really mean for the bottom line of cash-strapped states?

By 2012, a staggering $12.65 billion in local and state tax revenues from uncollected e-commerce sales could be left on the table, according to a 2009 study by University of Tennessee researchers.

That could fill an awful lot of pot holes — or in Colorado, blow up a lot of boulders from a rockslide that punched holes in I-70 near Glenwood Springs cutting off the state’s main east-west thoroughfare.

Source: Pew Research Center based on American Community Survey data. Click to activate the map.

A smaller proportion of people are getting married with a rate now hovering at just about half: 52 percent for men and 48 percent for women, according to a Pew Research Survey of demographic data.

Idaho and Utah rank among the highest states with married residents while New Mexico has one of the lowest proportions in the nation.

If you’ve been unlucky in love and looking for greener pastures, head to Wyoming which boasts one of the highest rates of thrice married men and women in the union.

Colorado State University animal science expert Temple Grandin discusses alternative cognitive processes, public education and its applications to science, technology and agriculture.

Grandin was featured at the TED2010 conference in Long Beach, Calif., a global confab designed to provoke conversation about innovative ideas.

Diagnosed with autism as a child, she talks about how her mind works — sharing her ability to “think in pictures,” which helps her solve problems that neurotypical brains might miss. She makes the case that the world needs people on the autism spectrum: visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, verbal thinkers, and all kinds of smart geeky kids.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is visiting Montana Saturday to gauge how people in the region feel about a proposed new law to manage the state’s forest land.

His visit includes a community meeting in Deer Lodge to hear local views on Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. Considered by its sponsor as collaborative effort between environmentalists, the timber industry and other stakeholders, the Act would attempt to balance the needs of all who have an interest in the state’s forest areas for things such as recreation, logging, fire management and hunting. Sec. Vilsack’s visit is being viewed as “due diligence.”

Bruce Farling, executive director of Montana Trout Unlimited, supports the Act and will attend the meeting. He says, while there has been a lot of focus on the logging and wilderness aspects in the proposal, the way it was crafted with input from a wide array of interests is what really has piqued interest from the Obama administration.

“There’s a whole bunch of people who normally don’t spend a lot of time together, don’t agree on a lot of natural resource management issues, who are doing just that.”

Sec. Vilsack will also meet with ag producers in Helena, and take an aerial tour of beetle-killed forests. Some of those beetle-killed trees could be harvested under the Tester bill, as well as trees in other areas. Farling says money from the timber would be used to repair roads that are weeping sediment into streams and damaging fish habitat, along with paying for other projects and putting people to work.

“The value of the trees removed will be reinvested on the same landscapes. We’ve got to fix some recreational infrastructure, like trails and bridges. We need to deal with this huge road system that hasn’t been maintained.”

Opposition to Sen. Tester’s bill comes from some off-roading groups and those who think no logging should be allowed.

The community meeting with Sec. Vilsack and Sen. Tester will occur Saturday, from 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., at the Powell County Community Center, 416 Cottonwood Ave., in Deer Lodge.

Listen to the Big Sky Connection podcast by Deborah Smith.

Source: Business Insider

Thinking caps on. Critical thinking shields up.

From Business Insider’s Silicon Alley chart of the day:

A new study out from the Columbia Journalism Review reveals print publications have a lesser set of standards for what they allow to show up on the web.

Victor Navasky, chairman of the CJR tells the NYT, standards on the web continue to evolve, but for now it’s “chaos out there.” So, be careful with what you read out there.

And, as the Pew Center for People and the Press tells it, fact-checking isn’t correlated with the distribution method. Copy editing chaos, inaccuracy and bias reign in print and broadcast media too.

Here’s a nice companion piece to our Daily Digit feature on Internet usage in the Rocky Mountain West.

The global numbers on email, video viewing and social media content are staggering.

What could this mean for civic engagement and journalism? How can community organizers cut through the Can this poodle wearing a tinfoil hat get more fans than Glenn Beck? Facebook page diversions and Viagra spam?