While sitting around the camp fire on fourth of July weekend a relative turned to me and asked, "What do you call a black man driving an airplane?"

I've since asked several folks in my life that very question and got some interesting answers in return. The nicest answer I heard was "terrorist". Every answer could be considered offensive in some way.

My family and acquaintances are not intentionally racist people. We are mostly Caucasoid mutts who, in my experience thus far, all find overt racism appalling. I didn't really begin to understand unintentional racism until someone asked me that question.

What did I answer? I waited a few seconds trying to figure out the trick and finally answered "Pilot?" The asker was not expecting this answer. They said that I'm the first person to ever answer them with the correct answer.

My problems are small and so are yours.

This show moved me.

Cheers Jonny, and thank you.

No income tax shall be due or collected on any income under the tax floor for citizens. All earnings above above the tax floor shall be taxed at a single rate. The tax floor shall never be lower than the real median income as last determinied by the Census Bureau. Undocumented and guest workers have a tax floor of $0 and pay taxes on all earned income.

This tax plan is automatically graduated-- no brackets. For example, assume a tax of 50% and the previous years median income was $50,000:

- Anyone who makes $50,000 or less a year pays no income tax.
- Someone who makes $75,000 ends up paying $12,500, or roughly 17%.
- Someone who makes $125,000 pays $37,500 which is 30%.
- Someone who makes one million dollars pays $475,000 or 46.5%.

In the U.S.A. in 2003, the highest tax bracket is 35% and the real median income was $43,318. So, here are the above examples again using those numbers:

- Anyone who makes $43,318 or less a year pays no income tax.
- Someone who makes $50,000 pays $2338.70, or about 5%.
- Someone who makes $75,000 ends up paying $11008.70, or roughly 15%.
- Someone who makes $125,000 pays $25,588.70 which is about 23%.
- Someone who makes one million dollars pays $334838.70 or 35%.

Targeted tax cuts as congress shall provide shall raise the tax floor on a per person basis up to the tax cieling. The tax ceiling shall not exceed two times the median income. Assume that folks have earned the maximum possible deductions through charitible giving and other means:

- Earnings less than $86,636 or less they'd pay no income tax.
- Earnings of $125,000 result in taxes of $13,427.40, or 11%.
- Earnings of one million pays $319,667.40 or 32%.

This automatically graduated flat-tax plan:

- Maintains and standardizes a mechanism to motivate savings, home purchases, charitible giving and whatever other spending behaviors congress wishes to subsidize.
- Results in a simpler tax system that will be cheaper to run and simpler to enforce.
- Provides high financial motivation for aliens to earn citizenship.
- Incentivizes everyone to raise the median income. The higher the average income, the bigger the standard and maximum deduction for everyone.

After posting a few controversial comments to slashdot my karma went from good down to terrible within 2 hours. So I can't post here for a while.
This supports my opinion that privacy advocates and Java users are immature and incapable of a civilized discussions.