And on top of it, the fine is reasonable for what amounts to civil disobedience. It might or might not have been the way to protest, but the fine isn't insane, either way.

But if they were really trying to be correct they'd have made the price Tau dollars.

There is *certainly* a moral component. The money taxed is earned in part with tax-payer provided assets: roads, security infrastructure, various regulatory frameworks, a court system, and so on. Being part of a functioning western society and partaking of its infrastructural advantages costs sometime - we call that "taxes". Debating the level of taxes vs the benefits is certainly acceptable, but claiming there's no moral dimension is wrong.

I want mod points! +5 Correct.

Explain, in detail, how that works, please. I know no western taxation system in which the break to the next income level causes increased taxes at the level below. (Ok, I know a couple of cases involving claw-backs of benefits at the lowest tax bracket - those are errors that should be fixed, not the intent of the progressive taxation system).

You are mis-understanding the tax code. You only pay the higher rate on the amount *above* the cut line; The amount below the cut point is taxed at the lower rate. That's the very diffinition of progressive taxation. It's just the next dollar that gets taxed at the higher rate, not every dollar.

This is a *VERY* common mis-understanding of how the income tax rates work.

2007 saw 613 fatal firearms accidents, and over 15,000 hospitalizations. http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/leadcaus10.html http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/nfirates2001.html

Had there been perfect response by armed teachers at every event this year, at most 37 deaths would have been prevented, though that's the upper bound of somehow stopping them before they even start. I don't care to speculate on how many accidents would be added by having firearms in classrooms. There *will* be moments of carelessness.

Your macho fantasy world isn't the true world.

Then you and your countrymen will continue to die at a stupid rate for your inability to do the simplest base rate analysis.

Innumeracy kills.

Bans aren't needed. Require trigger locks,and that they be stored them unloaded, and keep the ammo separate (and locked). Accidents drop hugely as do suicides (yes, you can defeat the system, but suicidal ideation tends to pass quickly, especially if you're futzing with a lock you don't have the keys to), Your base rates of gun related injuries and death drop. And the base rate totally overwhelms felon-on-non-felon murders and ill people who feel the need to shoot up the world.

Sure. Now give a guess how many accidents happen when you have that many accessible, loaded assault rifles floating around an elementary school.

Base rate analysis matters, dumbass.

You don't have to trust, you just have to make corruption too expensive. Count in small batches, on site, at close of voting, with volunteer observers from every person on the ballot. It works, it scales, and it limits the effectiveness of co-opting a few individuals, unlike *anything* to do with electronic voting.

How do you have any confidence at all that your mail-in ballot is counted?

How do you have any confidence at all that central counting place hasn't been corrupted?

Centralization does nothing in vote counting except create large-scale single-point of failure possibilities.

The point is that you really don't have to trust the scrutineers: every party represented on the ballot has the right to have an observer present during the counting. Since each ballot box has relatively few ballots (500 or so), the count is quick. If your party can't muster a volunteer per 500 voters, you have deeper problems than vote fraud.

Grishnakh strong! Grishnakh no sissy under baggage load! No, not the whip!

Um, ok. Every week makes a difference. Number of connections makes a difference. I find it makes even more of a difference when travelling in Europe, where they frequently weight (and weight-limit) carry-on bags.

Yes, one pound makes no difference when it's "once in a while". It's a different story when you're always on the road.

Do you lug your laptop through airports every week? A pound makes a hell of a difference when it's hanging off your arm for an hour at a time. I'll take a pound over upgradeability any day, but my use pattern differs from yours.