The Daily Misstake

Your day-after corrections/commentary/rebuttals/real news and information for 9. Apr. 2014.

Guv'nuh signs religious practices bill
Before we get our panties in a wad over discrimination that has yet to (and likely will not) occur, let us do some world-class journalism y reading and analy!ing this "controversial" ill# The full te$t is availa le on the state legislature we site here% http%&& illstatus#ls#state#ms#us&documents&'()*&html&+B&',((',--&+B',.)+/#htm# 0ther "journalists" should take note of the freely availa le information on the 1nternet when keeping the pu lic informed# The only part of the ill that is not pointless covering-their-asseslegalese is +ection ), +u section (2)% (2)(a) /overnment shall not su stantially urden a person3s e$ercise of religion even if the urden results from a rule of general applica ility, e$cept as provided in paragraph ( ) of this su section# ( ) /overnment may su stantially urden a person3s e$ercise of religion only if it demonstrates that application of the urden to the person% (i) 1s in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest4 and (ii) 1s the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest# 5e read it as the +tate of Mississippi giving themselves the legal a ility to suspend your unaliena le (some will say /od(s)-given) right to religious freedom in circumstances that enefit the government# 6o where does it grant sanction to usinesses to discriminate against faggots, 57+8s, jews, negros, wet acks, chiners, limeys, mohammedans, veterans, codgers, mesti!os, retards, or any "protected group" (every one of us is e9ual, ut some of us are M0:; e9ual)# The Bill does not grant usinesses the a ility to wantonly discriminate against customers# 1t is a government gra for power, poorly interpreted as paying lip-service to the religious nutters in this state# The only likely outcome is an increased flow of campaign contri utions (on oth sides of the prover ial aisle) to people only interested in telling us how to live our lives and making us pay for the privilege# The hyper olic "twofer" <eff 5hite is right to e sick and consider leaving the state -- ut for the wrong reasons# Businesses that turn away paying customers are not in usiness for very long, that is a nonissue which 9uickly rectifies itself# +tates that grant themselves road power rarely relin9uish it, and that is the real issue#

The Strait of Malacca

(ed's note% keep in mind M>?@(3s disappearance as an e$cuse to place A+ warships in the +trait, and that the following is from http%&&people#hofstra#edu&geotrans&eng&ch)en&appl)en&ch)a'en#html) The +trait of Malacca is one of the most important strategic passages of the 5orld ecause it supports the ulk of the maritime trade etween ;urope and 8acific 7sia, which accounts for 2(,((( ships per year# 7 out ?(B of the worldCs trade and .(B of <apanCs, +outh DoreaCs and TaiwanCs imports of petroleum transits through the strait, which involved appro$imately ))#@ M &d in '((*# 1t is the main passage etween the 8acific and the 1ndian oceans with the strait of +unda (1ndonesia) eing the closest alternative# 1t measures a out .(( km in length, has a width etween 2( and ?'( km ('#2 km at its narrowest point) and a minimal channel depth of '? meters (a out @( feet)# 1t represents the longest strait in the world used for international navigation and can e transited in a out '( hours# Traditionally, the +trait was an important passage point etween the Ehinese and the 1ndian worlds and was controlled at different points in time y <avanese and Malaysian kingdoms# From the )*th century, the region came under the control of 7ra merchants who esta lished several fortified trading towns, Malacca eing the most important commercial center in +outheast 7sia# 7gain, the control of the trade route shifted as the era of ;uropean e$pansion egan in the ),th century# 1n )2)), Malacca fell to the 8ortuguese and this event marked the eginning of ;uropean control over the +trait# 1n ).,@, ;ngland took control of the passage with +ingapore as a main har or and other important centers such as Malacca and 8enang, forming the +trait +ettlements# This control lasted until the +econd 5orld 5ar and the independence of Malaysia in )-2@# 7s the 8acific trade increased considera ly after the +econd 5orld 5ar, so did the importance of the passage# +ingapore, located at the southern end of the +trait of Malacca is one of the most important ports in the world and a major oil refining center# 0ne of the main pro lems a out the +trait of Malacca is that at some points it re9uires dredging, since it is arely deep enough to accommodate ships of a out ?((,((( deadweight tons# Being etween Malaysia, 1ndonesia and +ingapore, an agreement is difficult to reach a out how the dredging costs should e shared and how fees for its usage should e levied# 8olitical sta ility and piracy along are also major issues for the safety of maritime circulation, especially on the 1ndonesian side with the province of 7ceh in a state a civil unrest# The +trait of Malacca ends up in the +outh Ehina +ea, another e$tremely important shipping lane and a region su ject to contention since oil and natural gas resources are present# The +partly and 8aracel groups of islands are claimed in whole or in part y Ehina, Gietnam, Malaysia, 1ndonesia, Brunei and the 8hilippines# The region has proven oil reserves estimated at a out @#( B with oil production accounting for '#2 M &d# 5ith the su stantial economic growth taking place in the region large flows of oil, li9uefied natural gas and other raw materials (iron ore, coal) are transiting towards ;ast 7sia# 7 out '2B of the glo al shipping fleet transits through the region each year, underlining the importance of the +outh Ehina +ea as an e$tension of the Malacca chokepoint#

Safe ride council

The 7ssociated +tudent Body is doing a marvelous jo of emulating their actual-force-of-law counterparts# 1n the latest "pass the uck" action, 7+B answered your calls for a new :e el :ide y announcing the formation of an advisory council# Many platitudes were uttered while nothing was accomplished amid self-congratulatory ack-patting# The future diversity of the council was touted (what kind of diversity does it need= drunks and nondrunks=) along with a notification that plans will e made#

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"Any sufficiently ad anced tec!nolo"y is indistin"uis!able from ma"ic." - 7rthur E# Elarke First issue bonus, non-original content (filler)
Modern man is strapped down y a network of rules and regulations, and his fate depends on the actions of persons remote from him whose decisions he cannot influence# This is not accidental or a result of the ar itrariness of arrogant ureaucrats# 1t is necessary and inevita le in any technologically advanced society# The system >7+ T0 regulate human ehavior closely in order to function# 7t work people have to do what they are told to do, otherwise production would e thrown into chaos# Bureaucracies have to e run according to rigid rules# To allow any su stantial personal discretion to lower-level ureaucrats would disrupt the system and lead to charges of unfairness due to differences in the way individual ureaucrats e$ercised their discretion# 1t is true that some restrictions on our freedom could e eliminated, ut generally speaking the regulation of our lives y large organi!ations is necessary for the functioning of industrialtechnological society# The result is a sense of powerlessness on the part of the average person# 1t may e, however, that formal regulations will tend increasingly to e replaced y psychological tools that make us want to do what the system re9uires of us# The system has to force people to ehave in ways that are increasingly remote from the natural pattern of human ehavior# For e$ample, the system needs scientists, mathematicians and engineers# 1t canCt function without them# +o heavy pressure is put on children to e$cel in these fields# 1t isnCt natural for an adolescent human eing to spend the ulk of his time sitting at a desk a sor ed in study# 7 normal adolescent wants to spend his time in active contact with the real world# 7mong primitive peoples the things that children are trained to do tend to e in reasona le harmony with natural human impulses# 7mong the 7merican 1ndians, for e$ample, oys were trained in active outdoor pursuits I just the sort of thing that oys like# But in our society children are pushed into studying technical su jects, which most do grudgingly# 1n any technologically advanced society the individualCs fate must depend on decisions that he personally cannot influence to any great e$tent# 7 technological society cannot e roken down into small, autonomous communities, ecause production depends on the cooperation of very large num ers of people# 5hen a decision affects, say, a million people, then each of the affected individuals has, on the average, only a one-millionth share in making the decision# 5hat usually happens in practice is that decisions are made y pu lic officials or corporation e$ecutives, or y technical specialists, ut even when the pu lic votes on a decision the num er of voters ordinarily is too large for the vote of any one individual to e significant# Thus most individuals are una le to influence measura ly the major decisions that affect their lives# There is no conceiva le way to remedy this in a technologically advanced society# The system tries to JsolveK this pro lem y using propaganda to make people want the decisions that have een made for them, ut even if this JsolutionK were completely successful in making people feel etter, it would e demeaning# Eonservatives and some others advocate more Jlocal autonomy#K Local communities once did have autonomy, ut such autonomy ecomes less and less possi le as local communities ecome more enmeshed with and dependent on large-scale systems like pu lic utilities, computer networks, highway systems, the mass communications media, the modern health care system# 7lso operating against autonomy is the fact that technology applied in one location often affects people at other locations far way# Thus pesticide or chemical use near a creek may contaminate the water supply hundreds of miles downstream, and the greenhouse effect affects the whole world# The system does not and cannot e$ist to satisfy human needs# 1nstead, it is human ehavior that has to e modified to fit the needs of the system# This has nothing to do with the political or social ideology that may pretend to guide the technological system# 1t is the fault of technology, ecause the system is guided not y ideology ut y technical necessity# 0f course the system does satisfy many human needs, ut generally speaking it does this only to the e$tent that it is to the advantage of the system to do it# 1t is the needs of the system that are paramount, not those of the human eing# For e$ample, the system provides people with food ecause the system couldnCt function if everyone starved4 it attends to peopleCs psychological needs whenever it can conveniently do so, ecause it couldnCt function if too many people ecame depressed or re ellious# But the system, for good, solid, practical reasons, must e$ert constant pressure on people to mold their ehavior to the needs of the system# To much waste accumulating= The government, the media, the educational system, environmentalists, everyone inundates us with a mass of propaganda a out recycling# 6eed more technical personnel= 7 chorus of voices e$horts kids to study science# 6o one stops to ask whether it is inhumane to force adolescents to spend the ulk of their time studying su jects most of them hate# 5hen skilled workers are put out of a jo y technical advances and have to undergo Jretraining,K no one asks whether it is humiliating for them to e pushed around in this way# 1t is simply taken for granted that everyone must ow to technical necessity# 7nd for good reason% 1f human needs were put efore technical necessity there would e economic pro lems, unemployment, shortages or worse# The concept of Jmental healthK in our society is defined largely y the e$tent to which an individual ehaves in accord with the needs of the system and does so without showing signs of stress# ;fforts to make room for a sense of purpose and for autonomy within the system are no etter than a joke# For e$ample, one company, instead of having each of its employees assem le only one section of a catalog, had each assem le a whole catalog, and this was supposed to give them a sense of purpose and achievement# +ome companies have tried to give their employees more autonomy in their work, ut for practical reasons this usually can e done only to a very limited e$tent, and in any case employees are never given autonomy as to ultimate goals I their JautonomousK efforts can never e directed toward goals that they select personally, ut only toward their employerCs goals, such as the survival and growth of the company# 7ny company would soon go out of usiness if it permitted its employees to act otherwise# +imilarly, in any enterprise within a socialist system, workers must direct their efforts toward the goals of the enterprise, otherwise the enterprise will not serve its purpose as part of the system# 0nce again, for purely technical reasons it is not possi le for most individuals or small groups to have much autonomy in industrial society# ;ven the small- usiness owner commonly has only limited autonomy# 7part from the necessity of government regulation, he is restricted y the fact that he must fit into the economic system and conform to its re9uirements# For instance, when someone develops a new technology, the small- usiness person often has to use that technology whether he wants to or not, in order to remain competitive#

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