[03.30.2001]
The White House has confirmed that President Bush has decided to turn on the 1997 Kyoto Treaty which was designed to cut emissions of
climate changing gases, such as carbon dioxide, a leading cause of the greenhouse effect and global warming.
[Read More]
Has the Foot-and-Mouth disease finally reached our shores? We'll have to take a wait and see approach as state agricultural officials await test
results of a sample of dead hog tissue which have been sent to federal officials for testing of the disease.
[Read More]
Is President Bush anti-woman? If not, then why did he eliminate the White House's Women's Outreach Office? Created in 1995 by Clinton as a sign of
his commitment to women's issues, the office served as a bridge for Clinton and women's rights organizations. This specially created office helped
to notify women's rights organizations of upcoming legislation affecting them, communicated women's concerns and proposals to the President, and
scheduled meetings with White House officials and women's rights organizations. Why did Bush quietly close the office? No formal statement has been
issued by his staff regarding the closing or how Bush intends to communicate with women's rights organizations in the future.
Earlier this year, the Norwegian government defied international conservation treaties by announcing its intent to export whale products for the
first time in 15 years. If Norway succeeds with exporting whale meat, it is feared that this will jump start the resumption of a global whale trade.
Once trade is opened, pirate whaling and black markets in whale products will be uncontrollable.
[Take Action | Read More]
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently reviewing the company A/F Protein's application to sell genetically engineered (GE) salmon.
Urge the FDA to not approve the application because GE fish pose an unnecessary and unacceptable risk to the marine environment and is potentially
harmful to human health.
[Take Action | Read More]
[03.29.2001]
According to news sources, New Order have finished recording their as-yet-unnamed new album which is due out this coming September, preceded by the
album's first single to be released mid-July.
New Order are rumored to also be in negotiations to play a handful of West Coast dates with Moby during his summer tour, dubbed Area 1.
One likely date is for Los Angeles during the first week of August.
New Order's live DVD, 316, with footage from a 1981 New York City show and 1998's Reading Festival, is scheduled to be released in the U.K. in
April with a U.S. release to follow shortly after.
[03.24.2001]
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have announced that they are now currently accepting public comments regarding the new proposed rules for genetically
engineered (GE) foods. We must let them know that their new policy is unacceptable as it fails to protect the consumer and their rights. Please write to them
with your concerns.
[Read More]
[03.22.2001]
Here's an interesting piece from the New York Times which reads as follows: "The Bush administration said this week that it intends to withdraw new drinking
water standards designed to protect the public from arsenic pollution. This rash move could threaten the health of 13 million Americans whose drinking water
has elevated levels of arsenic."
[Read More]
[03.20.2001]
Japan's Fuji Rock Festival will be celebrating their 5th Anniversary this summer.
The current line-up promises to be their best ever. Confirmed acts include:
Alanis Morissette (Sat 28)
Ani DiFranco (Sun 29)
At The Drive In (Fri 27)
Brahman (Sun 29)
Dropkick Murphys (Fri 27)
Echo and the Bunnymen (Sat 28)
Hothouse Flowers (Sat 28)
Memuri (Fri 27)
Manic Street Preachers (Fri 27)
New Order (Sat 28)
Oasis (Fri 27)
Powder Finger (Sat 28)
Rickie Lee Jones (Sat 28)
Ron Sexsmith (Sun 29)
Stereophonics (Sat 28)
Travis (Fri 27)
More acts TBA, plus all the best in Japanese Hardcore, Dance, and DJs. ... wish we could be there...
[03.19.2001]
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided over the weekend to cut production on oil once again. They plan to cut production by
1 million barrels a day, or roughly 4 percent, beginning April 1. Their reason? To keep oil prices from "falling in the face of a seasonal weakness
in demand." As a result, we can once again expect to see base prices for gas at or near the $2.00 mark.
To reduce our dependence on foreign oil, President Bush wants to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration and drilling.
But such exploration will only increase our dependence on fossil fuels, not to mention further the destruction of the biological heart of the last unspoiled
Arctic ecosystem in North America. If you haven't already, urge Bush to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
It appears that Warner Bros. are starting to back down on their legal threats against children who've registered Harry Potter-esque domain names. Warner
Bros. have decided to cease their legal actions against several owners, including 15-year-old Claire Field, owner of www.harrypotterguid.co.uk, and
Steve McDonald, owner of www.harry-potter-magic.co.uk, after deciding that they were not using their sites for commercial means.
However, we must point out that there are many others who are still facing threats of legal action. If you have not yet signed
the petition, please do so now. Tell Warner Bros. that you will not stand for nor tolerate their
bullying of and legal threats against young children.
[03.16.2001]
We just received word that ticket sales for Depeche Mode's North American Exciter tour go on sale mid-April, so start saving up those pennies boys and girls.
This tour is sure to sell out quickly. Several European Exciter tour tickets are already being released with more to follow.
[03.14.2001]
"A nationwide recall of Morningstar Farms meat-free Corn Dogs was announced yesterday by Kellogg’s, after the company acknowledged that the products contained
StarLink corn, a variety of gene-altered corn that is not approved for human consumption. Last week, Greenpeace revealed that an independent laboratory found
the StarLink contamination, but Kellogg’s refused to follow other food companies who immediately pulled products that tested positive for the illegal corn,
instead waiting nearly a week before issuing the recall."
Here's Depeche Mode's Press Release for their upcoming Exicter Tour.
First it was DeCSS. Then came qrpff. Now there's
efdtt, another program capable of defeating the Content Scrambling System (CSS)
found on DVDs. Written by Charles H. Hannum, this C program is even smaller and faster than the 7-line Perl script we reported on on 03.09.01.
These programs all show how simple the CSS protecting DVDs is to decode. Why don't the MPAA get this?
The line-up for the summer 2001 Vans Warped Tour have been announced. Scheduled to perform are: The Rollins Band, The Misfits, Weezer, 311, Kool Keith, Rancid, Penny Wise, Alien
Ant Farm, the Vandals, and more.
[03.12.2001]
A Depeche Mode publicist has revealed the tentative tour dates
for their summer tour, which begins June 15 in Montreal, QC. Venues to be announced.
Want to learn more about genetically engineered foods? 60 Minutes II will be airing their report What Have They Done to Our Food?
on Tuesday, March 13, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Learn how they're modifying our foods via Biotechnology and whether it's safe.
Due to President Bush's determination to build a National Missile Defense (NMD), also known as Star Wars, Russian President Vladimir Putin has suspended the dismantling
of their nuclear warheads even though they signed the START II treaty with the U.S.
[Read More]
As a sign that those who are suppose to represent us are more concerned about big businesses and their profits and interests, Congress voted to repeal the ergonomics
standard established by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). All 50 Republicans and 6 Democrats voted against the measure. The measure would have covered 102
million workers. Those who voted against the measure which would have required employers to redesign workplaces and compensate workers for injuries from repetitive
motion cited that the measure was too costly.
[03.09.2001]
A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled yesterday that public libraries in California are not required to
block access to porn sites on the Internet. However, libraries that receive certain kinds of federal funds will be required to restrict access to
them according to a new federal law that will take place April 20.
A new version of DeCSS has been making its round across the Internet recently. This 7-line Perl script
was written by MIT programmers Keith Winstein and Marc Horowitz. It's no doubt that the MPAA will be closely looking into this as it poses yet
another threat to their control (of DVDs). Will it also become a crime to link to or post this code?
Only days after announcing the contamination of corn seed which was to be sold to farmers for planting for this years crop (See News Update for 03.04.01),
the non-human approved StarLink corn has once again turned up in one of our food products. This time the product is Kellogg's-made veggie corn
dogs which is sold under the Morningstar Farms label. As of now, there is no recall planned. More than 300 corn-based products were recalled
last year because they contained StarLink.
Related Stories:
In more related news, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) plans to spend roughly $20 million in taxpayer money to buy back
300,000 to 400,000 bags of corn seed which have been found to contain StarLink. Once again taxpayers will be forking over the money to fix
someone elses problems; This time it's the genetic pollution caused by Aventis CropScience, the developer of StarLink. And no, Aventis will
not be reimbursing us for the problems they've created. StarLink corn was approved only for animal feed because of unanswered questions about
its safety to humans.
[03.08.2001]
The US Senate voted on Tuesday to repeal the workplace ergonomics standard established under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) that
helps prevent repetitive strain injuries and carpal tunnel syndrome. Every year, over 600,000 US workers suffer painful repetitive strain and
back injuries on the job - 64 percent of these are women. Today the US House of Representatives will vote on the measure. If the House votes
to overturn OSHA, not only will workplaces no longer be required to enforce safety measures for workers, but any regulations similar to OSHA
will be prevented in the future.
[Take Action Now]
[03.06.2001]
Napster has a three-day window to remove copyrighted music from its file-sharing system every time it is notified that a copyrighted song appears
on its network, if it accepts the terms of an injunction issued by a federal court judge late Monday night.
[Read More]
[03.05.2001]
Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the country, and there's no doubt that the Internet makes it easier. But while some argue
that sequestering personal information from the Web is the only solution, I have seen the future of identity theft, and I believe that approach
would prove a complete disaster.
[Read More]
[03.04.2001]
If you're concerned about the threats made by Warner Brothers against innocent children for setting up Harry Potter fan sites, you can help by
signing the (secure and private) petition in support of the Harry Potter sites. "By signing your name and email address, you are showing
your support for our cause, and sending the message to Warner Brothers that you don't like seeing kids get bullied."
[Sign the Petition Now]
StarLink protein has been found in the corn seed which was about to be sold to farmers for planting for this years crop. The engineered corn was
found while testing the corn stock to see if it had been contaminated. It was expected that some of the corn would be contaminated since
pollen from StarLink corn can be "carried by wind and can crossbreed with conventional varieties."
Officials have said that less than 5 percent of the corn is expected to be contaminated. They've also stated that precautions are in place to
make sure farmers don't plant the tainted corn. Hopefully the precautions they've taken will be effective this time as prior precautions
resulted in the contamination and recall of Taco Bell taco shells and other foods.
Related Stories:
[03.03.2001]
Beginning this weekend Napster will start filtering 1 million songs from its system as an effort to stay in business and with the hope that
they'll reach a settlement with the recording industry.
Napster also plans to introduce a real-time search block which will prevent songs from appearing in its directory as they are added. The music
files would still exist on the hard drive of the user; it's just that people won't know its there.
In an interesting turn of events earlier this week, 2600 found themselves with a new set of enemies in the DeCSS lawsuit which was filed against them.
[Read More]
Plus, DeCSS makes the funny pages. And they actually get it right.
[03.01.2001]
The line-up for Coachella 2 has been announced. Scheduled to perform on April 28 are: Janes Addiction /
Paul Oakenfold / Weezer / Fat Boy Slim / The Chemical Brothers / The Orb / The Roots / Iggy Pop / Aphex Twin plus others.
No news as to whether there'll be a second night (April 29) or whether Blur, Moby, Stereolab, Suede, or Paul Weller will be performing as rumored,
unless they're being scheduled to perform on a possible second night. We can only hope.
Tickets go on sale Sat. March 3. Prices are $65 + applicable Ticketmaster service charges.
Stop BP Amoco from trashing the arctic! As BP Amoco attempts to go "green" with an aggressive ad campaign re-branding itself as "Beyond
Petroleum", it's also preparing to construct yet another drilling platform just 40 miles down the coast from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
The truth behind BP's campaign is that little is spent on renewable energy while billions are consistently spent on destroying the environment for oil.
The company pays generous lip service to the global warming threat, but it is the leading spender on oil exploration (nearly $8 billion this year) with
only an estimated $500 million over 3 years to be spent on renewable energy.
BP Amoco is pushing to turn the Beaufort Sea into a huge oil field. Tell the Minerals Management Service (MMS) to take Alternative II, stop drilling
in the Arctic for oil, and tell BP rather than spend millions on advertising, put their money where their mouth is and spend it on renewable energy
sources! Comments are due to the MMS on or before March 13, 2001, so act now!
[Take Action Now | Learn More]
