6-25-2004

TBOK

I am speechless, and more honored than I could ever express.

The Guardian
Donald MacLeod
Tuesday July 27, 2004

As ministers threaten tougher action against animal rights extremists in the courts, protesters are hitting back in a continuing legal battle with the government.

Today the high court in London heard further argument about the decision by John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, to give the go-ahead to Cambridge University’s proposed primates laboratory.

The university has pulled out of the scheme but Animal Aid and the National Anti-Vivisection Society (Navs) want to establish a point of principle that would prevent it being revived.

Meanwhile the crown prosecution service has disclosed it is setting up a network of specially trained prosecutors to tackle disruption which researchers estimate has cost the UK £1bn in lost investment.

A CPS spokesman said the prosecutors shared information about using different laws regarding trespass and public order offences. There is no one law dealing with animal rights protests.

Despite the successful prosecution of protesters against the Huntingdon Life Sciences animal labs, the firm faced severe financial problems and in January Cambridge University withdrew its plans for a primates lab nearby in the face of spiralling security costs.

Protest groups are now targeting Oxford University, which is building an animal facility for medical research, and have forced the withdrawal of the main contractor Montpellier.

Yesterday campaigners argued before Mr Justice Collins that the outcome of the planning application to build a primate research laboratory in the green belt was a “foregone conclusion” and Mr Prescott had decided to grant permission “regardless of the outcome of a public inquiry and expert reports”. The planning permission lasts for five years.

Neil King QC argued that the decision was perverse, unreasonable and unfair, and the case raised questions over the influence of the prime minister and science minister Lord Sainsbury on the public inquiry process.

A public inquiry held over 11 days between November 2002 and January 2003 into the refusal by South Cambridgeshire district council to grant permission ended with the inquiry inspector also recommending refusal.

Mr Prescott then rejected the recommendation and granted permission on the grounds that there was a “national need” for the new research facility. His decision was “perverse” because he had failed to consider all the evidence before the inspector, including proofs of evidence from the animal rights coalition, said Mr King.

He added: “There were genuine alternatives available to non-human primate research. The secretary of state did not engage with those arguments at all.”

The hearing continues today.

3:14 am
and we are off to HELLFEST…

So I may actually watch some bands this year.
This is what I want to see…

FRIDAY
Champion Main Stage 1:40 PM
100 Demons Dinosaur Stage 2:55 PM
Terror Main Stage 4:25 PM
Mastodon Main Stage 4:50 PM
Strike Anywhere Main Stage 6:45 PM
With Honor Dinosaur Stage 7:05 PM

SATURDAY
Blacklisted Hot Topic Stage 1:45 PM
Comeback Kid Hot Topic Stage 2:20 PM
The Hope Conspiracy Main Stage 3:40 PM
Misery Index Dinosaur Stage 4:40 PM
Caliban Main Stage 5:15 PM
Avail Main Stage 6:05 PM
Bane Main Stage 7:05 PM

SUNDAY
Most Precious Blood Main Stage 3:55 PM
Death By Stereo Main Stage 4:20 PM
Throwdown Main Stage 5:15 PM
The Promise Hot Topic Stage 5:15 PM [how am I supposed to watch them both at the same time]
Bleeding Through Main Stage 5:45 PM
Converge Main Stage 6:20 PM
25 Ta Life Hot Topic Stage 7:35 PM

Music:
Firestorm (demo) – Earth Crisis
Do You Still Hate Me – Jawbreaker
This Is Mine – The Angels Of Light
Run Run Run – The Velveet Underground
Hard Times – Ludacris

“I know you’re hurting now
but I can’t point my finger at
the words I should or shouldn’t say
anything
to take the pain away”
– Chalkline, Strike Anywhere

I hate where we are at.

I went and saw Righteous Jams, Desperate Measures, and Mental last night. Good times, way too fucking hot. Then went for some late night Chinese food with a sick crew of trouble. It was good to actually meet and bro down with Josh, seriously awesome kid.
I am running on a few hours of sleep, coffee, and lots of Hot Water Music.

Sadly Tre’s Grandmother passed last night and he will not be joining us at Hellfest.

Alright off to see my new girlfriend (the gym).

Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Wednesday July 21, 2004
The Guardian

The American singer Linda Ronstadt got a taste of the acrimony of this polarised election year in the US when she was escorted from a Las Vegas casino after she had dedicated a song to the filmmaker Michael Moore.

Calling Moore a “great American patriot” and “someone who is seeking the truth,” she urged her audience to see his film Fahrenheit 9/11.

But Bill Timmins, the manager of the Aladdin hotel-casino, took exception to the introduction of politics into the Nevada holiday city.

“It was a very ugly scene,” Mr Timmins told the Associated Press. “She praised him and all of a sudden all bedlam broke loose.”

The singer’s actions, he said, “spoiled a wonderful evening for our guests and we had to do something about it. As long as I’m here, she’s not going to play”.

After her comments, dozens from the 1,300-strong audience left,with some reportedly tearing down posters. Ronstadt, 58, was not permitted to return to her suite and was removed from the building.

Watch This

This past Friday, Chris, Bexx, Nicole, Tre, Maxx Powers and I drove down to Wilkes – Barre, PA for Posi Numbers. Fun times. Way too many fights. Lots of good friends. At too much Taco Bell. Got some new jeans.
Got some new books…

Ishmael
Daniel Quinn
Ishmael, a gorilla rescued from a traveling show who has learned to reason and communicate, uses these skills to educate himself in human history and culture. Through a series of philosophical conversations with the unnamed narrator, a disillusioned Sixties idealist, Ishmael lays out a theory of what has gone wrong with human civilization and how to correct it, a theory based on the tenet that humanity belongs to the planet rather than vice versa.

The Story of B
Daniel Quinn
The continuation of “Ishmael”

Portable Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
This made the weekend more barable.
“Insanity in individuals is something rare – but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

“The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.”

“Christianity was from the beginning, essentially and fundamentally, life’s nausea and disgust with life, merely concealed behind, masked by, dressed up as, faith in “another” or “better” life.”

I scored this badass last night…
seriously I am obsessed.
Look at all these that I have to get

I will get to the iPod’s when I have more time.
I may just go buy one and play with it…

we have alot to discuss.
but right now run your software update and get the new iPod software.
I must sleep.

I think I am going to lose my mind…
I’m not the most posi edgeman.
Oh well Buske and I can walk around being angry.