that sells more then half of the United States music. John Woods, co-founder of a grassroots anti-censorship organization said in a statement that most attacks on the music industry are fueled by politicians and groups such as the Christian Coalition and the American Family Association. Later he also said "Quite simply, the federal government, state governments and local governments are very skillfully using the controversy created by religious organizations in an effort to completely render the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to be a relic from the past in the interest of gaining greater control over society as a whole." I for one agree with that statement. Dave Marvin, a spokesman for state Sen. Dale Shugars, said the Michigan Republican is working on a bill to be sent to the state Legislature in July. The bill would fine site owners who permit minors unless accompanied by an adult to attend concerts or buy music that has offensive acts or speech. The manager of Pearl Jam, L-7, Rage Against the Machine, and rappers like JayZ, Ice Cube, Master P, and Russell Simons recently said that they will boycott any state that passes a law such as that. "It's up to the artists to provide a much-needed spine for the industry by using their celebrities' status to effectively draw the line in the sand to tell the would-be censors to stuff it if they are offended because we have a First Amendment guaranteeing our freedom of expression," Woods said. One man they asked off the street said "Why do I hate rap? Well I guess the number 1 reason I hate rap is the lack of talent that a rapper needs. All the music is synthetic, made on machines. Another thing I don't get about rap is that many rappers use the "Gangsta rap" theme. Then when a rapper gets killed, it's a shock! They only rap about what they know! Yes, have someone murdered is horrible, but if they rap about it and they say how they were brought up in it, is it really a shock?" ...
