wrote:
So what's with the effective date at the FAA webpage?
Are the effective dates periodically changed for some
reason?

I think the effective date is referring to the amendment. I suppose the
FAR was re-written at some point, such that the website is only showing
the date of the "most current" version, which is the one from 2002.

Pre-edit:

Apparently there's was a docket issued that changed parts of 121:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/2oxmum

And that must be why the date's off.

TheSmokingGnu