twisted - 06/05/06 22:37
Whoa! If a picture is worth 1,000 words, that is a million dollar post. Nice to see.

mrdt - 06/05/06 21:56
good lord you like to take pictures.

...the only constant is change...

libertad - 06/05/06 21:28
Thanks for the last pic (e:matthew)! That's paul holding the logo.

mrmike - 06/05/06 21:18
Great Photos. I'm sorry I missed you guys. I was in front of spot and saw the group but couldn't pick you to say hello. I wound up getting drafted by the straight not narrow folks for part of it.

metalpeter - 06/05/06 21:07
First of all nice Pics and thanks for sharing them. I know that no matter what I say here someone isn't going to like it But I'm going to see what comes out.

You suggest that anyone who wants to walk should be able to. I think that is a guy idea in theory. I think as long as they do it in a way that shows support of wanting equal rights for gays or support for them, or even not hate. But on the other hand you don't want it so big that it is like the St. Patricks day parade. What do those bands have to do with St. Patricks day. They don't even play irish songs they play their normal marching songs.

I'm not defending making Same Sex Marriage illegal constituntionaly. Moraly I think it is fine to be gay. Moraly I think gays having the same Legal Rights to marry and the benifits that legaly come from mariage is good. That being said lots of People have been braught up to belive Homosexuality is a sin. Once you belive that then they don't want the church to say that it isn't a sin and allow mariage. I disagree with them but I respect there religous beliefs. What religous people don't understand sometimes is that Marriage is a legal contract and is really a state thing. In America people of the church and able to do marriages also. But it isn't only a religious thing. They also don't get that This country wasn't found on there religous priciples. The priciples where around before there religion and that is what our country was found on. Oh yeah plus the fact that we said fuck You to the the british and the tyrany.

However I do belive that people who belive homosexaulity and homosexual sex is a sin have every right to belive that and to demonstrate aganist gays. But that is it. They can hold there signs and let there thoughts be heard. But no personal attacks no trying to change the laws. Once you start represing someones freedom or try to you have gone to far. Or if you get in someones face that is going to far. They need to stop trying to save everyone and assuming that if you belive homosexaulity is ok you are evil to.

I know I have odd religous beliefs. But one thing I know is Jesus belived in loving your fellow man. I'm sure he never ment for his message to be turned into hate. I think it is verry important that people who disagree learn to get along with each other anyways.

libertad - 06/03/06 00:32
I saw huge environmental no-no's in Cuba. Maybe someday I'll talk about that, but for now its too much. I just get what your saying uncut. Metalpeter, that is funny "That is it of my rant"

metalpeter - 06/02/06 18:47
Comunism is In theory a great system. Everyone is equal and everybody at least as food. The problem is that most comunism is also run by communist governments with totolatarin leadership. Yes the political and econmic systems are differant. But the real problem with it is ther is no real growth and no reason to try and work hard since you will never really make any more money. That keeps the countries poor.

Captilism is Also a great system in theory. The whole supply and demand and all that great stuff. Again it is the Humans who fuck that up. Often in capitilism the gaining of capital or money is the main goal. Often this is of the indivual. Greed and coroption then are not really a big deal since the goal is to make as much money as possible. Look at delphi and many other corporations where the workers are laid of or fired or unions are broken cause the company, has no money. But yet all the executives and Stock holders get these huge fucking bonuses. There are a lot of companies who move out of the country for cheap labor so there profit goes up. As profit goes up stocks go up and the profit shareers make more money. But if these companies looked at what was better for the country they would look out for there workers. What happens when all these coporations out source all there work and no body has jobs and then no one has the money to buy there product. Captialism when greed takes over leads to a the poor being poorer and the rich being richer. I have heard that people who work at walmart can only afforid to buy things at walmart. In the words of Bill Maher "wal-mart is going to china, now the people who make wal-marts crap can now buy it" or something like that. That is it of my rant.

uncutsaniflush - 06/02/06 18:31
I spent my first six years in the People's Republic of Poland. My father, both my godparents and assorted relatives were all card carrying commies since in Poland at the time you needed to be a member of the Communist party to get ahead.

Unfortunately, Communist governments have an even worse environmental track record the U.S. and other industrialized "Western" countries.

I got that you were joking about being a commie but I wanted to make the point that workers and communities weren't treated any better in the Soviet Bloc workers' paradise.

I am distrustful of both capitalism and communism like many of my generation in Poland. We have seen all to clearly that no matter what the government is in power - the average person is going to get screwed in the end.

Many crimes are committed in the name of Freedom and Truth and Justice. And many people suffer as a result.

libertad - 06/02/06 16:55
uncutsaniflush,

I'm not really a commie, I just thought it sounded funny. Haha :) You know, I actaully don't claim to know what is the best economic system. Since I lived in Cuba for 4 months I can say their system isn't working all that great either. It certainly was refreshing to live away from McDonalds and all the rest of them for a while. It will be a sad sad day to see McDonalds or Wal-Mart being built in Cuba. They do have one McDonalds, but thats on the unwelcome US Naval Base. People say the US is a good example of capitalism at its best, but I say its completely out of control. We tend to think we are in such a great stable system, but really I think we will see otherwise in the future. Hopefully, I'll be wrong about that, but none of us really know. We are just starting to see now the consequences of not caring about the future. Utopia is no place, but I can't help but think we can do better.

uncutsaniflush - 06/02/06 15:25
I'm not sure that calling you a "commie" would be accurate since state-run economies in the Soviet Union, China and Eastern Bloc countries under the communists tend to dehumanize their workers and not care for the local community while wrapping themselves in the flag just like WalMart does.

Walmart and the stores in a state-run economy have much more in common with each other than might appear at first glance:

Both have a higher goal in which the individual worker doesn't matter very much.

Both have centralized planning and insist that the central office knows more than the local employees do.

Both are able to buy products in large quantities at price they can control to a large degree.

dcoffee - 06/02/06 13:18
I wrote a comment for this, but it turned into a post, check out my response to your journal (e:dcoffee)

libertad - 06/02/06 10:45
thanks for all your comments guys. I think I just needed to get that out of me.

ajay - 06/01/06 17:31
You can write a letter to the judge (copy to the prosecutor) about your views on this guy. I've heard it can have an influence during sentencing.

When I first heard about the fire, I was saddened. But then when I read the flyers he put up on the Strip, seeking help, talking about his dog, etc. (memory's fuzzy...), I started suspecting something was wrong. As Shakepeare wrote, "thou dost protest too much". Something smelled fishy, and I'm glad he's been nailed. Too bad about the house. And to think I wanted to help this guy offer free WiFi... :)

theecarey - 06/01/06 16:34
I am not sure if I said this before in a response to you. I vaguely remember commenting about "Coffee &" but not sure why?? hmm..

Anyway, I am not surprised that this incident finally caught up with him. As far as I know, his business dealings down south (um, Alabama? Louisianna?) went a similar route.

He did a lot of business off the books, "accidents", fires and the such for insurance money. Very sketchy... and manipulative.

Your story of him and how he dealt with people is very similar to people I know who worked for him.

I pity him.

uncutsaniflush - 06/01/06 16:13
wow, selfish bastards like this Coldiron guy never think how their actions affect others. It's just always "i, me, mine."

here's the buffalo news story on this:

No verdict reached in coffee shop arson case

Despite deadlock, jury finds guilt on fraud

By MATT GRYTA
News Staff Reporter
5/23/2006
After deliberating for four days, a jury Monday said that it could not agree on whether the owner of an Elmwood Avenue coffee shop set fire to his business two years ago. But the panel found him guilty in what proved to be an unsuccessful attempt at insurance fraud linked to the case.

Lon Coldiron, 39, was found guilty on three counts of attempted grand larceny for trying to collect $290,000 in property, business and renter's insurance on the fire.

The 12-member jury found him not guilty of an attempted-arson charge and was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on an arson charge.

It had deliberated for more than 25 hours since Wednesday, after a two-week trial before Erie County Judge Timothy J. Drury. Coldiron denied any involvement in the two-alarm fire, which killed his pet dog.

Coldiron, who now lives in West Seneca, did not react as the verdict was announced shortly before 2 p.m.

The jury foreman told the judge that the panel had reached a "deadlock that cannot be resolved" concerning a charge of third-degree arson in connection with Coldiron's alleged setting of the October 2004 fire.

Coldiron faces a possible prison term of up to 15 years for his conviction on the charge of attempted insurance fraud. Drury allowed him to remain free on $10,000 posted bail pending a June 1 post-trial hearing to determine what will be done on the felony arson charge.

Drury did not schedule a sentencing proceeding after trial prosecutors Michael L. McCabe, chief of the Erie County district attorney's Arson Bureau, and Maura K. O'Donnell told him they have to consult with District Attorney Frank J. Clark about the remaining arson charge.

Coldiron and his attorney, David G. Jay, declined to comment outside the courtroom. But Coldiron walked over to Erie County Sheriff's Deputy Ivy Wilson-Dinkins and thanked her for finding in the jury room a piece of evidence that Jay told the judge will play a role in an appeal.

The verdict came about three hours after the judge rejected Jay's motions for a mistrial because of alleged jury misconduct linked to a printout from the Internet of state criminal law dealing with someone guilty of aiding and abetting a crime.

Wilson-Dinkins found the printout Friday afternoon after the unsequestered jury had been allowed to go home early for the weekend.

Monday, Drury admonished the jury to consider "only law" that "comes from the court" without doing any unrelated legal research on their own. The identity of juror responsible for the printout was not revealed.

Coldiron suffered smoke inhalation and lost one of his three pet dogs as he and his two surviving pets were rescued by fire crews during the blaze.

Just days after the fire, neighborhood residents staged a benefit to raise funds for him.

Taking the witness stand May 15 and last Tuesday, Coldiron denied any involvement in the arson. He also told the jury he had been receiving threatening telephone calls for weeks before the fire.

Coldiron, who had been leasing the building from Ramesh Chainani of Amherst for about a year, was accused of setting the fire by using a flammable liquid in two spots on the building's first floor.

City fire investigators said they could never substantiate Coldiron's contention that he had been receiving threatening phone calls from an unknown man who he told authorities had threatened to burn the building down.

Prosecutors presented evidence that Coldiron, an admitted casino gambler who shut down his Niagara Falls coffee shop because of money problems, had only about $800 in the bank at the time of the fire.

The prosecutors also presented evidence that the state Tax Department only a week before the fire had threatened to seize the Buffalo coffee shop because Coldiron was at last $24,000 behind in sales tax payments.

During the trial, the jury also learned that while the Coldiron had lived above the coffee shop since May 2003, he never sought fire, property or rental insurance until about a month before the October 2004 fire.

paul - 06/01/06 16:08
Wow, that is some serious passion. I wonder if he really believed he was goign to get away with it. Or was he just totally insane? Why did they not contact you. That is so messed up. (e:mike) better work this nto the soap opera.

libertad - 05/31/06 19:42
I corrected the mistake in my journal...thanks again!

libertad - 05/31/06 19:38
(e:matthew),

thanks for the info. I will post something in the future about Florida problems.

matthew - 05/31/06 18:57
i think that's a gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus), not a turtle. They are is serious decline in florida. sad. i liked the pictures!