Libertad's Journal

06/07/2006 01:51 #25760

The Omen

So (e:mike) and I went to see The Omen. I never saw the original because I never really was allowed to see ANYTHING when I was younger, so i missed out on years of horror flicks. It even seemed worth the $9, which normally I think is a bit excessive. Movie makers need to know that blood and gore don't necessarily make a great film, it's all about the story. The Omen is a great story, they make it believable and don't buy the audience with cheap scares.

Anyways, when I'm at movies I love the way people react to it and love listening to the things they say. Some people went to the opening night of the Omen, 666, completely fucked up and laughed rather hard at weird moments, which eventually made the entire theater join in. But maybe I am the fucked up one, cause I laughed when others didn't laugh at all.

The one thing I would ask for is a different Damien, he just wasn't evil enough.

Do you think it's damaging to a child to play a demonic role in a movie? What about to let them attend the movie itself? Is that damaging? The truth was that the movie scared me in the way I like to be scared. Not in the sick and disgusting way that Hostel scared me.

mrdt - 06/07/06 03:08
omg is that the fresh prince. hehe

06/05/2006 19:30 #25759

The Beautiful Colors of Pride

The Beautiful Colors of Pride

On Sunday, June 4, 2006 I marched for the fourth consecutive year with The Soka Gakkai International (SGI) a worldwide Buddhist group striving for peace and happiness. The Buffalo chapter of the SGI is admired throughout the organization including New York City and San Francisco for their amazing ability to unite and show the community the values we stand for. Every year we have faced adversity and been shown signs of resistance and hate. I'm happy to say that this year was the best, in that messages of hate were at a minimum. The first year that we marched was 2003 and a much larger group seething with hatred immediately bombarded us. They were taken by surprise by an overwhelming opposing message of happiness and respect for others. In Buddhism we make our lives more aware of the nature of cause and effect and I truly believe that our organization has had a positive affect on this city. That first year we took all of Buffalo by surprise, as we were the largest contingent in the parade! This year we were awarded best walking contingent!

Today, June 5, 2006, I was deeply saddened to hear the president address the people of our country with his own message of hate. He is using the GLBT community for political purposes. Recently, it has become a crime to protest at US military funerals. I think that is great, people should have the right to grieve in peace, but shouldn't the same right be awarded to those grieving at a GLBT funeral? He packed the room where the address took place with supporters of his agenda to make a Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages, not allowing for the many who disagree with such a ban for their voices to be heard. In the front row, two black men sat applauding the president's speech. The president claimed that the majority of the country's people supported defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Since we live in a 'free' society congress should ratify the amendment to the Constitution. Would those black men sit there and applaud the President if he were asking for an amendment to the Constitution denying citizenship and freedom to black men because the majority of the people wanted to enslave them? Is that freedom?

For next year's Pride Parade, I would like to propose that Pride Buffalo open up the march to all who would like to participate regardless of whether they associate with a group or not. We need everyone who supports the GLBT community to march especially the members of that community. We still have not reached equality and the Pride Movement is still as important as the day it began. It's time for all of us to unite together at the parade and demand our freedom.

Libertad

Enjoy the photos!

Thanks for marching with us (e:ladycroft) and Dan!

This is a bad pic of Jennifer. She didn't march with us, but I think she supports our group

Wendy

Maimi

Isabel

Jane

Andrew

Mike

Jeanette and Mike

Jeanette's mother

Steve

Beauty Queens

Supporter

Buddhist Messages

Colors of Diversity

Beautiful Day

United

Marching Band

Steve made his shirt

SGI member representing Canada

Jay

Beat to a different drum

Lisa

Blue is from 2003, yellow 2004 and Red 2005. The three colors are the colors of the SGI

Star Power

What a smile!

Michael

Christina

Families supporting

Kim, Moonjung, and Wendy

Mitzi

Jennifer

Bidwell

Lisa

We won!

Love

Performance

Estrip Models

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.

06/01/2006 14:37 #25756

Diverse Videos

I happened upon this blog by accident. It's in Spanish, but you don't have to read it. The videos this guy has are a diverse collection of different bands that I though different (e:peeps) might enjoy. They are from utube.com, which I'm really starting to get into. If you have some time, check a few of them out. He also posted some nice photographs.

One of my favorites is dated "jueves, Mayo 25, 2006" title "Si pudiera decirle a Tim" it's called "Corpse Bride Duet"
Libertad

06/02/2006 10:42 #25758

Why I hate Big Business

So call me a commie bastard, but yes I do hate big business. They are destroying the beauty of this country, not to mention what they are doing abroad. Why did I focus on Wal-Mart? The answer is because Wal-Mart covers their business practices up with excessive false patriotism. I find this ridiculous and a slap in the face to our intelligence. Patriotism is not about waving a flag around a reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, it's about doing what is right for your country and for it's future. A patriotic company isn't just concerned with the bottom line, but for the environment in which it operates, the welfare of its employees and the image they are portraying of their country. I do not criticize people for shopping at Wal-Mart. How could I criticize someone for trying to get the cheapest price when people are struggling to pay their rent, their heat etc. I criticize Wal-Mart because they are the most visible and they deserve every bit of negative publicity they get. They dehumanize their employees by making them wear ugly blue smocks that say "How May I help You." At least if you work at Target you can retain at least some shred of dignity. (Please don't hate me if you work at Wal-Mart) I could go on and on about this and that about this company or that, but I will save my breath. There is plenty of information available to those who want to find out why Wal-Mart or any other company out there sucks. They may teach in business school why a particular company is considered a perfect business model, but maybe they should teach a thing or two to future business leaders about compassion.

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)

06/01/2006 14:45 #25757

Justice Please

Word on the street is that Lon Coldiron, owner of Coffee &, was found guilty of insurance fraud after he burned it down. He wasn't convicted of arson, but insurance fraud? How can this be? I wanted to testify against him, but the investigators never contacted me even after I made an attempt to contact them. He faces 8-12 years of pound you in the ass prison. Good you stupid fuck.

Lon,

You are so selfish. I truly think you deserve your fate, not only for this, but for all the terrible things you have done. It is my hope that you have ample time to think of all the people you have used in your life. When I saw that beautiful house completely destroyed on my way to school in the fall of 2004, my most immediate concern was for your safety, because I knew that you lived in the attic, which was practically non-existent after you torched it. There was a look of absolute horror as I drove by that morning. I thought oh no, it finally happened, an electrical fire. See, if I knew that you had insurance, I would have thought that you had done it right away, but I didn't learn that until later. I got out of the car practically in tears; I thought that you could be dead. Why did I even care about you then? What have you ever done for me? You stole my tips, you left me alone to work, and when I was finally assaulted because I was working alone, you couldn't come to help me because you were in Niagara Falls gambling. You used Nikki as if she were disposable, pillaging her retirement, working her to death as you sat on your big fat ass. You sexually harassed me, as if I were some cheap whore that would have sex with you for money or so that I could become a manager like I would really be moving up in the world. Have you always been like this Lon? Did you ever have any morals, any decency?

That was not your house to burn down! It was part of Elmwood, part of history. You stole that from us. That house was not Coffee &, it was not yours! I have heard so many people tell stories about their experiences in that house. A couple came in once, they were so happy. They told me that they had gotten engaged there when it was previously a restaurant, can't remember which one. Christina Ricci supposedly vomited there all over the clown face mosaic on the floor. Oh my, that clown was evil looking wasn't it? I remember when I would close at night, in the beginning; there was one single light above the clown face that never shut off. That was until you couldn't afford to replace the light bulb. Everything would be dark after closing except that clown. If you stood on the clown's face you could see yourself in the mirror with that one single light shinning down on you. I loved that! I never had a run in with the ghosts that occupied that building, but I knew there was something there. I wonder what has happened to them? Do they haunt Cecilia's stupid patio now?

You did not pay your sales taxes; you did not know how to run a business. You made everyone else pay, because you are fat and lazy. I met someone very special in that house. He was so cute...Mocha Jet Café Please! There were lots of special people I met there, including the guy who made the mosaic clown. I hope that the dog you loved so much that you killed in the fire haunts you in your sleep. Really more than anything I just want you to be sorry, to finally take responsibility in your life and to apologize to the people that you have hurt so badly. You let all those people raise money for you after the fire, because you are not a man.

Libertad

If anyone has any photos of the house please post them! Maybe someday I'll find out his address in prison and send this to him.

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.