You Think You Know Somebody.....

I don't know what to say about this.

This man is (was?) my friend. We had a lot of fun in "The Miserable Few" & later in "Twice Daily", the Irish bands that we played in together. He amazed me with his talent on guitar, bazooki, mandolin, banjo & anything else he played.

And then I hear a news story on the radio & later, in order to prove that this isn't the guy I know, that it's somebody else, I went to the original newspaper article & read this:

A Lindenhurst man has been charged with possession of child pornography found on his computer by a Kansas technology firm.

Peter Macdonald, 57, was arrested Monday by Lake County sheriff's police.

Lou Archbold, an investigator for the Lake County state's attorney's office, said Macdonald sent his laptop computer to Resq System in Olathe, Kan., to have a new hard drive installed March 16.

Technicians at the firm could not start the computer, Archbold said, so they called Macdonald for his user name and password.

Macdonald supplied the company with the information, Archbold said, and technicians found a pornographic picture of a young boy as the desktop background of the device.

Technicians also located several files they suspected contained child pornography, Archbold said, so they contacted local police.

Kansas police sent the computer to the FBI for analysis, Archbold said, and the FBI alerted Lake County authorities.

Macdonald was taken into custody at his home at 839 Colony Court. He was released after posting $10,000 cash for bond.

He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted and is scheduled to appear July 7 in court.

When I saw the photo at the top of the page, it was like getting hit in the gut. Denial kinda stops at that point.

I want to give my friend the benefit of the doubt, you know?

But as a father, I don't want to hear excuses, I don't want to hear lies, I don't want to hear rationalizations. Pedophiles make me puke. There's not a pit in Hell hot enough for those who get off on the victimization of children.

Even if one of them was my friend.

I still pray that this is some mistake. We all know people who've taken pictures of their little kids in the tub, running around nekked and what not, without one iota of a sexual thought - the kid's cute, & that's it.

Of course, nowadays that could be seen as kiddie pr0n even when it's plainly not....

I just don't want to believe that my friend is a pervert is all.

Their Intent

I was happy to see that the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the 2nd Amendment.

That's partly sarcastic: imagine the Supreme Court having to "uphold" an actual amendment -- not a court ruling, BUT AN ACTUAL, ALREADY EXISTING AMENDMENT to our Constitution!

It disturbs me greatly that 4 judges voted to just toss out one of our most important freedoms, that of being able to defend ourselves from harm, with firearms, & that this already clearly defined Constitutional right wasn't held up BY ALL NINE JUDGES!

Those four liberal hacks claimed that they "didn't know the intent" of what our Founding Fathers meant when they wrote the 2nd Amendment...... Fuck, they didn't look too goddamned hard, did they, because my incompetent ass found various comments from several of the Founders on just exactly what they meant when they wrote:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

• To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of the people always posses arms... -Richard Henry Lee, Additional Letters From The Federal Farmer, 1788

• The Constitution [shall] be never construed to ... prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms. - Samuel Adams, Massachusetts' U.S. Constitution ratification convention, 1788

• Let us remember that if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it. - Samuel Adams

• The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword, because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force far superior to any band of regular troops... - Noah Webster, An Examination of The Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, Philadelphia, 1787

• No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. -Thomas Jefferson, Proposed Virginia Constitution, 1776

• Arms in the hands of individual citizens [may] be used at individual discretion ... in private self-defense... - John Adams, A Defense of the Constitution of Government of the United States of America, 1788

• ...[A]rms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as property... Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them. -Thomas Paine, Thoughts On Defensive War, 1775

• Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. When you give up that force you are ruined. - Patrick Henry, Virginia's U.S. Constitution ratification convention

• If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I would never lay down my arms - never - never - never! You cannot conquer America. - William Pitt, Speech, November 18, 1777

• Necessity is the plea for infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. -William Pitt

• (The Constitution preserves) the advantage of being armed which Americans posses over the people of almost every other nation ... (where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. - James Madison, The Federalist, No.46

• A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercise I advise the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion on your walks. -Thomas Jefferson, August 19, 1785

"...on your walks." Unless you're just walking around your house, I'm pretty sure he meant when you're not home!!!

• "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." - Thomas Jefferson

• "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." - George Washington

(The above quotations were found here.)

That's just a few, but you get my point. THEIR INTENT & MEANING WAS CLEAR & JUST AS RELEVANT NOW AS THEN.

And if you still can't understand it, then piss off, 'cause I have no time for someone who can't read what's in front of them.

With Love (I'm sure) From Petey

That sonofa..... I mean, my good friend Petey smacked me with this meme, & nice guy that I am...... aww Hell, here it is:

The rules:

1. Post the rules of the game at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

====================================================================

What were you doing five years ago?

I was working as a temp making rotary brakes. Exciting, eh?

What are five things on your to-do list for today?

1) Go to work
2) Come home to work (dishes, laundry, kids' baths, etc...)
3) Go down to Contagion's to fill out the online registration for Theatiki (seeing as how my 'puter's a piece of shit & barely able to handle this blog). I should probably ask him first, of course.....
4) Fill out this freakin' thing
5) Go to bed, so I can repeat steps 1 & 2.... into perpetuity.....

What are five snacks you enjoy?

1) Those Reese's Granola bars with the peanut butter on 'em
2) The Wife's cookies. Doesn't matter which ones; peanut butter, chocolate chip, peanut butter- chocolate chip, etc...
3) Peanut butter & honey sandwiches (are you seeing a pattern)
4) Cheese, the stinkier the better!
5) corn chips with salsa

What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire?

1) Get one or two off-shore accounts
2) Pay off my & my family's debts
3) Donate a goodly portion to Catholic Charities, the Boy Scouts, the Red Cross & whatever other worthy charities I can think of, all anonymously. I have ALWAYS wanted to do that -- drop a couple thou in a small church's collection plate, & walk away.... That'd be the BEST!
4) Get the fuck out of Rockford!!!
5) Take The Wife & kids to Scotland, Ireland, & England for a year... maybe longer

What are five of your bad habits?

1) Smoking cigarettes... a pack & a half a day now...
2) I drink a lot -- A LOT -- of Coke. I'm working on sticking to Diet Coke as of today
3) I get pissed easily, especially at fucking morons who don't know how to fucking drive!
4) I have a slight tendency to curse.... &
5) Sometimes I understate facts

What are five places where you have lived?

1) Roodhouse, IL. Born there, left there at the soonest opportunity
2) Ft. Benning, GA. All too briefly.. Long story & I'll not repeat it
3) Jacksonville, IL. For the one year I went to MacMurray College & thereby met The Wife
4) Champaign-Urbana, IL. Where The Wife & I lived after we married
5) Rockford, IL. God help me...

What are five jobs you’ve had? (a short list)

1) Security guard (briefly)
2) Fork truck driver in a warehouse
3) Machine set-up/operator in a paint/colorant factory
4) Machine operator for a brake manufacturer (very briefly)
5) Truck driver

Now I know I'm supposed to pass this on to five other people, but I know from experience that by the time I get these meme things, all my close friends have already gotten 'em, so what'd be the point?

This one was one the better ones: nothing nasty &/or nothing that was nobody's goddamned business....

There's that cursing problem....