J.P.W. Griswold
Ok, this weekend is "the shindig" which is a collection of our artist friends coming up to the shop and generally hanging out and doing a bit of their craft for the public to view whilst a heritage festival simmers across the street in the Hart Heritage District (the only Industrial Historic District in Michigan, I believe).
It is something of an open house and community service to allow people to see the shop all rolled into one. In some ways, it's a real pain. In others it is fun. We have to make sure that all our clients pieces are secure and the shop cleaned more than if we were working, and that takes a fair bit of effort and time we simply often do not have.
But never fear, we still work when the place is not full of tourists! Then Monday we are back on the regular schedual and we will be getting some orders out on Tuesday.
We had a pretty major scare this past week that halted production completely for the entire week. My poor little wife was having some medical problems, now she seems to be feeling a bit better but it will be a major weight once the tests have come back and we can tackle what ever may be ailing her. Hopefully it is simply stress or something of that ilk. Generally, I would rather not speak of such things in such a public forum, but this was a pretty major scare that seems to be less than we first thought. More to come on that once we know.
And to make matters worse, her father is a corrections officer at a location that just had an attempted breakout, and was the first officer on the scene. We have been very concerned about his state, but have just found out that he is ok and unharmed. Thanks God! Of couse, the Media seems to think the prisoners are the victems here, forgetting that one of the pair is a convicted murder and the other kidnapped and repeatedly raped a young girl. Or that they severly beat a female guard and the driver of the trash truck that was commendeered, probably ending both of their careers and leaving them with a life time of pain and suffereing. Neither prisoner got what was needed; they were treated very professionally and did not recieve the beating that they so desperately derserved. The public was never in danger, but to hear TV 8 tell it, charlie manson was going to get out and take a bus load of kindergardeners hostage. The media spin here always seems to favor the attacker and paint the victem as the criminal.
Which brings me to: THE SOAPBOX
I have about had it with the treatment certain prisoners are getting by the goverment. Sure, some people in the prison system made mistakes, but that should not allow them special privilages they would not have had in the outside world. I simply can not understand why killers have it better than the working class people who they have attacked. Cable television, air conditioning, time in the gym, better meals than you and I eat half the time all on our tab.
In particular, the ones that really set me off (and I hope many of you as well) are child rapists. Not "molesters" as the politically correct like to call them. They are rapists. I am certainly far from the usuall "we must protect our young at all cost" groups out there. I think a lot of this "child saftey" line has gone way too far. Kids need to be exposed to germs; it builds their imune system so when they reach adulthood they are not killed by the common cold, as I expect we will start to see in the near future. They need to be exposed to trauma, strife and death and then taught how to cope and overcome such things. I am not saying they should be *intentionally* exposed to it, but when it comes along natuarlly, they should be taught to deal with it.
But to be raped as a child goes beyond the pale of childhood strife. The death of a loved grandparent is hard enough; let alone going to the funeral and being raped by someone in the bathroom (happened in a nearby town some years back).
My solution is a fairly simple, brutal, draconian one: Once proven and convicted (and proven well, as there are cases of kids or adults making false charges), take the kiddy-diddler out to the town square and start their legs on fire. All other prisoners in the system are *required* to be present and watch. Public hanging and such is also very effective, though in our nice, clean, antiseptic society this is considerd cruel and unusual punishment. Is it really? Think back to your happiest childhood memory. The really good one. Now imagine, right in the middle of that, being raped. Think how it feels to sleep under your bed at night, so that that person can not find you. To always be afraid. To never trust people again. What kind of punishment is that? Especially to someone who did not derserve it, could not struggle to avoid it and has no recourse.
And I do not think that execution for child rapists is the right course. A lifetime of pain, suffering and toil is so much more derserved. Once the charred flesh heals, and the brand on their forehead is placed, chain them to others like them for 25 years and put them to work for the country. The chains do not come off either, for the chains on that child's heart will last that long as well. Probably longer. This is one of the many things eroding our society that is often forgotten about, left unsaid or intentionally downplayed.
Get the kids help. Make the criminal pay and pay dearly for their crimes.
Harsh? You had better believe it. Too harsh? Perhaps. But with the way things get watered down in our punishment system, within weeks of putting this system into place, it will get watered down to yet another slap on the wrist. The criminal will get warehoused in a facility where he is living better than the guards and police that got him there, and he can train to be a better, stronger criminal than he went in as. He will have full access to a complete legal library, free council and learn how to use the system to his advantage, so when he gets out, he will know how to do his favored crime better and have less chance of getting caught or prosecuted. As it is now.
The police and jailors are trying to protect you and I from these sub-humans. Give them a chance, help them if you can. And if you know of a child rapist, get the child help and report the criminal. Sadly, he will only serve 6 years of his 25 year sentance and be released to do it again, but hopefully some of the "better" criminals in the system will deal with them. (those better criminals are the ones who made legitimate mistakes, and are justly serving their debt to society, while they try to better themselves, and intend to be good citizens upon release). You see, many people in prison have sons and daughters, just like the rest of society. They like these child rapists about as well as I do, in some cases are even darker viewed about them. And they often deal with the issue for us, even though they should not have to.
I have so much more bile to vent about this topic, and others, but that really is not what this weblog is all about, so I shall end it here.
OFF THE SOAPBOX
This weblog is really about metal, and making things, and I have been rather lax about writing on these topics. I shall endeavor to do so in the near future.
Until then, stay safe, enjoy life, love your family, smile at strangers, try to drive nice out there.
Thanks God, for my life, abilities, family and the saftey of my Dearest Little Wife.
