From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu From: Bruce Reilly (a.k.a Bruha) Message-ID: Subject: [9fans] diane, many of us have burrowed Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2003 23:42:29 +0000 Topicbox-Message-UUID: 97a6fa06-eacc-11e9-9e20-41e7f4b1d025 Dear Judges, Lawyers, Policemen, Guards, Counselors, Taxpayers, et. al., We are here. Like it or not, for good or bad, we are here. Who are we? We are the downtrodden and dispossesed, the self-torturing, the disenfranchised convicts, drug and alcohol addicts, the unemployed and unemployable. We are the children of poverty, financial and spiritual. We have and will have children of our own, grandchildren too. We are ex-cons, uninsured, homeless, of many colors and speaking many tongues. We are the enemy in what has become a domestic war against ourselves. And who are you? You who like the tough talk of Tough on Crime? You who watch as budgets are cut in education and health care while you militarize a police force? Bullet-proof vests, automatic weapons, helicopters, tanks, robots ... the testosterone is oozing through the streets, more prisons, longer sentences, tighten the belt, spartan conditions, task forces, gang units, gun courts. And what is there to show for it? Unemployent stays low because half the population oversees those "out of the workforce", the dregs, the rabble, the enemy? Please tell me there is a deeper reason. Do you feel safer? More humane? More like a cohesive society with a shared sense of purpose, who can identify Us and Them? Do you live in a gated community or gentrified neighborhood? By the way, have you read the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution - or do you only know the first phrases? It's about time we got together. Please know that I have yet to meet a convict who wants their child to be a thief, an addict, a dealer, a prostitute, or a violent individual. Most of us still have hope for ourselves even when stuck in the darkest dilemmas, ruts and catch-22s. Most of us believe in crafting laws and instilling order. Many of us have burrowed beneath the surface to find a spiritual sense of being, an understanding force at least as powerful as those we succumbed to, and many of use wouldn't escape if you opened the front door. Did you know that approximately 10 million Americans are either incarcerated, on probation, on parole or once were in those categories? Each of those 10 million have families, friends, neighbors ... and so closer and closer does the We interface with the You. Don't you think it's time we talked? Are you ready? Can you accept that the road we are travelling points toward a grim and painful future? Do you have the heart to face monumental failures while bravely struggling beyond where we are now? I know that some of you are, and that some of us are, and this is what gives me hope. You need our insights just as we need your structure. It is never over, especially when a real solution, a real treatment for our sickness, is yet to begin. In Solidarity, Bruce Reilly (a.k.a Bruha) P.O.Box 8274 Cranston, RI 02920 USA P.S. - I am trying to conceptualize an effective guerilla media campaign to promote this cause. Ideas are welcome. Collaboration is prayed. so they shouldn't be expired until a new version has been posted, so if you can't find the FAQ in either the newsgroup or news.answers, there probably isn't one (thus, it's probably not useful to post a question asking whether there is one). If you have local experts (or simply more experienced users than yourself) at your site, try asking them before posting. If you're trying to find where you can FTP software or a newsgroup archive, try using the Archie service; see postings in news.answers for details. Many newsgroups are also archived in Wide Area Information Service (WAIS) databases; WAIS client software may be FTPed from ftp.think.com, or you may use WAIS by telnetting to quake.think.com and logging in as "wais". Finally, you should also check the manuals for your system; if you don't, and you post a question that's answered there, you'll likely receive a number of responses that scream "RTFM" (Read the F*ing Manual). Usually, it is sufficient to post any article to a single newsgroup; the one that's most relevant to the subject of your article. If the article is really relevant to multiple newsgroups, then "cross-post" to the relevant newsgroups by posting the article only once with all newsgroups named on the "Newsgroups" header line. For example: Newsgroups: comp.fish,misc.sheep,talk.ketchup would cause an article to be posted to comp.fish, misc.sheep, and talk.ketchup simultaneously. If you are using TIN, please do not use the "crosspost