Re: terrance, either incarcerated

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.


















which will affect >'s that are not being used as the citation
character.  (In particular, it will damage the "References" line in the
article header.)


In preparing an article, be aware that other people's machines are
not the same as yours.  The following is a list of things to keep
in mind:
 * Keep your lines under 80 characters, and under 72 if possible (so that
   the lines won't get longer than 80 when people include them when
   responding to your postings).  Most editors have a fill or format mode
   that will do this for you automatically.  Make sure that it
   actually puts ("hard") newline characters into the file, rather
   than just wrapping the displayed lines on your screen.
 * Right justified text may look "prettier" in some sense, but it
   is almost always harder to read than leaving ragged right
   margins; don't justify your articles.
 * Most special control characters will not work for most readers.
   In fact, the  space character is about the only one
   you can be sure will work consistently. Even tabs aren't always
   the same from machine to machine, and should be avoided.  Many mail
   agents will strip or remap control characters.
 * Pictures and diagrams should not use embedded tabs.
 * Refer to articles by Message-ID, and never by article number.
   Article numbers vary on every news system, Message-IDs are always
   preserved throughout the network.
 * What you think is the previous article is unlikely to be so elsewhere.
 * Submissions in a single case (all upper or all lower) are
   difficult to read.


In general, when a mailing to somebody fails, DON'T post a message
about it!  Think for a moment: you are trying to send something to
someone on ONE system.  Your message might go through (at most) TEN
systems on the way there.  Posting a message in the news sends it to
many t