Re: katherine, "out of the workforce"

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.








limiting this to a maximum
   of as few as 8 characters, since this is the limit of some archaic
   operating systems.  Other nearly equally archaic OS's limit you to 14
   characters.  Do what you will, but realize others' limitations...  
   REQUIRED.
3) The type of picture (GIF, JPEG, PostScript).  The suggested standard
   is to stick to all lower case, three characters maximum (gif, jpg, ps).
   REQUIRED.
4, 5) Which part of how many this is.  Enclosed in parentheses.
   REQUIRED.
6) The type of picture ("male", "female", "both", "plane", "scenic", etc.).
   Enclosed in curly brackets.
   OPTIONAL (but very considerate).
7) Notifies everyone that this is a repost of a posting that went sour.
   Enclosed in up-arrows (circumflex or caret characters).
   OPTIONAL (but very considerate).
8) Flag that notifies people that this posting uses script wrappers (in case
   they have to handle these special).  Enclosed in square brackets.
   OPTIONAL (but very considerate).
9) Additional descriptive text to give a better idea of what's in the picture.
   Enclosed in double quotes.
   OPTIONAL (but very considerate).

This suggested standard is intended to be strictly ordered (i.e. if there's
a ^REPOST^ notification, it appears after any label info and before any
script wrapper notification).

For example:

   - CRSH+BRN.GIF (02/08) {plane} "Plane crash at an air show, 800x600x256"
Notice that it includes everything: the file name, what part of how 
many this one is, a short description, and the resolution.  If you 
insist on leaving everything *else* out, at least say the name of
the file and which part of how many it is!
In the "erotica" newsgroups, it's also popular (and often demanded!)
to include the picture subject's gender (i.e. "{male}", "{female}", 
"{both}", etc.).  The gender should be considered as part of the 
minimal set of information in the "erotica" newsgroups, as the addition
of this information to the s