michael, tighten the belt

Dear Bruha,

I'm sorry you feel the way you do at this time when most of us are giving
thanks that we have whatever we have. Perhaps you haven't been to many
other places in the world to be able to contrast and compare.

I don't think very many of us in this group were born with a silver spoon in
our mouths. We've seen and lived in poverty, we've gone through struggles
in our lives. I much prefer trying to build something better in my life and
in my community, rather than trying to divide people into groups pitted one
against the other.

Maybe you should go dig a pond, I know that's good for the soul!

Happy Thanksgiving,
Tim

"Bruce Reilly (a.k.a Bruha)" wrote in message
...
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.









Usenet Newsgroup Creation Companion
Newsgroups: news.groups, news.announce.newusers, news.answers

Subject: What is Usenet?
Newsgroups: news.announce.newusers, news.admin.misc, news.answers



From: (David C Lawrence)
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups, news.groups, news.announce.newusers,
news.admin.misc
Subject: How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup
Message-ID:
Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2000 16:25:28 GMT

Archive-name: usenet/creating-newsgroups/part1
Original-author: (Greg Woods)
Comment: enhanced & edited until 5/93 by (Gene
Spafford)
Last-change: 31 Jan 1997 by (David C Lawrence)

GUIDELINES FOR USENET GROUP CREATION

REQUIREMENTS FOR GROUP CREATION:

These are guidelines that have been generally agreed upon across
Usenet as appropriate for following in the creating of new newsgroups
in the "standard" Usenet newsgroup hierarchy. They are NOT intended as
guidelines for setting Usenet policy other than group creations, and
they are not intended to apply to "alternate" or local news
hierarchies. The part of the namespace affected is comp, humanities,
misc, news, rec, sci, soc, talk, which are the most widely-distributed
areas of the Usenet hierarchy.

Any group creation request which follows these guidelines to a
successful result should be honored, and any request which fails to
follow these procedures or to obtain a successful result from doing so
should be dropped, except under extraordinary circumstances. The
reas