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.
ideas and information is what such institutions are all about. But the passage of years has changed
Usenet's character. Today, by plain count, most Usenet sites are commercial entities.
7. Usenet is not an advertising medium.
Because of Usenet's roots in academia, and because Usenet depends so heavily on cooperation
(sometimes among competitors), custom dictates that advertising be kept to a minimum. It is
tolerated if it is infrequent, informative, and low-hype.
The "comp.newprod" newsgroup is NOT an exception to this rule: product announcements are
screened by a moderator in an attempt to keep the hype-to-information ratio in check.
If you must engage in flackery for your company, use the "biz" hierarchy, which is
explicitly "advertising-allowed", and which (like all of Usenet) is carried only by those
sites that want it.
8. Usenet is not the Internet.
The Internet is a wide-ranging network, parts of which are subsidized by various governments. It
carries many kinds of traffic, of which Usenet is only one. And the Internet is only one of the
various networks carrying Usenet traffic.
9. Usenet is not a UUCP network.
UUCP is a protocol (actually a "protocol suite," but that's a