XOX
LOL

I’m astounded that Leonard Peltier is still locked up.

They didn’t teach us anything about Leonard Peltier in public school.

We Americans also need to remember that we are not passive observers, no matter how much we might tell ourselves there’s nothing we can do. We are paying to prosecute Bradley Manning, each one of us.

Our taxes also support the secret wars you speak of, and that means they support secret renditions, deaths and torture.

I do not understand the President, but one also needs to remember that all of us are far away from each other physically, only able to come together here on the bulletin board or a street corner or campaign office as some of these wonderful veterans have done.

We need to remember that the President is only one man, and he is a man with a family on display every day and an audience with some dangerously racist and/or economically frustrated members, who will blame him for the actions of the secret mob because he is the one they can see.

We are all only humans, occupying our differing roles, far away from each other. Running the “country” is not what one might assume, and none of us can know what those in other roles truly experience. We were never there. Washington, D.C., is far away from most of us. We have to accept that there are things we cannot know and must not assume.

I would really like to see communities come together on this with public safety employees given a special role. I would like to see better communication with police, for example; instead of putting them on the other side of a culture clash, why not share information with them instead? Is it possible? I went to a gathering for Brad Manning in Westwood last week and met the coolest, cutest young kids –they were almost all young—really good kids, none of them staring into cell phones, all talking, wondering what the hell they can do to help. There was a police car hovering about 25 yards down the street, and I considered walking over to whoever was in the car and saying hello, and maybe giving the officers a handout on veteran actions that took place that day in L.A., which I mailed to each L.A. County Supervisor and their support staff. I have yet to hear back from any of the Supes, but at least they know that these protests at Obama’s campaign offices took place in their city. I did not approach the police, but I wondered if they would be receptive, or hostile. I just read a great book by Norm Stamper that makes me appreciate, all over again, the daily horrors they face in their jobs.

I can’t shake the feeling most cops are good cops. The ones who are good demonstrate their goodness at these gatherings by refusing to brutalize peaceful people. Like Captain Lewis of Philly who demonstrated so beautifully and was arrested at Occupy Wall Street. Those are the ones we need to speak with. We need to talk about our country AND our communities.

I would like to see a non-confrontational effort to communicate with these folks. I think it has to start at home, with people we can develop relationships with.

In this day and age where everyone gets on planes and flies here and there thinking to accomplish things, I don’t know if this is even possible. The Net is a wonderful way to exchange information, but I also fear it is causing our attention to focus itself on people and things far away that we cannot hope to impact, at the expense of the actual physical world, and real people, right around us.

Everyone yelling about “revolution” ought to read Animal Farm again. Violence just leads to more violence. Communication can lead to a different way of governance, but it has to start at home. It is hard and painful and embarrassing and unglorious and yet heroic in a quiet way: just communicating and caring for those right around us.

For patriots, that means that all of us who care must support these vets coming back from these wars in every and any way possible, and help them become warriors for peace, to build a community of ideas here at home.

I have to second that, with great sadness.

What may be even worse is the feeling amongst people that this is something not relevant to them, something far away, not important, not impacting their lives.