The State of the Movement

Kelly R Piercy, Editor

Ephemeral - Adjective Lasting only for a short time [Greek hemera day]

In survey and celestial navigation a particular tool used is the ephemeris. This is a table (a book actually) that gives the Right Ascension and Declination of a celestial body with respect to a fixed position and time. From that information and the local dtg (Date Time Group) and an observation of a celestial body, it is possible to know the exact position on Earth from which the observation is made.

Today, we can make an observation of the state of society from a social, political, religious, ethical, and moral perspective.

In our case, that observation is most colored by the perspective of the registry and the moral and ethical conditions that drive it. That observation seems static, it seems that we must accept an attitude of Comme ci, comme Asa, literally - like this, like that. Or, transliterated into the English, so - so, I'm doing the best I can under the circumstances.

There is one constant in the Universe, that constant is change. There is, to keep Newton honest, an opposition to change, gravity. That is why we study theoretical physics, to understand how we arrived at this point and what effects will change the ephemeral constant.

The gravity, of course, is the ponderous momentum of the registry and the attitudes about sex and sex offense in our society. The constant is that it will not always be what it is today. The value of the opposing force is dependent on how much we embrace typical American apathy.

It is well defined that the only effective tactic to prevent the Earth from being devastated by a massive impact of a solar or extra-solar body is to deflect that bodies orbital trajectory. That does not require the massive application of a nuclear weapon, it only needs a small reaction mass at some angle to the bodies trajectory applied over a period of time.

James Simon Kunnan observed that society, by its very nature is reactionary; without the revolutionary it would move backwards. (The Strawberry Statement: Notes of a College Revolutionary. Amazon.com $25.01)

Today we have our own counters to gravity, our own revolutionaries.

Linda Gallagher struggles daily with her team to put Women Against the Registry on the streets to demonstrate that there is an active and courageous group of people who are not on the registry that oppose the registry.

Terrence White is taking on the State of Georgia in a Federal Lawsuit that he began while he was homeless, using the library computers to file his motion and now awaits the answer of a Federal Judge with his Pro bono legal team.

John and Mary brought 23 of their supporters to the Virginia Crime Commission committee meeting and quietly held up signs of protest while both John and Mary work tirelessly, giving their time and fortune to this effort both in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

In addition, John and Mary are working with their members in Virginia to raise the funds to blanket every member of the important committees with Dr. Wright's important book on the failure of the registry. The original plan was to send every member of congress a copy of the book. Alas, John goes to work every day concerned that his registry status will cost him his job and Mary has been cut to part-time; the spirit is willing, the budget is not.

This plan is probably one of the most effective if it can be accomplished and they need our help. They have asked their members in Virginia to donate, I am asking all of us to help. You can contact John and Mary at rsolvirginia@comcast.net and ask them how you can help.

Mary Sue, the voice of Texas Voices, tirelessly works the Texas Legislature and has pulled together a team of attorneys who are taking our interests to heart.

Lloyd and Alice are working New Mexico like their own ranch. In fact, legislators and other government officials are taking to wearing T-shirts so Lloyd can't button hole them and calmly insist they listen to the truth.

Howard and Rita are undertaking a major effort to get the truth to the House Committee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security and the United States Sentencing Commission on the irrational treatment given internet pornography and sexting. This mass mail, email, fax, phone, and lobbying effort needs every bit of support you can give.

Bennie is doing a yeoman's job in Colorado while providing support, encouragement, and guidance to many other State Organizers and individuals. All while he fights his own battle for truth with the Colorado Legislature.

'Dolly and James', with Sarah's help, are knocking on doors in Ohio and visiting registration centers to get the news and truth out.

Linda, Jackie, et al are working the RSOL hotline overtime and need help. It is not only the hours out of their day, it is the emotional cost as these volunteers feel the weight of every call.

Alex is doing all of it and is involved in getting documentation of an emerging practice where persons ordered into treatment - and most disturbingly, their families - are being forced to sign statements confessing to things they did not do so the fanatics can support their voo-doo statistics. We must gather documentation and expose this with a complaint to the American Psychiatric and American Psychological Associations and the media.

Alain has revived the Correspondence Committee, Minute Men. He needs Writers, Editors, Researchers, News Monitors, and Internet Technicians.

I could go on and I would still miss the important work of Laurie, Paul, Joel, Tonia, Renate, Jane, Dennis and Donna, Luis, 'James and Dolly, 'Thomas' Sarah, Barbara, Fima, Sandra, Chris, Colette, Kimberly, Jill, Jennifer, Francine, Ruth, and so many others.

The point is that we are all revolutionaries and we are all working to resist the reactionary tendencies of society.

Every notation above contains a link to an email or website that you should write or visit and ask how you can help. That is one way for you to become a revolutionary.

There is another way and it needs you to let Alex know your thoughts.

Lynn is handling the RSOL Prison Project. Throughout the month, she replies to persons in prison with personal letters and sends the RSOL Digest to each of them. These men and women know that we care and we are fighting for their rights because of Lynn's dedication. She has been doing this with her own money and using a copy service to produce the Digest for mailing. It has become a large project and she asked if she could get some help with the costs. The RSOL Admin Team is taking money out of their own shallow pockets to purchase a laser printer for the project to ease Lynn's financial and time burden. Add to that this e-Magazine is wholly supported, from software to server, out of another shallow pocket of the Admin Team. The RSOL Forum and the RSOL website, the same.

The questions are:

• How would you react to RSOL establishing a Pay Pal link where you could go and send the occasional dollar to support these activities?
• Will you respond to John and Mary in their goal to send a copy of Dr. Wright's book to every Member of Congress?
• Will you contact Howard and Rita and get involved in their project to change the insane sentencing of persons who had no victim contact?
• Will you join the dedicated group manning the RSOL Hotline? Will you contact Linda and tell her you are ready to take to the streets in protest?
• Will you contact Linda at the hotline and volunteer to man the phones?

You can write me at editor@rsolcc.org and I will post your response in the Letters to the Editor and forward it to the person most appropriate, or go directly to the links above and do what you are able.

The time to act is yesterday. Today is not too late to start. If tomorrow comes, it can be shaped by what you do today.