Petitions to government are older than democracy itself. The 13th-century British Magna Carta declared: "If we, our chief justice, our officials, or any of our servants offend in any respect against any man, or transgress any of the articles of the peace or of this security, and the offence is made known to four of the said twenty-five barons, they shall come to us -- or in our absence from the kingdom to the chief justice -- to declare it and claim immediate redress."

Redress. The righting of a wrong, the tortuous equalization of one man's transgression against another. Furthered by the 17th century British Bill of Rights, which steadfastly declared: "That is the right of subjects to petition the King, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal."

Petition. The sending up of a complaint, from a locality, a municipality, a community, to a government more catholic than that, in an effort to obtain relief.

Dear Sen. McCain:

I duly admire your courage. I like a couple of your ideas. But we need moral judgment in the White House, so I'm going to lecture you now on right and wrong. I can do that, because I'm even older than you, and I've never killed civilians. Listen, please:

Bombing, invading and occupying the countries of people who have never attacked us is not right, it's wrong. It is a crime. Crime does not pay. Once you do it, you are morally unable to prevail; you deserve to lose. Even if you can somehow convince yourself that you're getting away with it, it's still a crime. Even if you think you can make someone else's botched crime more efficient by taking control, it's still a crime, and it would be wrong for you to perpetuate it.

The only right thing to do about a crime, if you're in a position to do anything about it, is to put a stop to it and see that the culprits are brought to justice.

Let me say it again, because you seem to be a slow learner: crime is wrong, and whether you do it adeptly or poorly, it won't pay, because it's still a crime.

Former Pentagon and State Department analyst Daniel Ellsberg knows a lot about the lies politicians from both major parties use to generate support for unpopular and costly wars.

Though it felt awkward asking him for permission to tape our recent phone conversation, he readily agreed. Since the host of his upcoming will be ACLU-Indiana, we began our conversation with that topic.

TPH: The theme of the ACLU-Indiana banquet that you will address is: "Restore American Democracy: A Call for Change." What kind of changes will you be calling for?

INDIANAPOLIS - Indian spiritual leader and humanitarian Her Holiness Sai Maa Lakshmi Devi visited Indianapolis from Jan. 17-21 and made several public appearances, culminating with a presentation on Jan. 21 at a commemoration of the birth of Martin Luther King.

This writer attended two of these events, hearing her speak Jan. 18 at a program of mediation at Indianapolis's Unity Church and again on Jan. 20, when she spoke before the congregation at the service of the Ebeneezer Baptist Church.

At both events, she was introduced by Ebeneezer's pastor, Rev. Tom Brown, an African American versed in both Eastern and Western religious traditions, who linked both these traditions of spirituality together as complements.

Howard Zinn, eminent peacemonger and sage, can really set you to thinking.

He wrote to me last week that he'd given a Veterans Day speech in Worcester, Mass., telling the audience what Veterans Day should be: a day we pledge "No more veterans!"

Wow! Is that a loaded idea!

Stop making veterans. Pledge to stop making wars for so long that peace outlives even the oldest veterans. Think of it.

For the first 17 years of his life, Ra’ed Almickawi lived in a tent in the desert with his parents and nine brothers and sisters. And he was happy.

He awoke every morning to his mother’s fresh-baked bread. He never had to wash his salad greens, which came from the organic garden that he, his father and his brothers tended.

His mother helped him with his homework between their homemade lunch and homemade dinner. It wasn’t always comfortable sleeping in tight quarters side-by-side with his brothers, but he was never lonely, and he always had someone to look out for him.

A busload of card-carrying peace activists, jacked up on caffeine and shared contempt for the Bush war machine and a Democratic Congress that needs to dial 1-800-GROW-A-SPINE, rolled out of Bloomington early Oct. 27 to join several thousands more in Chicago for one of 11 regional anti-war demonstrations that took place that day.

Bloomington Peace Action Coalition (BPAC) organizers Christine Glaser and Timothy Baer led that group to the Windy City. And several other area groups and individuals met them there.

Other cities that participated included Boston, Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, New Orleans, Orlando and Seattle.

We know by now that our troops have been fighting and dying in Iraq longer than they fought in World War II.

Might as well mention also that we’ve been fighting and dying in Iraq’s civil war as long as we did in our own Civil War (1861-65).

George W. Bush has put David Petraeus, surge-in general of the United States, out front pitching his case for making it last longer. What U.S. military officer ever had a harder mission assigned to him: trying to convince Congress and the American people that Bush is telling the truth about something he’s lied about for five years? About his reason for starting it; about “Mission Accomplished” when it was just beginning; about its costs; about its progress, etc., etc.

Bloomington resident Allison Strang got a taste of what life is like for Palestinians living in the West Bank when she tried to pass through military checkpoints to reach Nablus, a Palestinian city surrounded by Jewish settlements, in 2003.

"At the second checkpoint, (Israeli soldiers) weren't letting anyone in that particular day, for whatever reason," she said.

Strang, who was traveling as part of a six-person delegation sponsored by the Bloomington Peace Action Coalition (BPAC), was riding in a minibus along with several Palestinians. One of the Palestinian passengers invited the Americans to stay in his home for the night.

"We hung out with his kids and talked to him about what his life was like," said Strang. "He lives a five-minute journey from his work, but some days he can't get to work because (the Israeli military) will close off the gates to him or make him wait for hours."

Deborah Mayer, who was fired in 2003 from her probationary teaching position at Clear Creek Elementary School for telling students that she "honked for peace" when she saw anti-war signs downtown, recently attended the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) conference in Washington, D.C.

She did not, however, attend any of the thought-provoking workshops detailed on the AFT Web site. Instead, she decided to grapple with the challenges facing educators across the United States in a slightly different way - by meeting with small groups of teachers between sessions.

Two years ago, her case was the focus of national attention, garnering the support of high-profile peace advocates such as Cindy Sheehan and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. But now, four years after her struggle for the recognition of her First Amendment rights began, Mayer is forced to engage with teachers during break time.

The AFT denied her request to speak directly to teachers attending the conference.