I appeared on Democracy Now! this morning to do a wrap-up on the hearing. In the segment, I generally talk about the closing arguments, Adrian Lamo’s testimony, being part of the media pool covering the hearing and what it means that the US government is accusing Manning of aiding Al Qaeda.

Kamran Loghman, the developer of weapons-grade pepper spray and the policy for its use by US police departments, appeared on Democracy Now! to condemn how police forces have been using pepper spray on peaceful protesters in the country.

Was it when it was after 10 pm and the Supreme Court still hadn’t issued a decision? Was it when the Supreme Court issued a “temporary reprieve” instead of a stay of execution and left people emotionally on edge outside the prison? Or was it when there was an abrupt flurry of sirens that pulled up and police storm troopers marched over to provide reinforcement for a line of police, which had been standing on guard? Was that when it became apparent Troy Davis was going to be killed Wednesday night?

Many of you who closely followed the national debate leading up to the Affordable Care Act of 2010 know about Wendell Potter. He’s the former VP of Communications at health insurer giant CIGNA who resigned his head PR job in May 2008 after he came to believe his job and the industry he was shielding were morally offensive.

Back in 2007, at the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly (the church’s big annual national gathering), I had the remarkable experience of hearing Amy Goodman moderate a panel of extraordinary gentlemen. One was Daniel Ellsberg. One was Mike Gravel, then a contender for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. And the third was Robert West, a former president of Beacon Press, which is owned by the UUA.

I was in the front row for this spellbinding bit of group storytelling, along with my daughter, then not yet quite 17. “This is what heroes look like,” I told her. “Take a good look — because this is what your faith and your family will expect of her on the day that history knocks on your door and insists that you take a stand.”