Really tired, must have walked 6 miles yesterday, just posted this at DU at a thread about the DC 6th anniversary march, have more pix thanks to a friend from my discussion group:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5305495&mesg_id=5310338

Tons of socialist books for sale, but I had one of my students with me, so I didn't spend too much time checking them out, grabbed some rags though. Cops were something else. The hip hop artist was great, as I mentioned in the du post, as was the gold star mom, and the viet nam vet for peace, old guy was really fired up!

more from elswhere:

http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/iraq220309.html

hey mary

what kinda excites me -- and i'm home in bed so i'm speaking from afar lol -- is that there are a lot of people thinking about this, taking notes so to speak, and there are many lessons potrntially bring learned

there seems to be a genuine introspection that used to be caked over beneath the pessimism and cynicism a la "people are too comfortable/complacent" and/or people are stupid/sheep..woe is us shit basically, from people who aren't even in the peanut gallery let alone on the front lines

dunno what comes of it, but it hits me as a little different than the usual..not sure of any direct impact but still..

It's getting so 'in yer face' that it's impossible to ignore. The question is what lessons the public takes.

Did I hear a casting call?

hey mary

what kinda excites me -- and i'm home in bed so i'm speaking from afar lol -- is that there are a lot of people thinking about this, taking notes so to speak, and there are many lessons potrntially bring learned

there seems to be a genuine introspection that used to be caked over beneath the pessimism and cynicism a la "people are too comfortable/complacent" and/or people are stupid/sheep..woe is us shit basically, from people who aren't even in the peanut gallery let alone on the front lines

dunno what comes of it, but it hits me as a little different than the usual..not sure of any direct impact but still..


Yep, a little difference that I noticed was one chant that I'm familiar with has changed from
"What do we want?" with the response being "Peace", to the same question with the response being "Justice"...think people are looking deeper to the source...maybe I'm just more aware myself now, but the number of socialists of all kinds seems to have grown, or maybe its the lack of latte libs with the numbers being down and the lefties being the die hards. I think the numbers will swell again as more realize the "same old shit" is still with us. I've had some die hard BO fans start to express disillusion to me about him when a month ago they were pissed at me if I said one "sacreligeous" word against him...

PS: on edit, how are you feeling, mending?

It's getting so 'in yer face' that it's impossible to ignore. The question is what lessons the public takes.

Did I hear a casting call?


Just so long as the public asks questions we're getting somewhere, I think...

Dunno Mary, there's a lot of 'bad answers' out there and populism can get ugly if those hold sway.

We gotta beat those 'bad answers' to death with our better answers. Going over to DU and having at them ain't nothing but warm-ups, if that.

Dunno Mary, there's a lot of 'bad answers' out there and populism can get ugly if those hold sway.

We gotta beat those 'bad answers' to death with our better answers. Going over to DU and having at them ain't nothing but warm-ups, if that.


if that is about it, practice maybe, I'm still working on wording the answers myself...

PS: on edit, how are you feeling, mending?

i have been released by all of my doctors it is just a matter of healing over time. I may or may not have back pain permanently

The rest of this post is just me bitching so nobody has to read it lol

In hilarious news, the vehicle I was driving was my parents car. The other motorist was uninsured. Despite owning 9 cars for no reason and paying $250 every month in car insurance -- my parents had NO UNINSURED MOTORIST insurance on any of their vehicles. I'm convinced my parents are insane..in the last 6 months they've blown half of their savings on new cars and a motorhome. They have social security and a decent job that is as tenuous as any other. If they lose the job, they're in deep shit since my Dad is disabled. But they are completely fucking oblivious.

Whats worse, they bought used cars with near 100k miles on them for close to what you can buy a 2008 for NEW (ie warranty for 100,000 miles, no question marks about previous-owner, mileage etc). My mom bought a 2000 Sebring in January for maybe $2000 less than she could've bought a 2000-fucking-8 sebring and they are already being swamped with repairs on it.

Anyway, about my case: given the likelihood that the other driver is going to jail and has no assets, my chance of a settlement or any recovery are probably zilch according to my attorney. So I'm fucked.

Luckily my medical bills are probably going to be less than $100K total and my brother's were fairly minimal, other than the ripoff costs for EMT and ambulance. Nevertheless, I am pretty much ruined financially thanks to my Dad's "I only want the minimum insurance" philosophy. I am pretty sure you could insure a fleet of Bentleys for less than he pays per mo and as we've now found out, he has shit for coverage.

Glad you didn't let em "rip you off" for another $10-20/mo, Dad..

PS Anax, asked em about the balloon, they said that only works for the elderly and that my other vertebrae would crush the balloon because they are too strong.

But other than the constant back pain, the ongoing healing process for my vertebrae, and another week or so of rehabbing my arm and shoulder I'm basically back to "normal". Riding in a car is a bastard because every little bump goes through my spine but hopefully that will improve eventually.

But lets talk about Mike's "project" idea, I think it has some potential

PS: on edit, how are you feeling, mending?

i have been released by all of my doctors it is just a matter of healing over time. I may or may not have back pain permanently

In hilarious news, the vehicle I was driving was my parents car. The other motorist was uninsured. Despite owning 9 cars for no reason and paying $250 in car insurance -- my parents had NO UNINSURED MOTORIST insurance.

Given the likelihood that the other person is going to jail and has no assets, my chance of a settlement or any recovery are probably zilch according to my attorney.

Luckily my medical bills are probably going to be less than $100K total and my brother's were fairly minimal, other than the ripoff costs for EMT and ambulance. Nevertheless, I am pretty much ruined financially thanks to my Dad's "I only want the minimum insurance" philosophy. I am pretty sure you could insure a fleet of Bentleys for less than he pays per mo and as we've now found out, he has shit for coverage.

Glad you didn't let em "rip you off" for another $10-20/mo Dad..


Hey Kid, I know of one option, tell them to fuck off.

Friend of mine's brother spent a few days in the hospital, got a bill for $27000, had no insurance. He simply told them that he didn't have that kind of money and if they wanted to recoup by attaching is tax returns well and good, it would take forever and inflation would kill them. They ended up settling for $9000. Dunno how that would work for you, just a thought.

PS: on edit, how are you feeling, mending?

i have been released by all of my doctors it is just a matter of healing over time. I may or may not have back pain permanently

In hilarious news, the vehicle I was driving was my parents car. The other motorist was uninsured. Despite owning 9 cars for no reason and paying $250 in car insurance -- my parents had NO UNINSURED MOTORIST insurance.

Given the likelihood that the other person is going to jail and has no assets, my chance of a settlement or any recovery are probably zilch according to my attorney.

Luckily my medical bills are probably going to be less than $100K total and my brother's were fairly minimal, other than the ripoff costs for EMT and ambulance. Nevertheless, I am pretty much ruined financially thanks to my Dad's "I only want the minimum insurance" philosophy. I am pretty sure you could insure a fleet of Bentleys for less than he pays per mo and as we've now found out, he has shit for coverage.

Glad you didn't let em "rip you off" for another $10-20/mo Dad..


Hey Kid, I know of one option, tell them to fuck off.

Friend of mine's brother spent a few days in the hospital, got a bill for $27000, had no insurance. He simply told them that he didn't have that kind of money and if they wanted to recoup by attaching is tax returns well and good, it would take forever and inflation would kill them. They ended up settling for $9000. Dunno how that would work for you, just a thought.


Yeah, I may qualify for charity care or county aid or something like that. But all hope of recouping the loss of the vehicle (which was totaled) or any settlement for pain and suffering is gone. And keep in mind the minimum compensatory settlement for back pain is $25,000. The attorney was salivating at my case until they found out the other motorist was unisured and I have no uninsured coverage. Considering I have been unable to work for 6 weeks and may not be full strength for another month, I could've used that money bad..not to mention the possibility that I will suffer fairly acute back pain for the rest of my life. Also, my brother has had to put everything on hold because a. I've needed full time attention and b. he is still suffering psychologically from the accident

To be honest, other than the outrageous charges I have no problem paying the hospital, trust me you don't care what they charge when you are there. But, $15000 for an airlift is pretty steep..