Good news, bad news

Good news: The Senate vote on the Flag Desecration Amendment went 66-34- just one vote shy of the 2/3 vote needed to send the amendment to the states.

Bad news: We're badly bent here at the Overstreet compound, and today I found out it's worse than I thought.

* $500 - My car's transmission problem- it needs a replacement. It will cost no less than $1,000- and more likely as high as $1400 plus a $600-$750 deposit pending surrender of the old transmission- to get a brand-new transmission assembly. That presumes home installation. Obviously the replacement will have to be used- from a salvage yard or something.

* $250 - Repair of washer that overflowed and flooded half the laundry room. This happens tomorrow.

* $1000 - Replacing floor and carpet (with tile, I hope) in laundry room.

* $100 - Flea and roach extermination. This also happens tomorrow.

* $500-$1000 - Termite extermination, depending upon examination of rather extensive termite damage visible from exterior on my side of the house.

* ??? - Replacing termite-eaten exterior, frames, and load-bearing beams with sound wood, and the labor thereof.

* $600 - Nursing home care that Medicaid, for no apparent reason, has ceased to pay. This amount is only stopped for the moment because Vernon was put in the hospital last week. This must be resolved when the time comes for him to return to the home. In the meantime, the unpaid Medicaid bill will have to come out of my grandmother's pocket...

I currently have $2900 in the bank, but I'm about to put Bootleg #15 into printer's, at a cost of $3100. I also need $200 for a commissioned piece of artwork. It will be August before I receive the money from Bootleg #15, and the current numbers show the book losing about $300 on initial release.

My grandmother has gone from a $5,000 buffer over the past two years to borrowing progressively higher amounts from her younger brother the past four months running to meet an ongoing series of emergencies. I need to find some money to help her with the floor, the termites, etc. Unfortunately WLP's mail order remains slow, credit card processing unattainable. Donations to WLP for the first half of the year- ALL donations combined- add up to about $460, half of which came from A-Kon.

WLP needs more sales and donations, 'cause I need more money. Pretty damn badly.

But we can still burn the flag- remember the good news. There -is- good news.

Good news, bad news

Good news: The Senate vote on the Flag Desecration Amendment went 66-34- just one vote shy of the 2/3 vote needed to send the amendment to the states.

Bad news: We're badly bent here at the Overstreet compound, and today I found out it's worse than I thought.

* $500 - My car's transmission problem- it needs a replacement. It will cost no less than $1,000- and more likely as high as $1400 plus a $600-$750 deposit pending surrender of the old transmission- to get a brand-new transmission assembly. That presumes home installation. Obviously the replacement will have to be used- from a salvage yard or something.

* $250 - Repair of washer that overflowed and flooded half the laundry room. This happens tomorrow.

* $1000 - Replacing floor and carpet (with tile, I hope) in laundry room.

* $100 - Flea and roach extermination. This also happens tomorrow.

* $500-$1000 - Termite extermination, depending upon examination of rather extensive termite damage visible from exterior on my side of the house.

* ??? - Replacing termite-eaten exterior, frames, and load-bearing beams with sound wood, and the labor thereof.

* $600 - Nursing home care that Medicaid, for no apparent reason, has ceased to pay. This amount is only stopped for the moment because Vernon was put in the hospital last week. This must be resolved when the time comes for him to return to the home. In the meantime, the unpaid Medicaid bill will have to come out of my grandmother's pocket...

I currently have $2900 in the bank, but I'm about to put Bootleg #15 into printer's, at a cost of $3100. I also need $200 for a commissioned piece of artwork. It will be August before I receive the money from Bootleg #15, and the current numbers show the book losing about $300 on initial release.

My grandmother has gone from a $5,000 buffer over the past two years to borrowing progressively higher amounts from her younger brother the past four months running to meet an ongoing series of emergencies. I need to find some money to help her with the floor, the termites, etc. Unfortunately WLP's mail order remains slow, credit card processing unattainable. Donations to WLP for the first half of the year- ALL donations combined- add up to about $460, half of which came from A-Kon.

WLP needs more sales and donations, 'cause I need more money. Pretty damn badly.

But we can still burn the flag- remember the good news. There -is- good news.