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The inflation watch has begun. Bernanke is warning us inflation is on its way.

I remember in Econ 101, the idea of "dollar bombs" being dropped -- so that currency is doubled, and soon all price double as there are only so many goods to go around.

So as airlines charge for bags and food prices rise and oil takes off in a hyperinflationary way, everything else will follow suit. This is the next big oil spill. Oil prices spilling over the economy and fouling everything.

Everything oil touches won't turn to gold, but will go up in price. The more oil prices rise, the more everything else will rise and the less the speculators will make.

Yet governments seem paralyzed to stop it, and there may be a few that think they can turn it to an advantage. In the end, whatever reserves they have in the form of the balance of payments will be washed away as the cost of things spike, and these balances erode.

Maybe the current generation will laugh along in the old Saturday Night Live classic with Dan Akyroyd as "Jimmy Carter" who tells us "inflation is your friend." Who wouldn't want to smoke a $500 cigar, or wear a $7,500 suit, or living in a $10,000 apartment. "I know I would." It ends with "Carter" calling the Treasury Departments and saying, "Hello, this is Jimmy. Print me some more of them 20s."

In the end, though, few of us will be laughing.

The dominant narratives of this election year have nothing to do with Ralph Nader — and most Democrats are pretty darn happy about that .  We’re more concerned about race/gender, Barack/Hillary and Bush/McCain stories.  The only time we’ll hear about radical leftist politicians will be when the Democrats are reminding us that Barack Obama isn’t one of [...]

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CONTACT: Gilda Carbonaro 301-792-8854 Gold Star Families Speak Out
Mike Ferner 240-274-9785 DemocracyRising.US

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


LAURA AND JENNA BUSH PROMOTE “READ ALL ABOUT IT,” A GOLD STAR MOTHER ASKS THEM TO READ HER LETTER

Mother of Marine killed in Iraq delivers letter to Bushes at book signing event at D.C. Borders


On Friday, April 25, at 7:00pm, at the Borders bookstore at 14th and F Streets, NW, the mother of a Marine Corps Sergeant killed in Iraq will deliver a letter to Mrs. Bush and her daughter, Jenna, who will be at the store promoting their children’s book, “Read All About It.”


THE LETTER:

Gilda Carbonaro
Bethesda, Maryland





Laura and Jenna Bush
c/o Borders Books
14th and F Streets NW
Washington, D.C.


April 25, 2008


Dear Laura and Jenna Bush,

As you promote your new children’s book, “Read All About It,” and advocate for literacy tonight I hope you will take but a few moments to read these heartfelt lines.

I write to you as one of thousands of parents and family members whose loved ones have been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan; whose child, parent or spouse has returned blinded or deaf, armless or legless, or unable to ever move their limbs again; or perhaps have returned apparently unharmed, but with nightmares and a ticking timebomb in their minds.

You may think this a grim postscript to an evening’s chat about a book for children, but when someone you love has been taken from you forever, or returned so terribly damaged you barely know them, it becomes foremost in your thoughts every waking moment. You then begin to understand what is truly grim. And, I must add, there are those among us who still carry such unspeakable pain and anger they’ve become all but exhausted.

But many of us have felt exhaustion be replaced by an energy and a clarity of purpose we have never experienced before. One thing that has become clear to us is an answer to the question, “How could anyone send the youth of its nation to invade Iraq?” We see now how differently someone would answer that question if they suffered the anguish of a family member being killed as the result.

Your children, Mrs. Bush, are safe and I am glad for you. But I wonder, have you ever urged them to enlist in this heroic adventure? Your husband has told us many times how important this cause is. Your children appear well qualified, and as part of the First Family you’ve no doubt taught them the value of demonstrating leadership for the nation.

Why, then, has the price for this war been paid only by people like my son, Marine Corps Sgt. Alesandro Carbonaro, who died May 10, 2006, eight days after being horrifically burned in an IED blast in Al Anbar Province, Iraq?


Can you not see the simple, basic unfairness of asking others to do what you yourself are unwilling to do? Have you drifted so far from an understanding of fundamental justice that you cannot see the contradictions apparent to so many of us?

These are not rhetorical questions. They are as real as the knot in our stomachs and the ache in our hearts. It is time – and past time – that you face these questions without blinking or dodging and give us a satisfactory answer.


Most sincerely,



Gilda Carbonaro
Bethesda, Maryland

Goddess speed, Mrs. C. Never back down!

Alessandra Stanley in the New York Times wonders at — rather than analyzes — the sea change that has made “Pop TV” the new favorite venue for politicians. With all the recent appearances by the President, candidates and their spouses on everything from “Deal or No Deal” to the “Colbert Report,” Stanley notes, “It’s hard [...]

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For reasons I still can't figure out, I woke up this morning thinking about michele catalano and this post she wrote in early 2005 in particular [pulled from the Wayback Machine]:

I started to write this post at least ten times over the past week. Something was always holding me back - either an unwillingness to share these thoughts or the worry over what would happen when I did. Ultimately, I remembered that the most important reader of this blog is me. Amid all the posts about movies and music and the weather, there are personal stories that read like diary entries because, in a way, they are. I write to purge, sometimes. Which is what I finally do today.

My impetus to finally spit it out was this.

That’s right, personal responsibility. I still believe in that and I’ll be holding myself as well as all my republican friends responsible for getting that guy elected. At the same time, in my defense, I still don’t think Kerry was a viable alternative. Not because he’s a dem. (I voted for Clinton and would have done it again if I could have) but because I just don’t like the guy.

Similar words have been spoken/written by me several times in the past couple of weeks to close friends. Some have reacted with dropped jaws, some have just nods sympathetically.

I've also left similar sentiments in comments on various blogs and, for the most part, they were met with a flurry of clenched fists and righteous indignation, with calls for me to go out and start protesting (or something like that) to prove my regret.

Well...no. It's not like that. First of all, I am not sitting here admitting to the world (ok, just the minuscule part of the world who reads this) that I regret my vote so I can, oh, get a pat on the head or a clap on the back or a wide-armed welcome back to the fold. I'm not going back to any fold and I don't seek anyone's approval.

So what is it that's causing my "buyer's remorse" as it's been called? It's a combination of things, and most of it stems from the fact that I was a one issue voter in 2004. And now, the issues I ignored in order to give my support to the war on terror are coming back to haunt me.

Social Security. Bankruptcy. The insistence of the far right that they have some kind of religious mandate now and we need to revert back to our Christian roots and morals. And yes, Iraq. I know all about the good things in Iraq. I know about the schools and the hospitals and elections. And I love that. I love the slow spread of democracy. I love the trickle down effect of taking Saddam out of power. But more and more, I'm thinking, at what price? Every time another soldier dies, another bomb goes off, another hopeful Iraqi policeman is murdered, another hostage is taken and another day looms on the horizon with no end in sight, I think at what price?

It goes on for a bit more and you should certainly read the whole thing. I recall her being pretty raw at the time. And maybe a tiny bit too self-defensive and maybe she had good reason. The reaction she got here at Rox Populi wasn't anything like the welcome mat offered to John Cole, perhaps because the tone of the two writers is completely different. I find the comparison interesting for loads of reasons, but mostly because I wonder how the '08 presidential candidates will treat voters who supported Bush in '04 but have since grown disenchanted.