The victories of Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman in California, Sharron Angle in Nevada, and Nikki Haley in South Carolina in last week's primaries are being hailed as a victory for women. Yet do conservative, anti-government women's candidacies spell gains for women nationwide? Or will the cuts they threaten to make to government programs hurt more women than their candidacies help?

The oil filling the Gulf of Mexico sadly isn't that rare an occurrence; in other parts of the world, oil companies regularly leave destruction in their wake. In the African Nations of Chad and Cameroon, Exxon Mobil has been been building a 600 mile oil pipeline, leaving the people with the question, "If the land is so rich, why are we so poor?"

When did Americans stop referring to “our” country and start dividing it into “my” and “your” country?

We spoke this week about the actual cost of war as well as the toll it takes on those who participate in it. Now a new play at the East Fourth Street Theater in New York is focusing on the human toll that war takes, not just on those who fight it, but those back at home. Starring Kathleen Chalfant and Najla Said, Prophecy is written and directed by Karen Malpede, and explores the themes of transgression and forgiveness.

It takes $1 million a year to keep one U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, drone strikes and occupation are a way of life in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and longtime peace activist Kathy Kelly just returned from a trip there to see firsthand the consequences for the people on the ground.

This week, the war in Afghanistan surpassed Vietnam to become the U.S.'s longest war, and there's no end in sight. Daniel Ellsberg has called it "Vietnamistan," comparing the determination to "win" against people who want to expel foreign invaders. Our friends at Brave New Films pulled together this clip looking back at our fight in Afghanistan and asking the question: when will it be clear that we need to get out?

While BP oil continues to clog the Gulf, people's livelihoods and lives are being destroyed along with fish and birds.Our friends at Green For All bring us this story of one company, one small group of people, being impacted by the disaster. Green for All is initiating a Dirty Energy Hurts campaign to fight back against BP's PR millions, reminding us that drill, baby, drill is not an energy policy.

"We have to deal with the deficit in a progressive way," says Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Instead of cutting services in the name of some myth of austerity, Sanders suggests cutting tax loopholes and subsidies to oil companies in a new bill he just put forth in the Senate. The money we take in making oil companies pay their fair share could pay for extending unemployment benefits and health care.

"We have to deal with the deficit in a progressive way," says Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Instead of cutting services in the name of some myth of austerity, Sanders suggests cutting tax loopholes and subsidies to oil companies in a new bill he just put forth in the Senate. The money we take in making oil companies pay their fair share could pay for extending unemployment benefits and health care.

"I feel your pain" -- how many times are we going to hear that between now and the midterm elections? Republicans and Democrats all know that the economy weighs first on people's minds, and they all pay lip service at least to the idea of doing something for Main Street. What's ahead -- months of millionaires making pledges?