As Sonali Kolhatkar pointed out, "progress" in Afghanistan is entirely in the eyes of the beholder. While the vast majority of the American people believes that the war will end badly, General Petraeus is now repeating the same lines we've heard before, on Iraq and Afghanistan--things are going better, we can win this war. Brave New Films put out this video to show just how many times we've heard this line--and how untrue it continues to be.

The media face of the war in Afghanistan is a woman's face--one particular mutilated woman, in the case of Time. Sonali Kolhatkar of the Afghan Women's Mission notes, though, that this is a clear strategy from those who benefit from the war to win over European and American audiences. Meanwhile, Afghan women who oppose occupation, like former GRITtv guest Malalai Joya, are silenced in the media just as they are silenced in Afghan politics.

30,000 people showed up outside of Atlanta in search of Section 8 housing vouchers last week; 62 vouchers were available. To qualify for the vouchers, a family's income is not to exceed 50 percent of the area's median income. That median income for the surrounding area? Just over $31,000 a year.

"Who needs gay bashing when you have the Ground Zero mosque?" Richard Kim, senior editor at The Nation, asks guest host Esther Armah. In a week when gay and lesbian couples may see obstacles to their right to marry in California fall away, he notes, right-wing media is strangely silent on the issue. Even Glenn Beck is suddenly sounding a libertarian note.

Any semblance of serious deliberation on immigration in Washington has degenerated into a racially charged assault on the children of undocumented immigrants. The attack itself isn't new--so-called anchor baby bills have been festering at the state level--but now it's gone national with viral speed. When Fox Television asked Lindsey Graham to respond to the judicial derailing of SB 1070 a few weeks ago, the Senator ducked and crossed, suggesting that what the nation really needs right now is anti-immigrant policing in its maternity wards.

"Who needs gay bashing when you have the Ground Zero mosque?" Richard Kim, senior editor at The Nation, asks guest host Esther Armah. In a week when gay and lesbian couples may see obstacles to their right to marry in California fall away, he notes, right-wing media is strangely silent on the issue. Even Glenn Beck is suddenly sounding a libertarian note.

Glenn Beck might not have a lot of advertisers left, but he's got a lot of viewers still. And the Obama administration recently showed off just how terrified they are of the FOX News host by pressuring Shirley Sherrod to leave her position because of the threat of a video appearing on Beck's show. But Beck didn't start off as a journalist (or a demagogue). He came from much humbler beginnings.

The St. Nicks Alliance Neighborhood Preservation Corp of North Brooklyn is putting a new spin on community development. They are repurposing and restoring the turn-of-the-century Greenpoint Hospital Buildings and have expanded their programs to include a 5000 square foot gallery space. The goal is to support and bring together the new and old residents of this changing neighborhood. Will it work? The current show is up until August 22nd and our field producer, Sarah Friedland, went to take a look.

Glenn Beck might not have a lot of advertisers left, but he's got a lot of viewers still. And the Obama administration recently showed off just how terrified they are of the FOX News host by pressuring Shirley Sherrod to leave her position because of the threat of a video appearing on Beck's show. But Beck didn't start off as a journalist (or a demagogue). He came from much humbler beginnings.

Trader Joe's is one of a batch of new corporations wrapping their push for profits in feel-good green slogans and promises of fair labor practices. But at least a few of their products aren't coming from fair labor at all. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a community organization of farmworkers in Florida, have gotten other corporations like Whole Foods and Subway to sign a pledge to buy tomatoes from growers that have good labor practices--after workers in Florida have been rescued from conditions that have been legally deemed slavery.