Earle joined us in studio to continue our coverage of the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, to discuss the city and the storm, the aftermath of the BP oil disaster, our ongoing responsibilty to change our oil consumption habits, and why the death penalty and the Iraq war are related.

GRITtv viewers are surely familiar with the story of the Israeli assault on Gaza in December of 2008. But this week's featured documentary tells a more personal story from a personal friend of ours, occasional camera operator Fida Qishta.  Fida is a Palestinian filmmaker, and her film tells the story of her interaction with Mona, an 11-year-old who lost her family in the invasion.

You can donate to support the completion of the film here.

Finally, Daryn Strauss, creator of the critically acclaimed web series, Downsized and the website, Digital Chick TV, shares her thoughts on supporting women in digital media. We know you'll agree...

Article from GRITtv read more here

Article from Electronic Intifada read more here

With the Dome of the Rock Mosque seen in the background, a Palestinian Muslim worshiper prays during the third Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday, Aug. 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

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A Bahraini man points skyward at dusk Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2010, in Hamad Town, Bahrain, towards where a slim crescent moon should be visible to indicate the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, a time of prayer, fasting and charitable giving. Clouds hampered skywatchers in the Persian Gulf island nation. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali) #

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A Musaharati, dawn awakener, strikes his drum to wake observant Muslims for their overnight ’sahur’, last meal, before the day’s fast in Sidon’s Old City in southern Lebanon just before dawn August 11, 2010. (REUTERS/Ali Hashisho) #

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Kashmiri Muslims pray on a street on the third Friday of Ramadan, in Srinagar, India, Friday, Aug. 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) #

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An Indian Muslim vendor prepares food at a roadside stall in preparation for Muslims breaking their fast at sundown in Mumbai, India on August 19, 2010. (SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A Palestinian Muslim man decorates an alley of Jerusalem’s old city with festive lights in preparation for Ramadan on Tuesday, Aug. 10 2010. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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The crescent moon is seen near mosques in old Cairo on the fifth day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on August 15, 2010. (REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih) #

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A young Palestinian Muslim girl walks in an alley of Jerusalem’s old city holding a traditional Ramadan lantern while celebrating with other children the announcing of the holy month of Ramadan on Tuesday, Aug. 10 2010. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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A Pakistani volunteer pours milk into glasses for devotees to break their fast during Muslims’ holy fasting month of Ramadan in Lahore, Pakistan on Friday, Aug. 20, 2010. (AP Photo/K.M.Chaudary) #

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Muslim girls offer prayers before having their Iftar (fast-breaking) meal during the holy month of Ramadan at a madrasa on the outskirts of Jammu on August 21, 2010. (REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta) #

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Egyptians buy fruits at a shop in downtown Cairo on August 20, 2010 during Islam’s holy fasting month of Ramadan. Egyptians have been complaining from shortages of basic services during Ramadan, which began the first week of August amid sweltering summer temperatures. (KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A member of Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, lower left, participates in an Iftar, the evening meal when Muslim break their fast during Ramadan, August 17, 2010 at Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia. The Islamic center invited frontline responders for Ramadan dinner to show appreciation and foster increased understanding. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) #

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A Muslim man performs ablution before prayer during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the London Muslim Centre on August 18, 2010 in London, England. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) #

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A man prays during Ramadan Jummah prayer at the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C. on August 13, 2010. (JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Indonesian chefs make miniature chocolate mosques for sale during the fasting month of Ramadan, at a chocolate shop in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, Aug. 20, 2010. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana) #

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Muslim pilgrims pray inside the Grand Mosque, with the Mecca Clock in the background, on the second day of the fasting month of Ramadan in Mecca August 12, 2010. The giant clock on a skyscraper in Islam’s holiest city Mecca began ticking on Wednesday at the start of the fasting month of Ramadan, amid hopes by Saudi Arabia that it will become the Muslim world’s official timekeeper. (REUTERS/Hassan Ali) #

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Thousands of Muslims gather in the Grand Mosque, in Islam’s holiest city of Mecca and home to the Kaaba (center), as they take part in dawn (fajir) prayers on August 29, 2010, to start their day-long fast during the holy month or Ramadan. (AMER HILABI/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Thousands of Muslims circle the Kaaba inside the Grand Mosque in Islam’s holiest city of Mecca, taking part in dawn (fajir) prayers on August 29, 2010. (AMER HILABI/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A Palestinian vendor displays traditional pastries in his shop in the West Bank city of Nablus on the second day of the holy month of Ramadan August 12, 2010. (REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini) #

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Jim Otun of Fairfield, New Jersey uses his iPad to read a dua in the Quran at Zinnur Books in Paterson, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz) #

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A Palestinian boy plays with a homemade sparkler after breaking his fast during Ramadan, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Monday, Aug. 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Flood-affected people break their fast on the first day of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in a camp in Nowshera, Pakistan on Thursday, Aug. 12, 2010. Pakistani flood survivors, already short on food and water, began the fasting month of Ramadan on Thursday, a normally festive, social time marked this year by misery and fears of an uncertain future. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad) #

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A Muslim man places a chart which marks the times to pray on a wall during the first day of Ramadan at a mosque in the southern Spanish town of Estepona, near Malaga August 11, 2010. (REUTERS/Jon Nazca) #

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A Sudanese man reads the Koran on the first Friday of Ramadan in a mosque at Umdowan Ban village outside Khartoum, Sudan on August 13, 2010. (REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah) #

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Indian Muslims take a break as birds fly around Firoz Shah Kotla Masjid after prayers on the first Friday of Ramadan in New Delhi on August 13, 2010. (PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A mahya reading “Hold the fast. find good health” hangs between the minarets of the Ottoman-era Eminonu New Mosque in Istanbul August 12, 2010. Mahya, where dangling lights suspended between minarets spell out devotional messages in huge letters, are intended to reward and inspire the faithful who have spent the daylight hours fasting. Today just a handful of Istanbul’s mosques use Mahya, the phrases dictated by Turkey’s directorate of religious affairs. (REUTERS/Murad Sezer) #

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Some 200 Muslims, inmates of the Quezon city jail in suburban Manila, are seen through a fence praying at the prison courtyard on August 13, 2010. The large Muslim minority in the Philippines - a country home to 75 million Catholics - is observing Ramadan, the holy fasting month of Islam. (JAY DIRECTO/AFP/Getty Images) #

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An Indian worker dries Seviiyan - thin vermicelli - which is used for the preparation of “sheerkhorma”, a traditional sweet dish prepared by the Muslim community during the holy month of Ramadan at a food factory in Hyderabad on August 16, 2010. (NOAH SEELAM/AFP/Getty Images) #

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An Indian Muslim vendor separates the seeds of a pomegranate at a roadside stall in preparation for Muslims breaking their fast at sundown in Mumbai, India on August 19, 2010. (SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A Palestinian woman’s shadow is seen on a wall as she waits while attempting to cross the Kalandia checkpoint in order to go pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque on the third Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday, Aug. 27, 2010. Israel loosened some restrictions on Palestinian movement between the West Bank and Israel during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill) #

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Palestinian women walk past a barrier at an Israeli-controlled checkpoint on their way to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, on the third Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Friday, Aug. 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi) #

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An Afghan confectioner holds a traditional sweet for Iftar, the evening meal during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on August 16, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images) #

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Muslim men pray before Iftar, the evening meal in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the London Muslim Centre on August 18, 2010 in London, England. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) #

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The shadow of a Palestinian Muslim praying at “fajr” or early morning prayer is cast on a pole, during the month of Ramadan at a mosque in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Palestinians struggle at an access point as food rations are given out by an Islamic charity on the second day of the month of Ramadan, in the West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday, Aug. 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) #

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A child sits with a plate of food that was distributed as part of the holy month of Ramadan, at a refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2010. (AP Photo/Mustafa Quraishi) #

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Indonesian women pray during the first night of Ramadan in Jakarta on August 10, 2010. (ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A Palestinian Muslim man reads from the Quran, Islam’s holy book, on “fajr” or early morning prayer, during Ramadan at a mosque in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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An Indian Muslim perfumer selects a bottle of ather (non-alcoholic perfume) for customers at his shop in Hyderabad on August 17, 2010. Muslims apply ather to their clothes as a traditional custom before going for daily prayers during the Holy month of Ramadan. Hyderabad is a well known place for selling Ather some 157 varieties of perfume available on the market. (NOAH SEELAM/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Children run around inside the premises of Jama mosque after Friday afternoon prayers in New Delhi, India, Friday, Aug. 20, 2010. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das) #

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A Palestinian Muslim worshiper walks in an alley of Jerusalem’s Old City, on her way to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque on the third Friday of Ramadan on Aug. 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) #

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A rainbow is seen as a Palestinian sprays water on Muslim worshipers leaving the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to cool them off as the temperature rises, following the second Friday prayers of Ramadan, in Jerusalem’s Old City, Friday, Aug. 20, 2010. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Her hands decorated with henna, an Afghan Muslim woman takes part in evening prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on August 13, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images) #

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Shop owner Boualem Bensalem (left) prays in his flat with family and friends before for Iftar meal in Geneva, Switzerland on August 23, 2010. Switzerland is home to some 311,000 Muslims (4.3% of the population). (REUTERS/Denis Balibouse) #

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A Syrian Muslim girl stands at the top of Mount Qassioun, which overlooks Damascus city, during sunset and prays before eating her Iftar meal on August 22, 2010. (REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri) #

Article from Norman G. Finkelstein read more here

Article from Norman G. Finkelstein read more here

Article from Norman G. Finkelstein read more here

We look on TV and see an abundance of women: Desperate Housewives, The Closer, Damages, Weeds, I could go on. We look at the box office and we see films like Sex and the City and Twilight, which had the highest grossing opening for a film by a female director ever. Even when it comes to comics and heroes, we were given Buffy.

We saw a woman create one of the most influential digital commentary sources, The Huffington Post, and Felicia Day now tweets to almost 2 million followers due to the success of a web series she created called The Guild, which is now sponsored by Microsoft.

All of this leads us girls to believe that we are being taken seriously and our tastes matter. It also points to the fact that we do know our way around this thing called the internet, so why is it still so hard to find female programming online? As the creator of the web series, Downsized, I know this content is out there. I know it's dramatic and poignant and hysterical and smart and appropriately estrogen-ridden, but I also know that a majority of women have no idea where to find it.

And that's not because we're not socially connected. We tweet. We Facebook. We fool around on Youtube. We laugh at Funny or Die. We may even post a comment on a blog about it. What we don't find is female-centric content.

As a member of the Writers Guild of America, East, I know there are many female digital writers and filmmakers that are actively part of the guild, so we are definitely making video and putting it out there, but it is our job to make sure you can find it. And in our socially connected world, it also our job, as women, to watch it, because as media becomes increasingly more digital, we still need to keep our place in the programming line-up.

Daryn Strauss is creator of the critically acclaimed web series, Downsized and the website, Digital Chick TV.

Article from GRITtv read more here

The military sanctions followed a determination by Israeli Government cabinet ministers in September 2007 that Gaza was a “hostile territory”, or an “enemy entity”, less than three months after a Hamas rout of Fatah/Palestinian Preventive Security forces in the Gaza Strip.

In her radio report, aired on NPR’s All Things Considered program on August 30, 2010, Navarro reported that:

“…this summer, Israel came under heavy international pressure to ease the blockade, after an Israeli military raid on a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead.

Mr. DANNY AYALON (Deputy Foreign Minister, Israel): Actions like a flotilla certainly is trying to put Israel in a no-win situation.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Danny Ayalon is Israel’s deputy foreign minister. He says Israel has to keep weapons and items that could be used for military fortifications out of Gaza, which is why it retains such tight restrictions on the land and sea borders. But he acknowledged in an interview with NPR that the punishing, three-year ban on most foodstuffs and other commodities was a mistake.

Mr. AYALON: Denying different items or products into Gaza was not that effective. Hence, now we have changed the policy altogether.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: But people would say that you’re – that what you’re saying now is disingenuous, that this is only in reaction to pressure put on you after the Turkish flotilla incident.

Mr. AYALON: It certainly expedited this decision, but I believe this decision would have come up anyway“.

The transcript of this NPR report is posted here.

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Article from The Angry Arab News Service/وكالة أنباء العربي الغاضب read more here

The Great Jobs Depression continues to worsen.

The Labor Department reports this morning that companies created ony 67,000 new jobs in August. That's down from the 107,000 they created in July. And because the government laid off temporary Census workers, the economy as a whole lost 54,000 jobs.

To put this into perspective, we need 125,000 net new jobs a month just to keep up with the growth of the population and the potential workforce.

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Article from CommonDreams.org Headlines read more here

Article from Countercurrents.org read more here