Zeitgeist From July 18

AlterNet's Weekly Zeitgeist:

Phony Drilling, Afghan Escalation, Never-Ending Financial Crisis and Much More

From Bush's oil hoax to the New Yorker's sorry attempt at satire, our Zeitgeist list tracks the progressive issues of the week.

This week's Zeitgeist rundown shows new issues have busted through to the consciousness of progressives, including the escalating war in Afghanistan (and with it the serious complexities of Pakistan), the rescinded presidential moratorium on offshore oil drilling, which critics say is all for show, and the huge brouhaha provoked by the New Yorker magazine's extremely provocative cover of Michelle and Barack Obama.

Still, the AlterNet Zeitgeist has some unfinished business, including the residue of anger about the newly passed FISA law, the constant reminder that Iraq is still all about the oil, and the ongoing debate about the future of feminism.

1. Phony drilling: once again the oilman in the White House is doing Big Oil's bidding

   ~ Faiz Shakir

2. Afghan War escalates: more American solders killed there than in Iraq

   ~ Tom Hayden

3. Our seemingly never-ending financial crisis

   ~ Paul Krugman

4. Provocative New Yorker cover jolts nation into heated debate

   ~ Don Hazen

5. Nuclear power is an illusion as a solution to the climate change crisis

   ~ Linda Gunter

6. Feminism's generational debate, provoked by the Hillary Clinton candidacy, is still going strong

   ~ Heidi Schnakenberg

7. In Iraq it is still about the oil

   ~ Noam Chomsky

8. Feds launch their annual reefer madness campaign

   ~ Sign On San Diego and Jim Hightower

9. Progressives licking their wounds over painful FISA defeat

   ~ Chris Hedges

10. Progressive audience keeping satirical flick "War, Inc." alive despite blackout

    ~ Joshua Holland