The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Nicole Hughes:

Should Drive-Thrus Be Banned?

Eco-Moms Mad About “Greenwash” Barbie

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Andy Kondrat:

Home Depot Will Recycle Your CLF Bulbs for Free

Department of Energy Predicts 50% Energy Increase By 2030

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Jon Popham:

NYC Waterfalls Installation Starts This Week

Capt. John Smith Is Back…and Running for President

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Giulia Rozzi:

Yoga Across the Border

Emile Norman: By His Own Design

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Gina Telaroli:

Silverdocs 08: A Post-Fest Wrap-Up

Human Rights Watch 08: Letter to Anna

It’s June 27th, I’m Gina Telaroli and this is TakePart.com’s look at the week in social action…

Letter to Anna (Eric Bergkraut)

Screens Today, Thu Jun 26: 1 & 6:15

The Human Rights Watch 2008 International Film Festival closes tonight with Eric Bergkraut’s Letter to Anna, a post-death exploration of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya and her work. The general subject couldn‘t be more relevant to today, what it means to write and report on what the government doesn’t want the public to know is something we could all stand to think about.  And Anna, simply by the nature of her story, is a captivating person to learn about.

Anna was a Russian journalist that was assassinated in 2006 (on Putin’s birthday nonetheless). Known for her eye-opening pieces about the Russian War in Chechnya and the numerous human rights violations that were occurring, Anna was always putting herself at risk for her work. She also made a point to focus on how the war was being portrayed to Russian citizens. Her work led to her being used during terrorist negotiations and even to her abduction by Russian troops while in Chechnya. She not only wrote stories, she lived them.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

Brigitte Bardot Fine: Top 5 Bardotisms That Got Hot Sex Symbol In Hot Water

Obama Pound: In Historic Moment, White People Exposed To “Fist Bump” For First Time

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Nicole Hughes:

Get a Job: Top 10 Guides to Finding the Perfect Eco Career

Schwarzenegger Declares Drought in California

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Andy Kondrat:

Barcelona Fines Citizens for Using Drinking Water in Pools and Gardens

Coal Power Plants Waste Two-Thirds of Energy Input

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Jon Popham:

Megabus Expanding to the East Coast

Egyptian Blogger Freed from Prison

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Giulia Rozzi:

Diamonds In The Rough: A Ugandan Hip Hop Revolution

Cluster Bomb Ban

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Gina Telaroli:

Interview with Nina Davenport, Director of Operation Filmmaker

KidZui : Internet for Kids (and Those Young at Heart)

Egyptian Blogger Karim el-Beheiri was freed from an Egyptian jail Sunday after weeks of imprisonment. El-Beheiri was locked for protesting price hikes and salary cuts at a factory in the industrial city of El-Mahalla El-Kubra in the Nile Delta along with fellow protesters Tarek Amin and Kamal al-Fayoumy.

While incarcerated el-Beheiri says the trio were subjected to weeks of torture. “We were subjected to electric shocks, to beatings and there was no food and or drink for the first few days,” he told Agence France Press one day after his release.

An Egyptian government official from the Ministry of the Interior denied the torture claims, saying “These are false accusations. Everything took place within a framework of human rights.”

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Mother’s Day is a time to show your mother you love her, so you don’t want to give her a gift that is bad for Mother Earth. Luckily, you don’t have to give your mom a tofu souffle in order to give her a guilt-free gift. Here are the top 10 great Mother’s Day gifts that are good for your mother, good for mother earth, and good for your conscience. But you’ll have to order these gifts soon because they take a few days to arrive. Check back next week for last minute Guilt-Free Mother’s Day Gifts.

1. for Amnesty International with Organic Flowers. You don’t want to give your mom flowers filled with pesticides. So check out Fair Trade and Organic Bouquets. Choose the Amnesty International bouquet, and some of the proceeds will go to Amnesty International ($69.95).

2. for Amnesty International and human rights by buying The Jerusalem Candle of Hope, a rare joint venture product between Israeli and Palestinian women. The beautiful pillar beeswax candle crafted by Israeli women living near Nazareth is made with dried olive leaves and everlasting flowers from the region. The hurricane candle sits on a glass stand on which a small tea light is lit. This replaceable tea light arrives in an embroidered bag sewn by Palestinian women, living in Bethlehem ($36).

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Is America ready for a Guantanamo comedy in its movie theaters? New Line Cinema and the producers of “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” seem to think so. John Cho and Kal Penn are back on the big screen to reprise their beloved roles of Harold & Kumar, but this time the triviality of an epic quest for White Castle has been replaced with a romp where they get mistakenly thrown into the United States Military’s most infamous prison. Expect stoner humor, bodily function jokes and plenty of sexual insecurity but this time around the setting is considerably more politically charged than the New Jersey suburbs of their quest for diminutive, yet strangely addictive late night hamburgers.

Critic Peter Canavese of Groucho Reviews incitefully sums it up as:

“…a latter-day Abbott and Costello flick, where the monster they encounter isn’t Frankenstein, but the Bush Administration.”

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Richard Widmark, who debuted in Kiss of Death died at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, after a long illness. He was 93 and is survived by his wife, Susan Blanchard, and his daughter, Anne Heath Widmark, who was married to baseball player Sandy Koufax. Widmark would win an Academy Award for best supporting actor for his role in Kiss of Death as Tommy Udo, who enjoyed pushing old ladies down the stairs.

But in real life, Widmark who made over 75 films, was a great guy. Widmark was embarrassed to play the racist character in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s No Way Out and would apologize to Sidney Poitier, with whom he became friends, after shooting scenes. The film was critical of of racism.

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Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day. The holiday was was started over 100 years ago. Here’s how:

1. In 1908, 15,000 women march through New York City for shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.

2. In 1909, with the help of The Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman’s Day is celebrated.

3. In 1910, an International Women’s Day is proposed at a Socialist International meeting in Copenhagen, to honor the women’s rights movement and to help women gain the right to vote.

4. On March 19, 1911, more than one million people celebrate the first International Women’s Day in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, rallying against discrimination and for women’s rights to work, vote, and hold public office.

5. Six days later, on March 25, 146 women, mostly Italian and Jewish immigrants, are killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Because of the dangerous working conditions, locked doors, and dysfunctional and missing fire escapes, these women, some as young as 15, die in the fire or on the pavement, having leaped from the windows to avoid the flames. The tragedy, the worst work disaster in New York City until September 11th, sparks outrage and activism and reform for women’s rights and workers’ rights.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Don’t miss these excellent posts on some very engaging and thoughtful topics - from going green at the office to Julian Beever to dystopian film telling us to take action now. Check out our most popular articles of the week on a variety of subjects, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites.

Katie:

Katoucha’s Body Found: Model Helped African Women Escape Mutiliation

Julian Beever Brings Art to New Orleans Sidewalks

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Nicole:

Heath Ledger Nick Drake Video for “Black Eyed Dog” Hits Web

Top 10 Ways to Go Green in the Office

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Giulia:

Crate & Barrel Goes Green

The Black Comedy Project

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Gina:

Top 10 Dystopian Future Films Telling Us to Take Action Now

Going to “The Edge of Heaven” with Fatih Akin

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Kerry:

Sustainable Songstrees Sue West’s Rural Revival

No Impact Home A Hit At Ecobuild Exhibition