TomDispatch is a site I love to read and often times I blog about the various pieces and books featured on the site. I was very excited to see that Tom has a new book out, The World According to TomDispatch: America in the New Age of Empire. It’s a best of collection that focuses on “the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. offshore Bermuda Triangle of injustice from Guantamano to the CIA “black sites,” not to speak of extraordinary rendition, the response to Hurricane Katrina, global warming, Iraq’s black gold and the energy crisis, and, above all, the Bush administration’s misbegotten “smash of civilizations.”

But don’t take my word that it is worth reading, here’s what Howard Zinn had to say:

“TomDispatch is one of the wonders of the electronic age. A touch of the finger and you get the juiciest, meatiest information and analysis, so rich a feast of intelligence and insight I often felt short of breath. Now, Tom Engelhardt has assembled some of the best of his dispatches, from some of the boldest and most astute commentators in the country. So take a deep breath and read.” [TD]

And in case you’re a watcher and not a reader you can watch a video of Tom himself talking about the book by clicking here >>

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Chris Hedges (along with Laila al-Arian) has a new book out, Collateral Damage, America’s War Against Iraqi Civilians. It takes the voices of soldiers and veterans of the Iraq War and tells of their experiences with American war protocol as it relates to civilians in Iraq.

Hedges has a great piece up on TomDispatch that is adapted from the introduction to his book, the piece is called “Collateral Damage : What It Really Means When America Goes to War” and is something everyone should read:

The war in Iraq is now primarily about murder. There is very little killing. The savagery and brutality of the occupation is tearing apart those who have been deployed to Iraq. As news reports have just informed us, 115 American soldiers committed suicide in 2007. This is a 13% increase in suicides over 2006. And the suicides, as they did in the Vietnam War years, will only rise as distraught veterans come home, unwrap the self-protective layers of cotton wool that keep them from feeling, and face the awful reality of what they did to innocents in Iraq.

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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. Mother’s Day is this Sunday (don’t forget!), so be sure to take a look at some of the great posts we’ve put together in celebration of moms everywhere! Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

Top 10 Mother’s Day E-Cards

Hillary Andrews Will Not Lick Bob Stokes’ Swizzle Stick

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Nicole Hughes:

Top 10 Green Gift Wrap Ideas For Mothers Day

Peak Oil Strip Tease

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Andy Kondrat:

Tornado Devestated Town Rebuilds As Green Model Community

Radiohead Attempts An Eco-Friendly World Tour

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Jon Popham:

Nepalese Art Photography: Rubin Museum of Art

America’s First Wind-Powered City

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Giulia Rozzi:

Women For Women International Celebrates Mothers Day

Even More on the Kentucky Derby

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Gina Telaroli:

Video Blog: The Week In Social Action

The War Now Tomorrow and Forever

Tom Engelhardt has a great piece up on his site TomDisptach in which he examines what “the present American offensive in Baghdad’s vast Shiite slum, Sadr City, tells us about America’s no-exit future wars.” Engelhardt, author of The End of Victory Culture, begins his essay,
The Last War and the Next One : Descending into Madness in Iraq — and Beyond with a rather simple fact and follows it with the all too sad facts:

The last war won’t end, but in the Pentagon they’re already arguing about the next one.

Let’s start with that “last war” and see if we can get things straight. Just over five years ago, American troops entered Baghdad in battle mode, felling the Sunni-dominated government of dictator Saddam Hussein and declaring Iraq “liberated.” In the wake of the city’s fall, after widespread looting, the new American administrators dismantled the remains of Saddam’s government in its hollowed out, trashed ministries; disassembled the Sunni-dominated Baathist Party which had ruled Iraq since the 1960s, sending its members home with news that there was no coming back; dismantled Saddam’s 400,000 man army; and began to denationalize the economy. Soon, an insurgency of outraged Sunnis was raging against the American occupation.

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