What You Dig

What do you get when you mix drugs, greed, God and a splash of Bristol Palin’s baby-daddy? The five most popular Truthdig stories from the last seven days. And they are …

1. Chris Hedges on the Economy
“Resist or Become Serfs” — If we do not immediately halt our elite’s rapacious looting of the public treasury we will be left with trillions in debts, which can never be repaid, and widespread human misery which we will be helpless to ameliorate. The stimulus and bailout plans are not about saving us. They are about saving them.

2. Robert Scheer on Summers’ Big Payoff
“Living Large and in Charge” — Not surprisingly, Lawrence Summers is convinced that he deserved every penny of the $8 million that Wall Street firms paid him last year. And why shouldn’t he be cut in on the loot from the loopholes in the toxic derivatives market that he pushed into law when he was Bill Clinton’s treasury secretary?

3. The Truthdig Book Review, Edited by Steve Wasserman
“Troy Jollimore on the God Debate” — Is it really true, as John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge argue in their new book, “God Is Back,” that religion and modernity cannot only coexist but actually flourish together?

4. Truthdig on the Palin-Johnston Feud
”  ‘Tyra’ Appearance Sparks Palin-Johnston Scuffle” — What’s a former would-be-son-in-law of Sarah Palin to do once his time as an adjunct member of the family is over? Why, go on “The Tyra Banks Show” of course, as Bristol Palin’s ex, Levi Johnston, has done in an episode slated to air Monday [April 6]. This media-baiting move has clearly angered Mama Bear Palin.

5. David Sirota on the Drug War
“This Is the Truth on Drugs … Any Questions?” — Finally, after America has frittered away billions of taxpayer dollars arming Latin American death squads and incarcerating more of its own citizens on nonviolent drug charges than any other industrialized nation, the government is starting to re-evaluate federal narcotics policy.