Sen. Benigno “NoyNoy” Aquino won the Philippine elections with about 75 percent of the vote, despite a communist rebel skirmish in the Mindinao region. He vowed to tamp down corruption (although FPIF columnist Walden Bello wonders if that’s the real cause of poverty).

On Democracy Now!, Glenn Greenwald and Jamin Raskin debate the progressive reaction to Elena Kagan.

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade is a comprehensive source for the latest citizen reports on what’s happening in the Gulf, as a result of the BP oil spill. Oil is now washing up on the shores of the Mississippi Delta.

As Daphne Wysham reports, this isn’t the first time BP has hurt people in the Gulf—but thanks to lax regulation, they were hardly punished for it. Representatives from BP, Halliburton, and Transocean will appear before a Senate committee investigating the spill today.

How can cultural boycott help the BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) movement against Israel? Cathy Gulkin of Point of View magazine explains (via IMEU).

Two AlterNet reporters ask: Why do we let economically essential banks gamble with our money? Our own Sarah Anderson says that taxing financial speculation is key to halting the casino. OpenLeft has a great roundup of developments in financial reform.