Journalist Julia Whitty will join us to discuss the state of the Gulf Coast now that the mainstream media has all but moved on. And, Gustavo Arellano on OC’s changing demographics, and political leaning. Plus, author Gail Dines will join me in studio to discuss her new book, “Pornland: How Porn has Hijacked Our Sexuality.” And this week’s edition of The Right Hook.

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Fox News Shock-Jock Glenn Beck’s so-called Honor Rally over the weekend in Washington DC, drew, according to Beck, between 300,000 to 650,000 people. Ultra-conservative Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann insisted more than a million people were present. But CBS News hired a firm that estimated the crowd at less than 100,000. The rally was held on the same day and location as the 1963 historic March for Jobs and Freedom where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his legendary I Have a Dream Speech attracting more than 200,000 Americans. While Beck insisted that his rally was held on that day coincidentally, he has spoken about “reclaiming the civil rights movement.” In his only post-rally interview on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, Beck apologized for calling Obama a racist who hates white people …

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Conservative commentator Ben Stein wrote last week that the unemployed are a group of unskilled “complainers and malcontents”. Around the same time former newspaper editor Ira Stoll called for cutting unemployment benefits for many so-called “undeserving” groups, including married individuals whose spouses have a job. And in Sunday’s Wall Street Journal, Harvard Economist Robert Barro blamed unemployment benefits for keeping unemployment high. It seems as though a new attack on the jobless is always on the horizon, even as economic forecasts remain bleak. But this blame-the-victim mentality is uniquely American when compared to the attitudes of other developed nations. In France, Germany, and the Netherlands governments discourage lay-offs by temporarily subsidizing wages and allowing companies to cut pay. Or individuals work less hours, jobs are shared, and the government steps …

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In a controversial new series of articles, the Los Angeles Times has begun evaluating Los Angeles Unified School District teachers using a new grading system. This so-called “value-added” analysis attempts to explain student test scores by comparing the student with him or herself as opposed to the presently used Academic Progress Index (API) which compares students to their peers. The Times and proponents of this system claim that it mitigates many of the socio-economic discrepancies that have dogged the accuracy of standardized testing since its genesis. Value-added analysis follows students for years and compares the results of these individuals against their previous scores. The data presented by the Times suggest that teachers can have an incredible impact on their students’ learning, swaying average scores by as …

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Mumia Abu Jamal is an award winning journalist and political prisoner. Today’s commentary is on Beck’s Honor Rally.

Listen to Abu Jamal’s commentaries online at www.prisonradio.org.

“The whole object of education is.. to develop the mind. The mind should be a thing that works.” — Sherwood Anderson

We’ll look back at Glenn Beck’s so-called Honor Rally – what it means for the state of the Right Wing, and the US. Our guest will be Chip Berlet. And, John De Graaf will join us to discuss his cover story in the latest issue of the Progressive – a strategy to improve the economy: work less, so all can work. And, the impact of the LA Times’ new series on value-added Teacher evaluations.

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“In practical terms, nothing will change”. That was the response of US military spokesman General Stephen Lanza to the New York Times commenting on the withdrawal of thousands of U.S. combat troops in Iraq. President Obama has touted the withdrawal as fulfilling his long-time promise to end the war in Iraq. However, 50,000 US troops remain on 94 military bases in the country. Official word from the military is that the remaining troops are vested with the power to advise and train the nascent Iraqi army, provide security, and carry-out counter-terrorism operations. Echoing the words of General Lanza, a journalist for The Guardian called the so-called withdrawal nothing more than a “re-branding of the occupation”. Heavy criticism is also being aimed at plans to increase the use of military contractors, even …

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Over the past two weeks, more than half a billion eggs have been recalled from across the United States due to incidents of Salmonella poisoning. Nearly 1,500 cases of illness related to the recall have been reported and at least one lawsuit has already been filed. The eggs originate from Wright County Egg Farm and Hillandale Farms in Iowa, that are sold under 13 different brand names, including Mountain Dairy, Ralphs, Albertson, Dutch Farms, and Farm Fresh. The Humane Society of the United States launched an ad campaign that makes it clear that all the eggs being recalled have been laid by hens crammed into cages. Salmonella poisoning has been linked to caged hens by various studies including in a report earlier this year by World Poultry headlined “Salmonella Thrives in …

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An experimental crowd control weapon originally designed for military use in Afghanistan and Iraq is now slated for domestic use. The weapon is known by various names including the “Assault Intervention Device,” the “Active Denial System,” “the Silent Guardian,” and unofficially, the “Pain Ray.” The device uses concentrated beams of electromagnetic radiation to produce pain and burning sensations in its targets. Although the device is “non-lethal” and does not produce permanent injury, a miscalibration of power settings during Air Force testing caused five airmen to suffer lasting burns, including one whose injuries were severe enough to warrant an airlift to an off-base burn treatment center. The system was deployed to Afghanistan briefly this summer, but was removed from service without being used operationally. The defense contractor Raytheon Missile Systems …