In the first hour, PLANET ERSTWILD host James Moore speaks with investigative journalist/best-selling author Greg Palast about his piece THE WORST TEACHER IN CHICAGO highlighting the dynamics at work in the teacher strike underway in Chicago, the biggest in 26 years, especially with Obama's former chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel now mayor. Palast also discusses his newest book Billionaires and Ballot Bandits, on sale now. Author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Armed Madhouse. Palast may be best known for uncovering Katherine Harris' purge of blacks from Florida's voter rolls in the 2000 presidential election.

At 3pm, James speaks with Jeremiah Goulka, a DC-based journalist who penned an essay this week WHY I LEFT THE GOP for TomDispatch that was picked up by Salon, Mother Jones, The Nation & others. Formerly an analyst at the RAND Corporation, a recovery worker in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, and an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, Goulka was raised in Chicago in the Rockefeller Republican tradition with dreams of becoming involved in Republican politics. He talks about his personal transformation stirred by a visit to Iraq and a stark confrontation with poverty in Hurricane Katrina-stricken New Orleans.

A short trailer for the film REEL BAD ARABS will air toward the end of the hour. Documenting the dismissive way Hollywood treats Arab characters and characterizations, it will air in its entirety next week.

At 4pm, we go "Inside the Headlines" with Newsvandal JP Sottile, Oakland-based Emmy-award winning journalist & filmmaker who spent 10 years working in DC. This week's categories include Implausible Deniability (Take Two Drones and Call Me in the Morning), The Economy Doesn't suck--It Just Sucks for You (Record Poverty Rate Persists in U.S.), and Calling Dr. Dolittle (Birds Hold Funerals for Their Dead), as well as Good News and Odds & Ends. For a complete list of headlines with links, click "Read more" below.

1. Implausible Deniability
How the Gov’t Talks About a Drone Program it Won’t Acknowledge Exists
http://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-govt-talks-about-a-drone-program-it-wont-acknowledge
 
Drone Killing of Civilians Sparks Outrage in Yemen...Apathy in U.S.
http://www.allgov.com/news/us-and-the-world/drone-killing-of-civilians-sparks-outrage-in-yemenapathy-in-us-120907?news=845234
 
Dead After 11 Years of Despair: A Prisoner Who Proved Gitmo Is Immoral
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/dead-after-11-years-of-despair-a-prisoner-who-proved-gitmo-is-immoral/262317/
 
A Classified CIA Mea Culpa on Iraq
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/09/05/a_classified_CIA_mea_culpa_on_iraq
 
Bush Administration Kidnapped Gaddafi Opponents and Returned them to Libya to be Tortured
http://www.allgov.com/news/us-and-the-world/bush-administration-kidnapped-gaddafi-opponents-and-returned-them-to-libya-to-be-tortured-120913?news=845299
 
Former CIA Chief: Obama’s War on Terror Same as Bush’s, But With More Killing
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/09/bush-obama-war-on-terror/
 
Take Two Drones and Call Me in the Morning
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/09/12/take_two_drones_and_call_me_in_the_morning

2. The Economy Doesn't Suck. It Just Sucks For You.
Fed launches big stimulus, to buy bonds until jobs rebound
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/13/us-usa-fed-idUSBRE88C04T20120913
 
As Low Rates Depress Savers, Governments Reap Benefits
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/business/as-low-rates-depress-savers-governments-reap-the-benefits.html
 
Equity Firms Like Bain Are Depicted as Colluding
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/business/documents-depict-equity-firms-like-bain-as-colluding.html
 
Well-to-do get mortgage help from Uncle Sam
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/13/us-fanfred-lending-idUSBRE88C0CY20120913
 
Record Poverty Rate Persists in U.S.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/09/12/us/politics/ap-us-census-poverty.html
 
A Third of Americans Now Say They Are in the Lower Classes
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/09/10/a-third-of-americans-now-say-they-are-in-the-lower-classes/

3. Calling Dr. Dolittle
Rabbits Show their Pain: The extension of 'grimace scales' highlights their growing role in research
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=rabbits-show-their-pain
 
Lemon sharks 'learn' skills by watching each other
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/19484530
 
Chimp 'Secret Handshakes' May Be Cultural
http://www.livescience.com/22765-chimp-handshakes-grooming-cultural.html
 
Birds Hold Funerals for Their Dead
http://news.discovery.com/animals/birds-hold-avian-funerals-for-their-dead-120905.html
 
Animal-assisted therapy dogs work medical wonders
http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/sns-201209111630--tms--petwrldctnya-a20120912-20120912,0,5913356.column
 
Zoos - species protection or animal abuse?
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16213950,00.html

THIS WEEK IN GOOD NEWS!
Obama's NDAA Law Allowing Indefinite Military Detention of Citizens Ruled Unconstitutional
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/09/obamas_ndaa_law.php
 
High-Power Microwave Weapons Start to Look Like Dead End
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=high-power-microwave-weapons-start-to-look-like-dead-end
 
U.S. Solar Installs More Than Doubled in Second Quarter
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-09-10/u-dot-s-dot-solar-installs-more-than-doubled-in-second-quarter
 
Walmart is Biggest Corporate User of Solar
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/09/top-solar-companies
 
How to clean up oil spills: A simple but effective method for magnetically separating oil and water
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/how-to-clean-up-oil-spills-0912.html

ODDS & ENDS:
Jobs for Military Vets to Rebuild Fisheries
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/09/habitat-restoration
 
America's refusal to extradite Bolivia's ex-president to face genocide charges
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/09/america-refusal-extradite-bolivia
 
East Timor visit a 'message on US power'
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/east-timor-visit-a-message-on-us-power/story-e6frg6so-1226466760826
 
Gaza Strip: Children hurt as Israel strikes tunnels
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19541416
 
Tracking School Children With RFID Tags? It’s All About the Benjamins
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/09/rfid-chip-student-monitoring/
 
Big Sugar's 'price supports' leave a sour taste for consumers
http://cironline.org/reports/sugar-price-supports-sour-taste-consumers-3827
 
Kazakhstan Is Accused of Abusing Oil Workers
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/world/asia/human-rights-watch-report-says-kazakhstan-abuses-oil-workers.html
 
Iraq execution spree under the spotlight
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/09/201291081633731250.html
 
“Legal Issues Related to the Lethal Targeting of U.S. Citizens Suspected of Terrorist Activities”
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/target.pdf
 
Exorcism boom in Poland sees magazine launch
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/9/11/reutersworld/1209110726-exorcism-boom-in-poland-sees-magazine-l&sec=reutersworld
 
5 of the most expensive paper bags
http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/188256/5-of-the-most-expensive-paper-bags/
 
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