[A] document, obtained this week by The Washington Post, shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before its merger with Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who were developing a national energy policy, parts of which became law and parts of which are still being debated.

Roughly 14,500 detainees remain in U.S. custody, primarily in Iraq.

The number has steadily grown since the first CIA paramilitary officers touched down in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001, setting up more than 20 facilities including the "Salt Pit," an abandoned factory outside Kabul used for CIA detention and interrogation.

If I had to pin point one thing that made me quit performing for a living, it would be the existence of can-can lines on stages. There is absolutely NO equivalent humiliation factor for men. As a solo woman performer who actually had solid original content, I found it obnoxious and sexist beyond belief that women who simply dress in lingerie and act sexually available or dumb on stage are considered an act.

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Some of this month's questions include:
* Why did many Chinese men who came to America work as cooks, such as portrayed in the Hop Singh character on Bonanza, or work in laundry?
* What events during World War II created a temporary change in the childcare situation in America?
* What 4 words does the IRAC analysis system in law abbreviate?

Aljazeera | 14 November 2005

The world's forests are still being destroyed at an alarming rate despite a slowing down in the net rate of forest loss because of new planting and natural growth, a UN agency says.

French businesses are worried that the cost of the past 13 nights of rioting that has swept the country could go beyond clean-up to hurt investment and consumer confidence going into the all-important winter shopping season.

Hugh Hefner, of Playboy Magazine fame, and his newest, replaceable, bleached blonde, silicon-filled, very white “girl” concubines, are promoting a new “reality” TV show called, “The Girls Next Door.” It makes me really sick to watch this man basically act like Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater, of fairy tale fame. Neither Hugh or Christie Hefner meet the unrealistic beauty standards they promote for women in their magazine. They are both way too "ugly" and "old" to pose in their own magazine.

To clarify and to simplify the options – the structure of a possible dialog – let us state that any group that refuses to explain how it disagrees with our – The Green Means Green – recipe is elitist and at least closet fascist. Please explain yourselves – even if you refuse to actually debate – the world is waiting – the clock is ticking...

By ALAN FREEMAN | Globe and Mail | November 4, 2005

WASHINGTON -- European officials have vowed to investigate reports that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency set up a network of "ghost prisons" in Poland, Romania and elsewhere in Eastern Europe to interrogate al-Qaeda suspects, far away from the peering eyes of human-rights activists, the press and the courts.

NEW YORK (Fortune) - The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it's proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza remedy that's now the most-sought after drug in the world.

The BBC released a poll a couple of weeks ago on who should be leading an imaginary world government (obviously not the United Nations). Coming in at number four after winner Mandela, Bill Clinton(?), and the Dali Lama was Noam Chomsky. I haven't seen any reaction from Chomsky on this but he must be frustrated beyond belief. "Chomsky on Anarchism", a series of interviews on libertarian socialism dating from 1967 was released this year so there shouldn't be any doubt on where the man stands. And still, they don't understand.

"The Bush regime is setting out to radically remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come. .. But Silence and paralysis are NOT acceptable. That which you will not resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn - or be forced - to accept. .. History is full of examples where people who had right on their side fought against tremendous odds and were victorious. And it is also full of examples of people passively hoping to wait it out, only to get swallowed up by a horror beyond what they ever imagined."

Bush is stuck with another war he can't win. He is trying to get the Europeans to take over from US troops, but with the exception of Toady Blair, who is sending a few thousand British troops to be shot at, the Europeans are having none of it. The British were defeated three times in Afghanistan: in 1838-1842, 1878-1880 and 1919; referred to as the First, Second and Third Afghan Wars. Then the Russians were forced out of their occupation in the 1980s. The Fifth Afghan War will be another horrible legacy of Bush to his country.

By Dr. Mercola

Since Rumsfeld holds major portions of stock in Gilead, he will handsomely profit from the scare tactics of the government that is being used to justify the purchase of $2 billion of Tamiflu.

(Whether you are a teacher in B.C., an airport caterer in Britain, or a postal worker in Ireland, the fight is the same, as are the tactics needed to fight the boss' and government's attacks):

The law says it is ok to plot to sack workers and replace them with people on pathetically low pay. The law also says it is illegal for unions to organise support from another employer's staff for their members. And they say the law is impartial!...In reality, sympathy strikes are a workers' best weapon as individually we have little power compared to the boss. Standing together, however, we can defend our rights. The bosses know this, hence the attack on even the barest form of solidarity by workers.