FURTHERMORE. . . .

Morton Mintz, Neiman Watchdog - The Progressive magazine's 100th-anniversary issue, published in April, consists mainly of excerpts from issues in each year since 1909. The entry for January 1917 – nearly 93 years ago – expands the much-disputed definition of "American Exceptionalism." It begins: "At present the United States has the unenviable distinction of being the only great industrial nation without universal health insurance. . . Certain interests which think they would be adversely affected by health insurance have made the specious plea that it is an un-American interference with liberty."

Good - Driving faster than 60 miles per hour starts to drastically reduce your fuel economy. In fact, according to the EPA, for every 5 miles per hour you drive over 60 mph, you are paying an extra $.24 a gallon for your gas.

Entropy update - A letter mailed in Freeport, Maine, on October 7 arrived in Washington today. That's about 50 miles a day or considerably slower than the pony express.

Harpers - Britain's High Court issued a decision on Friday directing that classified information shared by the CIA with British intelligence services concerning the torture and mistreatment of a former Guantánamo prisoner be made public.

Boston Globe - Unemployment in Massachusetts has reached its highest level since the 1970s, officials said yesterday as they also disclosed that the state will exhaust a fund that helps laid-off workers pay for health insurance by the end of next month. State officials said they are considering a number of emergency measures, including imposing higher costs on the unemployed and raising fees on employers, to close a gap that could exceed $50 million by April.

Survival International - The Akuntsu tribe in the Brazilian Amazon has lost its oldest member, Ururu, leaving the tribe with only five surviving members. Ururu was the oldest member of this close-knit, tiny group . . . 'She was a fighter, strong, and resisted until the last moment.' In addition, the oldest-surviving Akuntsu, Ururu's brother Konibu, is seriously ill. ururu witnessed the genocide of her people and the destruction of their rainforest home, as cattle ranchers and their gunmen moved on to indigenous lands in Rondnia state. . . Survivors say their family members were killed when ranchers bulldozed their houses and opened fire on them.

New America Media - When supermarket janitors in Local 1877 of the Service Employees International Union allied last month at Safeway and Lucky stores in San Jose, Calif., they weren't only demanding improved wages and health benefits. They were calling for the adoption of green cleaning standards to make their jobs safer. . . Putting green cleaning standards on the agenda with wages and benefits is evidence that one of the country's largest unions is broadening its idea of a safe and healthy workplace. . . "The health impacts of chemicals are front and center, and the problems are significant," said SEIU spokesperson Rachele Huenneknes. "We don't often see on a contract survey, literally 100 percent of workers saying, 'I get a headache when I use these chemicals,' and 100 percent saying, 'No, I don't have gloves.' That's the reason why at this particular time, there's a push."

The Whig Party will have at least three candidates on the Florida ballot for the US House in 20010

Fox News - New York state wants to crack down on truckers who rely on satellite devices to direct them onto faster but prohibited routes and end up crashing into overpasses that are too low for their rigs. Gov. David Paterson proposed penalties including jail time and confiscation of trucks to come down on drivers who use GPS - global positioning systems - to take more hazardous routes and end up striking bridges. "To our knowledge, no other state has similar legislation," said Clayton Boyce of the American Trucking Associations, an industry trade group based in Washington.. . . In New York, a truckers' group called the proposal unfair and unwarranted.

Rich Benjamin, Alternet - From 1934 to 1962, the Federal Housing Administration underwrote $120 billion in new housing. Less than 2 percent of that went to nonwhites. From 1938 to 1962, the FHA insured the mortgages on nearly one third of all new housing in the United States. Its Underwriting Manuals, however, considered blacks an "adverse influence" on property values and instructed personnel not to insure mortgages on homes unless they were in "racially homogenous" white neighborhoods. Under its eligibility ranking system, the FHA often refused to lend money to or underwrite loans for whites if they moved to areas where people of color lived. Some scholars now call the government's handiwork a "$120 billion head start" on white home ownership, on white equity, and on whites' ability to pass along wealth from one generation to the next. MORE ON THIS

ABC News - Angry French farmers blocked the famous Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris to call attention to the difficulties their sector is going though. Several other French cities were also affected. In Poitiers (western France), farmers dumped about a thousand cubic meters of soil in the city center. French media reported that several hundreds of tractors converged towards the centers of several French cities from north to south, disrupting or stopping traffic on roads and highways. 52,000 protesters took part in the protests nationwide. . . In Paris, about 50 cereal growers set up barriers and dropped bales of hay on the chic Champs-Elysees avenue, next to the posh Fouquet's restaurant where French President Nicolas Sarkozy celebrated his election in May 2007. Protesters set hay and tires on fire, completely blocking rush-hour traffic in several streets in the area. The farming world is dying", Damien Greffin, president of the "Young In 2008, French farmers' income dropped by as much as 20 percent and the situation is not expected to improve this year, according to the French Farm Ministry.