THE TENSION: The Decline and Fall of Western Civ for 26 Oct.

After reading: wash, rinse and repeat.

A man ranting about "the blood" burst into a church sanctuary in Salem, Oregon during a service, sloshed fuel onto people and started a fire, police and church officials said Thursday, reports AP.

"He ... was yelling things about the blood, and then he began to sprinkle the fluid and light it," Erickson said. "He was making slurs about things that are most precious to us."

KNBC and AP reports a wind-whipped wildfire started by an arsonist engulfed a fire engine Thursday, killing four firefighters, and stranded up to 400 people in an RV park when flames burned to the edge of the only road out, officials said.

Matt Drudge reports NBC and The CW Television Network have taken a stand against the Dixie’s Chicks new documentary “Shut Up & Sing” a behind-the-scenes look at the incredible political and media fallout that occurred in 2003 after the Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines said that she was "ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." “Shut Up & Sing” opens in theaters in NY and Los Angeles on Friday and in theaters nationwide on November 10th.

NBC and the CW Television Network refuse to air ads for the documentary which focuses on freedom of speech.

Salon interviews Camille Paglia:

It's been a while since Salon last heard from our favorite intellectual and one of our founding contributors, Camille Paglia. But with so much tumult in the air, we felt the need to ask her to survey the strange tectonic shifts in our political and cultural landscape, and interpret as much as she could. As usual she didn't disappoint, sounding off to Salon's Kerry Lauerman about the Foley follies, the Bill Clinton blitzkrieg, the amazing Republican meltdown and a most consistent object of her love and scorn: the Democrats.

On the same track, a Muslim cleric's claim that women who do not wear the veil are like 'uncovered meat' who attract sexual predators sparked outrage around Australia yesterday, reports the Daily Mail.

Addressing 500 worshippers on the topic of adultery, Sheik al-Hilali added: "If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it..whose fault is it - the cats or the uncovered meat?

AP reports Mexico's president sharply criticized President Bush's signing Thursday of a bill to build 700 miles of additional fencing on its southern border, calling the move an "embarrassment."

"It is an embarrassment for the United States," Fox said. "It is proof, perhaps, that the United States does not see immigration as a subject that corresponds to both countries."

Prices for newly built American homes have suffered their largest drop year-on-year since 1970, according to data released yesterday, highlighting the dramatic nature of the downturn of the US housing sector. However, growing sales offered homebuilders some hope of recovery, reports FT.com.

Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday said its profit rose to $10.49 billion in the third quarter, making it the second-largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly traded U.S. company, according to AP.

Bloomberg reports Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world's two biggest oil companies, posted higher third-quarter earnings than analysts expected after crude prices soared to a record and production increased.

FT.com reports the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Thursday night agreed to cut production by 1.2m barrels a day, showing its determination to defend $60 as its new minimum international price.