Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) has announced new working rules. Consequently, the union representing the mass transit system of the Southeastern Pennsylvania went on strike in the early hours of Tuesday.

Daily Kos poster shows maps from NYT (no link available) and comments on the regional distribution of the 22 percent of counties that increased their proportion of the vote for GOP candidates. The overlap with the Appalachian region is striking.

Iran's Foreign Minister said Monday his country has applied to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security group dominated by China and Russia.The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was created 11 years ago to address religious extremism and border security in Central Asia, but with growing interest in membership from countries such as Iran, it has grown into a bloc aimed at defying U.S. interests in the region

Analysis of the perilous situation in Pakistan, from a New Zealand website. "...All of these scenarios are terrifying and could lead to a regional war."

Susan Witt is the founder of Berkshares, a local currency that was introduced last fall in Southern Berkshire, Mass. (where Normal Rockwell lived out his later years). "The Berkshares are pretty simple to operate," she said. "You walk into a local bank, put down $90 federal and get 100 Berkshares, and then those Berkshares are spent at full value at regional stores."

A look at the worries of Middle Eastern states with Sunni majorities over the possibility of growing Shia power. The expression "Shia Crescent" was used by the king of Jordan, though rumor has it that the intelligence chief who thought it up was subsequently fired over the controversy it caused. "Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states have good reason to be anxious. Iran, flaunting its nuclear ambitions, has emerged as the biggest winner of the war in Iraq..."