Speed of Life

Incredible time lapse video made by Richard Shepherd from stills grabbed from the New York Times webcam during Hurricane Sandy. I had the New York Times webcam on all day yesterday as well. My thoughts go out to the brave responders and all those dealing with this frightening, unprecedented storm. Climate change is real my friends. Props to President Obama, FEMA, the Coast Guard, the National Guard, and all the courageous nurses, firefighters, police officers, EMT's and union workers of all stripes who kept so many safe.

Influential cleric and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani delivers his sermon during Friday prayers at Tehran University The complete video of Rafsanjani's sermon is available on YouTube . All of the clips are posted here: Voice of Democratic Iran: Khandaniha From Nico Pitney at Huffington Post: Rafsanjani's most important line? Via email, Portland State University professor R. Kevin Hill writes: There was subtext and not-so-sub-subtext in several of Rafsanjani's remarks, based on the transcript of a live-blogger (caveats about accuracy, accuracy of translation, etc.) excerpt of which follows. If this is accurate, and I'm reading the oblique sermon style correctly, he's articulating a principle of popular sovereignty and calling on the government to resign. I've highlighted the crucial remark: "The Imam [Khomeini] would always quote the Prophet [Muhammad] who would say to Ali [Muhammad's successor]: leave the people if they do not want you. From ...

"Our private lives continuously intersect with the history of our time. Rarely was this more evident than in Tiananmen Square in 1989 when I saw a million students rise up in protest. My friend climbed atop our taxi and shouted, 'Democracy is not only for America! Democracy is not only for China! Democracy is for the whole world!'" -Huston Smith The images from around the world bear witness to a global reality. "We are not sheep", they cry from the streets of Tehran to the streets of Urumqi. In both Iran and China, the ruling forces have duped many of the poor, rural citizens of their country into acting as proxy agents for their power grab. In China especially in Tibet and the Uighur regions, much like the British did during the height of their empire in the 18th and 19th centuries, ethnic groups are set against each other to distract the people away from the real foe - the unjust government. The riots this week in China were bloody and many innocents died...