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...For a Canadian mining company, these same hills look like a billion dollars worth of buried silver. In a stark collision of cultures, the famously mystical Huichol are trying to stop a $100 million, 15-year mining project from starting this year. Their struggle comes as indigenous people from Alaska to the Amazon are rallying to protect not just their environment but also their cultures from decay. This raises a tough question: How do you protect a cosmic portal? “For them the whole mountain is a temple, and the gold and silver below the ground are there for a reason —...

This health hazard and social menace is what the Left regards as America's next great political cause? As the tents were coming down at McPherson Square, the dead rats and mice being retrieved, the urine and feces and filthy bedding disposed of by District of Columbia employees dressed in hazardous-materials suits like their contemporaries at Fukushima, I thought of the left-wing press. You see, I read the left-wing press. Not the urban throwaway rags, but I read the Nation, the Progressive, the American Prospect, and more -- I read them all. They have been raving for months about the exciting...

HONOLULU -- Occupy Honolulu protesters are now occupying the sidewalks around Thomas Square after the city came in late Thursday night and drew up new boundaries. The rules state that no one is allowed to remain in city parks after 10 p.m. Around 10:30 p.m. Thursday, protesters were told to leave. Honolulu police came through the camp and ordered the protesters to start breaking down. Two people were arrested. One of them was a woman who refused to move her things and leave the park.

(12-12) 07:27 PST OAKLAND -- A group of protesters have succeeded in stopping a line of big-rigs from entering the Port of Oakland this morning during their march to shutdown the busy cargo terminal. Organizers have pledged to march to the port and shutdown the terminal, one of the busiest on the West Coast. Some unions, including the one representing Oakland teachers, are supporting the day-long strike while others, like the longshoremen's union, say shutting down the port will harm hard-working stevedores and truck drivers. Carrying signs saying "Shutdown Wall St. on the Waterfront" about 200 protesters marched the three...

The Occupy Movement has given us reporters plenty of fodder for good stories -- some informative and others entertaining. And while it appears Occupy SF has ceased to exist as a camp since police raided the encampment on Wednesday, there are still plenty of amusing stories to tell. For instance, this San Francisco guy is desperate to reoccupy the Financial District, which is why he is looking for someone to help him set up his tent -- and occupy it with him. So he did what any normal searching San Franciscan would do: He posted an ad on Craigslist. Although...

Now this might well take a lot of caj*nes as they say.But I propose the following.

It was in jest two months ago when I began calling the Occupy crowd “dirt smelly hippies.” Sadly, the phrase is now accurate. In Portland, Oregon, the city shutdown two parks for two weeks to clean up after these pigs left. 70 dump-truck loads of trash were hauled away. Now in Santa Cruz, California, Occupy Santa Cruz protesters left behind 200 pounds worth of human feces near the Veterans Memorial Building, a community center. Occupy San Francisco had a similar problem with the Ferry Building as these animals are too stupid and uncivilized to act as if they are potty...

Women may be the 51%, but the Occupy camps and General Assemblies look as gender-imbalanced as Congress. "I'm called 'that white b*tch who gets everything she wants' at the GA's," says Elise Whitaker, 21, adopting a bit of a defiant posture. She's been at Occupy LA since the second week of the encampment. A now former-assistant director for indie films, Whitaker is good looking in a vaguely familiar, probably-an-actor kind of way. She looks like just the type who moves to Los Angeles every day to "follow their dreams," but she's sleeping in a tent at City Hall. She tells...

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-november-16-2011/occupy-wall-street-divided

UPDATE 11.25am: OCCUPY Melbourne protesters have supplied drugs to homeless children and wards of the state as young as 12, a charity group says. The Salvation Army's Major Brendan Nottle said two 16-year-old girls were also invited to the home of activists in their late 20s and early 30s, while another 16-year-old was given marijuana to smoke. "We've had young people actually coming to our workers, as young as 12 and 13, and saying that they’ve been down at Occupy Melbourne," said on 3AW this morning. "They’ve been making statements to our workers around them being allowed to sniff glue...

Occupy Wall Street had the liberal arts majors camped out in tents — down by the river — protesting the idea of having to pay back their student loans. So where are the science and business majors? They traded in their dorms for life in foreclosed McMansions out in California. They are living large, enjoying the Jacuzzi and vino as they work toward degrees for which there is a market after college — at annual starting salaries that in some cases are double what a liberal arts student can expect. From CNBC: “The finances of subdivision life are compelling: the...

Police in riot gear surrounded New York City's Zuccotti Park late Tuesday evening, and distributed fliers to the Occupy Wall Street protesters camped out there for weeks ordering them to evacuate the grounds while maintenance is carried out. CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston reports the police fliers informed the anti-Wall Street demonstrators that they would be allowed to return to the park after the maintenance was conducted. The nature of the work, and how long it might take, were unclear. Live video from the WCBS news helicopter showed police surrounding the park, but there was no confrontation between police or...

BERKELEY, Calif. — Goodbye, city park, hello, college green. As city officials around the country move to disband Occupy Wall Street encampments amid growing concerns over health and public safety, protesters have begun to erect more tents on college campuses. “We are trying to get mass numbers of students out,” said Natalia Abrams, 31, a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, and an organizer with Occupy Colleges, a national group coordinating college-based protesters. Though only a handful of colleges have encampments, tents went up last week at Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., and here at the University of California,...

We all know there is a large contingent of radical socialists, even communist die-hards, among the Occupy crowd, but it’s still pretty jarring to see this sort of discussion being conducted in the light of day, probably no more then a mile or two from our nation’s capitol.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Member of Occupy Louisville are planning what they call "7 Days of Solidarity," to help the larger community get to know what they stand for. According to a news release from the group, on Sunday members will join a march with Louisville Peace Action Community. On Monday, they will rally with union workers. On Tuesday, the will protest in support of campaign finance reform. On Wednesday, they will discuss health care reform and protest Humana. Thursday activities are to be determined. On Friday, they will help clean up vacant property in a neighborhood hit by foreclosures. On...

Everybody’s been too damn polite about this nonsense: The “Occupy” movement, whether displaying itself on Wall Street or in the streets of Oakland (which has, with unspeakable cowardice, embraced it) is anything but an exercise of our blessed First Amendment. “Occupy” is nothing but a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists, an unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness. These clowns can do nothing but harm America. “Occupy” is nothing short of a clumsy, poorly-expressed attempt at anarchy, to the extent that the “movement” – HAH! Some “movement”, except if the word “bowel” is attached - is...

OAKLAND, Calif. — Leaders across the country felt increasing pressure Friday to shut down Occupy encampments after two men died in shootings and another was found dead from a suspected combination of drugs and carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a propane heater inside a tent. Citing a strain on crime-fighting resources, police first pleaded with and then ordered Occupy Oakland protesters to leave their encampment at the City Hall plaza where a man was shot and killed late Thursday. The Oakland Police Officer’s Association, which represents rank-and-file police, issued an open letter saying the camp is pulling officers away from...

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A Fort Collins man was in jail Friday to face charges related to a fire that burned two buildings and caused $10 million damage. Police arrested Benjamin Gilmore, 29 Thursday night. He's accused of setting the fire in a 4-story building that was under construction at 311 Mason St. That fire spread to Penny Flats, a nearby building that had condominiums and stores in it. Investigators determined the fire was arson. It broke out at 3:30 a.m. on October 24. The building that was under construction was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. Investigators from...

(11-02) 23:05 PDT OAKLAND -- A car struck two Occupy Oakland protesters tonight as they marched with a crowd along Broadway, and an angry mob surrounded the car as emergency workers tended to the injured. The driver, who was not identified, sat in his silver Mercedes-Benz sedan after the 7:30 p.m. incident while hundreds of people screamed at him through his closed windows. BART police officers who were guarding nearby transit stations responded, questioned the driver and several witnesses, then let the driver leave the scene at 11th Street and Broadway in his car. The two people who were hit,...

Former U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Jayel Aheram served tours in Iraq and Southeast Asia with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit to protect the freedoms of Americans. Aheram, who was honorably discharged in early 2010, was arrested on suspicion of unlawful assembly on Nov. 1 during a police crackdown at a week-long encampment at Palm Desert's Civic Center Park as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The 27 year old, who also goes by the name Jack Lee Noftsger, told Patch in a jailhouse interview on Wednesday that he believes there is something wrong with a system that punishes him...

Here’s how the media are viewing the once-hottest news story: Occupy Wall Street is 99% dead. In the first phase of Occupy Wall Street, journalists were dazzled by the spirit and the anger of the participants. For a brief, flickering moment, the idea of rallying as an economically aggrieved 99% of the population had terrific potential. Reporters trekked to Zuccotti Park to observe the latest link in the chain, advancing from the anti-Vietnam protests of the ‘60s and ‘70s to the anti-nuclear power demonstrations that followed it. Now we’re seeing the lamentable second wave of the Occupy Wall Street story....

Forty two years ago, Oakland mayor-to-be Jean Quan was a U.C. Berkeley student-activist rallying for a movement dubbed the Third World Liberation Front of 1969. That movement would later give birth to the university's Ethnic Studies Department and influence universities across the country to integrate such a unique discipline. The department studies represent the history and experiences of marginalized people, especially people of color. Quan went on to become many things: union organizer, Oakland Board of Education member, Oakland City Council member, Chabot Space & Science Center board chair. As she tells on her own website jeanquan.org, in the beginning...

SAN FRANCISCO -- On both sides of San Francisco Bay, the liberal mayors of two famously liberal cities have found themselves struggling to balance their avowed support for the Occupy Wall Street movement with the need to preserve public safety. The spirit of the movement has strong allies in Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, both of whom have ties to social activism in the area. Quan, a former student activist at University of California, Berkeley, during the 1960s, had stood one year ago between police and police-shooting demonstrators in an unsuccessful attempt to calm the...

Occupy Edmonton protesters held a march on October 29 to call for a Robin Hood tax. They are calling on G20 leaders to immediately impose a 0.05 per cent tax on banks for financial transactions and currency trades. They claim that profits made from the tax could go back to programs to benefit society. "It's a good way to generate some revenue to deal with global poverty, to deal with climate change," spokesperson Chelsea Taylor told CTV News. According to the group the Canadian government has shown a lack of leadership on a Robin Hood tax. "Finance minster Jim Flaherty...

DENVER - A tense standoff between protesters and authorities near the steps of the Colorado Capitol erupted into a clash Saturday that resulted in a surge of demonstrators being met with police force that included reports of pepper spray and rubber bullets. The situation downtown escalated when some supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement marching in a group of about 2,000 tried to advance up the Capitol steps. About eight officers scuffled with a group of protesters, according to The Denver Post, and police confirmed to the newspaper that they used pepper spray and either rubber bullets or pepper...

Who said protesting was for grown ups? As these photographs show, kids are joining the masses at Occupy protests around the world. The protests, which began in New York City as hundreds gathered in Zucotti Park to "Occupy Wall Street," have spread to cities all over the world. And, the adults, some of whom have made the Occupy camps their home, are bringing along their little ones. Many believe they have must seize this "teachable moment" to educate their kids on income equality and the right to protest. In Zucotti Park, a Brooklyn mother organized a sleepover for more than...

OAKLAND, Calif. - Filmmaker Michael Moore told anti-Wall Street protesters in Oakland that the Occupy movement - which has spread to cities across America and overseas - in inspiring millions who are angry about corporate excess, income inequality and the failure of politicians to address issues facing the majority of Americans. "We've killed despair across the country and we've killed apathy," he said. The director of the documentary films "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Bowling for Columbine" said people throughout the U.S. were "disgusted" and "horrified" when police fired tear gas and bean bags and took other aggressive actions against protesters Tuesday...

Snip- "City officials temporarily denied Occupy Madison a new street use permit Wednesday after protesters violated public health and safety conditions and failed to follow the correct processes to renew or amend a permit..." "A neighboring hotel's staff alleged voiced concerns about having to recently escort hotel employees to and from bus stops late at night due to inappropriate behavior, such as public masturbation, from street protesters."

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Anti-Wall Street protesters around the U.S. who are vowing to stand their ground against the police and politicians are also digging in against a different kind of adversary: cold weather. With the temperature dropping, they are stockpiling donated coats, blankets and scarves, trying to secure cots and military-grade tents, and getting survival tips from the homeless people who have joined their encampments. "Everyone's been calling it our Valley Forge moment," said Michael McCarthy, a former Navy medic in Providence. "Everybody thought that George Washington couldn't possibly survive in the Northeast." Valley Forge in Pennsylvania was the site...

* TV, newspaper coverage declining * Twitter trend also softening as days go by * Experts say protest needs a "second act" "Occupy Wall Street" is occupying less space in TV broadcasts, newspapers and social media as the story settles into a familiar pattern and protesters dig in for what could be a protracted fight. While the movement's reliance on Twitter and Facebook to spread its message is well established, it has also benefited from becoming a media curiosity, at times drawing legions of TV crews and reporters to its encampments. Coverage fed on itself, as more people joined in...

NEW YORK -- It was supposed to be a master class in revolutionary activism: two stars of the Tahrir Square uprising visiting Occupy Wall Street to swap tactics and sass. It ended up more like an undergraduate teach-in. For Egyptian activists Asmaa Mahfouz and Ahmed Maher, the visit to Zuccotti Park was an exhilarating -- if surreal -- break from the punishing workload of fighting the military dictatorship back home. "Where is the tear gas?" Maher asked with a smile, but he seemed genuinely puzzled by the cordial relations between the Wall Streeters and the cops. Maher and Mahfouz both...

For those old enough to remember the protests of the 1960s and 70s, Occupy Wall Street has revisited that era. Folk legends Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie, joined the ever growing movement and marched with the group in New York City singing Seeger's signature, We Will Overcome. Seeger is now 92 and walks with two canes; Guthrie is 64 and a long way from Alice's Restaurant. Seeger, a lifelong activist, is best known for penning the infamous, "If I Had a Hammer," " Turn, Turn, Turn" and "Where Have all the Flowers Gone?" After performing on Friday evening at Symphony...

PORTLAND, Ore. -- When Occupy Wall Street protesters took over two parks in Portland's soggy downtown, they pitched 300 tents and offered free food, medical care and shelter to anyone. They weren't just building, like so many of their brethren across the nation, a community to protest what they see as corporate greed. They also created an ideal place for the homeless. Some were already living in the parks, while others were drawn from elsewhere to the encampment's open doors. Now, protesters from Portland to Los Angeles to Atlanta are trying to distinguish between homeless people who are joining their...

If you believe a column in Newsweek magazine, most of the Occupy Wall Street protesters are just regular folks, people like you and me. Writer Michael Daly puts forth that the demonstrators simply have had enough of an unfair economic system, and what's wrong with that? But a survey taken at the protest site in New York City tells quite another story. Pollster Doug Schoen, who once worked for President Clinton, had his staff ask 200 protesters to define themselves. -- Just 15 percent are unemployed. -- Most voted for Barack Obama in 2008, but now only 44 percent approve...

Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports, a popular, whimsical, sports-based media brand here in Boston (and NYC, and Phila), recently visited Occupy Boston and mocked the living hell out of them. Watch

Rep. Allen West denounces the Occupy Wall Street movement for “laughable hypocrisy” and contends that it is dangerous that some in Washington, including President Barack Obama, are embracing the nationwide wave of protests. During an extensive interview with Newsmax.TV, the Florida Republican also: Blames Washington for the nation’s economic problems. Decries Obama’s “class warfare rhetoric.” Insists that Attorney General Eric Holder should resign over the Operation Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal. And says Obama should “dust off” his Nobel Peace Prize and return it, considering the military ventures he has advanced during his administration. West, who was elected in 2010,...

NEW YORK: Sparked in Tunisia, popularized in Egypt, spreading in Europe and increasingly in the United States; demonstrations, strikes, riots and occupations of public squares are a growing global trend and an international phenomenon. Inspired by the peaceful, nonviolent uprisings in Egypt and elsewhere – New York’s Occupy Wall Street movement has caught on like wild fire throughout the United States and has spread to over 80 countries worldwide. The metastatic anti-capitalism movement began this past September at Liberty Plaza in Lower Manhattan, two blocks north of Wall Street – symbolically, beneath the office windows of the world’s leading financial...

New Jersey Republican governor Chris Christie said Tuesday that he understands the growing Occupy Wall Street movement, adding that demonstrators have a right to be upset with the economy. “What they’re saying is ‘The government’s not working for me anymore, the government is not being fair, the government is not helping me the way that they should,’” Mr. Christie told a crowd of supporters. “I understand why they’re angry. Because you look down at what’s happening in Washington, D.C., it should disgust all of us,” the New Jersey Republican added. “You have a president who’s unwilling to drag people to...

With the Occupy Wall Street protests gaining steam in the U.S., it seems obvious to link the movement with the other grassroots movement that recently shook up American politics: the Tea Party. President Barack Obama did it this morning, telling ABC that the protesters in downtown New York are "not that different" from the Tea Party: both the right and the left feel "that their institutions aren't looking out for them." My colleagues' pieces number among a flurry of others pondering the parallel. Michael Scherer recast Occupy Wall Street as the Tea Party of the American left. Roya Wolverson suggested...

Have fun!!! Some of the posts are a real hoot. The fleabaggers are getting ticked.

A convicted sex offender from California who registered his address at the Occupy Portland camp spoke to FOX 12 about his past and reasons for moving. "I'm not here to harm children," said Raymond Curtis. "I'm not harmful to children." Curtis said he left Mendocino, CA, started driving and ended up in Portland. Since last week, he's been living in Lownsdale Square among the dozens of other demonstrators in solidarity with the national Occupy Wall Street movement. "I found there was an opportunity to maybe change the system and I've put everything I have into it. Here I am," said...

The now-global Occupy Wall Street movement rolled into its 31st day on Monday, with an appearance by three Americans freed after being held in Iran highlighting activities on the U.S. West Coast. The three Americans -- released after being convicted of spying in Iran and held for several months -- were set to address a crowd of people camped out in front of Oakland, California, City Hall at 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET). Josh Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd were to make "their first West Coast public appearance" since leaving Iran, weeks after the two men were freed...

President Obama and the Democratic leadership are making a critical error in embracing the Occupy Wall Street movement—and it may cost them the 2012 election. Last week, senior White House adviser David Plouffe said that "the protests you're seeing are the same conversations people are having in living rooms and kitchens all across America. . . . People are frustrated by an economy that does not reward hard work and responsibility, where Wall Street and Main Street don't seem to play by the same set of rules." Nancy Pelosi and others have echoed the message. Yet the Occupy Wall Street...

Seattle police and city parks employees went into the Occupy Seattle protesters' encampment in Westlake Park at 7 a.m. Monday morning and cleared out the 150 or so tents and police made nine arrests. The 150 Occupy Seattle tents in Westlake Park were taken down by 7:30 Monday morning as Seattle police and Seattle parks employees moved in to clear what the city has long said was illegal camping on city property. Police also arrested nine people. All the tents were down within a half-hour, according to Assistant Police Chief Mike Sanford. The protesters were told to take the tents...

I'm Getting Arrested is a creative Android app that, according to developer Quadrant 2, was inspired by a real-life "Occupy Wall Street" incident. It lets you quickly notify your family, friends, and crack legal team (if you have one) of your situation with a single tap of your finger.

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From the outside looking in, Occupy Wall Street's headquarters at Zuccotti Park may look like a clutter of tents and sleeping bags. But just a few blocks away, the so-called Trojan Horse of this well-organized movement is in plain sight. That's where the Occupy Wall Street supply room is located, a stockpile of food, clothing, and medical supplies housed in a former bank on the corner of Broadway and Exchange. "We get anywhere from 100 to 400 boxes a day," protester Saum Eskandandi told NBC New York as he led a tour of the supply room. "People have been sending...

Today, as he belatedly dedicated the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on the National Mall, President Barack Obama made the questionable claim that MLK Jr. would have supported the class-conscious and envy-motivated Occupy Wall Street movement. The Washington Times reports: “At this moment, when our politics appear so sharply polarized, and faith in our institutions so greatly diminished, we need more than ever to take heed of Dr. King’s teachings,” Mr. Obama said, who praised King’s belief in the “creative tension of nonviolent protests.” “If he were alive today, I believe he would remind us that the unemployed worker can...

It seems Occupy Charlotte protesters have no place to go to the bathroom downtown. This is causing some problems for both the protesters and city officials. Protester organizers have sought to rent portable toilets but city ordinances won’t allow that. Police are also on hand to make sure protestors can’t do that. Some protesters have started to do what comes naturally on the lawn. “You can smell something is not right”, says Ted Mark on of about two dozen die hard Occupy Charlotte protesters who are shuttling people to bathrooms across town. “When you got to go you have to...

Hey Wall Street “occupiers.” What do you suppose would happen to the United States if the rest of us – I’ll call us “the other 99.99%” – started behaving like you? Will you allow this question to “occupy” your minds for a moment? Seriously, what would happen to our country if we all chose to do nothing but take up space on “public” property (or even on other people’s private property as some of you have done), consume resources at other people’s expense, and spend several days in a row not producing things? Have you even thought of what might...