Republican Tea Party science lab discovered


While the Republican Tea Party people seem to have closed the door on science and reason --  rejecting evolution, global warming and the environmental sciences as "just theories that are out there" -- they seem have a special laboratory, stocked with very smart people, brewing up toxic mixtures to poison the American political debate.

[Alas, I could not find the name of the cartoonist who did this one.]
   
                                   
                                             
                         

Cops meet Occupy Phoenix demonstrators


Dressed as storm troopers, police in Phoenix confront a gathering of the Occupy Phoenix group.  Perhaps  they were asking if they could join the General Assembly, experience the joys of decision-making by democratic consensus and help amplify the people's mike. 

Actually, there were 49 people arrested last Saturday's protests.  In these times of budget cutting an deficit worries there is still money to fund overtime pay for cops along with a hovering helicopter to suppress "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" as specified in first amendment of The Bill of Rights. 
         

Los indignados occupy buildings as "hotels" for evicted people

                                                 Emmanuel Dare, 36, affected by eviction

It's a long story, but in Spain the occupations came long before the recent mass demonstrations.  Today,  following the protests last week, los indignados in Madrid and Barcelona have resumed occupying buildings as "hotels" for evicted people.  In the words of Isaachacksimov: the hotels are "200 stars, free and include controversy."

Here's a rough translation of an excerpt from El Pais.

Two occupied buildings,one in Madrid and another in Barcelona, ​​remain as a legacy of the great mobilization that took to the streets Saturday to tens of thousands of people brought together by the 15 of May movement.   Near the Puerta del Sol, in a old hotel, the indignants yesterday debated how to use the building: assembly-space, shelter, hospice, home of Cuban dissidents camped outside the Foreign Ministry or simply as a social center. Or all at once. .... 
For hours the issue was addressed in assembly. "It should be clear that the occupation is temporary," one speaker, a member of the 15-M, said with a megaphone. The veteran "indignado" explained that  the first 48 hours of an occupation  are the most important, because that's when the police can carry out an eviction without court approval.
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As I post this, the police have arrived at "Hotel Madrid" in an attempt to remove those who've occupyied the place. From the standpoint of "los indignados," confrontations of this kind are useful to the influence of the larger movement, revealing the injustices of the current social, economic and political system. 
For those curious, here's a recent picture of Isaachacksimov.