The UWS Mission

Drivers heading toward Vegas this morning are shaken by two freaky billboards that may end up being attributed to Occupy Las Vegas. Police are called and quickly remove the boards, and their macabre attachments, which they say prompt a flood of 911 calls. Details at huffpost

Meanwhile, the so-called conservative blogosphere gets all over the Prez, pushing reports that feature declassified emails from the DHS to GSA Public Buildings Service Commissioner Robert Peck that indicate the White House approved the GSA using its “own approach” on protesters who were occupying near a GSA building in Portland's Terry Shrunk Plaza. It makes a great headline but a review of the emails shows they're, to quote a bard, much ado about nothing Examiner.com

The “Two Countries, One Voice” concept and protest is on full display this week outside of Saks Fifth Avenue, where demonstrators protest the ownership stake of the Mexican Telecom giant, one Carlos Slim. New yorker

Those wishing to stay on top of the protest directed at “the one percent of the one percent” are referred to the new cross-cultural group's facebook.

Ground-breaking news today as Mexico's Yo Soy 132 announces a cross-cultural alliance with OWS, The groups immediate focus is the notorious Carlos Slim, who they designate as representing the “one percent of the one percent” and whom Forbes recently named the world’s richest man. The alliance slams Slim for vaulting into the top spot on the backs of Mexico's poor, a notion seemingly confirmed by an OECD report that says Slim's Mexico telecom conglomerate overcharged customers $13.4 billion a year from 2005 to 2009, hurting the nation’s economy in the process.

It could be the first step in a true “internationalization” of Occupy. Cynics on Slim's side claim the global protesters dogging the bazillionaire in his gallivant across the planet are paid plants , earning $20-$30 to show up.

File Under : No, seriously, what did you tell him? Some cops get a reprimand, maybe a suspension for abusing protesters. Others get a ticket out of town. Such is the case for Lt. John Pike, busted on youtube after first warning UC Davis students to get off a campus road, then letting them have it, sending several for medical treatment. Sticking to her story, at all times seemingly, is UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi, who defends herself, saying “I explicitly directed the chief of police that violence should be avoided at all costs.” nydailynews.com

photo : BENOIT TESSIER, REUTERS / August 1, 2012

Notable Quotables :

There ain't no answer. There ain't gonna be any answer. There never has been an answer. That's the answer. Gertrude Stein

As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests. Gore Vidal