Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

Courtesy of AP

Photographer:  Josh Reynolds

A growing crowd of Occupy Boston protesters gather

at encampment near the Rose Kennedy Greenway

Ever think a mayor had very little to do with national issues?  Many have, but are rethinking the matter, as amongst these various occupation tales recounted, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino decides it is his time of glory yet again, with Suffolk Superior Court Judge Frances McIntyre lifting a court order previously protecting occupants from eviction, and Occupy Seattle given a deadline at its encampment with Seattle Community College. 

Occupy Seattle also taking over unoccupied buildings where 12 people were arrested and booked for "criminal trespass" this past weekend.  About 100 people camping on the college campus since early October.  (Note, when you camp at a community college, vs Berkeley or UC Davis, they accuse you of shooting heroin and breeding their rats - there for quite a while, I'd suppose.  If you're at Berkeley or UC Davis, they pepper spray or beat you with batons.)

Courtesy of Seattle PI

Photographer:  Joshua Trujillo

Occupy Seattle encampment at Seattle Community College

Meanwhile, a small group of occupants in northern Bellingham has been quietly but steadily multiplying near the salmon habitat behind a previously free art museum that moved (and now charges too much admission for most Bellingham students to visit - let alone many residents - ain't the Met anymore!).  Occupy Bellingham was recently visited by Cascadia Weekly reporter Alan Rhodes after residents joined Seattle and Tacoma further south at a Walmart Black Friday protest.  He said the group was composed of a number of employed and otherwise housed responsible individuals from the county.

Is the quiet town of subdued excitement up to something else?

One twitterer reports that Occupy Bellingham runs its encampment like a ship.  (Are there enlistment requirements?) Will they, too, like Occupy Irvine to Occupy L.A., openly invite any Seattle outcasts over for dinner?

Occupy Bellingham's outgoing Mayor Dan Pike indicated that occupants are welcome to stay as long as they don't "confront."  (But is that the First Amendment speaking?  Does that sound anything like the point of Occupy to begin with?)  At the same time Dan Pike said that, challenger Kelli Linville actually marched with Occupy Bellingham (though this was poo-pooed by internet posters as during yet another election campaign for the Democrats - you can see the new mayor for yourself in one of the Occupy Bellingham live feed recordings of a local demonstration).

Now that Mayor Linville is elected, is she going to really support their continued and growing presence in the Pacific Northwest?

Is the quiet town of subdued excitement about to get nosier, more confrontational, and more outrageously excited?

From Underdog, guess who's coming to dinner --

Occupy Bellingham Pops Up

In Tne Oddest Places

Photographer:  Underdog

Subversive dogs encountered by a pedestrian in the middle of the night,

in the middle of a deserted street in Bellingham, Washington.