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At the Maldives' National Museum, smashed Buddhist statues are testament to the rise of Islamic extremism and Taliban-style intolerance in a country famous as a laid-back holiday destination. On Tuesday, as protesters backed by mutinous police toppled president Mohamed Nasheed, a handful of men stormed the Chinese-built museum and destroyed its display of priceless artefacts from the nation's pre-Islamic era. "They have effectively erased all evidence of our Buddhist past," a senior museum official told AFP at the now shuttered building in the capital Male, asking not to be named out of fear for his own safety. "We lost all...

During the Occupy Congress rally we sent Joe Schoffstall down with a petition banning "conservative hate speech" from all future occupy events. The petition was especially pertinent since a band with mainstream conservative beliefs, Madison Rising, managed to make it's way into the lineup for the protest's entertainment. Check out how many do and don't sign and the reasons they give. Caution: this video features a hippie version of Indiana Jones.

America's taxpayers, already on the hook for watching over the Occupy movement's three-month seizure of Washington's downtown McPherson Square, are getting stuck with another bill to cover the police protection and port-a-potty rentals at today's Capitol protest. For today's protest, where several hundred Occupiers toting signs lingered in the muddy grass of the Capitol Grounds, over two dozen U.S. Capitol Police were assigned to ring the lawn, most on foot, some on bikes, and others in 18 cars, buses, and trucks counted by Whispers. Plus, the government rented 17 bright blue potties from Don's Johns, which were parked across from the Capitol...

'Occupy Congress' seeks permit for Jan. 17 protestBy: Aubrey Whelan | 01/04/12 12:18 PM Occupy Congress, a national group partnering with Occupy DC for a major protest this month, is slowly moving forward in its efforts to aquire a permit for the protest. The group has scheduled a meeting Thursday with the National Parks Service to discuss getting a permit that would allow up to 10,000 people to protest outside the Capitol on Jan. 17. Participant Mario Lozada said protesters are trying to avoid the mass arrests that Occupy DC endured in early December during a week of similar protests...

Sources on Capitol Hill tell Big Government that SEIU has organized a major effort to ‘Take Back the Capitol’ this week with a collective of community, labor and Occupy groups that are dedicated to “show Congress what democracy looks like, shine a light on corporate greed and the human suffering it has caused, and demand justice for the 99%.” According to Congressional sources, Occupy protestors have been visiting one Congressional office after another and demanding to speak with representatives while loitering in their waiting rooms and chanting. ‘Trackers’ are also being spotted roaming the hills of various Congressional buildings.

One of the enduring questions about Occupy Wall Street has been this: Can the energy unleashed by the movement be leveraged behind a concrete political agenda and push for change that will constitute a meaningful challenge to the inequality and excessive Wall Street influence highlighted by the protests? A coalition of labor and progressive groups is about to unveil its answer to that question. Get ready for “Occupy Congress.” The coalition — which includes unions like SEIU and CWA and groups like the Center for Community Change — is currently working on a plan to bus thousands of protesters from...