Oakland

"...no country can be well governed unless its citizens as a body keep religiously before their minds that they are the guardians of the law and that the law officers are only the machinery for its execution, nothing more."

-- Mark Twain, The Gilded Age

Although you wouldn't know it if you get your news from "liberal" sources like the New York Times, CNN, or even MSNBC, the police in Oakland, CA got a little medieval on the local branch of the Occupy Wall Street movement, first driving them out of their encampment at Broadway and 14th, then using a bit of crowd control -- in the form of flash grenades and tear gas -- when the displaced protesters staged a march that evening. As is often the case in situations like this, it's not clear exactly what happened, although the video images proliferating online suggest that the violence appeared to be largely perpetrated by the police. (Expect to see many law suits alleging brutality in the coming weeks.) 

As much as I hate to say it, I suspect we'll see more scenes like this before the 99 Percent movement completes its journey through our culture. They are challenging the wealthy and powerful, and history shows that those who have power are not afraid to use it when threatened. So as this story unfolds, notice that the "machinery" seem to be the source of most of the violence, which is largely directed against the citizens they're supposed to be serving.