December 16: Day of Insurrection. It was on this day four years ago, in commemorating the Boston Tea party of 1773, that the Ron Paul presidential campaign broke its own record for money raised in a single day, previously set (for the Republican primary) on Guy Fawks Day, November the 5th. With these two "money bombs," Ron Paul's supporters anticipated what would become the symbols for the right and left sides of the new American insurgency. The tea bag &/or the three cornered hat for the TEA Party and the Guy Fawkes mask for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Of course, these movements would be vulnerable to hijacking by certain interested establishment parties who would seek to redirect these insurrections into something more manageable, or even profitable. As the TEA Party was "astro-turfed" by the Koch brothers, on the right side of the duopolist system, George Soros on the left would similarly attempt to capture the OWS movement.

A notable difference between the two, however, is in the timing and the results of these redirections. The TEA party, having its origins with Ron Paul supporters, was genuinely grass roots at its inception, only to be later hijacked by certain factions of the Republican establishment and effectively controlled, as much of the performance of the freshman TEA party Republicans in Congress has demonstrated - they have (with some exceptions) essentially become the new vehicle for neo-conservative concerns on foreign policy matters, jettisoning Ron Paul's anti-war stance in favor of a strong military, bolstered by the Islamophobia that characterized the Bush years. The OWS movement on the other hand was apparently seeded by Soros foundation money at its inception - at least in so far as Adbusters might be considered a Soros front organization, though the extent of this is disputed.

In any case, there was some money to be made by the very wealthy interests that the movement decried...

DailyMail: How Guy Fawkes, the man who tried to murder a king and a government became a symbol of anti-capitalist protesters across the globe

It is estimated that 100,000 masks were sold last year.

The terrible irony is that the mask is a paid-for product, owned by a major corporation.

Time Warner owns the rights to the masks and with every mask sold more money is deposited into that corporation's bank account.

The movement is working its way around that with replica masks.
According to CNN, replicas are now being mass produced in Asia

London protester Joshua Whitfield, 19, told CNN that instead of buying an officially licensed mask at a store in the city, he bought one considerably cheaper from an Anonymous member.

He said: 'Some people wear it to make a fashion statement, others because they know what it's about...'

Oh really?

Terrorism: Guy Fawkes - Inside Job

Nevertheless, there are encouraging signs that the occupiers aren't falling for the same party ruses that the TEA party fell for...

Washington Post: Occupy DC targets Congressional Democrats

"Hope and change, that's a lie, listen to Occupy."

And, further evidence that this thing could be "out of control"...

CleanandSafePorts: AN OPEN LETTER FROM AMERICA’S PORT TRUCK DRIVERS ON OCCUPY THE PORTS