This post will be updated throughout the day as news and photos come out from across the country on the hundreds of tea parties being held in all 50 states.
[Update] Some of my favorite signs from the tea parties:
Malkin has signs from tea parties across the country, go look.
Official Tea Party Text Alerts
Text keyword "teaparty" to 69302
By clicking the tea party label at the bottom of the post, you can catch up on how this started, what they are for and bring yourself up to date. Michelle Malkin also has a nice round up and the event as well as another piece keeping track of the tea party crashers, such as members of Daily Kos that will be pretending to be some sort of "news crew" and others.
(Excellent photos from past tea party protests at the Malkin link above)
Glenn Reynolds has a piece in the Wall Street Journal giving an overview of the events as well.
Today American taxpayers in more than 300 locations in all 50 states will hold rallies -- dubbed "tea parties" -- to protest higher taxes and out-of-control government spending. There is no political party behind these rallies, no grand right-wing conspiracy, not even a 501(c) group like MoveOn.org.
So who's behind the Tax Day tea parties? Ordinary folks who are using the power of the Internet to organize. For a number of years, techno-geeks have been organizing "flash crowds" -- groups of people, coordinated by text or cellphone, who converge on a particular location and then do something silly, like the pillow fights that popped up in 50 cities earlier this month. This is part of a general phenomenon dubbed "Smart Mobs" by Howard Rheingold, author of a book by the same title, in which modern communications and social-networking technologies allow quick coordination among large numbers of people who don't know each other.
Big Hollywood has an article about the singer of the Tea Party Anthem, "self-described Black American Conservative", Lloyd Marcus.
Today's headlines and as I said, more will be added throughout the day, include SeattlePi.com, with "Tax day 'tea parties' across Washington."
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Anti-tax protesters planned their biggest rally at the state Capitol while others demonstrate across Washington as part of the national Tax Day Tea Party.
Organizers want to give lawmakers in Olympia tea bags to recall the Boston Tea Party of 1773.
The Olympia rally is organized by a coalition of conservative groups. They are protesting government spending, rising taxes, and what they call the "bailout mentality" of President Barack Obama's economic recovery package.
United Press International with "Obama faces tax-protest anger."
This year, however, is not like any other year since the U.S. Constitution came into effect 220 years ago. For this year, tax protesters across the nation have scheduled TEA -- Taxed Enough Already -- Parties. These are demonstrations not so much against taxes as against the tax policies of President Barack Obama. Hundreds of protests are planned -- including one at noon in front of the U.S. Treasury in Washington, D.C.
It started with an attack on taxes by a CNBC commentator, but it has grown into a conservative radio- and Internet-driven movement. Fox News has covered it comprehensively, but the rest of the mainstream media has tried to pretend it wasn't there. However, hundreds of thousands of people may be protesting. The combination of unprecedented spending and policies, the prospect of tax increases and more than 2.6 million American jobs lost since President Obama won election on Nov. 4 has fanned the flames of anger and fear across working-class and middle-class America.
TownTalk:
There will be a TEA(Taxed Enough Already) Party Rally today, April 15 from 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. at the Town of Ball Municipal Park.
It is part of a national non-partisan movement to protest the federal government's billion-dollar economic stimulus packages and bailouts for the banking and auto industries.
Several brief presentations are scheduled, including Clyde Holloway, new member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission.
AOL News with "The Liberal 'Tea Party Conspiracy Theory' That Wasn't."
Heritage with more on the tea party movement.
Today in more than 500 locations in all 50 states, American taxpayers will hold ‘Tea Party’ rallies to protest exploding government spending and the inevitable higher taxes that will be needed to pay for it. We wish we could direct you to one website that had a comprehensive list of all the events and a clear mission statement for the movement, but none exists. The defenders of big government desperately want to dismiss today’s rallies as a top down corporate funded campaign, but they can’t even get their conspiracy theories straight. The Center for American Progress says former Majority Leader Dick Armey is to blame for the whole thing while Paul Krugman tries to blame Tom DeLay and Rush Limbaugh.
The truth is the tea parties are a completely grassroots movement with no specific leader or origin. Some point to CNBC analyst Rick Santelli’s February 16 on-air criticism of President Barack Obama’s housing bailout plan as the start but Presidential candidate Ron Paul has been raising money with Tea Party rhetoric since 2007. There are many established conservative groups that are supportive of the movement’s limited government message, including the Heritage Foundation, but no one is taking orders from Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions, Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, or even Armey’s Freedom Works.
Instead the movement has been growing and coordinating through online upstarts like Tax Day Tea Party, TCOT Report, Smart Girl Politics, and Tea Party Revolution … just to name a few. More importantly the movement is not partisan. A Chicago tea party group reportedly denied RNC chair Michael Steel’s request to speak at their event and the Knoxville tea party organizers said no “professional politicians” were going to be allowed to speak at their event. Now this does not mean that no Republicans will be speaking at any events: As Instapundit explains, “there are no national rules and organizers of each protest are doing things the way they want.”
WSAW:
More than one thousand "Tea Party" protests are expected to happen nationwide this week.
Organizers say it's a way for citizens to express their outrage toward the current crop of political leadership in our country.
Millions of citizens say they're fed up with high taxes and reckless government spending.
The protesters held bi-partisan demonstrations this week including New York, Michigan and California.
They say they disagree with both Democrats and Republicans in office who aren't tightening their belts with current spending.
Organizers say they expect hundreds of people to attend the Tea Party protest in Wausau. Pat Snyder from News Radio 550 will emcee the event.
"Just the idea that you're not alone in your frustration over seeing your paychecks shrink, and that your children and their children's future aren't being mortgaged for the stimulus," said Pat Snyder.
The protest on the 400 Block will begin at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The Christian Broadcasting Network with "Tax Day Tea Parties Reveal Americans' Anger."
It is a day many Americans dread -- Tax Day. It means there will be long lines at the Post Office as people get those last-minute tax returns in the mail. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of citizens, who are not too happy with the Obama administration's big spending, will voice their displeasure across the country Wednesday.
Let The Tea Parties Begin
Just like the Boston Tea Party back in 1773, many Americans are mad at the government. Their anger is directed at the Obama administration's zest for spending -- from a $787 billion stimulus package to new money for all of the president's expensive proposals.
The Business and Media Institute takes the mainstream media to task for "blatant censorship."
Such is the fate of Wednesday’s national Tax Day Tea Party. This mega-gathering of tax protesters is scheduled for every single congressional district. More than 500 events are planned. And the national news media have either been silent or shown contempt for the effort.
That’s not journalism, its blatant censorship that would amaze even George Orwell.
The Big Three broadcast networks – ABC, CBS, and NBC – have only mentioned the tea parties in passing three times. This is especially ironic since NBC’s sister network CNBC gave rise to the movement when reporter Rick Santelli ranted about government overspending and talked about having a “Chicago tea party.” Now the third NBC network – MSNBC – is reduced to making juvenile sexual comments about the event.
The Washington Post was even worse than the networks. The paper has only mentioned the movement in a news story once: a brief that ran in a suburban edition. Two major tea parties are planned for Washington this week and the only Post readers who have a clue of what’s going on live in Prince William County. Or, hopefully, rely on media other than the Post.
The New York Times tried a different tack. That paper has mentioned tea parties six times – and five of those have been to disparage and undermine them. The paper questioned Santelli’s involvement and said the rant only “appeared spontaneous.” An April 7 piece by Lawrence Downes mocked a Northport, N.Y. tea party as “a day for brandishing signs, shouting imprecations, and donning silly clothing.” Columnist Frank Rich claimed the Santelli “bonfire fizzled” and columnist Paul Krugman called them “AstroTurf (fake grass roots) events.”
This tax day, hundreds of thousands of hard-working, taxpaying Americans will prove Krugman and the rest of traditional media wrong. They have had to rely on new technologies like Twitter and Facebook to do something as old as civilization itself – protest. But they shouldn’t have to do so.
All these and more were written within the last hour, so you can see how national attention is finally being focused on Americans being angry at the massive spending the Obama administration has already implemented.
Expect updates all day, with more links as well as photos coming in from the protests themselves.
Google news search by date, so newest stories are always on top, can be found here.
Previous Wake up America pieces regarding these Tea Parties can be found all on one page here.
More to come.....
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