Kansas City Tea Party

When I got up this morning, I was honestly hoping that the event had been called off. We’d had about three inches of snow, and more was coming down. It was forecasted to continue  until afternoon. But I’m a die-hard, and so were the 200 or so other hardy souls who made it to the Plaza on this blustery, wintry morning.

The rally started on the Plaza, and proceeded one mile to Senator McCaskill’s office. There were many honks and thumbs ups from the drivers passing by, especially the snowplows!

Here’s where we started – at 47th and JC Nichols:

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stimulus-protest

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The woman below traveled all the way from Iowa to be here for this rally:

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This one’s one of mine (the poster – not kid, I gave some posters away) Thanks to Reeko for the idea:

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Another one of my posters (Reeko’s idea) Hey, I told you I had artistic talent!:

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Also mine – there were a few hammer and sickles out there, this morning:

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What to do with old Monopoly money:

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Everyone had a favorite theme…Fairness Doctrine was this guy’s:

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Pithy and to the point:

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Rush ain’t the only one saying it:

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Let’s face it,  conservatives are the rebels, now:

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We were a cheerful bunch, though:

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The crowd started the one mile schlep to Claire McCaskill’s office.

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Nice one!:

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Outside of  McCaskill’s office:

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Look at the snow coming down, yo!

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I loved the signs – I wanted to get all of them:

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This guy ended up with one of my signs – he made sure to tell us he was a LEGAL immigrant:

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Those of us who brought shoes dumped them in front of McCaskill’s office. “Walk a mile in our shoes” was the theme.

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Another one of mine:

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There was a guy with a huge Ronald Reagan cut out, too, that I saw while we were walking to McCaskill’s office, but I never caught up to him, and once we got there, he must have gotten lost in the crowd. I really wanted a pic of that.

I was talking to one of the other protesters while we were walking back to our cars. Both of us expressed how odd it seemed for us to be out on the streets, protesting something. It’s something neither of us had ever fathomed doing in all of our lives – even when Clinton was in office. Conservatives have been agitated like never before. The coming months should be interesting.

There will be many more of these in the future. Watch the blogs, or the facebook page for info on upcoming events.

See Rantings and Ravings for more pix.

See also Kansas Meadowlark for still more pix, and video.

MORE:

Here’s a close up of Espkc’s creative poster:

More of his pix can be found, here.

By the way:

The final snowfall amount was 6 1/2 inches in my part of the metro.

One More site with pictures from the protest: 980 At Night.

UPDATE:

For all the latest on Tea Party events in the KC area, go to Kansas City Tea Party on the Kansas side,  Americans for Prosperity on the Missouri side.

More Tax Day Tea Party info, here.

Free tea party graphics for signs, here, now with designs especially for kids.

UPDATE II:

Just heard of one more tea party in the Kansas City area:

Lee’s Summit Tea Party

Wednesday April 15, 2009 from 12:00pm – 2:00pm

City Hall of Lees Summit

220 Se Green St
Lee’s Summit, Missouri 64063 Get Directions
If you aren’t happy with the lack of fiscal responsibility in Washington. If you don’t like the accumulation of trillions of dollars of debt to (you)the taxpayer. If you don’t like the size of government and the new power it is attaining each day … Come join us and let your voice be heard. This is a Tax Day TEA Party … TEA is an acronym for Taxed Enough Already. This is a peaceful protest – to let our voices be heard. The event is open to the public from all areas.
I plan on going to all three.
UPDATE III:

One more in Missouri, sponsored by Americans For Prosperity.

Join AFP activists and me at a taxpayer tea party on April 14th in opposition to wasteful spending at the federal and state levels. Bring your tea bags to “dump,” along with letters to be signed and delivered to Senator McCaskill’s office, and board the U.S.S. Porkulus to stand against reckless spending in Missouri.

We will also be visiting our state legislators to demand that stimulus dollars be used for one-time projects, not recurring programs.

What: AFP Missouri Taxpayer Teaparty
Who: Americans for Prosperity – Missouri
When: Tuesday, April 14, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Where: South Steps, State Capitol, Jefferson City, Missouri

Click here to register online.

Video:American Tea Party – Fort Worth

Reeko is the man behind the camera, and he says the tea party was a hoot:

The Magic Money Fairy says: “If you don’t give me all your money, I’ll turn you into a goon!”

You can see Reeko’s other video, from the event, here.