The Wichita Tea Party protest as covered by KSN Television, February 27, 2009. A very good job by reporter Josh Witsman.
“Someone needs to go and cut up Congress and President Obama’s credit card, because it’s not their credit card — it’s our credit card.”
Susan Estes addresses the crowd at the Wichita Tea Party protest, February 27, 2009.
Nancy Armstrong addresses the crowd at the Wichita Tea Party protest, February 27, 2009.
Cheryl Green explains why she’s protesting at the Wichita Tea Party, February 27, 2009.
A citizen report submitted by John Todd. Photos are available by clicking here. More coverage and video can be viewed by clicking here.
An estimated 100-plus citizen activists assembled today near Second and Waco Streets to participate in a protest of the federal stimulus package and bailouts. The event was billed as The Wichita Tea Party. Two men drove 200 miles from Garden City to attend. Other Kansans were here from Abilene, Hutchinson, Andover, and Augusta.
A gentleman from the Kansas City area came dressed in a pink pig suit with a sign denouncing “pork spending.” He delighted the crowd.
In addition to children, one lady brought her dog with a protest sign around his neck, reading “I didn’t read it either.”
A couple of middle-aged women from Wichita arrived early at the event indicating that this was their first involvement in citizen activism, and that they were hot about the stimulus spending that was emanating from Washington.
Staffers from Congressman Todd Tiahrt’s office participated along with dozens of like-minded citizens and several activist coalitions complaining about the stimulus.
The crowd carried signs, waved at passing cars whose drivers honked and gave thumbs-up signs marking their approval of the tax protest movement.
The event was a tremendous success and shows just what grassroots citizen activists can do to express their feelings of frustration towards a government that appear to have lost sight of the people who actually pay the bills. A general feeling among the crowd was that many of our leaders in Washington are moving our country towards an involuntary redistribution of wealth known as socialism.
They also appreciate the members of the Kansas congressional delegation who voted against the stimulus package.
In Wichita, it was a cold day with a freezing wind, but quite a few protesters –human, canine, and porcine — came out to show their displeasure with the direction of our country. Appreciation was also expressed for the members of the Kansas Congressional delegation who voted against stimulus pork and bailouts.
Click here for more photos from this event. Or, click here for an automatic slideshow.
See more coverage by clicking on Wichita Tea Party.
Subsidizing Bad Ideas What are some of the things wrong with the president’s plan to solve the mortgage crisis? Howie Rich of Americans For Limited Government explains: “First, the plan is emblematic of America’s new “dependence mentality,” which is advanced by politicians like Obama who rhetorically extol the virtues that once made this country great while they systematically remove brick-by-brick the incentives needed to make it great once again. Second, it’s more of the same smoke-and-mirrors Washington politicians employ to hide the true coming-and-goings of your tax dollars in our nation’s capital. Third, it rewards many of the same financial institutions whose mistakes have helped bring this nation to the brink of fiscal ruin – and incentivizes them to make those same mistakes all over again.”
Judging Obama John Stossel explains some of the problems in judging the success of failure of President Obama’s economic interventions, and who should get the credit or blame.
Obama Gives Failing Schools a Pass: The day of reckoning has arrived — except for teachers’ unions (Chester E. Finn Jr. & Michael J. Petrilli in National Review). “This is classic Obama, straddling the Democratic divide on education, just as he did so deftly during the campaign, striving to placate both the reformers within the party and the union bosses. … It’s no accident that our schools aren’t producing enough well-educated graduates; that’s because the system has been designed to place the needs of adults over the needs of kids. But saying any of that would put him at odds with the education establishment, which he doesn’t appear to want to cross.” More indication that President Obama will not implement any meaningful education reform.
Zoomdweebie’s builds success on Twitter (Wichita Eagle). A Wichita business uses social media like Twitter to boost business.
The Government’s War on Recession. Lew Rockwell explains some of the problems and dangers with the way the Obama administration is attacking the problems with the economy: “The economics of stimulus are not as complicated. They amount to taking from some and giving to others. There is no wealth creation at all. There is no magic ‘multiplier’ to turn stones into bread. The economics of stimulus is value-destroying, because property is pried loose from owners who are putting it to socially useful purposes, and given to government so it can pass it out to friends. This process is costly to overall wealth production — and most of those costs are unseen. We will never know what kind of real stimulus could have taken place had the property been left in private hands. What jobs might have been created, what investments might have been made, what kind of business expansions might have taken place? We will never know.”
Wichita Tea Party organizer Nancy Armstrong talks about Friday’s Wichita Tea Protest on KAKE Television:
Coverage at KAKE Television is at Angry Citizens Revive Boston Tea Party Protest.
Other stories at Voice For Liberty in Wichita are at
Wichita Tea Party
Area Residents Plan Wichita Tea Party
Wichita Tea Party, from AFP
The Sunlight Foundation has created the website ReadTheBill.org. This site contains information about how bills such as the recent stimulus bill aren’t read by members of Congress of their staff before they’re voted on.
The Sunlight Foundation asks for Congress to post all bills online for 72 hours before they are debated.
There’s a lot of useful information and a video on this site, as well as an online petition to sign.