More on the Tea Party

First, I must smack myself upside the head. I knew the Staff Sergeant at the Tea Party looked familiar, but couldn't figure out why. Until a friend looked at his picture and told me that he was the Iraq vet for whom Extreme Home Makeover had built a house! Click here and you will get over one hundred search results about S.Sgt. Daniel Gilyeat's previous adventures. Some information about how he was wounded, and his remarkable recovery, can be found here.

Now, a bit more about the tea party itself. The official police estimate put the crowd at 5,000, a local television station said 10,000. I find it notable that this protest was held on a huge grassy expanse in front of a local community college - there were no seats, no trash cans, no porta-potties. No government or corporate sponsors to make it comfortable for us. Just grass. Acres and acres of grass. This morning on the way to work I heard that the police had also noted that there had not been a single incident during our little party - no problems whatsoever - and, when the crowd left, there was not a single piece of litter left behind. Not so much as a cigarette butt. That speaks volumes about the character of the people attending these events and their level of respect. Contrast that with this picture of the Washington, D.C. mall following the inauguration:

And we're supposedly the angry, fringe lunatics? Here are a couple more wide angle shots of our crowd - note the complete absence of refuse (and yes, I am talking about the people, too!):

I'm incredibly proud of my fellow Kansas Citians.

A couple more things I was just too tired to type last night. There was so much traffic trying to get to the tea party that Darla Jaye (the local talker who was broadcasting from the party) had to give alternate directions to the site - we had traffic backed up for miles. The honking was nonstop throughout the rally. People were waving, cheering, giving us thumbs up, taking pictures...the excitement was incredible. It was hysterical to watch the passing drivers - there were exactly two types. Type one wanted to be there and were thrilled to see us. Type two hated us, and stared straight ahead, tightly clasping their steering wheels with tight-lipped grim expressions on their faces. But we're the "haters." Sure.

This is not a passing fad, folks. The years of anger and frustration have finally reached the breaking point. The people at this rally were excited, happy, laughing and talking with anyone who happened to be close by. We all had the time of our lives, and we're all looking forward to the next time.

Yesterday was the beginning of something very big.