The Tea Party credit Seattle blogger and conservative activist Keli Carender with organizing the first Tea Party in February 2009, although the term “Tea Party” was not used. …
Tea Party Tidal Wave Sweeps Nation
March 2nd, 2009
A Tea Party tidal wave is sweeping our nation as citizens express their outrage with the Porkulus Package, and this past Friday, Feb. 27, 2009, over 40 Tea Parties were held in cities across America! Some of the cities where Tea Parties were held were Greenville, SC, Kansas City, MO, Chicago, IL, Tempe, AZ, Houston, TX, Sacramento, CA and Atlanta, GA.
Jonn Lilyea from “This Ain’t Hell”reported on the Washington DC Tea Party and Joe the Plumber was there: There was even a Tea Party held in the liberal bastion of New York City. The Berman Post has a good after action report on it.
How about having a Rochester Tea Party? Is there enough people in our area that would be willing to devote an hour or so of our time to demonstrate our opposition of the expansion of big-government and pork that is the Porkulus Package? We in New York State get a double-whammy having the highest taxes in the Nation and for those of us in Upstate NY, under-representation and the crushing mandates from Albany.
Rachacherians, do you care enough to come on out and join together with other like-minded citizens and protest the crushing burden of big-government spending?
Details will follow…
The “Commando” Rochester Tea Party
March 12th, 2009
By rochester_veteran
On a cold and very blustery day, approximately 40 concerned citizens met at a downtown Rochester, NY park on Wednesday, March 11, 2009, to participate in our local version of the Tea Parties that have been sweeping the nation! NY Governor Paterson was here for a “town hall” meeting at the Rochester Convention Center and the decision was made nine days prior that with the Governor in town, March 11 would be present a great opportunity to not only protest the Porkulus Package, but also the crushing tax burden that New York State inflicts on its citizens. Word of the Rochester Tea Party was spread via blogs on the Internet, most notably, Patriots For America, Gathering of Eagles: NY, North Shore Journal and RochesterWatch, hence the “Commando” in the title and we just showed up and did it! 
At around 5pm, I called everyone to order and got the program started.
We took a moment of silence to honor those who sacrificed for the cause of freedom and recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
RochesterConservative’s own, Charlie, gave a rousing speech on the history of the original Boston Tea Party and how the Federal government has turned its back on the very principles that made us great.
My buddy Mike, spoke about how the government is overstepping its bounds and how it’s our duty as citizens to stand up and remind them that they serve us and not the other way around!
Rev. Dr. Tommy Davis spoke on the staggering amount of borrowed money that’s being spent on the Porkulus Package and the serious issues he has with the contents of the Bill.
Another of RochesterConservative’s own, phantomlord, gave a stirring speech about how the situation the Founding Fathers faced with a distant and oppressive government is like the situation we face today, with our Federal and New York State Governments.
With Governor Paterson being just across the Genesee River from us, all of the local TV stations were there to cover his visit. When they heard of the Rochester Tea Party, they came to the park and interviewed a few of us:
The Rochester Tea Party had a couple of ladies that displayed creative “tea bag” fashion statements:
As with the other Tea Parties that have been held across the Nation, the signs that are carried by the participants tell the story:
Of course, no Tea Party would be complete without a Gadsden Flag:
After the speeches were done, we formed up and marched to the Main St. Bridge:
When we were all on the bridge, we performed a ceremonial tea dumping in the spirit of the Sons of Liberty action in 1773!
Of course, we did this in an “environmentally correct” manner 
and tore open our tea bags, dumping only the tea itself into the Genesee River. It was so windy on the bridge that I got more tea on me than what went into the river! 
We then marched to the front of the Rochester Convention Center, where Governor Paterson was holding the “Town Meeting” and raised some cane there for a while.
We broke up around 6pm and went home.
I consider the inaugural and “commando” Rochester Tea Party a success. Although we didn’t attract the big crowds that other Tea Parties did, those who did show up are all dedicated Patriots willing to take the next step for a larger Tea Party in the future, this time with advance billing in the media as well as on the blogs. What was nice about it with the smaller crowd was it was easy to meet people and turned out to be a great networking opportunity! I made a lot of new friends and we were all in agreement that this was something that we can build upon.
A pleasant surprise was meeting Erik Anderson and his wife and finding out that they have already applied for a special events permit for an April 15, 2009 Tax Day Rochester Tea Party! We’ll be meeting that day at the Genesee Crossroads Park at 11am, which is just north of the inaugural Rochester Tea Party meeting spot. I’ll be reporting more in this as I get the information. I’m throwing in with Erik though and will help him in any way.
In closing, I’d like to leave you with the phrase that I closed off my speech at the “commando” Rochester Tea Party yesterday:
Government doesn’t create wealth, it takes it!!!
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