Thousands rally at 'Tax Day Tea Parties'

(Loved the sign on the left: "Read my teleprompter! No more bailouts!")

By Oren Dorell, USA TODAY

Thousands of protesters yelled and jeered Wednesday in cities from Anchorage to Atlanta as part of "Tax Day Tea Parties" aimed at expressing outrage over government spending. The effort, grown through blogs, e-mails and social networking websites such as Facebook, was directed at President Obama's spending policies. Protesters even threw a box of tea bags toward the White House and caused a brief lockdown. In Lansing, Mich., 3,000 to 4,000 people cheered Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, who became known as "Joe the Plumber" during the 2008 presidential campaign after he confronted Obama about raising taxes. "I came here today to have my voice heard," Wurzelbacher said. "I'm going to keep working, calling my senator, my congressman. The more your voice is heard, the more actual change that can take place." The tea parties were promoted by several conservative groups, including FreedomWorks, based in Washington and led by former Republican House majority leader Dick Armey of Texas.Shouts rang out from Kentucky, which just passed tax increases on cigarettes and alcohol, to Salt Lake City, where many in the crowd booed Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman for accepting about $1.5 billion in stimulus money. Even in Alaska, where there is no statewide sales tax or income tax, hundreds of people held signs and chanted "No more spending." "Most of the people who showed up today were not involved politically in their lives," said Eric Odom, founder of taxdayteaparty.com, one of the websites that rallied protesters. Obama said his $787 billion economic stimulus package "has lessened the tax burden on working families." The administration says his two-year tax break affects 95% of working families. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the president's proposed $3.6 trillion budget would produce record-breaking deficits of $9.3 trillion over 10 years. In Sioux Falls, S.D., protesters dressed in colonial garb sailed a model of a square-rigged sloop in a city park. Wildlife artist Adam Grimm said, "I'm self-employed in a job I love. But I'm frustrated by all this taxation. I want all the things I had growing up for my kids." Contributing: Dawson Bell and Kathleen Gray of The Detroit Free Press; Peter Harriman of The Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D.; the Associated Press