We're getting tons of photos from you, with your own shots of the Taxpayer Tea Parties around the state. We're estimating nearly 16,000 Kansans came out to more than two dozen tea parties on April 15th to stand together against oppressive taxes and wasteful government spending.

If you have some photos to share, please submit them to info@afpks.org and we'll post them here as often as we can.

Thanks for sending in your pictures, and keep up the great work!

In looking into the numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau, here’s what we found: the Kansas private sector economy is struggling, losing 14,600 jobs over the past year. However, the taxpayer-paid government workforce does not seem to be sharing in the pain that private workers face. During the last year, taxpayer supported jobs in Kansas increased 7,500. In fact, government employment is at an all-time high in Kansas: 267,200 jobs.

As we all recently witnessed, the President has no qualms with earmarking appropriations in the federal budget, as long as they’re not for the “evil” private sector. Mr. Obama stated that “The awarding of earmarks to private companies is the single most corrupting element of this practice, as witnessed by some of the indictments and convictions that we’ve already seen.”

President Obama has explained that, “Private companies differ from the public entities that Americans rely on every day –- schools, and police stations, and fire departments.” What he failed to mention however, is the process by which these “public entities” as mentioned receive their piece of the federal pork pie. It’s called taxpayer-funded lobbying, and it’s the practice of state and local governments, universities, and other public authorities to hire Washington-insider lobbyists to raid the U.S. treasury and ensure more earmarks flow their way.

AFP-Kansas' Linn County Chapter met in Mound City last weekend. About 70 people attended the meeting and heard from state legislators and local elected officials. Also presenting to the group was Steve Anderson, a Certified Public Accountant who has worked with AFP in the past to create alternative budgets for state and local governments.

Read more to see a video clip of Steve's presentation.