THE CINCINNATI TEA PARTY IS UNDERWAY, and a reader sends this photo via Blackberry.

Also, reader Russell Sayre sends this aerial view: “This was taken from the 17th floor of the U.S. Bank Tower above Fountain Square in Cincinnati as the rally began. I have no idea how many people are there, but the square is pretty full, which rarely happens.”

Yeah, it’s kind of cool the way people are sending me coverage in realtime via Blackberry and cellphone. Somebody should write a book about this phenomenon . . . .

UPDATE: Another.

And John Galt appears again.

Plus, another appearance by the Debt Star. It’s everywhere!

UPDATE: Compare the coverage above with this early report from the Cincinnati Enquirer. They’re actually very fast for a newspaper, though.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Chris Blanchard sends the pictures below, and writes: “Great crowd. This is only getting started…. The square was packed – a larger crowd than what Oktoberfest usually draws, even without the promise of cold beer.”

Plus, reader Steven Murray writes, “There were thousands there, I believe.” Here’s a pic from him.

MORE: Kami Eickson emails:

Hey Glenn, was at the Cincinnati tea party this afternoon and got quite a few shots, a great turn out and some great posters were displayed at this event. They predicted between 4-6,000 people showed up, the square was packed.

However, one thing I wanted to mention was the Counter Protester, of which there was one that I saw. This woman was just wandering around waving a flag and yelling “OBAMA!” and “YES WE WILL”. There was some media there, but one camera man was ONLY covering her and interviewing her. You know, because she was so brave to stand up to these evil conservative protesters!

That’s change you can believe in!

Indeed. She sends this pic of a stylish “Got Tea?” t-shirt.

And reader Ed Steiner writes:

One of the local TV stations–WCPO– did a hatchet job on the Tea Party. The nerd said he had to leave the rally because a few people insulted him and spit at him due to media bias. The spitting, if it occurred, is of course out of bounds, but not unheard of in the Bush years, when the lefties had the saliva going. The station did a 30 second scan of the Square and then did its own internal Fairness Doctrine by highlighting the few Obama supporter signs and doing an interview with the local Dem Party chief. WCPO is a part of the soon to be Ch11 Scripps newspaper/TV empire. The WCPO website highlights the forthcoming second stimulus package and what people can get from it. Thanks for the coverage.

Well, don’t thank me — thank all the folks who sent me pics and reports! Speaking of which, here’s a Cincinnati tea party photo gallery. (Bumped).

More blog reportage at The Virtuous Republic.

The last word? Heh. “Maybe now Rick Moran will deign to grace the tea parties with his support.”

Okay, maybe this is the last word.

Another photo gallery.

Plus, another blog report with photos, from Dadvocate. Nice picture of the Debt Star poster.

Here’s more blogging.

More photos and reports, plus video, at Bizzyblog.

Also, video here and here. And still more here.

And on the “Debt Star” sign, Michael Albrecht emails:

That’s me in the blue shirt holding the sign.

There was a young girl, maybe 13-14, who had one too. If you add the one the one on the Dadvocate site, that makes three. I spot a trend.

I was most impressed by how civil it all was.

Cincinnati elected a Democrat on the West end of town who promptly voted for a bill he admits to never reading (the stimulus bill). I thought people signing documents, like mortgages, without reading them was what got us into this mess in the first place. I guess if you add 6 zeroes it makes it all OK.

Spending money we didn’t have on things we didn’t understand is what got us into this mess, and, by God, it’s what’ll get us out of this mess!