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Posted on 09/28/2001 2:02:06 PM PDT by GEC

Well, it wasn't the best day for a protest, but I at least had the element of surprise on my side.

I scouted the Cathedral around Noon to see where their setup was going to be. They wanted to raise a huge piece sign on a king-size bed sheet and tie it to the Cathedral, but either they couldn't work out the logistics, or the cops didn't let them.

I went to Radio Shack which is fortunately only a few blocks away and purchased an $85 (including 7% sales tax) bullhorn.

Last night, I had decided to fight fire with fire and that meant getting a bullhorn. I figure that it will come in handy when my 3-year-old stops listening to me. I also worked out three chants (in addition to all four verses of The Star Spangled Banner).

1. No Justice, No Peace (which I just telling Commies).

2. All we are saying, is "Give War a Chance" (with thanks to PJ O'Rourke for using as a book title).

3. We shall kill bin Laden (sung to we shall overcome, with apologies to the REAL civil rights movement)

Ever since college (19 years ago) I have felt intimidated by public protesters and I want to thank the members of FR (particularly the local Pittsburgh Chapter and of course the DC Chapter) for showing me that I don't have to be silent or intimidated in the face of Marxism.

Since they couldn't hang their peace sign, a bunch of them gathered around and held it like you would a parachute. Some of the organizers had gathered near the East entrance of the Cathedral along with some of the media.

A band of about 80 or 90 peaceniks marched in from the east from an unknown staging area carrying signs and chanting "Peace" or "No War" or something like that. They had no idea that I was about to ambush FReep them from behind.

I had positioned myself on the opposite side of the campus area to the east of the Cathedral, right in front of Heinz Chapel. When I sat down, no one could see me from behind a large set of hedges in front of the Chapel.

So when I started singing "The Star-Spangled Banner", they had no idea where it was coming from initially.

They couldn't hear themselves over my song, so they started moving around to the west side of the Cathedral. They sought a space at the northwest corner of the Cathedral's city block. After wasting time with a couple of reporters (and trying to plug FR), I made my way around the building and stood about 30 feet away, continuing to sing our national anthem.

Once again they couldn't hear themselves think, so they marched back to their original spot back on the east side of the Cathedral. They were chanting, so I started into my chants. A couple of them tried their best to physically intimidate me. One guy tried to yell into my face and I used a forearm into his neck to keep him away. That brought the Pitt Police in closer and they got the guy to back off eventually.

When they were back on the campus lawn, they spread out in a big inclusive circle. I spread out with them and continued to chant and sing as the situation warranted. I forgot to mention that I was wearing a long-sleeve red white and blue shirt with an Old Navy American flag T-shirt over top for warmth.

Anyway, at least 5 or 6 of them came over to me individually while one of the "leaders" was speaking and tried to "talk" with me. Their intention was clearly to engage me in conversation so that their "leaders" could communicate with the "crowd" unchallenged.

Nuh-uhn! I kept right on singing.

The Pitt Police were fabulous the whole time, telling the peaceniks that I was exercising my first ammendment rights. When one b!tch tried to get in my way of approaching their collapsing circle, I pushed her out of my way. She reacted by yelling at me not to touch her and I told her to stay out of my way. The cops came in closer.

You could tell that the peaceniks were stunned because one of the leaders tried to get me to go away by deliberately feedbacking his bullhorn. I did not move. I did not stop singing or chanting.

They tried one last change of venue and again I followed them. That's when the Libertarian started complaining to me that I wasn't letting the peaceniks have freedom of speech. Yeah...right.

One guy who I think was drunk started telling me that the Monkees had done "Give Peace a Chance". Since it was before he was born, I didn't hold it against him.

In the end, they gave up and stopped using their bullhorn. They complained to the Pitt Police (this is well over 45 minutes into the protest now) and one of the cops gently nudged me away from the increasingly intolerant and threatening crowd so that I was finally about 50 yards away.

I finished the FReep by singing the National Anthem's four complete verses (the 2nd one is particularly tough rhythm-wise) and then thanked and shook the hands of the two cops who were standing near me.

A couple of people thanked me (shaking hands or saying thanks) during the "confrontation". I know that the cops were generally appreciative even though they didn't say so explicitly.

After turning of the bullhorn, I went to collect a black plastic Radio Shack bag from the campus lawn. I had let go of it absent-mindedly when I started singing near the Chapel.

The Chapel curator told we that it had blown east so I started looking. A freshman came up to me and started saying, "Hey man, like why don't you want to listen to what we have to say?" He helped me look for the bag and we got to talking while I informed him that the world did not begin 18 years ago. He was upset that I called him a fool for talking like a peacenik, and he suddenly was able to strike the words man and like from his vocabulary for the next 15 to 20 minutes.

We talked as he walked with me back to my office and eventually he came to understand that I was simply challenging him to be a better person. He talked about some of the pain that he has seen among his friends and what he had done to help them. I shared some of mine and we parted amicably.

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