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Posted on 10/07/2001 1:29:53 PM PDT by TroutStalker

While I should have been at work painting my house, I decided to check out a rumor about a peace march across from the Plaza in Kansas City. Max, my German Shepherd (veteran of local FReeps of clinton/gore) and I arrived to find a handful of people setting up a small stage and making signs.

More people arrived just prior to their start, and it was the usual crew that you would expect for such an event. The crowd swelled to about a hundred people; those with pink hair, mohawks, hippie clothes were armed with their signs written on the backs of gore/lieberman signs. I cannot remember a single sign that I saw simply because they were so lacking in content that made any sense. They were poorly done, and it seems no one made any in advance.

There were three of Kansas City's finest there, for the protection of the peace-nics. As I was leaving, I joked with one of them while he was petting Max that when we were there for four rallies for Bush in December we didn't need or get any protection.

After seeing what the group had planned, I returned to my vehicle to retrieve my Gadsden flag (I didn't have any signs on hand). They had their stage set up about twenty five feet from the corner with the attendees beyond that, so I stood on the corner behind the stage and held the flag in the breeze so they would all see it right behind the stage and the traffic passing by could see it as well. What really surprised me was that several of the protestors came up to me and asked me what it meant. Now I was probably about five years old when I first saw a picture of the Gadsden in the World Book Encyclopedia and I sure didn't need it explained to me. I told one woman who asked that I wasn't surprised she didn't understand it because it is a war flag. I asked her how she thought the terrorists should be handled and her reply was to try them and send them to jail. She decided not to stick around when I asked her how we should respond when other terrorists take hostages and kill innocents to have them released. And she definitely did not want to talk about the treatment of women by the Taliban.

There were a number of speakers who droned on about "justice not revenge" and other unmemorable bilge, so I left after about an hour. I was interviewed by Fox4 news about my reasons for being there (just supporting America, and wanted so see how many commies were in KC) and what I thought we should do (find those responsible and kill them). The cameraman was very nice and told me that he couldn't say anything, but he agreed with me. When I'm on camera I get very self conscious, so I forgot to plug FreeRepublic, but I did tell several bystanders who stopped to tell me of their support about FR.

All told it was no big deal, but I like to think that all the photos of the speakers on stage are framed by the yellow flag with the coiled rattlesnake and the legend "Don't Tread On Me".

Good Job, TS !!

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