I evade the cruel sentence of time constraints, and cause consternation among our assigned security contingent.

Thanks to EJR914, we have this video of the final moments of the official RTC rally, and my escape and evasion from the iron hand of Father Time. I will explain after the video.



The previous speakers having waxed rather more eloquent than had been expected (or in some cases merely waxed more than expected without the eloquence -- drone is not simply a male ant), as the end of the rally approached it was evident that we had far more speakers than time. Among these were Daniel Almond and Tom Baugh, both of whom did not deserve short shrift. Knowing that there was no way the Park Service would extend us, I let Daniel and Tom split my few minutes, asking only for a minute at the end.

A few things I knew for certain:

a. We would not get an extension.

b. I did not travel all the way to North Carolina to throw out 98% of my speech.

c. If we threw the Park Service a curve ball, it would take them at least 15 minutes to pass messages back and forth to the command post vehicle off property while they decided what to do. This was at least thirteen minutes more than I would have had. More, if I could stall them.

This is what I guessed:

They would probably not wish a confrontation over what was represented as an historical talk. If you've read my speech, you know that this made up the bulk of the presentation.

When we finally get the video of the speech posted, you will see that they ultimately decided to send our host/organizer up to the statue while I was speaking with a message telling me to end it. I demurred, and we went through to the finish without further interruption.

My point: free men and women act like free men and women.

Something that was pointed out to me later by an eyewitness: the presence of rifles, even empty, chamber-flagged, muzzle-down rifles slung out-of-the-way across the owners' backs, may have been an intimidation factor. If they were, so be it. It worked. As the Scottish warrior said just before the battle of Stirling in Braveheart, "Well, at least we dinna get dressed up fer nuthin'."

Mike
III