Immediate Response Needed For Orlando FReeper Convention

March 24, 2009

[Roos_Girl]

Hey y'all,

I am in the process of negotiating with the Gaylord Palms hotel to hold our Freeper Convention there on April 25. We can get a rate of $99 per night (which is a great rate for this really nice hotel) and the convention room will be complimentary.

For that rate they are asking for us to block a minimum of 40 rooms; if some people are staying both Friday and Saturday nights that would count as 2 rooms. The contract will be written such that if all 40 rooms are not picked up we would have to pay the difference. So, for example, if only 10 rooms were actually reserved the person signing the contract (me) would owe them $2970. I told them those terms were not acceptable, but they seem to be willing to work out some other terms if I can get them a firm number on how many guest rooms will be reserved.

Please mail me by Friday, 3/27/09, and let me know if you will be staying at the hotel and for how many nights. Without getting committments from you I feel uncomfortable agreeing to even 10 rooms, though I hope we have a better showing than that!

The convention will be on April 25, a Saturday, from 8am to 6pm. Room reservations for Friday and Saturday will count towards our minimum number required.

[LadyPilgrim]

Thanks...:-)

[trooprally]

ping

[TrueKnightGalahad]

I don’t think I’ll be able to take a room (my schedule is very constrained, revolving around giving pills at certain times to my cat, who was recently diagnosed with a serious cancer), but if at all possible, I will be driving over to participate in the meetings. The hotel looks very nice — great choice!

[A Navy Vet]

Cool. Another Freeper convention. Been to one myself, and guess what? It and the other street activism has done NOTHING to keep us from turning into a socialist nation.

Spend all the time and money you want. It will have NO impact on the obami/reid/pelosi triad and their Marxist beliefs and actions.

We are way beyond "conventions" and "Tea Partys", and this is from one of the original street activists on this board.

DC is NOT listening! It's time for something more substantial. Think outside the box, or maintain a "holding pattern", as I am. Think about what I've said here. I appreciate your efforts, but they will be of no avail. No one cares.

[Roos_Girl]

Instead of being negative about what we're trying to do and telling us to think outside the box, why don't you try offering some positive alternatives. Anybody can complain. Perhaps you could offer some of your "outside the box" constructive advice that could be a part of what we do, since we have a month left to plan.

If you're just going to complain, no one wants to hear it.

[The Duke]

Hi Roos, we're rock solid for two nights at the $99 rate. Are the dates cast in concrete? What do we need to tell he reservation clerk to make sure the convention gets the credit for two nights?

NOTE TO ALL FLORIDA FREEPERS
If you've checked out the resort hotel you'll see that this is going to be quite an event, and $99 is a real bargain. Roos_Girl is putting a lot into this, but needs US to make some commitments to pull this off. I'm jumping in with both feet here, and hope to see others do so as well.

Heck, even without the convention it's a world-class two day summer vacation ... join us!

[The Duke]

Reading above I see that some additional fees (parking, etc) may bump us over the $99 daily rate. That's no big problem (we'll just make a couple of trade-offs on the trip).

Navy Vet thinks that previous Freeper conventions have not made a difference - but I must disagree. How can any person know where we would be right now were it not for conservative activism? Maybe we could have done better in the past, and maybe we can take lessons from previous experiences to do better in the future. Maybe it's even a losing battle and the question is simply whether or not we "go down swinging".

We *do* need to work hard to get some real value out of this convention. And, taking some value from Navy Vet's feedback, we should already be starting to think "outside the box".

[Joe Brower]

Florida Freeper

[MinuteGal]

If your kind of thinking (maintaining a defeatist holding pattern) is typical of other so-called conservative "thinkers" in your state, no wonder California is hurtling down the abyss.

Our Orlando convention hours will be spent looking toward the future and how to deal effectively with the present. All positive-thinking freepers invited!

Leni

[surfer]

I don’t think A Navy Vet is being negative about this at all. I have known A Navy Vet since the very early days of FR and he only wants the best for our country and for FR.

His point is clearly about that we as a nation are beyond the point of talk and demonstrations. In fact since he is in CA he sees clearly what is happening to our country only his perspective is magnified because of where he lives.

But we should all be clear that what is happening in CA, MA, etc is going to happen to all of us.

A Navy Vet understands that we are dealing with an unprecedented level of corruption within our government and organizations like ACORN are no different than organized crime organizations.

So I think if I may take what A Navy Vet is saying and rework it a little. We ALL need to understand where ALL of this is going. We are ALL going to need to stand together and be prepared for WHATEVER comes our way that may force us to ALL make difficult decisions. This may NOT be countered just with speeches, rallys, etc... it just may not be enough. We need to think with a lot more creativity to surround the socialist forces and defeat them.

We need to wake up, prepare our families and prepare for the worst - that isn’t being negative that is just having our eyes wide open and understanding what is taking place. If the worst comes then at least we were smart about it and our families will stand a better chance.

We may see the late 1700’s again...we are on the fast track to tyranny and we all need to make that fundamental decision on whether we will stand and fight for liberty or will we just be led to slaughter.

So for our convention we will need a serious agenda to discuss everything that should be considered and where do we turn to get the help that we need.

I am not trying to start a flame thread here...I just think we need to carefully consider what A Navy Vet is saying and focus on the point of his message not that he intended it to be negative...he is as frustrated as the rest of us. A Navy Vet I hope you don’t think I spoke out of turn.

[MinuteGal]

I think we all agree with every point both you and ANV mention. We are aware people. However, his post WAS negative in implying freeper conventions are fruitless.....and I disagreed. This is like saying the Tea Parties across the fruited plain such as the successful one held in Orlando last week represent fruitlessness and not "thinking outside the box".

Thanks for the input from both of you. All kinds of input from freepers will be under discussion at our convention.

Now, for the satisfying work at hand.....folks, if you can, please let Roos know ASAP if you're coming for one night or two so she has a strong hand to deal with the hotel.

Leni

[Roos_Girl]

Written word is hard to get propert context on sometimes. That’s why I invited A Navy Vet to offer us some ideas instead of just stating that nothing would come of our convention. I am very open to any ideas anyone has as to what should be included in our agenda, even from someone who might not be able to join us. I am not open to just being told that something’s not going work without being offered some alternatives.

[surfer]

I think the perceived negativity is more a sign of his frustration.

He served this country and for what...to let the scum that is in our congress and administration destroy what he put is life on the line for.

I do think we need to have a clear agenda and some very serious discussions on what we are going to do not only to save our country but save our state.

[surfer]

Yes I agree we need as must positive reinforcement we can get but let’s show ANV that FR can make something happen. Something real, tangible...let’s make the Florida FR convention something that actually produces a result that ALL will see!

[ken5050]

That’s the key point..It’s up to us to make sure that next month doesn’t become just a BS session, cry in your beer, bitching about Zero etc..yeah..we need some of that..it’s a catharsis of sorts..but we have to come out of it with a few solid ideas and plans for the near future..

[MinuteGal]

FR has made things happen for over a decade! Let's continue the good work. Surfer, hope to meet you at the convention and in the meantime, Roos is welcoming agenda ideas, so get yours in!

It takes a village to raise an agenda!

(....lawdy, what am I saying? LOL).

Leni

[The Right Stuff]

Hi, I think we could probably stay on Friday night. That is a great rate for that hotel.

[Roos_Girl]

My idea is to have that “bitch session” first thing in the morning. I know people will want it, but we need to limit it. It can’t be a whole day’s worth of “I can’t believe he’s doing .....” We won’t get anything worthy accomplished. And I am not about wasting a Saturday just to complain about what’s happening; I can do that at home for free and so can everyone else.

[ken5050]

I was thinking more about the evening..adult beverage hours..After all, if you’re going to “cry in your beer”..far better to have actual beer than coffee

[surfer]

Yes FR has and we need to garner the same momentum we had when we went after Clinton.

We need to ignite that spark again...get this ship moving and get some real results.

One of the agenda items should be to work together to identify all the resource on the web we can tap to help bring real change together (blogs, sites like FR, etc...)

We should identify key people in positions of “reach” that we can “lobby” to push key points of our agenda. Especially in regard to FL...we need to really really push for local reps that will stand up against this tyranny.

I have extension “mobile” assets and will dedicate whatever we need to get some serious activism happening with radio stations, etc...(i.e. when a socialist (democrat) is on a local radio show we should immediately text all FR in surrounding area with call to action to call radio station and provide opposing viewpoint) - we need to build perception in the marketplace.

We need someone to work on our “daily talking points” that we can distribute to everyone’s mobile phone, etc...

There is a lot we can do...we just have to get it done!