Posted on 01/12/2003 1:46:10 AM PST by DoughtyOne
Saturday - January 11, 2003
Los Angeles Chapter - Free Republic Network
After Meeting Report
Saturday afternoon Los Angeles area Freepers were joined by Freepers from the High Desert, Ventura, Oceanside and Orange County, as they conducted a meeting at the Shakers Restaurant in Glendale. Gathering around 1:00 p.m. we greeted each other and talked for about thirty minutes before ordering a late lunch. While we waited for food to be served, individuals talked in small migrating groups.
It was good to see people we hadn't seen for a while. It was also nice to meet others for the first time. Everyone was able to catch up on what projects were motivating the others at the present time. Most of the folks in attendance were motivated self-starting individuals. As attendees spoke to first one small group of individuals, then another, it soon became apparent to those in attendance that we have a number of projects in the works right now. That was a great thing to observe.
When the food came we each took our seats and enjoyed a nice meal. We had gathered in a private room off the back of the restaurant. It was nice. There was a horseshoe shaped table where around twenty of us fellowshiped together.
As our meal wound up, we cleared the table and called the meeting portion of our gathering to order. I led the group in the pledge of allegiance. Doug said a prayer and our meeting was under-way.
Opening remarks:
A New Beginning
The Los Angeles Chapter has been in existence for about five years. At times it has been quite active, and at times it has been less so. This last fall RonDog revitalized the Chapter with his call to arms, organizing protests and rallies geared to counter peaceniks and support Republican gubernatorial candidate Simon. RonDog, DavidDennis and others pulled out all the stops to organize, execute or attend some excellent protests from Sacramento all the way down to San Diego, and many points in-between.
As a result our chapter started up regular meetings again on December 10th. At that meeting we decided to hold formal and casual meetings. Today's was the first formal meeting. After the opening moments of the meeting, I mentioned some of our history and moved on to make sure everyone knew that we will now be holding meetings or other chapter events about every six weeks. The next meeting will be casual and held toward the end of February in an as yet undisclosed location, details to be revealed to our chapter member in the next few days by private eMail.
The Blank Page
At this point I drew people's attention to the Agenda package that each of them had received. After the main header sheet, was a blank sheet. Attendees were asked to fill out requests of information on this page. Suggestions were forthcoming as requested. I appreciated the comments from our attendees. There were a number of good ideas presented.
One of the cornerstone aspects of our recent meetings has been our attempt to take a forward looking approach to the future of our chapter. We are developing short term, moderate term and long term goals. Some of them are quite extensive. Others are tasks or projects that we can knock out in a matter of weeks. All of them are geared to what our chapter, region and state's needs are.
We are rethinking every aspect of our operation. For instance where we have held successful protests in the past, we are now trying to critique them and devise ways to make them even more successful in the future. And that is saying a lot, since RodDog and others have contributed to produce and execute some excellent rallies and protests.
California is the Key
As part of my drive to make sure we are going to be as productive as possible, as a chapter, I have developed a long term goal based on my perceptions of what changes need to be made in the state of California. No I'm not thinking about causing it to drop off into the ocean. The chapter and I would like to see action taken that will change California from the place "evil" legislation is birthed, to the state were good things happen, that will travel across the nation.
I won't talk specifics here. Our chapter meetings will focus on this and other key projects that we have devised or agreed to assist with. Los Angeles area Freepers need to attend these meetings to become informed and assist.
A committee was formed to work on this project. Barry, Dale, Doug and D1 signed on.
I will be providing more details in the Leadership Council so that other chapter leaders can make suggestions or adopt some of our goals. If you would like to know more about this effort, send me a private FreepMail.
Leadership Institute
In conjunction with our goal to become a much more effective organization, our chapter has chosen to seek out grass roots activism training from the Leadership Institute. We have several specific projects in mind, and a number of not so specific regional tasks that we foresee the Leadership Institute helping us to execute in a more professional and productive manner. Chapter members, regional Freepers and individuals from outside our organization are going to join together for these seminars. There will be a moderate fee, but those who attend will gain a lot from these meetings. The date has not been set yet, but later this spring we hope you'll consider joining us, if you live in this region. We should have specific information available to you in the next week.
A two man working group was formed to solidify plans for this project. BobJ and RonDog signed on.
http://www.leadershipinstitute.org
Activism Suggestions:
David Dennis - RonDog
Our members are always thinking of new ways to tweak the less fortunate in the south land who have trouble figuring out who the real villains in this world are. Those who ask us to just give peace a chance, think George Bush is the problem. David Dennis thought it might be a good idea to dawn Saddam Hussein masks and hold signs saying thank you to the peace protesters. RonDog purchased a couple of masks. They look great. This certainly would frame the actions of these protesters in just the right light. Someone suggested an Osama Bin Laden mask might be another good hot-button to counter these protesters. Others had some other suggestions.
I believe it was Tweeker who came up with a few catch phrases that were pretty powerful. She suggested we make signs from pictures of atrocities from the past, with simple tag lines saying, "Evil unopposed!" Someone else suggested that it was a natural to hold signs supporting our troops for opposing evil.
As with every topic mentioned today, the discussion was open and vibrant. We talked about focusing our signs when we protest. If we're supporting Bush tax cuts, we think it's important to make sure all signs relate to that, not a side issue like Boxer or Daschle. We want passers-by to know exactly what our cause is.
The suggestion was made to keep our signs and protest positive, avoiding the Saddam mask idea. The arguement had some merrit to it, but I think the outcome was to adopt the Saddam idea in ways that would make sure it was used appropratiely, and perhaps avoid using it at other times.
We agreed to discuss this more. We also agreed that we will take to the streets as situations develop in upcoming weeks and months.
Barry Hartz
Barry joined us today from the high desert, Apple Valley. Barry is developing the High Desert Republican Headquarters. He is also developing a new project to be known as the California Tea Party. His emphasis is getting the tax and spend politicians from both parties in our state under control. Barry had some good ideas and we're going to be watching him as they develop over the next few months. We want to be supportive and look forward to the development of this project, as it has real potential.
Absolom - Doug
Doug suggested that we participate more actively in the California Republican party. He gave us some tips on how to become more effective in party politics. He suggests it would be a good idea for us to attend state meetings. The next is 02/15-16/2003, to be held in Sacramento.
If you would like more information on this, please contact me. I'll put you in touch with Doug. (Doug, I know I'm not doing this justice. Please feel free to augment the report on this issue. Thanks.)
Voter Fraud
Diotima took a few moments to talk about her efforts to drive an anti-Vote Fraud campaign throughout this nation. She had a number of good suggestions geared toward developing tools to make sure precincts across this nation are kept under control during the next election. Observation is the key. We need poll watchers. Barry Hartz suggested that it's not all that hard to contact the government voting agency, and sign up to have elections for your area held in your home or business. That sounded like a great idea to me. DaleReed touched on the problem with computer assisted ballots, the land of pregnant chads. Dale mentioned that in the old days ballots were counted at the precincts. Done by hand, checked on the spot by a rep from both parties, the results were in by 11:00 p.m. in California. Nowadays it seems the votes aren't counted fully until the next morning.
Diotima has been working with Nick Danger and F. Francone on this. I'm afraid my notes don't do her presentation justice. I would ask her to please provide more information here. I do know she has been working with the Leadership Council to make sure our chapter leaders are up to speed on this.
Open Suggestions:
Suggestions were aired during this meeting. The topics follow. In the interest of time and space, I'm not going to give a long description of each.
The FRN should develop a relationship with a card printer. Certain formats would be developed so that when FRN members order cards via eMail, the format will be uniform across the nation. This will also facilitate the avoidance of problems with depicting improper relationships between the FRN and the FR forum, in order to avoid certain pitfalls.
The FRN should develop a universal handout that we can give the public at protests. This 4x6" card will introduce people to our philosophy, and the Free Republic forum.
The FRN should develop more support for college students, so that when the conservatives debate the campus leftists, they can have moral support on sight.
On the printed sheets there were other good suggestions. They will be raised at future meetings and acted upon when possible. Some of them were quite good.
Announcement:
The Reverend Jessie Lee Peterson's B.O.N.D. organization will be holding the fourth annual Day of Repudiation of Jessie Jackson on January 20th in downtown Los Angeles. This will be Martin Luther King's holiday. Freepers should support this event. Jessie Lee Peterson is a great guy. He's emphasis has been to target the youth of the Black neighborhoods in order to help produce young Black men of character.
In the last few years Peterson has tried to bring to light the corruption that is Jessie Jackson, and his organization. It's nice to see a Black man like Peterson who is willing to go on the record with regard to Jessie Jackson and his antics.
To learn more about this event, please visit the following site.
Chapter Leadership Elections:
The Los Angeles Chapter will hold new elections for leadership positions during the first formal meeting after July 1, 2003.
As a part of this presentation I made an embarrassing error today. It had been my intention to raise the idea of RonDog being named by chapter member agreement, to Vice-President of the Los Angeles chapter. Ron has shown the desire and ability to organize and execute protests, rallies and other activities on behalf of our chapter. I believe his efforts warrant him the recognition that this appointment would convey.
One of the problems with an open discussion which allows for everyone's voice to be heard on each topic, is that it is somewhat easier to get sidetracked and lose sight of an agenda issue. I am afraid this happened to me this afternoon. When we mentioned chapter elections, a few questions pulled me off topic. I had talked to Ron about the appointment before the meeting and feel bad that this occurred. I apologized to him and will raise this as the first order of business at our next meeting. Ron was quite gracious about it.
We adjourned the meeting:
Media Presentation:
David Dennis presented some of his videos of Freeper protests from last fall. David does an excellent job of shooting video, editing it and adding narration so that we are able to review events later. We were able to watch about half an hour of his Simon Rally and protest footage from last fall. Ron edited the video on his Apple Powerbook. We were able to connect it to a 20" television and watch the footage. Very nice.
Today DavidDennis entered into the belly of the beast, as he ventured into downtown Los Angeles to shoot footage of the thousands of anti-war protesters taking to the streets there. David took some great still images. He was able to present some of those to us at the meeting. I don't know about you, but it makes me sick to my stomach to watch US citizens behave the way these folks do. Free speach is a time honored US tradition, but this stuff pushes it about as far as anything I've seen. They say what they want to. I'm able to think what I want to about it.
Well folks, this is about it. If I missed something I hope the other chapter members will provide their own accounting of the topic. I would also appreciate it if they would provide more detail of items that are not of a critical nature. Some topics we're tying to hold back on specific information since we don't want to allow the opposition to key in on our plans, devising the best way to counter our efforts.
We left the restaurant around 5:30 p.m. We covered a lot of ground today. Nice.
As I understand our plans for the next few months, we will have:For MORE information, FReep-mail DoughtyOne or RonDog.- ANOTHER L.A. Chapter meeting on a Saturday (early afternoon) in late-February/early-March in the Torrance/Redondo Beach/Palos Verdes area - and thenAnd, as I understand it, we will broadcast SOME of the dates and locations - and discuss SOME of our fundamental strategy - here on the PUBLIC forum, for maximum exposure to newbies, lurkers and not-yet-FReepers...
- our Leadership Institute "Activism 101" seminar for FReepers, lurkers AND invited guests from conservative groups all across California - (all-day Saturday, with a possible OPTIONAL half-day advanced course the next day) - in mid- to late-April just after Tax Day - potentially on 4/19-20 or 4/26-27, with
- a major SUPPORT THE TROOPS - anti-"anti-war" counter-FReep - of the "peaceniks" (featuring our Saddam look-alike thanking the RATs for their support) whenever they set the date for THEIR next big rally, and
- possibly a revised version of the "California Tea Party" TAX PROTEST on Saturday 6/14/03, with a precise agenda and specific location to be determined, thanks to an idea from Barry and the folks from the High Desert GOP in Apple Valley/Barstow....but we will reserve MANY of the specific details for private FReep-mails, e-mails, telepone calls - and possibly FRN-sponsored (members-only) PRIVATE discussions on www.FReeper.org and www.PalTalk.com - to avoid disruptors, and keep the RATs in the dark, right?
The FRN should develop a universal handout that we can give the public at protests.This a WONDERFUL idea!
This 4x6" card will introduce people to our philosophy, and the Free Republic forum.
IMHO, we nee to recruit new FReepers everywhere we go.As hard as it may be for hard-core FReepers to imagine, there are MANY conservative activists out there who do not yet know about the power of this extraordinary place.
I would like to introduce not-yet-FReepers to FR using a card SOMETHING like this:
I understand that there are some LEGAL issues involved with the non-profit status of this forum, and the ways in which we present our affiliation with FR and FRN, so I will await a decision from the FRN board, but we REALLY need something like this - ASAP!!!
You are NOT alone!!!
Please JOIN US in the...
"Hollywood Resistance Force"
to promote CONSERVATIVE activism in California!
And, for BREAKING NREWS, conservative commentary, and
up-to-the-minute information about conservative activism near YOU,
please visit our favorite news forum:
www.FreeRepublic.com
Or SOMETHING like that...
Also, I like the idea of "harvesting" e-mail addresses (and telephone numbers) - for our PUBLIC announcements - at every opportunity.As discussed previously, we may need to develop a "two-tier" system of communications, and not send the GOOD stuff to strangers, until they have been vetted.
You should see the pix of those peaceniks in the OC Register.See also the report from davidennis:
Boy are they confused. It shows dozens of signs; "Bomb France", "Don't Trust the Media", "You must be the Change", Healthcare not warfare", etc., etc.What I did NOT see was one American flag.
FREEPER REPORT:
Left Protest, Downtown LA, 11 Jan 2003 and Ideas for further activism
amazing.com (my reporting) ^ | 01/12/2003 | David H Dennis
Posted on 01/12/2003 11:03 AM PST by daviddennis
Freeper Report:
Left Protest, Downtown LA, 11 Jan 2003 and
Ideas for further Activism
Return to amazing.com
On the morning of 11 January 2003, there was a left protest of the war and various other things in Downtown LA. Your roving freeper reporter DavidDennis was on the scene with photos, commentary and ideas for future activism. This also includes some brief information on yesterday's LA Chapter meeting.
Because I didn't know the lay of the land, I didn't bring my video camera. Instead, my Canon EOS D30 digital still camera would have to do.
Traffic and parking were both horrendous. I paid $7.50 for about 20 minutes of parking, despite the "$2.50 for 15 minutes" charge marked. Don't park in ripoff lots in jewlery centers unless you are truly, truly desperate to find parking. (I was).
My reporting on this event was constrained by the fact that I was very late, and I really had to get to the LA Chapter meeting at 1:00 to show everyone what was up. I left the parking garage around 12:30 and was back there by 12:50. I was, of course, very late to the freeper event. Fortunately, nobody minded; Diotima was relieved I'd gotten out alive. (The secret this time was that I went undercover and didn't wear my Simon shirt).
It was one long strange trip, something out of the 60s for sure...
CLICK HERE for more
Absolom, perhaps you could talk a little more about the republican party meeting. Would it be possible to organize a trip up there? If we could get together some kind of group transport, we might be able to get a decent contingent of people. (I tried pinging you, but I apparently don't have the right spelling of your name; if someone knows it, could they refer him to the thread?)
I'm very interested in learning more about Barry Hartz' ideas, but he doesn't seem to be a freeper (at least not of that name). I think his ideas are excellent, but they badly need fleshing out; perhaps Ron and I could help.
I hope you will also join me on my thread on the left protests, which seems like an excellent place to discuss the specific subject of activism.
Enjoy!
D
Here are all the pictures. I know many of them are rather dark; any Photoshop mavens here can feel free to clean them up.
Enjoy!
D
moonmad27, dalereed, ledzep75
picture of meeting
daviddennis photographing sadam mask
rondog, doughtyone, diotima
picture of meeting
Tony in Tarzana, absalom01, freepers
picture of meeting
picture of meeting
barry hartz, seenenuf, the spotted owl, freepers
daviddennis, dalereed, seenenuf look at pictures from the anti-war/leftist scum rally
Ron "Make my Day" Dog
Ron Dog and freeper audience
Crusty Diotima and DoughtyOne
DoughtyOne and Absalom01
LedZep75 and wife (I didn't get your screen name, UGH!)
RonDog, DoughtyOne, less crusty Diotima
RonDog, DoughtyOne, Diotima
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