Ron Paul Blimp Questions??? I have answers.

[Iwantbatteries]

Your repeating yourself Mark.

stay good mark, stay good!

 

[Mark]

Will you post a list of sponsors, of course with each one's permission, so we can see who has pledged for the Ron Paul Blimp?

 

[Mckarnin]

In the FAQ you list this as not being a "commercial flight":

"We have been told that the blimp will fly over the Super Bowl and Times Square for New Years. Has the proper research been done to get the security clearance for these incredibly restricted regions of air space?

Those spaces are restricted for commercial and pleasure flights. This flight is neither."​

Since you are now a for profit advertising LLC selling timeshares, couldn't this be construed as a "commercial flight"?

Thanks...

I will get an answer for you on that. I do know that there was a lot of legal research done and things were set up accordingly.

 

[pointe]

I will get an answer for you on that. I do know that there was a lot of legal research done and things were set up accordingly.

[EDIT]
Deleting my original response since you changed yours

Also modified the quoted text.
[/EDIT]

Thanks for your response. I am impressed with the cordial replies you have been giving to many posts that have been rather charged.

 

[macdee]

Mark... please... I am a sponsor!

I pledged 500 dollars for this project. I will be contributing 2,500. I would like to know how much you have contributed to this project, with your permission of course.

My contribution is being made by myself as an individual on my own. I hope I'm on the top of your list of sponsors!

 

[Mckarnin]

Why wouldn't you except people including lawyers that would be willing to work for free or for $1, to replace the paid for jobs?

.

Well, for one we have some paid workers because this is a business. Secondly, we needed top notch legal representation and we got the former chairman of the FEC. If you can find someone equivalent who will work for a dollar I am sure Liberty Advertising would be happy to be introduced. As far as the other employees and lawyers go, yes I am sure there are some people who would be willing to work for $1 full time (perhaps they have a bit of money in savings) but to be honest most talented, high-energy people who work 16+ hour days for weeks on end require pay for practical reasons (food, shelter, telephone, etc...). When the payroll makes up a fairly small percentage of the total costs I don't see the sense in trading talented people who have proven themselves for new, unproven people just because the proven folks are too hard up after prolonged full-time non-profit volunteering to work pro bono anymore.


***Warning, my own personal opinions factor in to this message highly***

Without talent and hard-work there is no blimp. The blimp would not be where it is now, in fact it would probably not have even entered our imaginations were it not for Trevor and Elijah. I don't think a little pay so they can relax and focus is a bad thing. They've shown they have the talent to make this dream become a reality and I think swapping them out for independently wealthy volunteers over a few thousand when we are talking about a $400,000 project (that will generate millions more in free advertising) is a bad idea.

 

[Mark]

I pledged 500 dollars for this project. I will be contributing 2,500. I would like to know how much you have contributed to this project, with your permission of course.

My contribution is being made by myself as an individual on my own.

Nothing yet, all my available money is going to Ron Paul right now, plus the Granny Warriors for their plane flyover at NASCAR races.

I'm currently unemployed, and eating Ramen noodles for food. I don't have money to send now.

Yet, I've sent RP and the Granny's in total about $600, and I want to have money to donate for the teaparty.

I have this month's rent covered, but, I need a job soon in order to continue having a place to live.

 

[Mark]

You keep repeating yourself Mark. Your question has been answered. Again... again... and yet again!

What question did I repeat?

I posted one, others posted afterwards were answered, so I thought she missed mine.

A question about pledging not to receive pay until the blimp flys, is different than asking when people start to get paid. Isn't it?

She answered she wasn't sure about retroactive pay, so I asked if people getting paid would promise to wait until the blimp flys to get paid.

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

I'll put that on my list of things to look into. I have a feeling that costs for the blimp owner to make the signage may be one of the main expenses.

why was the cost of the sign initially included/free and now is not? (because the guy that owns the blimp is a RP supporter).

Why was it initially supposed to be painted directly on the blimp and now is a banner to be draped over it?

What would the retro-fit time be to put a scrolling banner on instead or later?

-n

btw: could you put the detailed research page back up? I wanted to go over some things in that again and cache a copy!

thanks,

-n

 

[BrianK]

What does the official Paul campaign say?

I bet that a lot of the naysayers might relax if there was some act of faith from the the official campaign. Have you guys convinced the official campaign to pay for your services? Even if they only bought 2.7 minutes as a symbolic gesture it might help you a lot.

 

[Mckarnin]

The problem is, this was started, and pledges were taken, as a grassroots effort. To then convert this project into a launching pad for a private company is disingenous. The idea was that the organizers would help organize the project because they supported Ron Paul, not because they wanted to make profit off of Ron Paul supporters.

If the organizers want to start a company, they should do so independently of the grassroots. If the grassroots decided that a private company was worth hiring and chose it that would be one thing, but to start a project as a grassroots effort, take pledges, and then co-opt it for profit and to launch a company is highly immoral in my opinion.

Also, the current plan is very wasteful. We have many, many people who produce videos for free and post them online. There is no need for "videographers". Many grassroots supporters would immediate create videos of the blimp and rallies on their own. Why do we need two managers??!? Why do we need a full time web tech when many people would volunteer for the job? What exactly will Trevor and Elijah working on for 40+ hours a week, because media interviews sure aint it.

The original plan was to rent a blimp for the month. That is what people signed up for, and that is what should be done. Maybe one person to coordinate volunteer efforts could get living expenses, but this is wasteful.

We did not donate money to help launch a company, we donated it to pay for the blimp and to promote Ron Paul!!!

When the pledges were taken they were just that, pledges. No one took any money until the new Ron Paul Blimp site was operational and the Terms of Sale were published. No one is being compelled legally to make good on their pledge with a purchase of sponsorship.

Many of those involved regret the fact that they could not make this a reality legally as a grassroots effort. Of course necessity turned into Liberty Advertizing which is a very uniquely structured business that may cause a major paradigm shift in the advertising world and the political world.

I am already looking into the videographer question for an earlier poster and will get back to you both. I have been working closely with Trevor and Elijah for days and can tell you that the conference calls, text editing, legal consulting start in the AM and run into the AM daily. Trevor is engaged with several phone and in person interviews on a daily basis as well as doing the interfacing with the graphics people and the blimp people and the media people and the flight plan people, etc... So far I have yet to see either of them work what appears to be less than a 15 hour day.

Please continue to make inquiries if I didn't answer all of your questions.

 

[BlueGecko]

Without talent and hard-work there is no blimp. The blimp would not be where it is now, in fact it would probably not have even entered our imaginations were it not for Trevor and Elijah. I don't think a little pay so they can relax and focus is a bad thing. They've shown they have the talent to make this dream become a reality and I think swapping them out for independently wealthy volunteers over a few thousand when we are talking about a $400,000 project (that will generate millions more in free advertising) is a bad idea.


Ok obviously there is a large discrepancy betweeen the two camps. Baby steps? Offer the webmaster job for expenses/ small stipend see if anyone bites?
Offer cameramen for volunteer/ small stipend plus expenses ?
Have direct link to transparency page on web site?

Please take back to group/ trevor/ whoever

Sorry if come across as angry but whether you're expenses are justifiable or not, you need to get the blimp to fly= need support. A way to get support is work with RP forums. Independently wealthy volunteers ? Alot of people are wealthy but would donate a full month or two of their life to RP. Super tuesday is two months from now. Many people would use up vacation/ take leave/ sabbatical without having to be wealthy. The point is that the original revolution took sacrifices, and that was inspiring to not only to look back on but to those who joined the cause.

 

[moberley]

The problem is, this was started, and pledges were taken, as a grassroots effort. To then convert this project into a launching pad for a private company is disingenous. The idea was that the organizers would help organize the project because they supported Ron Paul, not because they wanted to make profit off of Ron Paul supporters.

If the organizers want to start a company, they should do so independently of the grassroots. If the grassroots decided that a private company was worth hiring and chose it that would be one thing, but to start a project as a grassroots effort, take pledges, and then co-opt it for profit and to launch a company is highly immoral in my opinion.

Also, the current plan is very wasteful. We have many, many people who produce videos for free and post them online. There is no need for "videographers". Many grassroots supporters would immediate create videos of the blimp and rallies on their own. Why do we need two managers??!? Why do we need a full time web tech when many people would volunteer for the job? What exactly will Trevor and Elijah working on for 40+ hours a week, because media interviews sure aint it.

The original plan was to rent a blimp for the month. That is what people signed up for, and that is what should be done. Maybe one person to coordinate volunteer efforts could get living expenses, but this is wasteful.

We did not donate money to help launch a company, we donated it to pay for the blimp and to promote Ron Paul!!!

It bothers me when people refer to "the grassroots" deciding something or other. The grassroots is a linguistic shorthand (just like "society") and as such doesn't make decisions. It is possible to determine that the grassroots supports something post facto by observing the individual choices of the people involved, but that isn't the same thing. Even a brief period of reading of discussions among identified supporters of Ron Paul will quickly reveal that opinions are very divergent.

If Liberty Political Advertising succeeds it will do so because individuals have chosen to do business with them. If people choose not to do business then it will fail. That is the only way to logically determine what the "grassroots" has decided.

 

[Mckarnin]

ust a link you may find interesting: http://www.charitynavigator.org/inde...t.view&cpid=48

Look at the scores for different percentages of money spent on administration. As it currently stands, at a rate of $400,000 for a month of sponsorship there is $50,000 left after the blimp itself is paid for. That means the total percentage of incoming money spent on lawyers, employee pay, computer and web technology, extras like media packets and flight jackets comes to 8%. If we were a charity we would be getting stellar ratings.

I am not telling anyone not to ask questions. I am just pointing out that we are well within the administrative cost guidelines for highly rated charities.

OK but why not ASK if anyone can do for free?

If there was a post looking for volunteer cameraman that is experienced and has film credits that will volunteer for expenses paid for a month ? I would say you would get however many you need. I for one know a few documentary workers who are RP fans that could do this for expenses and small stipend (probably a 1/4 or 1/5 of there 1000 a week.

Listen to Ron Paul let the free market decide, offer the option

I will be investigating this further and getting back to you with better information about the videography.

 

[macdee]

Well Mark... there you have it.

Mark... We've all already given to the Ron Paul campaign. The Ron Paul Blimp project is for us that have made the maximum contribution. I have only 1,000 dollars left for the BIG TEA PARTY 07. With all the negative questions you have concerning the Ron Paul Blimp project, I had mistakenly though that you were contributing to this project. My mistake.

Mark me down on your list of sponsors for the Ron Paul R3VOLUTION blimp!

 

[Man from La Mancha]

Without talent and hard-work there is no blimp. The blimp would not be where it is now, in fact it would probably not have even entered our imaginations were it not for Trevor and Elijah. I don't think a little pay so they can relax and focus is a bad thing. They've shown they have the talent to make this dream become a reality and I think swapping them out for independently wealthy volunteers over a few thousand when we are talking about a $400,000 project (that will generate millions more in free advertising) is a bad idea.

Thank you for the answer, but I would think that people that have proved themselves my becoming independantly wealthy in their chosen occupation would be the most idea ones, I agree the FEC pro is worth it, but don't these already rich lawers care as much for Freedom as we do?. I will support this project no matter what is decided, but I would think the PR benifits of having top people working for nothing would creat a large impact.

.

 

[BlueGecko]

I have been working closely with Trevor and Elijah for days and can tell you that the conference calls, text editing, legal consulting start in the AM and run into the AM daily. Trevor is engaged with several phone and in person interviews on a daily basis as well as doing the interfacing with the graphics people and the blimp people and the media people and the flight plan people, etc... So far I have yet to see either of them work what appears to be less than a 15 hour day.


I dont think Trevor and Elijah are the big worry that people are discussing, some might think 1000 is a little much but I SUPPORT these two. It's all the extra staff hired when there was...
NO CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS.

Please we need to cut fat, these two are hardworking longstanding supporters, where are the others resumes? What's with assistants not being able to be volunteer, why same salary 1k ?

 

[Mckarnin]

i will speak my mind freely now, This exactly why elijah held off telling us about this for profit business venture 3 weeks ago when he raised the amount you could pledge. and its also why you took down the transparency page from the main site. until all the emails went out and the pledges were fulfilled.

You guys knew the grassroots would never promote this bullsh&t idea if we knew we had to pay a EXTRA 150k for a advertising agency.


AM I RIGHT? or am i right?


*edit this another reason they both avoided posting here and answering questions.

The current amount of sponsorship is less than 10% of what was pledged so all pledges have not been fulfilled.

The "Transparency" and "Why not a PAC" pages both were removed accidentally when the flight plan was posted it must have caused the page to revert to the earlier version. Elijah and Trevor went offline at 4:30 PM right before those 2 items disappeared and I wanted to let them sleep so I just informed them by email and it should be fixed later this morning.


They haven't been posting here because they have been so busy. The only reason I have been able to do it is because I haven't slept since yesterday AM because I thought it was worth the investment to answer people's questions.

 

[Mckarnin]

Will you post a list of sponsors, of course with each one's permission, so we can see who has pledged for the Ron Paul Blimp?

That is in the works and will be programmed as soon as the absolute essentials are all set.

 

[vodalian]

The current amount of sponsorship is less than 10% of what was pledged so all pledges have not been fulfilled.

The "Transparency" and "Why not a PAC" pages both were removed accidentally when the flight plan was posted it must have caused the page to revert to the earlier version. Elijah and Trevor went offline at 4:30 PM right before those 2 items disappeared and I wanted to let them sleep so I just informed them by email and it should be fixed later this morning.


They haven't been posting here because they have been so busy. The only reason I have been able to do it is because I haven't slept since yesterday AM because I thought it was worth the investment to answer people's questions.

Well, hopefully your 1k per mo webmaster get's it sorted soon.