MN Convention: Please watch and rate these videos so we can get the word out!

Look at the bottom of the page for the videos of the convention itself, which I am now creating and uploading. Dr. Paul's speech is half-way down.

Mini update: I have finished creating the videos of the delegate crap that was going on. I put in everything that I had except for a tiny segment with the guy who asked how the "conservative delegate team" got the huge banners up between the nomination committee on thursday and the start of the convention. It just seemed like something that was worth cutting out.

mini update 2: The first segment of the delegate crap is up! Look at the bottom of this post.

mini-update 3: The second segment is up!

mini-update 4: The third segment is up!

mini-update 5: The final segment is up!

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Thursday, 9:50PM

This is Dan Keppel reporting live from Rochester, MN, at the Minnesota State Convention! I plan on bringing updates to what is going on here as often as I can.

To start off with: The weather sucks. It has been raining off and on. Driving here was a pain because the rain got so thick that you couldn't see anything.

There were a lot of people getting pre-registered, and there was a full auditorium for a neo-con rally. The Ron Paul people here printed up a bunch of fliers to advertise Ron Paul's speech. I handed out all of the ones I had, which was a challenge due to the stubborness of the die-hard McCain people. One person said something along the lines of, "Ron Paul can get menningitis for all I care."

As I'm typing right now the rain is picking up, and I'm hearing thunder in the background. The speech is going to be fun >^_^<

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Friday 9:09PM

OKAY good times good times. I am sorry for not getting this in sooner, but I was in the convention watching what was going on (and videotapping until my battery ran out. I got about 1.5 hours).

The theme for today was, "Some elephants are more equal than other elephants." (I came up with this line based on the line from "Animal Farm" that says, "Some animals are more equal than others." Please feel free to use it >^_^<) I will talk more about this in a little bit, I want to talk about the speech first.

We were quite relieved that the weather cleared up for the speech. A comment was made along the lines of, "The clouds parted so the sun could shine down on Ron Paul." We had a really nice crowd, and I got a front-row center spot so I could film the speech. I am currently uploading the rest of the footage I took, but I will compile and upload the video to youtube as soon as it finishes. I was lucky enough to break through the crowd to get Dr. Paul to sign my copy of the Revolution. This is going to be my personal copy. It was so cool getting to see him from up close. He was really full of energy! It looked like he was having a good time.

Now I will talk about all of the BS that happened with regards to the delegate elections, and why apparently some elephants are more equal than others. There was a big commotion when it was found out that Ron Paul candidates, who were approved by the rules committee, were invalidated. The rule number 25, I believe, which states something along the lines of, "All delegates applying for the position of National Delegate or National Alternate Delegate must go before the nominations committee in Rochester, MN." All of our (RP) delegates complied with this rule, and were accepted (I think). When it became time to vote for the candidates, a point of information was raised concerning the fact that Ron Paul delegates had suddenly become invalidated and were not allowed to speak and were not on the ballots. We managed to get one of our delegates, Marriane Stebbins (sorry if I mispelled your name), who is the regional Ron Paul coordinator, to get past the nominations committee, but she only got about 42% of the vote and did not make national (/fail, in videogame lingo).

Here is where things get nasty: After the ballots were speedily distributed (no motions may be made during balloting), it was made apperent that a few people who were on the ballot, which included Gov. Pawlenty, had NOT shown up on Thursday to get cleared by the Nominations Committee. Did they scrap the ballots? HELL NO! They continued with the process as if nothing had happened (Pawlenty was elected as a National Delegate, BTW).

As far as I know, we got 0/14 from here, and therefore failed to get a majority of delegates from Minnesota. We are sorry we couldn't do better, Ron Paul, and everyone else who was counting on us to go the distance.

Other parts of interest: It started to rain heavily with loud thunder and centimeter sized hail during one of those heated parts of the debate, I believe. Maybe it was a sign that something didn't like what was going on, seeing as how it cleared up for Ron Paul.

The big Neo-Cons, like Ron Carey, gave their propaganda speaches to much applause. I and my fellow BPOU 64a alternates noticed that they were all reading from a script. I find it sad that these people must consult an entire script in order to know what to say. Dr. Paul does his speeches with no notecards, no scripts, and no teleprompters. He knows what he is talking about!

There was a group of people wearing suits and red hats who were patrolling the isles during votes holding up cards that said yes or no. In other words, these were people who were telling other people how to vote. It was thought that they were Ron Paul supporters (some of them were pretending to be them, according to the grapevine, to trick us into voting their way), however, they were most likely a McCain group, or a group designated by the state leadership. Some people were pretty pissed off at them. I saw a little bit of a show of force going on between a red hat and a non-red hat.

We had trouble getting our signs in (the big 4x8 ones that can be seen in the background of the speech video >^_^<) the main floor, but we finally managed to get them to let us bring them up into the balcony. So, if you happened to see two guys carrying a stack of gigantic signs, I was probably one of them. I was wearing a black pin-stripe suit with a white shirt and blue tie... and black tennis shoes. I managed to forget to bring my dress shoes...

lol they had McCain and "Conservitive Delegate Team" posters plastered everywhere they could possibly get them. They were lined up edge to edge and wall to wall, on every floor. I got a little video of it. Do you think they might be compensating for something?

All in all, we got screwed really badly with this convention. The bad guys are getting better at it every time.

I will report in tommorow with more news. Youtube is being a jerk right now and not letting me upload my videos... I will try to get them on youtube as soon as possible, but until then, I will try to upload the video files to a filehosting site so people can download them directly to watch them (and distribute). The speech is broken into 5 parts.

Almost forgot: My email is djkeppel@stthomas.edu

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Friday 11:35PM

Here are the links to download the first two segments of the speach:

part 1: http://files.filefront.co...

part 2: http://files.filefront.co...

part 3: http://files.filefront.co...

part 4: http://files.filefront.co...

For some unknown reason, the final section will not stream, but can still be downloaded. I will try to fix this, but this is the final update for tonight. My sleepy pills are kicking in lol.

part 5(final section): http://files.filefront.co...

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Saturday,1:00PM

The theme for today was also "Some elephants are more equal than other elephants."

One bit of possible good news, I think I made a mistake on our National Delegate count. I think we got 1/14, and that 1 is running for U.S. Congress! She said she can't wait to be able to work with Ron Paul.

I accidentally took a second dose of my evening pills, which is giving me a headache and double vision (a side effect of overdose), so I will give a full update on the BS that happened today. BTW we managed to convene before Ron Carey could speak, but they still let him speak to anyone who wanted to stay (which was a lot, apparently).

Okay, I am going to take a nap now and will complete my blog entry for today and upload some juicy videos of what took place during the convention itself on both Friday and Saturday after my overdose dissapates a little more. Please be patient with me...

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Saturday, 6:00PM

My OD seems to have subsided for the moment, so I will now begin a full report on todays second serving of BS.

When the convention started, it looked like there were a lot less people. It filled up later, though. I actually managed to get seated today! I think our Ron Paul supporters got very discouraged yesterday and decided to not show up, because I only saw a handful of people who were voting in a manner beneficial to our movement. THIS SHOULD NEVER EVER HAPPEN AGAIN!!! There were many critical votes that may have been shot down if we were all here. If you are a delegate or an alternate, you MUST SHOW UP EVERY DAY! We need to maintain our presence in the convention at all times. I am very dissapointed in everyone who decided to not show up.

Now what could possibly match the level of BS that occured yesterday? Another example of how some elephants are more equal than other elephants. We suspended the rules to make a motion to EXCUSE GOVENOR PAWLENTY AND ALL OTHER NATIONAL DELEGATES WHO DID NOT COMPLY WITH THE RULE TO APPEAR BEFORE THE NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE! This is an absolute travesty that our party decided to make exceptions for people who are higher-ups. I recorded this entire process and will post it up for everyone to see. I saw about 30 people or so (may have been more, it is hard to see from the far end) stand up to vote against the motion to suspend the rules. I know we have a lot more Paul delegates and alternates than that. I saw many empty seats in the larger districts that could have been filled, granted that those districts may not have had enough of our delegates.

Both of these motions passed. What was wierd was that there was loud applauses for most points made in debates; regardless of whether it was for or against.

Before I forget, Pawlenty's excuse was that, according to a woman, was that he was in his office on Thursday morning with that woman signing a bill to get workers compensation for her husband who was injured in the line of duty on the Minneapolis bomb squad 3 years ago and was not compensated due to a loop hole. This is called a sypathy vote, one which appeals only to emotions. I feel for her and her husband, I truly do, but regardless, he was not there and therefore was not elegible for election. I love that he vetoed the DNA warehouse and the health care bill, but I still find it offensive that he was on the ballot despite his breaking of the rules.

A minute or two before the convention adjourned, during a debate over whether or not to adjourn (normally this is not allowed, but it is allowed when there are still items on the agenda), one of our supporters went up to the mic and asked why we invited Carl Rove, who was too scared to appear before the Supreme Court, here at this convention instead of Ron Paul.

I will put links to the videos of the convention itself on here as soon as possible. Uploading of the video to my computer is done in real-time, then I need to edit it for length (10 minute max, plus I like to cut it off during pauses to not disturb the flow) and then I have to compile it, and then I have to upload it to the web. Thank you for your patience.

My closing thoughts on this convention can be summed up with another adapted quote; one which came from the head of the 9-11 commission report.

"The convention has been compromised"

-Dan Keppel,
14th alternate for MN CD4, BPOU 64a

Link 1: "McCain Compensating for Something?"
http://www.youtube.com/wa...

^This is a little funny one (with serious stuff in the background) to help pass some time while I compile the other videos (I am currently compiling the first segment which covers debate from the first day)

DELEGATE CRAP VIDEOS:

part 1: http://www.youtube.com/wa...

part 2: http://www.youtube.com/wa...

part 3: http://www.youtube.com/wa...

final part: http://www.youtube.com/wa...

I tried to link the videos together as responses, but it got broken up at the 3rd part. Just go to my user page and look at my videos to find the last part.