Convention Weekend

Hi all,
The past few days have been a whirlwind!  Going to a Republican State Convention is probably not what a "normal" teenager would choose to do on a weekend  :)  I'll give you a basic rundown of what went down...

On the drive to OKC...some people needed some rest before the eventful weekend ;)

Friday (May 11th), my dad, a few friends and I carpooled to Oklahoma City for the Oklahoma Republican National Convention.  When we got to OK City, we went to a committee meeting hosted at the Embassy Suites, to fix some things, but the RNC did not follow their rules!  (will hopefully post a video I took of the meeting soon)

Me, Suriyah and Ezriyah at the Friday night Committee Meeting

After the Committee meeting at the Embassy Suites, we left there and went to a Casino for the Liberty Pep rally.  We watched and sung along as Jordan Page played for us all.  We also got to hear Tom Woods and Jason Rink speak.  I, along with several others, gave a 60 second stump speech.  To sum up the day, it was an exhausting and exciting day, especially getting to meet other liberty-minded people like me!

Jordan Page playing at the Friday night Liberty Pep Rally

Suriyah, Me and Ezriyah at the Friday night Liberty Pep Rally.

Me giving my stump speech.  (my flip-flops broke...that's why I'm barefooted :))

 This is Justin Rink speaking...

Saturday (May 12th), we got to the Embassy Suites at a bright and early 6:45 a.m.  My friend Suriyah and I volunteered about 3 hours of our time to help register delegates into the convention, starting at about 7:30 a.m.  That job was very fast paced and fun!  After that was done, the convention started a little bit after that.  Suriyah set up a Ustream account (live video stream) and we used someone's camera to live stream the convention online.  The camera was set up for the entire convention (which lasted about 8-9 hours inside).  Suriyah was typing and chatting away with almost 1900 viewers and I was giving vocal updates part of the time.

Me and Suriyah working the Live Ustream camera in the convention

Mary Fallin, the Governor of Oklahoma got up on stage and spoke.  Everything she was speaking sounded great.  She said she was going to pass the Open-carry law, which is awesome!  Then, she ruined her whole speech by endorsing Mitt Romney for president!!  There was massive booing and jeering at her, and then the Ron Paul chant started.  I couldn't help but participate in the booing and chanting  :)

From the beginning, the Oklahoma Republican Party did NOT follow the rules, once again!  Many motions from the floor were ignored, too many to mention here.  At around 4:30 p.m., the RNC ordered the hotel staff to shut the walls in, which means half of the crowd was shut from the other part of the room.  Then the lights went off briefly.  Then they unlawfully adjourned the meeting, even though there was much unfinished business.

Parking lot patriots having a convention, following the rules to the letter

We reconvened outside in the parking lot (all Ron Paul supporters since everyone else went home) to finish the convention, legally and according to the rules.  My friend and I live streamed the entire 4 hour process outside, while Ustream viewers plotted how they would get pizzas sent to the hungry crowd.  MANY pizzas arrived, all by the hand of caring patriots from around the world.

 You can watch all the Ustream videos here:  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/suriyahfish

I will try to post more links and info later, but it's really late and I gotta hit the hay :)\


UPDATED:  Learn more about what happened at the OK state convention:  http://www.reddirtreport.com/Story.aspx/22350

Have a goodnight!

~Hannah