Over the line...

Augusta County Fair 2006

The 3rd day of the Augusta County Fair started off well with the Augusta County Republican booths ready for operation and looking forward to interacting with the people visiting the fair. This years booth consisted of several "themed" booths coordinated to promote Republican values and provide information and sources to the fair visitors...

The first booth supported the George Allen and Bob Goodlatte campaigns.
One booth represented the Staunton-Waynesboro-Augusta-County Republican Party.
Another booth supported the "From Our Hearts" www.fromrhearts.blogspot.com support the troops program.
There was a booth supporting the Marriage Amendment for marriage being between one Man and one Woman.
And another booth sold copies of the book written by Rhonda Winfield who lost her son, Marine Lance Cpl. Jason Redifer, who was killed in action in Iraq serving his country and his principles.

Lt. Governor Bill Bolling and his wife Jean Ann also stopped by to visit the Republican Booths and talk to a gathering of the Augusta County Chamber of Commerce members. The Lt. Governor dedicates one week out of each month to spend time traveling the State of Virginia and meeting with the people of the Commonwealth...

The Republican Booths were enjoyed and visited by many of the fairgoers in attendance and were busy pretty much all of the time. The booths are staffed by numerous volunteers who enjoy working all aspects the "Republican Complex" and they did a great job at promoting the Republican values that they believe in.

The table selling Rhonda Winfields book "When Johnny Doesn't Come Marching Home" commanded much interest to the fairgoers and pretty much always was busy with people talking with the author, Rhonda Winfield.

During the afternoon a member of the Augusta County Democrat Party approached Rhonda Winfield with numerous pieces of literature and stickers promoting the Democrat Candidate Jim Webb. He stated that this is the man to vote for in this next election for Senator of Virginia. Rhonda replied that she was supporting Senator George Allen because he has strong Republican values and was admired by her son Jason who volunteered to defend his country and to preserve these same values. She then showed the member of the Augusta Democrat Party a copy of her book that she wrote describing these values.

The Democrat representative then stated "Jim Webb is more of a man then this man [Jason Redifer] ever was" and placed a copy of the Webb literature on top of the book she was holding. I was standing next to Rhonda during this entire conversation and have confirmed this quote with her and know that there was a third person at the table who heard this exchange.... The Democrat Representative was then asked to leave the table at which time he moved away from the table.

I found this statement by the Representative of the Augusta County Democrat Party way over the line and unacceptable. Unfortunately it is the type of statement that does not surprise me coming from this party. This local party as well as the Democrat national party has no true platform that they believe in and in fact now have determined that Joe Lieberman is not even "Liberal" enough for them so they voted him out.

To make an attack on the Mother of a proud American Marine who died serving his country and the citizens of that country in this manner is not acceptable by any means.

Ssgt. Harman stops by the booth...

Augusta County Fair

Ssgt. Herb Harman of Churchville stopped by with his family to the Republican booth at the Augusta County Fair on Wednesday. He is back from serving in Baghdad for a two week break before returning to his unit the "Four-One Element" Squad of the 654th MP Co.

Ssgt. Harman is a member of the S.W.A.C. "Staunton-Waynesboro-Augusta-County" Republicans and has sent numerous letters describing the important work that our troops and military are doing in Iraq. He has described the conditions and the work he has done with local Iraq citizens and how they very much appreciate our efforts and work there...

Delegate Chris Saxman talked with Ssgt. Harman who is one of his constituents for a good 20 minutes about the work that we are doing over in Iraq. Numerous other people stopped by the booth to meet and talk with Herb and to thank him for his service to our country.

"What a treat it was to walk into our booth and see Herb there! There were tears in many sets of eyes as people came by to wish Sgt Harman well and to thank him for his service to our nation. Herb spoke about his duty in Iraq and actually how well things are going over there in Baghdad. He said that the media is so incredibly slanted that is makes the soldiers serving over there sick to their stomachs. He said the people of Iraq are very appreciative of the US and often thank the soldiers for their freedom. Herb is learning Arabic and told me that the Iraqis are great people who love to talk religion. They respect each other for their deep religious faith."

"Some stories, I guess, just never make it to the airwaves over here."

Chris Saxman

Ssgt. Harman also stated how welcomed the packages from home are when they get their shipments from the "From Our Hearts" program. www.fromrhearts.blogspot.com

Augusta County Fair Republican Booth...

ExpoLand

The Augusta County Fair opened last night at the ExpoLand in Fishersville and the Republican Booth was ready to meet and welcome the fair-goer's to the Allen & Goodlatte campaigns. NBC29 provided some good coverage of the campaigns at the fair this morning on their early morning show and mentioned that Attorney General Bob McDonnell will visit the fair tonight at 6pm.

Attorney General Bob McDonnell and Delegate Chris Saxman will be at the fair Wednesday from 6pm to 7pm and Lt. Governor Bill Bolling will visit Thursday night. Congressman Bob Goodlatte will attend the fair on Saturday...

The Value of Blogs?

DrudgeReport

Saw this on Drudge today and it seems that the Blogs out there keeping an eye on the mainstream media is a very valuable tool...

Anybody remember when the blogs discovered when Dan Rather & CBS ran those fake documents against President Bush during the last election?

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3286966,00.html

"When Johnny Doesn't Come Marching Home"...

The story of when the War on Terrorism in Iraq hits close to home and what the impact is like to all involved. Unlike another Mother who has lost a Son in this war and has turned that lost into a political play, Rhonda Winfield describes what her Son believed and stood for. A tribute to Jason and all of those brave soldiers who are willing to make the ultimate sacrafice for their country and it's people...

“Marine Lance Corporal Jason Redifer was a young man who made the ultimate sacrifice on January 31, 2005 to secure freedom for others a half a world away. In her book, When Johnny Doesn’t Come Marching Home: A Mother’s Story of the Price for Freedom, Rhonda Winfield takes her readers on a journey that memorializes the life of a young man who was reared in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, raised to fight for the freedoms and values that all too many take for granted, and died ensuring those same freedoms survived. I am thankful to Jason for the life he lived and gave and I am indebted to Rhonda for this noble story which shares her loss with her readers. With this moving story, Rhonda and Jason teach us all that the impact of one’s life often doesn’t end with death.”- U.S. Senator George AllenFormer Governor of Virginia

"This book deals with the loss of one of our own and infuses our institution with a sense of humanity that is rooted in our history and nobility. It displays the naked truth of a family brought to its' knees by the sacrifice of a young Marine. The book is written with a tender honesty that rips straight to the core of anyone who has a friend or family member serving in the military. After reading this book, I am reminded of three things. First, families are forever changed after the loss of a loved one, Second, the Marine Corps takes care of their own, and Third, America will never lose her freedoms as long as men and women like Jason C. Redifer rise to defend her. Whoever reads this book will come away with a higher respect and understanding of what it means to be a United States Marine."- 2nd Lt Craig W. Thomas, USMCPublic Affairs, Headquarters and Support BattalionMarine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

More information and link to purchase this book at:

http://www.whenjohnnydoesntcomemarchinghome.com/getacopy.html

Unraveling (Jim) webb?...

Jim Webb (D) 2006

Had a good friend forward this article over to me and thought it would make some good reading. We saw some of this come to light at the Allen\Webb debate a week or so back.

Seems the "Webb" might be starting to come apart already...

"He’s on record insisting that affirmative action should apply only to African- Americans. Yes, you read correctly, this Democrat is against affirmative action for women, Latinos or any other minority."

http://www.examiner.com/a-203456~James_Webb__the_new_face_of_the_Democrats_.html

Augusta County Fair...

Augusta County VA.

Visit the George Allen \ Bob Goodlatte booth at the Augusta County Fair August 8th-12th...

The booth will be in the large building at the ExpoLand fairgrounds located just off of Route 64 in Fishersville.

Additional Fair info: http://augustacountyfair.com/acfair/

"In God we Trust"...

National Motto...

National Motto "In God We Trust" turned 50 years old...

Officially became our motto on July 30th, 1956...

"Let me take this opportunity"...

Pelosi

Once again Democrat Minority leader Nancy Pelosi had to take the opportunity to go "Political" when officials, by law, required American evacuees from Lebanon to sign promissory notes to repay for the cost of their evacuation.

"A nation that can provide more than $300 billion for a war in Iraq can provide the money to get it's people out of Lebanon".

Somehow Pelosi forgets the 1956 law that authorizes the State Department to require this promissory to repay the "Taxpayers" that are footing the bill for the removal of people like this who travel into known areas of unrest. Pelosi also seems to forget that she voted for the renewel of this law back in 2003 when it came up along with 170 House Democrats... We are only talking $150-$300 to fly these people out of Lebanon to a safe island.The State Department has since waived the fees...

And yes you guessed it. The Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee has filed a lawsuit against the United States on behalf of about 30 Americans claiming that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld failed to protect while in Lebanon...

Info for this post came from the Investor Business Daily...

Hey, Iraq on line two...

Iraq call...

Phone call from Baghdad, Iraq
Our heros call to thank From Our Hearts for care packages
Wednesday, July 26, 2006

What a wonderful surprise! Benny Rankin, owner of T-Bone Tooter's Restaurant in Churchville, received a phone call today from Augusta County resident Mike Flook who is stationed in Baghdad.

His group of men, firefighters in Iraq, had received the first shipment of boxes from Hearts and they were very grateful! Mike said he was so overwhelmed he had to call personally and thank everyone for what they're doing for them. He was so very, very touched that people back home hadn't forgotten about them and that people really cared.

He said his men had been down-in-the-dumps recently ... but the arrival of packages from home had boosted their morale and had them laughing and singing and checking out all the goodies -- "Look what's in this one!" -- and they felt appreciated.

There are 10 more men in that Unit so we are upping their shipment from 10 to 20 which will make our total shipments weekly at 160 care packages.


Want to help?
All the work that goes into setting up, packing, and mailing packages weekly is worth it when something happens like that one phone call ... or a letter of thanks ... or a photo of "our guys" over there. But it's only through help from the community that we're able to continue with this program.

What do we need? We need more items from the soldiers' Wish List (see www.fromrhearts.blogspot.com) and donations to pay for shipping.

Items can be dropped off at CellOne in Statler Square Shopping Center
in Staunton, at Staunton Colonial Mall's Customer Service Desk, and at T-Bone Tooter's Restaurant in Churchville.

Donations can be mailed to: From Our Hearts, T-Bone Tooter's Restaurant, P.O. Box 504, Churchville, VA 24421.

Questions? Respond to this email or call T-Bone Tooter's at 337-6500.

Troop Wish List... AT&T Phone Cards, Air Fresheners (No Aerosol Cans), Baby Wipes / Wet Wipes, Band-Aids, Bandanna, Batteries, Beef Jerky, Book LightsBooks \ Brown Washcloth & Towels, Candy (No Chocolate), Canned Chicken, CD's & DVD's, Chapstick, Cheese (That can stand heat), Chips, Cookies, Crackers, Deoderant (Travel Size), Desitine, Disposable Cameras, Duct Tape, Electrical Tape, Eye Drops, Fans (Hand-held), First Aid Kits, foot Powder, Hankerchief, Lotion (Travel Size), Microwave Meals (Hormel), Neosporin, Off (Bug Repellant), Paper \ Envelopes \ Pens, Peanuts, Potted Meat, Powered Drink Mix, Ramen Noodles, Sewing Kits (Travel size), Shampoo (Travel size), Shop Towels, Slim Jims, Soap (Travel size), Soap Holders, Socks (White over the calf), Soup (Pop top, heat & serve), Stridex Pads, Sunflower Seeds, Toothbrush and holders, Toothpaste (Travel Size), Tuna, Twin Sheets / Bed pillows, Zip Ties, Ziplock bags (Qt & Gallon size), * Things not to send.... Pork Products, Chocolate, Aerosol Cans... Donations always welcomed for it allows us to purchase those items needed to make complete "Packages"....