Boots on the ground

From the beginning of this country's history we have had to deal with war. Be it The War of Independence that allowed our country to become the first truly free nation, the World Wars that our grandparents fought in, The War on terror that our Husbands, wives, and children are fighting in now, or the newest battle we all face...the fight against Big Government taking over and pushing aside the American citizen that created it. If you were to speak with anyone involved with the strategies of warfare, they will almost all say the deciding factor is..."boots on the ground"
As some of you already know, I attended and event this past Saturday called "Central Valley Tea Party Boot Camp". In military terms "Boot Camp" is where you partake in basic training. This is where you learn the ins and outs of military life. This is also what we were doing at our boot camp. We didn't have a drill sergeant per say, but we did begin our training. We were all there to get the basics on how we would could fight for our freedoms.
We were given a ton of information on more subjects than I could remember by several excellent speakers. I did take notes and I will be adding snippets as I work my way through those notes. The speakers included: Saundra and Scott Hawkins, who demonstrated the effectiveness of sign when protesting; Julie Griffiths, a lady with almost 20 years of experience working on political campaigns; Lonny Leitner, the director for the Conservative group "American Majority"; Deanne Martin-Soarse, tapped into her 25 year history in the medical field to explain what the health care bill is really going to do TO us; Congressman Tom McClintock, gave some insight to the "Cap & Trade" bill which incidently resembles the bill AB-32 that is crippling California business' by the day; and last but not least Mark Meckler, a lawyer from Grass Valley who has been on the war path against California's politicians since the beggining of the year and has no plans to let up any time soon.
Since there was so much information given at this event I will have to post it in segments. Today's segment is going to be contact info for elected officials and how you can get at it. We will start with "votesmart.org" I have personally visited this site and it is "all that". If you are after any information pertaining to your President, your Senators, your county supervisors, etc., this is where you go. On the home page, top left, type in your zip code. This will give you a list of ALL the names of any elected official that affect you directly. When you find the person you want to correspond with directly, click their name and whalah! On that page you get their biography, voting record, their stand on the issues and best of all, when they are up for re-election.
If it is the newspapers, talk shows, internet news sites, etc. that you are after go to ConservativeUSA.org/megalink.htm. Right there you will see links to talk shows, news papers, TV networks, and almost anything else you want that will get your voice out there. Note: although you will see links to your elected officials here, votesmart.org is easier and more informational.
If you want to go directly to a Senator or Representative you just type their name followed by .senate.gov or .house.gov Example: Feinstein.senate.gov. If you want the whole list just go to www.senate.gov or www.house.gov and just take your pick.
Now I know in this day and age we all want to light up our government officials and give them the "what for's". Remember, even though a harsh letter directed at the heart of an issue should get the attention of these folks, some of them are really trying to do the right thing. A letter of encouragement will let them know that they are on the right track. Don't forget to give praise when it is due.