From Citizen Outreach:

By: Chuck Muth

Dear Friends & Subscribers,

First, I want to thank you for your continuing interest in my little News & Views e-newsletter and the Muth’s Truths blog. It’s hard to believe we’re entering our 14th year of publishing. Somehow, I never seem to run out of material. Especially when it comes to “stuck-on-stupid” government bureaucrats doing things like expelling kids for drawing pictures of guns or bringing toy soldiers to class.

And thank you for making all those calls and emails when we expose these people in our Brushfire Alerts. Without the support of citizen-activists such as you, we simply wouldn’t be as effective as we are.

Secondly, I want to thank all of you who attended or otherwise supported our inaugural Conservative Leadership Conference in Reno this past October. It was a smashing success. Here are just a few of the comments we received from conference attendees:

“For those who were not at this conference, I would not be surprised if you are feeing like you really missed out on something very special and exceptional. You did!” – Rick Shuster

“Man, what a great weekend. I just wanted to say good job on the Conservative Leadership Conference. I am sure it will be just the first of many.” – Warner Todd Huston

“The Conservative Leadership Conference 2007 in Reno, NV was a phenomenal time!” – Ken Marrero

“Thanks so much for all your work in bringing those quality guests and speakers to the Conservative Leadership Conference.” – Elena Brady

“The Conservative Leadership Conference was excellent. Thanks for putting it on. It was worth the money and time.” – Don Nelson “I’m pleased to report that the Conservative Leadership Conference in Reno was all it was advertised to be and more.” – Israel Teitelbaum

“A first-time event usually suffers from a thin level of organizational skills and a dearth of interesting speakers. The Conservative Leadership Conference avoided both of these pitfalls, and in fact put on a very strong schedule of events.” – Ed Morrissey

“The conference was executed to near perfection and had the hallmarks of a seasoned event rather than the newbie event that is was. Really well done. Am already looking forward to CLC ‘08.” – Gary Schneider

In fact, this first conference was such a success that I’ve decided to make it an annual event. It’ll be hard to top CLC ‘07, but we’ve tentatively scheduled the 2008 Conservative Leadership Conference for September 19-20th in Las Vegas. More details to follow in the weeks ahead.

Lastly, I want to ask for your help in turning up our grassroots lobbying efforts at Citizen Outreach Project a notch or two. Together, we can make a huge difference in the coming year.

· Of course, we’ll keep battling for a fix to our illegal immigration problems without rewarding illegal immigrants with anything that even remotely resembles “amnesty.”

· And we’ll continue shining a light on congressional spending and their insatiable appetite for pork and earmarks.

· And we’ll continue fighting the cut-and-run “cheese-eating surrender monkeys” who refuse to recognize the very real threat still posed by “Johnny Jihadis.”

· And we’ll continue pushing candidates to take the “No New Taxes” pledge.

· And we’ll continue fighting Big Labor’s efforts to eliminate secret ballot elections.

· And we’ll continue fighting for parental school choice and the elimination of federal involvement and control of local education decisions.

But there will be two new high-profile issues we’ll be dealing with in 2008, as well.

The first will be an all-out effort to generate support for Rep. John Shadegg’s legislation which would require sponsors of any act of Congress to cite the constitutional authority for the bill. When Congress passes a bill telling us which kind of light bulbs we can use in the privacy of our own homes, you know the time for this idea has come…and then some!

The second will be efforts to effect changes in the Rules of Engagement our troops are forced to fight under which have resulted in prosecutions of military personnel for not just shooting the enemy, but in some cases just “scaring” him. One need not agree with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan to agree that our soldiers shouldn’t be getting thrown in jail for doing the jobs we sent them to do.

And all of this in the context of the very real possibility of the Clintons returning to the White House, the Democrats obtaining a filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate, and the Supreme Court possibly ruling against the individual right to keep and bear arms in a much-anticipated landmark decision.

Yup. Another full plate.

So before this year ends, I hope you’ll seriously consider making a year-end/year-beginning contribution to Citizen Outreach Project.

Contributions to our grassroots lobbying organization are not tax-deductible, but the funds are absolutely critical to taking our efforts up several notches. We need to dramatically increase our number of citizen-activists and direct renewed attention to members of Congress, no matter which party ultimately ends up in charge next November.

As you know, I don’t ask for contributions through this newsletter very often. But let me explain why I need to do so now.

Back in the “old days,” members of Congress had email addresses. And if we wanted to send them a message about a bill or an issue, we could just…send them an email. It was fast, easy and inexpensive.

But as we all know, members of Congress don’t exactly like hearing from voters, especially voters who don’t live in their congressional district even if they’re voting on legislation which will affect every American from sea to shining sea.

So they got rid of their email addresses.

Well, not really. They still have email addresses. Only you and I don’t know what they are. They are no longer published on congressional websites. Their email addresses are about as well-guarded a secret as Col. Sanders’ recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken.

To get around this obstacle, we find it necessary to subscribe to and use an online advocacy service which isn’t available to the average citizen and which has the ability to deliver emails to congressional offices directly. Without using such a service, our effectiveness as grassroots advocates will be greatly diminished, at least when it comes to Congress. But these services are anything but cheap.

So I’m appealing to you to help us with a generous end-of-year contribution to Citizen Outreach Project so we can get this system set up and operational as quickly as possible. Too many important issues are going to be coming forward this election year that we’ll need to weigh in on.

We wouldn’t be where we are today without loyal, concerned readers like you willing to step up and get involved. Your support and friendship, in both good times and bad, means a lot to me. And every time I think maybe it’s time to hang it all up and find “honest” work, your emails and notes of support keep me going.

Now I hope you’ll consider once again kicking in a few shekels to help us obtain the tools necessary to continue making us one of the most effective advocates for lower taxes, limited government, free markets and individual liberty in the country today.

To use your credit card to make a secure, online donation, just go to: www.citizenoutreachproject.com

Or mail your check or money order or first-born male child to:

Citizen Outreach Project
5765-F Burke Center Pkwy, #343
Burke, VA 22015-2233

Again, thank you for your support and encouragement…and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Chuck Muth
Editor, Publisher, Chief Cook & Bottle Washer

P.S. The person who makes the largest contribution during this fundraising drive will receive an autographed copy of the 35th Anniversary Edition of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged.”

No, not autographed by Rand, silly.

By ME!