Fundraiser Frustration

Folks, I'm having fundraising frustrations. For the past week or so, I have been looking into the funding of left wing extremist organizations such as ANSWER, among many others. One thing is clear: these organizations have some serious sources for funding their communist agendas.

On the other hand, Free Republic relies on the generousity of it's members. This is great, considering the fact that FR can raise $65k in just under a month from member donations. However, from what I understand, this simply covers operating costs. As far as I am concerned, this is not enough.

The leftist extremists have many, many thousands of dollars to push their agendas. We need the same.

Obviously, I am not able to personally write a check for several grand to FR (but if I could, it wouldn't take a second thought to do so). What's more, I am only one person DYING to do something to raise some serious money for FR. Unfortunately, limited resources makes that hard to do.

So, here is what I am going to do this fundraising quarter (and I'll have to come up with something else next quarter):

I am going to eat for FR. Here's the deal - There is a local Chinese buffet that serves mussels. I LOVE mussels. In fact, I once ate 75 of them on a dare.

How does FR fit in? My goal is to eat as many mussels in one sitting (approx. 30 - 45 minutes) as I can. And I am challenging fellow FReepers to pledge a donation amount for every mussel I am able to eat. Pledge amounts are up to you, so don't be afraid. If a penny a mussel is what you feel you can afford, do it. If you can spare a dollar per mussel, fantastic!

The eat-a-thon will take place Feb. 8 at 1 pm at the Chinese restaurant at North Avenue & 28 road in Grand Junction, Colorado. Colorado FReepers are urged to attend, as someone will be asked to judge the outcome, to be sure it is fair and impartial. I will also be dragging along the video camera & digital cam, so photo's will be posted after it's all said and done with.

So, make your pledge today right here. When I'm done eating, I'll let you know what the outcome was. Then, you send your pledge directly to Jim.

Have any questions? FReepmail me or email me at davidware2002@yahoo.com. C'mon folks...join the fun & raise a little money for FR.

Thank you for that post, Brad's Gramma. Bookmarked. I sent out a few hundred copies of this one to the troops today. Please pass it on.

Michelle Malkin

Dear American soldier

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com |
Dear American soldier,

You don't know me, but I know who you are and I will not forget.

You are deploying from Fort Carson and Fort Hood and Fort Bliss and Fort Stewart. You hail from Middletown and Middleboro and Greenville and Redding and Thousand Oaks and Maple Tree. You are white, black, brown, and yellow-but always Americans first.

You are with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team and the 10th Combat Support Hospital and the 571st Air Ambulance Medical Evacuation Company. You are with the 1st Cavalry Division and the 3rd Infantry Division and the "Iron Horse" 4th Infantry Division. You are Black Knights with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment. You are engineers, drivers and medics in the 13th Corps Support Command.

Your motto is "We Will," "Steadfast and Loyal," "Swift and Deadly," "Always Prepared," "First to Fight," and "No Task Too Tough."

You will be joined overseas by thousands of sailors and Marines on the USS Boxer and USS Bonhomme Richard and USS Cleveland and USS Dubuque and USS Anchorage and USS Comstock and USS Pearl Harbor. You will get support in the Gulf from an airborne infantry brigade, a squadron of F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters, and two squadrons of F-16CJ radar-jamming fighters.

You have friends on the USS Constellation in the Persian Gulf, and the USS Harry S Truman in the Mediterranean Sea, and the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln stationed at Perth, Australia, and the USNS Yano en route to the Red Sea, and the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson on its way to a training mission in the Pacific.

You have classmates and colleagues and cousins who died at the Pentagon and in the Twin Towers on September 11. You have buddies who took bullets over the past year in Afghanistan and Kuwait and the Philippines during Operation Enduring Freedom. You have uncles and brothers and fathers and grandfathers who sacrificed their lives in past wars.

Their deaths haunt you. Their heroism inspires you. Their footsteps beckon and you cannot resist.

You have wives who are tough as nails and husbands who are enormously proud. You have toddlers who know the colors of the American flag and grade-schoolers who have memorized Army verses like these:

The hardest job, the dirtiest job
Since ever war began
Is picking 'em up and laying 'em down
The job of an infantryman

No mission too difficult
No sacrifice too great
Our duty to the nation
Is the first we're here to state

Our doughboys come from Brooklyn
Our gunners from Vermont
Our signals from Fort Monmouth
Our engineers DuPont

Against the foes of freedom
We fight for liberty
We make no peace with tyrants
On land or on the sea

As you pack your green Army duffel bags, press your desert camouflage fatigues, polish your boots and kiss your families goodbye, please take these words with you:

Thank you. Thank you for answering the call to arms. Thank you for being fit and young and brave and willing. Thank you for loving freedom enough to put your own life on the line to defend it.

Pay no attention to Sean Penn and Sheryl Crow and Baghdad Babs. Tune out the half-naked loonies and Flower Power leftovers. Stand tall. Fight hard. And know that there are legions of Americans who are boundlessly grateful for what you have volunteered to do.

We know who you are. We will not forget. And we will pray every day for your safe return. Hoo-ah!

(The Department of Defense's online thank you note to the men and women of the U.S. military can be signed at http://www.defendamerica.mil/nmam.html.)

dware, are you sure you wouldn't rather pick a Chinese buffet in the next town? Lol! Put me down for .20 each. Thank you for going the extra mile for FR.

Countering the mainstream leftist PR machine - for the children. (^;

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.