I am looking for someone to develop a software application for me that
will allow me to post automatically to craigslist... I should have the
ability to insert HTML into the ads, and everything. You should be
familiar with craigslist for this project.

Also, when an ad is posted, a confirmation email is sent, so I will
need the software to automatically check the email and 'click' the
link to activate the ad.

Isn't this against their terms of use?

After a quick reading of their policies, it certainly doesn't seem to
violate the Terms of Use: 
http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use.html

Automated downloading of content is prohibited but automated upload
does not seem to violate any of the provisions.

chesky2, Lots of folks here could tell you how to build such a thing. 
If you want to get software written for cheap, try a site like
rentacoder.com that is specifically for that purpose.  This is more of
a Q&A forum.  Most of what you want to do is pretty easy, but the type
of email you use may make the project more challenging.