April 14, 2009

Quote of the Day #2 – 04.14.09

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From Robert Farley, on the problem with the feeding frenzy of pundit bloviating about how to solve the pirate crisis:

Long story short, the super-simple proposal you’ve developed for ending piracy has probably already been thought of, and probably has a host of problems that you haven’t considered.

Actually, that’s pretty sound advice for nearly everything more complicated than tying your shoelaces in the morning.

But as long as we’re talking about pirates, here’s my pet peeve: the endless rounds of joking and snark that they provoke.  I know it’s kind of hard to resist, but latter day pirates have actually been around for a long time, and the particular problem with them in the Gulf of Aden has been in the news for over a year now.  We really ought to have the giggling out of our systems by now.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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