June 26, 2009

Friday Cat Blogging – 26 June 2009

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I’m subbing for Kevin until Tuesday. He’s probably not leaving his room, so he can watch all the Michael Jackson coverage.

Okay, I don’t like cats. I’m allergic to cats. They make me sneeze. Once, a tabby clawed me and my arm swelled up. I looked like The Hulk. Or, part of The Hulk. Two years back, I did rescue a cat, and now it lives in the house across the street and visits our yard regularly. I named it Miles. Why? Just seemed to fit. But that was an exception. Whatcha gonna do when a living creature gets caught in brush behind a fence? Just listen it to it yelp while you’re lying in a hammock swatting mosquitos? Nah, you gotta do something, right? So I did. But don’t get the wrong impression. I don’t like cats. Dogs are jake with me–but some make me wheeze. Which is why my kids want a Portuguese Water Dog. Hypo-allergenic, they say. Yeah, right. It sure doesn’t hurt that Sasha and Malia got one–which, I’m betting, raised the price of a PWD pup by a factor of twelve. Can’t wait to go shopping for one of those.

But I’m off-topic. Cats. Cat blogging. Just. Don’t. Get. It. But tradition–that I understand. Keeping customers satisfied–that I really understand. Don’t want to lose no eyeballs. So if the cables can go wacko over Jacko, I can go bats over cats. That is, with the help of longtime Kevin Drum reader BH, who foreseeing my dilemma emailed me pics of his kitties. At least, he says they’re his cats. On the Internet, who knows? Names: Walter and Milo. And I don’t know nothing else about them. So here’s your cat blog.

Milo sitting in an IKEA chair. I hope he didn’t have to assemble it.

Walter and Milo after a fight. If only Angelina and Megan could make up so easily

 

 

WE CAME UP SHORT.

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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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