Friday Cat Blogging – 15 October 2010

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Back in the day, both Inkblot and Domino used to stroll around on top of the fence between our house and our neighbors. The only way they could get up, though, was to jump onto the air conditioning unit first and then jump from there to the fence. That all ended a couple of years ago when we got a new air conditioner, which was too high and too rounded for them to get to. The days of fence walking were over.

Until now! But I’m stumped about what’s going on. For about the last week or two they’ve been roaming along the fence again. Our first thought was that they were going into our neighbor’s yard and jumping up from there, but Domino never goes over there. The air conditioning unit hasn’t changed, and I’m pretty sure it’s just too high for them to jump on. They always appear from the southeast corner, but there’s nothing there that would help them make the jump. So what’s going on?

One of these days I’ll be outside and catch them in the act, and when I do I’ll report back. In the meantime, here they are patrolling the fence. Don’t you feel safer already?

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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