Best in Blog: 15 June 2009

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Just because you, dear reader, spent a relaxing weekend mixing organic mojitos and committing random acts of bluegrass doesn’t mean the world put its feet up too. Oh no. Indeed, while you were blissfully perfecting vegan recession recipes Iran snuck off and reelected itself Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (Or so claim the baton-wielding protestor-beating Iranian government goons.)

In lighter recent news, the Senate decided that fruit-flavored cigarettes and cartoonish tobacco ads aimed at tykes might actually be flamingly bad ideas they could stamp out; hilarity continued in the Gibbsian press room; and we remain curious about prom at a high school where studies include Islamic jihadism, nuclear arms, and cyber-crime.

Speaking of nuclear arms, apparently the Nuclear Regulatory Commission rates highest in federal employee satisfaction. Surprised? You won’t be by two of the worst rated: Homeland Security and the Department of Transportation.

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.

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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.

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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.

payment methods

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