December 23, 2008

Shoeing the Prez

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SHOEING THE PREZ….I agree with Daniel Davies that tossing shoes at George Bush and tossing pies at Tom Friedman are both basically funny things, not worth getting a stick up your butt about. Just have a laugh, don’t let it get out of hand, and relax.

Following up on that, however, he admits: “Although seeing Bush get shoed was a laugh, it’s a nervous sort of laugh for anyone who is worried about the possibility of President Obama being assassinated, which I know that a lot of people are. And statistically, they’re right to be worried. Roughly 10% of all US Presidents ever elected have been assassinated (4 out of 43), which is roughly as high a death rate as street drug dealers.” Then, with a few heroic assumptions and the help of some geeky friends, he quantifies the job-related mortality rates of being president compared to, say, being a member of Hezbollah or the King of France. Turns out that being president is more dangerous. Read the whole thing if you want to know how much more dangerous.

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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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