February 26, 2009

Tattoo Removal

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Greg Sargent watches wingnut TV so you don’t have to:

Conservatives are hammering the House’s new $410 billion spending bill because it contains $200,000 for what they’re derisively referring to as “tattoo removal.” Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Drudge, and at least one GOP official on MSNBC, among others, have been all over this today.

….The tattoo pork story kicked off in earnest when the New York Post flagged the “tattoo removal” pork in a story this morning. It was subsequently pushed by Drudge with the headline: “Congress: Big Bucks To Canoes And Tattoos.”

I hardly need to tell you that this is yet another crock to go along with volcano monitoring, field mouse protection, and the train to Las Vegas.  Read Greg for the whole story.  But I suppose resistance is futile.  Nothing is going to stop conservatives from combing through this bill forever looking for minusucle items to fan up some faux outrage over.  They’re a tired bunch these days, and this is pretty much all they’ve got left.

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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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