Friday Cat Blogging – 10 June 2011

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Today we have cats in a state of nature. Of course, “state of nature” for a housecat means endless brushing, pampering, soft beds to sleep on, and a bottomless food dish. So this is as close as we get. On the left, Inkblot is trying to figure out why there’s a pair of ducks in his backyard. Answer: they waddled over from the lake and are probably looking for suitable nesting grounds. Having a pair of cats around isn’t likely to be on their “must have” checklist, but I think they could do worse. In fact, our cats are not only too dumb to pose any real danger, Inkblot in particular is dumb enough that they might be able to fool him into incubating their eggs for them, Horton-like. The eggs might come out a little the worse for wear, though.

On the right, Domino is surrounded by wild foliage in the dark interior of our front yard garden. That’s nature red in tooth and claw, folks.

UPDATE: More MoJo catblogging here!

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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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