July/August 2006 Issue

Our Best Fiend

Bush to Iran: “You had me at ‘homophobia.'”

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Oh sure, it’s a card-carrying, nuke-craving, extremist-loving member of the Axis of Evil. But Iran is also one of the United States’ closest allies in the United Nations when it comes to shutting down international agreements the Bush administration doesn’t like. A few of our government’s recent collaborations with its archnemesis:

  • January 2006 The U.S. joins with Iran to deny consultative status to two gay rights groups at the U.N.
  • September 2005 The U.S. and Iran try to water down a U.N. World Summit agreement affirming international responsibility to protect civilians from war crimes and genocide.
  • March 2003 The U.S. sides with Iran in a failed attempt to delete a condemnation of the use of “custom, tradition, or religious consideration” to justify violence against women in a declaration by the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women.
  • May 2002 The U.S. unsuccessfully teams up with Iran to edit out references to birth control and sex ed in a U.N. declaration on the rights of children.
  • July 2001 The U.S. and Iran are the only countries to object to language in a special U.N. report on children that prohibits the death penalty for crimes committed by minors.

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

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

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate