August 22, 2006

Just Do It. But Don’t Get Caught

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Today five-time Olympic medalist and four-time world champion track star Marion Jones said she’s shocked that her blood test from this summer’s US Track and Field Championships came up positive for performancing enhancing drugs. Floyd Landis continues to be equally astonished that his (A and B sample) tests came up positive for synthetic testosterone after the greatest comeback in Tour de France history. These days though, designer steroids are so far ahead of the testing science that professional athletes failing drug tests seems to be more an indication of flubbed misdirection than of innocence lost.

And a quick Google search will lead you to drug-free urine which means even amateurs, read: young ones competing for their shot, can game the equally amateur system. Curiously, these kits are available for shipment to all states but Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, New Jersey, Illinois, North Carolina and South Carolina. So fake urine samples are okay in 43 states? Good to know.
I say we’re asking for this as consumers: ever faster, stronger, more exciting athletes, same as we are asking for perfection from our movie stars, who enhance their performance in legal, if equally damaging, ways.

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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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