July 29, 2011

This Week in National Insecurity: Debtageddon Edition

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctbto/4926598654/sizes/m/in/photostream/">Flickr/CTBTO</a>

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While you were watching The Town on Blu-Ray the DC debt-ceiling drama, a lot happened in the national security sphere. In this installment: We’re defenseless against default, would-be domestic terrorists do it wrong, a Russian diplomat rips red-staters, a Vets’ Hall of Fame inducts…Rick Scott, a fighter jet has gremlins, and the DOD outputs an epic cyber fail.

The sitrep:

• Yes, going into a debt default could make America less safe. Kind of a dilemma for conservative hawks.

• A Planned Parenthood clinic was firebombed in Texas. Terrorism? Perhaps. Al Qaeda? No, because they probably know better than to use diesel in a Molotov cocktail.

• In other “alleged domestic terror in Texas” news, a Muslim Army private was arrested near Fort Hood for conspiring to attack soldiers on the base with guns and explosives. And for possessing child pornography. It appears the soldier was also connected to a host of antiwar groups. Right-wing bloggers, commence cackling.

• What happens when you throw a Russian ambassador in a room with two hawkish Republican senators? Sound bites galore.

• Florida Governor Rick Scott appointed his old chief of staff to oversee a new state Veterans Hall of Fame. On the list of inductees: Rick Scott! And six Confederate ex-governors. And none of the state’s dozens of Medal of Honor recipients. Shockingly, this plan may change.

• After decades of delays and cost overruns, the Air Force’s top fighter jet, the F-22 Raptor, has a strange problem: It’s leaking anti-freeze into the pilots’ oxygen systems, making the aviators dangerously woozy during flights. It may take many more flight hours to identify the cause, at $44,000 an hour. And you thought your mechanic was expensive.

• The Pentagon launched its new cyber strategy website on Monday…the same day the GAO issued a report concluding that the DOD is dreadfully unprepared for a cyber attack. Evidently, the military is also dreadfully unprepared for negative media reports.

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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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