December 29, 2009

Miscellany

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Three quick items:

  • Yes, the filibuster sucks, but I agree with both Ezra Klein and Bruce Bartlett that the tradition of Senate holds is even more odious. But if it’s not possible even to do away with holds, I’ll reiterate my suggestion that the Senate scale way, way back on the number of officials that it has to confirm. Maybe the top two officers in each executive department, appellate judges and above, and a few others of similar rank. The rest should just be straight presidential appointments.
  • Can we all, please, chill out about the failed plane bombing, chill out about Janet Napolitano’s “the system worked” gaffe, and chill out about Obama remaining in Hawaii? Just. Chill. Out. We don’t have to go completely cuckoo every time something like this happens. Instead, let’s find out where the system failed instead of hysterically guessing about it, and then figure out what we ought to do about it.
  • For decades now, the initiative process in California has primarily been a tool of the rich and powerful, not the grassroots. Here’s the latest outrage.

That is all. You may now return to Monday Night Football.

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

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