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PALIN’S KIDS….MoJo’s co-editor Monika Bauerlein is a little annoyed at some of the criticism being thrown Sarah Palin’s way:

I have three kids, my youngest is three months older than Palin’s, and that isn’t stopping me from doing my job. Nor is it stopping Clara, my co-editor, who has a new baby….

Too many women have been patronized out of jobs they wanted with pseudo-considerate treacle like “I thought your priority right now was your family.” It’s happened to friends of mine; it’s happened to me; if you have ovaries, chances are pretty good it has happened or will happen to you. That’s the reality of living in post-women’s lib America, and that’s why one part of me is heartened by the Palin pick. People may find lots of reasons why she shouldn’t be in the White House — but at least, having little kids didn’t put her out of the running in the first place. And for that, I have to confess, I’m grateful to John McCain.

Agreed. There are loads of reasons to criticize McCain’s choice of Palin, and I suspect that as Alaskans start to weigh in we’re going to uncover even more. But being the mother of five children isn’t one of them. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs to get a clue.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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