February 20, 2009

Quote of the Day – 02.19.09

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From Hillary Clinton, commenting on the stroke suffered last year by North Korea’s Kim Jong-il:

If there is a succession, even if it’s a peaceful succession, that creates more uncertainty, and it may also encourage behaviors that are even more provocative, as a way to consolidate power within the society.

This single sentence has spawned endless chatter about whether Clinton has committed a grave diplomatic gaffe by mentioning something that everyone in the world has been talking about for months.  Give me a break.  It’s better to at least acknowledge it briefly in public than it is to keep pretending that nothing at all is even happening.

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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.

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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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