Quote of the Day #2 – 04.14.09

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From Robert Farley, on the problem with the feeding frenzy of pundit bloviating about how to solve the pirate crisis:

Long story short, the super-simple proposal you’ve developed for ending piracy has probably already been thought of, and probably has a host of problems that you haven’t considered.

Actually, that’s pretty sound advice for nearly everything more complicated than tying your shoelaces in the morning.

But as long as we’re talking about pirates, here’s my pet peeve: the endless rounds of joking and snark that they provoke.  I know it’s kind of hard to resist, but latter day pirates have actually been around for a long time, and the particular problem with them in the Gulf of Aden has been in the news for over a year now.  We really ought to have the giggling out of our systems by now.

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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