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Once, musicians only proselytized from the stage or gave benefit concerts to raise money for good causes. But U2’s singer pals around with prime ministers and tycoons…. Will other rock stars follow his lead? — Time Magazine, March 4, 2002, ‘Can Bono Save the World?


Puerto Rican singing sensation Ricky Martin met Donald Rumsfeld in San Juan last Tuesday to urge the secretary of defense to halt Navy bombing on the island of Vieques. Martin greeted Rumsfeld with a stiff salute; Rumsfeld parried with a stiffer macarena. Several daiquiris later, Ricky was overheard to tell Rummy, “Shake your bombas someplace else.” — Teen People, October 30, 2002


In a closed-door session at the Department of Justice, Snoop Dogg engaged the attorney general in a spirited debate about medical marijuana. “The Doggfather and I have our differences,” an unusually expansive John Ashcroft told reporters afterward, “but we are both committed to relieving chronic pain.” “Or at a mutherf–kin’ minimum,” rejoined Dogg, “relievin’ pain with the Chronic.” — RollingStone.com, June 3, 2003


Bringing her Bad Girl sneer to Brussels, Pink arrived at the G-8 summit to lobby for the nations of the Second World. Wearing a baby T emblazoned with the words “Costa Rica Rocks!” the puckish superstar asked the presidents of the world’s richest nations “not to forget hella’tight countries like Belize, Estonia, and Uruguay.” Pink then goosed German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and whooped, “Let’s get this summit started!”

Wall Street Journal, December 17, 2003


Flanked by former members of New Kids on the Block, Kris Kross, and Menudo, the Back Street Boys joined House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt on the steps of the Capitol to promote expanded unemployment bene’ts for faded teen idols. “The Boys to Men With Dignity Act seeks to celebrate the cultural contributions of our nation’s most popular teenage recording artists,” said Gephardt, “while recognizing that fame can be cruelly ephemeral.” — U.S. News and World Report, February 9, 2005


Hip hop bad boy Eminem pressed the flesh with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace last weekend, seeking support for his “God Save Us From the Queens” initiative. “I appreciate Mr. Mathers’ concern that homosexuals are misappropriating my royal title,” the monarch read from a prepared statement, “but I informed him that under no circumstances would I consider revoking the knighthood of Sir Elton.” — Entertainment Weekly, May 15, 2005


Miami: The long-standing blood feud between Florida rivals Jeb Bush and Janet Reno deepened Friday as each candidate extended an open invitation to Britney Spears to help promote the cause of her choosing. “Really. Anything at all,” Bush invited in a seven-page, handwritten memo. “Do you like baby seals?” Speaking in front of television cameras in West Palm Beach, Reno reached out to Spears: “I share your concern for ‘Generation Next.’ Call me. Please!” — Associated Press, July 23, 2005

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist 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 need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

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