Execution can be fun!

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For the first time in years, proponents and opponents of the death penalty have something in common to rally against: a new toy doll strapped to an old-fashioned electric chair that shouts, “That’s the best you can do, you pansies?”

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So far 65,000 of the Death Row Marv dolls have been sold nationwide since the toys debut in June, according to APBNEWS.COM.

Though activists on both sides of the issue call the doll offensive, the manufacturer is happy to be raking in the profits. One store owner even credits George W. Bush’s recent barrage of executions as good promotion.

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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 canā€™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.

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