Okay, look. We're not kidding here.

As of this week, halfway through our year-end fund drive, the response to our appeal has been an anemic $1400--less than our existing printing debt, let alone any of the additional money we need to operate for the next six months. We set our goal at $6,000 for this biannual appeal for a reason. In the past, we've reached that goal. This time, so far, we're nowhere near it.

We count on this money to operate. Without it, we can't. It's that simple. Printing and postage are the overwhelming bulk of our expenses--no payroll (we're all volunteer), no frills. Our revenue comes from donations, subscriptions, and advertising. The ads are about 40% of our income. The rest comes from you, the reader. No grants, no corporate ads, no trust funds or sugar daddies. For nearly ten years, we've somehow eked out our shoestring existence--but that doesn't mean we're financially secure. We aren't.

Our utmost in thanks to those of you who've donated or subscribed. But we know you're a tiny fraction of the number of people that actually read this paper. To the rest of you, if you value what we do in print, on the web, and on the radio, the information, the analysis, the humor and attitude, please help us keep doing it. We'll put in the work, but we can't fund it ourselves.

And remember, we're also offering cool premiums for donations of $50 or more. You can choose between (1) Paul Loeb's outstanding anthology The Impossible Will Take A Little While, (2) a DVD of British MP George Galloway's appearance at UW this fall, or (3) your choice of tapes from the catalog of Alternative Radio. Donations of $100 or more get any two of these three premiums. (If you wish to receive a premium, be sure to indicate which one[s], along with your mailing address. If you use Paypal, send premium info to info@eatthestate.org.)

We would like to raise $4,600 in the next month. If we can get more, great--as a quick look at our new blog will attest, there's a lot of stories we just don't have room to print in eight pages, and we'd love to go to 12. But $4,600 is the minimum to keep us from having to ask you for money over, and over, and over for the next six months.

Every size donation--from the smallest to the largest--helps get us there. Please help out--right now, while you're thinking about it. You can send donations to our PO box or donate via Paypal at http://eatthestate.org. Thanks.