arianna@ariannaonline.com

is the email address of the illustrious arianna huffington, as i learned today when i heard her speak on a book tour stop. she's really a winning creature, as count rugen would say, and it was great to finally go to an event where my beliefs are confirmed, especially after the panel discussion i was sent to this morning on, you guessed it, vouchers.

she made a couple of interesting points, and i wanted to put them up there so that i don't forget them and also to spread the gospel of anti-bush:

1. the top four blogs (combined?) have the same total readership as the new york times. this statistic amazed me. because it means that while the mainstream media are important, especially for those on the losing side of the digital divide, alternative news sources are important as well. and it makes me feel good that myself and all of you, my loyal zero readers, are part of a move(on.org)ment, or, more appropriately, a community, that is going to be important in this election.

2. the democrats need to take back the word "responsibility." i couldn't agree more. the republicans have coopted some good words, some of my favorite words in fact, like compassion and justice, and have distorted their meaning so that "compassionate" means "religious" and "justice" means "assassination." what does "responsibility" mean to republicans? consider: The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. what could it mean instead? taking responsibility for your actions and the effect they have on the environment, on poor people, on people in other countries.

3. kerry 2004 needs to tap into the kerry of 1971. arianna says that people are hungry for some idealism right now. they don't buy bush's faux morality anymore. they want something more than "do you want more money in your pocket? then vote bush." if they don't get a strong idealistic voice from the democrats, they're likely to go with the "more money in your pocket" lure. she said that she'd like to see john edwards as kerry's running mate.

4. kerry needs to put some soul into his campaign. meaning, not "denuding the public square" from religion and religious figures. i couldn't agree with this more. i came across this group yesterday - this is exactly what needs to be happening. because so many progressive ideas come straight from the bible. as black liberation theologian james cone put it, "Any message that is not related to the liberation of the poor in the society is not Christ's message."