Arianna Huffington serves on the Board of Directors of the "Points of Light Foundation," alongside ex-President George Bush. Sponsors of the foundation are a Who's Who of American political/economic giants and the "military-industrialist complex," including Texas Governor and Republican Presidential candidate George W. Bush. None of Arianna's bios ever mention her ex-husband Michael Huffington, their Texas oil-money fortune, or her ranking by Forbes as one of the world's richest women. Documentation follows in a subsequent email post. ========================= http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/08/02/shadow/index.html In the shadows of the Republican Convention The notoriously poor town of Camden -- ironically the site of the GOP fete -- is living proof of everything our politicians are ignoring. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Arianna Huffington Aug. 2, 2000 | PHILADELPHIA -- On Sunday, the 2000 Republican National Convention kicked off with an evening called "Indifference With a Purpose." Actually, that wasn't the official name, but it was certainly the spirit of the opening gala held on the newly renovated waterfront in Camden, N.J. -- just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. Celebrating conventioneers were treated to fireworks, a laser show, a parade of lighted boats -- and the complete absence of anything that might remind them of the flip side of our ongoing prosperity. (clip) Yet Camden is where the Republican National Convention decided to hold its welcoming ceremony. And it did so without even a "compassionately conservative" nod to the ugly reality behind the Potemkin front. That willfully unthinking gesture is both a symbol of why I've taken to calling myself a "recovering Republican" and the raison d'etre for the shadow conventions. These alternative gatherings (currently paralleling the GOP fete in Philly and soon for the Democrats in Los Angeles) are being brought to you not by the good people at Philip Morris, AT&T, GM and Texaco, but by a collective longing to fix our political system. The goal is to generate a national conversation on three urgent issues frozen out of the officially sanctioned debate: the corrupting influence of money in politics, the persistence of poverty in the midst of unprecedented prosperity and the failed drug war that remains unaddressed because there is no constituency with a financial stake in addressing it. (clip) We will never find the collective will to move beyond political platitudes about "leaving no one behind" until we've loosened the grip of what McCain calls the "iron triangle of lobbyists, big money and legislation." Nor will we move beyond bellicose bromides about "getting tougher" on drugs while more than 400,000 Americans are locked up in jail for nonviolent drug offenses, and alarming numbers of African-Americans have been disenfranchised for life under the Jim Crow laws otherwise known as the war on drugs. The shadow conventions are about this other America: the 99 percent of Americans who have not contributed to a political campaign; the more than 70 percent of Americans who favor treatment over incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders; the more than 60 percent of us who believe that government today is being run not for the benefit of the people but for the benefit of special interests; the more than 50 percent of Americans who are not planning to vote in November; the more than 20 percent of our country's children living below the poverty line. (clip) salon.com | Aug. 2, 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - About the writer Arianna Huffington is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of seven books. Her eighth book, "How to Overthrow the Government," was published in February by Regan Books (HarperCollins). Related stories Hard time for soft crimes Two million Americans arem locked up, most for nonviolent drug offenses. Some maverick Republicans -- yes, Republicans -- are trying to change that. By Bruce Shapiro 07/31/00 Table Talk The two-party system needs more parties! Will the Shadow Convention become politics' Sundance Film Festival? 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