Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

Arianna touted her new blog as a money machine to the Hollywood elite who often tell us that money and consumerism is bad:

Though press reports have made it seem as if PRmeister Ken Lerer was more or less solely funding Huffington’s blog, I’ve learned that she was hoping that Hollywood would initially invest at least $500,000 in $100,000 increments. “She framed it to them as an opportunity to invest, to share in something we’re launching, to be with friends,” one source told me. “My sense was she knew that the people wouldn’t evaluate it as they would a real business deal, like an investment in stock or real estate, but as a friend to help her. If they’re looking to just make money, there are smarter places.”

Blogs aren’t money machines. They are a voice for those of us who can’t gain access to a microphone or pages in Time or People the way these folks can. I signed on with Roger L. Simon as a way to associate with the cream of the blogosphere, not as a means of making money. The one thing that troubled me about the whole thing was the concept of putting ads on this blog.

I just don’t think someone like Arianna will be happy with the amount of money she might earn. Her annual income for the blog probably won’t pay for a single trip to her hair stylist.