Odds and Ends More Odd Than End

A few items that caught my attention but don't have much to connect them other than they caught my attention. First is the latest Oprah-fest giveaway show where she gave each audience member $1000 cash. . . then told them they could only give it to charity. Why? Because giving a miniscule amount of her vast wealth to charity is what makes Oprah feel all warm about herself. God, I wish I'd been watching just to see the faces. If there is anything that shows better why I think Oprah and her mutually adoring acolytes, full of "authenticity" and self-absorption, have added more to the shallowness and unseriousness of this nation, I'd truly like to know what it is. Really. How stuck on yourself do you have to bee to pull a stunt like that, and to be an audience member brought so high and so low so fast? Jeez, will this culture ever recover from her ego and self-promotion? John Wayne in his heyday didn't do this much damage to our ability to cope with reality. (And that's without recalling how she got Schwarzenegger over the top in CA.) . . . Coming from the Southwest, I can tell you that this will lead to no good if word gets around. If cow tipping caught on so well, think what will happen now. . . . This headline--"Marsupial Mating Proves Promiscuity Pays"--should be all it takes to get you to click on the link. (Not that titillating, but consider the implications.) . . . Finally, how a real person, not a talk-show host, deals with a real problem. No fakeness, no parsing, no "I'm sorry if you took this wrong," just real remorse. The Mets' Guillermo Mota got himself banned 50 games next season for a positive drug test. Here's his public apology:

I have no one to blame but myself. I take full responsibility for my actions and accept MLB's suspension. I used extremely poor judgment and deserve to be held accountable.

To my teammates and the entire Mets organization, I am sorry. I truly regret what I did and hope that you can forgive me. To baseball fans everywhere, I understand that you are disappointed in me, and I don't blame you. I feel terrible and I promise this is the first and last time that this will happen. I am determined to prove to you that this was one mistake.

Man. Talk about words we should all memorize for when we do something bad or unfair to people, except maybe the baseball references, which could be confusing. Maybe like when you give people $1000 and then shaft them. Try as I might, I can't imagine hearing those words and Oprah's voice together publicly. (At least without it coming from her PR office first. "Authenticity" melts down when authenticity is required.)