Reply #14: Can't say I disagree. I have friends who think Oprah is the next best thing

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to God. I disagree. Our nation is in dire straits and all she can do is an Elvis schtick every week or so, giving away Cadillacs and shopping sprees. Well, that's what bush and rudy and friends told us would ease our pain and make everything all okay again - go shopping!

Oprah Winfrey is one of those rare individuals who's UNIQUELY POSITIONED to be able to exert some real influence for good. I mean vast political good, not just one isolated case here and there or publicly flaying some schmuck for exaggerating his life story or "let's all go on a diet together!" She has an exquisite and almost untouchable bully pulpit from which to EDUCATE and ENLIGHTEN. If she was going to put anybody on the hot seat for lying and pulling a con job on everybody, why bother with the "Million Little Pieces" pipsqueak AND TAKE ON george w. bush? Whom she allowed to kiss her on camera and make all nice-nice, aw-shucks, let's-go-have-a-beer-together. She helped put enough of a human face on him (and on Arnold, for that matter) to make them palatable to voters - in bush's case, allowing him to get close enough to steal it. I hold her HUGELY responsible for that. And she's done NOTHING, with all her power, her invincibility, her clout, NOTHING to try to wake people up.

I have no use for Oprah. I find her tiresome, self-aggrandizing, and pretty damned disappointing. Why isn't she building one of those fancy Oprah Winfrey empowerment schools for girls - in NEW ORLEANS????? My friends who worship her say that's not the point, that she doesn't want to get involved in politics and she's trying to be above that and shouldn't take sides and blah-blah-blah. Well, in times like these, when our country is going down the drain, we're being sapped by a war based on lies, the bastards she helped make so palatable to voters on her TV show have bankrupted us, killed thousands of our finest young people, broken our military, broken our banks, broken our government, broken our Constitution, broken our standing in the world, broken our national self-esteem, broken EVERYTHING. And she sits there hooting and giggling and squeezing shoulders and giving away shopping sprees.

When our country is in this critical a condition, somebody like her should fucking STAND UP AND TAKE THE RISK OF BEING COUNTED. REALLY COUNTED. And I feel the same way about other bigwigs like David Geffen and Steven Spielberg and others of that ilk. They've made their fortunes. They're so wealthy and so well-established that they can't be hurt, can't be touched. That's when they, especially, should stand up and stick their necks out. Put their power and the strength and clout of their names and their reputations on the line for their country, instead of sitting back and being safe. They pulled a LOT of money and advantage out of the system. Now they're set. Which means NOW, THEY OWE. BIGTIME. NOW, THEY SHOULD TURN AROUND AND START GIVING BACK.