Given all the suffering in the world, given the pain and anxiety, someone like Oprah trying to do a bit of good for girls in South Africa who might learn to be leaders and who by dint of their education will do even more good, it's hard to understand where all this hatred and cynicism arises. This is supposed to be a win for our side, isn't it? I don't begrudge Oprah Winfrey her millions. She made them using her talent, which is her ability to connect with people. This is what good people in sales or business development do every day for far less money. I might make different choices than she has, but what she does with her wealth is not for me or any of us to judge. As for her championing of "The Secret", this is actually not too far off since it's a well-known fact that she has literally raised herself from nothing to become what she is using methods like these. We know this because she has told us this many times. We have watched her transformation over the last 20 plus years. This is not surprising. It might be helpful for the cynics that seem to be populating the posts here to take the long view. We are watching evolution here. Of one woman, of one country, of a nation of people who are the most individualistic on the planet. It's not something you can do at a glance. While "The Secret" may be overly simplistic, those who have used the methods described in the correct way have seen their own lives spiral upward toward something higher to the point where they realize that the cars and the nice homes are great to enjoy, but are not ends in themselves, that life is about more than that. Having said that, no one is going to say that not having is better than having. No one is going to refuse a bit of material comfort if they can have it. No one is going to turn down joy if it's available. The message of "The Secret" is that ultimately you are responsible for your state of mind and for the degree of satisfaction you experience from life. Not God, not George Bush, and not the Democrats. You are responsible for your own awareness, and you are responsible for raising it to a level where you can benefit yourself and others on the planet. This is a hard idea to recognize and understand. But Oprah seems to have embodied it. She's been working on it a long time, albeit in a public forum. The rest of us who don't live in the public eye also understand it and are trying to live that. It's a work in progress. Until you've taken this path, this inner journey, you won't understand.

An intolerant, ignomious, ignoramus wearing a cocktail dress and pumps.

I spelled "ignominious" incorrectly.

This little gaffe does not change the definition of Ann Coulter. An ignoramus in a cocktail dress and pumps.

Over on the main page of Salon is an article about Oprah Winfrey's endorsement of "The Secret". With 295 posts and counting, the general mood is pretty much "Oprah is a demon". Meanwhile one could scarcely notice here our collective "boo" at Ann Coulter who really IS a demon. She really is The Devil for whom Prada makes shoes, and we spend less time and posts here and more time and posts putting Oprah and her attempts to use her wealth to actually do some good down. Think about this people: Oprah is on our side. Ann is not. But she continues to exist because we allow her to. And by we, I mean those of us here in the so-called "progressive" world who at the moment seem to be more concerned with how Oprah decorated her Leadership School in South Africa than with sentiments expressed in our culture that feed the actions of terrorists like al Qaeda, the janjaweed in Darfur, and the civil war in Iraq. Let alone the Borg. We have beheld what we despise. Don't let's BECOME what we despise. Please.

308 posts and counting.

This has now become just so much piling on.

To all my brothers and sisters here in the Salon, can we just stop this? We are becoming like Ann Coulter who recently called John Edwards a "faggot" and got laughter and applause. Let's not become what we despise.

Please.

The Religious Right's comeuppance ater having enjoyed a role in policymaking within the Administration. How can anyone forget the smiling face of Ted Haggard? And now, add to this the fact that Scooter Libby is a convicted felon.

I'm almost giddy.