May 14, 2006

  • The news has been rather a fount of information lately, of varying degrees of interest, applicability, and believeableness.

    Something I was interested to read at ABC.com was that the cause of death of the teenage girl who'd been widely reported last fall of having died from an allergic reaction to a kiss from her boyfriend, who had eaten a peanut-laden snack, was actually a severe asthma attack.

    Turned out his peanutty snack had been ingested nine hours prior to the smooch, while an allergen only stays in saliva for one hour after something's eaten.  However, the girl had spent hours at a smoke-filled party, and had been finding it increasingly difficult to breathe.  Finally, at 3 a.m. (and what the deuce was a 15 year old doing at a party at 3 in the morning, anyway???) she collapsed.

    One would have hoped she'd have had enough sense to leave as soon as she began feeling the effects of the cigarette smoke. 

    Point is, however, one needn't fear a kiss from someone who ate something several hours ago to which one is allergic.  Good to know.

    On a "You have GOT to be kidding!" note is the story from USAToday regarding Oprah Winfrey's exalted status here in America.  According to that article, she's left "talk show hostess" behind, having now risen to the rank of "spiritual leader" with "a moral voice of authority for the nation." 

    "She's a really hip and materialistic Mother Teresa," says Kathryn
    Lofton, a professor at Reed College in Portland, Ore., who has written
    two papers analyzing the religious aspects of Winfrey. "Oprah has
    emerged as a symbolic figurehead of spirituality."

    The religious aspects of Winfrey?

    With 49 million viewers each week in the USA and more in the 122 other
    countries to which the show is distributed, Winfrey reaches more people
    in a TV day than most preachers can hope to reach in a lifetime of
    sermons.

    <snip>

    In a November poll conducted at Beliefnet.com, a site that looks at how
    religions and spirituality intersect with popular culture, 33% of 6,600
    respondents said Winfrey has had "a more profound impact" on their
    spiritual lives than their clergypersons.

    Cathleen Falsani, religion writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, recently suggested, "I wonder, has Oprah become America's pastor?"

    It's a judgment from the LORD, believe me when I tell you this.  Additional proof, if any more were needed, that our country is in dire straits and as far from the LORD as the east is from the west.  Yikes!  e-afdbsmiley