There's Something About Oprah...

[boo__boo]

I don't know what it is, but for some reason, people like making absurd statements and/or predictions about Oprah Winfrey. This time last year, I remember hearing about the possibility of Oprah being Hillary Clinton's running mate in the 2008 Presidential election. I found it hard to see things getting more ridiculous than that.

They have.

Among the best items:

She's no longer just a successful talk-show host worth $1.4 billion, according to Forbes' most recent estimate. Over the past year, Winfrey, 52, has emerged as a spiritual leader for the new millennium, 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."

Claire Zulkey, 26, an Oprah follower who has written about Winfrey in her online blog at zulkey .com, says, "I think that if this were the equivalent of the Middle Ages and we were to fast-forward 1,200 years, scholars would definitely think that this Oprah person was a deity, if not a canonized being."

I don't know about you, but personally, I'd rather belong to the Church of the Fonz (Family Guy reference).