Oprah Winfrey news . . . good grief!

Oprah Winfrey story. My apologies. I almost never, ever run celebrity news or gossip. However, I caught this Oprah story quickly on the web from the Associated Press. She mourns the death of her dog who choked on a doggie toy. My wife and I have 4 dogs at home so we love them.

Oprah Mourns Death of Dog, Oh Brother!

Now, this is sad, I admit. But here's the context in which I write it. One of my 6 kids at home came to us at age 19 after emancipating from the foster care system. He is a client of the Regional Center which is a complex system caring for developmentally-impaired children and adults.

He was going to be homeless since he was being kicked out of his third adult group home in one year. Regional Center said they couldn't find a place and they were going to move him to a shelter on skid row in Los Angeles.

He's the birth brother of our 15 year old daughter who came to us at age 5 weeks. she's also developmentally impaired.

Neither one of them will have the opportunities to date, marry and pursue a career as so many of us enjoy - despite the accompanying stress.

Many times, I have "mourned" the needs of my daughter and stand sobered by her future care needs. My wife is also a nurse practitioner in northwest Pasadena where she has worked among a densely populated area of the poor for 18 years. I'm sure many families there have lost their dogs but there has been no one to comfort them.

I'm sorry for those of you who are Oprah fans. She's a wonderful woman. But it's sad to see the state our society has stooped - and the news media - for reporting what is a non-news story. At least, I would have been taught in my college journalism course that it is a non-news story.

I'll probably take down this post this afternoon or this evening . . . but, ah, consider this a break from the routine.