The trend: "Sorry, will an apology do?"

HAVE YOU NOTICED how many remorseful individuals are offering apologies these days before going quietly to their rooms? The latest to be reported came from Gregg Steinhafel, the chairman, CEO and president of Target. Addressing the swift reaction from pro-gay rights activists to his company's contribution of $150,000 to an outfit that supports the anti-gay marriage gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota, Steinhafel apologized to gays and lesbians for a company decision that "affected many of you in a way I did not anticipate, and for that I am genuinely sorry." (Doesn't a big retailer like Target have a PR person on staff to anticipate what the boss said he didn't anticipate?

Meantime, Irvin Good Jr., the owner of Goodtime Amusements, apologized for a "shooter game" at a carnival in Pennsylvania, in which the target was unmistakably President Obama. Good said it wasn't Barack, shut it down anyway and...apologized.

That NAACP, Obama, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Bill O"Reilly all apologized to Shirley Sherrod - after she was fired.

Rep. Joe Barton of Texas apologized to BP for what he considered to be a shakedown by the Feds.

Overseas, Pope Benedict apologized to the Irish families who were victims of sex abuse by priests.

Tony Blair apologized for the Irish potato famine.

Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian big-shot, apologized to Jews for saying that Mussolini never killed anyone. He also demanded an apology from his wife Veronica for telling newspapers that she wanted a divorce. Sorry, Silvio. No chance of that.

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Inhofe: a gusher for the oil industry

OKLAHOMA is known for its oil wells, old-fashioned religion and obsolescent senators.  It apparently hasn't progressed much since I raced though the state many years ago en route to Chicago from a basic training base in Texas. S ince then, I don't think I've even flown over the Sooner State.  The absence of progressive political ideas may  explain why it keeps electing an old fool like Republican Jim Inhofe to the U.S. Senate.   It is a perfect match . 

Inhofe  became the  befuddled star of the national media  last week when he erupted into a hissy fit over President Obama's Cairo speech, accusing him of being "un-American" and leading Inhofe to wonder whose side the president was on.  We haven't heard  anything that silly  from Capitol Hill patriots  since the days of the House Un-American Activities Committee and the late Sen. Joe McCarthy.  

(Can you imagine somebody calling  Berlusconi un-Italian, or Sarkozy un-French? What, I ask, does it mean in English?)

Well, Inhofe gets away with his gibberish simply because he has the oil wells standing at his side.  He's received over a half-million dollars from energy sources and graciously responds by calling catastrophic global warming the "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people."  And who can ignore his comment in the moments after the Oklahoma City federal building bombing that there wouldn't be many casualties because at 9 a.m., all of the feds would off somewhere drinking coffee?  

This is the guy you should know a little more about when he is out there attacking the president's patriotism.