I was pleasantly surprised to see DeGeneres speak out on her show this week about the murder of a 15-year-old gay student named Lawrence King by the classmate he'd hoped would be his Valentine.

"I don't want to be political, this is not political, I'm not a political person, but this is personal to me

I applaud Ellen DeGeneres for taking two and a half minutes of her usually-light-and-airy daytime chat show to address this incredibly serious, deeply important issue. Yet I wish she didn't feel the need to qualify doing so with the pretense of being apolitical.

There is a place in daytime TV for a little bit of intelligent engagement, a little bit of politics, sprinkled amid the celebrity worship.