Use the Oxford comma, please!

The Oxford comma is the comma used before the word "and" at the end of a list.  Some people think it's optional, but problems can arise when it is NOT used.  To avoid misunderstandings, I always put a comma before the "and" in a list.  I suggest the writer of that snippet above should also have used the Oxford comma — unless that person wanted the world to think Ayn Rand and God are his or her parents.  Also, without the Oxford comma, Merle Haggard's two ex-wives are Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall.  And I rather doubt that Nelson Mandela was a demigod or collector.  The issue is that we may read the last two items as a combination, which can be confusing.