Midlife Meditation

These guys... ...really miss this guy. After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.--Mr. Spock, "Amok Time," Star Trek, 1967. They've wanted this a very long time: single-party control of Washington, the chance to open the floodgates and release volumes of pent-up legislation that's been stymied by a stubbornly thoughtful, responsible President. For all that time, they've been able to deflect criticism of their utter ineffectiveness as lawmakers, with their Senate majority too small to overcome a veto. Give us a President we can work with, they've said, and watch how much we accomplish. And it came to pass that, through a Constitutional quirk that gives more a voice to rural states than urban states, the election did miraculously go the way in which the Republicans had hoped it would, and there was great rejoicing, for lo, there would be a new King in Washin...

Proof:  Some people gonna call you up Tell you something that you already know Proof:  Sane people go crazy on you Say ''No man, that was not t he deal we made I got to, I got to go'' Faith:  Faith is an island in the setting sun But proof, yes p roof is the bottom line for everyone --Paul Simon, "Proof," from Rhythm of the Saints , 1990. I wonder: when Donald Trump looks in the mirror, does he tell himself the same words he's used on audiences longing for someone, something, anything they can rely on to improve their lives: "Believe me!" And when he sees that huckster expression on his face, hears those words bouncing back off the glass, does he, in fact, believe whatever thoughts are bouncing around under his expensive meta-combover? Judging from the fallout of Saturday's Trumped-up "Obama wiretapped me" tweets, the answer to that rhetorical question is a very solid "yes." Here's White House spok...

Lucky me: I got to have the same root canal twice in one week. You may sense some irony in that statement, and you wouldn't be entirely wrong. Last Monday, I endured one of the most painful dental procedures I've ever been through, and that's really saying something. All four of my first molars and cuspids--one in each quadrant--have been crowned, and all but one of them root canaled multiple times. I noticed in October that there was a lump on the gum below my right cuspid. I tried to get an emergency appointment before flying to Atlantic City for the AOSA National Conference, but wasn't able, and had to wait until after that horrible election. Then I was supposed to get a phone call from an endodontist. I waited another two months before finally calling myself. That means I was living with an abscess for three months. It didn't hurt, but I was worried about what it might be doing to my jaw, not to mention my breath. So last Monday, I got to have the canal on...

Coming soon to the Disneyland: the Scariest Animatronic President yet. First the disclaimer: I did not watch Donald Trump's Congressional address. I had better things to do: moan and groan over the previous day's root canal and, 24 hours after the damage was done, finally feel the Vicodin kicking in. Then I watched some TV with Amy ( Jane the Virgin  and an extremely disturbing episode of Girls ), before retiring to the bedroom to write yesterday's blog post. Everything I know about the speech I gleaned from Slate  and the New York Times. And here's what I learned: Trump stuck to the teleprompter, dutifully reciting the words he had paid someone to write for him, only straying once or twice from looking and sounding presidential. Although the content of the speech was boilerplate Trump (vague promises about replacing the ACA with something that covers everybody just as well, but for less money; nonspecific admission that racist and anti-semitic incidents are ...