And Now For Something Completely Different

Joy Behar and Whoopie Goldberg decided recently in a conversation on national television that it's been a traumatic year for white people in America because they haven't got used to the idea of having a black president.

Talk about a credibility gap. Having these two beans-for-brains women give political commentary is like having Betty Crocker and the Pillsbury Dough Boy analyze a Shakespeare play. You have to be as dumb as a box of rocks either to believe them or to listen to them in the first place. To chalk up the “trauma” to racism or skin color is worse than shallow; it’s political attention deficit disorder. “Deep thoughts” from Joy and Whoopi are about like “Deep Thoughts” on Saturday Night Live.

If you want to talk about trauma in America in the past year, acknowledge that during this period of time there has been a concerted effort by this administration to dismantle the Constitution and fundamentally transform the country; it’s only coincidental that the ideologue behind it is black. He told us that’s what he wanted to do; and now people are shocked that he's doing it. And he lies. That tends to destroy trust, too. Furthermore, he doesn’t believe militant Islamic terrorists hate us enough to want to kill us. You can’t solve that problem with the kind of head-in-the-sand denial of reality that our foreign policy has become in the hands of this administration. Charm and charisma don't constitute dynamic leadership. We are in trouble. We need informed vigilance in the population and in elected officials. And we need to pray for our country daily.

Coming Soon: Dancing in the Aisles

Yesterday was an anniversary of sorts. It's been one year since an orthopedic surgeon opened my left leg, removed the arthritis-damaged knee joint and put in a prosthetic. Now I can get around pretty well on my own, having advanced from walker to cane to independence. Walking is easier than standing, but Sunday I stood for half an hour to give a lesson. Shopping isn't that bad, and neither is walking through parking lots or the halls at church. On February 17 it's the first anniversary of the right knee, which turned out to be the more difficult of the two surgeries. I still haven't gotten used to being aware of the prosthetics. They are heavier than the bones they replaced, and I can still feel them. I still walk "older" than I am, but I'm so much better than I was a year ago. Continued exercise (all rehab all the time) will change that over time. I found out about a therapy pool near the hospital that's available to us for a slight membership fee, so we're going to check that out.