Play On!

Without his teleprompters, Barack Obama would make Rick Perry look like a memory marvel.

Nofsinger signs off

It is always a surprise and a shock when we learn of the retirement of someone who has been essential to our welfare through the years. For more than a quarter century, my b.w. and I have been privileged to be patients of Dr. Roger Nofsinger, who has not only been a superlative dentist but a cherished friend. He will retire at the end of this year. Roger is one of the most compulsive world travelers we have ever known. He is an adventurer who has scoured the continents in search of the interesting, beautiful and bizarre, even dangerous. His wife, Leigh, doesn’t miss a mile — she has biked the Rocky mountains, slept in an ice house in Finland, and has temporarily endured the unendurable, to live the Nofsinger philosophy. In many ways, Roger will be missed and hard to replace in all of them.

Aversion to Israel

President Obama appears to harbor a constant antipathy toward Israel, which makes one ask, “Why do the majority of American Jews seem to remain staunch Democratic supporters?”

Politics or truth?

The printed lie has been a problem to answer ever since man learned to write. I have had no more experience in this area than have you or the next guy. The first product of a printed lie may be anger in a person lied about. We all know that things in print have a special clout that the spoken word lacks. There is this to be said: Consider who the liar is, and whether his reputation will not be “ignominious” when his name stands in public alongside yours. Making too much of a lie increases its inherent importance — yet giving no response has its own private perils. The more one thinks things over, the less one may be impelled to answer at all. “Time heals all wounds” — and one can hope, “wounds all heels.”

A pertinent case in point occurred some 20 years ago, when a prominent friend called me at 7 a.m. He said, “This morning you are going to read a story about me on the front page of the newspaper. I want to tell you first, that the story is completely untrue — a lie through and through.”

“I’m glad you called,” I said. “But you didn’t need to call.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“Because I know you,” I said.

And now we have Herman Cain “getting the treatment.” Politics or truth?

Paterno’s sad ending

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno came into possession of the fact that felonious sexual acts involving underage boys were allegedly being committed by an associate of his, on campus. Joe reported this fact to the athletic director at Penn State but never to the police. Joe was fired, but is that the end of the story? I have been thinking a lot about Paterno, as he got up the next day and realized that he had betrayed his golden 46-year reputation as one of football’s all-time great coaches. What a sad dénouement to an illustrious career.

P.S.: Are there criminal implications when one learns the facts of a felony and does not report those facts promptly and directly to the police?

P.P.S.: How many families of once-young boys are going to emerge from the woodwork with lawsuits in their hands?