MUCH INK HAS been spilled of late over the supposedly forged birth certificate of the President of the United States Barack Hussein Obama.  The reasoning goes thus:  Mr. Obama was not actually born in Hawaii as he claims but in some other country.  Consequently he is not a natural-born citizen (as the constitution requires) and cannot therefore hold the office.

MOST PEOPLE WOULD have said that I was a lucky man. I had it all: a beautiful wife a well adjusted honor roll student of a son a sprawling house in the country and a spacious magnificently decorated high rise in the city (the interior of which was designed by the finest decorator Manhattan could muster from its spiritually dead bosom).

 I remember an encounter that I had on a hotel elevator some years ago as a young man.  I say "young man" because the only other rider was an old one.  He was very tall heavy set in the abdomen and bald on his head though wispy white tufts around his ears were clear vestiges of an extinct topknot.

(fictionalized from a true account)

“What the hell is this?”
“What’s what Brad?”
“This fuckin’ shit you just served me.  The God damned yolk is broken.  What have I told you about how I like my eggs?”
“I’m… sorry Brad.  It must’ve happened after I put them on the plate.  I would never do that on purpose.”  Rebekah spoke with timidity and hesitation, knowing that a terrible storm may be brewing between herself and her live-in boyfriend.