It was my secretary announcing that my friend and doctor, Joe Tenenbaum, was on the line. I picked up the phone and said, “Hi, Joe, what’s up?” He replied, “Good morning, Ed. I’m calling to tell you that your coumadin [a blood thinner] level is right on target; continue with it for a month and we’ll test it again.” He went on, “Nine years ago, [1999] on July 4 you were in the hospital [I had had a heart attack a few days before and was recovering from an angioplasty to open two blocked arteries]. And here you are, a healthy man. Have a good holiday.”

I have been thinking long and hard about the state of politics in New York. We are a national disgrace and laughingstock.

One of the top issues in the presidential campaign is medical insurance, or rather, the lack of it.

In government, we expect it from colleagues, but to a lesser degree. But even in government and the workplace, it would be impossible to function if you believed that everyone with whom you worked was morally free to publicly disclose your every offhand statement or indiscretion.