One thing you won't see in our Christmas letter

Sorry. If you get our Christmas letter this year, we won't tell you everything. Kathy will not describe my prostate exam which she sat in on in the doctor's office.

In fact, that didn't happen. But it was reported as being part of the Christmas letter sent out by Kansas City mayor, Mark Funkhouser and his wife, Gloria Squitiro. The letter was excerpted on the internet last year with resulting national publicity as you might guess.

The strange-seeming love affair between Mayor Funkhouser and wife Ms Squitiro is legendary in this 450,000 population Missouri city. The couple is so close that Ms Suitiro literally moved into the Mayor's office in 2007 when he did. She acted as his council, scheduled his appointments and consulted and (sometimes, it was said) made mayoral decisions. She also made many enemies for her controlling, intruding and devisive manner. She was not on the payroll, she was just the mayor's wife with, as the Mayor says, a right to be at his side.

The situation became so intrusive that, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, the City Council effectively banished her from City Hall. Now, the Mayor is suing his own city insisting he needs his wife at his side. And maybe he does. She ran his campaign, runs his schedule, helps him conduct interviews and, it appears, is quite dominant in his life.

Three observations: 1) This, a very few say, is just a case of true love. 2) I'm glad I don't live in Kansas City. 3) That prostate thing. Are you kidding me?