“Who Wants to Drive Everywhere?” Ellis Henican Sunday Column, Newsday, 5-31-09
Is it still the suburbs if you don’t need a car?
That epistemological question lies at the very core of the debate over Long Island’s two most fascinating development proposals – the Lighthouse project around Nassau Coliseum and western Suffolk’s Heartland Town Square.
What stirs such passion [...]

“Supreme Predicament for the G.O.P.,” Ellis Henican Column, amNew York, May 29, 2009

Oh, this could be great for Obama and the Democrats.
If Republicans will just keep pulverizing Sonia Sotomayor, they might well achieve a rare double fiasco for the Once-Grand Party – pursuing a doomed campaign against a highly qualified Supreme Court nominee and guaranteeing [...]

“Should Life-Saving Medical Care Be a Parent’s Choice?” Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, May 24, 2009
Should the law punish a parent who calls God instead of the doctor? How ’bout a parent who believes so fervently in New Age treatments, a child with a deadly disease is denied lifesaving medical care?
It’s the clash of belief and [...]

“Obama Reclaims War on Terror,” Ellis Henican Column, amNew York, May 22, 2009

No one was water-boarded. No secret tribunals were held. The word “Guantanamo” wasn’t even mentioned.
It was old-fashioned police work, overseen by a civilian federal court, that busted open America’s latest terror plot. Investigation, arrest, arraignment, evidence, prosecution and defense — the time-honored techniques [...]

“Swine Flu Comes Back with a Harden Punch,” Ellis Henican Sunday Column, Newsday, 5-17-09
Wait, wasn’t the swine flu supposed to be finished?
For two solid weeks there, we’d breathed a nice sigh of relief. This pandemic wasn’t the pandemic. H1N1 was half a virus of hype. And we were turning our limited attention, as we always [...]

“Hey, Notre Dame! Let the President Speak,” Ellis Henican Column, amNew York, May 15, 2009
It’s one of the great things about America’s Catholic universities, one of many — the long coexistence of intellectual openness and faith.
We Catholics are not expected to shut ourselves off from honest discussion. We are not taught to close our minds [...]