“Keep the political pageantry short and sweet”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, September 9, 2012 The conventional wisdom is already in: Mitt Romney did well enough in Tampa, Fla., to remain competitive. Barack Obama delivered a solidly stirring acceptance speech, though Bill Clinton kinda stole the Charlotte, N.C., show. And pound for pound, the Dems put…
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“A cut above low expectations”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, September 2, 2012 Oh, the gift of low expectations! May we all be so lucky as to have little expected from us. Here was Mitt Romney on the big stage in Tampa, delivering a perfectly fine acceptance speech. Reading smoothly. Applying volume and emotion at appropriate…
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“Bloomberg’s persistent call for gun control”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, August 26, 2012 “Once again, there’s an awful lot of guns out there.” Michael Bloomberg, one of the few politicians in America willing to speak frankly about gun violence, was raising the topic again. How could he not? A seething middle-aged man, fighting demons real…
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“Can home explosion be wake-up call?”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, August 19, 2012 Ron Fried said it best. “Plumbers need to be licensed — and as far as I know, water doesn’t explode.” Fried, a novelist and television producer with a new house in Greenport, was reacting to the news of a propane explosion that…
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“This election, groups PAC a dirty punch”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, August 12, 2012 We should all have our own super PACs, pseudo-independent hit men doing our dirty work while pretending to operate entirely on their own. “Really?” we could ask, feigning extravagant surprise. “Someone just berated my noisy neighbors? Someone just disciplined my unruly…
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“The dumb way to fake your death”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, August 5, 2012 No one feels sorry for a dead guy hanging out at a Florida resort. Even in July. That might call into question his sanity. Or maybe the drowned speed racer from Long Island wanted to get caught. No sane person is as…
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“Villain’s twisted mind led to heinous act”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, July 22, 2012 For so long now, we’ve been expecting our villains from far away. Immigrants here illegally. Terrorists from abroad. People traveling great distances to take our jobs, blow us up or steal what we find precious. And yet again: The larger danger…
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“Cruise divorce, other surprises”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, July 1, 2012 Life is full of surprises. John Roberts leads the Supreme Court liberals to save Barack Obama’s health reform. The Dow shoots up 278 points in a day. Katie Holmes declares Tom Cruise a Mission: Impossible. Honestly, who would have predicted any of this? OK,…
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“Politics may decide health care ruling”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, June 24, 2012 Here it comes, the biggest decision of the U.S. Supreme Court’s current term, and the stakes could not be much higher. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida should have a huge impact on how Americans get their medical care,…
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“One less fear for illegal immigrant youth”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, June 17, 2012 Dream on. Children always pay the price or reap the benefits of choices their parents make. Where to live. How to learn and pray. Who to associate with. It’s one of the maddening realities of being young. Hugely important decisions, for…
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