“Weitzman’s illness puts politics in its place”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, January 30, 2011 He lost the election and won his life back. Last time we checked on Howard Weitzman, he was being swept out of office as Nassau County comptroller by voters in a decidedly anti-incumbent mood. But defeat at the polls wasn’t the only…
Details“America’s first suburb needs to rethink housing”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, January 23, 2011 Really? Do we really have to make this argument again? It’s irrefutable by now that if local governments on Long Island keep being so hostile to anything but 1950s-style, up-from-Bill-Levitt, single-family homes, America’s first suburb will end up with a vastly shrunken…
Details“Post Tucson, it will be politics as usual” – Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, January 16, 2011 Hope you enjoyed the lull. By midweek, it’s going to be over. It’s no blood libel to say the rhetorical ugliness of our political dialogue will be on extravagant display again. How could it not be? Health care is returning…
Details“Playoff football hits the frozen tundra″, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, January 9, 2011 Is football an inside game or an outside game? Is America a nation of wimps? Just in time for Wild Card Weekend in the NFL, both those questions hang in the air like big, fat snowflakes. And the schedule isn’t warming anybody up.…
Details“You can’t help just one”, Ellis Henican Column, amNewYork, January 7, 2011 Why come to grips with a big, messy social problem like homelessness? So much easier — isn’t it? — to shower job offers, cash payments and network-TV time on one homeless guy who happens to have a really nice voice? This is perfect:…
Details“Last year wasn’t a perfect 10”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, January 2, 2011 So the ball dropped. What did you expect? It would rise this year instead? No chance of that as 2010 finally sighed and said, “Good night.” Yes, the New Years’ rituals have grown a little tired. But clearly we still crave them. It…
Details“A Guv full of gaffes, from start to finish”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, December 26, 2010 Why not leave the same way you arrived? That’s the David Paterson approach. He stumbled into office in an uproar, and he’s stumbling out in one now, as people still shake their heads at his accidental governorship. Who was that…
Details“WikiLeaks—Inspired language”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, December 19, 2010 It isn’t just WikiLeaks. 1. WikiMeeks: Digital fan club for Democratic congressman in Queens 2. WikiShrieks: Crowd-sourced compendium of 1970s horror queens 3. WikiStreaks: Peer-to-peer platform for the promotion of naked, outdoor running 4. WikiBeaks: Can you spot the celebrity nose job? 5. WikiGleeks: Worldwide hangout zone…
Details“Paterson pours on the whine”, Ellis Henican Column, amNewYork, December 17, 2010 He’s really Governor Whiney now. You’d think that David Paterson would express some appreciation — perhaps even a little relief — as he screeches to the end of his brief and accidental governorship. Appreciation because no one ever seriously thought of him as…
Details“$250,000? Not rich by NY standards” , Newsday, December 12, 2010 You know we sound like whiners to the rest of America, complaining that a $250,000 New York income isn’t the same as being rich. “Oh, poor babies,” they’re grumbling in Tucson and Topeka, usually with theatrical eye-rolling for emphasis. And these outside-looking-in people do kinda…
Details