“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 to the agenda in Congress. The radio talk hosts never left the air. By Wednesday, if not sooner, Republicans will be using ugly names for Democrats again—and Democrats will return the favor for sure.
Miss that? I didn’t think so.
Remember the days after 9/11. We were all New Yorkers then. All Americans. Our internal disagreements seemed trivial. In the face of an existential threat, we were suddenly united in our sorrow and our grief.
And then just as suddenly, we were not.
In 15 minutes – or was it 20? — President Bush was scoring points through a bullhorn at Ground Zero. Rudy Giuliani was letting the “America’s mayor” talk get to his head. Dick Cheney was explaining how water-boarding didn’t really count as torture. And America was tumbling thoughtlessly off to a nonsensical and divisive war.
Democrats didn’t have so much power then. But what they had, they exercised with similar anger and bitterness. They gave as well as they got. Both sides have been giving energetically since then.
Now this.
After the Tucson lull, there’s no evidence attention spans are any longer. Do vows of politeness and understanding have any more staying power this year?
Truly, these are the New Year’s resolutions of 2011.
And midway through January, how many of those are any of us still clinging to?
And for how much longer?
WRONG SIGN
1. Want to change that LIBRA tattoo to LIBERAL?
2. Ophiuchus would be worse – no one can even pronounce it!!
3. Now that Obama’s a Cancer, will he get along better with Republicans?
4. Maybe the Earth will wobble the old signs back in to place.
5. Will the paper start running Horoscope Corrections?
ASKED AND UNANSWERED:
Did Dix Hills commodities promoter Vince McCrudden really threaten 47 financial regulators including the boss of the whole SEC? Wouldn’t 45 or 46 threats have expressed his irritation just as well?…You excited the IRS is ready now to start receiving early electronic tax filings for 2010? Or are you like me? You’re far less interested in the early-bird special than the absolute, final, you-go-to-prison-if-you-don’t-file, last-minute deadline?…If boasts were touchdowns, wouldn’t Rex Ryan’s Jets have already stomped the Patriots? Can someone please tell Rex boasts aren’t touchdowns?…Four suicides-by-hanging at the Nassau County Jail? I’m not saying one way or another, but is that a lot for a jail that size?…Want to take a chance on a $1.6-million Massapequa waterfront house raffle? Did I mention that cops say the raffle was fraudulent?…CBS executives are worried about Charlie Sheen? Really? Any reason for the concern? He seems like such a nice young man.
LONG ISLANDER OF THE WEEK
Mary Beth Koslap-Petraco
When it comes to infectious diseases, experts have long understood that health-care workers are often at special risk. They tend to spend their days around sick people, after all. As child-health coordinator for the Suffolk County Health Department, Mary Beth Koslap-Petraco has taken that challenge personally, launching a flu-immunization program for the department’s own employees. Experts across the country are taking notice: She has tripled the department’s vaccination rate to more than 90 percent, keeping Suffolk Country health workers well as they treat sick patients. Now, Koslap-Petraco has teamed up with the Center for Disease Control and the American Nurses Association in a multi-platform educational campaign, highlighting the important role of nurses in preventing communicable disease. As a pediatric nurse practitioner for more than 40 years, the Amityville resident is writing peer-review articles and producing educational videos, helping turn Long Island into a national model for getting health professionals to roll up their own sleeves and get immunized. Don’t worry, folks. It’ll only sting a little. And it might save some lives.
E-mail ellis@henican.com. Follow him at twitter.com/henican