cheney

CHENEY’S AUDACITY OF COMPLAINT

“Bush-era war whoopers were wrong then, are wrong now”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, June 22, 2014 Is there any penalty anymore for being wrong? Not in politics. Not in the media. Otherwise, the cable news channels and newspaper op-ed pages wouldn’t be so crowded with unapologetic know-it-alls who turned out to know so little the…

Details

iraq

SORRY IRAQ, NOT THIS TIME

“Iraq War do-over? No, thank you”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, June 15, 2014 Quick show of hands: Who wants to send combat troops back into Iraq? Nobody? That’s right. Nobody at all. Not even former Vice President Dick Cheney or Arizona Sen. John McCain are demanding American boots on the ground — yet. No sane person…

Details

bergdahl

WHEN TRADE IS TRADITION OF WAR

“America cares about its POWs, without exception”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, June 8, 2014 You can’t say, “We don’t trade with terrorists.” What you can say is, “We say we don’t trade with terrorists.” There’s a big difference between the two. Ronald Reagan did it. Doubt me? Google “Iran-Contra affair.” Oliver North, the architect, is a…

Details

STERLING DEMENTIA

HE DIDN’T MEAN IT: THE DEMENTIA DEFENSE

“Could Donald Sterling mount a dementia defense?”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, June 1, 2014 Does Donald Sterling have an Alzheimer’s defense? We’re in tricky territory here. If you suffer from progressive dementia, you’re often the last one to know it — and the least equipped to marshal your last, best, possible defense. The 80-year-old owner…

Details

Cuban

CUBAN’S MAVERICK HONESTY A GOOD START

“Frankness about bias isn’t such a bad thing”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, May 25, 2014 OK, he could have chosen his words more carefully. The hoodie crack was unfortunate. But shouldn’t we all be praising Mark Cuban instead of blasting him for speaking honestly on the dicey topic of prejudice? Prejudice festers in the dark and the…

Details

petzel2

FOR VETS BLAME IS NOT THE CURE

“We have to do better in treating our veterans”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, May 18, 2014 It’s a solemn commitment: When we send our men and women into battle, we treat the wounded and sick when they return. Who can object to that? And here’s something else that’s indisputable: We’ve fallen down on the job. Deadly appointment…

Details

Benham

BENHAMS’ BELIEFS GET THEM THE HGTV BOOT

“Yanking Benham twins from HGTV amounts to silencing opinions”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, May 11, 2014 Do the Benham twins really need to be kept off HGTV? I don’t happen to share Jason and David’s old-timey views on marriage and abortion. But that doesn’t mean the brothers’ conservative outlook makes them unfit to host “Flip It Forward,”…

Details

jobs2

NEW JOB NUMBERS DON’T ADD UP

“Job numbers don’t tell real story”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, May 4, 2014 Live by the numbers, cry by the numbers. U.S. employers added 288,000 jobs in April. That’s good, better than the 218,000 analysts were predicting. The nation’s unemployment rate was also down, to 6.3 percent from 6.7 percent a month ago. And amid…

Details

swatnewsday2

SWATTING FOR IDIOTS

“Long Beach ‘swatting’ prank stupid — and criminal”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, April 27 2014 Some people are just idiots. I can give you a dozen other explanations — the adrenaline of hard competition, the numbing isolation of video games, the emasculating heartbreak of unexpected defeat. Those things may all have played a role in last…

Details