Monday, March 31, 2008

A Civil War Iraq Can't Win

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/opinion/30cordesman.html?ref=opinion- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>Date: Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 8:23 PMSubject: A Civil War Iraq Can't WinTo: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor: Anthony Cordesman likens Moktada al-Sadr to a Mafia boss, but warns against characterizing him as a "bad guy". Perhaps we will back him as a head of state someday? Moktada as-Sadr still needs to be charged and tried in the murder of Abdul Majid al-Khoei. As long the Iraqi government treats al-Sadr as untouchable, it has no credibility with any of the parties in that country. The U.S. has a long record of using unsavory characters to work our will on the world, but to hop into bed with this particular murderer would be crass even by our standards.Barry Levine1142 Brown AveLafayette, CA 94549

Thursday, March 27, 2008

For Carbon Emissions, A Goal of Less Than Zero

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/business/businessspecial2/26negative.html- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>Date: Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 10:15 AMSubject: For Carbon Emissions, A Goal of Less Than ZeroTo: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor: If all human activity were carbon-neutral tomorrow, and if we restored all the world's forests to their state before the Industrial revolution, we would still be 200 years in the hole on carbon. After two centuries of pumping carbon from fossil reserves into the atmosphere, we have to take those gigatons of carbon out of circulation. This need not require planting new crops, nor strip-mining the plankton on which so much marine life depends. Currently, photosynthesis fixes carbon at about twenty times that humankind releases it. At steady-state, all of that goes futilely back into the atmosphere through the actions of cellulases in ungulate guts and soil fungi. If we were to intercept five percent of that cellulose (as waste newsprint, or bagasse, or sawdust or lawn clippings, or rice straw) and bury it, we could offset the current human contribution to atmospheric CO2.Barry Levine1142 Brown AveLafayette, CA 94549

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Yes, Carville Says, He Meant It

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/carville-stands-by-judas-remark/- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>Date: Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 9:21 AMSubject: Yes, Carville Says, He Meant ItTo: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor: For too long, partisan loyalty has trumped competence in choosing our public servants. After the debacles of the Katrina response and the rebuilding of Iraq, I hope the we are ready for something new. It is time that we put the Atwaters and Carvilles behind us, and work towards a competent government that serves the interests of the American people, rather than the ambitions of our political aristocrats.Barry Levine1142 Brown AveLafayette, CA 94549

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Why Radical Islam Just Won't Die

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/opinion/23berman.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=berman&st=nyt&oref=slogin- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>Date: Sun, Mar 23, 2008 at 8:38 PMSubject: Why Radical Islam Just Won't DieTo: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor: Paul Berman falsely equates Radical Islam with Iraq, then goes on to assert that we have tried all possible responses. We have not. In 2001, the American president had the opportunity to lead a broad international coalition to wipe out the threat from Al Qaeda. The governments and peoples of Saudi Arabia and Iran stood ready to join us in this venture. Instead, president Bush preferred to claim the powers of a "war-time president". With a single word, he alienated our most valuable allies in this war, as he called for "crusade". Six and a half years later, Osama bin Laden is still at large and the American people are no safer. Iraq has proven to be a distraction from our real struggle with Islam Extremism. We look forward to the next administration, which may spend more energy on our global security, and less on aggrandizing the office of the president.Barry Levine1142 Brown AveLafayette, CA 94549

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Bush Defends Iraq War in Speech

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/world/middleeast/20prexy.html?em&ex=1206158400&en=9a02b1d9d85db27f&ei=5087%0A
To the Editor: It is no longer surprising to hear president Bush crowing over "successes" in Iraq. His handlers have raised lowered expectations to an artform. Those of us out here in the reality-based community note that more Iraqis lack the simple necessities of life than under Saddam Hussein. Instead of building a free and peaceful Iraq, we are institutionalizing an Iraq run by armed sects, in which our indefinite presence is required to limit the violence. President Bush gives us too much talk of "successes". The American people are less interested in his "successes" that only get us deeper into Iraq, than in his successor who will get us out.Barry Levine1142 Brown AveLafayette, CA 94549

Marking 5 Years, Bush Insists U.S. Must Win in Iraq

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/world/middleeast/20prexy.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin
---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>Date: Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 11:20 AMSubject: Marking 5 Years, Bush Insists U.S. Must Win in IraqTo: letters@nytimes.com
To the Editor:
It is no longer surprising to hear president Bush crowing over "successes" in Iraq. His handlers have raised lowered expectations to an artform. Those of us out here in the reality-based community note that more Iraqis lack the simple necessities of life than under Saddam Hussein. Instead of building a free and peaceful Iraq, we are institutionalizing an Iraq run by armed sects, in which our indefinite presence is required to limit the violence. President Bush gives us too much talk of "successes". The American people are less and less interested in "the decider" and increasingly interested in his successor.
Barry Levine
1142 Brown Ave
Lafayette, CA 94549

Bush Defends Iraq War in Speech

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/world/middleeast/20prexy.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin
---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine Date: Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 11:28 AMSubject: Bush Defends Iraq War in SpeechTo: letters@nytimes.com
To the Editor: It is no longer surprising to hear president Bush crowing over "successes" in Iraq. His handlers have raised lowered expectations to an artform. Those of us out here in the reality-based community note that more Iraqis lack the simple necessities of life than under Saddam Hussein. Instead of building a free and peaceful Iraq, we are institutionalizing an Iraq run by armed sects, in which our indefinite presence is required to limit the violence.
President Bush gives us too much talk of "successes". The American people are less and less interested in his "successes" and increasingly interested in his successor.Barry Levine1142 Brown AveLafayette, CA 94549

Monday, March 17, 2008

Fateful Choice on Iraq Army Bypassed Debate

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/world/middleeast/17bremer.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin- Hide quoted text -
---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>Date: Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 10:38 AMSubject: Fateful Choice on Iraq Army Bypassed DebateTo: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor: I try not to impute malice when mere incompetence can explain the result. Nonetheless, it seems clear that disbanding the Iraqi Army led quickly to an Iraq of armed factions, that is only held together by the American armed presence. Since both Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates have endorsed plans for an indefinite U.S. military presence there, I am tempted to see Bremer's actions as a set-up. Then again, one can't discount incompetence.Barry Levine1142 Brown AveLafayette, CA 94549

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Spare the Pork but Dish some Candor

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/15/opinion/15sat3.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>Date: Sat, Mar 15, 2008 at 2:24 PMSubject: Spare the Pork but Dish some CandorTo: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor: Tallying the dollar value of earmarks vastly underestimates their impact. If a senator is persuaded to vote for a bad bill because his/her constituents will enjoy a little pork, that bill can cost us a thousand times more than the earmark itself. Worse yet, we get a bad bill, and a senator who is not answering to his/her constituents in the bargain. There is much that needs to be fixed in our current system of government. Earmarks are not the worst of our problems, but neither are they immaterial.Barry Levine1142 Brown Ave Lafayette, CA 94549

Thursday, March 13, 2008

F.B.I. Made ‘Blanket’ Demands for Phone Records

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/washington/13fbi.html?_r=1&sq=blanket&st=cse&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&scp=1&adxnnlx=1205434994-diMbxGJzHjij4d/fs1nY5w
---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine Date: Thu, Mar 13, 2008 at 12:09 PMSubject: F.B.I. Made ‘Blanket’ Demands for Phone RecordsTo: letters@nytimes.com
To the Editor:
News that the F.B.I. "had issued thousands of 'exigent' or emergency records demands to phone providers in situations where no life-threatening emergency existed" raises more questions. Did the F.B.I. trample C.I.A. turf by reaching beyond its mandate (which is purely domestic)? Did the F.B.I. trample our guarantee of freedom from unreasonable search and seizure by evading proper judicial oversight? If civil lawsuits are the only venue in which the scope of the wrongdoings will be exposed to daylight, it is outrageous to consider that our congress might block them by immunizing the phone companies.
Barry Levine
1142 Brown Ave
Lafayette, CA 94549

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Citing Faith, Bush Defends War Actions

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/world/middleeast/12prexy.html?ref=todayspaper- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>Date: Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 11:00 AMSubject: Citing Faith, Bush Defends War ActionsTo: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor: After the attacks of 9/11/01, the governments and peoples of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan lined up to join us in a coalition to eliminate the threat from Al Qaeda. President Bush alienated these crucial allies with a single word, when he called for "crusade". Now in 2008, he has taken on the mantle of the Inquisition, willing to visit torture and death on the body for the sake of the immortal soul. Spare us. We don't have time for this president to work his way through every one of the Church's mistakes of the last two millenia.Barry Levine1142 Brown AveLafayette, CA 94549

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

House Steers Its Own Path on Wiretaps

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/washington/11fisa.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=todayspaper&adxnnlx=1205254833-2RSY/sFyt6yfpronquEkYA- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>Date: Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 10:09 AMSubject: House Steers Its Own Path on WiretapsTo: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor: It is good news for all Americans that our House of Representatives is not rushing to cover up the crimes of our phone companies. A year from now, a new Department of Justice may resume enforcement of the law requiring warrants for wiretaps. Until then, the civil courts are the only venue in which Americans can defend ourselves against this unreasonable search and seizure. Barry Levine1142 Brown AveLafayette, CA 94549

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Bush's Veto of Bill on C.I.A. Tactics Affirms His Legacy

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/washington/09policy.html?ref=todayspaper- Hide quoted text -
---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>Date: Sat, Mar 8, 2008 at 9:07 PMSubject: Bush's Veto of Bill on C.I.A. Tactics Affirms His LegacyTo: letters@nytimes.com

to the Editor: President Bush persists in making this a more dangerous world not only for our own servicemen and servicewomen, but for all American diplomats, businessmen and tourists. By reserving the power to use unspecified "interrogation techniques" to the CIA, he fosters the belief that the U.S. uses torture. We can therefore expect that Americans--whether prisoners of war or otherwise detained--will face torture ourselves. The ninety-nine percent of Americans who travel with neither personal bodyguards nor secret service protection look forward to inaugurating a government which gives a damn.Barry Levine1142 Brown AveLafayette, CA 94549

Thursday, March 6, 2008

F.B.I. Says Records Demands Are Curbed

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/washington/06fbi.html?sq=- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>Date: Thu, Mar 6, 2008 at 9:34 AMSubject: F.B.I. Says Records Demands Are CurbedTo: letters@nytimes.com


Our Justice department now confirms that the constitutional guarantee against unreasonable search was trampled in the cases of thousands of Americans. Robert Mueller III assures us that "reforms we now have in place" protect us from repeats of such infractions, but demurs to tell us who suffered these outrages. I have not seen the details of these "reforms", but--because of their ad hoc nature--I am sure that they cannot satisfy traditional definitions of "due process". We would be better served by requiring a judicial warrant for each such wiretap, as per the FISA statute of 1978. All of this administration's efforts to evade that proper judicial oversight should persuade us that the intent has always be to allow spying on American citizens for partisan purposes. Proper wiretaps on terrorists were already allowed.Barry Levine1142 Brown AveLafayette, CA 94549

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Violence Leaves Young Iraqis Doubting Clerics

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/world/middleeast/04youth.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin
---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine Date: Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 10:09 AMSubject: Violence Leaves Young Iraqis Doubting ClericsTo: letters@nytimes.com
to the Editor:
Today's story, that Iraq's youth are turning away from religious affiliation is insightful, but hardly news. Before the U.S. invasion, Iraq's most senior cleric, grand ayatollah Ali al-Sistani had predicted that a government run by clerics like that in Iran would have the effect of bringing disrepute not only to that government, but to the clerics and to religion itself. The U.S. has shaped its policy in Iraq on the inputs from many disreputable sources, while carefully turning a deaf ear to the man who could be our most valuable ally in the nation. If our selective deafness is merely because ayatollah al-Sistani asserts that oil deposits are a national asset, and cannot be privatized, I would ask why this is relevant to our campaign to bring freedom to the Iraqi people, or to eliminate a base of terrorism.
Barry Levine
1142 Brown Ave
Lafayette, CA 94549