Goldman Sachs on the Defensive as Senators Ask Blunt Questions

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/opinion/l29goldman.html
: Re “Goldman Sachs on the Defensive as Senators Ask Blunt Questions” (Business Day, April 28): The Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Goldman Sachs is essentially defining the fine line between ethically abhorrent and illegal. How the courts ultimately rule is anyone’s guess. But most perturbing to me was how little attention is being paid to a big loser from Wall Street’s actions: the American saver. TARP and other money funneled to Wall Street has been largely paid back. The biggest and most hidden subsidy of all has not. Interest rates are near zero. They are at such a level so banks, like Goldman, can make money by using this almost-free money and investing in AAA-rated Treasuries yielding 2 to 4 percent more than their borrowings. Savers are the ones financing this by forgoing normal interest rates, but they will never get their day in court. If Goldman owes anyone, it’s not the “sophisticated” institutions that bought their risky mortgage products; it’s the citizens who didn’t have a choice in bailing out entities like Goldman. Michael Lebowitz Bethesda, Md., April 28, 2010

Investigation Links Critic’s Death to Top Chechens

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/world/europe/26chechen.html?scp=2&sq=kadyrov&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 9:00 PM
Subject: re: Investigation Links Critic’s Death to Top Chechens
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    It seems that president Kadyrov of Chechnya is a thug, a despot and a toady of Moscow, responsible for the deaths of many of his countrymen. It seems that president Obama of the United States is a civilized man trying to extricate his country from military and crises.  In the matter of extra-judicial killings however, the two are indistinguishable.  Until mr. Israilov and mr. al-Awlaki are convicted by duly-constituted courts, they are innocent men in the eyes of the American law. For a president to order such men killed is to abandon the rule of law and the legitimacy of the presidency.

Barry Levine

Everybody Loves a Winner

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/opinion/21friedman.html?scp=1&sq=everybody%20loves%20a%20winner&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 9:47 AM
Subject: re: Everybody Loves a Winner
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    President Obama plainly holds a stronger hand in foreign affairs now that health insurance reform has passed than he would if it hadn't.  It remains to see what he will do with that influence.  If we continue to violate our treaty obligations to extradite murder suspects to our allies and to prosecute torture, any sane observer would deem that our word isn't good. We could save a lot of money by retiring our whole diplomatic staff and accept that we are a pariah nation.

Barry Levine

Cancer Fight: Unclear Tests for New Drug

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/health/research/20cancer.html?ref=todayspaper

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 9:09 AM
Subject: re: Cancer Fight: Unclear Tests for New Drug
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

  the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's rules have enshrined a wrong concept of what cancer is, and people are dying for this error.  Currently, the FDA defines cancers by their tissues of origin.  That may be a sufficient definition for a surgeon, to whom any cancer is a lump to be cut out. For a scientist developing new cancer treatments or for an oncologist trying to treat patients, a cancer is defined by the genetic defects that drive it.  To them, Herceptin is a drug that kills cancers that are driven by HER2, be they in the breast or the stomach or anywhere else.  When one has a proper understanding of what cancers are, Dr.Griffith's case isn't ambiguous; she has two cancers. Both are in her breast, only one of them seems to be driven by HER2. We hope that Herceptin does kill the cancer driven by HER2. She may need an entirely different treatment for the other one.

Barry Levine

A Confederacy of Dunces

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/opinion/08collins.html?scp=1&sq=confederacy%20of%20dunces&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 10:39 AM
Subject: re: A Confederacy of Dunces
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

  In 1974, president Gerald Ford--in order to end the nation's long nightmare of Watergate--pardoned Richard Nixon for crimes unenumerated. A nation weary of scandal largely accepted this. The infection was never cleaned out, and it festered. Under the Cheney/Bush administration, we relapsed into the imperial presidency, complete with illegal wiretaps at home and an illegal war abroad. Just not talking about it didn't work.  The issue of secession has been festering far longer than that.

    Theorists of democracy had demonstrated by the time of the formation of the United States that a democracy can be legitimate only when the members have in large measure similar values and means.  A citizen who is out-voted on one issue will accept the majority position only if she/he can expect to be in the majority on another issue on another day.  If there exists a permanent minority holding different values, that will be out-voted on all issues, participation in the democracy is empty, and illegitimate. Anyone who has compared the Bush v. Gore electoral map of 2000 to the Slave v. Free state map of 1860 should ask if "one nation, indivisible" is not a pious fiction.  If there is still a Confederacy 150 yrs after our war, they deserve self rule and we deserve to be free of them. Let them legislate against healthcare and research and birth control. But let them do it among a polity who shares their values, and let us get on with moving the US into the 21st century.

Barry Levine

Relax, We’ll Be Fine

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/opinion/06brooks.html?ref=todayspaper

---------- Forwarded mhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/opinion/06brooks.html?ref=todayspaper

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 3:44 PM
Subject: re: Relax, We’ll Be Fine
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    All our planet's ills are exacerbated by the pressure of too many people competing for our finite resources. It may be that our economy won't topple as long as we can balance it on an ever-expanding pyramid of our grandchildren and their debt. Mr Brooks is profoundly wrong to conclude that this is alright.

Barry Levineessage ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 3:44 PM
Subject: re: Relax, We’ll Be Fine
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    All our planet's ills are exacerbated by the pressure of too many people competing for our finite resources. It may be that our economy won't topple as long as we can balance it on an ever-expanding pyramid of our grandchildren and their debt. Mr Brooks is profoundly wrong to conclude that this is alright.

Barry Levine

U.S. Admits Role in February Killing of Afghan Women

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/world/asia/05afghan.html?scp=1&sq=military%20admits%20a%20role%20in&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 8:22 AM
Subject: re: U.S. Admits Role in February Killing of Afghan Women
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    In the conduct of modern warfare, there are always civilian deaths.  We cannot know in advance which civilians will be killed, but we need to weigh these inevitable deaths before we go to war. The cover-up of such deaths however is a crime in itself.  If US troops or contractors dug the bullets from these bodies to cover up their role, they must be held accountable.  General McChrystal has the opportunity to show more leadership in this case than he did in the falsification of Pat Tillman's death. We're waiting.

Barry Levine

We Can’t Tell You

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/opinion/04sun1.html?hp

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Sun, Apr 4, 2010 at 10:28 AM
Subject: re: We Can’t Tell You
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    President Obama has to decide how far he will go to cover up the crimes of a previous administration. This is not just a matter of political capital squandered. This is a matter of constitutional guarantees and of the rule of law. Professor Obama knew and taught this. Candidate Obama ran on this and won. It's over-due that president Obama deliver the change we voted for.

Barry Levine

Court Ruling on Wiretap Is a Challenge for Obama

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/us/politics/02nsa.html?ref=todayspaper

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Fri, Apr 2, 2010 at 10:39 AM
Subject: re: Court Ruling on Wiretap Is a Challenge for Obama
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   On paper, our Constitution protects each of us from unreasonable search. That was given concrete form and teeth by the FISA statute of 1978, among others. Now judge Walker's ruling has affirmed that this constitutional guarantee was flouted and this law was deliberately  violated under the Bush administration. If the Obama administration persists in covering up these crimes, that cover-up is a new crime that deserves its own prosecutor.

Barry Levine

Federal Judge Finds N.S.A. Wiretaps Were Illegal

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/us/01nsa.html?scp=2&sq=fisa&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 10:56 PM
Subject: re: Federal Judge Finds N.S.A. Wiretaps Were Illegal
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    Judge Walker's finding is a welcome affirmation that no one--even the president of the United States of America in times of war--is above the law. The FISA statute of 1978 was clear and binding and it was flouted.  Now it remains to disclose in how many more instances this law was violated, and to prosecute those responsible.  If we are to have a government of Laws and not of Men as our Founders dreamed, there must be consequences for violating the laws duly enacted by our representatives.

Barry Levine