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
Saturday, March 15, 2008
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 levineDate: 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
---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine
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
---------- 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
---------- 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
---------- 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
---------- 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 levineDate: 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
---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
