: re: Dark Again After Report on C.I.A. Torture

: re: Dark Again After Report on C.I.A. Torture

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Fri, Dec 12, 2014 at 8:48 AM
Subject: re: Dark Again After Report on C.I.A. Torture
To: "letters@nytimes.com" 

To the Editor:

   It is within president Obama's power to declassify the entire Torture Report, not just the Executive Summary. Indeed, the American People have paid for that report and for the conduct on which it reports. The Summary cannot suffice; if this Congress were to offer such a summary of the U.S. Constitution it might well quote "Congress shall make no Law", redacting away what some of us consider the important bits.

    President Obama has an opportunity here. Now that it is revealed that the C.I.A. had deceived him, he could shed his mistaken pledge to "look forward and not backwards" and put that Torture Report (with small redactions to protect ongoing operations and the innocent) up on the White House website this week. But if he prefers to continue the cover-up of these crimes, he will make them his own.

Barry Haskell Levine

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/opinion/after-report-on-cia-torture-no-more-disclosure.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

: re: Movement in the Eric Garner Case

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Wed, Oct 26, 2016 at 8:02 AM
Subject: re: Movement in the Eric Garner Case
To: "letters@nytimes.com"

To the Editor:

Loretta Lynch enforces Civil Rights

that Eric Holder studied in Law School

Attorney General who proudly fights

instead of sermonizing on the rule

of law but never prosecuting crime

'though murderers skate free on acts of hate

the gears of Justice have engaged this time

the feds must fix the failings of the State

no races left to run; Obama's free

to hoist the scales of Justice high and blind

to give no quarter to Blue bigotry

or ingrained prejudice of any kind

to slay such dragons and allay our fears

Loretta's gonna need eight more hard years

Barry Haskell Levine

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/26/opinion/movement-in-the-eric-garner-case.html

: re: Lewd Donald Trump Tape Is a Breaking Point for Many in the G.O.P.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Sat, Oct 8, 2016 at 4:49 PM
Subject: re: Lewd Donald Trump Tape Is a Breaking Point for Many in the G.O.P.
To: "letters@nytimes.com"

to the Editor:

    

Republicans, discovering Trump's crass
no longer can excuse him to their wives
they'll sleep alone if they support this ass
entrusting him with budgets, wars, and lives
read "Lyssistrata"! We've been here before
united, women might achieve effects
but given power, men are prone to war
and won't be reined in 'til deprived of sex
the credibility that Mike Pence lent
to reassure the voters he's okay
can't keep the Christian Right in Donald's tent
they might stay home in droves, election day
the vulgar crap Trumps prone to say and do
could paint both legislative houses blue

Barry Haskell Levine

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/us/politics/donald-trump-campaign.html

: re: Mike Pence’s Galling Amnesia

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/05/opinion/mike-pences-galling-amnesia.html?src=me

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: barry levine

Date: Thu, Oct 6, 2016 at 6:00 PM

Subject: re: Mike Pence’s Galling Amnesia

To: "letters@nytimes.com"

To the Editor:

Mike Pence has long made clear his disdain for theories, especially the Darwinian theory of evolution. Tuesday, he demonstrated his disdain for facts as well, lying unflinchingly about what his running-mate has indeed said and endorsed. We're left to wonder on what basis he does take the positions he does. If he is not guided by theory or by fact, does he rely only on revelation? Is this public revelation? Or would our vice president be acting on voices in his head no one else hears?

Barry Haskell Levine

re: Let’s Get Putin’s Attention

To the Editor:

   in 2016, Russia is a superpower only in military matters. She still has tanks, missiles, submarines, and atomic weapons that could destroy life on Earth. But in any other realm, Russia is a third-rate power; her economy is the size of Brazil's, and relies wholly on exports of arms, natural gas, and oil.  Vladimir Putin is accordingly eager to make all our interactions military interactions. President Obama has deftly, patiently repeatedly demurred to take the bait. Let Putin wade into a Syrian quagmire that he can't win and can't afford.

   As to cyberwar, the U.S. presents far more targets than does Russia, and has far more to lose. Why would we choose to wrestle with that pig?
Barry Haskell Levine

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/05/opinion/lets-get-putins-attention.html?_r=0

EpiPen outrage continues

To the Editor:

    The author lazily conflates market exclusivity granted by patent (as per the U.S. constitution) with barriers to market competition erected after the patent's expiration. Neither Shkreli's Turing Pharaceuticals (in the earlierDaraprim episode) nor Bresch's Mylan (in the EpiPen episode) had done the R&D on the product. Each was gouging the public on a drug that had long been in the public domain, but which enjoyed post-patent barriers to market competition.

    The U.S. patent system is a clever Enlightenment-age invention that lets the market reward innovation and disclosure, enabling competitors to duplicate a new product or process and drive the price to the fair level--after a period of protected exclusivity. Although current U.S. IP law does not work in some sectors (e.g. software) it continues to underpin investment and innovation is other sectors of the  U.S. economy (e.g. drug research). It has no part in the price gouging of Shkreli and Bresch.

Barry Haskell Levine

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/opinion/the-epipen-outrage-continues.html

playing at history

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Sep 7, 2016 at 8:03 AM
Subject: re: Obama, Acknowledging U.S. Misdeeds Abroad, Quietly Reframes American Power
To: "letters@nytimes.com" <letters@nytimes.com>

To the Editor:

    triumphalism warps our teaching texts

real history includes what we've done wrong
the causes get divorced from the effects
mere lyrics in a silly children's song
internment camps must never be forgot
what in good conscience no law could allow
how farmers had to leave their crops to rot
and sweat the war-years out in the hoosgow
if we're the sov'reigns here, we need to read
the sins our fathers wrought, not just the good
ideals they didn't manifest in deed
although they knew what it was that they should
the whitewashed version helps kids sleep at night
but doesn't educate them to what's right

Barry Haskell Levine

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/world/americas/obama-acknowledging-us-misdeeds-abroad-quietly-reframes-american-power.html?_r=0