Barack Be Good

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/opinion/26krugman.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=barack%20be%20good&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 26, 2008 at 10:12 AM
Subject: Barack Be Good
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
  Despite an eight-year habit of capitulating to the Executive,
Congress too has a role in bringing us good government. America has
voted for change, and that doesn't apply only to the White House.
Until we separate campaigning from fund-raising our laws will always
favor the wealthy. Until we change our seniority rules, power will
reside with the oldest members of congress, rather than the most
competent. No one can seriously argue that the system we have is
working. This upheaval is the opportunity to build a more perfect
union for the future.
Barry Levine

Federal Cases of Stock Fraud Drop Sharply

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/business/25fraud.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=fraud%20prosecutions%20fall&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 25, 2008 at 7:33 AM
Subject: Federal Cases of Stock Fraud Drop Sharply
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
   Those of us who wondered why president Bush's approval rating
never reached zero can stop wondering. We now know who funded him, who
backed him, and who benefited from his mis-rule.
Barry Levine

Afghans and U.S. Plan to Recruit Local Militias

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/24/world/asia/24afghan.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=plan%20to%20recruit%20local%20militias&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 24, 2008 at 9:06 AM
Subject: Afghans and U.S. Plan to Recruit Local Militias
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
 If Afghanistan is indeed an irredeemably failed state, then local
warlords may be the only allies who can help us against the Taliban.
Such a judgement mustn't be made lightly; to empower these warlords is
to undercut the central state in which we have invest so much hope and
so many lives. As we put weapons into the hands of local sectarian
forces, we abandon any future in which the U.S. can withdraw to leave
an Afghanistan at peace. Rather we  will have set up a house of cards
that will collapse into bloody civil war on our departure.
Barry Levine

Aging a Cable to Extend a Bridge's Life

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/aging-a-cable-to-extend-a-bridges-lfe/?scp=1&sq=cable%20bridge&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 8:56 AM
Subject: Aging a Cable to Extend a Bridge's Life
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
 While the experiment ongoing at Columbia is praiseworthy, it will
teach us more about the Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges than about
the Brooklyn. We just don't know the composition of the cable on the
Brooklyn. During the construction, it was discovered that J. Lloyd
Haigh had been supplying cheaper brittle iron wire in lieu of the
expensive steel for which Roebling had paid. To this day, no one know
how much of the wrong wire is incorporated in these load-bearing
cables.  Roebling built well, and the bridge continues to serve us
into its second century. Its future is still unknowable.
Barry Levine

Bush v. Gore Set to Outlast Its Beneficiary

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/us/23bar.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=bush%20v.%20gore&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 8:46 AM
Subject: Bush v. Gore Set to Outlast Its Beneficiary
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   The Ninth Circuit Court, seeking to issue a ruling without creating a precedent, has cited as precedent Bush v. Gore which claimed to be a ruling that established no precedent. It's an elegant knot that leaves me groping for the proper precedent. Heller? Kafka? Moebius? While Bush v. Gore may establish no precedent, it may yet be the foundation of an industry teaching topology to lawyers.

Barry Levine

Redefining the Role of the U.S. Military in Iraq

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/washington/22combat.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=advisors%20baghdad&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Dec 22, 2008 at 5:55 PM
Subject: Redefining the Role of the U.S. Military in Iraq
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   Until U.S. forces--whether they are called "troops" or "advisers" or "contractors" are out of Iraq--they will continue to die and will be seen as a provocation to Al Qaeda recruiters. We can all remember a time when zero Americans died in Iraq in an average month, and any deaths were news-worthy. Until we get back to such a baseline, talk of "success" teeters between farce and blasphemy.

Barry Levine

Bush Aids Detroit, but Hard Choices Wait for Obama

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/20/business/20auto.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 11:14 PM
Subject: Bush Aids Detroit, but Hard Choices Wait for Obama
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   While it may amuse president Bush to trap president-elect Obama in a promise to Detroit, the bailout of the automakers is problematic. Most glaringly, the power of the purse belongs to Congress, not to the Executive. The president has no more power to bail out the automakers than he has to make war a foreign country. Oh, never mind.

Barry Levine

An Inquiry in Baghdad Is Clouded by Politics

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=an%20inquiry%20in%20%20baghdad%20is%20clouded&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 11:14 AM
Subject: An Inquiry in Baghdad Is Clouded by Politics
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    Depending on the substance of the charges of "coup", the purges in the Iraqi government are either the first or the second blow in the new civil war. Despite the recent delusion that the Surge has "succeeded", Iraq will descend into open civil war when the Americans--troops and contractors--leave. That would be so at the end of fifty-year occupation as surely as it would had we left this year. The difference between the two scenarios can be measured in the American lives spent in the interim. Our adventure in Iraq hasn't been financed by Iraq's own oil, hasn't defeated terrorism, hasn't improved the lives of Iraqis and hasn't made America safer. Where is the benefit to be weighed against the price in lives?

Barry Levine

Iraqi Journalist Hurls Shoes at Bush and Denounces Him on TV as a 'Dog'

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/world/middleeast/15prexy.html?scp=1&sq=shoe&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 7:26 PM
Subject: Iraqi Journalist Hurls Shoes at Bush and Denounces Him on TV as a 'Dog'
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
  If president Bush read the news rather than relying on filtered
briefs from his sycophants, he would be less surprised to find he is
not loved. Had he spent more effort in serving the people and less in
packing his news conferences with shills like Jeff Gannon, he might
even deserve a civil welcome.
Barry Levine

Necessary Medicine?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/weekinreview/14sack.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=necessary-medicine&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 4:28 PM
Subject: Necessary Medicine?
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
 If there has been "a rough consensus...among the Democrats...to
stimulate competition" in healthcare plans, it is because they felt
obliged to kowtow to senator Lieberman. "Competition" in this context
codes for keeping our healthcare system in the hands of the insurance
companies. Now that he is no longer the irreplaceable fifty-first vote
in the senate, we can begin working on a plan that serves the people,
rather than those companies.
Barry Levine

'Terror' Is the Enemy

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/opinion/14bobbitt.html

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Dec 13, 2008 at 4:33 PM
Subject: 'Terror' Is the Enemy
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
 The "war" paradigm is unhelpful in our struggle against terrorism,
not least because there can be neither armistice nor peace treaty. The
duration is therefore undefined. POWs who could be detained "for the
duration" of a conventional war are doomed to lifetime incarceration
in a "war on terror"--without charges, without trials and without
appeal. Likewise, the extraordinary powers that the President claims
in times of war have no expiration date when there can be no armistice
and no peace. A responsible president would have emerged from attacks
of September 2001 as the leader of an international coalition to
apprehend and eliminate a criminal band who threatened the governments
of Saudi Arabia and Iran as much as that of the United States.
Instead, president Bush--eager to claim wartime powers--called for
"crusade". It will take a lot of work to accomplish now what could
have been done in 2002. The lives lost can never be replaced.
Barry Levine

White House Ready to Aid Auto Industry

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/13/business/13auto.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Dec 13, 2008 at 2:25 PM
Subject: White House Ready to Aid Auto Industry
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
 Our constitution enumerates the powers of Congress. To it alone is
given the power to initiate (declare) war, and to end war (ratify
treaties). To it alone is given the power of the purse. Somehow with
the War Powers Acts of 1990 and the authorization for use of force of
2002, our congress has tried to delegate the first of these powers to
the Executive. Now, with the TARP, it seems to have given over the
purse as well. The constitution offers no hint that one branch can
delegate its powers to another, but who has standing to challenge them
when they shirk their responsibilities?
Barry Levine

Report Blames Rumsfeld for Detainee Abuses

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/washington/12detainee.html?_r=1&hp

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 10:49 PM
Subject: Report Blames Rumsfeld for Detainee Abuses
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
  If "responsibility" means anything in this administration, it must
mean that our public servants in the Executive branch are accountable
for decisions and actions made on their watch. In this case, secretary
Rumsfeld has been found to have put the U.S. in violation of our
treaty obligations under the 1984 Convention against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment.  Since our constitution makes
our treaty obligations the supreme law of the land, this constitutes a
high crime. Our department of Justice would be derelict in its duties
to ignore such a transgression, even in the name of bipartisan amity.
Barry Levine

Who Will He Choose?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/opinion/05brooks.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=david-brooks&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 7:51 AM
Subject: Who (sic) Will He Choose?
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   In some alternative universe, union busters are "reformers", those who would invest in our children are "the establishment" and David Brooks is a "voice of reason". Yeah, and I am the walrus. Koo koo kachoo.

Barry Levine

Israeli Troops Evict Settlers in the West Bank

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/world/middleeast/05mideast.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=israeli%20troops%20force%20jewish%20settlers&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Subject: Israeli Troops Evict Settlers in the West Bank
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    The lame-duck administration of Ehud Olmert continues to enforce the law, even taking to opportunity to advance peace in ways that would be politically difficult if he were staying in office. The lame-duck administration of George Bush spends its last days gutting environmental legislation. History will judge which regime was scandalous.

Barry Levine

Mukasey Sees No Necessity for Pardons in Terror War

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/us/04justice.html?scp=1&sq=mukasey%20sees%20no%20necessity%20for%20pardons&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 9:35 AM
Subject: Mukasey Sees No Necessity for Pardons in Terror War
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    If our Attorney General sees need for neither prosecutions nor pardons for torture committed by agents of the Executive, it may be because he doesn't understand our treaty obligations. When the U.S. signed on to the Torture Convention of 1984, it became the supreme law in the land. Any American who has tortured since then has violated our treaty obligations. According to our constitution, that's a "high crime". I look forward to a United States that reclaims its place in the community of nations. If that doesn't start with honoring our treaty obligations, we won't have achieved the change we voted for.

Barry Levine

U.S. Tries to Ease India-Pakistan Tensions

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/world/asia/04diplo.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=tries%20to%20ease%20india%20&st=cse

To the Editor:

   If--as seems clear--the terrorist attack on Mumbai was launched by a group in Pakistan--the government of Pakistan faces an existential crisis.  If it cannot make and enforce decisions of war and peace with its neighbors, it presides over a failed state.  No non-state faction can be permitted to drag a whole nation into war. The stakes are enormous. Consider the meaning of a Lebanon with nuclear weapons.

Barry Levine

British Balance Benefit vs. Cost of Latest Drugs

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/health/03nice.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=british%20balance%20healthcare&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 10:28 AM
Subject: British Balance Benefit vs. Cost of Latest Drugs
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    The British Health Institute's decision to "spend the same amount saving or improving the life of a 75-year-old smoker as it would a 5-year-old" is important. While Americans might not arrive at the same conclusion, that conclusion would have to emerge from a conversation we have yet to begin. Currently, a majority of our healthcare budget is spent prolonging the last weeks of dying. I think that's a gross mis-use of our finite resources, but that's just my opinion. A rational healthcare plan for the nation must include a discussion of priorities.

Barry Levine

For Three Years, Every Bite Organic

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/health/02well.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=every%20bite%20organic&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 3:27 PM
Subject: For Three Years, Every Bite Organic
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    Dr. Greene expresses surprise that "many people still don't know what 'organic' means". He shouldn't be surprised. To many of us, "organic" still means that branch of chemistry dealing with carbon compounds, just as it says in your dictionary.  The English language gains new words and new meanings for old words all the time. This newspaper has reported ongoing debate over what constitutes "organic" in fish, in meats and in produce.  His expectation that everyone will recognize such a recent valence for an old word is itself the surprise.

Barry Levine

Nationalism of Putin's Era Veils Sins of Stalin's

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/world/europe/27archives.html?scp=2&sq=putin&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 9:08 AM
Subject: Nationalism of Putin's Era Veils Sins of Stalin's
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   In clamping down on the flow of information, Mr. Putin has been just going with the autocratic fashion of the day. Americans should remember that--in his year in office--President Bush sealed presidential papers back to the Reagan administration; he continues to dodge the Presidential Records Act of 1978. As another George taught us "he who controls the past, controls the future".

Barry Levine

Flunking the Electoral College

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/opinion/20thu1.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=flunking%20the%20electoral%20college&st=cse&oref=slogin

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 7:28 PM
Subject: Flunking the Electoral College
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

  The Electoral College was invented with a two-fold task.  First, it reassured the smaller states that they couldn't be trampled by New York and Virginia. Second, it reined in the whims of a populace that might be imperfectly informed on the issues of the day or on the candidates. In the 21st century, those small states still enjoy disproportionate power in the senate, and will block any effort to take that power from them. As to the second point, I am reminded that it was this newspaper that withheld news of illegal domestic wiretapping from the electorate when we voted in the presidential election of 2004.  The crises of the last years might have followed a very different course had the press given the electorate full information on the issues of the day.

Barry Levine

Our Home-Grown Melamine Problem

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/opinion/17mcwilliams.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=melamine&st=nyt&oref=slogin

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 8:04 AM
Subject: Our Home-Grown Melamine Problem
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   It is interesting that melamine is toxic, and interesting that we use melamine to fertilize our fields. To leap from these data to a "melamine problem" however suggests that the author has grown alienated from the earth that feeds him. If we were to spread nothing on our fields that is not itself fit for human consumption, what are we to do with manure?

Barry Levine

Mormons Tipped Scale in Ban on Gay Marriage

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/us/politics/15marriage.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=saved%20same-sex&st=cse&oref=slogin

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 7:14 AM
Subject: Mormons Tipped Scale in Ban on Gay Marriage
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    If marriage is a religious institution--as the "Yes on Eight" campaign asserts--then the State has no business regulating it. If it is a political issue, then the backers of "Yes on Eight" have no claim to tax-exempt status. For seven years, the IRS has been just one more lever that the Republican party used to enforce its will. The people have called for change. Revoking tax-exempt status for any organization meddling in politics would be a good place to start.

Barry Levine

Settlers Who Long to Leave the West Bank

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/world/middleeast/14settlers.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=settlers%20who%20long%20to%20leave&st=cse&oref=slogin

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 9:53 AM
Subject: Settlers Who Long to Leave the West Bank
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    Of the several barriers to peace in the Middle East, the settlers in the West Bank deserve special prominence. If that barrier could be removed for a few billion dollars, it needs to be pursued. The U.S. has recently committed two to three trillion dollars to a war in Iraq that has delivered no dividends, although most of that sum has been hidden from the budget process. If we cannot come up with the money to make peace rather than war, perhaps our friends in Saudi Arabia will step up.

Barry Levine

Secret Order Lets U.S. Raid Al Qaeda in Many Countries

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/washington/10military.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 10:07 AM
Subject: Secret Order Lets U.S. Raid Al Qaeda in Many Countries
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   On December 8th, 1941 president Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor and Congress gave it to him, pretty much as the framers of our Constitution envisioned. That system hasn't worked since. Twice Congress has tried to delegate its role to the President, although it is not clear that that is constitutionally permissible. Now, by secret order, this administration has sought to delegate the decision to make military raids on countries with whom we are at peace to a mere appointee of the Executive. This violates both our Constitution and our treaty obligations. The incoming administration has much to repair. The balance of powers between Executive and Legislative has to be high on the list.

Barry Levine

Change I Can Believe In

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/opinion/07brooks.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=david-brooks&st=cse&oref=login

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 8:08 PM
Subject: Change I Can Believe In
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   Now that the People have voted for change, Mr. Brooks counsels timidity. That's sage advice is the goal is to put the GOP back in the White House in four years, but a non-starter for mending what is wrong in America. Just as president Clinton began paying down our foreign debt in the fat years, these are the lean times that call for deficit spending.  With our climate collapsing, our transportation system out-dated, our education system in shambles, employment falling and bin Laden still at large, this is the time for bold governmental leadership. If that adds temporarily to our debts, so bet it.

Barry Levine

U.S. Decides One Nuclear Dump Is Enough

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/washington/07yucca.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=yucca&st=cse&oref=slogin

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 9:10 AM
Subject:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/washington/07yucca.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=yucca&st=cse&oref=slogin

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 9:10 AM
Subject: U.S. Decides One Nuclear Dump Is Enough
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   In 1987, Congress determined that nuclear power couldn't be responsibly developed in this country by private concerns alone. It determined that three sites should be studied for a national repository of nuclear waste that would be safe for thousands of years. Now our lame-duck administration wants to cut off the study phase and declare the geology of Yucca Mountain appropriate by decree, ending the consideration of other sites that may be safer and that will be needed for waste in the near future anyway.

Maybe it should spare us the tension and declare victory in the war on cancer at the same time.

Barry Levine

To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   In 1987, Congress determined that nuclear power couldn't be responsibly developed in this country by private concerns alone. It determined that three sites should be studied for a national repository of nuclear waste that would be safe for thousands of years. Now our lame-duck administration wants to cut off the study phase and declare the geology of Yucca Mountain appropriate by decree, ending the consideration of other sites that may be safer and that will be needed for waste in the near future anyway.

Maybe it should spare us the tension and declare victory in the war on cancer at the same time.

Barry Levine

Bring on the Puppy and the Rookie

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/opinion/06dowd.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=puppy%20rookie&st=cse&oref=slogin

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 10:05 AM
Subject: Bring on the Puppy and the Rookie
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    To equate Bill Clinton's hot tub with George Bush's policy of torture is not merely absurd. It is emblematic of a journalistic stance that invents false parity on all issues. The moral standing of the United States has been blotted by seven years of lawless rule in which innocents have suffered spying, detention, torture, humiliation and death . That needs to be said and it is not made more credible by pairing it with snarky comments about Bill Clinton's lifestyle.

Barry Levine

Report Backs Palin in Firing of Commissioner

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/us/politics/04palin.html?_r=2&bl&ex=1225947600&en=619f33f7ae064dcc&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 3:55 PM
Subject: Report Backs Palin in Firing of Commissioner
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    So now the taxpayers of Alaska have paid for governor Palin to hand-pick a panel of judges, who named an investigator, who dutifully exonerated her of wrongdoing. Why should he be more credible than the state legislature, who were chosen by the people, and who found that she had violated the public trust?  Governor Palin seems less interest in serving the public interest than in using the state's resources for her own advancement.

Barry Levine

Next President Will Face Test on Detainees

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/us/03gitmo.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=next%20president%20will%20face%20test&st=cse&oref=slogin

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 9:24 AM
Subject: Next President Will Face Test on Detainees
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   The allegations levelled at some of the detainees at Guantanamo are dire, but they remain merely allegations. It is long over-due that these men got to face their charges in a duly constituted court of law or went free. Our next president will face many challenges created by this administration. None is starker than whether we will be a nation of laws or a nation ruled by the whimsy of the Executive.

Barry Levine

Officials Say U.S. Killed an Iraqi in Raid in Syria

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/world/middleeast/28syria.html?scp=2&sq=syria&st=cse

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 10:20 AM
Subject: Officials Say U.S. Killed an Iraqi in Raid in Syria
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    As fellow members of the United Nations, the U.S. and Syria have foresworn military raids on each other's territory and citizens. The U.S. has now violated that treaty obligation. That is sufficient cause for the U.S. to be expelled from the United Nations, and--since our constitution defines our treaty obligations as the "supreme law in the land--constitutes an impeachable high crime. For too long this administration has asserted that the U.S. has special license to act outside of the law. The American people have signalled a desire for change. This would be a good time to start.

Barry Levine

Your Brain's Secret Ballot

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/opinion/28wang.html?scp=1&sq=brain's%20secret%20ballot&st=cse

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 9:05 AM
Subject: Your Brain's Secret Ballot
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   Professors Wang and Gold simplify the poll process to make it easier to model, but in doing so they cease to reflect the process. Our choice in the election is not a deck of cards, insensitive to our expression of support. Rather, candidates modify their positions or drop out entirely as the polling evolves. Voters communicate their investment in an issue by flocking to a candidate who features it and communicate their disinterest in a tactic by remaining "undecided".

Barry Levine

Fractures in Iraq City as Kurds and Baghdad Vie

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/world/middleeast/28mosul.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=mosul&st=cse&oref=login

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 8:57 AM
Subject: Fractures in Iraq City as Kurds and Baghdad Vie
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

  While senator McCain crows prematurely about "success" in Iraq, our policies play out differently in reality. Two years after we switched to arming and backing local sectarian factions to patrol their own regions, these factions show no interest in surrendering to a strong national government. We are again faced with choosing between watching Iraq fly apart into bloody partition, or staying indefinitely to enforce a truce. The current administration envisioned a permanent American military presence in Iraq, and senator McCain has given no indication that he would change that course. Those of us who don't want our grandchildren to be patrolling occupied Baghdad can express that next Tuesday.

Barry Levine

YouTube Videos Draw Attention to Palin's Faith

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/25/us/politics/25faith.html?scp=1&sq=spiritual-warriors%20palin&st=cse

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 11:01 AM
Subject: YouTube Videos Draw Attention to Palin's Faith
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   The English language, as used in the United States is a rich an protean sea. Often, an single concept will be described by several terms, nearly synonymous but derived from different roots. Witness in the pages of this paper "jihadist" "mujaheed" and "spiritual warrior". The first seems to be a term of opprobrium that no one takes on himself/herself, but we now learn that Sarah Palin self-identifies as a "spiritual warrior". She has a right to practice her religion as she sees fit, but the electorate have a duty to learn that her vision of religion is closer to that of Osama bin Laden than to that of our Founding Fathers.

Barry Levine

To Counter Problems of Food Aid, Try Spuds

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/world/26spuds.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=elisabeth%20rosenthal%20potato&st=cse&oref=slogin

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Subject: To Counter Problems of Food Aid, Try Spuds
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    How many calories can an acre of land produce in a year growing potatoes? Maize? Wheat? Rice? Will aid groups have to develop faster transportation and distribution networks for a perishable commodity if it replaces dry goods? Will hungry farmers be able to replace traditional grain culture on their lands with potatoes? This article filled up much a a page of the Times, but it's all fluff and it doesn't satisfy.

Barry Levine

Little-Noticed College Student to Star Politician

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/us/politics/24palin.html?scp=1&sq=little-noticed%20college%20student&st=cse

To the Editor:

    The birth of the Palins' eldest "about eight months" after their elopement should pose a quandary to those of McCain's supporters who would deny Bill Ayers' contributions to society as a professor of Education, preferring to define him by his youthful indiscretions. Will they now pillory John McCain for fraternizing with a fornicator?

Barry Levine

Endorsement puts Spotlight on a Legacy

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/us/politics/20powell.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=endorsement%20puts%20spotlight%20on%20a%20legacy&st=cse&oref=login

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To the Editor:

   Ms. Bumiller blithely asserts "[withdrawal from Iraq is] the issue, more than any other, on which the president's legacy will rest". She may be right, but that's far from clear. This administration has ruled in the Medellin case that the Supremacy Clause of our constitution doesn't mean what it say, has asserted powers of search and seizure that would have shocked our Founding Fathers, has seized for the Executive the power to negate duly enacted statutes, has detained, tortured and killed people if defiance of our treaty obligations and may have presided over the end of "The American Century" of world influence. To assert that Bush's Iraq venture--as costly, horrific and unjustified as it is--is the unique defining legacy of this administration is close one's eyes to the grand scale of the damage it has done to this country and to the world.

Barry Levine

An Old Afghanistan Hand Offers Lessons of the Past

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/world/europe/20russian.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=kabulov&st=cse&oref=slogin

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 9:04 AM
Subject: An Old Afghanistan Hand Offers Lessons of the Past
To: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor:

    Ambassador Kabulov can see what many in our own country cannot. Afghan soldiers have proven to the world that they are very effective with AK-47s. To replace these with M-16s does nothing to enhance the Afghan military. It is a gratuitous gift of propaganda and dollars to the M-16's maker. Until we put the Afghans' needs ahead of domestic political calculations, we will be viewed as unwelcome occupiers there.

Barry Levine

Last-Minute Mischief

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/18/opinion/18sat1.html?hp

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Oct 18, 2008 at 8:09 PM
Subject: Last-Minute Mischief
To: letters@nytimes.com

- Hide quoted text -

To the Editor:

    After seven years in which the response to every challenge was to gather more powers into the Executive fist, I had to read this latest news twice. Why would the secretary of the Interior surrender powers? That second reading makes the villainy clear; he surrenders a power that he doesn't want in exchange for crippling Congress's proper oversight custody and oversight functions. Nice try, Dirk. I'm sure your corporate masters will reward your efforts in your next career.

Barry Levine

Tempering Attacks, McCain says He's a Leader for Troubled Times

To the Editor:

   Now John McCain tells us that in these troubled times, we need an experienced leader. There he goes putting his own interests ahead of those of the country. Were he to be elected and to die in office, the nation would be left with a president who has no relevant experience. Only John McCain from the safety of his grave would be spared the consequences of her inadequacies.

Barry Levine

Tempering Attacks, McCain Says He's a Leader for Troubled Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/us/politics/14mccain.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=leader%20for%20troubled%20times&st=cse&oref=login

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 9:31 AM
Subject: Tempering Attacks, McCain Says He's a Leader for Troubled Times
To: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor:

   Now John McCain tells us that in these troubled times, we need an experienced leader. That's a fine sound-bite, but it shows his egocentricism. Were he to be elected and to die in office, the nation would be left with a president who has no relevant experience. Only John McCain from the safety of his grave would be spared the consequences of her inadequacies.

Barry Levine

Economic Crisis Spurs a Hard Look at the Legacy of a Fed Chief

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/business/economy/09greenspan.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=legacy%20of%20a%20fed%20chief&st=cse&oref=slogin

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 9:48 AM
Subject: Economic Crisis Spurs a Hard Look at the Legacy of a Fed Chief
To: letters@nytimes.com

- Hide quoted text -

To the Editor:

    A dozen years ago, Brooksley Born's commission warned of the perils of a banking industry that had escaped regulation. With the benefit of hindsight, the rest of of have come to understand this more recently. Whatever Alan Greenspan's powers as chairman of the Federal Reserve during these last two decades, he cannot be the author of this disaster. That distinction belongs to Phil Gramm, whose anti-regulatory fervor led him to spearhead the Commodity Trading Modernization Act. While Mr. Greenspan assured the nation that federal regulation of the derivatives market was unnecessary, it was the Congress that made it illegal. Now Mr. Gramm is the chief advisor to senator McCain on economic matters. A nation hungry for change and for economic stability has no room for such an ideologue or his acolytes in our next administration.

Barry Levine

An Inadequate Case for the Bailout

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/opinion/24wed1.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=bailout&st=cse&oref=slogin

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 5:57 PM
Subject: An Inadequate Case for the Bailout
To: letters@nytimes.com

- Hide quoted text -

To the Editor:

   Shoveling federal dollars into failing investment banks without regulating their future dealings is as myopic as bailing a boat at sea without fixing her cracked hull. Nothing the we've seen yet suggests that we won't have to "save" these same banks again, whether in a year or in a decade. We may continue to bail until our resources are exhausted. Any bailout of these banks must be contingent on regulation of their dealings. There will never be a better time to write those regulations than the present.

Barry Levine

Thinking About McCain

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/opinion/26brooks.html?scp=1&sq=thinking%20about%20McCain&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:42 AM
Subject: Thinking About McCain
To: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor:

    David Brooks bemoans the campaign that senator McCain is waging on "tactical gimmicks" but doesn't ask why he doesn't run on his positions. If senator McCain were to run on the issues, he would get the 19%-30% of the electorate who approve of president Bush. One needs gimmicks to woo the electorate when they want change and you're in bed with the Ancien Regime.

Barry Levine

Ministers to Defy I.R.S. by Endorsing Candidates

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/us/politics/26preach.html?scp=1&sq=ministers%20to%20defy%20I.R.S.&st=cse

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:21 AM
Subject: Ministers to Defy I.R.S. by Endorsing Candidates
To: letters@nytimes.com

- Hide quoted text -

To the Editor:

   If these ministers mean to wrap themselves in the mantle of civil disobedience while snatching for political power, our federal agents must stand ready to play their part. Jail them.

Barry Levine

Ministers to Defy I.R.S. by Endorsing Candidates

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/us/politics/26preach.html?scp=1&sq=ministers%20to%20defy%20I.R.S.&st=cse

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:21 AM
Subject: Ministers to Defy I.R.S. by Endorsing Candidates
To: letters@nytimes.com

- Hide quoted text -

To the Editor:

   If these ministers mean to wrap themselves in the mantle of civil disobedience while snatching for political power, our federal agents must stand ready to play their part. Jail them.

Barry Levine

Thinking About McCain

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/opinion/26brooks.html?scp=1&sq=thinking%20about%20McCain&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:42 AM
Subject: Thinking About McCain
To: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor:

    David Brooks bemoans the campaign that senator McCain is waging on "tactical gimmicks" but doesn't ask why he doesn't run on his positions. If senator McCain were to run on the issues, he would get the 19%-30% of the electorate who approve of president Bush. One needs gimmicks to woo the electorate when they want change and you're in bed with the Ancien Regime.

Barry Levine

An Inadequate Case for the Bailout

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/opinion/24wed1.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=bailout&st=cse&oref=slogin

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 5:57 PM
Subject: An Inadequate Case for the Bailout
To: letters@nytimes.com

- Hide quoted text -

To the Editor:

   Shoveling federal dollars into failing investment banks without regulating their future dealings is as myopic as bailing a boat at sea without fixing her cracked hull. Nothing the we've seen yet suggests that we won't have to "save" these same banks again, whether in a year or in a decade. We may continue to bail until our resources are exhausted. Any bailout of these banks must be contingent on regulation of their dealings. There will never be a better time to write those regulations than the present.

Barry Levine

Bush Aides Linked to Talks on Interrogations

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/washington/25detain.html?scp=1&sq=bush%20aides%20linked%20to%20talks%20on%20interrogation&st=cse

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 10:11 AM
Subject: Bush Aides Linked to Talks on Interrogations
To: letters@nytimes.com

- Hide quoted text -

To the Editor:
   In 1984, President Reagan signed the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. When our congress subsequently ratified it, it became the "supreme law of the land" as per our Constitution. Anyone who violated or conspired to violate this convention is liable to felony prosecution--or would be if our Department of Justice were interested in enforcing the law. Attorney General Mukasey has signaled that he is more loyal to George Bush than to the Constitution which he swore to uphold. We look forward to a next Attorney General who will take his/her responsibilities more seriously.

Barry Levine

Bush to Hold Meeting on Bailout; First Debate Up in Air: Plea for Support

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/business/26bush.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Bush%20to%20Hold%20Meeting%20on%20Bailout&st=cse&oref=slogin

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 9:00 AM
Subject: Bush to Hold Meeting on Bailoutg; First Debate Up in Air: Plea for Support
To: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor:

  If taxpayers' money is to be risked in a bailout of investment banks, we must have reason to believe that the structural problems will be fixed and that we will never again face this same crisis. President Bush has now acknowledged that regulation of the investment banks is necessary. That much is good. His proposal that regulation can wait until after the bailout is an insult to our collective intelligence. Any bailoutmust be contingent upon the regulations.

Barry Levine

1142 Brown Ave

Lafayette, CA 94549

Blocking the Sky to Save the Earth

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/opinion/20homerdixon.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=david-keith&st=cse&oref=slogin

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 8:39 AM
Subject: Blocking the Sky to Save the Earth
To: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor:

   For two centuries, we have been pumping gigatons of carbon from fossil pools into the atmosphere. That carbon dioxide is now contributing to global climate change that threatens to make our planet uninhabitable. That same carbon dioxide is simultaneously causing an acidification of our oceans. If we were to address global warming by blocking some of the incident sunlight but fail to address the acidification of the oceans, we could end up just as extinct. Blocking incident sunlight cannot be enough. We have to actively take greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. Carbon sequestration--whether as carbon dioxide or anthropogenic peat--would ameliorate global warming and the acidification of our oceans simultaneously.

Barry Levine

Pumping Hydrogen

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/business/businessspecial2/24hydro.html?ref=businessspecial2

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 10:55 AM
Subject: Pumping Hydrogen
To: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor:
    Whatever form our energy economy takes after the demise of petroleum, we need to make our choices rationally. It is neither helpful nor honest to assert that "hydrogen offers a plentiful and clean form of energy". There are no fossil deposits on earth of hydrogen as there are of coal, gas and oil. Hydrogen must be made, just as electricity must be generated. It is a medium for storing and transporting energy, rather than  a source.

Barry Levine

1142 Brown Ave

Lafayette, CA 94549

Dear Iraqi Friends

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/opinion/24friedman.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=friedman&st=cse&oref=slogin

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 9:32 AM
Subject: Dear Iraqi Friends
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
 Sometimes, wisdom emerges from dialogue even when neither
participant saw it before. Witness Thomas Friedman and George W.
Bush--never mind that George is just a sock puppet here--acknowledging
that we were wrong in invading Iraq. As Mr. Friedman now has his dummy
say: " [Iraqis]are now going to have to step up and finish this job".
Of course Iraqis are going to have to finish the job. It was never our
job to chase fictitious WMDs, to distract the world from Bin Laden
still at large or to remake the Iraqi government. President George
H.W. Bush knew this. Colin Powell knew this. President Bush closed his
ears to his wisest advisers and blundered forward. Now we are
distracted by problems of our own. We have made a dreadful mess of
Iraq, but we can't afford to stay and fix it. Sorry; it's your
problem.
Barry Levine
1142 Brown Ave
Lafayette, CA 94549

McCain Laboring to Hit Right Note on the Economy

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/us/politics/17mccain.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=mccain%20laboring&st=cse&oref=slogin

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 8:23 AM
Subject: McCain Laboring to Hit Right Note on the Economy
To: letters@nytimes.com

- Hide quoted text -

To the Editor:

    So now senator McCain has told us that the economy is "sound" and that it is "broken". He has told us that we're better off than we were eight years ago (before the Enron scandal and 9/11), and that we're worse off than we were four years ago (when we were already mired in two wars and our government was spying on us). What has become of the straight-talking maverick whom we had come to respect? This rudderless changeling who just reads whatever Dick Cheney's boys put up on the teleprompter is neither an inspiring candidate nor a fit leader.

Barry Levine

Are We Experienced?: Flight School

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/opinion/14gray.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=stephen%20r.%20gray&st=cse&oref=slogin

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 9:27 AM
Subject: Are We Experienced?: Flight School
To: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor:

   Stephen R. Gray enumerates the skills and virtues that allow a pilot to safely fly from and land on an aircraft carrier. We should compare these to lieutenant McCain's experience.  When he was shot down over North Vietnam, lieutenant McCain did not safely bring his plane back to land on the carrier. Nor was this his first. Five times he ditched his planes in the jungle or in the sea. Is this the record from which we should draw comfort? There is no parachute to save us if he were to crash the ship of state.

Barry Levine

1142 Brown Ave

Lafayette, CA 94549

A Message From John McCain

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/12/opinion/12fri3.html?ref=todayspaper

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 2:53 PM
Subject: A Message From John McCain
To: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor:

    Faced with torture, home foreclosures, warrantless wiretaps and stop-loss orders, I had looked forward to a substantive campaign in the issues. Instead, senator McCain has sought to drown the issues in questions of character. Does his campaign of lies. organized by the same people who abused him eight years ago speak to his failing memory, or to his failing ethics? Either way, I judge, his is not the character for the job.

Barry Levine

Bhutto's Widower, Viewed as Ally by U.S., Wins the Pakistani

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/world/asia/07pstan.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=zardari%20ally&st=cse&oref=slogin

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 3:26 PM
Subject: Bhutto's Widower, Viewed as Ally by U.S., Wins the Pakistani
Presidency Handily
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
 As far as has been reported, president Musharraf was eventually
forced from office by the Pakistani people; their rejection was fueled
in part by his bid to suborn the Supreme Court. If it were to turn out
that it was the U.S. government that put Mr. Zardari into office, I
would look to this newspaper to report it. If--as seems likely--he was
duly elected by the Pakistani people, this newspaper account seems
embarrassingly provincial in stressing his relationship to Washington
over his relationship to Pakistani jurisprudence. Where is the
discussion of chief justice Chaudhry, whom Musharraf ousted and whom
Zardari had promised to re-instate?
Barry Levine

Trail of Evidence Points to High Civilian Toll in Afghan Raid

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/world/asia/08afghan.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=trail%20of%20evidence&st=cse&oref=slogin

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 8:55 AM
Subject: Trail of Evidence Points to High Civilian Toll in Afghan Raid
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
 The U.S. military made a policy of overcounting enemy dead
throughout the Vietnam conflict. Doing so, it managed to prolong the
death and destruction there for years. Now it has been caught
undercounting the civilian deaths in Afghanistan. If senator McCain
means to claim our "success" in Iraq as a reason to vote for him, he
will need to first find a credible witness to that "success". It's not
the U.S. military, nor is it the captive embedded press corp on the
military's leash.
Barry Levine
1142 Brown Ave
Lafayette, CA 94549

Running Against Themselves

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/opinion/04thu1.html?scp=1&sq=running%20against%20themselves&st=cse

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 9:52 AM
Subject: Running Against Themselves
To: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor:

    This paper persists in tallying the cost of earmarks at their face value only; the real cost is far greater. An earmark of a few millions can bring a lawmaker aboard for legislation that would otherwise have failed. Bad laws and irresponsible budgets are enacted by a patchwork of deals, each cemented with our federal dollars. In pursuit of this pork for their constituents, our representatives in congress forsake their role as national leaders.

Barry Levine

Handshake Defuses a Standoff in Baghdad

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/world/middleeast/04iraq.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=handshake%20defuses%20a%20standoff%20in%20baghdad&st=cse&oref=login

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 9:24 AM
Subject: Handshake Defuses a Standoff in Baghdad
To: letters@nytimes.com

- Hide quoted text -

To the Editor:

   Two years ago, the U.S. changed tactics in Iraq. Instead of emphasizing non-sectarian national institutions, we poured money into sectarian groups who offered to pacify their own people in their own areas. Now that the national government wants to extent its sway, there is tension. Should we be surprised? Those who have hailed this last year as "progress" need to define where we're heading. This is progress towards an Iraq partitioned. To hold it together as a nation-state would require an indefinite presence of Americans to keep prevent sectarian violence and ethnic cleansing.

Barry Levine