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

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---------- 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

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---------- 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

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---------- 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

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---------- 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

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---------- 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

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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

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---------- 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

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---------- 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

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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

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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

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---------- 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

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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

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---------- 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