Blunt Words by Biden and Panetta at C.I.A.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/blunt-words-from-biden-panetta-at-cia/?scp=2&sq=panetta&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 9:26 AM
Subject: re: Blunt Words by Biden and Panetta at C.I.A.
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   Now that mr. Panetta is safely ensconced in Langley, it is past time to drop the pretense that torture happened passively. It has been established that real people were tortured by real agents of my government, in blatant violation of our statute and our treaty obligations. We must either extradite those who did it or prosecute them ourselves, even if president Obama will subsequently pardon them for political reasons. To carry on with the cover-up of crimes from the Bush administration doesn't serve America.

Barry Levine

E.P.A. Expected to Regulate Carbon Dioxide

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/science/earth/19epa.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=expected%20to%20regulate%20carbon%20dioxide&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Subject: re: E.P.A. Expected to Regulate Carbon Dioxide
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   Now that the EPA will assert regulatory authority over carbon dioxide dumped into our atmosphere, it is time to consider regularizing other federal oversight and regulation. Particularly, it is irrational that the Food and Drug Agency has authority over foods and drugs, but not over nutritional supplements which are mysteriously defined as being neither foods nor drugs. This loophole permits thousands of products onto the American market without testing at an annual cost of billions of dollars and untold damage to our nation's health. When I voted for change, that included a government that shows more consistent interest in the nation's well-being than in the nutraceutical industry's campaign contributions.

Barry Levine

No Way, No How, Not Here

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/opinion/18friedman.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=no%20way,%20no%20how,%20not%20here&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 9:55 AM
Subject: re: No Way, No How, Not Here
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    It is because of the Indians' humanity that the bodies of the Mumbai murderers won't be thrown to the beasts of the field. For their own outrages against Allah's creation, they should be buried in pigs' skins. All fasadis should know that they have no place in the world to come.

Barry Levine

Big Science Role Is Seen in Global Warming Cure

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/us/politics/12chu.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=chu&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 4:32 PM
Subject: re: Big Science Role Is Seen in Global Warming Cure
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    professor Steven Chu correctly warned that the ongoing use of coal is "a nightmare" destroying the lives of miners, the land from which it's mined and the atmosphere of our planet. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu now says we must learn to use coal better. I know which Steven Chu has the more credible track record. This is not the "change" we voted for.

Barry Levine

Palestinians Press for War Crimes Inquiry on Gaza

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/world/middleeast/11hague.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=gaza&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 8:36 AM
Subject: re: Palestinians Press for War Crimes Inquiry on Gaza
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    In a single stroke, Mahmoud Abbas asks the ICC to acknowledge his jurisdiction over Gaza, seeks to demonstrate that he's not too close to the Israelis, proposes to embarrass Hamas by revealing their war-crimes and--maybe--asserts statehood for his own Palestinian Authority. Maybe he's more clever than we have credited; how do you say "byzantine" in Arabic?

Barry Levine

Obama Backs Off a Reversal on Secrets

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/us/10torture.html?_r=1

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 12:12 AM
Subject: re: Obama Backs Off a Reversal on Secrets
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    There is now compelling evidence that Binyam Mohamed has been tortured and that the U.S. was complicit, if not responsible for it. This is a crime not only against mr. Mohamed, but--according to our statutes and our treaties--a crime against humanity. It is therefore our responsibility to prosecute or extradite those responsible.  To obstruct this is to violate what our own constitution calls "the supreme law of the land". The American people voted for change. We're waiting.

Barry Levine

Panetta Open to Tougher Methods in Some C.I.A. Interrogation

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/us/politics/06cia.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=panetta&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Feb 7, 2009 at 10:52 PM
Subject: re: Panetta Open to Tougher Methods in Some C.I.A. Interrogation
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   It is unsurprising that mr. Panetta opposes prosecuting C.I.A. interrogators for practices that he has characterized as torture; he needs to persuade them that he is their advocate as well as their boss. The call however is not his to make. Torture is a crime not only against the victims at Guantanamo and at Bhagram, but against humanity. Our treaties require us to prosecute such crimes; to turn a blind eye would be to declare ourselves a pariah nation. The voters chose change. This would be a good place to start.

Barry Levine

Citing U.S., British Court Blocks Data on Suspect

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/world/europe/05london.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=british%20court%20blocks&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Feb 5, 2009 at 12:23 PM
Subject: re: Citing U.S., British Court Blocks Data on Suspect
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   On many of president Obama's policies, it will take years to judge his success. On his promise of a new transparency in government, we can have an answer this week.  A British court has found that one of their residents was tortured while in U.S. custody, and that the relevant data can be made public without threat to U.S. national security. It is now on the U.S. administration to either honor our treaty obligations or to align itself with president Bush against the rule of law.

Barry Levine

In Shattered Gaza Town, Roots of Seething Split

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/world/middleeast/04gaza.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=roots%20of%20split&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 9:05 AM
Subject: re: In Shattered Gaza Town, Roots of Seething Split
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   Projecting American values onto Israelis, Mr. Bronner stumbles into misinterpretation. If the guiding principle  in Gaza were to "avoid Israeli casualties at all cost" they would have followed American protocols and carpet-bombed. Instead, they went door-to-door on foot in what might be a futile attempt to sort non-uniformed combatants from civilians.

Barry Levine

A Carbon Keeper: Crop Waste Sunk to the Ocean Deep

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/science/earth/03obcrops.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=crop%20waste%20sunk&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 1:17 PM
Subject: re: A Carbon Keeper: Crop Waste Sunk to the Ocean Deep
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    The insight of Strand and Benford that cellulose--rather than carbon dioxide--is the most promising form in which to sequester carbon for geologically meaningful periods is key; it is not new. People have advocated "anthropogenic peat" for decades. What has been lacking is the political will to reverse two centuries of pumping carbon from fossil stores into the atmosphere and oceans. Schemes to trap carbon dioxide from power plants and sequester it on the seabed might ameliorate global warming, but at an unacceptable cost in ocean acidification.

    Sequestering cellulose is not without potential problems. Depending on how it is buried, there might be methane evolved which we will have to entrain to keep it from entering the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas. 

Barry Levine

Iraq's Victory, Iran's Loss

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/opinion/03bolton.html?scp=1&sq=bolton&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 10:03 AM
Subject: re: Iraq's Victory, Iran's Loss
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    While the Iraqi people have turned out for elections, the U.S. continues a policy to tearing their country apart. By arming and empowering local sectarian militias rather than building  federal organizations, we have fueled the civil war that would follow if and when the U.S. were to leave. Iran's gain is not in influence inside Iraq; the Iraqis don't want that. What Iran has gained is credibility in decrying America's colonialist ambitions in the area.

Barry Levine

Justice Dept. Under Obama Is Preparing for Doctrinal Shift in Policies of Bush Years

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/us/politics/02justice.html?scp=1&sq=doctrinal%20shift&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 9:56 AM
Subject: re: Justice Dept. Under Obama Is Preparing for Doctrinal Shift in Policies of Bush Years
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   All Americans have an abiding interest in seeing the lawsuit of al-Haramain Islamic Foundation go forward. Uniquely, the foundation can demonstrate that it has been the object of illegal wiretapping by the NSA. Whereas other citizens have been shut out by the Department of Justice's improper invocation of "state secrets", this is the case that can force disclosure of the extent of the last administration's spying on its own citizens. We watch with great interest to see that the new administration's pledges of openness and transparency will be honored.

Barry Levine

Few Ways to Recover Bonuses to Bankers

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/few-ways-to-recover-bonuses-to-bankers/?scp=1&sq=to%20recover%20bonuses&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 9:32 AM
Subject: re: Few Ways to Recover Bonuses to Bankers
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   While legal levers to recover bonuses to investment bankers are lacking, president Obama is not without tools; he has press coverage. Let him spend sixty seconds praising one banker who refused a bonus in 2008 and scolding one who took a bonus while losing money for his investors and his company. Let him name names. 

Barry Levine