Taxing the Speculators

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/27/opinion/27krugman.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=taxing%20the%20speculators&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Fri, Nov 27, 2009 at 10:54 AM
Subject: re: Taxing the Speculators
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    The Financial sector has acquired vast and unhealthy influence over our society in the last three decades.  An increasingly large fraction of its energies are spent on non-productive games rather than on empowering innovation and production in society.  A government that was serious about serving the people, rather than the donors would  find ways to harness this energy.  The Tobin tax on currency speculation is a good start. More important would be a steeply graduated capital gains tax.  Stock purchases that are held less than an hour do nothing to fuel industry. Tax any profits on them at 100%. Stock purchases that are held two years or more provide the capital on which the real economy runs. Tax profits on them at 15%. Stocks held for intermediate periods should be taxed at intermediate rates. Until we do both these things, our stock markets will be driven by those with the fastest trading algorithms and the shortest wire-links, and our national governments will be hostage to speculators playing with careers and industries as if they casino chips.

Barry Levine

Right and Left Join Forces on Criminal Justice

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/us/24crime.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=supreme%20court%20spotlight&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 9:40 AM
Subject: re: Right and Left Join Forces on Criminal Justice
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   The alliances forming as federal law is challenged in the Supreme Court this season are less about the meeting of Left and Right than about the dissolution of the unnatural coupling of American Libertarians to the Right.  The more natural alignment has always put the Libertarians on Left, in opposition to government intrusions into worship, into our privacy and into reproductive matters.  The question of how much government we need is a real political issue that will be re-argued as long as our republic lasts. The identification of the Libertarians with the American Right was a fluke of our tax code, and has out-lived its day.

Barry Levine

Pentagon to Review Shootings at Fort Hood

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/us/20inquire.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=pentagon%20to%20review%20shootings&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 9:12 AM
Subject: re: Pentagon to Review Shootings at Fort Hood
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   The FBI-led counterterrorism team that examined Major Hasan's contact with al-Awlaki was probably right to find that the conversations were protected by the first amendment's guarantees of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion. The more interesting case was at the other end of those conversations. Al-Awlaki is an American citizen who has attached himself to our enemies. Our constitution calls that "treason". Perhaps someone with jurisdiction in Yemen should have been notified.

Barry Levine

Why We Should Put Jihad on Trial

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/opinion/18simon.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=put%20jihad%20on%20trial&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Subject: re: Why We Should Put Jihad on Trial
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    Predictably, John Yoo argues against  trying Khalid Sheik Mohammed in a duly-constituted court of law.  What is the "intelligence bonanza" that he fears will be opened to our enemies? Plainly, it's nothing time-sensitive. These crimes and the evidence of them are eight years old. As usual with the "State's Secrets" argument, it is the government's embarrassment that is being protected. While torture, abuse and extraordinary rendition are no longer our policies, some of these crimes of the Bush administration may indeed be relevant to this case. Let mr. Mohammed have his day in court, and let the U.S. repudiate our past crimes.  No legitimate democracy can function by just locking up inconvenient people and inconvenient facts.

Barry Levine

Medicines to Deter Some Cancers Are Not Taken

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/health/research/13prevent.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=drugs%20to%20deter&st=cse

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 1:47 PM
Subject: re: Medicines to Deter Some Cancers Are Not Taken
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    The failure of Americans to take drugs that have been shown to reduce the risk of prostate cancer points to a greater failure. The current American healthcare "system" makes no provision for preventative care.  We have succeeded against smallpox, polio, rubella etc. by pretending that "public health" is independent of a healthcare policy. Because these are contagious diseases, the state can coerce vaccination. Human papilloma virus is also communicable and eradicable, but don't hold your breath to see that vaccine prescribed for all our kids. Where does that leave drugs that can cut the risk of prostate cancer? Ask again if and when we have a healthcare policy. Until then, it's every man for himself.

Barry Levine

Gerrymandering, Pure and Corrupt

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/opinion/12thu1.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=gerrymandering&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 6:47 AM
Subject: re: Gerrymandering, Pure and Corrupt
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   The "reasonably compact" standard for a congressional district is toothless, and has clearly failed to insure the free exercise of democracy. If we want a standard that will stop gerrymandering, we would mandate a maximum ratio of perimeter to area for each district. 

   Better still, we should eliminate electoral districts. Give every eligible voter in New York State 29 votes to cast as he or she chooses. Twenty-nine votes for one candidate, or a straight party-slate vote down the ballot or any combination in between. Every race would now be competitive and the resulting delegation would better represent the people of the state, every time.

Barry Levine

From 19th-Century View, Desegregation Is a Test

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/us/10bar.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=desegregation%20as%20test&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 8:40 AM
Subject: re: From 19th-Century View, Desegregation Is a Test
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

  Two years ago, in order to reach a result he likes in the Medellin case, justice Scalia found that the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution doesn't mean what it plainly says.   Any claim to originalism in light of this case is mere opportunism--the same opportunism that he claims to reject categorically.

Barry Levine

For Abortion Foes, a Victory in Health Care Vote

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/us/politics/09abortion.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=victory%20in%20health%20care%20vote&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 8:02 AM
Subject: re: For Abortion Foes, a Victory in Health Care Vote
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   It defied logic to count the current health care bill as a coup by Catholic Bishops. They have been singing the same song for a long time. What has changed is Rahm Emanuel's strategy of packing the congress with anti-abortion Democrats. If there is change coming, it is because of what is novel, not because of what is constant.

Barry Levine

Italy Convicts Former CIA Agents In Rendition Trial

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/11/04/us/politics/politics-us-italy-renditions-verdict.html?scp=3&sq=magi&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 2:58 PM
Subject: re: Italy Convicts Former CIA Agents In Rendition Trial
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   The conviction of our C.I.A. agents in absentia presents the U.S.  a new invitation to honor our treaties and to rejoin the community of law-abiding nations. "The United States shouldn't need a foreign court to distinguish right from wrong".  Our chosen leader should think hard before rejecting this gift from judge Magi. 

Barry Levine

Karzai Vows Corruption Fight, but Avoids Details

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/world/asia/04afghan.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=karzai%20vows&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 10:41 AM
Subject: re: Karzai Vows Corruption Fight, but Avoids Details
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   If president Karzai's anti-corruption campaign is limited to "draft[ing] some new laws", his case is hopeless. Corruption is a failure to enforce existing law. We would be fools to expect that any new laws his government might draft would be any less toothless.

Barry Levine