Researchers Puzzled by Role of Osteoporosis Drug in Rare Thighbone Fractures

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/health/25bone.html?scp=1&sq=puzzled%20by%20role%20of%20osteoporosis%20drug&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 9:41 AM
Subject: re: Researchers Puzzled by Role of Osteoporosis Drug in Rare Thighbone Fractures
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   By the time the first bisphosphonate drug was approved for use in humans, it was clear that these were not like other drugs. Normal research and development requires determining how a drug compound is cleared from the body, whether it is degraded or excreted unchanged. The bisphosphonates never clear. Over the last two decades, millions of Americans have taken these drugs for osteoporosis. They will take them to their graves, whether they continue to take the drugs or not.  One hopes that the benefit of the drugs is greater than the risk, but that risk is still unknown.

Barry Levine

The Day After

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/opinion/24wed1.html?scp=1&sq=the%20day%20after&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 10:45 AM
Subject: re: The Day After
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   The passage of the current healthcare act is cause for some pride, but we cannot be satisfied. This act has changed the way Americans are insured without changing our healthcare system. Currently, we pay 17% of our GNP in healthcosts. That's more than anyone anywhere has ever paid since the invention of money, and--unless we change the system--it will grow to devour our entire economy.  As long as American doctors are "paid to stick in more tubes", they will stick in more tubes, run more scans, perform more surgeries, keep that heart beating another week even after the life is over. We need a healthcare system that puts our resources where our values are. That's not in prolonging dying.

Netanyahu Takes Hard Line on Jerusalem Housing

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/world/middleeast/23diplo.html?ref=todayspaper

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 10:53 AM
Subject: re: Netanyahu Takes Hard Line on Jerusalem Housing
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

  Israel is a sovereign state with a representational government; they can elect whom they choose and enact what they choose. Likewise, the U.S. is a sovereign state with a representational government. When our Israeli ally's actions make the world more dangerous, we must re-assess our global position. It may be necessary to divert money that would have been aid to Israel to other projects in this new, more dangerous world.

Barry Levine

Why We Reform

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/opinion/19krugman.html?src=me&ref=general

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 9:32 AM
Subject: re: Why We Reform
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    The bill currently before Congress would make an important step towards universal coverage, but it will not fix American Healthcare.  As long as American doctors are paid "for sticking in more tubes" the costs of Healthcare--especially end of life care--will continue to grow faster than our economy, until it consumes all of it.  Adam Smith taught us that the incentives are the system. We need to change the incentives in Healthcare, and we need to change them now.

Barry Levine

Getting Obama Right

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/opinion/12brooks.html?src=me&ref=homepage

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Sat, Mar 13, 2010 at 7:46 AM
Subject: re: Getting Obama Right
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   Mr. Brooks asserts that president Obama has been consistent, and that it's his critics who fail to see it. Perhaps that point's too subtle for me. When candidate Obama announced that he "opposes any form of immunity" for the telecom companies who conducted illegal wiretaps in violation of the FISA statute, I cheered. When senator Obama voted six months later for immunity for these telecom companies, I looked for an explanation. President Obama's waffling is not an artifact of my partisan eye-wear. He needs to get going on the tangible promises he made as a candidate.

Barry Levine