U.S. Decision to Approve Killing of Cleric Causes Unease

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/world/14awlaki.html?hp

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine
Date: Fri, May 14, 2010 at 9:28 AM
Subject: re: U.S. Decision to Approve Killing of Cleric Causes Unease
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
   With all due respect, Scott Shane's article on extra-judicial
killings is namby-pamby. The story here is not that the executive
order  "makes some legal authorities deeply uneasy". The story is that
the executive order for an extra-judicial slaying of U.S. citizens
without charge or trial is illegal.  Next week we will mark the
thirty-third anniversary of Richard Nixon's bizarre assertion "When
the President does it, that means it is not illegal".  He was wrong
then, and this newspaper shouldn't pretend that he was right now.
Barry Levine

We’re Not Greece

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/opinion/14krugman.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Fri, May 14, 2010 at 9:13 AM
Subject: re: We’re Not Greece
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    Professor Krugman lays out beautifully why the debt burden of the U.S. isn't like that of Greece. He stops short however of the larger structural lesson. Control of our currency is an important aspect of a sovereign state. Greece is hamstrung--unable to devalue its currency to redress the current imbalance--because the value of the Euro is beyond the Greek state's control.  Likewise the US has surrendered control of our currency to the Federal Reserve. The Fed is trying to serve two masters. Often it can make a profit for its constituent banks and stabilize the finances of the U.S. That's not good enough. As a sovereign nation, the U.S. needs control of its currency.

Barry Levine

Prosecutors Ask if 8 Banks Duped Rating Agencies

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/business/13street.html?hp

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Thu, May 13, 2010 at 12:20 PM
Subject: re: Prosecutors Ask if 8 Banks Duped Rating Agencies
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    After eight years of non-enforcement, it is refreshing to see prosecutors asking if many financial instruments got their exalted ratings because banks duped the ratings agencies.  To phrase the question this way however precludes another question. Did the banks and the ratings agencies collude to sell instruments that didn't deserve their ratings?  The ratings agencies shared their quantitative computer models with the banks and the banks dutifully gave back the numbers that everyone knew would make a triple-A pop out the other end. The banks paid the ratings agencies for their role. It will be for a court to determine if this is collusion, but we must give the case a chance.

Barry Levine

A Bad Bet on Carbon

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/opinion/13bryce.html?scp=1&sq=a%20bad%20bet%20on%20carbon&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Thu, May 13, 2010 at 11:03 AM
Subject: re: A Bad Bet on Carbon
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   Mr. Bryce makes clear that capture and sequestration of CO2 is an irreparably flawed strategy. He then generalizes to damn all carbon sequestration schemes. His unjustified rhetorical leap leads to an unjustified conclusion.  Until the Industrial Revolution, humankind's impact on atmospheric greenhouse gases was limited. The fuels we burned had been recently formed by photosynthesis and would have soon gone back to the atmosphere by natural processes anyway. This changed 200 yrs ago. Since then, we have pumped gigatons of carbon from fossil fuel pools--safely sequestered in the earth--into the atmosphere to trap heat and to acidify the oceans.  Even if we were to restore the world's forests to their state of 1800 and even if we were to achieve a carbon-neutral economy overnight, still we would have to address the gigatons of carbon we have taken out of sequestration.  Coal is a fabulous form in which to sequester carbon. To go on digging it up and burning it is an abomination. While we cannot put atmospheric carbon back into the earth as coal, we can and must put it back either as biochar or as anthropogenic peat.These technologies are at hand today. We must not let either senator Lieberman or Robert Bryce misdirect us from the task of implementing them.

Barry Levine

Holder Backs a Miranda Limit for Terror Suspects

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/us/politics/10holder.html?scp=1&sq=miranda&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Mon, May 10, 2010 at 9:59 AM
Subject: re: Holder Backs a Miranda Limit for Terror Suspects
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

  Anyone who doubted the urgency of prosecuting Bush-era violations of our laws against warrantless wiretaps and torture didn't have to wait long for the answer.  The very next administration has now opined that your Rights are not Rights when they're inconvenient to the State.  If Miranda rights are Rights, then it is not at the discretion of the police to grant them or not; our Rights are ours. We can be rightly deprived of life or liberty or property--or our silence--only through the due process of a court of law.  The Separation of Powers was not a quaint eighteenth century exercise in philosophy. It remains the foundation of a legitimate representative democracy. We should all be worried that this administration now undermines it.

Barry Levine

Bill Targets Citizenship of Terrorists’ Allies

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/world/07rights.html?scp=1&sq=bill%20targets%20citizenship%20of%20terrorists'&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Fri, May 7, 2010 at 8:49 AM
Subject: re: Bill Targets Citizenship of Terrorists’ Allies
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   The U.S. Constitution establishes that "adhering to their Enemies [or] giving them Aid and Comfort" constitutes treason.  If e.g. Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan or  Anwar al-Awlaki were tried and convicted of this in a court of law, either might be subject to imprisonment or capital punishment.  Treason however can be committed only against one's own sovereign or nation. Our constitution therefore also establishes that one remains an American--subject to our law and possessed of our constitutional guarantees of due process--even while committing treason.

Barry Levine

France Won’t Extradite Iranian Sought by U.S.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/world/europe/06france.html?scp=1&sq=france%20won't%20extradite&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Thu, May 6, 2010 at 10:10 AM
Subject: re: France Won’t Extradite Iranian Sought by U.S.
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    If the U.S. wants France to extradite suspects to face trial in our courts, we will have to honor our own extradition treaties with our allies.  Instead, the U.S. has refused extradition to both Germany and to Italy and has even intimidated those governments into withdrawing proper requests for extradition.  In the current matter, freeing an Iranian citizen may get the French favorable terms for oil and gas purchases. Currying favor the with the U.S. gets them neither thanks nor even an expectation that we will reciprocate in future cases.

Barry Levine