Taliban Spread Terror in Karachi as the New Gang in Town

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/world/asia/taliban-extending-reach-across-pakistan.html?ref=todayspaper

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Fri, Mar 29, 2013 at 10:54 AM
Subject: re: Taliban Spread Terror in Karachi as the New Gang in Town
To: "letters@nytimes.com"

To the Editor:

     When he was head of Pakistan's ISI, general Ashfaq Kayani cultivated ties to elements of the Taliban both for gathering intelligence and as proxies against India.  When he became head of Pakistan's armed forces, he maintained these ties both for the old reasons and additionally to keep his own head of ISI in check. Now, general Kayani is running Pakistan while mr. Zardari has been relegated to a purely ceremonial role of head of state, and his pet jackals are spreading domestic mayhem.  Does he still hold the leash? Do they need him to feed them anymore?

  Pakistanis have tolerated military meddling in their democracy again and again because the military promised order. Now that the military's pets are amok spreading chaos, the Pakistani people will have to judge again where their allegiances lie.

Barry Haskell Levine

For Obama, Tricky Balancing Act in Enforcing Defense of Marriage Act

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/us/politics/for-obama-tricky-balancing-act-in-enforcing-defense-of-marriage-act.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

To the Editor:

    The United States ratified the Convention against Torture in October 1994, and the Convention entered into force for the United States on 20 November 1994. On that day, it became the supreme law of the land. Yet president Obama's department of Justice--while acknowledging that men were waterboarded while in U.S. custody, and that waterboarding is torture--has prosecuted no one and extradited no one.  This exercise in Executive discretion is the more remarkable because now that same department of justice whines that it finds a constitutional duty to comply with laws even if it thinks them unconstitutional.

   If mr. Holder doesn't have the spine to hold our CIA accountable to law on the one hand or to not enforce a law he holds to be unconstitutional on the other, he should get out of the way and let someone do his job.

Barry Haskell Levine

Justices Cast Doubt on Benefits Ban in U.S. Marriage Law

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/28/us/supreme-court-defense-of-marriage-act.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Thu, Mar 28, 2013 at 7:55 AM
Subject: re: Justices Cast Doubt on Benefits Ban in U.S. Marriage Law
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

     It is sensible that our president should "enforce laws that are on the books" as president Obama's spokesperson has said. Alas, it is a deception. It is long established e.g. that men were waterboarded while U.S. custody, that waterboarding is torture and that torture is a crime. Yet this administration has made no move to prosecute or extradite torturers.

       The present danger is not only that this administration will create "two kinds of marriage" as justice Ginsburg warns. It is also that this administration has created two kinds of citizen: those who are answerable to the law, and then the C.I.A..

Barry Haskell Levine

Current Laws May Offer Little Shield Against Drones, Senators Are Told

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/us/politics/senate-panel-weighs-privacy-concerns-over-use-of-drones.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 10:08 AM
Subject: re: Current Laws May Offer Little Shield Against Drones, Senators Are Told
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    The exact definition of "unreasonable search" will occupy our Supreme Court for the foreseeable future. As technology advances, so must we get more sophisticated in setting borders. To the authors of our Fourth Amendment, what was visible to a passerby in the street was a public matter, but what happened behind a wall or drawn curtains enjoyed the presumption of privacy. One who climbed my garden wall to peer in was invading my privacy. But what of the drone that was passing by on an unrelated investigation? Even if that investigation was under court warrant, does what the drone sees in my backyard in passing enjoy the presumption of privacy? Or could the drone's video feed constitute probable cause for a new warrant to search my premises? Current jurisprudence is silent.

    The future is with us, day by day. We cannot hold it back. But we must enact laws that preserve our constitutional rights in a changing technological era.

Barry Haskell Levine

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/business/global/cyprus-bailout-incites-turmoil-as-blame-flies.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 4:52 PM
Subject: re: Cyprus Bailout Incites Turmoil as Blame Flies
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

      Taxes have  two inextricable roles in society; they raise the revenue to run a State, and they create the incentive structure in which citizens function.  Taxing Cypriots who save to bail out banks there would indeed raise some money for those banks. But the incentives created--to yank savings out of the banking system--are wholly irresponsible. It's a recipe for a catastrophic crash. Now we see that those bankers who advocated austerity in the name of building "confidence" never deserved our attention. They are willing to destroy confidence utterly for a short-term infusion of cash.

Barry Haskell Levine

The Old Peace Is Dead, but a New Peace Is Possible

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/opinion/the-old-peace-is-dead-but-a-new-peace-is-possible.html?_r=0

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 9:03 AM
Subject: re: The Old Peace Is Dead, but a New Peace Is Possible
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    Ari Shavit writes facilely  about the "legitimacy" of Arab governments, but nowhere defines his terms. Was Jordan's hereditary monarch "legitimate" when King Hussein made peace with Israel? Did the military coup confer "legitimacy" on Anwar Sadat, that he could make peace with Israel? 

    Israel will never have peace until she grants that Arabs can have governments which are just as legitimate as the Israelis have. And those governments will be free to be just as wise and just as stupid as Israel's, or anyone else's.

Barry Haskell Levine

Mr. Brennan’s Excuse

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/opinion/john-brennans-excuse-on-torture-report.html?_r=0


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine
Date: Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 10:06 AM
Subject: re: Mr. Brennan’s Excuse
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
  If John O. Brennan still "...thinks there is some doubt still about
whether the Bush administration tortured prisoners, hid its actions
from Congress and misled everyone", then our Senate has failed in it's
duty. Whatever "advice and consent" means, it necessarily involves
consent. And consent is meaningless if it's not informed.  Since Mr.
Brennan disdained to answer the senate's questions as to what he did
for twenty-five years in the CIA (or even for the last five in the
White House), and claims not to "know what the facts are or what the
truth is" it is not possible for the Senate to give meaningful "advice
and consent". From that posture of ignorance (real or feigned) to
confirm him as Director of CIA is to fail at the senate's own job
description and is a betrayal of the public trust.
Barry Haskell Levine

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/us/politics/cias-harsh-interrogations-pose-hurdles-for-john-brennan.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 8:57 AM
Subject: re: C.I.A.’s History Poses Hurdles for an Obama Nominee
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    President Obama has urged that we "need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards". Indeed, his first nominee for Director of C.I.A. Leon Panetta promised flatly that no C.I.A. agent or officer would be prosecuted for crimes in the past. So now we face a new nominee. Let's look forward. Will we honor our treaties that require us to prosecute or extradite torturers? It's known that men were waterboarded while in U.S. custody, that waterboarding is torture and that we're obliged to prosecute or extradite torturers. What we don't know is whether John O. Brennan conceives that the C.I.A. is above the law. While he is under oath in front of the Senate for confirmation hearing, we need answers much firmer than we've had yet.

Barry Haskell Levine

Turkey Renews Focus on Ending Its Long Conflict With Kurds

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/world/europe/turkey-renews-focus-on-peace-with-kurds.html?_r=0

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 8:30 AM
Subject: re: Turkey Renews Focus on Ending Its Long Conflict With Kurds
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   Prime Minister Erdogan has done much to improve the lot of Kurds in Turkey. But if he truly wants peace, he should look to the charter of the U.N. that Turkey helped to found in 1945. All U.N. members are pledged to national self-determination of peoples. That means a State for the Kurds as surely as for the Turks. To be sure, many U.N. member states fail to delver on this pledge, whether it's the Chinese in Tibet, the Russians in Chechnya the Israelis in the West Bank or a dozen others. But the path to peace begins with granting the other his dignity and rights. There is no path to peace that doesn't go through justice.

Barry Haskell Levine

Frequent Fliers, Prepare to Pay More

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/04/opinion/frequent-fliers-prepare-to-pay-more.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 8:30 AM
Subject: re: Frequent Fliers, Prepare to Pay More
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   The American Century began with Roosevelt and Taft breaking up cartels. They understood that the consumer is as important to our economy as the supplier. Now, the collusion has moved from railroads to airlines. But the challenge to our prosperity is the same, and the same remedies are at hand. If the members of International Air Transport Association are colluding to fix prices and discriminate against whole classes of travelers, they should be prosecuted for anti-competitive practices.

Barry Haskell Levine

To Achieve Mideast Peace, Suspend Disbelief

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/03/03/opinion/sunday/opinion-israel-palestine-mideast-peace.html

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Sun, Mar 3, 2013 at 9:09 AM
Subject: re: To Achieve Mideast Peace, Suspend Disbelief
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   Dennis Ross has laid out in undiplomatic clarity how an Israeli leader who was intent on Peace would act rather than speak. Point by point, he describes no Benjamin Netanyahu that we have ever seen. Yet there is always room for hope. Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin and Ariel Sharon all made difficult--even heroic--personal hegiras from the political Right towards the Peace Camp. 

   So while Israelis go on haggling over the leaders they want, we mustn't yet surrender hope that even the leaders they've got might discover that they want to leave their grandchildren a legacy of peace, rather than of squabbling over ice cream.

Barry Haskell Levine