The Next Culture War

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/opinion/29brooks.html?scp=1&sq=the%20next%20culture%20war&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 11:16 AM
Subject: re: The Next Culture War
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    Mr. Brooks may be astonished to learn that the excesses of the eighties that he decries are widely known as "Reagan's America". Likewise, the virtues for which he grieves were those of Jimmy Carter. Get a sweater, Mr. Brooks. Turn down your thermostat. Maybe re-register as a Democrat.

Barry Levine

In a Parched Los Angeles, the Streets Suddenly Run Wet

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/us/29water.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=water-main&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Subject: re: In a Parched Los Angeles, the Streets Suddenly Run Wet
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   While the break of a water-main gets news coverage, Southern California's ongoing waste of water during a drought is treated as normal.  Vast amounts of water are pumped from the Sacramento river to be lost to evaporation in open canals before ever getting to Southern California.  The current system of hundreds of miles of open ditches would have been an engineering marvel in the age of Conan; in the age of Arnold, it's an outrage.

Barry Levine

A War President?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/opinion/28douthat.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=a%20war%20president&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 10:19 PM
Subject: re: A War President?
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   President George W. Bush was a war president by choice. He disdained to lead a broad international coalition to apprehend the criminals who had attacked the world trade center and the pentagon. President Barack Obama inherited two wars.  He has told us that "war" is an unhelpful descriptor of our struggle against terrorists. but time is running. If he doesn't quickly  reformulate our effort in Afghanistan as a law-enforcement effort to eliminate Al Qaeda, the war there will stick to him as surely as Vietnam stuck to Dick Nixon.

Barry Levine

Pre-existing Conditions and Insurance Pools

http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/pre-existing-conditions-and-insurance-pools/?scp=1&sq=exchanges%20would%20be%20required%20to%20take%20all%20comers&st=cse

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 8:53 AM
Subject: re: Pre-existing Conditions and Insurance Pools
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    The HealthCare bill currently in front of the Senate Finance Committee would create a problematic "high risk pool" for people with pre-existing conditions. The problems grow insuperable in 2013, when regular insurance exchanges "would be required to take all comers".  In such a system, I would be motivated to carry the cheapest insurance available, but to buy up to a more comprehensive plan if and when I were hit by a bus or diagnosed with cancer. A private insurer "required to take all comers" would be in an untenable position. I don't pretend that SinglePayer is the only way forward, but the package in front of the Senate Finance Committee doesn't even pass the giggle test.

Barry Levine

Justice Dept. to Limit Use of State Secrets Privilege

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/us/politics/23secrets.html?scp=1&sq=state-secrets&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 9:16 AM
Subject: re: Justice Dept. to Limit Use of State Secrets Privilege
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    It is half a century over-due that we reassess the matter of State Secrets. While there are matters--like troop movements in times of war--that are legitimate secrets, the doctrine has more often been used to cover government embarrassment and malfeasance.  The proposed changes are an insufficient gesture in the right direction. Invocations of State Secrets should have to pass the scrutiny of a judge outside the department of Justice, and that judge must have the power to get all relevant documents, and to deny the claim of State Secrets  when that is warranted.

Barry Levine

Obama Considers Strategy Shift in Afghan War

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/world/asia/23policy.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=strategy%20shift%20in%20afghan&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 9:02 AM
Subject: re: Obama Considers Strategy Shift in Afghan War
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

     Eight years ago, the civilized world stood united in solidarity with the U.S., ready to join together to visit justice on the terrorists who had attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.  It was perceived that Al Qaeda threatened legitimate governments everywhere,  in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia no less than in the U.S. President Bush and his team quickly alienated key allies in this effort, calling for "crusade" and launching wars against the governments of Afghanistan and then Iraq. It is time and past time that we re-assess these choices. Osama bin Laden is still at large, and the Afghans are showing no enthusiasm for our continued presence on their soil. Until we have finished our real fight with Al Qaeda, we have no credibility in picking other fights.

Barry Levine

Refitted to Bury Emissions, Plant Draws Attention

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/science/earth/22coal.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=refitted%20to%20bury%20emissions&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 9:21 AM
Subject: re: Refitted to Bury Emissions, Plant Draws Attention
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

     There is convincing evidence that carbon can be sequestered for geological ages either as cellulose (peat) or as elemental carbon (coal or biochar). Corresponding evidence that carbon dioxide will stay stably sequestered is much scarcer. Recently, it was shown that what had long been dismissed as ancient carbon dioxide had actually be bound as carbonate rock until liberated by magmatic heating.  "Clean Coal" is an idol to whom those who seek senator Robert Byrd's favor bow down. It is not a solution to our energy or climate woes.

Barry Levine