Dear People Who Write Open Letters on the Internet,
Stop. Shut up. You aren't charming and I hate you.
Let's start with the obvious. Most people will agree that the most annoying thing about your open letters is the gall of your presumption that everyone reading is automatically in total agreement with you. Like just because they stumbled upon something you wrote on a website, they're gonna back up your obnoxious opinions! It's ridiculous, right?
And let's not forget the sheer audacity of expecting that people looove your glorious prose so much that they'd be honored to read something you write that isn't even directed at them. I bet you use really poetic language too. Yes, we're all clamoring for the chance to push our metaphorical glass against the wall of your mind to...
Lifestyle
Dear Sir:
As you know, on February 18 a presidential election took place in Armenia. It was contested primarily by the leaders of two parties—the ruling Republican Party and the opposition Heritage Party—both observer members of the EPP.
Before the campaign you had conveyed your warm wishes to both candidates, and expressed your hope for the conduct of a free, fair, and democratic election. Despite the incumbent’s numerous promises, the election was anything but free and fair. In fact its results were systematically falsified, as the incumbent Republican candidate tried to steal victory by a process of serial ballot-stuffing, ballot-stealing, and multiple-voting. It remains something of a miracle that, despite the incumbent’s vast abuse of state resources throughout the campaign,...
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Dear Chancellor,
With great concern and support for the common project of a united Europe, we do not only follow the Euro-crisis but also the austerity conditionalities imposed by the EU, ECB and IMF on countries such as Greece. In particular, the commissioned privatization of public goods, amongst them the water services, will not be favorable to the reconciliation of the Greek economy and will at best lead to a short-term decrease of debts. This is contrasted by the sell-off of core elements of public services which, with good reason, both in our constitution and in several EU treaties is given a high status. The federal government has stressed this elevated status of (German) water services in opposition to the European Commission’s strive towards liberalization and privatization...
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Dear Colleagues:
I was pleased with the results of our Fifth Meeting of Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) held at the ECLAC headquarters. The Responsible Coordinators of the poverty and discrimination eradication initiatives deserve congratulations for their comprehensive and informative presentations on follow-up activities. The frank and open dialogue between the delegates continues to be the key to a meaningful implementation effort. We were honored by opening presentations by U.S. Presidential Counselor Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty III, Chilean Foreign Minister Jose Miguel Insulza and his colleague Minister of Planning Luis Maira. The latter gave an invaluable summary of the results of the Conference on Poverty which had been held a few days earlier at the ECLAC headquarters....
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Dear Minister,
The first official meeting with your fellow Ministers of Sports will take place on 22 April 2010.
One of the items on the agenda of this meeting is a meeting with the major sports organizations, such as IOC and FIFA.
After the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon these organizations have indicated that article 165 of this Treaty could be the start of a far-reaching autonomy of sport within Europe.
If this intended autonomy were permitted it would have far-reaching consequences. The model that these organizations have in mind is as follows.
The sports sector should be divided into four quadrants, viz.:
1- the sport itself with exclusively the sporting rules;
2- the sport activity with economic aspects;
3- the economic activity...
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Dear Ms. Pao:
Shame on you. Your recent announcement that Reddit would not negotiate salaries is a terrible choice for your company and a bad sign of the way things have become in our society. You were recently quoted in the press:
“Men negotiate harder than women do and sometimes women get penalized when they do negotiate.”
There is so much wrong with this statement, it is hard to know where to start. First, how insulting to the many women I know who are tough negotiators. Real Estate brokers, HR directors, and CEOs that I know ought to be offended by that sweeping generalization. I feel like that if I had made that statement (and I wouldn't, because I don't agree with it) I would be labeled sexist for implying that all women are somehow less than all men.
But the truth is that...
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Dear Commissioner Karel De Gucht and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Fumio Kishida
Ahead of the negotiations in Brussels this week, we are writing to express our concerns about the EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
Firstly, we would like to urge you to provide full transparency around the negotiations, in order to enable an open and informed debate. We note that some steps have recently been taken to increase transparency around the EU-US trade and investment negotiations (TTIP) in response to the intense public discussion and the widespread concerns about these negotiations. The transparency improvements for TTIP, which include the publishing of the EU's negotiating mandate last week, are far from sufficient, and largely symbolic, in that the mandate has been in the public...
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Dear Commissioner Malmstroem,
we are writing to you on the occasion of the international Day Against Digital Restrictions Management, which today is being celebrated around the world. We are very concerned about the security of European citizens, and we ask you to take action to protect them.
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is an independent charitable non-profit dedicated to promoting Free Software and freedom in the information society. Today we would like to direct your attention to a very specific threat to the freedom and security of computer users everywhere.
Both at work and in our personal lives, we conduct a large part of our activity through Web browsers. Ever more of our work and life migrates into the digital domain, and many people use a growing number of...
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Dear President Barroso,
Next week, on 22 January you are expected to decide on a White Paper regarding a 2030 framework for climate and energy policies.
ACT Alliance, Carbon Market Watch, Client Earth, the Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), and Green Budget Europe look forward to a 2030 White Paper that sets a clear roadmap towards deep emission cuts in Europe. We therefore urge you to make a clear reference in the upcoming White Paper, specifying that the 2030 reduction commitment must be achieved domestically, without the use of international offset credits.
It is our understanding that the draft Impact Assessment accompanying the White Paper, as reported through various media, shows that a...
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