Dear Karen,
In your recent Guardian article you suggest that:
(i) religious conflicts often involve other, non-religious factors (that’s a fairly uncontroversial claim with which I can agree),
(ii) the violence of Isis has ‘nothing to do with Islam’ (I consider the suggestion it has nothing at all to do with Islam silly, but will let it pass), and,
(iii) while secularism has been of ‘value’ to the West, it has a history of being oppressive and unjust, particularly towards the religious, producing a violent fundamentalist backlash.
It’s that third and final claim that I’ll focus on here. In particular I’m concerned with your thought that, while the violence of Isis has nothing at all to do with religion, it’s at least partly a product of an oppressive ‘secularism’.
I’ll...
Lifestyle
Sir,
The latest world military expenditure figures show that spending is an enormous $1.75 trillion. One of the nations continuing to spend the most is the UK, which plans to spend £38 billion in 2014/15. This shows the backwards priorities of a government that is protecting its overblown military budget, at the same time as it is subjecting vital public services to drastic spending cuts.
For too long we have lived with the myth that high military spending maintains peace, creates jobs and combats terrorism. This myth is promoted by governments and the multinational arms companies that benefit from the global arms trade politically and economically.
The money and skills which are currently being wasted on needless and destructive weapons like the Trident nuclear weapons system...
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Dear Trixie,
Bestie. BFF. Sister. Soul mate. All things we use to call each other.
We use to say that we're were going to be roomies in the nursing home together. We'd wake up every morning and be BFFs all over again.
And I better not cry or you'll pinch me. Although I did most of the pinching.
But I have been crying and never comes the pinch. I got poked, but never the pinch. The pinch I would welcome as it would mean that you're still here with me. But no pinch means the reality is still the same. You're gone. There's no tomorrow. There's no do-overs. There's no second chances. There's no you.
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Dear Mr. Elon Musk,
Hey bro! What’s up man? How’s SpaceX workin’ out? I mean your rockets keep crashing, but you seem to just keep finding more rockets to crash. That’s impressive. I don’t even have one rocket to smash into the ocean or a landing pad.
But never mind all that; it’s time to get serious Elon. I’m writing you this letter, first of all because we’re BEST friends, but second of all because your penchant for crashing really expensive high-tech future-shit is gonna get people killed…eventually. Further, those people are going to die in what is essentially a giant floating people-filled suppository. Your name is going to be on the news attached to the story I’m about to paint for you. Here’s the deal:
If you build a Hyperloop, eventually it is going to crash.
Trains...
3,208
Hi Ken,
Did you see Richo's column in The Australian this morning? I don't know what I can do or what ICA can do, but Richo is right.
I have years of experience in heavy and light industry; the workers are lovely people but they are not as adaptable as the dry economists wish they were.
These salt-of-the-earth workers were led by treacherous unions into disastrous industrial agreements; the workers would not have thought of these bizarre, Marxist attempts to take over the means of production. They were betrayed by ideologues.
We have arrived at another stage in a long end game; but it's not the first I've seen. I was running a small manufacturing business when tariff walls came down in the ’80s. Many businesses in my industry were ground into the earth by imports; their...
2,802
Dear Ecotricity,
We are writing to you regarding your contract with G4S Utility Services, which provides you with meter reading services.
Ethical issues
Your Environmental Policy (http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/about-ecotricity/our-eco-credentials/our-environmental-policy) states that you “take into account ethical and social issues, biodiversity and sustainability when making all strategic and operational decisions.” Many of your 50,000 customers – who are presumably your customers because of such ethical considerations – would not consider your contract with G4S – a company accused of serious human rights abuses, violation of international law and profiting from the suffering of people in the UK and elsewhere in the world – to be taking ethical and social issues into account. Many...
3,373
Dear Governor Perdue:
On your desk is a bill passed by the overwhelmingly Republican North Carolina legislature to ban local communities from building or supporting community broadband networks. (H.129). By midnight tonight, you must decide whether to veto that bill, and force the legislature to take a second look.
North Carolina is an overwhelmingly rural state. Relative to the communities it competes with around the globe, it has among the slowest and most expensive Internet service. No economy will thrive in the 21st century without fast, cheap broadband, linking citizens, and enabling businesses to compete. And thus many communities throughout your state have contracted with private businesses to build their own community broadband networks.
These networks have been...
2,304
Dear fellow fighters in the Climate Justice Movement:
I am a long-time advocate of both climate justice and fundamental system change. I am writing to you with whom I share these central political commitments because I believe you are making a serious strategic mistake by categorically rejecting international carbon trading.
Recently your organization, together with over sixty other environmental justice organizations, sent a letter to the President of the AFL-CIO “imploring labor to join us in the fight against climate change,” explaining what labor must do differently if it expects to advance its cause. You obviously understand why we must sometimes reach out with advice to allies in struggle who we believe are making serious mistakes. That is the spirit in which I write you this...
2,605
Dear Yahoo! Answers Users,
For every guy who has dreamed of looking like a Hoobastank concert attendee, or for every girl who has dreamed of looking like a Bratz doll, Yahoo! Answers provides you with a forum to not only construct the avatar of your dreams, but also to ask questions on a variety of topics, and get real answers from real people.
Unfortunately, as a math educator, I feel compelled to offer criticism regarding the Mathematics section of your site. The existence of this section is not what bothers me - it is the user behavior, both of those asking questions and those answering them.
Let's start with the askers. I'll be blunt: please stop using the internet as your interactive cheat sheet. There are a number of users of Yahoo!'s service who have no qualms asking for...
3,435
Dear Mr. President,
Next to acts of terrorism and a prosecution of the war in Iraq, energy heads the list of critical issues the United States faces.
Economically, energy itself is the lifeblood of America, as you well know. The ever-increasing prices of oil and the risks involved with our suppliers threaten the very economy you have so ably regenerated.
Heaven forbid, but in the event of another terrorist attack on American soil, coupled with an escalating energy crisis, the people of America would suffer major psychological damage.
You have the constitutional right and power to take an action this nation so desperately needs — the Declaration of a National Emergency for energy by the president of the United States.
The attorney general (authorized by the U.S. Constitution...
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