Dear Prime Minister:
Many Americans love Canada and the specific benefits that have come to our country from our northern neighbor’s many achievements (see Canada Firsts by Nader, Conacher and Milleron). Unfortunately, your latest proposed legislation—the new anti-terrorism act—is being described by leading Canadian civil liberties scholars as hazardous to Canadian democracy.
A central criticism was ably summarized in a February 2015 Globe and Mail editorial titled “Parliament Must Reject Harper’s Secret Policeman Bill,” to wit:
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper never tires of telling Canadians that we are at war with the Islamic State. Under the cloud of fear produced by his repeated hyperbole about the scope and nature of the threat, he now wants to turn our domestic spy agency...
Politics
Dear President Obama:
Since ISIS is a continuing threat to world peace in a way unknown to us since the Nazis of World War II, we humbly call upon you to use the influence and power of your distinguished office to take the necessary actions now in this urgent hour to bring an end to these human atrocities. The abuse, brutalization, and murder of children, women, and men that is occurring before the world calls our country to lead forward to bring this to an end.
As you do this, please know that we are not only praying for you, but assure you that you will have the unequivocal support of the vast majority of America’s largest, and some say most multi-ethnic and multi-lingual, Protestant denomination in America. The world will applaud your courage and compassion as you defend those...
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Dear Mrs. Duggar,
Over the years, I have often defended you to friends and in online comments that criticize the life you have chosen for yourself. I’ve seen and heard comments that describe your family as abusive since your older children become caretakers of the younger while many feel that they should be enjoying their youth, and that you blatantly exploit your children by allowing cameras to record their every awkward and private moment for your own profit.
I have defended you despite how differently your life is structured from my own. I never chose to have children, and I’ve taken a lot of criticism and been the target of a lot of confused reactions to that choice. Despite my own feelings about whether or not to become a mother, I have always defended your right to have as...
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Dear Verizon Customers,
Yesterday it came to light that the National Security Agency has been collecting millions of phone records from you each and every day. Since that news was released, many of you have called the White House with questions and concerns about this new program. To save my time and yours, here are answers to three of the F.A.Q.s (Frequently Asked Questions) we’ve been hearing from you:
1. Will I be charged extra for this service?
I’m happy to say that the answer is no. While the harvesting and surveillance of your domestic phone calls were not a part of your original Verizon service contract, the National Security Agency is providing this service entirely free of charge.
2. If I add a phone to my account, will those calls also be monitored?
Once again,...
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Dear Home Group customer,
You may have recently read about the withdrawal of community wardens from sections within Copeland Borough Council area by Home Group.
While it is true that community wardens are coming to the end of their four year fixed term contract, fears the work they have undertaken in communities will no longer be carried on are far from the mark.
Currently there are two community wardens who cover a patch in the South Whitehaven area of Copeland Borough Council. The two wardens cover an area which takes in 3,000 Home Group customers – one warden per 1,500 people.
The functions of the two wardens are to be taken on by a larger team of Customer Service Partners. In total there will be 28 Customer Service Partners working with around 5,500 customers in the...
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Dear Mr Cameron, Mr Clegg and Mr Miliband,
I am writing to try to convince you all to put aside your ideological differences and work together to solve the financial crisis that the country finds itself in at the present time.
I am sure that I am not alone in being sick and tired of the constant blame game, buck-passing and excuses that the political parties in this country engage in. They do nothing but stall any hope of getting any real progress made. Yes, Labour left a financial mess when they left office but it was not all their fault as the major global banking crisis too its toll as well. It would be nice if Labour held their hands up and accepted some responsibility but I believe we are passed the point of apportioning blame.
It angers me that the Coalition keeps on...
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Dear Ms Doyle-Price,
I was wondering what your opinion was on the cuts to the funding of vital services in Thurrock is as you seem to be extremely quiet on the subject.
I refer to the cut in funding through Thurrock Council to the excellent service provided by Family Mosaic that provides, amongst other things, support workers for individuals who are at their most vulnerable and in the most need of help.
The cuts, due to take effect at the start of April, will mean that home visits to a great deal of Family Mosaic’s clients will have to be halted and those clients who are affected will have to travel to one of the new ‘hubs’ that will be set up. The need to travel to a ‘hub’ site will not prove a problem for some, such as myself, but there are two major hurdles that will...
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Open Letter To Jim Justice
This letter , written by Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards (SAMS), was sent to Jim Justice's personal residence and the offices of Southern Coal in Roanoke, VA. Two weeks later, after no response, SAMS members hand-delivered the letter to the Southern Coal headquarters. Community members have still received no response to the request for a meeting.
Mr. Justice,
Ten years ago this August, a boulder was dislodged from a mine complex operated on Looney Ridge by A...
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I believe that among the political documents of recent times, that have the strengthening of peace, the furthering of international cooperation and the securing of democracy as their aims, the open letter of Henry Wallace, the presidential candidate of the Third Party in the U.S.A., is the most important.
The open letter of Wallace cannot be regarded as a mere exposition of the wish to improve the international situation, as an exposition of the wish for a peaceful settlement of the differences of opinion between the Soviet Union and the U.S.A., and the wish to find a way towards such a settlement. The declaration of the government of the U.S.A. of 4 May, and the answer of the Soviet government of 9 May are, therefore, insufficient, because they do not go so far as to declare that the...
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Dear Mr President,
You have made yourself the Trustee for those in every country who seek to mend the evils of our condition by reasoned experiment within the framework of the existing social system. If you fail, rational change will be gravely prejudiced throughout the world, leaving orthodoxy and revolution to fight it out. But if you succeed, new and bolder methods will be tried everywhere, and we may date the first chapter of a new economic era from your accession to office. This is a sufficient reason why I should venture to lay my reflections before you, though under the disadvantages of distance and partial knowledge.
At the moment your sympathisers in England are nervous and sometimes despondent. We wonder whether the order of different urgencies is rightly...
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