Dear Mr. President,
We modern Whigs extend our congratulations to you Mr. President on your electoral victory. The Nation has spoken, keeping you, our President, in the White House, yet at the same time still electing the some of the "opposition" party to other offices. Our citizens are exhibiting a proper sense of balance as well as bold social progression that their representatives ought take note of.
Mr. President, it is the sincere hope of the Modern Whigs that you govern through your second term in a spirit of collaboration and compromise and with a deep sense of historical dialectics. As political discourse in our Great Nation has become increasingly vitriolic, with emotions and blind ideology masking truth, we Whigs realize how difficult true leadership can be our current...
Politics
Dear Mr. President,
I am fully aware that these are days in which the federal government is — for all practical purposes — unlimited in its power. As it stands, you — sir — can detain any American citizen without due process simply because you suspect him of being a terrorist, you have magically managed to become the Chairman of the UN Security Council without the approval of Congress — despite that awkward Article 1.9 of the Constitution — and you — along with the FCC — seem to think the Internet is thine to regulate. Now I’m sure this sudden growth in power was seen as necessary, proper and really-cool by all of your staff, and thus I join in with their applause (but with those annoying, ironically-spaced claps that continue long after everyone else has finished.)
For there are those...
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Your Majesty,
You may think it impertinent of me, an Australian historian, to presume to address the Emperor of Japan. No doubt, many of your countrymen will think so and urge you to ignore this unsolicited letter.
But I write to you in an effort to find some connection between our countries beyond trade, tourism and the memory of the most terrible conflict our world has known. We are still recovering from that experience. Of the 50 million people who died in the Second World War, more than half were Asian people and Allied servicemen and women, the victims of Japanese aggression.
I write not in anger or bitterness, but rather in the spirit of respect and friendship. I do not share in the slightest degree the racial intolerance of some of my countrymen and women, whose hatred of...
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Dear Prime Minister,
A foreign news organisation has yet again been forced to apologise to you and your father and pay you a large sum of money for publishing an article you did not like. This time it is the New York Times Co. that is a victim of this double punishment because of a compliant judicial system that always rules in favour of you and your family in all the lawsuits you bring against foreign news media.
Before the New York Times Co., you succeeded in punishing the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER), FinanceAsia.com, The Economist, International Herald Tribune and Asian Wall Street Journal for their coverage of the political and economic situation in your country.
Threatened by a trial, the New York Times Co. apologised to you and your father, Lee Kuan Yew, for the...
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Dear Madam Chancellor,
I have had the privilege of meeting with you several times in my various positions serving the government of the State of Israel. I have always been impressed with your leadership and commitment to Israel's security and well-being in our region, with its risks and uncertainties.
A special relationship exists between our two countries, and Germany has been a true friend of Israel and the Jewish people, proven many times over. Under your direction, Germany has become the leading country in the European Union economically and financially. You have overcome historical sensitivities to become leaders politically and militarily as well. There is no doubt that today Germany is the most influential country in the EU and a major player in the global arena.
I am...
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Dear Prime Minister,
The end of October is a critical moment for open government in the UK and beyond. The UK will publish its second open government National Action Plan, host the Open Government Partnership Annual Summit, and hand over the baton of chairing the OGP. We hope that the Government will mark this important occasion by announcing a series of ambitious commitments towards greater openness, building on the leadership shown at the G8 Summit.
We welcome the emphasis that you have placed on the principles of open government both domestically and internationally and your ambition of becoming ‘the most open and transparent government in the world’. The true strength of your Government’s efforts will ultimately be judged by the level of new ambition in the commitments made and...
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Dear Mr. President,
NIGERIA NEEDS YOUR LEADERSHIP
Thank you for your continued efforts towards improving Nigeria. Though I have my opinion on the impact of your efforts, but that is not the purpose of this letter.
Sir, as a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, whose daily duty is to work with young Nigerians and ask them not to think of what Nigeria can do for them but what they can do to make Nigeria a better place, I have a problem. My problem is connected to the questions that I have had to struggle with over the years. One of the most popular is this: “You keep saying we should add value to Nigeria, but Nigerian rulers don’t care about us, so why should we care?”
Recently, a student stretched this question further: “Sir, if President Jonathan truly had no shoes,...
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Dear Mr. Secretary:
Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PsySR) is deeply concerned about the conditions under which PFC Bradley Manning is being held at the Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia. It has been reported and verified by his attorney that PFC Manning has been held in solitary confinement since July of 2010. He reportedly is held in his cell for approximately 23 hours a day, a cell approximately six feet wide and twelve feet in length, with a bed, a drinking fountain, and a toilet. For no discernable reason other than punishment, he is forbidden from exercising in his cell and is provided minimal access to exercise outside his cell. Further, despite having virtually nothing to do, he is forbidden to sleep during the day and often has his sleep at night disrupted.
As an...
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Dear Nigel,
I was concerned for you on the news the other nightExternal link . I’ve never seen you looking uncomfortable in front of the camera before. Answering questions about climate change with water all around you left you short of breath and a bit panicky, I thought. A pint in your hand would have helped settle the nerves. I’ll buy you one – it would give me a chance to talk through a couple of things (I’m with you on the straight glass thing by the way).
You said to the journalist: “I have no idea whether CO2 emissions are contributing to climate change.” Well, I’m an academic at the Open University, a social scientist working with climate scientists and technology specialists, so I can help you with that one.
In the mid 1980s it was agreed by governments and the top...
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Dear Mr. President,
You recently hailed “Australian gun laws”.
In doing so:
you praised a government for forcefully removing all semi-automatic firearms from its populace,
you admired the banning and confiscation of guns.
We expect to hear that from a European leader. But not you.
You’re the leader of America:
the world’s first free country,
the nation that has inspired many to be free,
that has protected the freedom of others,
that has spread more freedom than any other.
I am an Australian and I must set the record straight.
The “success” of the 1996 Australian gun reform is a myth.
The only thing achieved was to take away the guns of the law-abiding, leaving only the criminals armed. Is this what you wish for America?
In Australia, if a citizen has firearms...
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