Dear Mr Cameron
As your ministers and officials gather for the “Cobra” security meeting today in the wake of the hacking to death of a soldier in Woolwich, South East London, please consider this. As the shock of the incident begins to wear away, this is a wake-up moment for you, your Government and the country. It is simply not good enough to punish the men responsible by housing them in one of Her Majesty’s Hotels with free board and lodging. This is terrorism. You need to display courage and determination in responding to this horrific killing of an off-duty soldier. The images of the blood-stained assassin cleaver-wielding without remorse have shocked us all. This is now the time to consider the reinstatement of the death penalty. Please ask your Cobra colleagues to think about it...
Politics
Dear Mr Davey
As you know from reading the papers, the scientific journals, and no doubt from your press briefers, for the first time in human history, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has passed 400 parts per million. Doesn’t sound much does it? The last time such levels were seen on earth was before human history: the Arctic had no ice, sea levels were 40 times higher than now, and lush savannah plains spread across what is now the Sahara desert.
You have seen warnings of this before, so we know that unless we curtail the burning of gas, oil and coal, the temperature level of the planet will rise above 2 degrees. That’s the level where catastrophic environmental consequences will be triggered. The International Energy Agency has said that on current emission...
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To Jon Carson and the people at BarakObama.com including the President of the United States if he is actually involved with this coalition of criminals against America.
Please take note. I did not ask to be on your mailing list and I do not support your socialist agenda or your attempt to dismantle the constitution. As a Veteran I took upon myself an oath to protect the constitution with my life. Your attempts to usurp the right to bear arms is a clear violation of the second amendment of the US Constitution. Because of these actions, I can no longer support the president nor his agenda. Our country needs to be healed not torn asunder. Please do not ask me to be a part of any more of your petitions or calls to action. I have become very disillusioned by the attempts of our...
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Dear Mr Wilson
You are clearly a clever guy. Congratulations on perfecting, testing and successfully firing the world’s first plastic gun, “The Liberator” that can be constructed using a 3D printer. I understand that your plan is to upload the plans to the Internet so that anyone with access to a 3D printer can download them, for free, and make the Liberator. Why?
DefDis is a non-profit company, and I guess I should applaud your altruism and willingness to share your ingenuity with anyone and everyone. But therein lays the problem. Anyone and everyone cannot be guaranteed to make the gun as a hobby project (rather like making a scaled plastic kit model of a plane, ship, or even a replica gun).
I understand that you have an idea that by making your weapon (is it not a weapon?)...
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Dear Mr Clegg
Ouch! That hurt didn’t it? Did you really not see that one coming? The 2 May local council elections and the Parliamentary by-election must have been like a punch in the guts and a bloody nose combined. Your party’s results were appalling. Your Lib Dem candidate even came seventh in the South Shields Parliamentary by-election, and you lost your deposit. Your candidate only polled a few a little more votes than the Monster Raving Loony Party candidate. Your candidate was beaten by the abhorrent British National Party. Tattoos and shaven heads win over suits and syrup. The council election results are coming in and it looks like yet more drubbing for your party.
Admittedly, your coalition colleagues, the Conservatives, did not do very well either, but they can at least...
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Dear Justice Scalia as well as your distinguished peers serving on the Supreme Court,
First let me thank you for hearing the historic cases this week on California’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). My husband, Kelly Vielmo, and I adopted three beautiful siblings from DC’s foster care system last year. Being an inter-racial, same-sex family we are used to being conspicuous and sometimes the center of attention on a local level depending on where we happen to be. With the cases being heard in the Supreme Court this week our family is now on debate at the national level. With that said I am following with interest your ruling on these cases. One comment that stuck with me was the speculation of potential “deleterious” effects of kids having same-sex parents....
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Dear Mohamed Badie
You and your Brotherhood have claimed that a United Nations declaration for an end to violence against women will lead to the “complete disintegration of society”. You also criticised the UN Commission on the status of women for daring to grant women sexual freedom, which would allow Muslim women to marry non-Muslims, and take their husbands to court for marital rape. You said that this would “certainly be the final step in the intellectual and cultural invasion of Muslim countries”.
Are you so scared of women that you cannot allow them to have the same rights as men? What do you think this does for those who may be considering turning to Islam? Especially women? Did you consult widely across Egypt or other Muslim countries before issuing your ludicrous statement...
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Dear National Coalition, Syrian National Council and main political opposition groups: This is a simple letter from a Syrian, without political terms and complicated language.
Two years have passed and we have exhausted all our hopes, and you have taken part in many meetings, statements and pledges. Now it is only timely to reassess the situation and ask some questions that you are bound to face later, if not now.
When you were given legitimacy by the international community, did you believe that that made you the "legitimate" representative of the Syrian people?
Have you ever thought how we, mainstream Syrians, view your statements and your inaction? That it is embarrassing and humiliating for us when you keep praising certain donors, then turn us into beggars as you plead for...
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Dear Mr Secretary of State Hagel
Congratulations on your new position as Pentagon Chief, replacing Leon Panetta. It was a close run thing wasn’t it? 58-41!
I am sure you have many things on your desk crying out for attention, but I implore you to watch the BBC Panorama Programme that was screened in the last few days. BBC Panorama reporter Ben Anderson spent five weeks with US Marines working to advise Afghan security forces in Helmand province. British and American soldiers have fought and died to make that province, dubbed “Hell Land” by those who served there, safe and secure. Secure from Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, militant Islamists and impose the rule of law to protect the weak and the vulnerable. However as you will see in the programme Ben Anderson witnessed rampant corruption...
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A Citizen Proposition: Calling for Immediate Ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by the NPC
To the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress:
On the eve of the opening of the 12th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, as China’s new government prepares to take the stage, we solemnly and openly propose the following as citizens of China: that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights be ratified, in order to further promote and establish the principles of human rights and constitutionalism in China. Our concrete reasons are as follows:
1. The International Bill of Human Rights, as the basic declaration, establishment and standardization of basic human rights principles, accords with the tenets...
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