http://www.debate.org/debates/?order=1&sort=&member=JBlake Customize this RSS feed by going to http://www.debate.org/rss/ en-us 2009-11-20T18:53:41-08:00 2009-11-20T18:53:41-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Ultimate-Team-War/1/ (Voting Period) This is the Ultimate World Domination Team Battle. Each debater must assemble a team of five people, and the teams will then have a battle. Since we cannot have an actual real-life battle, each debater will explain why their team is superior during this debate. DEFINITIONS Team leader: One of the debaters here, i.e. me and whoever accepts the debate. Team member: One of the five chosen warriors. RULES 1. Battles take place in a neutral location in the real world. The environment may not favor any team member. Note: Because this neutral location exists in the real world, someone like Neo who relies on The Matrix for his powers will not have his powers. 2. No team member may have unlimited abilities in one or more particular areas. 3. Every team member must be either real or, if fictional, verifiably existent. No characters may be made up for the purpose of this debate. 4. In the case of a fictional character, the team member's abilities must be acc http://www.debate.org/debates/Ultimate-Team-War/1/comments/ 2009-06-04T13:34:27-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/The-instigator-affirmative-or-negative-ought-to-post-an-oppening-argument-in-the-first-round/1/ (Voting Period) I have taken quite a bit of heat about posting an opening argument. While I realize it is polite and better for the debate to post an opening argument, I feel that I have no obligation to do so. Therefore, in correspondence with my position, I will allow my opponent to open the debate. If you accept this debate, you agree to the following definitions: Instigator-the person who starts a debate Ought-used to express obligation or duty Good luck to whoever accepts, and I look forward to an enjoyable debate. http://www.debate.org/debates/The-instigator-affirmative-or-negative-ought-to-post-an-oppening-argument-in-the-first-round/1/comments/ 2009-06-24T10:54:38-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/On-the-Death-Penalty/1/ (Voting Period) I contend that the death penalty is a just punishment for certain types of crimes. The reasoning for this is rooted in basic positive AND negative rights - namely the right to life, the right to defend oneself, and the right to redress of grievances for harm to oneself or one's companions. I don't think anyone contests the notion that there is a basic right to live. In order to exercise this right, we must have a right to defend that life, either by incapacitation or fatality. Furthermore, grounded in this, we must also have the right to strike back when harmed. It makes little sense to state that the right to strike back is limited to a lesser extent than we were harmed. In social contract theory, when one violates the rights of another, he negates what rights he DID have while in the contract and removes himself from those rights. However, he is still subject to the judgment and laws of the contract. Thus, society has a defensive right to exact the deat http://www.debate.org/debates/On-the-Death-Penalty/1/comments/ 2008-12-11T13:25:59-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/The-drinking-age-lowered/1/ (Post Voting Period) Con Drinking during the adolescent years is very harmful to the brain. Studies have proved that a young person's brain does not stop developing until their early 20s, and sometimes until their mid 20s. Adding alcohol to the mix can be very harmful because adolescents are more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol than older adults. Alcohol affects all parts of the brain including coordination, emotional control reasoning and many other things. Alcohol also interrupts hormones needed by minors for growth and maturity. Adolescent drinkers also do worse in school and are of higher chance to get behind. Also....... During the Vietnam War states all around the nation began to lower the drinking age to 18 since many people started to complain saying how it was unfair because 18 year olds were allowed to enlist and die for their country but they couldn't drink alcohol. However, the result was an increase in Alcohol related car accidents and an increased burden on p http://www.debate.org/debates/The-drinking-age-lowered/1/comments/ 2008-12-16T11:01:51-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/The-national-motto-of-the-United-States-should-be-changed./1/ (Post Voting Period) 2 Round Debate 72 Hour Rounds 8,000 Character Limit 2 Week Voting Period ====== Resolved, That the motto of the U.S. should be changed. I propose that the motto of the United States of America be changed from "In God We Trust" back to the original "E Pluribus Unum" (Latin for "One from many"). I will present the case for changing the motto on constitutional as well as on logical grounds. My proposed alternative need not be accepted for me to win this debate. ======= Separation of Church and State ======= The national motto of the U.S. in its current form reads "In God We Trust". This is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." (http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am1) This clause has been interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court by the majority opinion in Everson v. Board of Education (330 U.S. 1, 1947 http://www.debate.org/debates/The-national-motto-of-the-United-States-should-be-changed./1/comments/ 2009-07-30T10:38:51-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Intelligent-extraterrestrial-life-forms-would-be-viewed-as-Christians-by-millions-of-people/1/ (Voting Period) Please note the 1,000 character limit. 2 hypothetical scenarios: 1) We discover intelligent life that is relatively near our stage of development (both biologically and technologically) on another planet. 2) Aforementioned life lands on Earth (not clandestine {it is sad that I have to specify this}). A significant amount of people (many of which Americans) would likely view these life-forms as Christians. http://www.debate.org/debates/Intelligent-extraterrestrial-life-forms-would-be-viewed-as-Christians-by-millions-of-people/1/comments/ 2009-05-28T08:55:03-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/ToC-Round-One-The-Twenty-Second-Amendment-should-be-Repealed/1/ (Post Voting Period) I would like to open my first round of the tournament by wishing my highly esteemed opponent, K.R. Fournier the best of luck in the Tournament of Champions. --------- Twenty-Second Amendment: The amendment that prohibits the U.S. President to serve more than two terms. It also prohibits him from running for a second term if he has served more than two years of his successor's term. The full text of the amendment can be found below: (source: http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_Am22.html Repeal: 1. To revoke or rescind, especially by an official or formal act. 2. Obsolete To summon back or recall, especially from exile. (source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/repeal) ---------- Resolved, That the twenty-second amendment to the United States Constitution should be repealed. ---------- In this debate I will introduce at least threemajor reasons why the amendment should be repealed. 1) It is counter to U.S. democratic principles (note: we http://www.debate.org/debates/ToC-Round-One-The-Twenty-Second-Amendment-should-be-Repealed/1/comments/ 2009-08-18T10:22:23-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/A-Debate-On-The-Electoral-College/2/ (Post Voting Period) Resolution: The Electoral College system in the United States of America should remain as the system of choosing our president. Definition: The presidential electors who meet after the citizens vote for president and cast ballots for the president and vice president. Each state is granted the same number of electors as it has senators (see United States Senate) and representatives combined. These electors, rather than the public, actually elect the president and the vice president. The Founding Fathers assumed that electors would exercise discretion and not necessarily be bound by the popular vote, but the rise of political parties undermined this assumption. Electors are now pledged in advance to vote for the candidate of their party, and nearly always do so. Thus, the vote of the Electoral College is largely a formality. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Electoral%20College Contention 1: The Electoral College makes votes unheard. 1A: In fo http://www.debate.org/debates/A-Debate-On-The-Electoral-College/2/comments/ 2008-12-29T09:24:17-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/The-national-motto-of-the-United-States-should-be-changed-Two/1/ (Post Voting Period) 2 Round Debate 72 Hour Rounds 8,000 Character Limit 2 Week Voting Period Challenge: bodiedorazio ====== Resolved, That the motto of the U.S. should be changed. I propose that the motto of the United States of America be changed from "In God We Trust" back to the original "E Pluribus Unum" (Latin for "One from many"). I will present the case for changing the motto on constitutional as well as on logical grounds. My proposed alternative need not be accepted for me to win this debate. ======= Separation of Church and State ======= The national motto of the U.S. in its current form reads "In God We Trust". This is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." (http://www.usconstitution.net...) This clause has been interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court by the majority opinion in Everson v. Board of Education (330 http://www.debate.org/debates/The-national-motto-of-the-United-States-should-be-changed-Two/1/comments/ 2009-08-03T06:01:23-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/The-XXII-Amendment-to-the-Constitution-of-the-USA-is-unreasonable-and-should-be-repealed./1/ (Post Voting Period) Broadly speaking, the 22nd Amendment creates a prohibition against a President serving more than two terms in Office. My contention is simple. Given that the President of the USA is an elected figure (albeit not through direct elections), there is no reasonable justification in limiting him or her to two terms in Office. Since there is no valid logical or moral reason for this prohibition, it should be abolished. Whether this involves a complete repeal of the XXII Amendment or an amendment to it is not relevant. I take no issue with the remainder of the XXII Amendment. That is not to say I condone the remainder of it. I simply wish to limit the scope of the present debate to the above. http://www.debate.org/debates/The-XXII-Amendment-to-the-Constitution-of-the-USA-is-unreasonable-and-should-be-repealed./1/comments/ 2008-10-08T17:59:56-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/The-Real-ID-Act-of-2005-should-be-repealed/1/ (Post Voting Period) Note: I would prefer to avoid an argument of semantics. It is my hope that my opponent will stick to the issue of the Real ID Act, or a national identification system. Contention 1: The Real ID Act creates a national id card for the United States. Contention 2: A national id system has the potential for misuse. Contention 3: Said system has the potential to be used to violate privacy. Both from the public and private sectors. Contention 4: The system would require a centrally linked database making it easier for identity theft. Contention 5: Since it does not allocate federal money to help with state compliance the cost would eventually fall on the taxpayer, either in the form of state taxation, or in extremely high costs for the ID card, or a combination of both. Contention 6: There are very few positive effects that would result. These are heavily outweighed by the negative listed above. Conclusion: The negative results of the Real ID Act (o http://www.debate.org/debates/The-Real-ID-Act-of-2005-should-be-repealed/1/comments/ 2008-09-30T16:27:10-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Is-prison-a-moral-and-necessary-institution/1/ (Post Voting Period) I would like to argue that the prison system is not a moral, necessary, or even effective solution to the problem of crime. I argue that the prison system is immoral because of the needless violence, oftentimes at the hands of its guards, that run rampant inside many prisons. Another reason I find the prison system immoral, and this goes for the entire justice system, is that it focuses too much on the perpetrator and not enough on the victim. Without giving something back to the victims I don't see how justice can possibly be served. I argue that the prison system is not necessary or effective in curbing crime because of many studies done which show that even though the prison population goes up, the crime rate drops very little, if any. In fifteen studies done on the impact of incarceration on crime rate, which are dated from 1988 to 2006, the most reduction of crime that was found to be due to incarceration was 28.4 %, which was from the study done b http://www.debate.org/debates/Is-prison-a-moral-and-necessary-institution/1/comments/ 2008-09-10T07:41:19-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/The-term-Assault-Weapon-is-a-liberal-media-created-scare-tactic./1/ (Voting Period) I propose the following arguments. 1. The term "Assault Weapon" is a term created by the liberal media to scare the general public into believing it's ultimate hidden agenda (gun bans). 2. The classification of a "Assault Weapon" is flawed and is based on looks and "scary features" instead of actual firearm capabilities. The purpose of this debate is to prove/disprove the concept of the "Assault Weapon". Good luck! http://www.debate.org/debates/The-term-Assault-Weapon-is-a-liberal-media-created-scare-tactic./1/comments/ 2008-09-08T18:18:35-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Debate.org-voter-data-should-be-publicly-available/1/ (Post Voting Period) I submit that all debate votes in this site should be publicly viewable to site members. How it's done is not relevant, though I can think of a couple ideas. A new tab could be added to each debate called Voter History and when viewed, lists every vote, by whom, and when. Alternatively, a new menu could be added to the debate.org banner called Votes, in which members can view report-like listing of votes by debate or by member. However it's done, it's important that voting no longer be anonymous. By exposing votes and voters alike, accountability can be added to the site. This will assist in identifying abusers of the voting system as well as encourage members to vote more honestly. I am convinced there is no reason strong enough to keep the status quo. http://www.debate.org/debates/Debate.org-voter-data-should-be-publicly-available/1/comments/ 2009-01-29T20:48:01-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Merit-based-pay-for-the-Education-System/1/ (Voting Period) Claim: Basing K - 12 teacher's salary on merit would be a huge advantage to the Education System. http://www.debate.org/debates/Merit-based-pay-for-the-Education-System/1/comments/ 2008-09-03T14:17:23-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Should-Teacher-s-salaries-be-increased/1/ (Voting Period) Claim: Education is a vitally important aspect of any region/nation's continued progress and prosperity. In the United States, there is a discrepency on the amount of pay to the importance of work within the K - 12 Education System. http://www.debate.org/debates/Should-Teacher-s-salaries-be-increased/1/comments/ 2008-09-03T12:49:54-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Obama-should-appoint-Cheney-to-negotiate-with-North-Korea-over-hostages/1/ (Post Voting Period) The North Koreans have seized two American citizens for the apparent purposes of aggrandizing Dear Leader, Kim Il Jong, and for extracting a ransom in the form of concessions for their release. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D98ML4IO0&show_article=1 Past negotiations have followed the pattern of Dear Leader getting the attention he sought, receiving payment through various concessions, and then reneging on his part of the deal. One option being discussed among pundits is to send former Vice President Al Gore to negotiate. Gore was identified in the 2000 campaign as "an inspiration to the millions of Americans suffering from Dutch Elm disease." He thus could be counted upon to avoid confrontation. The two women seized were reporters for Al Gore's TV network. But, a pundit asked, what should Gore say when he went to North Korea? There is no easy answer to that. The same problem would exist if Vice President Biden or Governor Richardson or Secretary o http://www.debate.org/debates/Obama-should-appoint-Cheney-to-negotiate-with-North-Korea-over-hostages/1/comments/ 2009-06-15T10:35:19-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/A-Modern-Form-of-Democracy-is-Preferable-to-Other-Existing-Forms-of-Government/1/ (Post Voting Period) AFFIRMATIVE [Quote] "The love of democracy is that of equality." Charles de Montesquieu [Definitions] Modern Democracy- a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly Preferable- having greater value or desirability Other Existing Forms of Government- different types of government that do not include democracy or any variation of democracy that have been tried [Value/ Value Criterion] Value: Democracy Value Criterion: Consent of the Governed Democracy should obviously be the value for this round, for it is the most relevant on a resolutional scale. A (modern) democracy is preferable to other existing forms of government because it forces decision-makers to take into account the interests and opinions of all people in society. With the majority of the people's opinions taken into consideration, the will of the people, also known as consent of the governed, can best be uph http://www.debate.org/debates/A-Modern-Form-of-Democracy-is-Preferable-to-Other-Existing-Forms-of-Government/1/comments/ 2008-12-09T12:57:25-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Best-NFL-Quarterback-is-Brett-Favre/1/ (Post Voting Period) This debate is over whether or not Brett Favre is the best NFL quarterback ever since the merger of the AFL and NFL. To prove me wrong he has to find a quarterback that he thinks is the best quarterback of all-time and prove to me why. I will let my opponent start this argument and rebuttal his arguments as I see fit. I thank my opponent in advance for accepting this challenge and look forward to an interesting debate. http://www.debate.org/debates/Best-NFL-Quarterback-is-Brett-Favre/1/comments/ 2008-12-07T09:48:06-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Its-time-to-crackdown-on-canoodling-cretins-that-conspicuously-cavort-in-crowded-carriages./1/ (Voting Period) We've all been there, haven't we? Standing in a jam-packed underground train with hardly enough room to breath, never mind move, when the aesthetically-challenged couple next to you decide to demonstrate that they aren't too hideously ugly to get a sexual partner by going at each other hammer and tongs - right in your face. Yes, there they are, these two freaks of nature, his hand up her blouse, her hand down his trousers, slobbering all over each other like a bitch on heat being taken by a dog with two d###s - and the worst thing is, there's no escape from this appalling public display of affection. http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4161/tuberf9.png (Decent, hard-working Londoners taking the Circle Line to work yesterday…) http://somuchdamage.com/stuff/ugly%20couple.jpg (…until these two get on and start snogging…) http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/07/09/ldn_damaged_train_wideweb__430x339.jpg (…and chaos ensues as the disgusted commuters http://www.debate.org/debates/Its-time-to-crackdown-on-canoodling-cretins-that-conspicuously-cavort-in-crowded-carriages./1/comments/ 2008-11-12T11:13:37-08:00