http://www.debate.org/debates/?order=1&sort=&category=News Customize this RSS feed by going to http://www.debate.org/rss/ en-us 2009-11-07T10:29:39-08:00 2009-11-07T10:29:39-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Obamas-decision-to-not-appear-on-Fox-News-was-the-beneficial-decision-to-his-presidency./1/ (Voting Period) President Obama has decided not to appear on Fox News or give them any interviews for the time being. His reasons include the fact that Fox News is a right-wing, manipulative and biased news source, and one that frequently insults him by flat out calling him a racist amongst other lies. Many people agree with Obama in his decision not to appear on Fox News; they don't see how it could possibly do him or the public any good, since he will be straw manned anyway. However, I posit that it was a bad decision in terms of political strategy, damaging to his reputation, a biased and unfair decision in itself, and a decision that ultimately does more harm for his candidacy than good. My opponent who accepts this debate will be defending the view that Obama's decision in this regard was the right one. I welcome any questions/clarifications from my opponent in the first round, and will begin listing my contentions in R2. Good luck. http://www.debate.org/debates/Obamas-decision-to-not-appear-on-Fox-News-was-the-beneficial-decision-to-his-presidency./1/comments/ 2009-10-25T10:47:53-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Failed-nations-are-a-greater-threat-to-the-U.S-than-stable-nations/2/ (Voting Period) I'm pro on this resolution I would like to thank my opponent and wish the best of luck to better help you understand this topic we will be debating I will define some key terms Failed state-characterized by the Fund for Peace, Their 2009 index characterizes failed states thoroughly "A state that is failing has several attributes. One of the most common is the loss of physical control of its territory or a monopoly on the legitimate use of force. Other attributes of state failure include the erosion of legitimate authority to make collective decisions, an inability to provide reasonable public services, and the inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community. The 12 indicators cover a wide range of state failure risk elements such as extensive corruption and criminal behavior, inability to collect taxes or otherwise draw on citizen support, large-scale involuntary dislocation of the population, sharp economic decline, g http://www.debate.org/debates/Failed-nations-are-a-greater-threat-to-the-U.S-than-stable-nations/2/comments/ 2009-10-24T16:25:47-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/pre-pay-pumps-after-dark/1/ (Voting Period) should gas stations make it mandatory to prepay after dark? ughhh, no. i hate this. i don't WANT to prepay. i hate prepaying, i despise prepaying. what if i only have so much money on me and i use it all to prepay because i think i want that much, then i realize i want a snickers, or my grandma calls me and i need to buy something for my diabetic uncle on the way home? then i have to go, find an atm, get out money, go back to the gas station and get what i need. so much time wasted, and gas too! also, what if i anticipate that i may need to buy something else with the cash i have on me, so don't prepay for as much, then don't have to, and wish i would have done it. or i get a call and i need to drive 30 minutes to pick up my uncle who doesn't have a car? now i don't have enough gas to get there and have to go BACK to the gas station, again with the waste of gas & time. AND what if i do have loads of money on me, prepay, walk back out there, pump my http://www.debate.org/debates/pre-pay-pumps-after-dark/1/comments/ 2009-10-15T00:54:06-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/FNC-Fox-News-showed-Obamas-address-to-Congress-about-his-supposed-health-care-plan/1/ (Voting Period) I have heard many uninformed liberals claim that FNC [1] did not show Obama's address to Congress that was supposed to be regarding his health care plan. This is a blatant lie. I would like anybody who believes that FNC didn't cover it to accept this debate and show that they didn't. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUiPV2YHVco [1] http://www.foxnews.com/ http://www.debate.org/debates/FNC-Fox-News-showed-Obamas-address-to-Congress-about-his-supposed-health-care-plan/1/comments/ 2009-10-28T19:55:34-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/The-mainstream-media-has-a-liberal-bias/1/ (Post Voting Period) I have explained this debate topic before in an earlier debate which my opponent was not taking seriously. I will briefly explain it once more and allow my opponent to post his or her arguments first. "Mainstream media" is defined for this debate as the news sources from which the majority of Americans get their news, including printed sources, Cable/TV News, Radio, and the Internet. "Liberal bias" will be defined as a tendency to present news stories with the agenda of elevating policies or stances that are conventionally called liberal. This may be in the form of excluding or distorting information to serve this goal, as well as devoting time to certain issues or politicians unevenly. Taking the Con stance, I will argue that the mainstream media does not have a liberal bias, or at least that any liberal biases it exhibits do not overcompensate for any conservative biases it exhibits. My opponent will presumably argue that liberal bias in the media do http://www.debate.org/debates/The-mainstream-media-has-a-liberal-bias/1/comments/ 2009-06-22T09:43:27-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/In-a-battle-between-Keith-Olbermann-and-Pat-Buchanan-Pat-Buchanan-would-win./1/ (Post Voting Period) I will defer to AFF for constructive. The Keith Olbermann and Pat Buchanan refer to the respective political analysts/news personalities. http://www.debate.org/debates/In-a-battle-between-Keith-Olbermann-and-Pat-Buchanan-Pat-Buchanan-would-win./1/comments/ 2009-07-21T22:05:30-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/In-a-battle-between-Ann-Coulter-and-Rachel-Maddow-Ann-Coulter-would-win./1/ (Post Voting Period) I will defer to AFF for constructive. The Rachel Maddow and Ann Coulter referred to are the T.V. news personalities. http://www.debate.org/debates/In-a-battle-between-Ann-Coulter-and-Rachel-Maddow-Ann-Coulter-would-win./1/comments/ 2009-07-09T22:07:34-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Ecstasy-should-be-downgraded-to-a-class-B-drug/1/ (Post Voting Period) Professor David Nutt recently recommended that Ecstasy should be downgraded from a class A to a class B drug. I am FOR this. And I shall allow my opponent to start the argument. I am not arguing that ecstasy should be legalised and that its not harmful. http://www.debate.org/debates/Ecstasy-should-be-downgraded-to-a-class-B-drug/1/comments/ 2009-03-04T18:04:35-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/The-U.S.-Government-Ought-Not-Sell-the-UnaBombers-Possessions/1/ (Post Voting Period) http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/09/unabomber.evidence/index.html Resolved: The U.S. Government ought not to sell the Unabomber's possessions without permission from the Unabomber. I just saw this on CNN and was wondering if anyone would like a friendly debate on the subject. Be forewarned, this debate isn't about semantics or legal precedent. I'm looking for a debate on morals - basically: should the government be able to sell a criminal's possessions without permission? If either side makes arguments concerning legal precedent/semantics those arguments are to be discarded. Con can post arguments in R1, or we can both wait until R2; it doesn't matter to me. With all of that said, let the debate begin! http://www.debate.org/debates/The-U.S.-Government-Ought-Not-Sell-the-UnaBombers-Possessions/1/comments/ 2009-06-19T21:31:21-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Mahmoud-Ahmedinijad-is-not-wrong-to-not-listen-to-the-U.S.s-request-that-they-stop-making-nukes/1/ (Voting Period) I am in no way endorsing Mahmoud Ahmedinijad. He is a horrible extremist, and he is a very hateful person. However, I have no problem with his nuclear weapons program. Let me clarify. I am against every nuclear weapons program in the world. I hate nukes, however, I don't hate Ahmedinijad's program any more or less than the rest, which brings me to my first point. If you and your friend were both smokers, and neither of you were trying to quit, what would you think if your friend told you to quit cold turkey, and he made no effort whatsoever to quit. Well, if a country that is LOADED with nukes (A.K.A. the U.S.) tries to tell another country not to make nukes (Iran), we must be pretty darn arrogant and ethnocentric to say that they should stop making them, but we should keep ours. I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that he's Mahmoud Ahmedinijad, one of the most dangerous men alive in the world. How can we let him have Nukes? Actually, look at http://www.debate.org/debates/Mahmoud-Ahmedinijad-is-not-wrong-to-not-listen-to-the-U.S.s-request-that-they-stop-making-nukes/1/comments/ 2009-04-05T18:09:24-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Gravity-is-good/1/ (Post Voting Period) 1. Without gravity, you would be floating in the air 2. Water will be floating 3. You can not touch the ground 4. It will be hard to eat http://www.debate.org/debates/Gravity-is-good/1/comments/ 2009-05-04T17:27:54-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/the-covering-of-jade-goodys-final-moments-were-shocking-and-reflect-sadly-on-todays-society./1/ (Post Voting Period) The covering of Jade Goodys last momnets , were nothing short of an outrage , sure she is doing it for her children and is dieing of cancer , but why should a women who has no real , talent and never contributed greatly to society , have the right to recvice millions of pounds and pretty much round the clock coverage and front page news of her last moments ? there are so many people dieing everyday of cancer , leaving behin familes and lved ones everyday , thats just a sad fact of life , but an even sadder fact of life is why somebody who became famous for nothing except acting like an idiot , is treated like a god for her final moments. Sure she will lave two poor children behind , but so will so many other mums today as well. These other familys jsut have to bite hard and get on with it , the media of course covered this event because , she was "famous" but the newspaper stories of her breakign down in tears and getting into arguments and screaming , were http://www.debate.org/debates/the-covering-of-jade-goodys-final-moments-were-shocking-and-reflect-sadly-on-todays-society./1/comments/ 2009-03-20T14:12:33-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/The-Octuplets-Mother/1/ (Post Voting Period) I am sure that you all have heard of Nadya Suleman. The mother of octuplets as well as 6 other kids. This is a debate on the mother's decision to have these 8 children. Is this ethical? She already had 6 children living in the home shared with her parents, a small 3 bedroom home. Suleman chose, with the knowledge that she would need government assistance in order to care for their lives, to have embryos artifically placed into her. Artifical fertilization. Such large births can result tragically. My real point is, what kind of mother would do this to her children? http://www.debate.org/debates/The-Octuplets-Mother/1/comments/ 2009-03-04T16:53:33-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/This-House-Would-Recognize-The-Pirate-Bay-As-Wrongly-Convicted./1/ (Post Voting Period) In case you have not heard the news; http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/business/global/18pirate.html Today we find ourselves at a crossroads, both marred by fog, spooky trees and werewolves and whatnot. One road involves criminalizing file sharing and persecuting everybody who participates in it, leading to never ending witch hunt. The other path would be that of legalization. It would be a path in which we work with the entertainment industry to find a new way in which they may remain competitive and lucrative while at the same time allowing the world to torrent whatever they please so long as it remains in the confines of all other (non-copyright) laws. Today I will present three iron-clad arguments as to why this house should encourage Sweden to not only release the four jailed for their involvement with The Pirate Bay, but also to decriminalizing the act of seeding torrents. My first point is that of legality in the sense that the court in questio http://www.debate.org/debates/This-House-Would-Recognize-The-Pirate-Bay-As-Wrongly-Convicted./1/comments/ 2009-04-21T23:37:25-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/please-pick-a-topic.-not-boring.-thanks-SHORT/1/ (Post Voting Period) pick a topic. it's only one round so please do this!! http://www.debate.org/debates/please-pick-a-topic.-not-boring.-thanks-SHORT/1/comments/ 2009-01-02T10:24:16-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/A-debater-s-sense-of-humor-can-ultimately-affect-the-number-of-votes-that-debater-receives./1/ (Voting Period) Definitions from dictionary.com: "sense of humor noun the trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous; "she didn't appreciate my humor"; "you can't survive in the army without a sense of humor" [syn: humor] " "ul·ti·mate·ly Audio Help (ŭl'tə-mĭt-lē) Pronunciation Key adv. At last; in the end; eventually." I don't think anyone will actually accept this debate, but oh well. I am going to prove that using a sense of humor can affect the number of debates a debater receives. 1) http://www.debate.org/debates/MANBEARPIG-is-a-greater-threat-than-Hillary-Clinton-just-barely/1/ As you can see, in the comments section, two people sated that CON had no sense of humor. If you'll notice that PRO is winning only by two votes, there is a possibility that these two people were inclined to vote PRO because he had a good sense of humor, while CON took the debate seriously. 2) A sense of humor can also distract a http://www.debate.org/debates/A-debater-s-sense-of-humor-can-ultimately-affect-the-number-of-votes-that-debater-receives./1/comments/ 2008-05-13T16:14:31-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Stable-nations-are-a-greater-threat-to-the-U.S-that-stable-nations/1/ (Post Voting Period) Failed nations are a greater threat to the U.S because of the lack of government control, also lack of territory control, and not being able to interact with other countries as a whole. These failed nations are posing several physical threats to the U.S because of all the nuclear power being help by them. Failed nations are also safe havens for terrorism to expand. www.gale.com/harvardinternationalreview http://www.debate.org/debates/Stable-nations-are-a-greater-threat-to-the-U.S-that-stable-nations/1/comments/ 2009-10-23T21:05:20-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/You-are-Ann-coulter/1/ (Voting Period) You are in fact Ann Coulter, try and prove you aren't http://www.debate.org/debates/You-are-Ann-coulter/1/comments/ 2009-08-22T23:21:24-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Waterboarding-is-torture-and-anyone-who-allowed-it-executed-it-should-be-prosecuted/2/ (Post Voting Period) Hi! Recently you may have heard about detainees being waterboarded. If you have been living under a rock for the past couple months, this might help: http://www.msnbc.msn.com... Now, for this debate, you get two for the price of one. Not only are we debating that Dick Cheney and Condi Rice and all those other mother firetruckers should be prosecuted, but also that waterboarding is torture. If you aren't convinced of that, try this: http://www.vanityfair.com... Now, I'm pretty sure torture is illegal. That's a given. We are not debating whether it works. I'm sure it does in some conditions. Doesn't make it right. Shooting someone in the head always gets them to shut up. So does that means you should always shoot people in the head when they annoy you? Didn't think so. I would request that you do not debate this if you believe that these tortures somehow never happened (I know a few), but other than that, this is open to all who want it! And if you los http://www.debate.org/debates/Waterboarding-is-torture-and-anyone-who-allowed-it-executed-it-should-be-prosecuted/2/comments/ 2009-06-01T11:20:49-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/I-think-Hummus-is-delicious/1/ (Voting Period) So I'm sitting here at my desk, and suddenly I'm struck with a thought. I'm eating pretzels with Hummus, and suddenly I realize that I freakin love hummus. It's delicious. Or at least, I think that it is. However, I find that I am often wrong when I have thoughts. My brain simply isn't capable of processing an idea that complicated. Therefore I ask you to attempt to prove that I do not think hummus is delicious, and I will argue as best I can, and in the end I'll have a better idea of whether I actually like it. Thank you. Oh, definition time. Hummus: is a Levantine Arab dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. It is a popular food in various local forms throughout the Middle Eastern world. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummus) http://www.debate.org/debates/I-think-Hummus-is-delicious/1/comments/ 2009-04-26T18:10:04-08:00