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Thursday, September 22, 2011

BNE results

BELLAIRE NOVICE EXTRAVAGANZA 2011

Congressional Debate
Michael Murphy 1st
Connor Selna 1st
Martina Khurana 2nd
Jamison Miles 2nd
Armon Tabibzadegan 3rd

Extemporaneous Speaking
Dane Byrd 3rd
Michael Talanker 5th

Cross-Examination Debate
Ashley Liu & Lauren Nyquist 3rd

Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Luke Lawyer 5th

Public Forum Debate
Gregory Pauoski & Sam Tekie 6th
Jessie Chen & Pamela Du 8th

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

BNE Extemp Topic Briefs

5.  Did David Cameron respond appropriately to the recent riots Great Britain?
The riots in Great Britain (more specifically in London) were in early August and were in response to the police shooting of a suspected gangster. A  protest was organized which turned violent and rioting ensued.  However, the violence escalated and spread to other parts of the city.  David Cameron, the Prime Minister, returned from his holiday early to help end the riots.  However the response was criticized for being too little late, as much damage was done, many were injured and five people were killed as a result of the violence.

Yes, Mr. Cameron responded appropriately
1. He ended his vacation - showed a sense of urgency
2. He supported the police
3. He correctly identified it as a crime of lawlessness and not civil disobedience

No, Mr. Cameron did not respond appropriately
1. He should've known the neighborhood's history
2. If it had been appropriate you wouldn't have seen the widespread vigilantism  
3. Spending cuts have contributed in the first place

6.  Can Rick Perry win the Republican nomination?
And how the million dollar question!  Not much to set up here.  The Presidential election is in 2012 and the Republicans need a nominee.  Incumbents are traditionally difficult to beat, unless the economy is bad (see Bush 41, Carter).  With Rick Perry currently leading in the polls, the question is can he carry that momentum to the Republican nomination?

Yes he can!
1. Republicans will see him as the second coming of Bush
2. He can capitalize on the Tea Party momentum
3. Republicans see him as the only one who can beat Obama

No he won't!
1. He's too extreme (social security is a ponzi scheme, views on global warming)
2. Moderates have the better chance and Mitt Romney is the moderate in the race
3. He's too similar to Bush

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

BNE Extemp Topic Briefs

3.  Is Standard and Poor’s downgrade of America’s credit status justified?
In early August Standard & Poor (S&P) issued the first ever downgrade of America's credit status from AAA to AA+ .  Before addressing whether or not its justified its important to explain what it means.  All credit ratings are linked to how stable a borrower someone is.  Individuals with high credit scores are allowed to borrow more than individuals with low credit scores.  The U.S. has enjoyed the AAA rating for the past 70 years.  However, you don't have to look too far to see that our economy has some big problems, which would cast doubt on how strong the economy will be in the future and on whether or not the U.S. will be able to pay back its creditors. (Nearly 1/3 of our debt is foreign owned and 1/3 of that is owned by China)  All that said...here are your possible outlines:
 
Yes, it's justified because
1. Our debt has increased rapidly and shows no signs of slowing down
2. Even though it's symbolic, it should scare the govt. into change
3. It was done right after the government argued over the budget, showing they can't put politics aside to fix the economy

No, it's NOT justified because
1. It's symbolic
2. It's going to hurt the consumers and American people; those who aren't to blame
3. There was an error in the calculation (politically motivated?)

4.  Should the United States take a more active role in Somalia?
If you've seen the film Black Hawk Down, then you'll have a pretty good idea about where this question comes from.  You'll understand why we were there, why we left, and why we along with the rest of the world has been very reluctant to go backThe key phrase in this question is "more active role."  Right now, the U.S. is running many covert operations in Somalia in an effort to combat terrorism there.  Using the tactics they used in Iraq of giving local warlords positions of power in exchange for keeping their area secure, the U.S. is slowly beating back the insurgent forces in Mogadishu known as al-Shabaab.  Yet at heart of this question is the general issue of U.S. isolationism vs. intervention.  
Yes, the U.S. should be more active because...
1. For the sake of fighting terror
2. Humanitarian role (there is severe famine there attracting international attention)
3. Pirates
* It's important to note that all three of those points are connected; eliminating the pirates will increase the success of the humanitarian aid mission and reduce.  Consider ordering your points in a way that flows logically.

No, the U.S. shouldn't feel obligated to be any more active because...
1. We're still in Afghanistan, Iraq; we're watching Libya, 
2. The current covert operation is (unfortunately) the only way to win in a hostile environment such as Mogadishu.
3. Politically unpopular (I know this sounds shallow, sorry)


Friday, September 9, 2011

BNE Extemp Topic Briefs

1. Have the Obama administration represented the best interest of the U.S. in its response to the Arab Spring?
As with most extemp speeches you'll want to offer some up front analysis of the topic, so answer these questions first: 1. What was the Arab Spring?  2. Why was it important?  3. What's the status of the major countries that were involved?  The high profile countries from the Arab Spring are Egypt and Libya.  Egypt is a success story and Libya is becoming one, but it's taking much longer since Qaddafi hasn't been apprehended as easily as Mubarak was.  From there, you can take a couple of approaches as out-lined below

YES/NO, the Obama administration has represented...as evidenced by these three areas:
1. Oil interests
2. Diplomacy
3. Safety (making sure the countries aren't transitioning from stable govt.s into havens for terrorists)

or you could bundle those interests (oil, diplomacy, safety) and structure your points around three countries:
1. Egypt
2. Libya
3. Syria/Yemen/Tunisia (take your pick, there are several others)

2. Will the bipartisan "Super Committee" strike a deal that is good for the American economy?
Again, start with explaining what the  bipartisan "Super Committee" is (12 member committee from House and Senate comprised of 6 Republicans and 6 Democrats) and what their job is (to create a plan to cut $1.5 trillion from the federal budget over the next decade; plan is due by Nov. 23)  If they fail to come up with a plan, then a plan of $1.2 trillion in cuts kicks in, evenly cutting across all government spending.  The Super Committee has two months to create a plan that might shift those cuts more heavily to other programs.

This questions is asking the speaker to make a prediction.  It's easy to be pessimistic about the economy right now and answer that there won't be a deal that will pass, so here's the easy outline:

NO, the Super Committee won't strike a deal...for these reasons:
1. The cuts would have to come from entitlement programs (welfare, medicare/medicaid) and those are politically unpopular
2. If cutting is going to happen it should just be fair
3. The plan still has to pass through a Republican House, A Democrat Senate (with a Republican filibuster) and then be signed by a politically vulnerable President Obama

The bottom line/overall theme of your speech is that none of these life-long politicians are going to fall on their own sword and advocate for cuts that directly affect their states and communities; they will put their political careers ahead of what might be best for our future.

I'll get the other questions to you later.

"They Wouldn't Be Debates By Our Standards"

I agree. 
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/08/presidential-debates-actually-used-to-be-debates/243520/

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Great website for everyone's favorite subject...

This is a great web-site which I forgot to add to the list of web resources.  It doesn't get updated a lot, but it's a quality site.  A parent sent the link to me last year and now I share it with you.

http://www.visualeconomics.com/

Oct. PF Topic Announced

Resolved: Private sector investment in human space exploration is preferable to public sector investment.

There were two space topics for the high school coaches to vote on.  The other one was something about benefits of space outweighing the costs or something like that.  I'm glad this one won.

Any student who is NOT doing PF at Bellaire but IS doing it at UH can ditch their Sept. cases and start working on this topic.