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- Summarize the issue. What are the two sides of the issue?
- What could be a possible RESOLVED statement for a debate on this issue?
- Would you like to see this issue debated in class? Why?
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Current Events Response
Choose an article from today's issue of The New York Times.
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6 comments:
Article: Power to Build Fence Is Above The Law.
Summary: Congress thinks securing the nation’s borders is tremendously important due to extreme criminal activity at the borders, while others argue whether it’s less important than protecting the environment (since there are at least 30 laws that could interfere with constructing the borders, which are about animals, farms, environments, etc.) .
Resolved: The resolved for this debate could possibly be is that we enforce security, as in officers and such around the borders instead of constructing fences that could possibly destroy our farm produce, endangered species, and our environment.
I wouldn’t mind seeing this issue debated in class because our environment, our surroundings are very significant to us, but then again so is criminal protection. It could lead to interesting plans to solve the case.
Tony Peck
Power to Build Border Fence is Above All U.S. Law, For Now
Congress says that securing the border is so important that it is above any laws that do not allow it. There are more than 30 laws that could prevent the building of a fence. These laws are trying to protect endangered species, birds, Native American gravesites, farms, and deserts. Congress putting up a fence is one side, and the protectionists are the other side. A possible resolve for this conflict would be to put up a fence only on areas where nothing will be in danger or interfere with any of the above problems. If this isn't possible then a lot more guards can be stationed around the border instead of building something that could harm farms or species. This issue could be kind of interesting to debate in class because it isn't really just about immigration, its about building a fence and the harms the fence will or will not do. So this issue sort of goes beyond just the normal illegal immigration debate which could make things a bit more interesting.
As Olympic Torch Visits Paris, Protest and Scuffles Follow
Summary: The Olympic torch was supposed to go through Paris, France yesterday but instead of the joyous ceremony that was planned, it was riddled with protests, scuffles, and civil disobedience. All the ruckus was over the recent uprisings and protests about how Tibet should be freed from China's oppressive Communist government. Many of the French people opposed the Chinese government and hung a banner from the city hall building that read "Paris Defends Human Rights Everywhere"
Resolved: China should allow Tibet to be an independent nation.
I think that this topic should be debated in class because I think that it is an important issue that will be brought up a lot before the Olympic Games and ultimately throughout our lifetime.
Article Title - "Power to Build Border Fence is above all U.S. Law, for Now"
This is a very straightforward article that discusses the current predicament that this country faces; whether or not to put up a fence to help protect our borders from illegal immigrants. Many feel that this is an insignificant issue that the country should put on hold for right now and focus on more prominant things like the environment. Opposers say that this is a bigger problem than we think, and that many other major problems the United States faces stems from illegal immigration, making this priority number one. A possible resolved to this is raising the number of immigrants allowed into the country, minimizing the number of illegals that come here. Other suggestions include the creation of more hiring sites, which would organize these aliens and hopefully bring about more civility which would reduce the crime rate among illegals and establish more stability. I think that this would be a great issue to debate in class because there are so many arguments for each side, which would lead to very interesting competition. No side has an advantage on this topic and each provides strong, valid points to back up their case. I feel that if done right, this has all the makings to be an extremely interesting and competitive debate, and could make for one of the best topics to argue.
As Olympic Torch Visits Paris, Protest and Scuffles Follow
The article is about how there was protest in France over the Beijing Olympics. The torch, symbolic of the Olympics, travels through 21 countries before heading to china for the start of the Olympics. The people of France, and all over the world, are angry at China for numerous reasons. China still has a communist style government. China is controlling the territory Tibet, which want independence. Also, China provides a lot of economic support to Sudan, which is currently funding the Darfur genocide.
Resolve: A simple way to resolve this conflict is for china to give people what they want. Right now, China has the world’s biggest population, is not in any wars, and currently has a booming economy which is only getting bigger. China could be the world’s biggest superpower in five to ten years if they get on everyone’s good side. First of all, China does not need to keep Tibet. it can do perfectly well without it. Second, China needs to use its influence on Sudan to convince it to stop the genocide. As a consumer of 70 percent of Sudan’s oil, Sudan can’t afford to lose the income from China. If China threatens to stop trading and Sudan stops the genocide, China will gain the respect of not only the Darfurian people but of the entire world.
Power to Build Border Fence Is Above U.S. Law
SUMMARY:
The homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, has been given the power to void any laws that stand in the way of building border fences.Congress also made it so that the courts can not second-guess Chertoff's decisions on which laws to void. Congress and Chertoff believe that this power should be granted to him because the issue of homeland security should be put before anything else. Those who oppose this decision by Congress believe that it is unconstitutional, and that it throws of the system of balnaces among the branches. Also, people are arguing that some of the laws that Chertoff is making void deal with issues that they believe are just as important as security, such as the environment.
RESOLVED:
In order to ensure homeland security, all laws that interfere with the building of border fences should be made void( by whoever Congress grants the power to).
I would like to see this issue debated in class. I think that it would be good to debate because it deals with a very important issue in our country. Also, the fact that there are many constitutional issues within it would make it a good debate to research and would help us to learn a lot about the government.
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