Debater's Corner

Americans trust the government more now than ever. Merely the facts are startling, but what's also striking is that only 6 out of 10 trust the government -- and that's being hailed as a "seismic shift" in opinion.

Alert the media: Thomas Friedman wrote something I agree with The gist of it is that our relationship with Russia is more important than any silly ol' missile shield.
^{posted by Jeff Shaw Friday, November 30, 2001(comment)}

Bipartisanship, spending and Bush are ALL nonunique thanks to this article! Nice work, NYT.

Here's a new article about the Clean Diamonds Trade Act, a popular politics scenario.

Hear the one about federal budget? It'll be in the red until 2005. Nice work, Bush Administration, in taking the surplus and turning it into a deficit in under a year. Amazing.
^{posted by Jeff Shaw Thursday, November 29, 2001(comment)}

Cards I'm making my kids cut this winter break:

NATO is more important after Sept. 11 than ever. This'll help against Puyallup's case. This is another good NATO article that should help beat the case -- this one takes out their Russia harms.

Colombia is apparently teetering on the edge of chaos, and banning Plan Colombia will push them over the brink. Even better, Plan Colombia feeds the radical leftist insurgency movements that already exist. This PDF file says that it's leading to an anti-U.S. backlash. This recent link (Oct. 29!) says that the Colombian rebels get a bad rap. Go FARC! They control 40 percent of Colombia's territory.

Want to get good speaker points if I am judging you? Read case cards.

^{posted by Jeff Shaw Monday, November 26, 2001(comment)}

An interesting new landmines article. Apparently the U.S. is thinking about abandoning its commitment to join the Ottawa Convention by the year 2006. This gives the case inherency, and the disads to the case uniqueness.

No one runs social movements any more. A shame, really. Especially when this fantastic new piece by Katrina vanden Heuvel comes out declaring now to be a watershed moment for movements.

Paul Krugman shows how transfers of wealth from the poor to the rich are part of these "economic stimulus packages" we're hearing so much about.

Want a great new politics scenario? How about human cloning? Bush is opposed to it, and the recent embryo cloning has sparked a big debate in Congress. The impacts on both sides, of course, are huge.

I'll be out of the office this week at the National Congress of American Indians Annual Conference. I will see you all at Auburn!
^{posted by Jeff Shaw Monday, November 26, 2001(comment)}

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
^{posted by Jeff Shaw Wednesday, November 21, 2001(comment)}

Whether you run spending or de-development, you can use this card from an article by Kintto Lucas in the Oct. 29 INTER PRESS SERVICE. It quotes such luminary economists as Joseph Stiglitz, the "he" referred to below.

"And the weakened economies of the United States and Japan are fueling a worldwide recession, which conspires against the economies of Latin America, he said.

''It used to be said that when the United States sneezed, Mexico caught a cold. With globalization, the United States sneezes and all Latin America, and much of the rest of the world end up with a bad case of the flu. Unfortunately, the United States now has pneumonia,'' he said.

The economist, a professor at Columbia University in New York, says the crisis affecting Argentina and Brazil is likely to worsen because ''commodity sales will fall, and the countries that export to the United States will have to do so at lower prices.''

Prior to the Sep 11 terrorist attacks, the US economy was seeing a slowdown in economic growth, though it had not yet given way to full recession. However, ''the attacks are now pushing the economy into a recession,'' stated the expert."
^{posted by Jeff Shaw Wednesday, November 21, 2001(comment)}

Congress and the President's relationship is returning to gridlock. Apart from that, this is a terrific article about Bush's drive for the ultimate imperial presidency.

Here are some talking points on Iraq sanctions that could be useful on both the affirmative and the negative.

This is a great article by Suzan Shown Harjo about the federal trust responsibility to American Indian people.

Finally, if you're looking for Hegemony bad evidence, my hero Arundhati Roy just hooked you up.
^{posted by Jeff Shaw Tuesday, November 20, 2001(comment)}

Yesterday, I talked about the U.S. dragging its feet on BWC protocols. Here's a fresh new article about that, and it's timely -- a conference aimed at strengthening the BWC got underway on Monday in Geneva. "I believe that the use of disease deliberately to harm humans, animals or plants, poses the greatest danger of all weapons of mass destruction," says Dr. Graham Pearson. Yowza. That article above is from Europe. Interesting to contrast it with the perspective of The New York Times, which wants to portray the U.S. as the force behind strong biological weapons controls.

Ever notice that whenever Bush tries to justify anything, he invokes the word "Evil"? He just did so when he tried to defend the dictatorial powers he has given himself.

This is a pretty interesting article about how states' rights arguments are inherently hypocritical. Why else would John Ashcroft, a states' rights conservative, be overturning Oregon's Death With Dignity law, one of the few truly progressive pieces of legislation my home state has passed (twice!)?

If you're arguing a fast track trade scenario, you may want to read this article about how the WTO (a self-styled "free trade" organization) promotes protectionism for the rich.

^{posted by Jeff Shaw Tuesday, November 20, 2001(comment)}

Congratulations to the Mt. Vernon Bulldogs for a good showing at the WWU tournament. Congrats to my Sehomies as well, of course.

Here's an article exploring the political changes for various figures since Spet. 11. It is interesting how Jim Jeffords went from the Repubs' nemesis to a historical footnote within weeks.

The U.S. has accused five nations of violating the BWC. Interestingly enough, the U.S. isn't on its own list! No word on the whether the U.S. has blamed itself for undermining the treaty by foot-dragging on an enforcement protocol.

A lot of people say Bush has abandoned his unilateralism during this crisis. Not so, says an important European paper.

Mark this day in your calendar: Jeff agrees with William Safire, an arch-conservative, about something.

Rita Dove, one of my favorite poets, writes a column called "Poet's choice" in the Washington Post. This week, she talks about another of my all-time faves, Jeff Shaw Monday, November 19, 2001(comment)

Want a great politics scenario? How about baseball contraction?

Bills are out there right now trying to eliminate baseball's antitrust exception as regards team contraction. These are good bills, one pushed by the excellent Paul Wellstone. Contraction would eliminate two teams, most likely the Montreal Expos and the Minnesota Twins.

Contraction, aside from being a terrible idea, is being pushed by the corrupt and incompetent Bud Selig. It will eliminate the proud and scrappy Twins, which is absurd. And it will turn off fans from the game.

Why is that bad? Aside from "ripping the hearts out of two communities" (see the last link), a guy named Rothstein published an article in the Oregon Peaceworker in 1993 about baseball being key to world peace. It was an AWESOME debate article, seriously argued and well-warranted. The PeaceWorker doesn't have online archives that go back that far ... but CALL 'EM and get 'em to fax it to you.

Aside from links (I dunno yet), it's a strong position; it's got tight internal links: a great timeframe (will happen as early as Dec. 15); and NO ONE except Jay Lininger will expect it. Go for it!

Plus, it's TRUE. Baseball's "economic woes" are bogus, and everyone knows it. Selig's daughter owns the Milwaukie Brewers, and stands to gain financially from the move. This stinks like me after a three-day showerless Nyquil bender. Lay off the Twins, Bud. Not that Twins owner Carl Pohlad is any better -- cynically using the situation to gouge the public for even more tax dollars.

It's like Beano Cook says: "If the people who run baseball ran World War II, east of the Mississippi would be German, and west of the Mississippi would be Japanese."
^{posted by Jeff Shaw Wednesday, November 14, 2001(comment)}

Howard Zinn on the Afghan war -- a great critique card. Somebody has to be running stop the war! While you're at it, read about why the world's WMD articles are more dangerous than Osama bin Laden.

Fast Track trade failure destroys WTO! Talk about a good internal link. Now, bust out them "WTO bad" cards.

Here's potential answers to the Orientalism kritik.
^{posted by Jeff Shaw Tuesday, November 13, 2001(comment)}

This amazing conference will no doubt produce lots of great debate evidence and crucially important info about current threats.

Run a case related to Russia's nuclear material? This is a great new article saying it's one of the greatest threats to civilization itself.

Speaking of Russia, I can't recommend the Center for Defense Information's Russia Weekly enough. Every week, it's packed with the best Russia articles from all over -- and it has a searchable database! Joe Bob says check it out.

Permit me to throw a change-up. Rtia Dove's article this week in the Washington Post contains some war poems from the 30s and 40s by Miklós Radnóti. Required reading.
^{posted by Jeff Shaw Tuesday, November 13, 2001(comment)}

I wrote a little bit ago about the Bush coattails/midterm elections disadvatage: it argues that Bush's popularity is linked to whether the Republicans or the Democrats win the 2002 Congressional elections. Well, there are some good takeouts being written right now that say Bush's poll numbers won't bail out Congressional Republicans.

For more conventional politics scenarios, the Senatetakes up the economic stimulus bill today.

North Korea has decided to sell missiles to "three or four" Asian states. That's a bad call.

Shameless self-promotion: my story about Fred Korematsu is out in the latest In These Times -- it isn't available on the web, though, so maybe you should subscribe.
^{posted by Jeff Shaw Tuesday, November 13, 2001(comment)}

This Laura Flanders article specifically defines cluster bombs as "weapons of mass destruction." The reasoning is based not just on the destruction they cause, but on international law. Good read. Jonathan Schell also quotes some high-up Washington people as saying nuclear weapons will be used under certain circumstances in Afghanistan.

More on bickering and political-infighting that destroys bipartisanship. This article also says that Bush and the Dems are fighting over increased counter-terrorism funding. Hmm ...

Bush decides to slash offensive nuclear arsenal. Wow. I'm speechless.

Fast track trade authority will come to a vote by mid-November. I also wrote about this is my most recent article for In These Times. Pick up the next issue and check out my piece about Fred Korematsu. Speaking of ITT, check out this fascinating article about bioterrorism then and now.
^{posted by Jeff Shaw Thursday, November 08, 2001(comment)}

7.5 million Afghans may die of starvation this winter. Words fail me. If there are braver people than the Revolutionary Association of Afghan Women, I don't know who they are.

Is it just me, or does Bush use the word "evil" too much? Maureen Dowd thinks so. He also tries to "rid the world of evil" in a partisan way, says this article.

^{posted by Jeff Shaw Wednesday, November 07, 2001(comment)}

Guess what? The world economy is teetering on the brink. Time to break out those spending disadvantages and de-development files.

With many local elections being contested tonight, there will be tons of midterm elections articles coming out soon. Watch for them.
^{posted by Jeff Shaw Tuesday, November 06, 2001(comment)}

Looking for a funky affirmative case? How about Vegetarianism? Beef is Bioterrorism!
^{posted by Jeff Shaw Monday, November 05, 2001(comment)}

The Institute for Social Ecology has some great stuff: the writings of Murray Bookchin and Janet Biehl, among other things. This, you know. But did you know that some of the most recent stuff they've published has bearing on popular debate arguments?

Take Cindy Milstein's article on anti-authoritarian and anarchist politics after 9/11, for example. She makes some cogent and interesting points about the left. Interested in how some "green" movements can tend toward eco-fascism? Peter Staudenmaier and Biehl are excellent on the subject. Here's one of Staudenmaier's pieces, a critique of anthroposophy. Derek Chisholm has some thoughts on finding a middle path between theory and practice for radical activists.

^{posted by Jeff Shaw Monday, November 05, 2001(comment)}