Here are your top five news stories for November 9th, 2009:
Underlying Causes of Insecurity in Afghanistan from Foreign Policy in Focus
Obama has lost sight of the centre from The Financial Times
Iraq passes new election law, smoothing way for January elections from The Christian Science Monitor
Chavez Tells Venezuelans to Prepare for War from The Latin American Herald Tribune
Fort Hood tragedy rocks military as it grapples with mental health issues from The Los Angeles Times
For those who are up to the challenge, here is your weekly Extemp Central news quiz over last week’s major domestic and international events in a short answer format. Good luck!
Welcome back for another exciting week of information at Extemp Central. To start your week off right, here is your multiple choice weekly news quiz covering last week’s major International and United States news events. Good luck!
The individual and team standings for the 2009-2010 Extemp Central National Points race have been updated after the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational. You can access them by clicking on the National Points Race tab at the top of this page. Find out where Dillon Huff, the winner of both halves of the tournament and last year’s third place finisher in the National Points Race is making his debut in this year’s standings. Also, see where Plano Senior High School of Plano, Texas is in the National Team Points Race after racking up 75 points at St. Mark’s.
Don’t forget that the next big tournament, the Glenbrooks, is a third tier tournament worth 100 points. It could alter this year’s National Points Race standings to a significant degree.
What a great week at Extemp Central! This past week marked the roll out of several new features for the website and the expansion of some of your favorites!
We premiered our weekly sets of 10 International and United States practice questions. Other services charge you for these resources. We’d rather you have them for free.
Corey chatted about charismatic lizards bent on global domination, Sesame Street’s 40th birthday and the HBO-bama documentary in our ever-growing AGD series.
Did our political insider guess Tuesday’s election results correctly?
We unveiled the daily Research & Development series. R&D provides readers with five must read articles each weekday from a variety of sources. If you didn’t add these to your files before leaving for the tournament, then you’re missing out.
While Twitter expanded its new Lists features, Extemp Central showed you how to better follow policy journals, politics, think tanks, a slew of media outlets domestic and abroad and more using the feature.
As always, we shared two news quizzes to test your knowledge of current affairs. We even checked your answers.
Best of all, we’re not going anywhere! Check back with us on Monday as we start with a brand new week of these features and more. Also, be on the lookout for the next edition of The EX Files as the season continues.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions about how we can make Extemp Central better. Don’t hesitate to email us, comment on Facebook, or chirp at us on Twitter.
Which charismatic leader is less likely to be a lizard from outer space? You decide.
by Corey Alderdice
President Obama is a alien lizard from outer space.
It’s not the claim of opponents of the President’s healthcare reform efforts. Instead, it seems to be the allegorical underpinning of ABC’s reimagining of the early 1980s television miniseries V.
Anyone who has sat through an honors high school English class where they read George Orwell’s Animal Farm can attest to the power of achieving political commentary through the use of allegory. As it turns out, a pig is not always just a pig nor is a horse always just a horse. In the case of V, a story about an alien invasion is not just a sci-fi yarn about visitors from another planet.
An article from Slate this week poses the question “Is V a political allegory?”:
More than a few journalists and bloggers have remarked that it’s possible to read V as an allegory hostile to President Obama and sympathetic with the birthers and other nutcases who believe him to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The charismatic Visitors load up their “bandwagon” by “spreading hope.” In using their sophisticated iguana technology to provide free medical services, they promise “universal health care.” Indeed, if the show is to have the symbolic import that we expect from a science-fiction story, this is the only possible way to read V as a coherent text.
The original miniseries, which aired in 1983-84, did not seem to hide its message. The Visitors from the series were painted as Nazis, building upon a generation still very familiar with the ramifications of WWII and the Nazi occupation of Europe. Still entrenched in the Cold War, it had a resonate message for American audiences.
Here are the answers to this week’s news quiz.
Extemp Central wishes everyone competing this weekend the best of luck. We would also love to post your local tournament results, so if you have them feel free to post there in the comments section here or e-mail them to me at [email protected].
In other site news, the next edition of the Ex Files will be released in two weeks and the National Points race will be updated very late this evening to reflect the St. Mark’s results. So check back tonight for that update.
Here are your top 5 news stories/reports for November 6th:
Top Palestinian Rules Out Race for Re-election from The New York Times
Army post shooting rampage leaves 13 dead, 30 hurt from The Seattle Times
Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai Ends Boycott from The Herald of Zimbabwe courtesy of AllAfrica
Health Bill Garners Endorsements from The Wall Street Journal
Why Oil Majors Are Coming Back to Iraq from Der Spiegel
Extemp Central on Twitter
by Corey Alderdice
If you haven’t heard, Twitter is kind of a big deal. With an estimated 18 million active users by the end of the 2009, it seems safe to say that the Tweet Machine is no passing fad.
Last week, Twitter began rolling out the wide release of its new Lists function. The Twitter Blog describes the feature in short:
The idea is to allow people to curate lists of Twitter accounts. For example, you could create a list of the funniest Twitter accounts of all time, athletes, local businesses, friends, or any compilation that makes sense.
Lists are public by default (but can be made private) and the lists you’ve created are linked from your profile. Other Twitter users can then subscribe to your lists. This means lists have the potential to be an important new discovery mechanism for great tweets and accounts.
Your friends at Extemp Central have encouraged you to both become our Fan on Facebook and follow our tweets. The lists capability provides an even better reason to join us on Twitter: keeping up on news and cultivating your files. Currently, Extemp Central is following nearly 70 magazines, websites, policy journals, think tanks and institutions to help you better understand the news of the world each day. The lists are subdivided in specific areas to better address your needs:
We really, really want your help in making this an outstanding utility for extempers. Have a look at the sources Extemp Central is currently following. From there, send us an email or leave a comment on this post on any additional websites, individuals, publications or organizations that would be useful to add to the list. You are even welcome to suggest any additional lists that we should create or follow from other users.
If you are new to Twitter or just thinking about joining (which you should!), Mashable (@mashable) has an excellent online guide to using Twitter.
Here are your top five news stories & reports for November 5th:
Venezuela: Accelerating the Bolivarian Revolution by International Crisis Group
End of Communism Cheered But Now With More Reservations by Pew Research Center
The EU’s next step after the Lisbon treaty: Choose a president by the Christian Science Monitor
Gay Rights Rebuke May Change Approach from the New York Times
India on brink of Maoist offensive from the Asia Times
by Corey Alderdice
The black and white television in the spare bedroom of my grandmother’s house had a twice-daily appointment during my childhood: Sesame Street. Shortly after consumption of a bowl of cereal in the mornings and somewhere just beyond nap-time and reruns of the A-Team in the afternoons came my daily childhood instruction.
Over the years, our furry friends from that fictional New York borough have built quite the pedigree (122 Emmy wins and broadcasts in 140 countries worldwide). In addition to being woven into the very fabric of American culture, the folks at the Workshop have another milestone to celebrate next week: 40 years of television history. Since it’s inception four decades ago, Sesame Street has made a lasting impression on countless children who are now well into adulthood. When the show began, the landscape of both television and culture were very different.
The New York Daily News sums it up nicely:
The groundbreaking show, produced by the Children’s Television Workshop and a staple of public broadcasting, was years ahead of its time in promoting values that are now taken for granted in many places – accepting and appreciating diversity, not making assumptions based on gender, and being sensitive to cultural and economic differences, are all ideas the show emphasized before it was fashionable to do so.
The show has changed over the years in many ways. What was once a program intended to supplement learning for inner city children has become a cultural mainstay.
Here are your top five news stories/reports for November 4th:
Shades of Red: China’s Debate over North Korea from International Crisis Group
Note: This links to the summary page of this report, but it is highly recommended that extempers click on the .pdf link above the summary and download the full report. International Crisis group does an excellent job with these reports and they can greatly help you understand the history behind conflicts, what caused them, and provide solutions for what should be done.
Contests serve as warning to Democrats: It’s not 2008 anymore from The Washington Post
White House Tally Appears to Overstate Stimulus Jobs by The Wall Street Journal
Karzai’s Moment of Opportunity from The Council on Foreign Relations (Interview with Zalmay Khalizad)
Grassroots Tories’ fury at David Cameron over Lisbon Referendum from the Daily Telegraph (UK)
1. Will Germany’s new government be more open to letting Turkey into the EU?
2. After the election debacle, does the Afghan government have any credibility left?
3. Is the U.S. wrong to consult Burma despite next year’s flawed election setup?
4. Why did Klaus change his mind on Lisbon?
5. Will the release of Simon Mann enhance Equitorial Guinea’s international standing?
6. Are crackdowns on the press making Iran’s economic situation worse?
7. If Zelaya is reinstated, is it a significant blow for Latin American democracy?
8. Who should be the first EU president?
9. How should Poland react to Russia’s recent nuclear attack simulation?
10. Was Norway’s decision to raise interest rates wise?
Here are your top five news stories/reports for November 3rd:
Growing Concern Over Iraqi Election Impasse from The Christian Science Monitor
Conservatives Emboldened by Moves in NY Election from The Los Angeles Times
The Real Winner in Honduras: the United States? from Upside Down World
Democrats Concerns Over Abortion May Imperil Health Bill from The Washington Post
Germany’s New Cabinet on Turkey’s EU Accession: Implications for U.S. Policy from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Credit: Brooklyn Paper
Since today is the first Tuesday in November, it’s election day for 2009. Voters cast ballots today in governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey, the New York City mayoral race, and the special election in the 23rd House district in New York.
Elliot Mamet of East High School commented on our facebook page that he anticipates Jon Corzine, the Democratic incumbent in the New Jersey race, to pull out a victory over Republican challenger Chris Christie thanks to independent candidate Chris Daggett peeling away some of Christie’s votes.
Does the political insider of Extemp Central agree or disagree? Read more to find out his predictions for today’s elections!
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