Month: May 2010 Page 1 of 3

On May 28, 2010

In Quiz

Here are your answers for this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. Check back next week for R&D for the NFL topic areas and good luck to those extempers competing in Omaha, Nebraska at the Catholic Forensic League (CFL) Grand National tournament this weekend.

HotTopics: United States Extemp Questions for the Week of May 25th-May 31st, 2010

On May 26, 2010

In U.S. Extemp, Weekly Questions

1. Does America need more charter schools?
2. Would a line item veto reduce federal spending effectively?
3. Were recent Clinton and Geithner led Sino-U.S. talks a failure?
4. How critical is the independence of the Federal Reserve for U.S. economic growth?
5. Can Linda McMahon win Christopher Dodd’s Senate seat?
6. How damaging are Rand Paul’s comments on the Civil Rights Act for the tea party movement?
7. Will Congress succeed in overturning “don’t ask, don’t tell” by the end of the summer?
8. What should be President Obama’s top domestic priority in 2011?
9. Is the Obama administration being unfairly criticized over its response to the Gulf oil spill?
10. Does Obama’s decision to send National Guard troops to the US-Mexican border go far enough?

HotTopics: International Extemp Questions for the Week of May 25th-May 31st, 2010

On May 25, 2010

In International Extemp, Weekly Questions

1. Is Brazil’s fiscal policy too lax?
2. In light of recent violence, should the Jamaican government refuse to extradite Christopher Coke to the United States?
3. Will German’s short-term ban on naked short-selling hurt the euro zone’s bond markets?
4. Can Saad Hariri do more to prevent arms smuggling in Lebanon?
5. Will recent hostilities on the Korean peninsula provide political cover to Yukio Hatoyama over the U.S. airbase on Okinawa?
6. Should NATO be integrated into the EU?
7. Do recent spending cuts by the new British government do enough to safeguard the nation’s triple-A credit rating?
8. Is Hamas wise to boycott elections in the West Bank?
9. Was Ethiopia’s recent election fair?
10. What impact will South Korea’s decision to half inter-Korean trade have on the North Korean economy?

CFL Nationals Extemp Topic Area Analysis, Part 3

This weekend extempers will converge on Omaha, Nebraska for the 2010 Catholic Forensic League Grand National tournament. Each year, Extemp Central provides an analysis of the topic areas that will be used at Catholic Forensic League and National Forensic League Nationals. These analyses are meant to help extempers identify issues that could arise during a round and offer a few tips on dealing with each topic area. Also, the analyses provide practice questions so that extempers can do practice outlines or speeches for each topic area before the tournament.

Topics Areas addressed in this post:

Topic Area #7: Labor, Treasury and Commerce

Topic Area #8: Justice and The Supreme Court

Topic Area #9: Homeland Security, Defense and Veterans Affairs

CFL Nationals Extemp Topic Area Analysis, Part 2

This weekend extempers will converge on Omaha, Nebraska for the 2010 Catholic Forensic League Grand National tournament. Each year, Extemp Central provides an analysis of the topic areas that will be used at Catholic Forensic League and National Forensic League Nationals. These analyses are meant to help extempers identify issues that could arise during a round and offer a few tips on dealing with each topic area. Also, the analyses provide practice questions so that extempers can do practice outlines or speeches for each topic area before the tournament.

Topics Areas addressed in this post:

Topic Area #4: The State Department

Topic Area #5: Agriculture, Interior, Energy and Transportation

Topic Area #6: Education, Health & Human Services and Housing & Urban Development

Extemp Central News Quiz for the Week of May 24th-May 30th, 2010 (Short Answer Version)

In Quiz

Here is the short answer version of this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. Good luck!

Extemp Central News Quiz for the Week of May 24th-30th, 2010 (Multiple Choice Version)

In Quiz

Here is this week’s multiple choice Extemp Central news quiz. Pick well and good luck!

CFL Nationals Extemp Topic Area Analysis, Part 1

This weekend extempers will converge on Omaha, Nebraska for the 2010 Catholic Forensic League Grand National tournament. Each year, Extemp Central provides an analysis of the topic areas that will be used at Catholic Forensic League and National Forensic League Nationals. These analyses are meant to help extempers identify issues that could arise during a round and offer a few tips on dealing with each topic area. Also, the analyses provide practice questions so that extempers can do practice outlines or speeches for each topic area before the tournament.

Topics Areas addressed in this post:

Topic Area #1: Americas, Non-U.S.

Topic Area #2: Europe and Asia

Topic Area #3: Africa, Austrailia and Oceania

Introduction to Extemp Central’s 2010 CFL Nationals Extemp Topic Area Analysis

On May 23, 2010

By Logan Scisco

This weekend extempers will converge on Omaha, Nebraska for the 2010 Catholic Forensic League Grand National tournament. Each year, Extemp Central provides an analysis of the topic areas that will be used at Catholic Forensic League and National Forensic League Nationals. These analyses are meant to help extempers identify issues that could arise during a round and offer a few tips on dealing with each topic area. Also, the analyses provide practice questions so that extempers can do practice outlines or speeches for each topic area before the tournament.

Before going into each topic area, it is important to give an overview of the tournament for extempers who have never been before. CFL Nationals takes place over two days, with four rounds of competition on each day. On the first day, four preliminary rounds are held and each round is adjudicated by three judges. The forty-eight extempers with the lowest cumulative scores advance to octo-finals the next day and the field is halved over another three rounds until a final field of six is set. All outrounds, with the exception of finals, are adjudicated by three judges. Finals has five judges. The tournament is not cumulative until finals. To determine the winner, CFL has an interesting formula where preliminary ranks do not matter (like NFL), and extempers earn a “rank” for octos, quarters, and semis. What this means is that if you go 1-2-2 and have the best score in your octo-final round you earn a 1 (and if you went (2-1-3 in that round and finished behind the speaker who earned a 1-2-2 you would earn a 2). All of the judges scores in finals count into your cumulative score so the extemper who has the lowest cumulative score across eight ballots wins. Keep in mind that with this formula it is important, but not necessarily vital, for you to win all of your elimination rounds. As an example, when I was in the 2003 CFL final round, I had finished third in my octofinal round and then second in quarters and semis. Other competitors in the round like the eventual winner Greg Wagman had won their octo, quarter, and semi rounds. Therefore, entering the final I was already four ranks behind. If you win all of your elimination rounds heading into the final you will have a slight advantage, but if you bomb the final round, where over sixty percent of your scores come from, then you won’t walk out of Omaha with the national championship.

CFL Nats R&D: Labor, Treasury, Commerce