1. Should the international community recognize North Korea as a 
permanent member of the world’s nuclear club?
2. Would sizeable BNP gains in the European parliamentary elections reflect poorly on Britain?
3. Should the GOP filibuster Sotomayor?
4. Is the recent court ruling on Proposition 8 a significant setback for gay rights?
5. Would a new state constitution pull California back from the financial brink?
6. Will Ethiopia’s renewed intervention in Somalia reflect poorly on Sheikh Sharif Ahmed’s faltering government?
7. Does the Senate’s decision to strip funding for closing Gitmo help or hurt the Democrat’s security agenda?
8. How can France reform its political system to increase minority representation?
9. Is the foiling of the New York terror plot a major victory for anti-terror task forces?
10. Should Canada mediate a permanent peace settlement between the Sri Lankan government and its Tamil minority?
Category: U.S. Extemp Page 49 of 55
1. Should Gordon Brown follow Michael Martin’s lead?
2. Is Netanyahu’s idea of an Israeli-Sunni Arab coalition to check Iran’s nuclear ambitions realistic?
3. Should Obama nominate a woman to fill the Souter vacancy on the Supreme Court?
4. Was the Indian election a rejection of communal politics?
5. Will Prabhakaran’s death eliminate the ability of the Tamil Tigers to wage a low level insurgency?
6. Should the international community recognize Somaliland?
7. Is the Obama administration hostile to gun rights?
8. Will the U.S. withdrawal from Iraqi cities at the end of June lead to an increase in violence throughout the country?
9. Did the Supreme Court rule correctly in AT&T v. Hulteen?
10. Will Obama’s new fuel efficiency standards help or hinder the American auto industry?
Last week Social Security and Medicare trustees released a chilling report that documented the dire financial straits of the programs they oversee. According to the trustees, Social Security will start taking in less money than it sends out in 2016 and by 2037 the fund will go bust, four years earlier than anticipated. Also, Medicare’s hospital fund is already running a deficit and is now in danger of going bust by 2017.
Social Security and Medicare are two of the largest federal government programs. Social Security provides an array of services for disabilities, child insurance, and most importantly, a supplemental income to retiring Americans. Medicare helps to cover hospital costs and medical costs for senior citizens, including a generous prescription drug benefit that the Bush administration added to the program in 2004. The point of these two programs was to prevent seniors from falling into poverty when they were no longer working.
Solutions to these programs have been advocated before by think tanks and task forces. However, Congress has long delayed looking into reforming these programs because of the unpopularity such moves would cause.
This brief will explain the current fiscal status of these programs and why they are in dire straits, proposed changes to these programs, and political impact the dire status of these programs could have in the near future.
1. Can Russia play a constructive role in the Middle East peace process?
2. Has the pope’s visit to the Middle East achieved its goals?
3. Is the French economic model better than the Anglo-Saxon economic model?
4. Should the U.S. decriminalize marijuana?
5. Will Iran’s release of Roxana Saberi help Ahmadinejad’s chances of re-election?
6. How can the EU best solve its North Africa illegal immigration problem?
7. Are Chrysler’s lenders getting a raw deal?
8. How can the expansion of women’s rights in the Middle East be achieved?
9. Is it time for the U.S. to get serious about entitlement reform?
10. Will her comments about her knowledge of waterboarding eventually lead to Nancy Pelosi’s ouster as Speaker of the House?
1. Is the lack of pay among Congolese soldiers weakening its offensive against the FDLR?
2. Are Maoist hardliners jeopardizing the Nepalese peace process?
3. How can the international community tackle Iraq’s problem of unemployment?
4. What should the U.S. do with the Uighurs at Gitmo?
5. Are life sentences for juveniles convicted of nonlethal crimes a violation of the Eighth Amendment?
6. How can the Boston Globe survive?
7. Should the U.S. stop drone attacks in Pakistan?
8. Can structural reforms cure Spain’s economic woes?
9. Should Obama appoint a strong liberal to replace Souter?
10. Will Arlen Specter’s switch of parties cause him to alter his position on the Employee Free Choice Act?
Last Friday, Supreme Court justice David Souter announced his retirement, pending the confirmation of a successor. Souter has been a liberal vote on the court, progressively moving in that direction since arriving to the Court in 1990. He was a former New Hampshire Attorney General, New Hampshire Supreme Court justice, and First Circuit Court of Appeals justice before serving on the highest court in the United States.
As most extempers are aware, mostly from their U.S. history classes in high school, the Supreme Court is one of the more powerful branches of government. It derives its power from judicial review, the power to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional. This was a power that was not expressly given to the Court in the Constitution, but was created in the 1803 Supreme Court decision of Marbury v. Madison.
With Souter’s retirement, President Barack Obama will have his first opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice, enjoying this power earlier in his presidency than his predecessor George W. Bush, who had to wait until his second term to receive his first Supreme Court appointment (and he selected John Roberts).
This brief will explain Souter’s arrival to the Court and his legacy, discuss possible successor options, and the political minefield that this decision creates for President Obama.
The last several years have been fortunate for the world’s medical watchers. Fearing an avian flu pandemic across the globe several years ago, these experts have only had to watch the progression of the virus in isolated parts of the Eastern Hemisphere. Also, avian flu never became a human-to-human transmission problem, reducing the urgency required or the threat of avian flu becoming a global problem. However, the recent outbreak of swine flu, if it can be aptly called that since this strain of flu borrows from swine influenza, avian influenza (albeit not its most dangerous components), and human influenza components, which has infected nearly 1500 people globally at the time of this writing, can aroused fears that this is the next global flu pandemic. This is compounded by the fact that swine flu appears to be spreading from person to person, regardless of their contact with infected animals.
This brief will attempt to sort through the mess generated by the latest swine flu outbreak. This brief will provide some details concerning swine flu and its significance, measures currently being taken to stop the spread of the virus, and the implications it has for the globalization movement and President Obama.
1. Will the tea party movement have an immediate impact on the American questions political system?
2. Does the PPIP need more safeguards?
3. Would South Africa be better off if the ANC were weaker?
4. Will the recent decision to classify greenhouse gases as a danger to public health have negative impacts on the U.S. economy?
5. How should the U.S. adjust its Somalia policy?
6. Will India’s parliamentary elections result in the eviction of yet
another incumbent government?
7. How will granting developing countries more power change the IMF?
8. Should Iran ease the sentence of Roxana Saberi?
9. Can China’s health insurance reform overcome skepticism from local
governments?
10. Is Obama right not to prosecute those involved in interrogating
terror suspects?
In a time of federal bailouts for corporations, aid to homeowners who are facing trouble paying their mortgages, and budget plans that call for trillion dollar deficits, a segment of the American population has had enough. Clinging to their signs and cries of showing Washington that power still rested with the people, 800 locations around the country were the site of “tea parties” last week, denouncing the policies of President Barack Obama and the Democratically-controlled Congress.
To supplement these protests, 24 states are considering legislation that would reargue the principles of the 10th amendment, the amendment to the U.S. Constitution that delegates all powers not given to the federal government to the states. This showdown over the concept of federalism has intrigued constitutional experts, as well as some voters, who are seeing Texas Governor Rick Perry arguing that Texas has a right to succession (although Perry later toned down those remarks).
This grassroots action against the D.C. establishment will be analyzed in this week’s topic brief, which might be useful to extempers competing in U.S. extemp at NFL. It may also be useful to extempers preparing for CFL, as the topic areas are slanted 5-3 in favor of U.S. issues. This week’s brief will break down these competing ideas, providing background for the tea parties and their purpose, the fight in state legislatures over sovereignty bills, and an evaluation of how these actions could impact the American political scene.
1. Why did the Thai protests stop?
2. Will America’s recent response to Somali piracy make the problem of piracy worse?
3. How should Australia handle Fiji’s suspension of its constitution?
4. Should Notre Dame rescind its invitation to President Obama?
5. Will state sovereignty resolution significantly alter the current balance of federal and state relations?
6. Should foreign law have an impact on U.S. court rulings?
7. can digitized medical records really reduce healthcare costs?
8. Will opposition protesters succeed in ousting Saakashvili?
9. What should be the world’s next move now that North Korea has vowed to quit nuclear talks?
10. Will the successful Phillips rescue enhance Obama’s security credentials?
1. How seriously should the U.S. take cyber attacks?
2. Can digitized medical records significantly reduce healthcare costs?
3. Considering the failure of its recent rocket launch, should the North Korea still be taken before the UN Security Council?
4. Is it a mistake for Silvio Berlusconi not to accept international aid for earthquake victims in central Italy?
5. Can Obama’s recent overtures to Islamic nations bear fruit?
6. Is Netanyahu’s idea of building up the Palestinians economically before a peace deal is reached DOA?
7. After their recent defeat in Iowa, should gay marraige opponents nationwide reconsider their legal strategy?
8. Should Norm Coleman concede?
9. Will recent shootings across the U.S. lead to stricter federal gun control laws?
10. Should the G20 have done more to reverse rising protectionism?
1. Should the U.S. cut funding for a missile defense system?
2. Why does Germany oppose a fiscal stimulus for the global economy?
3. How much progress on a peace deal with the Palestinians will be made by Netanyahu’s government?
4. Will U.S. efforts to engage Iran on Afghanistan lead to improvements in the country?
5. Is it a good idea for the U.S. to join the Human Rights Council?
6. Will recent financial scandals squash the DPJ’s hopes for leading the next Japanese government?
7. How can the international community better crackdown on tax havens?
8. Are attempts to regulate the pay of employees that receive federal bailout money constitutional?
9. How serious should threats made by the Pakistani Taliban against Washington D.C. be taken?
10. Is the Kirchner’s political hold over Argentina coming to a close?
by Logan Scisco
Although space issues are a well researched area by extempers, who focus more on domestic politics and international situations such as those involving North Korea, they do arise in the later rounds of tournaments when question writers have exhausted all possible options for questions. The chance of drawing a question concerning space issues also increases at a national qualifying tournament or at national competitions when “science and technology” is an often used topic area, especially at CFL Nationals and as one of the thirteen topic areas for United States extemp at NFL.
Considering that nationals keeps creeping up and recent events surrounding the issue of space junk, such as the collision last month of a U.S. and Russian satellite over Siberia, and how the International Space Station (ISS) was almost struck by a piece of space junk last week, an issue that is followed by scientists has started to become an issue of public debate. As this debate grows and as “close calls” in space become more reported, extempers have a higher likelihood of getting a question on space junk.
This topic brief will provide some informational facts concerning space junk, the reason it is a concern for space programs, and its implications on future space policies.
As the old adage goes, one can never truly be too prepared. With this in mind, Extemp Central is proud to make available the question sets from the Kentucky Education Speech and Debate Association and Kentucky High School Speech League, Inc. state tournaments. In addition, we also have questions from the Kentucky NCFL qualifier. As with all of Logan’s questions, you can expect a variety of topics that will challenge your students and team as we move toward important state tournaments and national qualifiers.
2009 KYCFL Questions
2009 KESDA Questions
2009 KHSSL Questions
And a big congratulations to KESDA state champions Rowan County High School and KHSSL state champions Danville High School.