Recent Dyalogues in Civil Rights
Feb 2010
Australian censorship laws - protective or draconian?
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DebatesStatus:
CompletedUpdated on Feb 09, 2010Australian censorship laws are the strictest in the Western world. They have recently become worse, and with new Internet filtering promised to arrive in the country in the near future, Australia seems to be taking many hundreds of steps backwards.
Is waterboarding torture?
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DebatesStatus:
CompletedUpdated on Feb 01, 2010Waterboarding, the act of securing the victim in a locked position then continuing to pour water on their face and breathing passages, to make the victim feel like they are dying. It has been classified as an authorized procedure, should this act be continued as a method to solicit information from dangerous prisoners?
Aug 2009
Are the Town Hall protestors funded by Fox News? Is it "manufactured anger" or genuine angst over Health Care Reform?
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DebatesStatus:
CompletedUpdated on Aug 17, 2009"Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, tells ABC News that there's nothing authentic about the protests Democratic congressmen are experiencing all over the country.
" 'This notion of a grass-roots campaign is totally and completely phony,' Doggett said. 'The Republican Party has coordinated this apparent outrage and stirred it up.' "
On April 15th we saw more than a million people take to the street during the tea parties, a scale of action so broad that any claims of being artificially "manufactured" were on their face absurd. All over the country people who normally go about their daily lives, worrying about work and family, are so fed up with the direction in Washington that they are getting politically involved for the first time in their lives.
May 2009
Should Republicans endorse marriage equality (i.e. same-sex marriage rights)?
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DebatesStatus:
CompletedUpdated on May 06, 2009Although the GOP is traditionally more opposed to marriage equality--implementing a Constitutional ban was one of Bush's reelection pushes--recent polls show that a sizeable shift towards approval (30% today vs only 10% in 2004). Now that the GOP is trying to rebrand itself, might there be an opportunity for the Republicans to change stances on this wedge issue that's served them well in the past?
Feb 2009
Octumom: Our Tax Dollars, Her Womb?
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DebatesStatus:
CompletedUpdated on Feb 26, 2009By now, everyone has heard about the unemployed single mom who added to her brood of six with octuplets. Instead of the usual embracing of multiples that occurs, the public's reactions have ranged from disgust to fury. There are lots of issues at play here but it basically comes down to this - a young single woman chose to have 14 kids, all through fertility treatments, with no means of employment, while living at home. The million dollar cost of the octuplets' hospital care, welfare for the family - that's our tax dollars at work. Do we have a say as to how private citizens can live their lives when their lives are being funded by us?
Are Mormons to blame for the passing of Prop 8?
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DebatesStatus:
CompletedUpdated on Feb 04, 2009About a month ago, Prop 8 in California passed which defined marriage between one man and one woman.
Accusations have flown toward The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints saying they are to blame for its passing.
Jan 2009
Why don't people choose their battles more wisely?
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DebatesStatus:
CompletedUpdated on Jan 29, 2009In the internet age it's easy to express outrage over any possible thing, and many people do, unfortunately most of it's carried out by self-appointed, moral gatekeepers with misdirected allegiances.
Topic suggestions
Start off a new dyalogue with one of these current hot topics!
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Should "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" be repealed?
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Is waterboarding torture?
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Will Prop 8 get overturned?
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