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Comprehensive new study of 'super agers' is uncovering reasons why some retirees and nursing home residents retain sharp memory well into old age
They're called "super agers" - men and women who are in their 80s and 90s, but with brains and memories that seem far younger.
Researchers are looking at this rare group in the hope that they may find ways to help protect others from memory loss. And they've had some tantalizing findings: Imaging tests have found unusually low amounts of age-related plaques along with more brain mass related to attention and memory in these elite seniors.
"We're living long but we're not necessarily living well in our older years and so we hope that the SuperAging study can find factors that are modifiable and that we'll be able to use those to help people live long and live well," said study leader Emily Rogalski, a neuroscientist at Northwestern University's cognitive neurology and Alzheimer's disease center in Chicago.
The study is still seeking volunteers, but chances are you don't qualify: Fewer than 10 percent of would-be participants have met study criteria.
"We've screened over 400 people at this point and only about 35 of them have been eligible for this study, so it really represents a rare portion of the population," Rogalski said.
They include an octogenarian attorney, a 96-year-old retired neuroscientist, a 92-year-old Holocaust survivor and an 81-year-old pack-a-day smoker who drinks a nightly martini.
To qualify, would-be participants have to undergo a battery of mental tests. Once enrolled, they undergo periodic imaging scans and other medical tests. They also must be willing to donate their brains after death.
The memory tests include lists of about 15 words. "Super agers can remember at least nine of them 30 minutes later, which is really impressive because often older adults in their 80s can only remember just a couple," Rogalski said.
Special MRI scans have yielded other remarkable clues, Rogalski said. They show that in super agers, the brain's cortex, or outer layer, responsible for many mental functions including memory, is thicker than in typical 80- and 90-year-olds. And deep within the brain, a small region called the anterior cingulate, important for attention, is bigger than even in many 50- and 60-year-olds.
The super agers aren't just different on the inside; they have more energy than most people their age and share a positive, inquisitive outlook. Rogalski said the researchers are looking into whether those traits contribute to brain health.
Other research has linked a positive attitude with overall health. And some studies have suggested that people who are "cognitively active and socially engaged" have a reduced chance of developing Alzheimer's disease, but which comes first - a healthy brain or a great attitude - isn't known, said Heather Snyder, director of medical and scientific operations for the Alzheimer's Association.
Snyder said the SuperAging study is an important effort that may help provide some answers.
Edith Stern is among the super agers. The petite woman looks far younger than her 92 years, and is a vibrant presence at her Chicago retirement home, where she acts as a sort of room mother, volunteering in the gift shop, helping residents settle in and making sure their needs are met.
Stern lost most of her family in the Holocaust and takes her work seriously.
"What I couldn't do for my parents, I try to do for the residents in the home," she said, her voice still thick with the accent of her native Czechoslovakia.
Stern acknowledges she's different from most people at the home, even many younger residents.
"I am young - inside. And I think that's the difference," she said.
"I grasp fast," she adds. "If people say something, they don't have to tell me twice. I don't forget it."
She's different in other ways, too.
"When you get old, people are mainly interested in themselves. They talk about the doctor, what hurts," she said. "You are not so important that you just concentrate on yourself. You have to think about other people."
Study participant Don Tenbrunsel has a similar mindset. The 85-year-old retired businessman doesn't think of himself as a super ager. "Neither do my children," he says, chuckling.
But Tenbrunsel says his memory has been sharp "from the time I was born. My mother used to say, `Donald, come sing with me - not because I had a good voice, but because I always knew the words," he said. "I think I'm just lucky, not only with respect to my memory, but I'm able to get around very well; I walk a lot and I have a pretty good attitude toward life itself."
Tenbrunsel volunteers several hours a week at a food pantry run by the Chicago church where he is a parishioner. One recent morning in the sun-filled rectory kitchen, he nimbly packaged ham and cheese sandwiches, set out bags of chips and cans of soda, and cheerfully greeted a steady stream of customers.
"Good morning, good to see you," he said, standing at the pantry's bright red door. He gave everyone their choice of chips - a small gesture but important, he said, because it gives them some sense of control over their hard-luck lives.
"I enjoy doing it. I probably get more out of it than I give," Tenbrunsel said.
Ken Zwiener, of Deerfield, Ill., is another super ager. He had "more than an inkling" he might qualify for the study, and his kids encouraged him to enroll.
"They said, `Dad, your brain is the best thing about you,'" the 81-year-old retired businessman recalled.
He's a golfer and Broadway musical "nut" who created a 300-plus-page computer database of shows. Zwiener uses an iPad, recently went hot-air ballooning and is trying to learn Spanish.
He also pours himself a vodka martini every night and is a pack-a-day cigarette smoker, but says he doesn't think his habits have made much difference. His healthy brain, he says, may be due to heredity and genes, but Zwiener said he hopes the study comes up with more "scientific insights".
"My dad lived into his middle 90s and was pretty sharp right up until the day he died," Zwiener said.
Zwiener's motivation for joining the study was simple: The best man at his wedding died of Alzheimer's disease before age 50.
"To lose a mind ... is just a terrible way to go," he said.


text: Long before the London Games had even gotten underway, the U.S. media rushed to call the 2012 Olympic all-around as a showdown between two homegrown gymnasts: reigning world champion Jordyn Wieber and girl-of-the-moment Gabrielle Douglas. In addition to betting wrong on Wieber, who didn't ultimately make the qualifying cut, they made a mistake in overlooking Russia's Viktoria Komova, who finished second to Wieber at last year's worlds by just 0.033 points. A classical gymnast who combines stunning lines with quiet aggression, the 17-year old qualified for the all-around with the highest total score. She'll also threaten for gold on the balance beam—she posted the second-highest score there—and on the uneven bars. She qualified in third place for that final, and is the defending world champion.

subset: commoncrawl


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By Erika B. Schlager,
Counsel for International Law
On April 8, Romani communities throughout the OSCE region celebrated International Roma Day. Numerous recent events, however, underscored the profound prejudice Roma continue to face.
On April 8, 1971, Roma from across Europe met in London for the first congress of the International Romani Union (IRU). At the 4thcongress of the IRU, convened in Warsaw in 1990, participants designated April 8 as "International Roma Day" and, in subsequent years, International Roma Day has been an occasion not only to celebrate Romani language, history and culture, but also to draw attention to the often deplorable conditions in which Roma live. In 2000, the day was marked by an appeal by Pope John Paul II for "full respect for the human dignity of these brothers and sisters." His remarks – coming after the beatification of Spanish Romani martyr Ceferino Gimenez Malla – reflected a growing awareness of the plight of Roma and simultaneously contributed to better understanding of Romani experiences.
This Year's International Roma Day
International Roma Day was marked by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a video address posted on the Department of State website and broadcast at events at several U.S. Embassies in Europe. (Her remarks were also translated into Romani and circulated on the internet by Romani NGOs.)
Many United States embassies in Europe hosted or participated in a diverse array of related events. In Vienna, the United States Mission to the OSCE used the occasion to raise Romani human rights issues at the weekly meeting of the Permanent Council (see statement below). In particular, the Mission urged the Italian and Hungarian delegations to provide information on efforts to prosecute violent attacks against Roma in those countries.
In addition, many human rights organizations drew attention to continuing violations of the human rights of Roma and many Romani nongovernmental organizations hosted cultural or other activities. For example, the San Francisco-based NGO Voice of Roma organized a series of activities including music, traditional crafts, dance, film and discussion.
At the international level, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Rights, the Council of Europe, and other human rights bodies also observed International Roma Day.
Rising Extremism
In recent months, however, there has been an alarming rise in manifestations of profound prejudice directed against Roma.
Notoriously, there have been dozens of violent attacks against Roma in Hungary over the course of the past year, including six murders. The most shocking attack occurred in February, when 27-year-old Robert Csorba and his five-year-old son, Robert, were murdered. Their home was set on fire and then, apparently, father and child were riddled with bullets to prevent them from escaping the blaze. Several other attacks against Roma have also involved Molotov cocktails used to set houses on fire. Other children have been injured in various attacks.
Thus far, there has not been a single successful prosecution for any of these attacks. Moreover, the Hungarian government has asserted that only a court can determine if an attack is ethnically motivated and therefore it is inappropriate to characterize this wave of violence as racist or ethnically motivated. (Incongruously, Hungarian government officials continue to raise concern about ethnically motivated acts against Hungarian minorities in neighboring states. In early April, for example, Hungarian officials called on Serbian authorities to address crimes that Budapest characterized as anti-Hungarian.)
On April 7, the home of a local Romani official, Lidia Horvath, was set on fire. She subsequently asserted that the attack was directed at her as retaliation for her efforts to shed light on the murder of the Csorba family, which investigators initially dismissed as death by accidental fire.
Separately, controversy erupted in April regarding an interview with Mate Szabo, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Civil Rights, who referred to "Tsigan [loosely translatable as "Gypsy"] crime." His remarks come at a time when not only extremist organizations but often mainstream public figures and media outlets are fixated on the notion of alleged "Gypsy criminality." Almost 60% of the respondents in a recent Hungarian opinion poll said they believed that "crime is in the blood of Roma." Five leading human rights groups in Hungary denounced the ombudsman's comments and Szabo subsequently retracted his remarks. (Specifically, they objected to the association – by the civil rights commissioner, no less – of a particular ethnic group with crime.) In contrast, National Police Chief Jozsef Bencze participated in an event celebrating International Roma Day at which he stated, "There is no collective guilt because crime cannot be associated with color."
The Czech Republic
In November 2008, hundreds of extremists rioted in the Czech town of Litvinov, requiring a thousand Czech police officers marshaled from around the country to hold them at bay. Some human rights activists believe that, with the Litvinov experience in mind, extremists hoped to exploit the focus of security agencies on Prague during the April 5 summit meeting there, attended by President Obama.
Accordingly, on April 4, an estimated 700 radicals descended on the town of Prerov, reportedly with the intent of intimidating and attacking Romani residents. As it happened, Czech authorities in Prerov were able to deploy enough law enforcement personnel, including riot police, to largely contain the extremists.
"Extremism" in the Czech Republic may be spurred by the extent to which intolerance manifests itself in what passes for mainstream political discourse. Among some public officials, overtly anti-Roma statements continue to be uttered without any discernible political consequences. For example, in 2005 President Vaclav Klaus denied that the Lety concentration camp was actually a concentration camp. Instead, using a common Nazi description of Roma, Klaus asserted that Lety was a place for "people who refused to work". (Lety was established during the Nazi occupation of the Czech Republic as a concentration camp for Roma. Hundreds died at the camp and many more were deported to Auschwitz.) While still serving as a local mayor, Czech Senator Liana Janackova was recorded describing herself as a racist and saying she would like to get rid of local Roma with dynamite. Some local officials continue to describe Roma as "unadaptable" – another Nazi-era concept – and some Czech media outlets quote these officials, albeit, without an apparent understanding of the historical use of this term.
On April 7, the Slovak daily Sme broke the story of six Romani boys who had been detained on March 21 by police in Kosice, forced to strip naked and commit violent acts against each other – all captured on film by the arresting officials. The video, quickly posted on You Tube, records the laughter and jeers of the police as they abuse the children. Several news stories have compared the incident to the notorious Abu Ghraib photos, and some have recalled the 2001 incident in which a Slovak Romani man, Karol Sendrei, died after being chained to a radiator in a police station and beaten over the course of a night.
The abuse has been widely condemned in Slovakia and led to the immediate suspension of nine police officers. Additional investigation into the incident is continuing.
In a less widely reported incident on April 4, 10 Romani men traveling to a construction site were attacked on a bus in Bratislava. Three of them had to be hospitalized.
Off the Front Pages and Under the Bridges
While these incidents have all garnered headlines, a broad range of chronic problems continue to gnaw away at the fabric of Romani life, including endemic discrimination in education, employment, and social services. Discrimination in housing has a multiplier effect on the lives of Roma, and large-scale forced evictions of Roma are a regular occurrence in many parts of the OSCE region. As a consequence, some Romani families that have been settled for generations find themselves forced into a kind of 21st century involuntary "nomadism." At the same time, deeply entrenched stereotypes about exotic Roma lifestyles have made it easier for majority societies to ignore the long-term implications of social policies that further marginalize Romani children.
On March 13, Amnesty International expressed concern about imminent plans by authorities in Milan to evict a community of some 150 Roma living under an overpass. Amnesty noted that there appeared to be no provision of adequate alternative housing and, accordingly, the Roma were at risk of falling into a cycle of such evictions. Similarly, on International Roma Day, Human Rights Watch drew attention to the plight of 47 Roma families forcibly evicted in Belgrade on April 3, 2009. They were removed from housing that was deemed by authorities to be "substandard" – but the families were left without an adequate alternative. In Kosovo, several NGOs, as well as the Ombudsman Institution, noted that Roma continue to live in lead-contaminated areas of northern Mitrovica, and called for their immediate and sustainable relocation. In Romania, NGOs continue to monitor displacements of Roma in Miercurea Ciuc, Piatra Neamt, and elsewhere – displacements that are hard to reconcile with a stated government policy of integrating Roma and improving access to education for Romani children.
Aberrations or Trends?
As reflected in the joint statement issued on International Roma Day by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, many observers are concerned that Roma will be the scapegoats of the current economic crisis.
Yet the ongoing wave of violence against Roma escalated in Hungary and Italy for many months before the onset of the current economic crisis, and is therefore most likely rooted in longstanding prejudices against Roma. Accordingly, it is necessary for governments to re-double their efforts to combat prejudice against Roma. Given that much of contemporary bigotry against Roma still exploits the racist ideology grounded in 20th century eugenics most notoriously embraced by the Nazis, raising awareness of the content of that ideology, as it applied to Roma, is critical.
Some governments have, in fact, improved efforts to commemorate Romani Holocaust losses – including Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. More of this effort needs to be brought into the classroom and, of course, reflected in the discourse of public leaders.
Statement on International Roma Day
U.S. Committed to Protecting and Promoting the Human Rights of Roma
United States Mission to the OSCE
Statement on International Roma Day
As prepared for delivery by Chargé d' Affaires Kyle Scott to the Permanent Council, Vienna
April 2, 2009
Madam Chairwoman,
On April 8, we will celebrate International Roma Day, an opportunity to call attention to the history, experiences, and human rights of Europe's largest ethnic minority. The United States is committed to protecting and promoting the human rights of Roma. Despite important progress that has been made in the last decade, too many Roma still live on the margins of society. Roma continue to experience racial profiling, violence, discrimination, and other human rights abuses. Too often, they lack identity documents or citizenship papers, which exclude them from voting, social services, education, and employment opportunities.
During the last year, the participating States and the OSCE have given much-needed attention to the situation of Roma, including through the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting last July, the visits by the High Commissioner on National Minorities and the ODIHR to Italy, and in our Ministerial Decision 6/08 adopted in Helsinki. We look forward to the discussion of early education for Romani children during the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw later this year.
The United States also welcomes efforts by governments and nongovernmental organizations to ensure that the genocide of European Roma is never forgotten. We encourage all participating States to consider ways to better incorporate the genocide of European Roma into educational curricula, including the publication this month of a book in Romania on the deportation of Roma to Transnistria. We note that a monument to Romani victims of the "Porajmos," the term some Roma use to describe Nazi attempts to exterminate Romani people of Europe during the Holocaust, will be unveiled in Berlin later this year, and also welcome plans to establish an educational and documentation center on the site of a former Romani concentration camp in South Moravia.
Unfortunately, as Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg observed at the 2007 HDIM, even after the genocide of Roma, "there was no genuine change of attitude among the majority population towards the Roma." Today, in some of OSCE participating States, local officials continue to describe Roma as "unadaptable," routinely using a Nazi-era term.
Governments have a special responsibility to ensure that minority communities have the tools of opportunity that they need to succeed as productive and responsible members of society. The United States is deeply concerned about the escalation of anti-Roma hate crimes in some OSCE participating States. In this regard, we would welcome information from the Italian delegation regarding efforts to prosecute individuals for participating in mob attacks on Romani camps in 2007 and 2008, when Italian police provided protection to camp residents. We also support efforts by the Hungarian government to prosecute those responsible for recent violent attacks against Roma, including the February murder of Robert Csorba and his five-year-old son.
In closing, the United States urges OSCE participating States to honor their commitment—first made a decade ago at the 1999 Istanbul Summit—to ensure that national laws and policies fully respect the rights of Roma. Furthermore, governments must commit to effectively enforcing these laws.
Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.


text: Good morning. I'm David Greene. Pretty in pink is the mantra for an Iowa couple. They won a Powerball jackpot and are now donating a few million dollars for a new football stadium at their son's high school. Their requirement? The visiting team's locker room must be painted pink. The inspiration for this design element came from Kinnick Stadium at the University of Iowa. Its pink walls, shelves and urinals have been taunting visiting teams for years. You're listening to MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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President Barack Obama's sweeping gun-control package faces an uncertain future on Capitol Hill, where majority House Republicans are rejecting his proposals while the president's allies in the Democratic-controlled Senate are stopping well short of pledging immediate action.
The fate of his plan could ultimately hinge on a handful of moderate Democratic senators. Although they are unlikely to endorse the president's call for banning assault weapons, they might go along with other proposals, such as requiring universal background checks on gun purchases.
Several of these senators responded warily after Obama unveiled his proposals Wednesday with the challenge that "Congress must act soon."
"I will look closely at all proposals on the table, but we must use common sense and respect our Constitution," said Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. Tester told the Missoulian newspaper in his home state recently that he supports background checks but doesn't think an assault weapons ban would have stopped the shootings at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman massacred 20 children and six adults before turning the gun on himself.
Obama's proposals came a month after the shootings in Newtown, which he has called the worst day of his presidency. His announcements capped a swift and wide-ranging effort, led by Vice President Joe Biden, to respond to the deaths.
The $500 million plan marks the most comprehensive effort to tighten gun laws in nearly two decades. It also sets up a tough political fight with Congress as Obama starts his second term needing Republican support to meet three looming fiscal deadlines and pass comprehensive immigration reform.
"I will put everything I've got into this, and so will Joe," the president said. "But I tell you, the only way we can change is if the American people demand it."
Seeking to circumvent at least some opposition, Obama signed 23 executive actions Wednesday, including orders to make more federal data available for background checks and end a freeze on government research on gun violence. But he acknowledged that the steps he took on his own would have less impact than the broad measures requiring approval from Capitol Hill. He is also calling for limiting ammunition magazines to 10 rounds or less.
"To make a real and lasting difference, Congress, too, must act," Obama said.
The question now is how and whether that happens.
House GOP leaders have made clear they'll wait for the Senate to act first, since they see no need to move on the contentious topic if it doesn't. "House committees of jurisdiction will review these recommendations. And if the Senate passes a bill, we will also take a look at that," said Michael Steel, spokesman to House Speaker John Boehner.
Many rank-and-file Republicans scorched Obama's proposal. "The right to bear arms is a right, despite President Obama's disdain for the Second Amendment," said Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan.
Senators are expected to begin discussions on how to proceed when they return to Washington next week from a congressional recess, according to a Democratic leadership aide who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. They could end up breaking the president's proposals into individual pieces, with votes possibly starting next month.
The argument went trans-Atlantic Thursday when Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who is leaving the administration, talked to U.S. troops in Europe.
"Who the hell needs armor-piercing bullets except you guys in battle?" Panetta told the soldiers at the U.S. Army Garrison Vicenza in northern Italy. "For the life of me, I don't know why the hell people have to have assault weapons."
Panetta, who said he believes in the Second Amendment and has been a longtime duck hunter, was asked about the issue by a soldier who wanted to know what steps the Obama administration was going to take to deal with attacks in schools that "don't have to do with tearing apart our Second Amendment."
Known for his often blunt and colorful language, Panetta added that things can be done to protect children "so that the nuts that are out there won't use these kinds of weapons to wipe them out."
While the assault weapons ban is seen as having little if any chance of passage, support may coalesce behind requiring universal background checks, which is a top priority for advocacy groups that see it as the most important step to curbing gun crimes. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says 40 percent of gun sales are conducted with no criminal background checks, such as in some instances at gun shows or by private sellers over the Internet. Obama would seek to require checks for all sales.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., already has sponsored a bill to require universal background checks that the Senate could take up, while Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., has legislation banning ammunition magazines with more than 10 rounds.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., a gun-rights backer who's been supported by the National Rifle Association in the past, responded cautiously, saying he was committed to ensuring the Senate considers legislation on gun violence early this year. He didn't endorse any of Obama's proposals.
Despite the uncertainty on Capitol Hill and opposition from the powerful NRA, outside groups are encouraged by polling showing public support for changes to the law. They intend to try to harness that sentiment to pressure lawmakers.
A lopsided 84 percent of Americans back broader background checks, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. Nearly 6 in 10 Americans want stricter gun laws, the same poll showed, with majorities favoring a nationwide ban on military-style weapons.
"Now it's up to us," said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign. He said his group would be working "to bring that voice to bear in this process, because without that it's not going to happen."
AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2013 The Associated Press. All right reserved.
Copyright © 2013 Capitol Hill Blue


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Adella Pasos is an exotic beauty
Here's an excellent slideshow courtesy of exotic model Adella Pasos who looks amazing in these photos. We start of the slideshow with a beautiful sunset photo as Adella sports a red bikini as she shows off her 36-24-36 figure, and then we see her in a Miami Dolphins bikini and hat as well. The we have some pics with Adella posed on a motorcycle and next to some muscle cars. Yeah – every man's fantasy! Adella has an exotic and sultry look that jumps off the screen.
Adella was born and raised in Chicago and has been modeling since 2006, working with a wide variety of talented photographers. As she gained exposure, she branched out to organizing promotional modeling events, hosting for celebrity parties, and branding her name as a spokes model. Next, she'll be working on her acting career. Her interests include football, cars, video games, MMA, modeling, fitness and dance.
You can follow Adella on Twitter @adellapasos and check out her Facebook page as well and website as well.
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By Bob Hand
CSCE Staff Advisor
On June 16, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell certified that Serbia and Montenegro met U.S. criteria set forth in section 578 of the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution. These criteria include Serbia and Montenegro's level of cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Without certification, certain bilateral assistance to Serbia would have been withheld.
Leading Members of the United States Helsinki Commission have long been concerned with the level of cooperation by the Government of Serbia and Montenegro with ICTY and have consistently urged the authorities in Belgrade to do more. Concerned Commissioners have sought to increase attention paid to developments in Serbia in the aftermath of the March assassination of reformist Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic. There is a general sense among Commission leaders that while Belgrade's cooperation with the Tribunal has been improving, it still remains insufficient.
In the lead up to the June 15th certification deadline, Helsinki Commission Chairman Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) and Ranking Member Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) participated in a Commission public briefing featuring Carla Del Ponte, Chief Prosecutor of the Tribunal. As of the May 15th briefing, Del Ponte characterized cooperation from Belgrade as uncertain, underscoring that movement comes only when it is seen as politically beneficial for the Serbian Government. She noted some cooperation in accessing documents; however, for more than a year, the prosecution has pushed for the transfer of 155 Serbian documents in connection with the Milosevic trial without success.
Del Ponte expressed concern over the failure to detain wanted fugitives – particularly Veselin Sljivancanin, indicted for the 1991 Vukovar massacre in Croatia, and Ratko Mladic and five others wanted in connection with the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia-Herzegovina. "Mladic is a great mystery because we know where Mladic is," she asserted. "We passed this information to the Serbian Government in Belgrade, and nothing happened."
Del Ponte stressed that if law and order is to prevail criminal justice must be credible. Failure to bring together all those accused to trial frustrates the progress of the Tribunal and forces the witnesses to present repeatedly their own horrific accounts each time a separate case is brought to trial. She also assessed cooperation with Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo during the course of the briefing.
In a letter dated May 23, five Members of the Helsinki Commission urged Secretary of State Colin Powell to utilize the time prior to the certification deadline to press authorities in Belgrade to take the steps necessary to meet the certification requirements. The Commissioners recognized the significant strides Serbia has made in cooperation with the Tribunal, but underscored that "a failure to apprehend Mladic and other notorious war criminals soon would be a serious setback to the cause of reform and recovery at home and further delay Serbia's integration in Europe." The letter was signed by Co-Chairmen Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), and Commissioners Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD), Senator Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT) and Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD).
The United States Helsinki Commission held a second briefing on June 4, detailing Serbia and Montenegro's cooperation with the Tribunal, and the prospects for human rights and democratic development in Serbia since the lifting of the state of emergency imposed after Djindjic's assassination.
Helsinki Commission Senior Advisor Donald Kursch opened the briefing, welcoming the tough measures authorities in Belgrade have taken in the wake of Mr. Djindjic's murder to crack down on criminal elements. Nina Bang-Jensen, Executive Director and General Counsel for the Coalition for International Justice, described Serbia's actual cooperation with the Court as "very limited, begrudging, and only under pressure." After last year's certification, Serbia's government promised a consistent pattern of cooperation, but only three surrenders and one arrest have followed.
Bang-Jensen cited the failure to apprehend nineteen Bosnian Serb and Serbian indicted suspects, either living within Serbia or frequently crossing into Serbia, as an indication that the current government is inclined to protect the old regime.
Elizabeth Andersen, Executive Director of the Europe and Central Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, recommended that the United States look not only at Serbia's cooperation with the ICTY, but to its overall level of commitment to rule of law. Following Djindjic's assassination in March, the Serbian Government imposed a state of emergency to crack down on organized crime. It is estimated that more than 10,000 people were held incommunicado for up to two months under this guise. International monitors were denied access to detainees until recently, and Andersen noted that released detainees reported widespread abuse.
Despite increasing pressure from the international community on Serbia's domestic courts to shoulder greater responsibility for holding war criminals accountable, only four domestic trials were held this year. There is also no indication of upcoming trials or of a permanent commitment to such a process. Trials that have proceeded suffered from a lack of witness protection, poor case preparation by prosecutors, and problems facilitating witnesses traveling from other areas of the former Yugoslavia.
James Fisfis, Resident Program Officer for Serbia at the International Republican Institute, remained optimistic. Fisfis presented the results of an IRI survey suggesting that 56 percent of Serbian citizens believe the country is now on the right track, up from 38 percent before the assassination. Sixty-four percent of Serbian respondents currently support cooperation with The Hague, seeing it as a necessary measure toward gaining international acceptance. The data suggest a window of opportunity exists for pressure to reform to have an impact.
Ivan Vujacic, Ambassador of Serbia and Montenegro to the United States, acknowledged that "more can be done and more will be done" in cooperation with the Tribunal, but focused on the progress made over the last two and half years, which he described as "remarkable." In particular, he pointed to the recent arrests of three "pillars of Milosevic's rule": Miroslav Radic, Franko Simatovic, and Jovica Stanisic.
Ambassador Vujacic said that the Serbian Government was highly committed to protecting human rights. He stated that during the war "the ultimate human right, the right to life was taken from the victims in atrocities defined as war crimes and crimes against humanity." Vujacic promised that all indictees in the territory of Serbia and Montenegro will be arrested and transferred to The Hague.
A second Helsinki Commission letter to Secretary of State Powell dated June 12th, declared that certification could not be justified at the time. The letter concluded: "To certify would be detrimental to U.S. foreign policy goals supporting international justice and successful and complete democratic change in Serbia."
The letter reiterated that the Serbian authorities had yet to arrest and transfer Mladic and other indictees who are most likely in Serbia, and even this did not define the full cooperation with the Tribunal desired. Commission Members warned that if certification occurred while the required conditions remained unmet, the United States' ability to affect change in Serbia would be diminished, making it more difficult for Serbia's political leadership to undertake necessary reforms.
Some Commission Members view the June 13 arrest of the indicted war crimes suspect Veselin Sljivancanin by the Belgrade authorities as an important positive step toward increased cooperation with the ICTY. However, continued failure to apprehend Mladic and other leading indictees remains a serious cause of concern that places barriers to Serbia and Montenegro's full re-integration into the international community.
In a press release announcing certification, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher asserted that the Secretary's decision to certify does not indicate that Serbia has fulfilled its commitment. "We have made clear … that the United States expects further actions to be taken in order to meet those obligations," Boucher said, "including by arresting and transferring Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic."
The United States Helsinki Commission, an independent federal agency, by law monitors and encourages progress in implementing provisions of the Helsinki Accords. The Commission, created in 1976, is composed of nine Senators, nine Representatives and one official each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce.


text:
This album contains 5 item(s)
Make: SML (Strasser-Marigaux-Lemaire)
Model: Rev. D
Pitch: Bb Tenor
Finish: Lacquer
s/n: 1551x
Date: 1957
Source: Fred Cicetti
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text:
Window XGetSelectionOwner(display, selection)
Display *display;
Atom selection;
XConvertSelection(display, selection, target, property, requestor, time)
Display *display;
Atom selection, target;
Atom property;
Window requestor;
Time time;
If the new owner (whether a client or None) is not the same as the current owner of the selection and the current owner is not None, the current owner is sent a SelectionClear event. If the client that is the owner of a selection is later terminated (that is, its connection is closed) or if the owner window it has specified in the request is later destroyed, the owner of the selection automatically reverts to None, but the last-change time is not affected. The selection atom is uninterpreted by the X server. XGetSelectionOwner returns the owner window, which is reported in SelectionRequest and SelectionClear events. Selections are global to the X server.
XSetSelectionOwner can generate BadAtom and BadWindow errors.
The XGetSelectionOwner function returns the window ID associated with the window that currently owns the specified selection. If no selection was specified, the function returns the constant None. If None is returned, there is no owner for the selection.
XGetSelectionOwner can generate a BadAtom error.
XConvertSelection requests that the specified selection be converted to the specified target type:
The arguments are passed on unchanged in either of the events. There are two predefined selection atoms: PRIMARY and SECONDARY.
XConvertSelection can generate BadAtom and BadWindow errors.


text:
The attackers and at least five Afghans were killed, officials said. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.
It was the largest clash at the Jalalabad air base since February, when a suicide car bombing at the gate triggered an explosion that killed nine Afghans, six of them civilians.
In Sunday's attack, two vehicles packed with explosives barreled toward the main gate of the base around 6 a.m. local time. The first vehicle, a four-wheel-drive car, blew up at the gate, said Hazrat Hussain Mashreqiwal, a spokesman for the provincial police chief. Guards started shooting at the second vehicle before it too exploded, he added. It was unclear if the explosives were detonated by the attackers themselves or by shooting from the guards.
Two Afghan students from a private medical school were caught up in the attack and killed, as were three other Afghans working at the base, Mashreqiwal said. He did not know if the base workers were private guards, members of the security forces or civilian employees.
Nine attackers took part in the assault in total, he said, three of whom were killed in the suicide blasts and another six gunmen who died in the ensuing fighting that lasted a few hours.
Maj. Martyn Crighton, a spokesman for the international military force in Afghanistan, said that helicopters "were deployed and used" but it was unclear if they were key to killing the militants.
The NATO military coalition described the attack as a failure.
"We can confirm insurgents, including multiple suicide bombers, attacked Jalalabad Airfield this morning. None of the attackers succeeded in breaching the perimeter," Lt. Col. Hagen Messer, a spokesman for the international military coalition, said in an email. He said that the fighting had ended by midmorning and that reports showed one member of the Afghan security forces was killed. Several foreign troops were wounded, but Messer did not give any numbers or details.
"The final assessment of what happened this morning is not yet complete, but initial reports indicate there were three suicide bombers," Messer said.
In the south, meanwhile, a NATO service member was killed in an insurgent attack, the international coalition said in a statement. It did not provide further details.


text:
Conservapedia:Debate Topics
From Conservapedia
(Redirected from Debate topics)
Debate topic suggestions, organized so that it's not necessary to delete them.
(Note: If some topic is miscategorized, it can be cut and pasted without affecting the relevant links.)
Philosophical Debates
- Debate:If there is no objective truth, then is the claim "there is no objective truth" also not an objective truth?
- Debate:Is a first cause of a process necessary, always possible, or sometimes impossible?
- Debate:Can Objectivism develop beyond Ayn Rand's original formulation?
- Debate:Can any man live without some code of morality?
- Debate:Does the universe include everything, or does something outside the universe exist?
- Debate:Why is there something rather than nothing?
- Debate:Why Reason?
- Debate:What is the real love?
Religious debates
General Religion
- Debate:Should Religion Play a Large Role in Modern Societies?
- Debate:What is the relationship between religion and the human tendency to kill each other?
- Debate:Is religion morally wrong?
- Debate:Is it possible to be a conservative and not a religious person or even an atheist?
- Debate: If not naturalism, how do we decide which supernatural explanation is correct?
- Debate: Is it possible to voluntarily convert one's religion?
- Debate:Either God is indecisive or the world's major religions have ALL got it wrong
- Debate: Is it possible for man to live a moral life without religion?
- Debate: Are fear of death and sorrow compatible with faith?
- Debate:Is it Logical to be a Theist?
- Debate:Are we saved by faith or works
- Debate:If you fail to pray for the Messiah to come, might He abandon us?
- Debate:Was God not intelligent enough to create life on Mars as well as Earth?
- Debate:If God does not exist, can anything be morally wrong?
- Debate:Did God create evil?
- Debate:Does God punish sinners for eternity?
- Debate:Could God create a rock so heavy that he himself could not lift it?
- Debate:Why should we be afraid of God?
- Debate:Is there 1 God or are there many gods?
- Debate:Natural Disaster versus Act of God
- Debate: Why does God care if we worship Him or not? Is it His ego?
- Debate: Can God explain all of the conspiracy theories and all other phenonmena?
- Debate:Epicurus' Trilemma
- Debate: Why does God send us on Earth ?
- Debate:Why are God's works always questioned?
- Debate:who created God?
- Debate: Is it possible for God to be timeless?
- Debate:Degree of Proof of God
- Debate:Do agnostics have proof and evidence that agnosticism is valid?
- Debate:Atheism vs. Deism
- Debate:Atheism vs. Pastafarianism
- Debate:Is atheism a religion?
- Debate: Do Atheist believe they have a soul?
The Bible
- Debate:Should the first story of creation be read allegorically or literally?
- Debate:Grave errors/inconsistencies in the Bible make literal translation worthless.
- Debate:Does the Bible (Old and the New Testament) have the infallible words of God?
- Debate:What is the Sabbath day?
- Debate:Does the Bible display poor ethics and morals?
- Debate:What makes the Bible a reliable source of knowledge besides tradition?
- Debate: What do you think about the violence in the Bible?
- Debate:Is Giving Birth the Bible Way Better?
- Debate:Why did God allow Adam and Eve to eat the fruit from the Forbidden Tree?
- Debate:Fallacy of Interpretations
- Debate:Ten or Two Commandments?
- Debate:Why do fundamentalists take mistranslations seriously? (on "virgin" Mary)
- Debate:Did Jesus ever claim to be God?
- Debate:Was Jesus born in the right time and place?
- Debate:What does Christianity say about homosexuality?
- Debate:What does Christianity say about Pedosexuality?
- Debate:Which Christian denomination is the most true to the central teachings of Christianity?
- Debate:Why do we still perform Baptisms?
- Debate:Does the Resurrection negate Gods Sacrifice of his only son?
- Debate:Are Christianity and the Bible superior to other religions and scriptures?
- Debate:Should all access to Conservapedia be banned on Sundays?
- Debate:Mary Magdalene - First Witness to the Resurrection - Significance?
- Debate:Was Christ a fundamentalist?
- Debate: Are Catholics Christians?
- Debate:Were Judas' actions necessary and foreordained?
- Debate: Can Christianity exist without Apostles and Prophets?
- Debate: Could Christian denominations exist without the Catholic Church?
- Debate: Which version of the Bible should be used as the authoritative reference on Conservapedia?
- Debate: Should Christians celebrate Christmas?
- Debate:Do conservative Christians have an unquestioning faith which is comparable to that of the Party in the book 1984?
- Debate:Do ALL suicides go to hell?
- Debate: Do genuinely saved Christians sin?
- Debate: Were Achan's children stoned and if so, was it just?
- Debate: Is America a Christian nation?
- Debate:Would Christ apostasize to prevent the suffering of others?
- Debate: Is space exploration contrary to God's will?
- Debate: Did Jesus really raise from the dead?
- Debate:Where is Hell?
Protestantism vs. Catholicism:
- Debate:Does the Catholic Church have the biblical authority of Christ Himself to preach and to teach the truth forever?
- Debate: Luther, Protestantism vs. Catholicism: Which is better?
- Debate:AntiSemitism
- Debate:Why do Moses, Ezra, Jesus, and Paul all disagree on divorce?
- Debate:Antisemitism
- Debate:Does mainstream Islam endorse violence?
- Debate:If most Muslims learned their religion from their parents, just like us Christians, they will probably be hard to convert. So what can we do to save their souls?
- Debate:If most Christians learned their religion from their parents, just like us Muslims, they will probably be hard to convert. So what can we do to save their souls?
- Debate: Should Christians be more forthright in stating that Allah is not the same being as the Judeo-Christian God?
- Debate:Islam; Religion of peace?
- Debate:For CP accuracy, how do desribe the victims in Darfur? Black Sudanese or Muslims?
Historical debates
- Does History Matter?
- Debate:Can Europeans say they "discovered" an inhabited area?
- Debate:Does History Matter?
Founding Fathers
- Debate:Was Benjamin Franklin a deist?
- Debate: Did the Founding Fathers intend to apply their personal faith to the nation "As an institution"?
- Debate: Did the Founders have a religious motive?
- Debate:Should the United States of America really be counted as a country?
- Debate:The Declaration of Independence or Interdependence?
World Wars
- Debate:Should the United States have entered World War I?
- Debate:Should the United States have entered World War II?
- Debate:Was the United States right to drop atomic bombs so quickly on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
- Debate:If President Roosevelt had known about the Pearl Harbor attack in advance, would it have been wrong for him to allow the attack in order to wake up the American public and motivate Americans to fight and win the war?
- Debate:Was world war inevitable?
U.S. Interventions
- Debate:Was the European colonization of the Americas good for the native people?
- Debate:Was President George H. W. Bush wrong to leave Saddam in power in 1991?
- Debate:Should the United States have eliminated communism in North Korea as General Douglas MacArthur wanted?
- Debate:Is the American Occupation of the Hawaiian Islands justified?
- Debate:Was the American involvement in the Vietnam War justified?
- Debate:Should we have given the Panama Canal back to Panama?
Civil War
- Debate:Define Civil War
- Debate:Was the North right to prevent Southern secession in the US Civil War?
- Debate:Was the Civil War fought primarily over slavery?
- Debate:Did Joan of Arc truly hear voices?
- Debate:Crusades... Good or Bad?
- Debate:Conservative views on foodie movement
Political debates
- Debate:Which is true; progressive Liberal or regressive liberal
- Debate:If Jesus were alive to day, where on the political spectrum would he fall?
- Debate:Why does the right side of the political spectrum tend to be more religious?
- Debate:Should there be a consistent standard on human rights applied to left and right?
- Is it possible to be conservative and know there is no possibility of there ever being a "God" and/or higher being?
- Debate: Why do political views appear to be correlated with others?
- Debate:Which is more important, economic or social conservatism?
- Debate: Why have conservatives let themselves get a bad name?
- Debate: How do conservatives view the Open Source movement and software?
- Debate: When are you lot just going to grow ? Conservative
- Debate:Are "racist" Tea Party attendees liberal plants?
- Debate:Better a Muslim or an Atheist President
- Debate:Is it possible to be too conservative?
- Debate:Where is the middle?
- Debate: do liberals know that they are harming society?
Political Parties
- Debate:How did Democrats manage to win political control of every American ghetto?
- Debate:What kind of leader will Democrats make if they run from debates on Fox?
- Debate:Are the Democrats capable of fighting terrorism?
- Debate:Do we all know what Democrat Presidential candidates stand for yet?
- Debate:Preferred Democrat for the White House?
- Debate:Does Republican equal conservative? Does Democrat equal liberal?
- Debate:Third Party Debate
- Debate:Why are most actors turned politicians Republicans?
The Russian-Ukraine/NATO War
Political Figures
- Debate:Giuliani's lack of social conservative viewpoints should not stop you from voting for him.
- Debate:Is Sarah Palin an asset or a liability to John McCain's candidacy?
- Debate: Was McCain the right candidate?
Barack Obama
- Debate:Obama's preacher.
- Debate: What is sufficient proof that Obama is a Muslim?
- Debate:Is Obama a Muslim?
- Debate:Was McCain's threat to pull out of the debates a political stunt?
- Debate:If Obama Was Conservative
- Debate:Is Obama being unfairly criticized, or is too much being expected of our new president?
- Debate:Is Obama an Atheist?
- Would anybody consider President Barry Soetoro a Muslim?
- Debate:What will Conservapedia be like if Barack Obama wins the election?
- Debate:Was it legally necessary for Obama to retake the Oath of Office?
- Debate: Who will win the 2008 presidential election?
George W. Bush
- Debate:Is President Bush good for America?
- Debate:Is President Bush right NOT to condemn the Armenian genocide?
Gay Marriage
- Debate:Should gay marriage be allowed?
- Debate: Should we criminalize homosexuality?
- Debate:Is homosexuality responsible for totalitarianism?
- Debate:Does Single sex schooling promote homosexuality?
- Debate:Should the federal government have the power to define marriage?
- Debate:Is homosexuality a mental illness?
- Debate:Are there any elements of choice
- Debate:Why are there so few homosexual athletes
- Debate:Should intersex people be allowed to marry?
- Debate:Should people genetically engineer a cure for homosexuality
Religious Freedom/1st Amendment
- Debate: Should Westboro Baptist Church be allowed to protest funerals as free speech?
- Debate:Should public displays of the 10 Commandments be allowed under the constitution?
- Debate:Should politicians be allowed to misspeak?
Guns/2nd Amendment
- Debate:Is the right to bear arms unalienable?
- Debate:Is gun-control the answer to crimes involving guns?
- Debate:Should gun sales to terror suspects be allowed?
- Debate:What level of Gun Control is appropriate?
- Debate:Women in the Military?
- Debate:Is a candidate's military record relevant anymore?
- Debate:Is "Coercive Interrogation" consistent with Christian Values?
- Debate:Define torture
Drug Legalization
- Embryonic Stem Cells: Why or why not?
- Debate:Should pharmacists be forced to fill legal prescriptions they personally object to on moral grounds?
- Debate:Are alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine gateway drugs?
- Debate:Should marijuana be legalized?
- Debate:Should government restrictions on smoking be tightened or rolled back?
- Debate:Restoring the USA image in the world, just a fancy phrase that means zilch?
- Debate:Placing the blame on how America got polarized
- Debate:Is most government criticism really patriotic?
- Debate: Rank Communist Regimes in Order of Grimness
Economic debates
- Debate:Solving the deficit
- Debate: Did World War II end the Great Depression?
- Debate: Can there be price controls without shortages?
- Debate: Counterfeiting: A Moral Hazard
- Is our freedom to consume what we want whenever we want worth the cost (i.e. environmental, social, economic, etc.)?
- Debate:Is the 2009 Stimulus Plan the right approach, and if not what would be?
- Debate:How much poverty is there in America
- Debate: End the Fed by Ron Paul
- Debate:Does "free trade" increase wealth rather than simply redistribute it?
- Debate:Why do we still have an embargo on Cuba?
- Debate: U.S. Supreme Court ruling on ObamaCare: a proper ruling?
- Debate:Is the Bush administration's Conscience Rule a step forward or backward for U.S. Healthcare?
- Debate:Should Americans be required to buy health insurance?
- Debate:Does Abstinence Only Education help or hurt us?
- Debate:You think these Phd's are nuts?
- Debate:Which has the best philosophy of education: the public school system, private schools, or the home school movement?
- Debate:Should students learn a foreign language?
- Debate:Should class room prayer be allowed in Public Schools?
- Debate:Homeschooling is the not the best form of education
Foreign Policy
- Debate:Should the United States intervene in small countries to defeat communism there?
- Debate:Should American companies be allowed to send their own troops into a war which America is participating in?
- Debate:Can a rogue nation be thought of as a sovereign nation?
- Debate:Has Russia reinstalled stealth communism?
Middle East
- Debate:Is it even possible to install democracy in a Muslim country?
- Debate:Is democracy even possible in Iraq?
- Debate:Which is a more powerful ideology, Islam or communism?
- Debate:Is the Iraq War a success?
- Debate:Should the U.S.A. abide by a withdrawal timetable if the Iraqi Parliament votes for one?
- Debate:Should U.S. troops be subject to Iraqi law if that allows our continued presence there?
- Debate:Why did God place most of the world's oil in politically unstable places?
- Debate:What should be America's policy toward Islam?
- Debate: Was Osama really killed in Abbottabad?
- Debate: Oil price without War on Terror
- Debate:Has Britain Declined?
- Debate:Has Britain become the 51st State of the US?
- Debate:Does the European Union pose a threat to the United States?
- Debate:Should the United States leave the United Nations?
- Debate:Was American soldier Michael New right to refuse to fight wearing part of a United Nations uniform? See Michael New
- Debate:Is environmentalism mostly about preserving natural resources?
- Debate:Relationship between Socialism and athletic performance
Scientific debates
Creationism/Intelligent Design
- Debate:Does Intelligent Design deny the Existence of God?
- Debate:Are Young Earth Creationists detracting others from the Faith?
- Debate:Creationist
- Debate:Should Creationism/Intelligent design be taught as a scientific alternative to evolution in public schools?
- Debate:If the universe is young and it takes light millions of years to reach us from far off stars, how can we see them?
- Debate:If the Bible didn't contain a creation story, would anyone even consider the idea of a young earth?
- Debate:Is Relativity in direct conflict with the Genesis account?
- Debate:If it could be unambiguously demonstrated that man is NOT the most evolved animal
- Debate: Creationism, Evolutionism and the 15 questions
- Debate:Creationist
- Debate:How should we view the fact leading scientists do not believe in god?
- Debate:Should Creationism/Intelligent design be taught as a scientific alternative to evolution in public schools
- Debate: Does ID Imply long timescales?
- Debate: Can you be a true Christian and believe in evolution?
- Debate:Is Darwinism liberal or is it conservative?
- Debate:Does Darwinian natural selection suggest that bigotry is a necessary self-defense mechanism?
- Debate:Is Darwinian natural selection compatible with Marxism?
- Debate:Is the theory of macroevolution true?
- Is the evidence in favor of evolution convincing?
- Debate:Can the science of evolution be separated from the philosophy of it?
- Debate: What does Evolution attempt to explain?
- Debate:Does the Theory of Evolution promote atheism?
- Debate:Evolution: Error or Lie?
- Debate:What percentage of non-Christians hold that view because they accept evolution and believe that evolution is inconsistent with Christianity
- Debate: As a Creationist, What Would You Do If Time Travel Were to Prove the Validity of the Evolutionary Model?
Global Warming
- Debate:Is global warming evident, and if so, is this the fault of man, and how must man stop it?
- Debate:God, Earth and Global Warming
- Debate:Who feels that scientific related articles should only reference published research papers instead of websites when dealing with research instead of application?
- Debate:Listing the Earth's most pressing needs in urgent order of fixing
- Debate: Should the United States defund the National Science Foundation?
- Debate:Should the United States begin Colonizing Space?
- Debate: "God vs. Science" story
Debates about Conservapedia
- Debate:Can Conservapedia become the next Wikipedia, is this good or bad
- Debate:Does bias impair Wikipedia's reliability?
- Debate:Does an encyclopedia define complex subjects, or insert more bias into them?
- Debate:Does altering the record of debate in a wiki 'Encyclopedia' render the entire thing a farce?
- Debate:Can/May/Should online wiki encyclopedias copy from each other?
- Debate:How is wikipedia anti-American?
- Debate:What is CP's position on Relativity? (and, in general, on physical sciences)
- Debate:Is Conservapedia representing a conservative POV or a Young Earth Creationist POV?
- Debate:The liberal quotient of Conservapedia; what is it? Does it matter?
- Debate:How should Conservapedia work to avoid having a conservative bias?
- Debate:How can we protect Conservapedia by distinguishing real conservative encyclopedia articles from satires written by liberals?
- Debate:Is it tasteless for Conservapedia to critique the Virginia Tech poem on the Main Page?
- Debate:Should Conservapedia be more open about sex related articles?
- Debate:Bias in conservapedia
- Debate:How should Conservapedia work to avoid having a conservative bias
- Debate:Can Conservapedia Succeed?
- Debate:Is Conservapedia fair and balanced?
- Debate:What exactly is Conservapedia?
- Debate:Is it okay for Conservapedia to have biased articles?
- Debate:Is Conservapedia a 'Trustworthy Encyclopedia'?
Blocking Policy
- Debate:Has anyone ever been been banned for pointing out that many of the other entries on this site are in need of citation and evidence to back up statements?
- Debate:Do sysops block editing on pages when it seems their opponents are making strong points?
- Debate:Does Conservapedia censor opponents the way Expelled says ID advocates are censored?
- Debate:The 90/10 rule exists soley to squash debate, and should be eliminated
- Debate: Why does the 90/10 rule exists?
- Debate:Should the term list entries be included in Conservapedia's entry count?
- Debate:Where do you personally look for facts and information on topics "When did Brahms live" or "Why did Monet paint grainstacks?"
- Is Conservapedia blinkered?
- Debate:Is the Conservapedia Logo in violation of US Flag Code?
- Debate:Should the Conservapedia logo be changed?
- Debate:Is it time to propagate Conservapedia in other languages/countries?
- Debate:Should there be a separate section on the main page for blogs, advertisements and other non-news items?
- Debate:Should Conservapedia change it's logo?
- Debate:Why isn't "The Bridge to Nowhere" on Sarah Palin's article?
Media Bias
Decency Standards
- Debate: To what extent should we have obscenity laws
- Debate: Should certain books be banned from libraries?
- Debate:Does modern music negatively influence children
- Debate:Is Anime and Manga Ok?
- Debate: LGBT in cartoons and other children's media
- Debate:Was the media attention needed?
- Debate:Is the use of copyrighted photographs without permission stealing?
Funny, maybe?
- Debate:Was the shooting at Virginia Tech somehow President Bush's fault?
- Debate:Are video games getting better or worse as graphics, sound, and gameplay complexity improve?
- Debate:Favorite old time radio show
- Debate:Is it It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt?
- Debate:What are the lessons that we should take away from the Milgram Experiment
- Debate:Mall Shootings
- Debate:Is Romeo and Juliet appropriate?
- Debate:Is the "Debate Topics" Section Dead?
- Debate:Why is a perpetual motion machine impossible?