Time Magazine's Person of the Year: The Protestor

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101745_2102132_2102373,00.html

Maddie's right. Sure bullying can make out to be a great story of tragety and adversity one day and in some instances, people do need to suck it up, but that doesn't make it right. Bullying is awful; no one wants to be the kid eating their lunch alone in the bathroom stall.

Joking around with your friends is fine but you've got to be careful because sometimes it can be mistaken for harrassment. Remember to boost them up more than tear them down. It's a gamble; you'll never know if they'll take something the wrong way.

http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/problems/bullies.html

I'm not a very religious person but I do agree with you. People should have the right to express their beliefs however they want as long as it doesn't go too far. If it starts violating the law and hurting people, then there's a problem.

A useful link presenting both sides of the argument: http://prezi.com/ikrykrjf7j0u/jones-v-clear-creek-isd/

Weed shouldn't be llegalized with the exception of medical purposes. I don't know how the country would make that law but they would have to be strict. It should only be accessible with a doctor's perscription.

http://altmed.creighton.edu/medicalmarijuana/Clinical%20Use.htm

Yeah that's true, they will work for less money while Americans will ignore jobs that "don't pay enough." This reminds me of the Industrial Revolution when immigrants were stuck with the tough, low-paying jobs.

http://www.houstonculture.org/hispanic/conquest.html

I agree, the Civil War is proof of what can happen if states have too much power. Everybody starts arguing and then you have a war on your hands. A strong central government supports a strong and united front.

"A house divided cannot stand."

-Abraham Lincoln

Censoring the Internet is like a parent blocking TV channels. It drives you crazy and you feel hurt that they don't trust you enough to let you watch what you want.

We're talking about our government here, people. Don't they have more important things to do like fix our economy?

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2011/11/sopa-internet-piracy-bill-criticized-as- internet-censorship/

Things will get way more complicated if LGBT people don't get their rights. We were all told at some point that we should just be ourseleves. By not giving them their rights, you are taking away their ability for people to just be themseleves.

This can lead to terrible things like sucide, a common thing for gay people. Read the story of Tyler Clementi here: http://www.livescience.com/8734-gay-teen-suicide-epidemic.html

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of flaws in our goverment but you have to admit, without our branches then things would get choatic. They keep us organized. There are many ways to structuring a government and there is no right or wrong answer but some ways are better than others. At least we can say that there isn't one person calling all of the shots. The branches balance each other, but that's not the problem. The probem is that nothing is being resolved.

So it's ok for straight people to makeout but not ok for gay people? Our society has always shown us the straight relationship but they don't advertise gay relationships. In the real world, you will see a mix of both. People should be exposed to different types of relationships so that they can learn to be accepting and open-minded. By doing this, we are creating a new generation that understands and empathizes.

In order to get out of our economic problems, we need more time. I know that it's been a few years since the recession started but people need to be patient. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression, the Great Depression went from 1929 to the late 1930's or early 1940's. That's at least ten years with 25% of Americans being unemployed with a huge market crash. Things are bad, but we are no where near that stage.

While I agree that the government needs to start getting us out of this recession, in order to do this they are going to need time. Obama won't do this in his current term, there is just not enough time. I hope that whoever is elected president, is able to improve the country's economy soon.

My debate is about human rights. I believe that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should have human rights. Until we grant them these rights, they will continue to be looked down on by our society.

LGBT people are common targets for bullying. According to www.bullyingstatistics.org, 28% of gay and lesbian high school students have dropped out in the past three years due to bullying. They should be accepted for who they are because nothing good can come out of bullying.

LGBT people may feel that they need to form a relationship with a certain gender in order to blend in with society. It was estimated by http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-11/15/c_13606900.htm that about 16 million Chinese women are married to gay men. This can cause many problems such as broken hearts and an increase in domestic violence. If the relationship ends in divorce, both are hurt and the straight person could feel paranoid in the future and the gay person is thrust back into a marriage-demanding world.

That person could then spiral into depression, which is very common among homosexual people; 50% of responding lesbians said that they have been depressed sometime in the past two years according to www.nami.org.

In my opinion, LGBT people deserve to have the same rights that we have. They should be allowed to adopt and marry by their own choice. It doesn’t seem right to force people into being someone that they aren’t. In order to deal with our brooder social issues such as discrimination, racism, suicide, and bullying, we need to start somewhere if we want to make accomplishments.

"The More Things Change The More They Stay the Same"

-Bon Jovi

I definitely agree with you; without a balance of liberal and conservative views our U.S. government system will become corrupt.

We need a bit of both; liberal views move us forward and conservative views like to keep things as they are.

Obama is in favor of taking the U.S. troops out of the war, he wants to raise energy standards, and form strong realationships with countries that will work together to solve world issues. I think we should help others that are less fortunate than us. It only seems right to take the time to care and lend a helping hand. On the liberal side, I would say that if we don't move forward, then we will not solve our many growing problems that everyone complains about.

However, I could also see the conservative part of the argument. They believe that people should really have to work for their money and shouldn't be rewarded if they didn't do anything to earn it. Republicans are very anti-communist. I feel that there are definitely flaws in communisum government. People need to be rewarded for doing a good job, they need to strive to be better. If everyone is at "the same level" no one will improve and our society and people will be able to slack off.