Coachean Feed: Links for debaters

I'm reviving the old feed, but in different form. Back then, you had to follow it via RSS, and I didn't annotate it. Now, I'll just do one pot pourri post a week, collecting what I find that is either relevant to a particular topic, or just the sort of background that it makes sense to be aware of.

• When the LD topics were announced, I expressed initial disdain for the idea of secession as historically settled in the US, thus putting the US out of the argumentation, but my fellow TVFTers demurred. You can listen to the discussion on the podcast. For them, and for those who agree, or who wonder what's up in the USA for those who like, say, baseball but not Congress (and, let's face it, that's just about everybody), here's a post from i09 on 10 Movements to Secede from the United States. (I posted this over at TVFT, before deciding to revive the CL.)
  
  
• Freedom of speech means allowing speech that we don't want to hear. Why do we keep forgetting that? On a college campus, no less. Free speech for dodgy dons, too.
  
  
• I've always loved the P.A.P. blog. Here's a roundup of types of discrimination. There's lots of links to deeper discussions of the various sorts.
  
  
• The sanctions on Iran are intended to get the country to stop its nuclear efforts. Here's an argument that The Sanctions Aren't Working.
  
  
• And if mandatory voting comes in as one of next year's resolutions—and I'd say the odds are fair to good—one wonders what's been going on in the US regarding voting in general. Sigh. Bills have been passing like crazy, there's all sorts of restrictions in all sorts of states: obviously, voter fraud is rampant in the US, and we have to crack down on it. But as the article says, UFO Sightings Are More Common Than Voter Fraud. 47,000 of the former; federal convictions for voter fraud = a couple of dozen or so, maybe twice that for the same period as all those flying saucers. Thank God this country is arming against what really matters. John McCain claimed voter fraud was possibly "destroying the fabric of democracy." Putting in Sarah Palin as his running mate? Priceless.
  
  
• Electoral college math favors the big states, not the small states: HOW TO ABOLISH THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE (REALLY!)