First Tournament for 2007

Welcome to the first debate tournament for 2007!

The championship has been vacated and is up for grabs to any one of our 16 eager competitors. Virtually the entire field is new to the ATS Debate forum but many of them have proven formidable and all are definately capable.

The official Debate Commentary Thread is at the following link.
www.abovetopsecret.com...'

Members are also encouraged to make their opinions known in a positive way by awarding stars to outstanding debate posts.

The following are the matches for the first round:

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Absente v. Secret Titan
There have been non homo Sapien advanced civilizations on Earth in the past.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Justin Oldham v. D.E.M.
Nazi Germany developed or was in the process of developing advanced technologies which remain classified to this day.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Enjoies05 v. Ignorant_Ape
An attack on a scale equal to or greater than 9/11 is currently being planned by the US Government, and will serve to end constitutional rule in the United States before President Bush leaves office.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

EvilBat v. Tuning Spork
The effects of Hurricane Katrina on the Ninth Ward of New Orleans were severely worsened by a government conspiracy.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

TheBorg v. semperfortis
It is likely that Element 115 will be found to have properties which make it useful to advanced space travel.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

galm1 v. discomfit
There is credible evidence that Jesus had descendents and that the secret of their existence has affected the course of history.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

nyk537 v. Esdad71
The Federal Reserve, from its inception, has been a conspiracy to overpower the democratic system in the United States, and it should be destroyed.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

DonWahn v. Simulacra
Conspiracy theorists who educate themselves in survivalism have a good chance of surviving and successfully resisting a seizure of absolute power by the New World Order.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

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The Debate Rules:

Each debater will have one opening statement each. This will be followed by 3 alternating replies each. There will then be one closing statement each and no rebuttal.


A post may not be any longer than 5,500 characters, using the ATS character counter.
Closing posts may not be any longer than 3,500 characters.

This character limit includes all board code, links, etc.
Extra characters will be deleted from the end of your post.

Please notice that the character counter counts backwards. If for some reason your character counter won't let you post a full 5,500 characters in one post, make a second post to finish your 5,500, and then u2u me and let me know.


Editing is strictly forbidden. This means any editing, for any reason. Any edited posts will be completely deleted. This prevents cheating. If you make an honest mistake which needs fixing, you must U2U me. I will do a limited amount of editing for good cause. Please use spell check before you post.


Opening and closing statements must not contain any images, and must have no more than 3 references. Excluding both the opening and closing statements, only two images and no more than 5 references can be included for each post.


Responses should be made within 24 hours, if people are late with their replies, they run the risk of forfeiting their reply and possibly the debate. Limited grace periods may be allowed if I am notified in advance.


Judging will be done by a panel of anonymous judges. After each debate is completed it will be locked and the judges will begin making their decision. One of the debate forum moderators will then make a final post announcing the winner.

[edit on 7-8-2007 by The Vagabond]

[edit on 7-8-2007 by The Vagabond]

[edit on 7-8-2007 by The Vagabond]