5/16/2012 – UPDATED: Is
the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative an acceptable solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict? - Read pro and con arguments from
Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon (pro), 12thPrime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert (con), 52nd Prime Minister of
the United Kingdom Gordon Brown (pro), Hamas Co-Founder Mahmoud al-Zahar (con),
former Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the United Kingdom and the United States
Turki al-Faisal (pro), Deputy Managing Editor for the Jerusalem PostCaroline Glick (con), and more.
5/16/2012 - US and International Meat Consumption Chart – Americans eat an annual average of 279.1 lbs of meat per person making the United States the world's third largest per capita meat consumer behind Luxembourg (#1) and Hong Kong (#2). Americans eat more beef (37.8 lbs/person in 2009) than any other meat although we eat 27% less of it than we did in 1970 (51.8 lbs/person). Learn far more about meat consumption in the United States and the rest of the world with our new research.
5/11/2012 – Obama Endorses Gay Marriages the Day After North Carolina Bans Them - North Carolina voters approved an amendment to the state’s constitution by 61% to 39% that bans same-sex marriages and civil unions across the state on May 8, 2012. The following day, President Barack Obama declared his support for gay marriage, becoming the first sitting US president to do so.
5/9/2012 - Connecticut Repeals the Death Penalty - Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) signed a law on Apr. 25, 2012 repealing the death penalty. The repeal only applies to future sentences, leaving 11 men on death row. Connecticut now joins 16 other states and DC in abandoning capital punishment.
4/27/2012 - "Obamacare"
in the Supreme Court - See our new resource about
the Supreme Court hearings on the constitutionality of Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Read a summary, a
timeline of how the case made it to the Supreme Court, and read
or listen to the oral arguments made during the hearings.
Our mission: Promoting critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, primarily pro-con format.