The official blog of the Hudson Valley Debate Union

It was a pleasant success. People were generally pleased with the outcome, and when there was disagreement, no one was the least bit disagreeable.

The HVDU’s first foray into election debates, rather than issue debates, kept us close to home, as we held the first debate among the Democratic and Republican candidates for the Stony Point Town Council.

Appearing for the Democrats were town supervisor candidate Peter Muller and town council candidates Luanne Konopko and incumbent Geoff Finn. Appearing for the Republicans were town supervisor candidate Hon. William Sherwood (a former State Supreme Court judge) and town council candidates Jerry Rogers and Stephen Fischer.

An audience of nearly 100 Stony Pointers assembled in the Senior Club hall of the Rho Building of Letchworth Village to hear out the six Principal Speakers. Most of the Stony Point Voting Guests had never been to an Oxford-style debate before, so there was some hesitation in calling out Points of Information, but a few brave souls made the attempt and were answered by the Principal Speakers.

When the question was called, the House split almost evenly — 45 votes (red chips) to the Republicans, 41 votes (green chips) to the Democrats.

The HVDU would like to thank Noreen Smith of Stony Point Parks and Recreation, and current Town Supervisor Phil Marino in arranging the use of the hall, and George Potanovic of Potanovic Photography and the Stony Point Action Committee for the Environment for videotaping the event. We will be posting clips of the debate at this space once we have them edited down and uploaded to YouTube; in the meantime, the following stills from the event will give an idea of the atmosphere that evening.

Well, HVDU fans, it’s taken a long time and a lot of hard work, but I can now officially announce:

We have a Fall 2009 season!

And it’s a home debate, because our opener is: THE STONY POINT DEBATE!

Here’s the text of the news release that’s going out today:

The Hudson Valley Debate Union Presents
The Stony Point Debate
with the Democratic and Republican
Town Supervisor and Town Council Candidates

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Patrick McGrath 845-429-3206

STONY POINT, NY (22 September 2009) – The Hudson Valley Debate Union, which brings face-to-face “Oxford-style” debating to Rockland County, the Hudson Valley, and beyond, announces the Stony Point Debate, between the Democratic and Republican candidates for Supervisor and Town Council.

The event will take place in the Senior Citizens Club Room of the Rho Building, Letchworth Village, Willow Grove Road, Stony Point, just off Exit 14 of the Palisades Interstate Parkway, on Tuesday, 29 September 2009, from 7 to 9 pm.

The Principal Speakers will be:

For the Democratic Party:

• Mr. Peter Muller, Candidate for Town Supervisor
• Ms. Luanne Konopko, Candidate for Town Council
• Hon. Geoff Finn, Incumbent and Candidate for Town Council

For the Republican Party:

• Hon. William Sherwood, Candidate for Town Supervisor
• Mr. Jerry Rogers, Candidate for Town Council
• Mr. Steven Fischer, Candidate for Town Council

The debate is being produced with the assistance of the Stony Point Action Committee on the Environment.

HVDU Founder and Executive Director Patrick McGrath commented:

“Following our successful Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 events, we’re taking a leaf from the Emeril Lagasse cookbook and kicking things up a notch.

“First, this will be the HVDU’s first venture beyond our first home at the Haverstraw King’s Daughters Public Library. So we’re expanding our circle of friends.

“Second, this will be our first-ever candidates debate, rather than an issue debate. I expect this event will be a significant improvement over the typical ‘parallel press conference’ types of debates that we’re used to seeing during election time. Oxford-style debating allows the sides to confront their opponents directly, rather than through intermediaries. It will compel both sides to think on their feet and respond coherently to their opponents’ questions.”

WHAT HAPPENS AT AN ‘OXFORD STYLE’ HUDSON VALLEY DEBATE UNION EVENT?

“Our debates are participatory debates, and the Voting Guests in the audience participate along with the Principal Speakers,” McGrath explained. “We use a modified version of the format used at the famous Debate Unions of Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England, and at many other debate societies.

“’It’s more like an intellectual boxing match—or like tag-team wrestling—than the dog-and-pony shows that have passed for ‘debate’ in this country. What’s even better—unlike a World Wrestling event, the audience can participate directly in the contest.

“Here’s what happens: The six Principal Speakers at the debates will each get ten minutes for their speeches. The first two minutes and the last two minutes are ‘protected’–but the middle six minutes are subject to Points of Information.

“During a Point of Information, anyone in the the audience can stand up, raise his or her hand, and shout out, ‘Point of Information!’ Nothing between you and the Principal Speaker—you just stand up, right from your chair—and rip it. Now, the Principal Speaker on the floor at the time has the right to refuse any and all Points of Information, but they are strongly urged to take at least one or two.

“And, when all of the Principal Speakers are finished, and the question is called, the audience will vote on the motion. We’re doing this low-tech: we’ll pass around the ballot box, the Voting Guests will drop in the green and red poker chips we use as ballots, then we’ll count the votes, announce the vote total and find out which side has won. Now that’s what I call participatory democracy,” McGrath said.

Further information about the Hudson Valley Debate Union can be found at the HVDU’s Web site: www.hvdebateunion.org.

[END NEWS RELEASE]

And, everybody, it took a lot of work to put that together.

I am working on other events for the Fall season. There have been a boatload of frustrations and setbacks in putting the Fall season together, but I am determined to press ahead. The target in my sights for the next event is a debate on a national issue. However, not all the ‘i’s have been dotted nor all of the ‘t’s crossed. Still a lot of work to be done. But you will be the first to know about it!

If I hadn’t decided, on a whim, to call an old friend of mine on Monday, I would never have heard about this.

“Did you have a look at the town hall meeting on health care that President Obama had over the weekend in Colorado?” he asked me.

“No, I hadn’t seen that,” I said. “No cable here. Or sat-dish. So what happened?”

“Well, this young college kid got up got up and asked Obama, directly, to have an Oxford-style debate on health care.”

“Really.”

“Yes.”

“Did he, now.”

“He did.”

“Well, I’m going to have to track down this young, brave fellow.” And so I did. No cable or sat-dish here, yes, but we now have YouTube capability at HVDU HQ, and — well, there it was.

The young fellow’s name is Zach Lahn. I thought it was spelled “Lane,” which is how it is pronounced. There were no “Zach Lane”s in the U of Colorado student directory, so that put me off the scent for a while.

Then this article came to my attention, and I was back on the scent again.

The young fellow studying at Boulder just put Oxford debating on the map, and he went right to the top of the pay grade in the middle of the Rocky Mountains:

The young man knows how to put a question. I’ll bet he’s fairly handy at a Point of Information too.

Zach is also a dab hand at handling CNN megastars:

And he was a bit more relaxed on Fox News:

And then Contessa Brewer of MSNBC almost goes postal on Zach at the end:

And the young fellow from Grand Junction (and from Sioux City, Iowa) also got noticed by ABC News White House correspondent Jake Tapper.

Zach says that he’s “still waiting for an Oxford-style health care debate.” As of right now, the most likely place in these United States for him to have such an event is — your very own Hudson Valley Debate Union.

I think I’m going to have to work on that. Hmmmmmmmm.

Little “Opie” in this video is a “red” or tan Miniature Pinscher, sometimes called a Rehpinscher, rather than the black and tan coloring my BFF Anteyka is. But they both have superb intelligence levels, as you can see with Opie here:

Oh, and Anteyka LOVES carrots too! Especially slices of the baby carrots. We sometimes have a few together — another example of man-dog solidarity.

Apart from our other official sponsors, the Hudson Valley Debate Union has its own official mascot, namely:

He’s twelve years old now. We’ve been best buddies since he was a pup. He wants you to know — he’s a Min Pin, not a chihuahua, so just lay off the “Yo quiero Taco Bell” remarks.

He also has his own anthem. It goes to this tune, and it has these words:

Anteyka is the greatest dog
The greatest in the world.
There are no other greater dogs.
No, that would be absurd.
He beat off coward pit bull bite
Whose owner is a shame
The bravest canine on the Earth
Anteyka is his name!
No greater pooch in all the world
Anteyka is his name!

Yes, he survived a pit bull attack in 2001. Remind me to tell you about it sometime.

You should see the links in my Firefox browser — no, I take that back, you shouldn’t see them, because they’re a total mess. They’re just all over the place.

Just to let you know that I’m not eating and sleeping debate planning 24/7, I’ve thrown down some links in the right hand column about some blogs that I follow and other things that I’m interested in. Possibly even slightly obsessed about. I thought you might like ‘em. Let me know what you think.

New visitors to the HVDU may be wondering — how did you come up with that cool logo for the Debate Union? I’ve known you for ages, Pat, you can’t draw worth a darn.

Well, let me tell you about it.

My background is in media relations — public relations — journalism — that line of work. I wanted the HVDU to have a definite look-and-feel, a brand, in other words. Something … stately.

And I wanted the graphic look to say, “debate.” So, in my research, I found the Black and Red template from OpenSource Web design. I thought the contrast of the two colors, on a white background, just said “Debate.” I think you’ll agree.

Then I needed a logo that was, well, stately. My friends are absolutely right — I can’t draw worth a lick. But in the Age of the Web, this is not an unsolvable problem.

My searches led me to Says-it.com and their Official Seal Generator. A bit of playing around in there, including browsing through a gazillion graphic possibilities, and I found the eagle over the waters artwork.

Almost done. What else was needed? What every great seal needs. A motto. In Latin. Fortunately, the Seal Generator helps you there too, because it links to a page on Wiki-P with a list of Latin phrases. Outstanding! So I scanned until this one caught my eye: “dum Roma deliberat Saguntum perit” .. “while Rome debates, Saguntum is in danger.”

That has possibilites, I thought. Then further: While we’re debating at the Hudson Valley Debate Union, no one is in danger. No one’s gonna die — at least, not of debating. If we’re alive, we can talk about it. And argue about it, too. And it’s not going to kill us.

So, knowing that nihil means “nothing” or “nobody,” and hoping that Father Z would approve, I tweaked the phrase a little. Dum deliberat nihil perit. No one’s gonna die while we talk about it.

I hope my Principal Speakers and Voting Guests remember that.