Write a draft of the introductory paragraph.                         
The introductory paragraph must accomplish three tasks:

For thousands of years humans have been fighting along side each other on the battlefield.  However, the big debate has always been whether or not women should be allowed to fight alongside the men?  For centuries, the answer was always no, women had other responsibilities.  Even today, the United States regulations state that, "women are exempt from smaller (below the brigade level) units "assigned a direct ground combat mission," such as the infantry, armor, and Special Operations Forces" (CMR).  Many female rights activists have hard feeling towards these rules.  They believe men and women should be treated equally.  Women should have the option to fight alongside of men just as men should have the right to opt out of the military and stay home to tend to the children.  However, if a female can not physically or mentally perform in the field, they should be restricted from the front lines.  This, however, is just as a man would be, not just because of her sex alone.  Where and how women serve in the military should be based on ability and training, not gender.

Is global warming really happening? Is Antarctica's ice melting from natural causes or is it caused by humans?  This topic is very controversial and has been talked about since the late 1800s.  But what is global warming?  Dictionary.com says global warming is "An increase in the earth's average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding changes in climate and that may result from the greenhouse effect."  Evidence of global warming is all around us.  According to globalwarmingisreal.com, "That the earth is heating up and climate change is already underway is understood by virtually the entire scientific community."  They are stating that the opinion is almost unanimous.  Global warming is happening, it is affecting everyone in this world, and the causes have to stop.

Since the beginning of time, criminals have run rampant on city streets throughout the world.  They steal, damage, kill, vandalize, and break any and all laws as if they never existed.  But possibly the most heinous and degrading of all crimes committed is rape.  The definition of rape, according to Dictionary.com is, "the unlawful compelling of a woman through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse," or "any act of sexual intercourse that is forced upon a person."  What is even worse than rape, though, is child rape.  Child rape is quite possibly the worst of all crimes, as this act severely scars the child for life with unimaginable psychological damage. Currently, the United States Supreme Court rules that "sentencing someone to death for raping a child is unconstitutional" (Rhee).  However, with such a cornucopia of child rape incidences in the United States, in certain cases judges should have the right to put a child rapist to death. 

    Violence is on the rise in America.  Every year, hundreds of people are shot, stabbed, or otherwise assaulted.  The violence has spread to our schools and onto our freeways.  Experts and common folk across the country and around the World ask the most important question - why?  Solving this problem It is a choice between civilization and affluence on the one hand, and fear and savagery on the other.  Research shows that two factors more than any others lead to a life of violence.  The first is the experience of violence in the home while growing up; the second is the amount of exposure to violence in movies, music, and games.  The first is difficult to identify and control.  The future of our country will depend on how willing we are to regulate violent material. 

     The story by now is familiar to all Americans, if not to the entire World.  Two students enter an upper middle-class high school and begin shooting.  After it is all over, the dead lay on the floor - lives have been ended, families are shattered.  Later it is discovered that the two were devoted fans of extremely violent films, music, and video games.  Were they influenced by their heavy use of this type of material?  Can any mind not be influenced when it is immersed and saturated with violence input?  It is time to do something about the violence in media--it must be regulated. 

     What is it that causes people to become violent?  Why is violence such a problem in today's society?  Earlier, many people speculated that poverty was a root cause of violence, but the United States during the depression was a much safer place than our country was during the prosperous nineties.  Research now indicates that two factors more than any others lead to a life of violence.  The first is the experience of violence in the home while growing up; the second is the amount of exposure to violence in movies, music and games.  The first is difficult to identify and control.  The future of our country will depend on how willing we are to regulate violent material. 

Some people believe that the First Amendment allows for anything.  Giving out directions for creating bombs or converting semi-automatic weapons into machine guns is fine because it is protected by the FirstAmendment.  Promoting the abuse of women and even children is fine, because the First Amendment protects it.  But is this really what the Founding Fathers meant when they gave us this right?  No--violent content in the media must be regulated if our society is to survive. 

     When our Founding Fathers met in 1786, they were for a long time unable to create an acceptable constitution.  The Constitution then was simply not good enough to collect the required amount of signatures - it was not good enough until they added a Bill of Rights that guaranteed freedoms to the common people.  So important was the freedom of speech that the Founding Fathers placed it first in the list of rights, tying only with the freedom of religion.  Now, through fear, some Americans are ready to abandon that precious right.  We must remember that totalitarian governments often do not seize power; they are given the power when the populace was afraid.  The First Amendment is something with which we must not tamper.

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