Political Wrinkles - Polls http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/ Vote on topics from culture to politics to just about anything. en Thu, 17 May 2012 13:40:57 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/images/misc/rss.jpg Political Wrinkles - Polls http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/ Americans Favor Military Cuts http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/polls/26557-americans-favor-military-cuts.html Wed, 16 May 2012 00:02:11 GMT ---Quote--- An overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens want deep and immediate cuts in military spending, according to a new poll. The Center for...
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An overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens want deep and immediate cuts in military spending, according to a new poll. The Center for Public Integrity, a Washington, D.C.-based investigative news service, in conjunction with two other groups asked more than 600 Americans from across the country about their perceptions regarding U.S. defense spending. The survey went on to ask whether the respondent favored increasing, holding steady or decreasing military spending.

Seventy-six percent of survey-takers, including 90 percent of Democrats and 67 percent of Republicans, say they would cut the Pentagon's budget. That places the majority of respondents at odds with Democratic President Barack Obama's policies and the proposed budgets of the majority Republican Party in Congress. Obama has essentially held defense spending steady at around $550 billion by cutting its recent rate of increase. The Republicans have proposed adding billions of dollars to the president's budget.

War costs – currently totaling around $100 billion a year – are budgeted separately from the military’s “base” budget.

The popular position, if reflected in actual spending, would jeopardize military initiatives that enjoy broad support among elected leaders in both political parties, including: the Pentagon's aerial and naval “pivot” towards the Pacific; the deployment of sea- and land-based missile defenses; and the development of new war technology including new stealth bombers and fighters, drone aircraft, submarines and aircraft carriers.

But events could bring budgetary reality in line with the poll respondents’ desires. Last year, Congress passed, and the president signed, the Budget Control Act, which requires $1.2 trillion in budget cuts over the coming decade. If Congress and the president don’t agree on what programs to cut, the reductions will occur automatically across all federal agencies. That could slice hundreds of billions of dollars from the Pentagon’s future budgets.
Americans Favor Military Cuts | Flashpoints

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The average total cut was around $103 billion, a substantial portion of the current $562 billion base defense budget, while the majority supported cutting it at least $83 billion. These amounts both exceed a threatened cut of $55 billion at the end of this year under so-called “sequestration” legislation passed in 2011, which Pentagon officials and lawmakers alike have claimed would be devastating.

“When Americans look at the amount of defense spending compared to spending on other programs, they see defense as the one that should take a substantial hit to reduce the deficit,” said Steven Kull, director of the Program for Public Consultation (PPC), and the lead developer of the survey. “Clearly the polarization that you are seeing on the floor of the Congress is not reflective of the American people.”
Public overwhelmingly supports large defense spending cuts | iWatch News by The Center for Public Integrity

Seems simple and obvious enough.
But of course, Congress often has a problem representing the will of the people. ]]> Polls foundit66 http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/polls/26557-americans-favor-military-cuts.html Would you ever hire an anti-NATO protester for high security or government work? http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/polls/26477-would-you-ever-hire-anti-nato-protester-high-security-government-work.html Fri, 11 May 2012 09:57:58 GMT In light or Bill Ayers drive to recruit students for an anti-NATO protest thingy, I was wondering how this would affect the future job prospects of... In light or Bill Ayers drive to recruit students for an anti-NATO protest thingy, I was wondering how this would affect the future job prospects of the students, should they ever decide to be productive in a meaningful way.

Question:
If you ran a company dealing with security or government clients, would you ever hire an anti-NATO protester for high security or government work?
]]> Polls Oftencold http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/polls/26477-would-you-ever-hire-anti-nato-protester-high-security-government-work.html Is this a impeachable offense? http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/polls/26461-impeachable-offense.html Thu, 10 May 2012 16:12:20 GMT ---Quote--- KABUL – The US has been secretly releasing captured Taliban fighters from a detention center in Afghanistan in a bid to strengthen its...
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KABUL – The US has been secretly releasing captured Taliban fighters from a detention center in Afghanistan in a bid to strengthen its hand in peace talks with the insurgent group, the Washington Post reported Monday.

The "strategic release" program of high-level detainees is designed to give the US a bargaining chip in some areas of Afghanistan where international forces struggle to exercise control, the report said.

Under the risky program, the hardened fighters must promise to give up violence and are threatened with further punishment, but there is nothing to stop them resuming attacks against Afghan and American troops.

"Everyone agrees they are guilty of what they have done and should remain in detention. Everyone agrees that these are bad guys. But the benefits outweigh the risks," a US official told the Post.

In a visit to Afghanistan last week, President Barack Obama confirmed that the US was pursuing peace talks with the Taliban.
Quote borrowed from MrLiberty's thread. ]]> Polls lurch907 http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/polls/26461-impeachable-offense.html Would the discovery of a physical cuse to homosexuality lead to a search for a cure? http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/polls/26437-would-discovery-physical-cuse-homosexuality-lead-search-cure.html Wed, 09 May 2012 14:50:31 GMT This is a bit of follow up to Oftencold's question. If a physical cause was found would we see fundraisers to cure gayness? ]]> Polls lurch907 http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/polls/26437-would-discovery-physical-cuse-homosexuality-lead-search-cure.html Would the existance of aliens change your view of religion? http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/polls/26413-would-existance-aliens-change-your-view-religion.html Tue, 08 May 2012 10:27:43 GMT Or would we try to kill them? Just a thought Or would we try to kill them? Just a thought ]]> Polls Mikeyy http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/polls/26413-would-existance-aliens-change-your-view-religion.html <![CDATA[Would the discovery of a "gay gene" lead the gay community to be staunchly pro-life?]]> http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/polls/26412-would-discovery-gay-gene-lead-gay-community-staunchly-pro-life.html Tue, 08 May 2012 06:58:17 GMT Rush Limbaugh has said for years that if there is ever discovered a gene that can be tested for in utero, that would indicate that the unborn child... Rush Limbaugh has said for years that if there is ever discovered a gene that can be tested for in utero, that would indicate that the unborn child was likely to grow up to be homosexual, the gay community would become monotonically opposed to elective abortion.

This supposes that as a private decision, most pro-abortion couples would choose to abort and try again in such cases. Pro-Life couples, it is to be assumed would carry the child to term, regardless.

I tend to agree, and have little problem believing that may such couples, even if rabidly in favor of the "gay agenda," would have little trouble in convincing themselves that their actions were not the result of their own prejudices, but a repose to "societies."

I'm curious to see who agrees, disagrees and why.


Poll Question: Do you think that if it became possible to predict an unborn child's future sexual orientation before birth, the Gay community, on the whole, would move to a staunchly pro life position? ]]> Polls Oftencold http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/polls/26412-would-discovery-gay-gene-lead-gay-community-staunchly-pro-life.html Should the US get rid of the penny? http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/polls/26383-should-us-get-rid-penny.html Sun, 06 May 2012 02:11:47 GMT Canada Stops Making Cents as Flaherty Lets Penny Drop... Canada Stops Making Cents as Flaherty Lets Penny Drop

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Canada minted its final penny today as Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the coin was too expensive to produce and no longer needed for business.

“The real issue was that people weren’t using them, they were putting them in jars at home, and we were doing the same thing at my house,” Flaherty said. He spoke today at the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg, Manitoba, before pushing a button that stamped the last one-cent coin.

The longest-serving finance minister in the Group of Seven nations promised in his March 29 budget to save C$11 million annually by eliminating the coin that he says costs 1.6 cents to mint. The price of copper, which is used in the penny’s production, has surged more than 330 percent since 2000.

Getting rid of the coin will have little impact on inflation, the Bank of Canada said in a May 2010 report. Electronic transactions will still be priced in cents, while retailers will round cash transactions to the nearest five-cent interval, according to the budget documents. The coin will still be usable in payments.

“It’s a bit hard to swallow,” said Francois Gendron, the 34-year veteran press operator who helped Flaherty strike the last coin. “It’s a bit of history.”

The mint has produced 35 billion pennies since it began production in 1908. Distribution of the coin will end later this year. Pennies have been made of copper-plated zinc and copper- plated steel since 1997. The last penny will go to the country’s currency museum in Ottawa.
So Canada waves bye-bye to the penny...Should the US also?...

C'mon...Give us your two cents...:slapme ]]> Polls cnredd http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/polls/26383-should-us-get-rid-penny.html Poll: 70% back voter ID laws http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/polls/26094-poll-70-back-voter-id-laws.html Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:59:06 GMT Poll: 70% back voter ID laws ---Quote--- *The vast majority of Americans believe that voter ID laws are necessary to stop fraud, according to a... Poll: 70% back voter ID laws

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The vast majority of Americans believe that voter ID laws are necessary to stop fraud, according to a new survey released Wednesday.


Indeed, 70 percent of Americans say they support voter identification measures “to stop illegal voting,” reports Fox News. Only 26 percent said that the laws were “unnecessary and discourage legal voting.”


A majority of Democrats (52 percent), independents (72 percent) and Republicans (87 percent) supported voter ID laws as necessary.

Further, 50 percent of Americans said that they believe opponents of voter ID laws were “trying to steal elections by increasing illegal votes by non-citizens and other ineligible voters,” compared to 45 percent who disagreed.

But respondents to the poll didn’t have the same suspicions regarding the motives of those who supported voter ID initiatives. 62 percent said they did not believe those who backed voter ID laws were trying to “steal elections by decreasing legal votes from minorities,” compared to 34 percent who said the opposite.

In state legislatures across the country, Republicans are pushing voter ID legislation - but even when passed, these laws face substantial legal hurdles.

For example, in December the Justice Department rejected South Carolina’s new photo ID requirement for voting. Since the state has a history of voter discrimination, the state is required to submit changes in voting procedures through the DOJ or a court.

And in Florida, nonpartisan voter groups like Rock the Vote are currently challenging the state’s new voter ID law.

On the other hand, a U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday that Arizona could require photo ID at the polling booth, according to Reuters.

Read more: Poll: 70% back voter ID laws - Tim Mak - POLITICO.com
Good to see that the vast majority of Americans support voter integrity at the polls..:thumbsup ]]> Polls Spencer Collins http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/polls/26094-poll-70-back-voter-id-laws.html