Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

World AIDS Day 2009 – December 1st

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Started on 1st December 1988, World AIDS Day is about raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. The World AIDS Day theme for 2009 is ‘Universal Access and Human Rights’. World AIDS Day is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done.

According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.4 million people living with HIV, including 2.1 million children. During 2008 some 2.7 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 2 million people died from AIDS.1 Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35.

The vast majority of people with HIV and AIDS live in lower- and middle-income countries. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world.

Find out more, and find out how you can help…

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
Featured Polls: BEST & WORST OF 2009:
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Obama Approval Rating less than 50% – VoteGlobal results mirror Gallup National Polls

Friday, November 20th, 2009

President Obama’s job-approval rating has slipped below 50% in the Gallup Poll for the first time in his presidency, pulled down by concerns about the economy, federal spending and health care legislation.

In daily tracking from Tuesday through Thursday, Obama’s approval rating was 49%, down from 50% reported the day before in the rolling three-day average. That’s not a statistically significant change, but historically it has some political significance when a president can no longer claim the support of half the American people.

Other national surveys previously have shown Obama below 50%, but the daily survey by Gallup has been particularly closely watched. (From USA TODAY.com)

At VoteGlobal.com, a number of Obama-Related Polls show similar results. Our Poll “Does Obama Still get Your Vote?” currently shows a 46% approval rating, with 30% set against the Obama Administration, and the rest undecided.

Regarding Obama Policies, our Poll Will Obama’s Healthcare Plan Work? shows a 50% approval rating, with 44% set against the Plan, and the rest undecided.

38% of our voters think Obama is the Worst U.S. Politician of 2009 and in our poll Has the Obama Administration delivered the ‘change’ they promised? Voters are currently 50/50 on that.

So what does that tell us? VoteGlobal.com voters, in the U.S. and around the world echo the results seen in similar polls. Clearly the Obama Administration has some work to do to regain voter confidence – in the U.S., and around the world.

Decisions, Decisions… New Polls in November…

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

Latest QuickPolls – Vote Now!

Should Abortion be covered by Healthcare insurance?

BNP: Legitimate Party or Racist Front?

New York 9/11 Terrorism Trials?

Should UN Recognize Statehood for Palestime?

Are you satisfied with the Afghan Election outcome?

Worst Political Commentator of 2009?

Worst U.S. Political Move of 2009?

Worst U.S. Politician of 2009?

New Member Poll:

Switzerland Referendum – Ban the construction of Minarets on Mosques?

Gubernatorial Election Results 2009

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

NEW JERSEY – Christie, Chris- GOP – 1,148,800 – 49%

VIRGINIA – MCDONNELL- GOP – 1,159,505 – 59%

Afghanistan Election, Karzai Confirmed Winner

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Hamid Karzai has been declared the elected president of Afghanistan by poll officials, after they scrapped the planned second round of the vote.

The Independent Election Commission announcement comes a day after Mr Karzai’s sole challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, pulled out of the race.

Dr Abdullah, who had demanded key poll officials quit, said he did not think it would be a free and fair vote.

What do you think? Visit VoteGlobal.com today and have your say, or comment here.

Marijuana – Legalize it?

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Despite rejecting Prop. 19, Californians lean toward legalizing marijuana, poll finds
California voters rejected Prop. 19, but a post-election poll found that they still lean toward legalizing marijuana for recreational use and, if young voters had turned out as heavily on Tuesday as they do for presidential elections, the result would have been a close call. See the full article in the LA Times.
LATEST VOTEGLOBAL POLL RESULTS ON LEGALIZING MARIJUANA
Our oldest poll on the topic entitled “Initiatives to legalize marijuana are gathering steam in California and elsewhere. Do you support legalizing Pot?” has attracted some 2000+ votes with 75% in favor of legalizing.
The poll “Legalize Marijuana in Colorado, 2012?” has a 60% yes vote.
Our new poll on California Proposition 19 to legalize marijuana gets a massive 84% vote in favor of Prop 19 but our poll on Oregon Prop 74 to allow medical marijuana dispenseries is only at 52% in favor.
“Marijuana: Safer than Alcohol?” draws 65% who say it is.
Meanwhile in our poll on the Vermont Gubernatorial poll Cris Ericson of the United States Marijuana Party is our only vote-getter but this poll is not getting any action so doesn’t really count!

NEWS OCTOBER 28TH Gallup finds that nationally, a new high of 46% of Americans are in favor of legalizing use of the drug, and a new low of 50% are opposed. The increase in support this year from 44% in 2009 is not statistically significant, but is a continuation of the upward trend seen since 2000

NEWS JULY 24TH California ACLU Endorses Pot Legalization Measure
The California affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union announced Friday their endorsement of Proposition 19, the initiative on the November 2010 ballot to allow state regulation and taxation of marijuana.
Enforcement of marijuana prohibition consumes a great deal of California’s law enforcement and court system resources, and has a disproportionate impact on communities of color, according to the ACLU.
Read the full article from the News Junkie Post here.

NEWS JULY 12TH Feinstein opposes pot legalization measure (from SFGATE.COM)
California’s senior U.S. senator has agreed to participate in the campaign opposing a ballot initiative that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana and tax commercial pot sales. Public Safety First, the committee working to defeat Proposition 19 on the November ballot, said Monday that Senator Dianne Feinstein would be listed among the measure’s official opponents in the election information guide the state mails to registered voters. Feinstein is not the only prominent Democrat speaking out against the initiative. Senator Barbara Boxer and Attorney General Jerry Brown, the party’s nominee for governor, also have said they are against it. The California Democratic Party’s executive committee is scheduled to vote on its endorsements this weekend. View the original article here.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/07/12/state/n170342D09.DTL&feed=rss.news#ixzz0tfDwpMsl

NEWS JULY 9TH
California voters split on marijuana legalization, poll shows
California voters, by a narrow margin, are opposed to a measure on the November ballot to legalize marijuana, according to a new Field Poll released Friday.
The survey found that 44% of voters said they supported the measure, compared with 48% who said they were against it. The poll of 1,005 likely voters was conducted June 22 to July 5 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points. The numbers don’t bode well for proponents of the measure. Typically, ballot measures need to show support at least in the mid-to high-50s at this stage of the campaign to have hopes of passing in November.
The measure did best among white non-Hispanic voters and younger voters. All other ethnic groups broken out in the survey — Latinos, African Americans and Asian Americans — are strongly opposed to the measure.
You can look at the full poll results here.

NEWS JULY 6TH
Medical marijuana law in Michigan runs into workplace rule employers not required to allow marijuana use. Click here for full article.

UPDATE JULY 5TH, 2010
In our Poll on Californian initiatives 77% support legalization of marijuana. While the vast majority of the circa 2000 votes come from the US the issue clealry ignites global interest with votes being logged from 43 countries which put this poll up there with our Gaza flotilla raid poll (about 60 countries voted in that so far) in terms of generating a global voting base. Click here to vote in our poll.

According to Toke of the Town Proposition 19, the newly numbered Control & Tax Cannabis 2010 initiative to legalize and regulate marijuana in California, would lose if the election was held today — but by a very, very close margin, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. The poll found that 48 percent of voters would support legalizing marijuana, with 50 percent opposed. Click here for the full article.

We also have a poll on initiatives to legalize marijuana in Colorado in 2012 in which we currently show 53% in favor. That one doesn’t however have very many votes yet. Click here to vote in the Colorado poll.

Continuing the theme we have yet another marijuana poll “Marijuana: Safer than Alcohol?” in which so far 58% say yes. You can click here to vote or see the results.

Previously a topical subject was whether or not the Los Angeles City Council should shut down or regulate Medical Marijuana Dispensaries. You can see the poll we ran on that by clicking here. This poll is now closed.

ORIGINAL POST (OCTOBER 26TH, 2009)
Proponents supporting the legal use of medical marijuana argue that marijuana has “accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. They claim that marijuana is a safe, effective treatment for many conditions including cancer, AIDS, MS and general pain medication among others.

Opponents of medical marijuana argue that marijuana has not been FDA-approved because it is too dangerous to use, and that various FDA-approved drugs make the use of marijuana unnecessary. They claim that marijuana, is addictive, is a ‘gateway’ drug often leading to harder drug use, can injures lungs, damage the brain, impairs driving and other abilities and also sends the wrong message to kids. They say that medical marijuana is a front for drug legalization, and that people who claim medical use are actually using it for recreational pleasure.

There are a number of local initiatives to legalize medical marijuana, as well as initiatives to legalize it in general. Here’s a quote from the State of Oregon’s Medical Marijuana Program:

“The Oregon Medical Marijuana Program is a State registry program within the Public Health Division, Oregon Department of Human Services. Our role is to administer the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act as approved by the voters of the State in November 1998. The program actively pursues administrative streamlining processes in an effort to better serve our patients while maintaining the highest level of confidentiality. Multiple states have requested information on Oregon’s program to use as a model for their own medical marijuana initiatives and registration systems.”

The Obama Administration released new guidelines on October 19th directing federal drug agents not to arrest or harass medical marijuana patients and their sanctioned suppliers in states that have approved medicinal use, as long as they are following their state’s medical marijuana law. The new guidelines will impact thirteen states that currently allow marijuana for medical purposes.  These are: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

There’s a number of opinions out there pro and con. Our polls currently show 87% in favor of legalizing Marijuana – Over 90% of those votes cast in the U.S. What do you think? Have your say in our polls.

Related VoteGlobal QuickPolls:

Legalize Marijuana?

LA Medical Marijuana Dispensaries: Regulate or Shut them Down?

Related Articles:

Newsweek: Welcome to Potopia

Medical Marijuana Pros & Cons (ProCon.org)

New York Times…

Los Angeles Times…

CNN…

Best — and worst — of 2009

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

It has been – and currently still is – quite a year. Economic Crisis worsening. Economic Crisis Over. Economic Crisis Not really over, though it might be… Climate Change, global warming… actually, if there’s one solid thing that appears to have happened this year, it is that it seems that governments around the world are finally treating the global crisis of climate change as a real issue, rather than something to send teams of bureaucrats to study and report on. It’s here. It’s affecting our lives and in Copenhagen, we’re hoping there will be some decisions made. That’s another story. Click here for more on that.

Meanwhile, the world of politics has seen a lot of ups and downs. In the U.S., Obama becomes 44th President, and first black President. He’s proved an international news sensation wherever he goes, and has received the Nobel Peace Prize for… for his efforts. Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has continued a long tradition of outspoken and outrageous statements, even in the face of disputed election results which still remain questionable. In Afghanistan, widespread fraud forced a Run-Off Vote, and growing U.S. presence there does not seem to have done anything to stabilize the region. Pakistan remains volatile, Iraq uncertain. Well, we’ve compiled a few polls on the best and worst of 2009 – drawing from headlines for poll choices – and we hope to have your vote on these polls. Stay tuned for more!

Click here to vote on the Worst Political Figure of 2009…

Click here to vote on the Best Political Figure of 2009…

VoteGlobal.com – a new, global view of world events, politics and elections

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

When we started building VoteGlobal.com, we wanted it to become a global resource, a place where everyone, regardless of their location, could have their say on issues, policies and elections that affect us all. Now, as we watch our poll results, and see where the votes are coming from, that global reach has become a truly exciting window on the world.

One immensely satisfying aspect has been to witness the truly global impact of some news and events (for example, our poll on U.S. President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize was voted upon in over 23 countries — on the same day it went live), and experiencing the passion of voters and citizens of other countries joining to have their say on issues and elections in their countries (including Ireland, Honduras, Greece, Venezuela and Aruba).

Other issues-based QuickPolls have had primarily U.S. response, particularly our poll on legalizing Marijuana – with over 87% currently in favor, and 83% of them voting from the United States. Similarly, our poll on gun control currently has 80% defending the right to bear arms, with 90% of those also in the United States.

However, even when an issue is hot on a local radar, like the United States, it still remains of interest to people around the world who voice their opinions, too. VoteGlobal now has active members in America, Aruba, Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, Germany, Greece, Sweden, The Netherlands, Singapore, Tunisia, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Venezuela. Add your voice, wherever you live, join VoteGlobal.com!

We’re really pleased with our initial results, and look forward to seeing more global participation in the issues that affect or concern us all. Thanks for visiting, and thanks for Voting!

No room for middle ground on climate change.

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Will it be too little too late? Will the rich countries step up to help the developing countries develop ‘green’ solutions that can work for them? Will the hardliners of the world’s richest nations accept responsibility for footing the bill for developing countries to meet aggressive climate change goals? Read more…