Mondo Stars Poll
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Results of Recent Polls
This poll ran from March 7 to 15, 2011.
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| Is Charlie Sheen crazy? Yes    1524/77%No 460/23% |
| Votes: 1984 |
The media world is obsessed with the implosion of Charlie Sheen. The New York Times considered how Hollywood deals with drug-addled talent in the article Sheen Is Surrounded by a Coterie of Enablers published on March 6, 2011. From the story:
"The current conflict escalated after Mr. Sheen began speaking out against Chuck Lorre, the show’s creator and a reliable hitmaker for CBS. As he was criticizing Mr. Lorre, Mr. Sheen was railing against the organization Alcoholics Anonymous. The senior executives said the two issues were linked because of Mr. Lorre’s long advocacy of A.A.
“There had been stress for quite awhile between Charlie and Chuck,” the senior executive said. “The attacks on A.A. were code for Chuck.” (Mr. Lorre declined requests for comment.)
But despite his recent behavior and his attacks on Mr. Lorre and CBS, not everyone in Hollywood is convinced that Mr. Sheen is off the deep end, even now.
“I saw him a week ago,” said Mike Medavoy, a film producer who made several films with Mr. Sheen. “He was calm and funny, as usual — it’s always like he wants to be the class clown.”
Mr. Medavoy said Mr. Sheen had been a “consummate professional” when making films. “Once the media gets hold of a story, it becomes a decision for the people to figure out whether he’s really crazy,” Mr. Medavoy said. “The truth of the matter is, he could be crazy like a fox.”"
This poll ran from February 28 to March 6, 2011.
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| "The financial services industry is trustworthy." True 40/12%False 291/88% |
| Votes: 331 |
The message sent by the Financial Services Rountable, which represents the 150 largest banks and insurance companies in the U.S., Bloomberg News reported on March 28, 2010:
"One of Wall Street's main lobbying groups is starting an image-improvement campaign aimed at showing the financial industry as trustworthy and a positive force after more than a year of being chastised in Washington."
Also from the story: "The financial services industry is dedicated to earning back the trust of the American people, and is engaging in a comprehensive effort to communicate directly with them," the Roundtable said earlier this year in a letter soliciting proposals from public relations firms. "Past experience in successful reputation enhancement campaigns is valued."
The public relations campaign was led by three firms: public relations specialists APCO Worldwide, pollster Luntz Maslansky Strategic Research and DDB, an advertising agency owned by New York-based Omnicom Group Inc.
This poll ran from February 21 to 27, 2011.
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| "You can never escape what you did online." True 438/87%False 67/13% |
| Votes: 505 |
A high school senior "who laments the fact that everything he's written online will always be around, preserved by some omniscient Silicon Valley server." From the article We, Robots, a book review written by Jonah Lehrer and published by the New York Times Book Review on January 21, 2011. Lehrer reviewed the book "Alone Together" by Sherry Turkle, a professor at M.I.T.
Lehrer wrote: "In Turkle’s latest book, “Alone Together,” this optimism is long gone. If the Internet of 1995 was a postmodern playhouse, allowing individuals to engage in unbridled expression, Turkle describes it today as a corporate trap, a ball and chain that keeps us tethered to the tiny screens of our cellphones, tapping out trite messages to stay in touch. She summarizes her new view of things with typical eloquence: “We expect more from technology and less from each other.”"
This poll ran from February 14 to 20, 2011.
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| Which is the best American newspaper? The New York Times 165/34%USA Today 171/35%The Wall Street Journal 153/31% |
| Votes: 489 |
In this poll we decided to include only the three American daily newspapers that can truly be considered to be national newspapers, based on their distribution and circulation. You can see the top American newspapers ranked by circulation at our sister site, MondoNewspapers, the worldwide newspaper guide.
This poll ran from February 7 to 13, 2011.
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| "The United States is on a road to ruin." True 650/68%False 310/32% |
| Votes: 960 |
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, quoted in a New York Times story by Jeff Zeleny published on February 5, 2011. Zeleny wrote:
"Sarah Palin opened a celebration of Ronald Reagan this weekend by declaring that the United States was lurching toward a “road to ruin,” saying the nation had become so weighed down by debt and excess government that a new direction was urgently needed in Washington.
"She did not, however, provide any clues as to whether she would join the Republican primaries and seek to challenge President Obama or simply continue to offer commentary from the sidelines.
"For Ms. Palin, a speech here Friday evening at the Reagan Ranch Center offered an opportunity to connect herself to the most iconic figure of the Republican Party."
This poll ran from January 31 to February 6, 2011.
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| "For our bodies, inactivity is the killer." True 518/94%False 31/6% |
| Votes: 549 |
Fitness guru Jack LaLanne, who died at his California home on January 23, 2011 at the age of 96. The Associated Press reported:
"The only way you can hurt the body is not use it," LaLanne said. "Inactivity is the killer and, remember, it's never too late."
His workout show was a television staple from the 1950s to the '70s. LaLanne and his dog Happy encouraged kids to wake their mothers and drag them in front of the television set. He developed exercises that used no special equipment, just a chair and a towel.
He also founded a chain of fitness studios that bore his name and in recent years touted the value of raw fruit and vegetables as he helped market a machine called Jack LaLanne's Power Juicer.
When he turned 43 in 1957, he performed more than 1,000 push-ups in 23 minutes on the "You Asked For It" television show. At 60, he swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco — handcuffed, shackled and towing a boat. Ten years later, he performed a similar feat in Long Beach harbor."
This poll ran from January 24 to 30, 2011.
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| Do you approve of the job President Obama is doing? Yes 699/39%No 1080/61% |
| Votes: 1779 |
We last asked this question about President Barack Obama in September 2010. At that time, 35% said they approved and 65% did not.
This poll ran from January 17 to 23, 2011.
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| "We can't depend on law enforcement to protect us from criminals." True 540/70%False 227/30% |
| Votes: 767 |
Ted Nugent, conservative political activist, hunting enthusiast and former rock star, writing in the opinion article Be prepared for evil, published by the Washington Times on January 11, 2011. Nugent wrote:
"It is hard - almost impossible - for people of good will to fathom the depth of evil that resides in the soulless monsters who commit these senseless, violent and deadly crimes.
"Regardless of whether we can fathom the evil and carnage that some rabid monsters do, we must be prepared and ready to respond to evil at a moment's notice. We can't depend on law enforcement, professional and brave as its members are, to protect us from murdering, psychotic monsters.
"These murdering psychotics have slaughtered innocent Americans at shopping malls, schools, restaurants, churches and courthouses. And now a grocery store parking lot. No place is safe."
This poll ran from January 10 to 16, 2011.
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| Does Sarah Palin promote hatred and violence? Yes 1063/44%No 1351/56% |
| Votes: 2414 |
Various writers have suggested that Sarah Palin promotes hatred and violence, in the wake of the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on January 8, 2011. The Associated Press reported:
"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous," he (Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik) said. "And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
Giffords expressed similar concern, even before the shooting. In an interview after her office was vandalized, she referred to the animosity against her by conservatives, including Sarah Palin`s decision to list Giffords` seat as one of the top "targets" in the midterm elections.
"For example, we`re on Sarah Palin`s targeted list, but the thing is, that the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they have to realize that there are consequences to that action," Giffords said in an interview with MSNBC.
In the hours after the shooting, Palin issued a statement in which she expressed her "sincere condolences" to the family of Giffords and the other victims.
During his campaign effort to unseat Giffords in November, Republican challenger Jesse Kelly held fundraisers where he urged supporters to help remove Giffords from office by joining him to shoot a fully loaded M-16 rifle. Kelly is a former Marine who served in Iraq and was pictured on his website in military gear holding his automatic weapon and promoting the event."
This poll ran from January 3 to 9, 2011.
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| "You should avoid eating fast food." True 635/78%False 178/22% |
| Votes: 813 |
Dr. Joseph Mercola, writing at the Huffington Post website on December 29, 2010 in the article What Is in Fast Food? A Newly Discovered Reason to Avoid Fast Food. Mercola wrote:
"A new study shows that toxicperfluoroalkyls, which are used in surface protection treatments and coatings to keep grease from leaking through fast food wrappers, are being ingested by people through their food and showing up as contaminants in blood.
"Perfluoroalkyls are a hazardous class of stable, synthetic chemicals that repel oil, grease and water.
"As reported by University of Toronto researchers, the chemicals studied in human blood, urine and feces were polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters (PAPs), which are the breakdown products of the perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs) used in coating the food wrappers. Scientists said the exposure to humans through this means "should be considered as a significant indirect source of PFCA."
"That means you now have a new reason to avoid fast foods."
This poll ran from December 27, 2010 to January 2, 2011.
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| "Money spent on war is stolen from those who hunger and are not fed." True 396/54%False 342/46% |
| Votes: 738 |
A slight paraphrase of the words of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, from his speech “The Chance for Peace,” given to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 16, 1953. Eisenhower said:
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. […] Is there no other way the world may live?"
This poll ran from December 22 to 26, 2010.
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| Is there a Santa Claus? Yes 460/70%No 193/30% |
| Votes: 653 |
In 1897, Virginia Hanlon sent a letter to the editor of The New York Sun:
"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
On September 21, 1897, Francis Pharcellus Church of The Sun replied: "Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."
This poll ran from December 14 to 21, 2010.
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| "People have lost control of their identities on the Internet." True 392/79%False 103/21% |
| Votes: 495 |
From the story The internet and the 'end of privacy', by John D. Sutter, published by CNN on December 13, 2010. From the story:
"As people share more information about themselves online, the internet, in effect, has created a public transcript of consciousness -- storing our thoughts, locations, social lives and memories in data warehouses all over the world.
"This has enabled technological advances and shaped our social interactions. It's also really freaked some people out.
"With a dearth of established, effective methods to manage online privacy, and with digital marketers looking to profit from users' online lives, some privacy advocates and everyday Web users worry people have lost control of their identities on the internet."
This poll ran from December 6 to 13, 2010.
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| "Consumers shouldn't have to pay for cable channels they don't watch." True 1020/93%False 79/7% |
| Votes: 1099 |
Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), speaking on November 17, 2010, as reported by The Hill in the story Sen. Rockefeller: News media has surrendered to 'forces of entertainment'. From the story:
"Rockefeller called the system in place for developing, packaging and distributing television content to consumers broken. He argued consumers shouldn't have to pay so much for hundreds of channels they don't watch, citing Federal Communications Commission statistics that show the average monthly cost of cable service increased at triple the rate of inflation between 1995 and 2008.
"Why do we have to pay for so many when our households watch so few? The old adage of 500 channels and nothing on has never been so true as it is today," he added."
This poll ran from November 29 to December 5, 2010.
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| "Sarah Palin could beat Barack Obama in 2012." True 896/41%False 1303/59% |
| Votes: 2199 |
The prediction of Sarah Palin, as quoted in the ABC News story Sarah Palin Says She Could Beat Obama, published on November 17, 2010. From the story:
"Sarah Palin says she is seriously considering a run for the White House, and she believes she could beat President Obama in 2012, the former Alaska governor told ABC News' Barbara Walters.
"I\'m looking at the lay of the land now, and ... trying to figure that out, if it's a good thing for the country, for the discourse, for my family, if it's a good thing," Palin said in an interview scheduled to air in full Dec. 9 on ABC as part of Walters' "10 Most Fascinating People" of 2010.
Asked Walters: "If you ran for president, could you beat Barack Obama?"
"I believe so," Palin said."
This poll ran from November 22 to 28, 2010.
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| "Airport security hand pat-downs are sexual assault." True 503/49%False 520/51% |
| Votes: 1023 |
"Fifty years ago, William F. Buckley wrote a memorable complaint about the fact that Americans do not complain enough. His point, like most of the points he made during his well-lived life, is, unfortunately, more pertinent than ever. Were he still with us, he would favor awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which he received in 1991, to John Tyner, who, when attempting to board a plane in San Diego, was provoked by some Transportation Security Administration personnel."
This poll ran from November 15 to 21, 2010.
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| "The Internet is completely over." True 55/16%False 286/84% |
| Votes: 341 |
The singer Prince, from an interview published by The Daily Mirror newspaper in London on July 5, 2010. The interview was conducted to promote the release of the Prince CD 20TEN, which was distributed free of charge with a Saturday edition of The Daily Mirror.
"Shelby shows me into a room like a 50s diner and, before I have had chance to sit down, Prince strides in, beaming, with hand outstretched.
"You must come and listen to the album," he says. "I hope you like it. It's great that it will be free to readers of your newspaper. I really believe in finding new ways to distribute my music."
He explains that he decided the album will be released in CD format only in the Mirror. There'll be no downloads anywhere in the world because of his ongoing battles against internet abuses.
Unlike most other rock stars, he has banned YouTube and iTunes from using any of his music and has even closed down his own official website.
He says: "The internet's completely over. I don't see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won't pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it.
"The internet's like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good.
"They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you."
Two days earlier, the Daily Mirror had suggested that it was bigger than the Internet. Tom Bryant wrote that Prince would release the CD exclusively in the Mirror rather than in the shops or online because "he wants as many people as possible to hear his music."
This poll ran from November 8 to 14, 2010.
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| Do you believe in God? Yes 1813/91%No 188/9% |
| Votes: 2001 |
On December 24, 2009, polling company Gallup Inc. published the story This Christmas, 78% of Americans Identify as Christian. From the survey results:
"This Christmas season, 78% of Americans identify with some form of Christian religion, a proportion that has been declining in recent decades. The major reason for this decline has been an increase in the percentage of Americans claiming no religious identity, now at 13% of all adults.
The trend results are based on annual averages of Gallup's religious identity data in America that stretch back over 60 years. One of the most significant trends documented during this period is the substantial increase in the percentage of American adults who don't identify with any specific religion. In 1948, only 2% of Americans did not identify with a religion. That percentage began to rise in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Eleven years ago, in 1998, 6% of Americans did not identify with a religion, a number that rose to 10% by 2002. This year's average of 13% of Americans who claim no religious identity is the highest in Gallup records.
The percentage of Americans who identify as Catholic, Protestant, or some other non-Catholic Christian faith has been concomitantly decreasing over the years. This suggests that one of the major patterns of religious transition in America in recent decades has been the shift from identification as Christian to the status of having no specific religious identification.
In 1948, 91% of Americans identified with a Christian faith. Twenty years ago, in 1989, 82% of Americans identified as Christian. Ten years ago, it was 84%. This year, as noted, 78% of all American adults identify with a Christian faith."
This poll ran from November 1 to 7, 2010.
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| "Newspapers are voters only real hope for truth." True 172/24%False 544/76% |
| Votes: 716 |
Jeff Fleming, the new editor in Chief of Editor & Publisher magazine, from the article Politicians Spreading 'Swine' Flu, published on October 18, 2010. Fleming wrote:
Newspapers are voters only real hope for truth. Politicians have proven over and over again they don't represent the people, and our government continues to demonstrate they don't even know who the people are any more. It's time for newspapers to embrace their role in a free society and represent the voice of the people. CALLING ALL NEWSPAPERS! Load your pens, rally your reporters and prepare for battle. Blast prime time TV, the Internet and papers with your battle plans - Tell voters your are joining forces with them in their fight to return power to 'WE THE PEOPLE.'
This poll ran from October 25 to 31, 2010.
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| "Money can't buy you an election." True 99/27%False 266/73% |
| Votes: 365 |
The implication of the article 3 GOP candidates spend $243M, published by Politico on October 24, 2010. Alexander Burns wrote:
The trio of Meg Whitman in California, Rick Scott in Florida and Linda McMahon in Connecticut together have burned through more money than the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Crossroads and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees have pledged to spend — combined. Continue Reading
Even in midterm elections awash with money and packed with larger-than-life campaigns, the collective sum of $243 million is nothing short of astounding — especially since that’s just the money that came out of their own pockets.
But here’s the punch line: None of these candidates is ahead in the polls. Two of them — Whitman and McMahon — are actually behind.
This poll ran from October 18 to 24, 2010.
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| Should marijuana be legalized for recreational use? Yes 778/48%No 850/52% |
| Votes: 1628 |
In the article Medical marijuana for the masses, published by the San Jose Mercury News on October 17, 2010, John Woolfolk and Sean Webby write about Proposition 19, which would legalize pot for recreational use in California:
"In the year since U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced federal drug agents would stop targeting medicinal marijuana use where state law sanctioned it, Santa Clara County -- like other parts of California -- has become the Wild West.
But suddenly, the sheriff has ridden into town.
California, the first of 14 states that now allow medical marijuana, has one of the loosest laws of its kind. It doesn't limit conditions that qualify patients, nor does it require them to register with the state. It gives doctors wide latitude in approving the drug's use. And it doesn't specify how marijuana should be distributed to users.
Even though state voters next month will decide whether pot should be legalized for recreational use, activists like Denis Peron -- co-author of the 1996 ballot measure that sanctioned medical marijuana -- freely acknowledge the secret that's sparked an explosion of distributors and left officials scrambling statewide:
"Pretty much," Peron said, "marijuana is legal already."
This poll ran from October 11 to 17, 2010.
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| "Marketers are spying on Internet users." True 433/96%False 20/4% |
| Votes: 453 |
From the article Microsoft Quashed Effort to Boost Online Privacy, written by Nick Wingfield and published by The Wall Street Journal on August 2, 2010.
From the article: "The online habits of most people who use the world's dominant Web browser are an open book to advertisers. That wasn't the plan at first.
In early 2008, Microsoft Corp.'s product planners for the Internet Explorer 8.0 browser intended to give users a simple, effective way to avoid being tracked online. They wanted to design the software to automatically thwart common tracking tools, unless a user deliberately switched to settings affording less privacy.
That triggered heated debate inside Microsoft. As the leading maker of Web browsers, the gateway software to the Internet, Microsoft must balance conflicting interests: helping people surf the Web with its browser to keep their mouse clicks private, and helping advertisers who want to see those clicks.
In the end, the product planners lost a key part of the debate. The winners: executives who argued that giving automatic privacy to consumers would make it tougher for Microsoft to profit from selling online ads. Microsoft built its browser so that users must deliberately turn on privacy settings every time they start up the software."
This poll ran from October 4 to 10, 2010.
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| "We have two bankrupt political parties bankrupting the country." True 461/78%False 128/22% |
| Votes: 589 |
Stanford University political scientist Larry Diamond, quoted in the op-ed article Third Party Rising by Thomas L. Friedman, published by The New York Times on October 2, 2010. Friedman wrote:
“We basically have two bankrupt parties bankrupting the country,” said the Stanford University political scientist Larry Diamond. Indeed, our two-party system is ossified; it lacks integrity and creativity and any sense of courage or high-aspiration in confronting our problems. We simply will not be able to do the things we need to do as a country to move forward “with all the vested interests that have accrued around these two parties,” added Diamond. “They cannot think about the overall public good and the longer term anymore because both parties are trapped in short-term, zero-sum calculations,” where each one’s gains are seen as the other’s losses."
This poll ran from September 27 to October 3, 2010.
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| "The government is not a force for good anymore." True 639/79%False 167/21% |
| Votes: 806 |
Matt Bai, from the story The Connecticut-Country-Club Crackup published by The New York Times on September 23, 2010. Bai wrote:
"I was discussing the mood in the state recently with Tom D’Amore, a former state Republican chairman who has long since bolted the party, when suddenly he told me a story about his father, an Electrolux vacuum salesman who smoked more than a pack a day for most of his life. “One day, it must have been in the 1960s sometime, he just quit,” D’Amore told me. “Cold turkey. I said to him, ‘Dad, why did you suddenly decide to stop smoking?’ And I’ll never forget it. He pointed a finger at me” — and here D’Amore demonstrated by grimly pointing one at me — “and he said: ‘The surgeon general of the United States says smoking can kill you. And they wouldn’t lie about a thing like that.’
“I mean, can you imagine anyone saying that now?” D’Amore asked me. “In that generation, government really displayed by its actions that it was a force for good.” He leaned back in his chair and shook his head.
“Nobody here thinks that way anymore.”
This poll ran from September 20 to 26, 2010.
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| "If you don't have a cell phone, you don't exist." True 234/29%False 577/71% |
| Votes: 811 |
Eric Kallgren, the president of Mondo Code LLC, from a conversation with the Mondo Code production team about a friend whose cell phone was disconnected. He said: "It started with disbelief that this kind of a tragedy could befall someone we know. Then it morphed into a joke about how hard it would be to reach a person without a cell phone. Finally we realized that, for all practical purposes and unless you live with them or in a town where Main Street is the only street, a person without a cell phone does not exist."
A recent survey by BIGresearch found that 87.5% of Americans have a cell phone, a big increase from January 2006, when the figure was 74.2%.
This poll ran from September 12 to 19, 2010.
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| Do you approve of the job President Obama is doing? Yes    774/35%No 1450/65% |
| Votes: 2224 |
We last asked this question about President Barack Obama almost a year ago, in October 2009. At that time, 39% said they approved and 61% did not.
This poll ran from September 6 to 11, 2010.
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| "Credit card companies try to trip up consumers." True 486/92%False 43/8% |
| Votes: 529 |
From the Wall Street Journal article The New Credit-Card Tricks, published on July 31, 2010. The article begins:
"Just months after historic legislation banned certain billing practices, card issuers have dreamed up new ones designed to trip up consumers.
Whomever President Barack Obama taps to head the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection could find it difficult to keep ahead of the credit-card industry.
The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, known as the Card Act, was intended to reshape the contours of consumer finance. Among other things, it forces card issuers to give customers more notice about interest-rate increases and restricts certain controversial billing practices such as inactivity fees.
The Card Act forces issuers to give customers more notice about interest-rate increases, and restricts certain controversial billing practices such as inactivity fees.
Yet some of the biggest card issuers in the U.S., including Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Discover Financial Services, are already rolling out a slew of fees designed to recapture some of their lost income, in part by skirting the new rules. Some banks may even be violating the law outright, say consumer advocates."
This poll ran from August 30 to September 5, 2010.
| Mondo Stars Poll Results |
| Should bullfighting be banned? Yes 620/75%No 204/25% |
| Votes: 824 |
The Spanish region of Catalonia has decided to ban bullfighting, BBC News reported on July 28, 2010 in the story Catalonia bans bullfighting in landmark Spain vote:
"The parliament of Catalonia has voted to ban bullfighting - the first region of mainland Spain to do so.
The vote took place as the result of a petition brought to parliament, signed by 180,000 people who say the practice is barbaric and outdated.
Bullfight supporters insist that the corrida, as it is known, is an important tradition to preserve.
They also fear the vote could be the first of many in the country. The ban takes effect in January 2012.
In Wednesday's vote, 68 backed a ban, 55 voted against and nine abstained.
Barcelona's main bullring is one of the oldest in Spain, but support for the bullfight has waned. The Barcelona bullring is the only functioning one in Catalonia.
The vote was brought to the agenda by activists who argue it is cruel and unacceptable and say most spectators in Catalonia these days are tourists. The campaign was led by the animal rights lobby group Prou! (Enough!).
Supporters says the corrida is an art form that it is vital to preserve."
The article also noted that "a bullfight typically lasts about 20 minutes, and the bull is stabbed numerous times before the fatal blow delivered with a sword thrust between its shoulder blades."
This poll ran from August 16 to 29, 2010.
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| "Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else." True 2068/73%False 772/27% |
| Votes: 2840 |
U.S. President Barack Obama, speaking on August 13, 2010, as reported by Reuters in the story Obama backs controversial New York mosque project. The president said:
"As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country," Obama said to applause at an event attended by diplomats from Islamic countries and members of the U.S. Muslim community.
"That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances," he said, weighing in for the first time in a national debate that has grown increasingly heated in recent weeks.
"Earlier this month a New York city agency cleared the way for construction of the community center, which will include a prayer room, two blocks from the site of the September 11 attacks, popularly known as "Ground Zero."
"This is America and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable," said Obama, who has made improving ties between the United States and the Muslim world a cornerstone of his foreign policy."
The story went on: "Conservative politicians such as former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich, a Republican former Speaker of the House of Representatives, also have called for the project to be scrapped.
"Mark Williams, a spokesman for the conservative Tea Party political movement, said the center would be used for "terrorists to worship their monkey god.""
See the results of all previous Mondo Stars polls.
