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Polls show Americans blame Democrats more than Republicans for $4 gasoline prices, and President Obama's poll numbers show it. But people blame big oil companies even more, which may be a political opening for Obama.

Presidential campaigns are all about numbers – dollars raised, voters registered, poll results. In the early days of his reelection bid, President Obama is focusing on one number: $4 per gallon gasoline.

It’s a major irritant to most Americans, one that could have significant impact on household economies. And, according to a variety of surveys, Democrats and Obama bear most of the responsibility if not the blame.

That may not be fair, but it’s a fact Obama has to deal with – especially at a time when the latest New York Times/CBS News poll shows 70 percent believing the country is headed in the wrong direction and 57 percent don’t like the way he’s handling the economy.

RELATED: Gas prices: 10 ways you can save at the pump

National Journal’s poll of political insiders shows a great majority – including 75 percent of Democratic insiders – predicting that the Democratic Party will be “hurt more by rising gas prices.”

At the same time, a new McClatchy-Marist Poll shows an opening for Obama. While 11 percent blame Obama and Democrats (7 percent cite congressional Republicans), 36 percent say it’s volatility in the Middle East, and 34 percent say US oil companies are the culprits behind record prices at the pump.

Obama tried to hit the issue squarely in his radio and Internet address Saturday, tweaking Republicans and going straight for oil companies.

“Whenever gas prices shoot up, like clockwork, you see politicians racing to the cameras, waving three-point plans for two dollar gas,” Obama said. “You see people trying to grab headlines or score a few points. The truth is, there’s no silver bullet that can bring down gas prices right away.”

Obama pointed to domestic oil production reaching its highest level since 2003. He noted his new Justice Department task force to root out fraud or manipulation in oil markets. And he repeated his push to end the $4 billion in annual federal subsidies of the oil and gas industries.

“That’s $4 billion of your money going to these companies when they’re making record profits and you’re paying near record prices at the pump,” he said. “It has to stop.”

It’s a theme echoed on Capitol Hill.

Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, both Democrats of Washington State, are blaming commodity speculators for pushing up the price of gasoline. They've called for a crackdown by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), an independent government agency.

“Obviously there are myriad factors impacting prices: the Middle East, Japan and crude transportation issues to name a few,” CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton wrote to Sen. Cantwell. “At the same time, however, we have speculators coming into energy markets at blistering pace.”

“In fact, the latest data indicates that in the energy sector, speculative positions are at an all time high – up 64 percent from June of 2008 when crude oil prices touched $147.27 per barrel,” Chilton wrote. (The price for crude now is above $112 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.)

According to the AAA, the national average price of self-serve regular gasoline is $3.86 a gallon – 30 cents more than a month ago and a dollar more than last year at this time.

“Even though the economy is growing again and we’ve seen businesses adding jobs over the past year … it’s still not easy out there,” Obama acknowledged Saturday. “Your paycheck isn’t getting bigger, while the cost of everything from college for your kids to gas for your car keeps rising. That’s something on a lot of people’s minds right now, with gas prices at $4 a gallon. It’s just another burden when things were already pretty tough.”

Imagine intersecting lines on a chart: gasoline prices going up, presidential approval ratings going down. It’s a reality for Obama, and he knows it.

"My poll numbers go up and down depending on the latest crisis, and right now gas prices are weighing heavily on people,” he told a fund-raiser in Los Angeles Thursday night.

The question now is, what can he do about it?

Got groceries? Wal-Mart testing home delivery

 

The Associated Press

 

 

 

Baltimore County McDonald's beating video goes viral

Gay advocacy group says attack on transgender woman a hate crime

Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun

10:37 PM EDT, April 22, 2011

 

A video of a vicious beating at a Baltimore County McDonald's restaurant went viral Friday, garnering hundreds of thousands of views on websites and prompting the fast-food giant to issue a statement condemning the incident.

The video shows two women — one of them a 14-year-old girl — repeatedly kicking and punching the 22-year-old victim in the head, as an employee of the Rosedale restaurant and a patron try to intervene. Others can be heard laughing, and men are seen standing idly by.

Toward the end of the video, one of the suspects lands a punishing blow to the victim's head, and she appears to have a seizure. A man's voice tells the women to run because police are coming.

The three-minute clip was apparently first posted on YouTube, then taken down by administrators who said it violated the site's policies. But it popped back up on other sites and was ultimately linked from the popular Drudge Report, which gave it top billing for much of the day.

By early evening, the video had received more than 500,000 views on one site alone.

County police confirmed that the attack occurred April 18 in the 6300 block of Kenwood Ave. Police said the 14-year-old girl has been charged as a juvenile, while charges were pending against an 18-year-old woman.

Equality Maryland said the victim is a transgender woman and called on state Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler to step in and investigate the case as a hate crime. Police and prosecutors said they did not know whether the victim is a transgender woman.

"It does appear that the victim was a transgender woman, and she was brutalized while people stood by and watched," said Lisa Polyak, vice president of the board of directors for Equality Maryland, an advocacy organization that fought unsuccessfully in the past legislative session for greater protections for transgender individuals. "There's no excuse for that violence under any circumstances, but we would encourage police to investigate as a hate crime."

The police report does not provide a motive, but quotes one of the suspects saying that the fight was "over using a bathroom."

As the video spread online, McDonald's acknowledged that the attack had occurred in a Baltimore-area restaurant and said it was working with local police.

"We are shocked by the video from a Baltimore franchised restaurant showing an assault. This incident is unacceptable, disturbing and troubling," the company said in a statement posted on its website. "Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and employees in our restaurants. We are working with the franchisee and the local authorities to investigate this matter."

The video received widespread attention part because of the racial dynamics of the attack – the attackers were black, and the victim is white. State's Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger, who said he was unaware of the gender-related issues, said the racial dynamics of the incident could result in hate-crime charges.

"We just received this case, and the Police Department is continuing their investigation," Shellenberger said. "If there is evidence that the crime was racially motivated, we will take a look at those charges and see if we meet those elements. We have the ability, if the facts are there, to upgrade the charges at a later date."

The victim suffered cuts to her mouth and face, and a police report said she had been taken to Franklin Square Hospital Center in fair condition. Police said Friday they had no update on her status.

The video begins with two women near a bathroom door kicking and hitting a woman who is lying on the ground.

An employee repeatedly tries to separate them, but the attackers continue to stomp and kick the victim's head. People yell, "Stop! Stop!" to no avail, though others can be heard laughing. An older woman at one point also attempts to pull the attackers away and is shoved.

About halfway through the three-minute clip, the attackers rip a wig off the victim and drag her by her hair to the front door. That is where the victim is sitting before another blow to the head causes an apparent seizure.

Throughout the attack, a man is filming and does not intervene. But when the victim appears to have a seizure, he yells, "She having a seizure, yo. … Police on their way. Y'all better get out of here."

Through a McDonald's spokesman, the owner of the Rosedale restaurant released a statement. The chain said the owner and employees would not be made available for comment, including an update on possible discipline of the employees.

"I'm as shocked and disturbed by this incident as anyone would be. The behavior displayed in the video is unfathomable and reprehensible," said the franchise owner, Mitchell McPherson. "The safety of our customers is a top priority. We know the police were called immediately, and we are thoroughly investigating this matter."

ORLANDO—

Birtherism: Where it all began

Ben Smith and Byron Tau - Apr. 22, 2011 12:38 PM
POLITICO.COM

 

Hillary and Obama

The answer lies in Democratic, not Republican politics, and in the bitter, exhausting spring of 2008. At the time, the Democratic presidential primary was slipping away from Hillary Clinton and some of her most passionate supporters grasped for something, anything that would deal a final reversal to Barack Obama.

The theory's proponents are a mix of hucksters and earnest conspiracy theorists, including prominently a lawyer who previously devoted himself to 'proving' that the Sept. 11 attacks were an inside job. Its believers are primarily people predisposed to dislike Obama. That willingness to believe the worst about officials of the opposite party is a common feature of presidential rumor-mongering: In 2006, an Ohio University/Scripps Howard poll found that slightly more than half of Democrats said they suspected the Bush Administration of complicity in the Sept. 11 attacks.

While there is no grain of truth to either fantasy, there's something else when it comes to Obama: A visceral reaction against him, a deep sense that the first black president, with liberal views and a Muslim name, must be--in some concrete, provable way--foreign.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/04/22/20110422birtherism-where-it-all-began-obama-politico.html#ixzz1KJAGdyuz

She used 4 easy tips to lose weight

11:45 PM, Apr. 20, 2011 

 

Michael Armstrong

 

A City of Poughkeepsie man who took part in a robbery that netted him and his accomplice less than a dollar in change will spend up to seven years in state prison.

"You and your accomplice robbed this man, and he was shot, and all you got was 86 cents," Dutchess County Court Judge Stephen L. Greller told 22-year-old Michael Armstrong as he imposed the sentence Wednesday in the County Courthouse.

Armstrong admitted last month that he and 18-year-old Devonte Burks accosted a man Aug. 21 at Academy and Montgomery streets in the city and demanded money.

Burks acknowledged during his plea last month that he was holding a handgun that went off during the robbery, seriously injuring the victim.

He contended that the shooting had been accidental.

Burks faces an 11-year sentence for the crime, Senior Assistant District Attorney Robert Knapp said.

"And the whole thing was over some pocket change," Knapp said.

Both men entered guilty pleas to first-degree robbery, a felony.

As part of their plea agreements, Armstrong and Burks will be ordered to pay the victim $65,031 for his medical bills.

Knapp said the victim underwent surgery after he was shot in the stomach.

 

 

Gloria Borger

CNN Senior Political Analyst

April 22, 2011 6:02 a.m. EDT

 

Is Donald Trump bankrupting the GOP?   Washington (CNN)-- At this stage in a presidential campaign, there's always someone -- and sometimes it's more than one -- who flirts with running and thinks a few things, as in: Why not me? (I'm smarter than the rest of those clowns!) What's the worst that could happen? (I'll be in demand on the lecture circuit!) My fill-in-the-blank (book, TV show) will be assured of take-your-pick (readers, ratings) and I will be rich. Or, in Donald Trump's case, richer. Usually, these candidates are, er, interesting to watch. GOPer Alan Keyes comes to mind, a conservative presidential wannabe in 2000 who once jumped into a mosh pit during the Iowa caucuses. Then there's Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a liberal Democrat who ran in 2004 and 2008, and who was once a wunderkind known as "the boy mayor" of Cleveland. (That would not be enough, however, to win Ohio.) Or Ron Paul (father and now roommate of son, Sen. Rand Paul), who caught on last time around as the antiwar Republican and who was, always, eminently quotable and good TV. Speaking of TV, there's Trump. At least these other men had things to say. Trump just seems to have things to sell. Actually, one thing to sell: himself. It would all be very amusing (especially the parts where he has easy solutions to all of our problems, such as: What to do with Libya? Take their oil!) if he weren't so, well, Trumpish. By that I mean insufferable -- and not just because he's always the biggest bloviator -- but because he sized up a political situation and figured out how to exploit it. Like a business deal. The reasoning is as follows: I need to run for president. I need to find a way to get my numbers up in the polls. (Immediately!) So I need to find an instant base of support. And where is that? Among the anti-establishment GOP wing, some of whom are Obama haters, willing to believe just about anything, but most of whom just want to stick it to the regular GOP folks who have betrayed the cause. So how does a once-liberal (abortion rights? Nevermind) GOPer do that? He tells the world he can fix the deficit problem pronto, calls Obama the worst president ever and becomes a "birther." Deal done! Take it to the bank! How sad for serious Republicans with real ideas. Just as party regulars were fretting over Sarah Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann, now they've got Trump the birther. Just as the congressional Republicans were getting up a head of steam as seriously intentioned budget cutters, in walks the carnival barker sending detectives to look for Obama's birth certificate. "Trump is desperately clawing to the ideological right and using his issue to define himself and his ideology," moans one GOP strategist. "It makes this birther thing a real issue, and that's not what we need." But alas, it's what Republicans now have. In a way, they have only themselves to blame: While Republicans should have put an end to the birther nonsense at the very start, they stoked it. While a few (like Tim Pawlenty) have called it nonsense, others (Palin) have refused to let it die. Just as with the "debate" about whether Obama is a Christian, they instead are happy to chant the mantra "I take the president at his word." That's keeping it alive, while trying to sound reasonable. And that's double talk that no one should accept from any politician. It's gives "cynical" new meaning. Even so, there are some Republicans out there who would like to have a real debate with Obama about things called issues. And, for them, the Trump birther nonsense is worrisome for the party's prospects. Why? Because this is a conversation Republicans are having with each other, not the country. "Anybody who believes the guy (Obama) wasn't born in this country is already voting for us," says another GOP strategist. "This takes the whole Republican discussion out of the mainstream." Karl Rove, who knows how to win elections, is clearly miffed, calling Trump's bid a "joke." "If he wants to base his entire campaign upon whether or not Barack Obama was really born in the United States, that's his privilege. I just think that's a losing strategy." Indeed, recent CNN polling shows that 74 percent of independent voters believe that Obama was born in the United States. Presumably, the birther issue is not among their top concerns. In the meantime, the president gets to spend the next 18 months talking to independent voters -- which is where the election will be won or lost. And instead of focusing on jobs and the economy, Republicans are sadly engaged in a circular and distracting rant, speaking to no one but themselves. No matter how this all turns out, Trump will hit the big casino. But he could bankrupt the GOP first. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Gloria Borger.

Sloppy criminal left behind note with name, police say

 

Heist suspect's post: 'IM RICH'

Boasts on Facebook lead feds to the arrest of 4 in Houston bank robbery

SUSAN CARROLL
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

April 21, 2011, 9:26PM

Two days before a west Houston bank heist, a 19-year-old bank teller named Estefany Martinez posted a cryptic status update on her Facebook page: "Get $$$."

It would take a little over a week and a Crime Stoppers tip before investigators unraveled the plot twist behind the March 23 robbery of the International Bank of Commerce on Eldridge Parkway.

What looked on surveillance video to be a classic bank robbery — with armed, masked suspects and terrorized bank tellers — turned out to be an amateurish inside job, allegedly orchestrated by two 19-year-old tellers with the help of a boyfriend and an older brother.

Using an incriminating trail of Facebook posts left by Martinez and her 18-year-old boyfriend, Ricky "Ricko Gee" Gonzalez, detectives arrested four suspects this week on bank theft charges, alleging they made off with $62,000.

Their Facebook pages held not-so-subtle clues: Two days after the robbery, Martinez posted: "IM RICH …" followed by a rhyming expletive.

"WIPE MY TEETH WITH HUNDEREDS …" her boyfriend allegedly posted the day after the heist. He also boasted of wiping another part of his anatomy with $50 bills.

A lesson to be learned

An attorney for Martinez, Richard Kuniansky, described his client as "young and immature," suggesting there is a lesson in her current predicament.

"I've always heard that you shouldn't post pictures of yourself on Facebook smoking pot or drinking because employers are now looking at Facebook pages," he said. "But I never knew there should be a warning not to post about a bank robbery that's been committed."

The Facebook posts by Martinez and Gonzalez about the bank heist were part of a criminal complaint unsealed in Houston federal court this week.

Authorities allege Martinez and teller Anna Margarita Rivera started planning the bank heist at 1545 Eldridge Parkway about a month in advance. Rivera told investigators that she was working at the same bank during a robbery on Nov. 17 and "believed staging the robbery would be easy" since she'd never heard of anyone being arrested in connection with that theft.

Martinez enlisted Gonzalez, and Rivera recruited her brother, 22-year-old Arturo Solano, according to the complaint.

The tellers told investigators that they made sure they were the only ones working during the robbery. Wearing plastic masks purchased from a dollar store, Gonzalez and Solano entered the bank about 5:45 p.m. and jumped over the teller counter, demanding money, according to investigators. While one suspect cleaned out the cash drawers, the other took Martinez and Rivera to the vault.

Martinez and Rivera took steps to make the robbery look legitimate. They included tracking devices in the money bags, instructing Gonzalez and Solano to ditch them right away, investigators said. One of the suspects left behind his gun, which turned out to be plastic.

'Trying to be funny'

The celebratory Facebook posts started shortly after they divided the loot at Rivera's apartment, officials say.

"U HAVE TO PAST THE LINE SOMETIMES!! TO GET DIS MONEY!!" Gonzalez posted on his Facebook page the day after the theft.

Lance Craig Hamm, an attorney for Gonzalez, said his client was not talking about the robbery on his Facebook page. "He literally was just talking, trying to have fun, trying to be funny," Hamm said.

Two days after the heist, Martinez posted about being "RICH." Kuniansky said Martinez is a single mother and had plans to go to college. Now she faces up to 10 years in prison, he said.

An attorney for Rivera could not be reached for comment. No attorney was listed in federal court records for Solano.

A Facebook page for "Ricko Gee" Gonzalez of Houston was still up as of Thursday evening. Under employer, it read: "Make money both ways Dirty and Clean!!

Law enforcement tool

It's not just tech-savvy, big-city types like the FBI-led Houston Area Bank Robbery Task Force that use Facebook as a law enforcement tool. In March, Texas Parks and Wildlife Game wardens used it to track down the killer of an 11½-foot alligator in Bastrop County.

Andy Kahan, the city of Houston's crime victim advocate, said he was tipped off about a Facebook page on which a probationer, who wasn't supposed to be drinking, posted photos of himself holding bottles of liquor and beer and an open invitation to a party featuring "trash can punch."

One post read: "Probation on the 23rd - party's gotta be moved - sorry folks. On the upside, that just means more time to plan."

Kahan said he contacted the probation department and said: "I've got a gift-wrapped delivery for you."