Gas Prices Set August Record

Sandy Shore - You may pay more than ever for a late-summer drive.

U.S. drivers paid an average of $3.72 per gallon on Monday. That's the highest price ever on this date, according to auto club AAA, a shade above the $3.717 average on Aug. 20, 2008. A year ago, the average was $3.578.

More daily records are likely over the next few weeks. The national average could increase to $3.75 per gallon by Labor Day, said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service. By comparison, gas prices stayed below $3.70 in late August and early September in both 2008 and 2011.

Kloza and other analysts expect prices to start dropping after Labor Day, so drivers shouldn't have to worry about a return to the April high of $3.94 per gallon, barring a hurricane or other unforeseen event.

Retail gasoline prices have risen nearly 12 percent since July 1. because of higher oil prices, and problems with refineries and pipelines that created temporary supply shortages in some regions. An increase in the price of ethanol, which is blended into gasoline, also contributed to the rise in pump prices.

Higher gas prices aren't what the sluggish economy needs, since any extra money that goes to fill gas tanks doesn't get spent at movie theaters or restaurants.

The pace of the increases has slowed considerably, however. Gas rose 19 cents in the two weeks ended Wednesday. It's up just 1 penny in the five days since. Gas costs about 26 cents more than a month ago and 14 cents more than a year ago, according to AAA, OPIS and Wright Express.

Across the U.S., prices range from a low of $3.43 per gallon in South Carolina to $4.32 in Hawaii. Arizona, Mississippi and New Mexico also have average prices below $3.50 per gallon, while California and Illinois are up above the $4 mark.

A few drivers are catching a break. Kloza said gas prices are lower than this date in 2011 in four states - Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Idaho.

The price at the pump in the U.S. fell more than 60 cents per gallon during the spring as the global economy slowed and turmoil in the Middle East seemed to subside.

But crude oil has risen above $95 a barrel from a low of $78 in late June. Investors have worried about disruption to oil supplies in the Middle East and North Sea. In the U.S., there were problems with refineries and pipelines in the West Coast and Midwest, including a fire in California. Seasonal factors are also at play: Summer blends of gas cost more and demand goes up as families go on vacation.

Gas hit an all-time high of $4.11 per gallon in July 2008. But a plunge in oil prices knocked it down to $3.69 by the end of August. Though the national average jumped back to $3.85 in mid-September when Hurricane Ike hit the Gulf Coast, it plummeted to $1.62 per gallon by year-end as the global recession took hold.

On Monday, oil fell in New York trading after four days of gains on more concerns about Europe's economy. European leaders are beginning a series of discussions that could determine Greece's future and the stability of the 17 countries that use the euro.

Benchmark oil dropped 36 cents to $95.65 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price international varieties of oil, dropped 10 cents to $113.63 per barrel in London.

Other futures prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange:

- Heating oil increased was flat at $3.09 per gallon.

- Wholesale gasoline rose 1 cent to $3.04 per gallon.

- Natural gas rose 5 cents to $2.77 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Romney Beats Obama In Chicago Suburbs

Alexis Levinson - President Barack Obama could lose his home state of Illinois in November, a new poll shows.
A poll conducted by Illinois-based pollster and political strategist Michael McKeon found Obama leading Republican Mitt Romney by 49 percent to 37 percent in Cook County, the home of Chicago. That puts him ahead by a far thinner margin than expected in a county he should be winning handsomely.
Cook is the most Democratic leaning county in the state. It is also the most populous.
Those numbers do not bode well for the president.
“He has to come out of Cook County with a big lead or he’s gonna have problems downstate,” explained McKeon, who said that based on the numbers he had seen, Obama polled only in the forties in downstate Illinois.
“It’s not like his policies are very popular downstate,” McKeon said. “He’s viewed as more part of Chicago than he is part of Illinois.”
According to the poll, which surveyed 629 registered voters last week, Obama’s problems are not in Chicago proper, but in suburban Cook County.

In the city of Chicago itself, he retains a 60-29 lead over Romney. But the Republican challenger leads 45-38 in the surrounding areas. Across the county as a whole, Romney leads 43-31 among independent voters, a crucial voting bloc. Romney also holds a 44-38 lead among male voters, and a 53-40 lead among white voters.
Illinois is not considered a swing state by any means; it is seen as solidly blue, and has been for the past two election cycles. But McKeon pointed to the 2010 gubernatorial race when Republican Bill Brady came within a single percentage point of now-Gov. Pat Quinn because Brady won most of the downstate counties. That is a feat Romney could repeat this year, leaving Obama vulnerable if he cannot expand his lead in Cook County.

MSNBC Allows Toure To Race Bait Mitt Romney

Crystal Wright  - Vice-President Biden tells blacks, Romney’s “gonna put y’all back in chains.” Mitt Romney accuses Obama of running a campaign of “anger and division.” Then MSNBC host Toure charges Romney with engaging in the “niggerization” of Obama. WHAT? As my black father (note emphasis) said, “That’s the most unintellectual thing I’ve ever heard. Is he [Toure] making up words” ?
Toure’s making up words and spinning fiction! (Evidently, that’s what a former musical journalist turned political pundit does.) If Biden had included the “n-word” in his me (white) versus “you blacks” statement, Toure may have expressed mild outrage at the remarks. But since Biden serves our black president, Toure doesn’t consider Biden’s comments the “niggerization” of blacks.
Nigger or any derivative thereof is the basest, most racially charged word to call a black person or casually throw around and being black doesn’t give a person special permission to use it. Perhaps Toure has never been called the word nigger, otherwise he would not have uttered it with such ease on national television or have had the audacity to accuse Mitt Romney of engaging in “racial coding” which is code for racist politics.
Now that it’s become clear President Obama can’t run on a record of economic success, Democrats like Toure will resort to the only thing they have left in their arsenal, the Obama race card. Finally, on the stump, Romney is fighting back against Obama’s dirty campaign of lies and distortion.
Romney said: “His campaign and his surrogates have made wild and reckless accusations that disgrace the office of the presidency. This is what an angry and desperate presidency looks like. Mr. President take your campaign of division, anger and hate back to Chicago.”
There is nothing untrue in Romney’s comments. As Michael Gerson wrote , “the demonization of Romney is a main element of its strategy, pursued by Obama’s closest associates and former employees.” Gerson reminds us Obama has engaged in racial pandering, intimidated Republican donors, and accused Romney of killing Joe Spotic’s wife, “which represents the crossing of an ethical line.”
Whether you are Romney or any other American, this looks like a campaign led by an “angry and desperate president,” sinking to new lows to win. Obama has been dividing America since he took office. This is why it’s shocking Toure falsely charged Romney of using “racial coding” to try to paint Obama as the stereotypical “angry black man.”
Obama has waged wars on class, gender, religion, and sexuality and now race. He doesn’t look like the “Black Jesus” of 2008, seeking to heal America or the “no-drama Obama, as Toure described him as.
Toure’s accusations were wildly irresponsible. Obama is “angry” because he’s failed miserably at being president but feels he deserves a second term just because of the color of his skin.
Toure went on to say: “This is part of the playbook against Obama. . .This is niggerization, you are not one of us and that you are like the scary black man, we are trained to fear.”
“This is typical GOP politics, Toure added, the “all white party that rejects the black vote.” No, Toure, the GOP isn’t the all white party and white people aren’t scared of Obama. Whites, blacks and other Americans are sick and tired of being sick and tired of Obama’s misguided policies.
If anyone is engaging in “otherization” politics, as Toure ranted, it’s Obama. From his days as a Senator, Obama put himself above everyone else, using his race to make people believe he was a special kind of black endowed with supernatural powers to heal America. What we’re seeing now is a man so absorbed in self, he can’t see he’s in over his head.
Another example of Obama’s stoking racial politics of “otherization,” was by his Truth Team surrogate Va. State Senator Louise Lucas, Va. State Senator Louise Lucas who accused Mitt Romney of speaking to folks “who don’t like a black man in the White House.” Racist talk is constantly flowing from Obama and his “Truth Team” not Mitt Romney.
I’ve been called nigger mostly by other blacks. In fact when I was in 2^nd grade, I heard the word used at school by my black classmates and came home and called my little brother a nigger. My mother told me to never say it again and explained to me how heinous the word was and remains!
If MSNBC has any shred of decency, the network will fire Toure. Not only did he completely misrepresent Mitt Romney’s comments, he offended blacks like me, who’ve been called nigger and find the word both humiliating and disgusting. We know if Toure was white, the termination would have happened before the commercial break.