65% Disapprove Of Obama's Handling Of Gas Prices - Justice Department Overreach

Today in Washington, D.C. - March 12, 2012:
Senate will resume consideration of S. 1813, the highway bill. On Tuesday, the Senate will continue voting on amendments to the highway bill. As many as 22 amendments will be considered. The House is not in Session.

Justice Department Overreach again:
The Washington Post's Sari Horwitz writes today, "The Justice Department has blocked a new law in Texas requiring voters to show a photo ID, saying that it disproportionately harms Hispanic residents. The action is the second time in three months that the Obama administration has blocked a state voter ID law. In December, the Justice Department struck down South Carolina’s new law requiring photo identification at the polls, saying it discriminated against minority voters. . . .  The Justice Department’s challenge signals an escalating national legal battle over voter ID laws as the presidential campaign intensifies. Eight states passed voter ID laws last year, and critics say the new statutes could hurt turnout among minorities and others who helped elect President Obama in 2008. But conservative supporters and Republican attorneys general say the tight laws are needed to combat voter fraud. . . . The Justice Department’s actions are not final. Both South Carolina and Texas have filed lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Washington to be allowed to enforce their new voting laws."

The Justice Department has failed to show how some form of identification of a voter is discriminatory to minorities.  These voter id laws would rightly discriminate against, non-registered voters, illegal aliens, illegally voting felons, and fraudulent voters casting more than one vote etc. regardless of a person's income or ethnicity or other very unimportant factors. It appears Eric Holder and his department appointees are at it again.

Black Panthers at Voting Site

Hypocrisy continues!  You may recall that Mr. Holder and his department supported threats by Black Panther's at a polling site verses protecting the election officials or people voting.  On Nov. 4, 2008 two members, Minister King Samir Shabazz and Jerry Jackson, of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (NBPP) stationed themselves outside a polling place at 1221 Fairmount St, Philadelphia, PA. (See video) On January 7, 2009 (eleven days before the inauguration of President Obama), the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against these two men, NBPP, and Malik Zulu Shabazz (acting chairman of NBPP) for violating Section 11(b) of the 1965 Voting Rights Act by engaging in and attempting coercion, threats, and intimidation of voters and those aiding voters at the polling place.  However, two months later,  the Washington Times broke the story that political appointees in the Obama Justice Department had overruled career lawyers and stopped the prosecution of members of the New Black Panther Party charged with voter intimidation during the 2008 election.  They also reported that reported the official who ordered the case dismissed was "Assoc. Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli, the department’s No. 3 political appointee."   Also,  one of the Black Panthers named in the voter intimidation complaint “obtained new credentials as a poll watcher ‘at any ward/division in Philadelphia’ just days after the charges against him were dismissed.”

Rising / High Gas prices:
The Washington Post’s Dan Balz and Jon Cohen write today, “Disapproval of President Obama’s handling of the economy is heading higher — alongside gasoline prices — as a record number of Americans now give the president ‘strongly’ negative reviews on the 2012 presidential campaign’s most important issue, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. . . . Gas prices are a main culprit: Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they disapprove of the way the president is handling the situation at the pump, where rising prices have already hit hard. Just 26 percent approve of his work on the issue, his lowest rating in the poll. Most Americans say higher prices are already taking a toll on family finances, and nearly half say they think that prices will continue to rise, and stay high. . . . [T]he survey — conducted Wednesday through Saturday — finds 59 percent of Americans giving Obama negative ratings on the economy, up from early last month. Now, 50 percent give him intensely low marks, the most yet in a Post-ABC News poll, and a jump of nine percentage points.”

ABC News notes, “Americans by a broad 65-26 percent disapprove of how the president is handling the price of gas, which has gained 49 cents a gallon this year to an average $3.79. Strong critics outnumber strong approvers by nearly 4-1. And it’s important: A vast 89 percent are concerned about the recent run-up in gas prices; 66 percent are ‘very’ concerned about it.”

Another ABC story points out, “Rising gasoline prices have surpassed the federal budget deficit as Obama’s single weakest issue, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, which shows 65 percent of Americans disapprove of how the president is handling the rising price of gas, while just 26 percent approve.”

The president’s actions on Friday can’t have improved most Americans’ views of his handling of gas prices, since he “personally lobbied” Senate Democrats to block an amendment that would have authorized the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. As The Wall Street Journal wrote in a Saturday editorial, “Thursday night's 56-42 Senate vote to kill an amendment to fast-track the $7 billion, shovel-ready Keystone XL pipeline contains a wealth of information about President Obama and the Senate Democrats' priorities. . . . On Thursday Senate Republicans voted unanimously for Keystone, which would bring 830,000 barrels of crude oil daily from Alberta, Canada, to interconnections in Oklahoma and refineries on the Gulf Coast, easing supply constraints and creating thousands of much-needed jobs. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sees the world through a different lens: He didn't want to let Republicans ‘appease the Tea Party or big oil companies.’ President Obama, of course, would have vetoed the measure had it ever reached his desk. But any such straightforward expression of his own beliefs would have put him on the wrong side of unionized workers the pipeline would have employed or voters worried about the unemployment rate. Hence the White House phone calls to the Senate this week to on the one hand urge Harry Reid to block the bill . . . . And so the result was that the Keystone pipeline died yet again . . . . Republicans have vowed to introduce the Keystone amendment again and there's no reason not to do so. With the President and Senate Democrats dancing merrily on every side of the energy debate, it's always a good time to identify the Keystone Democrats.”

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Tags: Washington, D.C., Obama, High Gas Prices, poll, US. Senate, highway bill, amendments, Eric holder, Justice Department, voter ID laws, black Panthers To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!