Sounds like great timing for someone thats running for President to make another “Drill Here, Drill NOW” statement…

Just as Americans finally are starting to reap the benefits of plunging gas prices, OPEC -- urged on by Iran and Venezuela -- is set to squeeze consumers once again.

Just as Americans are finally beginning to reap the benefits of plunging gasoline prices — including more money in their pockets — OPEC is getting ready to squeeze them once again by cutting oil production and driving up prices to refineries.

The 13-nation global oil cartel — which includes Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Iran and Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela — will hold an emergency meeting in Vienna Friday to discuss the steep and rapid decline in oil prices.

“The era of cheap oil is finished,” Iran’s Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari boasted on Tuesday.

When asked what price Iran would want for its oil, Nozari declared, “The more the better.”

“A few member nations have voiced their intentions of pushing for a cut in production, including Qatar, Iran, as well as OPEC’s president Chekib Khelil, who said that output could be slashed by as much as 2 million barrels a day,” analysts for Raymond James & Associates told MarketWatch.com.

When oil peaked at more than $147 a barrel in July, gas prices soared to above $5 a gallon in some parts of the U.S., and Americans were forced to cut back on driving. With the price of oil at about $73 a barrel on Tuesday, pump prices have fallen to as low as $2.30 a gallon.

The price dip in oil — and gasoline — finally is working its way into the beleagured American economy, putting a few extra dollars in the hands of consumers just as the home heating and holiday shopping seasons begin.

Sam Gault, president of Gault Inc., a fifth-generation, family-owned oil business in Westport, Conn., said the drop in oil prices is helping his customers, his business and his community.

“Obviously a down market helps the consumer,” Gault said. “When the price of oil is less, it’s a good thing for everyone. It’s good for the consumer. It’s good for us as an oil company. It just puts more disposable income back into the economy because it’s not used for household expenses.”

When oil costs more, Gault said, “people need to make different choices. But you have to heat your home.”

OPEC, however, wants prices to climb — and quickly.

Khelil on Monday even urged non-OPEC oil producers, such as Russia, Mexico and Norway, to follow the cartel’s lead and cut production, Reuters reported.

Such a coordinated move is sure to drive prices back up over $100 a barrel — and hit Americans where it hurts.

“OPEC doesn’t care about anybody. They don’t care about the United States. They don’t care about our consumers,” said Ross Dibono, executive director of the Pennsylvania Gasoline Retailers Association.

“They’re very small countries that just happen to be sitting on an unlimited wealth of oil and they’re going to extract as much out of the ground as they feel comfortable with,” he said. “Why sell 200 gallons for $100 a barrel when you can sell 100 gallons for $200 a barrel?”

“Saudi Arabia doesn’t care about you or me or anybody else,” he said. “They’ve got a taste of the expensive barrel of oil.”

Iran’s oil minister told Reuters he would push to cut production by up to 2.5 million barrels per day.

Iran has taken a liking to astronomical oil prices, using its newfound wealth to fuel its nuclear program in defiance of the U.S. and the global community. But the country would need oil prices to stay above $85 per barrel to balance its books, according to a report released in August by the International Monetary Fund, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

Venezuela’s capitalism-bashing Chavez has used his country’s oil windfall to buy Russian weapons, going as far as to let the Russian navy practice in its waters. Russia reportedly is also helping Venezuela develop nuclear power.

Chavez said on Saturday that oil at $80 to $90 a barrel would be good enough to keep Venezuela going, Reuters reported, but analysts say the country has billions stashed away and will be able to withstand a price drop.

Gault, however, said the key to whether American consumers are once again going to have to worry about heating their homes and how far they drive is going to come down to one country.

“Its really going to come down to whether Saudi Arabia wants to cut production, because they’re the ones that can afford to cut production,” Gault said. “A lot of times the different members of OPEC wind up cheating on their quotas.”

The best evidence that Barack Obama launched his political career from Bill Ayers
’s living room has disappeared . . . down the memory hole. Well, not quite. The Wayback Machine and I have both saved copies.

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A Military Times poll indicates landslide support for John McCain, who captures 68 percent of the military vote to Barack Obama’s 23 percent.

Military Times poll shows landslide support for GOP senator, in every branch of the armed forces, with McCain capturing 68 percent of the military vote to Obama's 23 percent.

A poll by the Military Times newspaper group suggests that there is overwhelming support for John McCain among U.S. troops in every branch of the armed forces by a nearly 3-1 margin.

According to the poll, 68 percent of active-duty and retired servicemen and women support McCain, while 23 percent support Barack Obama. The numbers are nearly identical among officers and enlisted troops.

Click here to see the raw data.

The Military Times, which publishes the Army Times, Navy Times, Marine Corps Times and Air Force Times, polled 80,000 subscribers from Sept 22 to Sept. 29. The non-scientific survey gathered 4,300 respondents — all of them registered and eligible to vote.

A racial divide was immediately evident among the respondents. Nearly eight in 10 black servicemembers chose Obama, while McCain captured 76 percent of white voters and 63 percent of Hispanic voters.

Click here to see more on this story from FOX News.

Numbers among men and women respondents were also visibly different. Men overwhelmingly said they would vote for McCain, 70 percent to 22 percent. But among women the margin was much closer: 53 percent support McCain, while 36 percent support Obama.

U.S. troops also said in the poll that they prefer McCain to handle the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — 74 percent said McCain would perform better, while just 19 percent said Obama would.

Four years ago the Iraq War was the single most important issue on which the military voted. But the war now ranks third in importance to these voters. The most important issue among the respondents was character (42 percent), followed by the economy (25 percent) and the Iraq War (16 percent).

There was a racial divide on these issues, as well. Black servicemembers said the economy was the No. 1 issue that affected their vote, and white troops said character was paramount.

The Military Times offered certain caveats for its poll, which was open only to its 80,000 subscribers. Responses were entirely voluntary and were not focused on a representative sample of the public, as scientific polls are. The troops polled were also somewhat older than average enlisted servicemembers and included more officers than is representative of the military as a whole.

Yet judging by the numbers, it appears that the Democratic party has not made many inroads into the traditionally Republican military.

Click here for more on this story from the Military Times.

FOX News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.

Hillarious and ironic. Come on Barry, give up some of those obscene profits!

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Voter registration material was sent to Princess Nudelman, a dead goldfish

The only “agent of change” Princess ever supported was the person who freshened the water in her fishbowl.

So election officials in Chicago’s northern suburbs want to know why voter registration material was sent to the dead goldfish.

“I am just stunned at the level of people compromising the integrity of the voting process,” said Lake County Clerk Willard Helander, a Republican, who said she has spotted problems with nearly 1,000 voter registrations this year.

Beth Nudelman, who owned the fish, said Princess may have landed on a mailing list because the family once filled in the pet’s name when they got a second phone line for a computer.

“There was no fraud involved,” said Nudelman, a Democrat who supports Barack Obama. “This person is a dead fish.”

The paperwork sent to a “Princess Nudelman” likely came from the “Women’s Voices, Women Vote” project, which sent nearly 1 million mailings to Illinois households in August using a list that mistakenly included some pets, said Sarah Johnson, a spokeswoman for the not-for-profit group that encourages single women to vote.

The mailing list, purchased from a vendor, included names from warranties, magazine subscriptions and other sources, Johnson said. The group attempted to screen out obvious pet names.

“Fido’s not going to be left on there, but if a cat is named is Polly, she may be,” Johnson said. Princess could be a person’s name, she insisted. “I went to high school with two Princesses.”

Nudelman said the only address on the registration card was the Lake County clerk’s office. She said she wrote election officials a humorous note explaining why the fish was ineligible to vote.

The Illinois mailing generated 63,500 returned voter applications, Johnson said. Applicants were instructed to fill in a driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number so election officials would be able to validate their identity.

“We obviously don’t want to add more work for any election official,” Johnson said. “At the end of the day, our goal is same as theirs: To give as many people as possible the chance to make voices heard in our democracy.”

Steve Sturm, legal counsel for the Illinois State Board of Elections, said the mailing generated numerous complaints from residents throughout the state.

Lake County election officials contacted Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office Monday afternoon, said spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler. The sheriff’s office and state’s attorney’s office were “already working on it,” she said.

The McCain-Palin campaign has lately raised questions about the voter registration practices of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. ACORN is accused of submitting false registration forms for some of the voters it has registered. The FBI has joined nearly a dozen states in investigating.