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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pompsander who wrote (763013)	6/27/2007 1:03:58 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Fuel Rationing in Iran Prompts Lines and Protests By NAZILA FATHI Published: June 27, 2007 TEHRAN, June 27 — Angry drivers set fire to at least two gasoline stations in Tehran Tuesday night after the government announced that fuel would be rationed beginning at midnight. Skip to next paragraph Enlarge This Image Behrouz Mehri/AFP-Getty Images A damaged gas station in northwest Tehran. Long lines were seen at other gas stations in the capital today as new rules took effect, limiting drivers of private cars to 26 gallons a month at the subsidized price of 34 cents a gallon. Taxicab drivers are limited to 211 gallons a month. The government is still considering whether to allow drivers to buy additional fuel at higher prices. Traffic jams developed near some stations as police officers worked to control the lines. The government first planned to start the rationing a year ago, but put the decision off repeatedly out of fear that it would spark unrest. State television reported today that “several gas stations and public places had been attacked by vandals.” One was set ablaze by protesters in the western Tehran neighborhood of Poonak and Niayesh. Another in Azadi Street in southwest Tehran was attacked, according to a report in Etemad, a daily newspaper. Iran is rich with crude oil and is the second largest exporter of oil in OPEC. But it has far fewer refineries than it needs to satisfy booming domestic demand, so it must import as much as half of its gasoline from refineries abroad, at a cost of $5 billion a year. Analysts warned that rationing would make it difficult for unemployed people who used their private cars as taxis to earn a living, and that it could accelerate inflation, which is already a problem in the country. Prices of dairy products like milk, butter and yogurt have risen by 20 percent or more this week. The Iranian economy may also be pinched by new sanctions being debated by the United Nations Security Council over Iran’s refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program. The minister of oil and the minister of intelligence met privately with members of parliament to discuss the effects of the decision to ration gasoline. Afterward, the speaker. Gholamali Hadad Adel, told reporters that the parliament would back the government. “The rationing can help reduce the consumption,” Mr. Adel said, according to the parliament’s web site. “It can also make us more independent and become less vulnerable in the international community.”

To: pompsander who wrote (763013)	6/27/2007 2:07:36 PM
From: Karen Lawrence	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

BREAKING NEWS: Cheney's office subpoenaed Senate committee probing legality of Bush's eavesdropping program BREAKING NEWS The Associated Press Updated: 10:33 a.m. MT June 27, 2007 URL: msnbc.msn.com WASHINGTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's office Wednesday for documents relating to President Bush's warrant-free eavesdropping program. Also named in subpoenas signed by committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., were the Justice Department and the National Security Council. The committee wants documents that might shed light on internal squabbles within the administration over the legality of the program, said a congressional official speaking on condition of anonymity because the subpoenas had not been made public. Leahy's committee authorized the subpoenas previously as part of its sweeping investigation into how much influence the White House exerts over the Justice Department and its chief, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The probe, in its sixth month, began with an investigation into whether administration officials ordered the firings of eight federal prosecutors, for political reasons. But with senators of both parties already concerned about the constitutionality of the administration's efforts to root out terrorism suspects in the United States, the committee shifted to the broader question of Gonzales' stewardship of Justice and, in particular, his willingness to permit the wiretapping program. Piquing the committee's interest was vivid testimony last month by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey about the extent of the White House's effort to override the Justice Department's objections to the program in 2004. Comey told the Judiciary Committee that Gonzales, then-White House counsel, tried to get Attorney General John Ashcroft to reverse course and recertify the program. At the time, Ashcroft lay in intensive care, recovering form gall bladder surgery.