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Democrats will propose eliminating federal gas taxes for sixty days; 18 cents a gallon — Mulling proposal to give feds more power to target price gougers — Democrats are set to introduce a measure that would create a "federal gas tax holiday" by eliminating the federal tax on gas and diesel for sixty days, RAW STORY has learned.
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President Discusses Energy Policy — Washington, D.C. — Fact Sheet: President Bush's Four-Part Plan to Confront High Gasoline Prices — In Focus: Energy — THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Bob, thanks for the introduction. It's always good to be introduced by somebody who is referred to as the "Promoter in Chief."


Bush Eases Environmental Rules on Gasoline — WASHINGTON - President Bush on Tuesday ordered a temporary suspension of environmental rules for gasoline, making it easier for refiners to meet demand and possibly dampen prices at the pump. He also halted for the summer the purchase of crude oil for the government's emergency reserve.

Mad about gas prices? Blame government, not Big Oil — D espite strong economic growth, the poll numbers of national Republicans dove this month as gasoline prices soared above $3 a gallon. — As opportunistic Democrats pile on, Republicans defensively point to their passage last year …

Bush Announces Short-Term Steps to Ease Oil Prices
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Bush Orders Probe Into Gas Price Cheating
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Zarqawi Releases Video Tape (Updated) — Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda's commander in Iraq, has released "the first [videotape] to contain a 'message'... U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News." The tape is titled A Message to the People. This is his first video without a mask …
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"TROUBLES" BEHIND THE ZARQAWI VIDEO? — Zarqawi's new videotape comes one day after the Sinai's attacks and two days after Bin Laden's "state of the world Jihad" audiotape aired on al Jazeera. Many questions are fusing: Why now and is there a connection between the three events?
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Democrat Taylor Marsh …


Zarqawi appears in rare Web video — Believed to be first 'message' from al-Qaida in Iraq leader, officials say … MSNBC TV — CAIRO, Egypt - In a rare video posted on the Internet, al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi accused the West and the United States of waging a "crusader" …

CIA Officer Fired for Leaking Classified Data — Post, Others Received Information; CIA Investigations Ongoing — Washington Post staff writer Dafna Linzer was online Tuesday, April 25, at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the firing of CIA intelligence officer Mary McCarthy for leaking classified information …
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Is There A Double Standard On Leak Probes? — When the CIA announced on Friday that it had fired an employee who the agency claims "knowingly and willfully shared classified intelligence" with a newspaper reporter, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas …
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Jane Jacobs, Urban Activist, Is Dead at 89 — Jane Jacobs, the writer and thinker who brought penetrating eyes and ingenious insight to the sidewalk ballet of her own Greenwich Village street and came up with a book that challenged and changed the way people view cities, died today in Toronto, where she lived.
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Scott Rosenberg's Links …
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One Day, That Economy Ticket May Buy You a Place to Stand — The airlines have come up with a new answer to an old question: How many passengers can be squeezed into economy class? — A lot more, it turns out, especially if an idea still in the early stage should catch on: standing-room-only "seats."
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This Modern World, Blue Crab Boulevard, AMERICAblog, Vox Popoli, Daimnation!, KnoxViews and Brilliant at Breakfast

Democrats Beat Republicans in 2005 Fund-Raising on Wall Street — April 24 (Bloomberg) — Democrats outdid Republicans last year in attracting political donations from investment banks, brokerages and fund managers for the first time since 1994, helped by support from hedge funds and companies such as Merrill Lynch & Co.


Tuesday: My beloved rests in peace — My precious and beautiful wife, Allie, passed away during the night. I found her lifeless body on the floor of the bathroom at 3:30 a.m. The paramedics did everything they could, but she was already gone. We have no idea what happened. She was young (41).

Snow In May? — A week after White House press secretary Scott McClellan suddenly resigned, and — nothing. — Late last week, White House chief of staff Josh Bolten directly (firmly but politely) asked senior administration officials to stop unburdening themselves to the process-hungry Washington press corps.

Bush Faces Dissent From Republicans on Climate Change (Update1) — April 24 (Bloomberg) — Representative Bob Inglis, a South Carolina Republican, says he ``pooh-poohed'' global warming until he trekked to the South Pole in January. — ``Now, I think we should be concerned,'' says Inglis …


Monday's act heroic after 30 years — Outfielder recalls protecting country's honor from protesters — LOS ANGELES — It was 1976, a fun year for America. It was the country's bicentennial, the war in Vietnam had ended a year earlier and everyone really wanted to put all the problems from the 1960s …


Iran Ready to Transfer Nuclear Know-How — Iran's supreme leader said Tuesday that the country is ready to transfer its nuclear technology to other countries. Meanwhile, Tehran threatened to halt all cooperation with the U.N. atomic energy agency if the U.N. Security Council imposes sanctions …

Shiite Militias Move Into Oil-Rich Kirkuk, Even as Kurds Dig In — Control of Iraqi City Has Long Been in Dispute — KIRKUK, Iraq — Hundreds of Shiite Muslim militiamen have deployed in recent weeks to this restive city — widely considered the most likely flash point for an Iraqi civil war …