It resembles the homemade pop music of a cutoff, unplugged culture.
It built new facilities for receiving liquefied natural gas, and upgraded storage capacity, so that supplies could be stockpiled in case of a cutoff.
Prof Catherine Barnard, a European law expert at Cambridge University, told the Guardian the issue was how people would prove they had been living here ahead of a cutoff date, or for five years, if that is required.
Army generals are unlikely to move against General Musharraf unless certain "red lines" are crossed, such as countrywide political protests or a real threat of a cutoff of American military aid to Pakistan.
An unseen censor who the government said was working for the "original classification authority" — presumably the C.I.A. — was also in control of a cutoff switch behind the scenes.
Since compassion is no longer an incentive for the House, the threat of a cutoff to the big lobbyists will have to work, just as it always has.
Chinese loans have been crucial in countries like Angola that have faced threats of a cutoff in financing from Western creditors, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Financial aid advisers are reluctant to specify any kind of a cutoff on eligibility because of concerns that the thresholds will be misinterpreted, causing a student who otherwise would be eligible for financial aid to not apply for aid.
The prospect of a cutoff of aid alarmed the Israeli government, an Israeli official said, because it is linked to the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel and could alienate the Egyptian military, which Israel views as a stabilizing force in an otherwise deteriorating situation.
The Obama administration seemed determined Wednesday to put as much daylight as possible between Mr. Obama and Mr. Mubarak, once considered an unshakable American supporter in a tumultuous region, with Mr. Gibbs once again raising the specter of a cutoff of American aid to the Mubarak government if the Egyptian president failed to bend.
Until now, there has not been a prominent test of those laws in bankruptcy — particularly not in California, where the big state pension system, known as Calpers, has been girding for battle on the issue, trying to avoid the precedent of a cutoff or shortfall in a city's pension contributions.
