This was the last straw: Bill Clinton, announcing that all trade and investment in Iran would in future be banned, forced Conoco to pull out.
Should a straw purchase bill be the only one to pass, it would be a significant defeat for the Obama administration and a renewed demonstration of the National Rifle Association's power.
If Mr Straw's bill passes unchanged next year, as expected, Mr Blair will be able to claim that the Labour Party has fulfilled the letter of its manifesto pledge on freedom of information.
Mr. Grassley's support for the straw purchase bill came in part for an agreement on his amendment requiring a high-level person at the Department of Justice to personally sign off on future "gun-walking" sting operations similar to the Fast and Furious investigation.
A failure by Congress to pass more than a modified straw-purchasing bill would be a victory for the National Rifle Association, which opposes each measure.
Shortly after their vote on the straw-purchasing bill on Thursday, the committee ended its work, apparently to accommodate a classified briefing for some of the members, and completion of its work was postponed until next Tuesday.
In support of this argument, sharing of non-injection drug paraphernalia (i.e., straws, dollar bills used for snorting cocaine, inhalers, and pipes used to smoke crack) has been established as a risk factor for hepatitis C virus infection [ 25, 26], with the explanation being that drug users often have sores and cracks on their noses/mouths, which could facilitate viral transmission [ 26, 27].
One more venture by Mr. Straw is a bill to let the state make anyone who uses coded e-mail give officials the key to decode it, so they can intercept and read it as they wish.
The only heating is a wood-burning stove; such are the insulating properties of straw that fuel bills could be 20% of those of conventional homes.
The straw purchase measure, which was supported by Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the highest-ranking Republican on the committee, began as a sleeper bill but appears to have more momentum, politically and practically, than a background check bill.
Mr. Straw also has a bill pending to deprive many criminal defendants of the right to trial by jury.
