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Los Angeles Daily News: Governor accelerates 405 car-pool project

Ending months of political wrangling, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Friday that clears the way to speed up construction of a car-pool lane on the northbound 405 Freeway into the San Fernando Valley.

Standing alongside the San Diego Freeway, crawling with bumper-to-bumper traffic, the Republican governor praised the bipartisan effort, which he hopes to replicate as he undertakes a multibillion-dollar effort to rebuild California’s transportation system.

“This bill demonstrates once again when there is a will – and Democrats and Republicans work together – that anything is possible,” Schwarzenegger said.

This freeway was a mess before Arnold came to California. Where have the politicians been year after year spending gasoline tax money to balance their budgets and rewarding their state employee union campaign contributors.

This project is too little – too late.

How about widening the 101 between Calabassas and the 405? Hahaha – will NEVER happen.

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California Legislature Drops the Ball on Bill to Widen 405 Freeway

Technorati Tags: ArnoldSchwarzenegger, FabianNunez, DonPerata, HowardBerman, 405Freeway, Antonio Villaraigosa

Technorati Tags: Iran, MichaelRamirez, IranNuclearWatch

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks at a news conference in Tehran January 14, 2006. Iran will not be deflected from its drive to develop nuclear technology if it is referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions, Ahmadinejad said on Saturday.

Reuters: Iran says UN referral will not end nuclear plans

Iran will not be deflected from its drive to develop nuclear technology if it is referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday.

“If they want to destroy the Iranian nation’s rights by that course, they will not succeed,” Ahmadinejad told a news conference.

The United States and European Union powers have said they want Iran referred to the United Nations because it has failed to allay their suspicions that its nuclear program is aimed at developing weapons.

The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image. Iran threatened on January 13, 2006 to block snap U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities if it is taken to the U.N. Security Council, but the United States said the West would not be deflected from that course.

First, the defiance from Ahmadinejad and now the BIG STALL…….

Iran’s Foreign Ministry released a statement on Saturday evening saying it was still open to negotiations with London, Paris and Berlin but repeated its threat to resume making atomic fuel if the case went beyond the IAEA.

“A wide range of activities are voluntarily suspended in accordance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” the statement read, referring principally to the enrichment of uranium.

“Any illogical attempt to derail the process of solving the issue outside the technical and logical IAEA path will thoroughly change that,” said the statement which was carried by the official IRNA news agency.

Will Iran play the OIL card? The United States has its strategic petroleum reserve but yet in face of this crisis last month the Democrat fools in the United States Senate blocked oil drilling in Anwar, Alaska.

Ahmadinejad was asked at the news conference whether Iran would play the “oil weapon” and hold back the world’s second biggest reserves of crude from hungry energy markets to retaliate against international pressure.

“We have the necessary tools to defend our rights,” he said. “Those who use harsh language against Iran need Iran 10 times more than we need them.”

Now, the European capitulation……….

German Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler, whose country is the biggest exporter to Iran, struck a fresh note of caution.

He told German radio, according to an advance summary, that economic sanctions were a “very dangerous path” that would hurt both sides. He said he believed travel restrictions on Iranian politicians would be a more effective way of exerting pressure.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s statements with President Bush yesterday were a SHOW. The European Union is a Eunuch. They will NOT act against Iran.

Israel and the United States will ACT alone.

The sooner……the better.

Michelle Malkin: IRAN: PREPARING FOR THE WORST

Powerline: What Is To Be Done?

Captain Ed @ Captain’s Quarters: Coming To A Head On Iran

Ace of Spades: Large Deployment of Fighters Dispatched To Southwest Asia

Dr. Rusty Shackleford: Dems Posturing Against Iran

Austin Bay: More on the Uranium Mullahs

National Review Online: Victor Davis Hanson: The Multilateral Moment?

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Iran Nuclear Watch: President Bush and German Chancellor Merkel Urge U.N. Action on Iran

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Threatens to End Random Nuclear Inspections

Iran Nuclear Watch: Israel Wants West to Deal More Urgently with Iran

Iran Nuclear Watch: Kofi Annan – Iran Interested in “Serious and Constructive Negotiations”

Iran Nuclear Watch: Condoleezza Rice Calls on United Nations to Confront Iran’s Defiance

Iran Nuclear Watch: TALKS = DEAD END

Iran Nuclear Watch: “Highly Probable” Iran Referral to United Nations Security Council

Iran Nuclear Watch: Britain Calls for United Nations Security Council Action Against Iran

Iran Nuclear Watch: Rafsanjani – Sanctions FUTILE

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Removes United Nations Seals on Nuclear Facilities

Iran Nuclear Watch: Five Permanent Members of the U.N. Security Council Send Messages To Iran To Halt Nuclear Plans

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Ready to Remove UN Seals at Nuclear Sites

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Confirms Resumption of Atomic Fuel Research

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Will Resume Atomic Fuel Research

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Seeking Components to Manufacture Nuclear Bombs and Ballistic Missle Capability

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Resumes Nuclear Fuel Research

Iran Nuclear Watch: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – “Israel Completed Holocaust”

Drudge Report Watch: ‘United States planning a military strike against Iran’

Iran Nuclear Watch: Is Washington Planning a Military Strike?

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Says Still Wants to Enrich Uranium in IRAN

Iran Nuclear Watch: Russians Helping with Missle Threat to Europe

Iran Nuclear Watch: Holocaust Is a “MYTH”

Iran Nuclear Watch: Israel Readies Forces to Strike Nuclear Iran

Technorati Tags: Iran, Russia, Israel, JavadVaeedi, MahmoudAhmadinejad, PeterGoss, Turkey, AliLarijani, GlobalWaronTerror, France, Italy, Austria, ArielSharon, UnitedNations, InternationalAtomicEnergyAgency, CondoleezzaRice, Mohamed ElBaradei, JacquesChirac, MohammadSaidi, JackStraw, AkbarHashemiRafsanjani, AngelaMerkel, GeorgeWBush

Al Qaeda’s top strategist and second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri.

Reuters: Zawahri alive: Arabiya TV citing Qaeda-linked source

Al Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri is alive, Al Arabiya television reported on Saturday, quoting a source which it said has contact with al Qaeda.

A source with contacts with al Qaeda reiterated to Arabiya that Zawahri is “alive,” the satellite television said.

The report came after U.S. sources said a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan targeted Zawahri, but a senior Pakistani official said the al Qaeda leader was not there at the time.

The strike on Friday killed at least 18 people, including women and children, and three houses were destroyed in a village near the Afghan border, residents said.

CNN: Source: Al-Zawahiri not among 18 killed in airstrike

Ayman al-Zawahiri — Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in the al Qaeda terrorist network — was not killed in a CIA airstrike on a remote Pakistani village, according to a Pakistani intelligence official.

U.S. sources said al-Zawahiri was the target of Friday’s strike and initially reported that he may have been among the 18 people killed.

The Pakistani intelligence official said it was not known whether al-Zawahiri was in the area.

Ayman al-Zawahiri — Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in the al Qaeda terrorist network — was not killed in a CIA airstrike on a remote Pakistani village, according to a Pakistani intelligence official.

U.S. sources said al-Zawahiri was the target of Friday’s strike and initially reported that he may have been among the 18 people killed.

The Pakistani intelligence official said it was not known whether al-Zawahiri was in the area.

CNN has video on how al-Zawahri was targeted here.

Stay tuned…….

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Global War on Terror Watch: Ayman al-Zawahiri Killed in Pakistan?

Technorati Tags: AlQaeda, Al-Zawahri, Pakistan, OsamaBinLaden

Technorati Tags: DaybyDay, ChrisMuir