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The Bushehr nuclear reactor in southern Iran

AP: Iran says it has arrested a nuclear spy

Iran said Tuesday it has arrested a man on suspicion of selling nuclear secrets to an exiled Iranian opposition group, state radio reported.

The report didn’t identify the suspected spy, but said he had been working at the Iranian Parliament’s Research Center, an organization that advises lawmakers on foreign and strategic issues.

“The man transferred classified information, including a bulletin on nuclear activities, to the hypocrites,” state radio said, referring to the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran.

The Paris-based group, regarded as a terrorist organization by the United States, has frequently made accusations about Iran’s nuclear activities, reporting on what it says is secret information received from insiders in Iran.

In 2002, the group disclosed the existence of two previously secret nuclear facilities, a pilot uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and a research reactor being built in the city of Arak, which turned out to house Iran’s uranium enrichment program and a hard-water reactor project. Other claims by the group have not been substantiated.

Cold War intrigue grips Iran’s nuclear program…….

One of ours?

Stay tuned……

Previous:

Iran Nuclear Watch: United States Submarine Collides With Japanese Ship

Iran Nuclear Watch: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – Iran Will NEVER Abandon Development of Nuclear Technology

Cox & Forkum: Saber Rattling

Iran Nuclear Watch: Israel Planning Nuclear Strike on Iran’s Nuclear Facilities?

Iran Nuclear Watch: Ali Larijani – Iran if Threatened Will Obtain NUKES

Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad – Iran Soon to “Push The Button” to Produce Nuclear Fuel

Michael Ramirez on Iran United Nations Sanctions

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Vows to Continue Uranium Enrichment

Iran Nuclear Watch: United Nations Security Council Approves Iran Sanctions

Iran Nuclear Watch: United Nations Poised to Pass Sanctions Despite Iran Threat

Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad MOCKS the United States and EU

Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad – “Britain, Israel and United States Will Vanish Like the Pharaohs”

Iran Nuclear Watch: British Prime Minister Tony Blair Issues Iran Warning

Iran Nuclear Watch: United States Considering Show Of Force Against Iran

Iran Nuclear Watch: Meir Dagan Head of Israeli Espionage Agency – Iran Will Possess Nuclear Bomb By 2009-2010

Cox & Forkum: Genocidal Logic

Iran Nuclear Watch: A Military Option Redux

The Iran Nuclear Files

The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image.

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Technorati Tags: Iran, Ahmadinejad, AliLarijani, Israel

Cox & forkum: Cut and Run

CNN: Democrats considering ways to block escalation of war.

As President Bush prepares to announce an increase in the number of U.S. troops fighting in Iraq, some Democrats say they would consider blocking funding for the escalation.When asked whether Congress would consider cutting off the funds, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “We’re going take a look at it, of course.”

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, said his “office is now investigating what tools are available to us to condition or constrain appropriations” for the surge in troops. But he cautioned he doesn’t want troops already in Iraq to be “shortchanged.”

“So it creates a difficult situation for Democrats,” he said.

Aware of this concern, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, told reporters at a Capitol news conference Monday, “Democrats will not cut off funding for our troops.”

But, an aide later explained, the speaker is open to restricting money for the escalation, after hearings on the president’s new plan.

“We will always support the troops who are there,” Pelosi said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday. But, Pelosi added, “If the president wants to expand the mission, that’s a conversation he has to have with the Congress of the United States.

But that’s not … a blank check to him to do whatever he wishes there.”

Bush is scheduled to introduce his new Iraq strategy Wednesday night.

CNN: Soldiers tell Gates more troops needed in Iraq.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the rest of the Bush administration may be undecided on whether to send more troops to Iraq. But several soldiers he met with at Camp Victory here on Thursday morning said extra forces would help.

“Sir I think we need to just keep doing what we’re doing,” Spc. Jason T. Green, with the 101st Military Intelligence Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division, told Gates during a breakfast session with about 15 U.S. soldiers.

“I really think we need more troops here. With more presence on the ground, more troops might hold them off long enough to where we can get the Iraqi Army trained up.”

The troops may be somewhat at odds with military commanders, who worry that rushing thousands more Americans to the battlefront could prompt Iraqis to slow their effort to take control of their country.

AP: Democrats to challenge Bush’s Iraq plan

President Bush is telling lawmakers he will send thousands more U.S. troops to Iraq’s two most troubled regions, in a plan that Democrats are resisting as a major escalation of a 31/2-year-old war. On Tuesday, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., said he expects Bush to announce that up to 20,000 additional troops will be sent to Iraq, but will not say how long the extra forces will be there.

A day before Bush’s nationally televised speech describing his proposal, Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), a longtime critic of Bush and the war, will propose legislation denying him the billions needed to send more troops to war unless Congress agrees first. Though it was unclear whether the bill would ever reach the full Senate, it could at least serve as a rallying point for the most insistent foes of the Iraq conflict.

Democrats seem divided on whether to block funds for troop increases, but many were not ruling it out. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), D-Nev., said Democrats would “look at everything” in their power to curb the war, short of cutting money for troops already in the field.

He said he would only consider an increase in U.S. forces in Iraq if Bush agreed to start withdrawing troops within six months.

The bill by Kennedy, D-Mass., is guaranteed to fuel the debate among lawmakers on how far they should go to try to force the president’s hand on the unpopular war.

Under the Constitution, the president has broad war-making powers, while Congress controls spending. Democratic leaders have swiftly rejected any suggestion of withholding money from troops already in combat zones.

“The Congress has the power of the purse and what we are saying is before the president sends additional American troops into the civil war, the president has to come back to the Congress and get the authority for that deployment,” Kennedy said Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” show.

“The American people ought to have a voice and a vote and members of Congress should be held accountable. We ought to take this step and stop the surge,” Kennedy said.

The Democrats are SPLIT. At least Ted Kennedy has the Cojones to propose legislation that the NUTROOTS and LEFT desire.

But, what about the mainstream Democrats?

Why aren’t the Democrats asking for equal time to respond to President Bush’s address to the nation tomorrow night?

No Plan?

What about the Democrats running for President and some who sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee?

Hillary?

Barack?

Edwards?

Joe Biden?

Where do you stand on the Kennedy legislation? Do you want to cut off funding so the President will be forced to bring the troops home? Isn’t that what the Democrat Party ran on last November?

Come on, now, speak up………

Anyone?

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Technorati Tags: Cox&Forkum, Iraq, IraqWar, GeorgeWBush

CNN: Senator’s condition upgraded after brain surgery

Sen. Tim Johnson’s condition has been upgraded from critical to fair, four weeks after he was hospitalized for a brain hemorrhage, his office said Tuesday.

The South Dakota Democrat, who was rushed to the hospital December 13 and underwent emergency surgery, remains in intensive care, said his spokeswoman, Julianne Fisher.

“The senator continues to make progress,” Fisher said. “The next step would be rehabilitation and we hope that would happen within the week.”

Johnson’s office has said that his recovery is expected to take several months.

He underwent surgery to correct a condition called arteriovenous malformation, involving tangled arteries in his brain.

The senator’s doctors said last week that Johnson was improving but still needed a ventilator at night to help him breathe. The ventilator has required a tube to be placed down Johnson’s throat, making it impossible for him to talk.

His long-term prognosis is unclear. He has been responsive to his family and physicians, following commands, squeezing his wife’s hand and understanding speech.

Good news for Senator Johnson. But, still bad news for Senate Democrats and Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Just as I said before, Senator Johnson will not be back to the Senate or a regular political life anytime soon. Many votes will pass with Johnson not being present.
Moroever, the length of his rehabilitation time will affect whether there is ANY chance of Senator Johnson being a viable candidate for re-election in 2008.

Stay tuned…..

Previous:

Senator Tim Johnson Watch: Johnson is Improving But Still Requires Ventilator at Night

Senator Tim Johnson Watch: Johnson Remains in Critical Condition

Senator Tim Johnson Watch: Johnson in Stable Condition After Brain Surgery

Senator Tim Johnson Watch: Senate Back to 50-50 Split?

Senator Tim Johnson Watch: Johnson in Critical Condition After Late Night Brain Surgery

Senator Tim Johnson Watch: Senator Undergoes Surgery

Senator Tim Johnson Watch: Democrat Spokesman Says Johnson Did Not Suffer Stroke

Senator Tim Johnson Watch: Johnson Hospitalized with Apparent Stroke

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Technorati Tags: TimJohnson, SouthDakota

AP: Democrats resisting Bush’s Iraq plan

President Bush is telling lawmakers he will send thousands more U.S. troops to Iraq’s two most troubled regions, in a plan that Democrats are resisting as a major escalation of a 31/2-year-old war.

On Tuesday, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., said he expects Bush to announce that up to 20,000 additional troops will be sent to Iraq, but will not say how long the extra forces will be there. Levin, who spoke to reporters a day after meeting with White House national security adviser
Stephen Hadley, said he thinks Bush will signal that the overall U.S. commitment in Iraq is not open-ended.

The extra forces would be sent to Baghdad, which has been consumed by sectarian violence, and the western Anbar Province, a base of the mostly Sunni insurgency and foreign al-Qaida fighters, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas, and others said following the session with Bush.

Ok, let’s go in and win this war – finish the job and rebuild a democratic Iraq.

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Technorati Tags: MichaelRamirez, Iraq, IraqWar, GeorgeWBush

A US Marine Corps attack helicopter is seen in a 2004 handout photo from the US Marine Corps (USMC). US attack helicopters launched fresh air strikes in southern Somalia, targeting the suspected command center of Al-Qaeda militants, a Somali defense ministry official said.

AP: Copters attack Somalia militant suspects

Helicopter gunships attacked suspected al-Qaida fighters in the south Tuesday after U.S. forces staged airstrikes in the first offensive in the African country since 18 American soldiers were killed there in 1993, witnesses said.

Witnesses said 31 civilians, including two newlyweds, died in the assault by two helicopters near Afmadow, a town in an area of forested hills close to the Kenyan border 220 miles southwest of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. The report could not be independently verified.

A Somali Defense Ministry official described the helicopters as American, but the local witnesses told The Associated Press they could not make out identification markings on the craft. Washington officials had no comment.

On Monday, at least one U.S. AC-130 gunship attacked Islamic extremists in Hayi, 30 miles from Afmadow, and on a remote island 155 miles away believed to be an al-Qaida training camp at the southern tip of Somalia next to Kenya. Somali officials said they had reports of many deaths. The Pentagon confirmed the strike, but declined to comment on any details.

The Pentagon is now acknowledging the special operation:

The Somalia assault, however, was conducted by U.S. Special Operations Command and has been shrouded in secrecy. The military typically declines to reveal much about such missions by special operations forces, including the AC-130 gunships used in the Somalia attack, and Delta Force counterterrorism ground troops.

In this photo released by the U.S. Navy on Tuesday Jan. 9, 2007, An F/A-18C Hornet from the Wildcats of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 131 lands aboard the flight deck of the the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower on Monday Jan. 8, 2007. The U.S. military said Tuesday it had sent the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower to join three other U.S. warships conducting anti-terror operations off the Somali coast. The aircraft carrier is part of the Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet.

USS Dwight David Eisenhower

Stay tuned as operations continue……..

AC-130

Somalia Watch: United States Launching New Attacks Against Al Qaeda in Somalia

Somalia Watch: United States Attacking Al Qaeda Positions in Somalia

Somalia Watch: Diplomats Call for Urgent Deployment of Peacekeeping Troops in Somalia

Cox & Forkum: Somalian Front

Somalia Watch: Somalia Offers Islamists Amnesty

Somalia Watch: Mogadishu Retaken by Somali Government Troops

Somalia Watch: A Guide to the Latest Front of the War on Terror

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Technorati Tags: Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea,AbuTalhaal-Sudani, GouledHassanDourad, FazulAbdullahMohammed, SalehAliSalehNabhan

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (C) unveils his new health care plan to health care and business professionals via satellite from his office in Los Angeles, California, as Kim Belshe, Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, listens in Sacramento January 8, 2007. Schwarzenegger was unable to attend due to his broken leg.

Los Angeles Times: Gov. seeks sweeping health system reforms

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today proposed upending just about every portion of the healthcare industry in one of the country’s most elaborate efforts at holding down medical costs and expanding insurance to those who don’t have it.

Schwarzenegger’s plan, which he publicly unveiled at noon, would require employers with 10 workers or more to buy insurance for their workers or pay a fee of 4% of their payroll into a program to help provide coverage for the uninsured.

Schwarzenegger would tax doctors 2% of their gross revenue and place a 4% tax on hospitals. He campaigned for reelection on an anti-tax platform, but his administration argues that so many more people would have insurance that medical providers would make more money.

The governor also wants to ban insurers from refusing to offer coverage to some individuals because of their prior medical conditions. Insurers would also have to spend at least 85% of their premium revenues on patient care, a move that would limit the amount companies spend on administrative costs and profits.

In an effort to cover all Californian children, including ones in the state illegally, Schwarzenegger’s plan would expand the state’s Healthy Families program, providing insurance to children whose parents make less than three times the poverty level. That works out to about $60,000 for a family of four.

And Schwarzenegger said his plan would require every Californian to have health insurance.

“If you can’t afford it, the state will help you buy it,” he said, “but you must be insured.”

The ten page Governors’ Health Care Proposal is here.

The Governor’s vision for health reform is an accessible, efficient, and affordable health care system that promotes a healthier California through prevention and wellness and universality of coverage. For the Governor’s vision to be realized, health care reform must reflect a“systems” approach that incorporates three essential building blocks in an integrated manner.
These building blocks are:

Prevention, health promotion, and wellness

Coverage for all Californians

Affordability and cost containment

Kim Belshe, Secretary for Health and Human Services, outlines Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger health coverage plan during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, Jan. 8, 2007. Schwarzenegger proposed to extend health coverage to nearly all of California’s 6.5 million uninsured people, promising to spread the cost among businesses, individuals, hospitals, doctors, insurers and government.

So, what does the Governor’s plan do?

REDISTRIBUTION OF INCOME AND WEALTH - TRUE LIES: SOCIALIZED UNIVERSAL COVERAGE but California style.

And this has been so successful where?

Great Britain?

Canada?

Australia?

Russia?

Maine?

Answer: NOWHERE

And WHO IS GOING TO PAY?

Major elements, dubbed “shared responsibility,” include requiring every Californian to be insured, much as motorists are required to carry insurance; requiring employers to either cover workers or pay payroll taxes into a state pool; taxing insurers and medical care providers to recapture some of their new revenues; and extracting more than $5 billion in new federal funds to help cover the $12 billion annual cost.

While libertarians contend that government shouldn’t be in the health care business, as a practical — and legal — matter virtually everyone already receives some care, with the uninsured misusing hospital emergency rooms, which pass on their costs of uncompensated care to paying patients. Schwarzenegger cites that “hidden tax” as the rationale for bringing costs into the open and paying for them.

There are some serious reservations about the Republican governor’s approach. With health care costs rising several times faster than payrolls, for example, it seems unlikely that flat taxes on payrolls, doctors and hospitals would work.

The overarching uncertainty, however, is whether such an ambitious scheme could survive the legislative grinder, where interest groups will exert their influence to gain financially advantageous changes for their members. Consumer groups will oppose the individual coverage mandates, for instance, while many employers will oppose being required to provide coverage (those with under 10 workers would be exempted) or pay in-lieu taxes.

A big question is whether the proposed taxes — about $4.5 billion of the $12 billion — would require two-thirds legislative votes, which would give a veto to anti-tax Republican legislators and perhaps sink the scheme. Administration officials and Democratic leaders hope to avoid the two-thirds vote by calling the taxes fees, but if they do that, the courts would have the last word.

And ILLEGAL ALIENS are they covered?

You bet….

Arnold vetoes California Driver’s Licenses for illegal aliens but now will provide them with “FREE” Universal health care?

How do you spell RECALL? and/or REFERENDUM?

The DETAILS IN THIS DEVIL ARE HERE.

Some of the reactions to the Governor’s radical proposal are here.

Democrat Speaker of the Assembly Nunez:

“This is a plan Assembly Democrats could have written – and in a lot of ways already did. I’m pleased to see so much in common with the plan I introduced last month.”

California Nurses Assn.

The California Nurses Association today said it welcomed the decision of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to address the state’s escalating healthcare crisis. But, said CNA President Deborah Burger, the sum of his proposals may ultimately amount to “little more than a fresh coat of paint on a collapsing house.”

CNA commended portions of the governor’s plan that would require health plans to end denials of coverage based on age or health status and assurance of health services for the undocumented. But, overall, “the package has a number of gaping holes,” said Burger.

That begins with the call to “criminalize the uninsured by forcing them to buy insurance, a plan that shifts the costs and risk from the insurers to individuals, won’t work for millions of Californians, and is a huge gift to the insurance industry,” said Burger.

“What we don’t see is any discussion of what type of health coverage people will buy. There are no limits on skyrocketing health premiums, no requirements on what will be included in the required plans, and a new call to deregulate existing public protections.

Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines:

“Imposing a new jobs tax on employers of any size and expanding costly government mandates is the wrong approach, one which will devastate our economy. We continue to agree with the Governor’s statements in 2004 when he argued that a new jobs tax will be a job killer and force many businesses to lay off workers, move out of state or close their doors for good.

“As we debate health care reform this year, it is vital that lawmakers fully consider the impact our actions will have on jobs, the economy, hard working families, and the state budget. Assembly Republicans stand ready to work with the Governor and lawmakers to shape California’s health care future in a fiscally responsible manner, focusing on real problems, while protecting the wallets of California taxpayers.”

California State Senator Tom McClintock

‘It is disappointing that just 72 hours into his [second term] he’s shattered the central campaign pledge upon which he won reelection — not to raise taxes,’ said state Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor last year with the governor’s support.

‘I think it’s ironic,’ McClintock continued, ‘that a governor who just proclaimed himself a centrist would come up with a proposal well to the left of the one presented by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata,’ a Democrat from Oakland.”

Dan Walters in his excellent piece outlines four possible scenarios for this health initiative:

1. Effectively reforming health care

2. Enacting a minor, face-saving expansion of care

3. Another gridlock failure

4. Creating another unworkable monstrosity

Flap says number two and the reform will indeed be minor.

Schwarzenegger has NO voter mandate to undertake such a radical approach to reforming a health care system that until now has been private in California. This is NOT infrastructure reform.
The Democrats and Labor Unions may like parts of the program but they REALLY want true socialized government paid universal single payor coverage.

The GOP will NEVER support the business mandates and increased taxes.

Medicine and hospitals will NEVER support taxes on their services – in hopes of increased revenues? What has the Governator been smoking?

Stay tuned for tonight’s State of the State address and tomorrow’s unveiling of the Governor’s budget. Then watch, as the California GOP turns against their own Governor on this issue, partisanship and the budget.

Others Blogging:

Captain Ed

Sister Toldjah

Ed Driscoll 

Previous:

Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Governor A No Show at Inaugural Parties

Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: California Governor Continues to Work Despite Injury

Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: California Governor Schwarzenegger Scheduled for Tuesday Surgery

Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Governator Breaks His Leg while Skiing

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Technorati Tags: ArnoldSchwarzenegger