Free Republic

California Republicans are heading for a showdown over the direction of the party. Gov. Schwarzenegger wants the state GOP platform boiled down to as little as a single page focusing on lowering taxes, limiting the size of government and building a strong national defense. But conservatives say he's attempting to undercut party positions on everything from support of traditional marriage to immigration. State Republicans begin work this weekend on a new platform at their fall convention. The governor is circulating a letter that calls for a trimmed-down platform. It does not mention abortion or gay rights.

Federal prosecutors in Southern California toiled for years to build a case strong enough to cut off the head of the notorious Aryan Brotherhood prison gang and end its 40-year reign over the federal and state prison system. On Friday, the government saw the fruits of its labor: a sweeping verdict that convicted four top gang leaders of murder, conspiracy and racketeering and made two of the defendants eligible for the death penalty. Yet as prosecutors celebrated, legal analysts and prison gang experts questioned whether the government's near-complete victory will translate into what authorities so keenly desire - the eventual...

Interested in solar power? How much you'll pay in city fees to put solar panels on your home depends on where you live -- and some fees around Silicon Valley are so high they are placing a cloud over renewable energy, according to a new study. Saratoga, for example, charges $95 for a permit to install solar panels on a house. Yet in Los Gatos, two miles away, city planners will sock a homeowner with a $1,287 bill for a permit to install the same system. The findings come from a survey of 40 cities in San Mateo, Santa Clara...

The new national counterterrorism center established by President Bush under an executive order is to begin operations in early December, at about the same time that Congress may be debating whether to approve a law that would create a different version of the same agency. The center would be the "primary organization in the United States government for analyzing and integrating" all intelligence "pertaining to terrorism and counterterrorism, excepting purely domestic counterterrorism information." The center's director is to supervise correlation of the terrorism intelligence and produce reports to be sent to the president and other senior officials. It would operate...