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SNIPPET: "Rusty Shackelford, PhD., credits Samir Khan with the first report of the arrest of Abu Sayaba, proprietor of the "iskandrani" blog, by the FBI in Boston. This corresponds to the arrest of Tarek Mehanna, age 26, on charges of lying to FBI agents when questioned two years ago about his friend and now-convicted terrorist Daniel Joseph Maldonado. Mehanna was about to leave the USA for Saudi Arabia, which evidently prompted the unsealing of his indictment." (Read More...)

Governor vetoes climate change curriculum California public students will stick to reading, writing and arithmetic, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger decided as he vetoed a bill late Friday that would have required climate change be added to schools' curriculum. The measure, sponsored by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, also would have required future science textbooks to include climate change as a subject. In January, the state Senate approved the bill, SB 908, by a 26-13 vote. Only two Republicans supported the proposal. In his veto statement, Schwarzenegger said he supported education that spotlights the dangers of climate change. However, the Republican...

Republican Sen. Abel Maldonado is running for reelection this year - as both a Republican and a Democrat. The Santa Maria lawmaker turned in signatures earlier this week to qualify himself as a write-in candidate in the Democratic primary of his 15th Senate District, though he is already unopposed for the GOP nomination. Maldonado's campaign said the rare move was intended to give the moderate Republican's Democratic supporters - including his mom - the right to vote for him in the primary. "Abel's mother, who is a Democrat, said, 'Son, I want to vote for you in the Democratic primary...

Sacramento -- After weeks of wrangling and partisan bickering, two of 14 holdout Republican senators agreed today to support a $145 billion spending plan, giving it the bare minimum number of votes for passage. The budget bill passed the Senate on a vote of 27 to 12, ending one of the longest budget stalemates in recent state history. The state Assembly already approved the budget on July 20, but follow up legislation will probably be considered today in the state's lower house to match actions in the Senate. Today's Senate vote essentially ends a 52-day delay in adopting a state...

The lone Senate Republican who voted for the long-delayed, $145 billion state budget is one of the few GOP moderates left in an increasingly fractured Legislature. Sen. Abel Maldonado, a farmer from Santa Maria, was the only one of 15 Senate Republicans to vote for the spending plan Wednesday night, leaving it one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed to send it to the governor's desk. "I look at myself as an independent," Maldonado said in an interview Thursday. "I've always been independent. I vote my district. If it's good for my district, I'm going to vote aye. If...

STATE SENATE President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, called the budget impasse "a Republican problem." To be precise, it is the problem of a small group of Republican senators who have allowed their egos and ideologies to trump the public interest. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, also a Republican, expressed frustration with the holdouts during a news conference Thursday. The governor effectively gave them want they wanted - in terms of the budget - when he agreed to use his line-item veto to cut the remaining $700 million deficit when it reaches his desk. The budget contains the largest reserve in state...

Maldonado breaks ranks with GOP, and threats rain down. When decision time came on Wednesday, state Sen. Abel Maldonado went his own way.He walked out in the middle of a closed-door Republican caucus and retreated to his Capitol office.Twenty minutes before the Senate convened to debate the overdue state budget, the Santa Maria Republican called Senate GOP leader Dick Ackerman and gave him the news: He would break ranks and vote for a spending plan his GOP colleagues disdain. "Obviously, he was not happy," Maldonado recalled Thursday. "It just came down to it's as good as it's going to get....

Daniel Joseph Maldonado, a former Houston resident who convereted to Islam and admitted training with terrorists, was sentenced today to 10 years in prison and given a $1,000 fine. Maldonado, 28, pleaded guilty in April to training with al-Qaida in East Africa. He is the first American charged with joining the terrorist organization in Somalia. The charge carried a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a fine up to $250,000. He admitted his association with terrorists in exchange for no further prosecution by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston. Maldonado came to the attention of federal investigators in late...

Ahmadinejad Vows News Soon on Atomic Work -Full Story- Iran's president promised on Sunday Iranians would soon hear more news about the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, which the West believes is a covert effort to build atomic bombs despite Tehran's denials."The Iranian nation will soon hear fresh news about our country's nuclear transition," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.He did not give details about any announcements or when the news would be released but Ahmadinejad is due to hold a news conference on Tuesday. Iran Warns Bush Not to Talk Unwisely Over Britons'...

HOUSTON --A U.S. citizen accused of working alongside al-Qaida members pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge of receiving training from a foreign terrorist organization, authorities said. During a court hearing, Daniel Joseph Maldonado, 28, a Muslim convert who grew up in New Hampshire and was also known as Daniel Aljughaifi and Abu Mohammed, admitted to traveling in December to a terrorist camp in Somalia, where he was trained to use firearms and explosives in an effort to help the Islamic Courts Union topple the government and install an Islamic state. Members of al-Qaida were present at the camp.

A former Houston man arrested in Kenya last month was ordered held without bond today on charges that he was joining with al-Qaida to help overthrow the Somali government and form an Islamic state there. Federal officials charged Daniel Joseph Maldonado, 28, also known as Daniel Aljughaifi, with undergoing military training with a terrorist organization and conspiring to use a destructive device. Maldonado was returned to the U.S. on Monday night and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Calvin Botley this afternoon, the U.S. Attorney's office in Houston said. He was ordered held without bond until a detention hearing next week....

A former Houston man arrested in Kenya last month has been charged in Texas with teaming with al-Qaida to overthrow the Somali government and form an Islamic state there. Daniel Joseph Maldonado, 28, also known as Daniel Aljughaifi, was ordered held without bail Tuesday on federal charges of undergoing military training with a terrorist organization and conspiring to use a destructive device. Maldonado was returned to the United States on Monday night and appeared Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Calvin Botley, the U.S. attorney's office in Houston said. A detention hearing is set for next week. Maldonado's arrest marks the...

HOUSTON --A man arrested in Kenya last month was ordered held without bond Tuesday on charges that he joined with al-Qaeda to help overthrow the Somali government and form an Islamic state there. Federal officials charged Daniel Joseph Maldonado, 28, a Muslim convert also known as Daniel Aljughaifi and Abu Mohammed, with undergoing military training with a terrorist organization and conspiring to use a destructive device.

Moderate Republicans in California, having watched their party become increasingly dominated by conservatives as it sunk deeper and deeper into minority status, had big hopes after Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor in 2003. A new leader had arrived, one who because of a lightning strike of political good luck did not have to subject himself to the ideological litmus test of a statewide Republican primary. Just maybe, they thought, he could lead them out of the political wilderness. Schwarzenegger, as they saw it, was their kind of Republican: supportive of abortion rights, receptive to gay-rights issues, tough-minded on taxes, sensitive...

State Sen. Abel Maldonado was a lieutenant for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Legislature, carrying the Republican governor's minimum-wage increase bill at some risk to his own GOP credentials in the primary for state controller. So when the governor did not endorse Maldonado or any other candidate in the primary and Maldonado lost to the more conservative Tony Strickland, the senator apparently grew frustrated. "Our governor cares about one thing only, and that's Arnold Schwarzenegger," Maldonado told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday. On the minimum-wage bill, the Santa Maria senator said: "I kind of felt like I got left...

Scrambling to recover from one of the biggest cases of "open mouth, insert foot" seen at the state Capitol in a long time, Sen. Abel Maldonado has apologized to fellow Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a day after saying the governor showed "a lack of respect" toward Latinos. When he needs Latinos, Latinos are always there for him," Maldonado said. "When Latinos need him, the answer's been 'no.' " The comments shocked Republicans, who whispered that Maldonado's insulting was political suicide. Maybe Maldonado came to the same conclusion. On Thursday, his office released a brief statement apologizing to Schwarzenegger. "I will...

Republican circles were buzzing yesterday about state Senator Abel Maldonado’s trashing of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday as he rolled out his Latino support coalition, a group which not long ago would certainly have been co-chaired by Maldonado, an enthusiastic ally. “I don’t know what he thinks he is doing,” said one agitated high-ranking Republican. Maldonado declined to comment on the situation. As the controversy grew yesterday, Maldonado took down his political web site, electabel.com, the content of which belied his new critical view of Schwarzenegger. The act amused Schwarzenegger allies because there was so much Schwarzenegger content on that...

With all the talk about the former red state, Republican state, California, becoming a blue state -- which is not quite as true as some think -- there is someone talking about it becoming a purple state. That is California Republican Party chairman Duf Sundheim, who talked about his hopes for California during last week’s bus tour kicking off Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s re-election campaign against Democratic challenger Phil Angelides. The Silicon Valley lawyer came on a few years ago to put a moderate face on the party, whose apparatus was traditionally viewed as right wing and increasingly out of step...

Maldonado loses Controller race Strickland unofficial winner of Republican primaryLeslie Griffy and Larissa Van Beurden-Doust With 100 percent of precincts reporting, State Sen. Abel Maldonado has lost to Tony Strickland for the Republican nominaton for state controller. Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, received 37 percent of the vote compared to more than 40 percent for Strickland. They had been in an even tighter race last night. "We knew that this race was going to be very, very close," Maldonado said Tuesday night. "Obviously, we'd love to be on top. I'm proud of the campaign we ran." Local Republican leaders said Maldonado's decision...

Welcome to the live thread for the California Primary Election. Polls are open until 8pm tonight. If you are a registered voter, it is your duty to vote and defend your rights and civil liberties, protect your pocketbook, and vote the bums out where applicable. Feel free to discuss issues key to your local area that others may be interested in. Post your polling place experiences if you like. And post numbers as they come in later tonight.

SACRAMENTO Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger filled a dormant state commission with four Democrats on Friday before asking them to approve a $1-an-hour minimum wage increase without the annual cost-of-living adjustments pushed by Democratic lawmakers. Two of the four were originally appointed to the Industrial Welfare Commission by former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and served until their terms expired last year. The two others were new appointments by the Republican governor, one of them representing the state manufacturer's association. A fifth commissioner's term expires in January. Schwarzenegger, who vetoed two previous minimum wage increases, is asking the commission to increase the minimum...

Field Poll link Lt. Governor (Democratic): In the contested Democratic primary for Lt. Governor, State Senator Jackie Speier has pulled ahead of State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi and State Senator Liz Figueroa. The current poll finds Speier the choice of 30% of likely Democratic primary voters, with Garamendi at 25% and Figueroa far behind at 8%. More than one in three voters (37%) are undecided. The current findings are a reversal of voter preferences from April when Garamendi held the lead over Speier. • Attorney General (Democratic): Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown continues to hold a comfortable lead over Los Angeles...

The Democrats' two candidates for governor, Phil Angelides and Steve Westly, are escalating their personal attacks as the June 6 primary draws closer -- but the insults they've exchanged so far are pablum compared to the sheer nastiness of another statewide primary duel. Former Assemblyman Tony Strickland and state Sen. Abel Maldonado are jousting for the Republican nomination for state controller and as it happens, their duel represents this year's only clear-cut conflict between the ever-hostile conservative and moderate wings of the Republican Party. Conservatives may carp about what they see as the quasi-liberalism of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, but they...

Adopting a new tactic in a fight over the minimum wage, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked a dormant state commission Thursday to raise the wage by $1 an hour without the annual cost-of-living increases sought by Democrats. The Republican governor sent a letter to Bill Dombrowski, chairman of the Industrial Welfare Commission, and asked the panel to consider raising the wage from $6.75 to $7.75 in two steps over a nine-month period. A decision by the commission to grant the increase could give Schwarzenegger political cover if, as expected, he vetoes legislation later this year raising the wage and requiring subsequent...

Following up a suggestion made last month by a Republican legislator, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has moved to increase California's minimum wage by $1 an hour between now and early next year. Schwarzenegger today petitioned the state's Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) to increase the minimum wage from its current rate of $6.75 an hour. The last increase was in January 2002. Last month, Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) suggested the very same plan-- a way to avoid the current impasse with Democrats in the Legislature. Schwarzenegger and Maldonado have advocated for only the $1 hike, while Democrats also want a provision...

Controller race draws a crowd They’re all competing for the key job described by one as ‘the CFO for the sixth-largest economy in the world’ By Bob Cuddy The four candidates running for state controller. What a controller does (PDF) Ask the average Californian what the state controller does, and you’ll likely hear, "What’s that?" says state Sen. Joe Dunn, who wants the job. But Dunn and his opponents know better. "You’re the CFO for the sixth-largest economy in the world," says John Chiang, also a candidate for state controller on the June 6 ballot. Chiang and Dunn are opposing...

Three state senators called Wednesday for the ouster of University of California President Robert Dynes over a pay-perk controversy that has roiled the prestigious public research institution. Sens. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, and Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, called on Dynes to resign at a news conference in Sacramento. In a related move, Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, called UC Regents Chairman Gerald Parsky and asked him to fire Dynes. ``Dynes still doesn't get it,'' Denham said in a statement. ``While at times, he has been a good cheerleader for the UC, he has been a horrible manager. He seems to think...

THE MOST important thing for any poor person trying to improve his or her condition is, of course, a job. It is the entry-level job that accords impoverished workers — even those with no skills, no references and no employment record — the invaluable opportunity to succeed and to prosper. It is literally the first rung up the ladder of success. If that is true, then the most vicious governmental policy would be one that eliminates entry-level jobs, making it harder for the poor to get a foothold in life. Yet that is precisely what the state of California is...

I KNOW FIRSTHAND how the minimum wage affects California's low-wage earners and small-business employers. As a young man, I worked long hours in the strawberry fields alongside my father, who also worked for minimum wage. My mother and father understood the daily struggle of providing the necessities for their children while earning only the lowest allowable wage. Later on, through years of hard work, faith and perseverance, my parents turned a half-acre strawberry farm into a 6,000-acre family business that today employs more than 200 people and ships produce around the world. To this day they have not forgotten their...

Every decade or so, California experiences a watershed election year which realigns the state's cast of politicians - bringing some careers to an end and jump-starting others - and 2006 could be one of those events. Whether Arnold Schwarzenegger continues his governorship or becomes an idiosyncratic footnote to history is, of course, the biggest political question hanging over the state. But polls indicate that Schwarzenegger's political position is improving - in part because voters are giving him credit for trying to fix infrastructure - and his two would-be challengers, Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly, have their own problems....

Similar bills that would give 1.4 million minimum wage earners a dollar-an-hour raise and then adjust their pay each year to keep up with inflation were approved Wednesday by committees in the Assembly and Senate. But the Senate committee refused to vote on a rival bill backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that includes a $1 increase but not an annual inflation adjustment. The senator carrying Schwarzenegger's bill, Republican Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria, urged the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee to reconsider its decision and pass his bill to avoid another veto. "Gov. Schwarzenegger looked me in the eye...

A Republican lawyer who works as legal counsel to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has filed an initiative that would raise the minimum wage--but also abolish the eight-hour day for overtime. Thomas Hiltachk filed the "Fair Pay Workplace Flexibility Act of 2006" with the Attorney General on Feb. 10. If it makes it to the ballot and is passed by voters, it would lift the state's minimum wage from the current $6.75 to $7.25 on July 1, 2007, and to $7.75 a year later. The initiative does not include automatic cost-of-living increases known as indexing. The initiative would also codify several rules...

Lawmakers split over how to boost minimum wage Assembly to consider four separate measures this legislative session, three proposed ballot initiatives are also making the rounds SACRAMENTO - California's poorest workers will likely receive a pay boost as early as this summer and again next year -- the first increases to the minimum wage since 2002. But whether successive raises will follow remains the source of contention between business interests, politicians and labor advocates who are poring over the fine print contained in four separate measures to raise the minimum wage this legislative session. Three proposed ballot initiatives are also...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed legislation that would raise the minimum wage by a dollar over the next two years, though his proposal lacks a mechanism to keep wages in step with rising prices. The new bill (SB 1167), introduced by State Senator Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria), would raise the minimum wage from $6.75 to $7.25 starting in September 2006. A second bump to $7.75 would take effect in July 2007. Last September, Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation (AB 48) for an identical wage hike that included automatic annual increases to keep pace with inflation. In his veto message, the governor cited...

State Sen. Abel Maldonado plans to run for state controller in a Republican primary next year against former Ventura County Assemblyman Tony Strickland. Maldonado, R-San Luis Obispo, a farmer who served three terms in the assembly, was elected to the Senate last fall in a competitive district that stretches from San Jose to his Santa Maria hometown. He is a close ally of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and co-chaired Schwarzenegger's election campaign during the recall of then-Gov. Gray Davis. "I'm a businessman -- that's a good first qualification," Maldonado said in a telephone interview Wednesday night. "I want to really focus...

See http://politicalvanguard.com/index.php?id=scorecard for full report. I'll post the hot story of the week and a summary here... Hot stories of the Week: After Sen. Abel Maldanado (sic) opened his Controller's Monday, stories started circulating that Republican Assemblyman Keith Richman would move from the Treaturer's race where his trails Simon by 40+ points to the Controller's race. Tony Strickland would benefit from that move because that would mean two moderates - Richman (voted against Arnold's budget because it did not include tax increases) and Maldonado would be fighting it out against a lone conservative. Republican candidates (or potential candidates) for Senate...

<p>SACRAMENTO - Buried under a pile of papers on state Sen. Bruce McPherson's desk on the fourth floor of the Capitol is a handwritten note from a Democratic colleague: ``More than any other single person here now, you are in a position to force a break in this dire logjam.''</p>