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Nicholas May Soon Fly on Gulfstream G-IV In a decision which could have wide-ranging implications for US law enforcement at all levels, US District Judge Cormac Carney told prosecutors pursuing drug and investment charges against Broadcom executive Henry T Nichols III that they went too far in seizing his Gulfstream G-IV and threatening to impound it indefinitely.As ANN reported last week, the California businessman asked the court's permission for his family to continue flying the bizjet...The 1993 Gulfstream, registry N2107Z, was seized in a July 16 raid at John Wayne Airport. The FBI asserts Nicholas "...distributed ecstasy, cocaine, methamphetamine and...

With the deluge of threads being posted, and slated to increase greatly as the election heats up, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE .. especially if it's a news/breaking thread ... add the appropriate keywords to your posting form. So, if someone's looking for the latest string of "Obama" or "Sarah Palin" articles, let's say, they just click on that particular keyword at the top of the page, and those articles containing the keyword will come up chronologically. Thank you! Popular keyword options at the top of the main page: ~~~~ *110th *2008 *2008polls *ayers *bailout *barackobama *biden *bo *democrat *democrats *demron *economy...

SACRAMENTO — If you want a less-polarized Legislature — if you want lawmakers who can actually compromise to get things done, such as agreeing on a budget — redistricting reform is not the answer. That's the finding of a report released Tuesday night by the Public Policy Institute of California, throwing into doubt the campaign message of Proposition 11, which would take the power to draw political boundaries away from lawmakers and hand it to a 14-member commission. Proponents have argued that the measure, which is on the Nov. 4 ballot, would rid Sacramento of the partisan bickering by setting...

[The Lincoln Club of Orange County is threatening to pull its financial support for Republicans in the House and Senate if they do not replace their leaders.] The grumbling. The head shaking. The anger.Congressional Republican leaders clearly have no idea what we, their fellow GOP members (and financial backers), say to one another when we get together, yet for years one refrain has been constant: our extreme discontent over how the former GOP majority blew it on spending. Budget earmarks, which jumped by 285% between 1994 and 2005 as their cost soared by 60%, stand as the perfect symbol of...

Conservative activists are preparing to do battle with allies of Sen. John McCain in advance of September's Republican National Convention, hoping to prevent his views on global warming, immigration, stem cell research and campaign finance from becoming enshrined in the party's official declaration of principles.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When House Republican leaders left Washington for their Fourth of July break, they felt good about outwitting the Democratic majority. The feeling was not reciprocated 3,000 miles away, where conservative California Republican activists were drafting an ultimatum. The Lincoln Club of Orange County is telling GOP leaders of both the House and Senate that it is too late to repent. They must go -- or else lose big money. The message: "Come Nov. 5, should the current GOP leadership in either house survive to lead in a new Congress, the Lincoln Club of Orange County will review...

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Federal officials unsealed one indictment today alleging co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III of chip maker Broadcom Corp. spiked the drinks of technology executives and customer representatives with ecstasy and maintained a warehouse for ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamine.A second indictment unsealed today accuses him of conspiracy, securities fraud and other violations relating to stock options backdating while he was CEO.That indictment also names Broadcom's former chief financial officer, William J. Ruehle, on conspiracy and securities fraud charges but no drug violations. Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office, said Nicholas was in custody after turning himself...

Should they decide to enter the 2010 race for governor, former EBay CEO Meg Whitman and State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner will likely have to explain to Republican voters why in recent years they have donated thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates. Contribution reports show that Whitman gave former State Controller Steve Westly, with whom she worked at EBay, $20,000 in combined donations for his 2002 run for controller and 2006 campaign for governor. In 2005 she contributed $1,000 to state Sen. Joe Simitian’s 2008 reelection campaign. She made contributions to candidates for national offices as well: $1,000 to U.S....

Tuesday's election results highlighted challenges for both Democrats and Republicans. Republicans received a hard shot in Mississippi. Greg Davis (for whom I campaigned and who was a well-qualified candidate) narrowly lost a special congressional election in a district President George W. Bush carried four years ago with 62% of the vote. Democrats pulled off the win by smartly nominating a conservative, Travis Childers, from a rural swing part of the district who disavowed Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and hit Mr. Davis from the right. This blow to the GOP came after two other special congressional election losses...

AND NOW . . . amidst billowing clouds of fragrant, aromatic first- and second-hand premium cigar smoke. . . it is time for . . . that harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, the highly-trained broadcast specialist, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, from behind the golden EIB microphone, firmly ensconced in the prestigious Attila-the-Hun chair at the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies, with talent on loan from G-d, at the cutting-edge of societal evolution, with half his brain tied behind his back — just to make it fair, the all-knowing, all-caring, all-sensing, all-feeling,...

By now, most McCain haters will have already skipped down to the comments section to post their expletives and tell me how it’s a free country and they have a 1st Amendment right, etc. to yammer on and on about how bad McCain sucks, totally missing the point of my post, again. But I’m here to tell you, in this free country, that in my opinion, you should SHUT YOUR STINKIN TRAP! To all you ingrates, rageaholics, and self-absorbed punks, WE KNOW YOU HATE MCCAIN. You can give yourself a rest now and stop posting on every single thread the...

Calling state government dysfunctional, a bipartisan group launched a reform effort Wednesday that it said would be backed by its own political action committee. The group, called California Forward, will push for passage of a proposed November ballot initiative supported by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to take away the Legislature's power to draw political districts and give it instead to an independent panel. Advocates say this will help moderates get elected. The reform group also plans to address the state budgeting process. Leon Panetta, a former Democratic congressman from Monterey and chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton, is leading...

Leon Panetta should have been governor. But at least his talent will be used trying to straighten out Sacramento. Panetta and a new team of Capitol outsiders and periphery players have been staked with nearly $16 million by five foundations that are frustrated with the pathetic performance of Sacramento politicians.

John McCain’s campaign got its first opportunity to show how seriously it wants to avoid getting into the identity-politics meltdown in the Democratic primary. The campaign suspended Soren Dayton, a former blogger now working for McCain, for sending the link to a YouTube regarding Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright over a Twitter message: An aide to John McCain was suspended from the campaign today for blasting out an inflammatory video that raises questions about Barack Obama’s patriotism.Soren Dayton, who works in McCain’s political department, sent out the YouTube link of “Is Obama Wright?” on twitter at 12:31 today with the...

It’s not the kind of endorsement that a Republican presidential candidate should welcome. But former Clinton State Department official and alleged Russian dupe Strobe Talbott says that Senator John McCain and Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are all “moderate pragmatists” in foreign policy “with the demonstrated ability to reach across party lines.” This is “good news,” says Talbott, who is an advocate of world government. Can our media stop talking about race, sex and gender long enough to examine whether the American people will be given a choice or an echo on foreign policy issues this November?...

There is no doubt that in the eight years since they arrived on the California political scene, the New Majority has made a significant impact. But what is the New Majority? Who are they? And what are their goals? Just the other day, I was invited to participate in a "media roundtable" with the leadership of the California New Majority and the Orange County New Majority Chapter. It was an informative session, and so I thought that I would share some observations with FlashReport readers. The meeting was conducted by four leaders in the New Majority -- Tom McKernan, the...

The name might be more wishful thinking than practical politics, but a group of Republican business leaders calling themselves the New Majority are hoping to reshape the GOP to give it a stronger role in state and local politics. Launched in Orange County seven years ago, the group raised more than $8 million - more than any other contributor - for the effort to recall Gov. Gray Davis and replace him with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also is a New Majority member. Since then, the group has expanded to Los Angeles County and now has about 90 members in the area....

Dick Armey on the Direction of the GOP By Ryan Sager This week Ryan Sager's new book, The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals, Libertarians, and the Battle to Control the Republican Party, hits bookstore shelves. Below is an interview Sager conducted with former Rep. Dick Armey one of the chief architects of the Republican Revolution in the 1990's. Armey assumed the position of majority leader after the Republicans took Congress in 1994 and remained in that post until he retired from the House in January of 2003. Mr. Armey, now chairman of FreedomWorks, sat down in his Washington, D.C., office...

Rhode Island's independent-minded Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee (news, bio, voting record) confronted stiff opposition Tuesday in his bid for a second term, the latest race with a moderate targeted by his own party's hard-line critics. Nine states and Washington, D.C., were holding primary elections Tuesday, but Chafee's race has drawn the most attention as another test of the depth of anti-incumbent sentiment and the erosion of the political middle ground. Chafee has a remarkable amount of support from national Republicans, especially for a senator who has often been at odds with the party, bucking the administration on tax cuts, civil...

Few incumbents have been as besieged in this year’s campaign season as moderate Rhode Island Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee (news, bio, voting record), who faces a threatening challenge from conservative Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey in the Sept. 12 primary. And the final days of that contest have been as rough on Chafee as what came before: He has found himself obliged to disavow some of his own side’s hard-hitting negative ads aimed at Laffey, and facing criticism from Laffey and allied conservatives concerning his indecision over whether to support Senate confirmation of John R. Bolton, President Bush’s confrontational appointee as...