Free Republic

According to local outlets in Tampa, Florida, process servers have attempted on nearly 30 occasions to deliver court papers at 10 different church properties. The drops occurred between May and August and the servers were all turned away by security guards, including at the Hacienda Gardens facility where former members say he lives. On January 25, lawyers for the plaintiffs asked attorneys for the Church of Scientology's leader if they would accept service and they declined. Court papers were also delivered to Scientology properties but all attempts resulted in unsigned returned receipts. Some were refused at the location. 'For years,...

Ozymandias Percy Bysshe Shelley - 1792-1822 I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' Nothing...

Alas, it appears now that no one will be cashing in on my Weiner Hacker bounty. To reflect on this solemn occasion, I would like to offer a bit of poetry (with apologies to Percy Bysshe Shelley).Continued

Less attention has been paid to the new road being built in Hanksville, Utah, behind Blondie’s Eatery. It won’t connect with Highway 95 and, after 250 yds will just peter out into nothing. However, as a tribute to the Obama stimulus it will be named Ozymandias Drive and there are plans to build a huge statue of Obama bestriding the road.

The criminal case that brought former California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's political career to an abrupt halt more than three years ago is scheduled for trial today, as federal prosecutors attempt to prove mail fraud and witness tampering charges against his onetime fundraiser Julie Lee. While the case dashed the lofty aspirations of Shelley - once considered a potential senator, mayor or governor - and took a long time to get to trial, the allegations against Lee are straightforward. Prosecutors have charged her with four counts of mail fraud and three counts of witness tampering for fraudulently obtaining state...

We Need Your Help on Election Day Dear Friend, Thank you for all your help and support to this point. We are so close and we feel the positive momentum giving us a solid chance for victory. Today, I am asking you to work for my campaign as a poll worker on Election Day. As you know, I am a write-in candidate, and the poll worker gives help to those who have questions about voting for me. This is a critical role to ensure that District 22 has strong, credentialed Republican representation. Poll worker shifts can be as brief as...

I was going to write a glowing review of this film; without question the best I have seen this year, even with eight months left. But something happened last night that made my heart sink: The local news said the film opened at number 2 at the box office, picking up a paltry $12 million, behind the new Robin "I Needed The Money" Williams flick RV. (I'm sure you have seen the ads for it. Were you as impressed as I? Not!) Now, I'd like to know: Where the bloody hell was America? Do we really want to forget about...

Just for fun, what is the WORST film you have EVER seen? And why? I know a lot of you will be inclined to insert a Michael Moore film, but I am talking about films that are supposed to be fiction. To begin, here is my personal pick: Ron Howard's The Grinch.Surely we all remember the classic story from Dr. Seuss. Very simple, all about the spirit of Christmas. Now, we get to the film. To begin with, the Whos are portrayed as the exact dead opposite of what they are in the story: They are quite materialistic. Then, there...

Sacramento -- More than $3.8 million in federal election money sent to California was either misspent by former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley or lacked proper documentation, according to a federal audit released Wednesday. Shelley, who resigned in February after a series of scandals buffeted his administration, was criticized last December in a state audit for slipshod management -- a finding echoed by federal officials who questioned nearly half of the spending they reviewed. The auditors said they found instances of legal costs that exceeded contracted amounts, employee salaries improperly paid with federal dollars, and the purchase of promotional items...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - More than $3.8 million in federal election money was spent improperly or without required documentation by former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, federal auditors said in a report released Wednesday. The audit, commissioned by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, confirms an earlier state audit of Shelley's handling of money given to California under the Help America Vote Act. It examined spending through 2004. Auditors said about $3 million in spending lacked documentation, such as paying salaries for people who didn't submit time sheets, or was improperly awarded to consultants through no-bid contracts. The audit, conducted by the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal agency that oversees election preparations has decided to release nearly $170 million to California that was potentially in jeopardy because of questions over how federal money was spent under former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission sent a letter Wednesday to California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, Shelley's replacement, to announce the release of the $169.7 million, commission spokeswoman Jeannie Layson said Thursday. The move followed a visit McPherson paid to the commission last month to lobby for the money - Californias 2004 share of some $3 billion being sent to...

The other shoe dropped for Julie Lee on Thursday when the erstwhile fundraiser for former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley was charged by a federal grand jury in Sacramento with mail fraud and attempted witness tampering. A seven-count indictment alleges that the 58-year-old Lee, a San Francisco businesswoman, one-time city commissioner and political power broker in the Asian community, siphoned $125,000 out of a state grant in 2001 and 2002, then used the money for campaign contributions through intermediaries to Shelley, who was a candidate for secretary of state. The indictment also alleges Lee created false and misleading paperwork and...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The U.S. attorney's office on Thursday indicted Julie Lee, a top political fundraiser for former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, for diverting $125,000 from a taxpayer-funded grant to Shelley's campaign coffers. An FBI investigation led a federal grand jury to issue the seven-count indictment that charges Lee with four counts of mail fraud and three counts of attempted witness tampering, U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said. Lee's attorney, Steven Gruel, could not immediately be reached for comment, but last month she pleaded not guilty to related criminal charges in San Francisco. The federal indictment alleges that Lee...

Shelley's Last Day As Secretary Of State Uneventful Friday was the last day in office for California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, who has already packed up his office and left town. "Kevin Shelley was here on Tuesday. (He) called an agency-wide staff meeting. (He was) very, very cordial, very pleasant. (He) thanked the staff for all of their hard work," said Secretary of State Office spokeswoman Caren Daniels-Meade. Shelley stepped down after being investigated for misuse of government money. He made the announcement last month and was set to resign March 1. But he extended the date until Friday...

Kevin Shelley’s State-Issued PDA Stolen From Home Someone broke into outgoing Secretary of State Kevin Shelly's San Francisco home last weekend. Whoever did it bypassed valuables and decided to take only Shelley's state-issued personal digital assistant. According to San Francisco police, Shelley called authorities Sunday morning after discovering someone had apparently entered his Everson Street home during the night though an open window. Shelley told police he had left the window open, but noticed the opening had been widened when he woke up in the morning. Shelley also told police that he may have wiped-off a smudge from the windowsill...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Secretary of State Kevin Shelley told police that a handheld computer device containing sensitive information was taken from his San Francisco home. Shelley, who announced his resignation earlier this month and will leave office next week, reported the incident Sunday morning after discovering a window ajar in the study of his home, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday. He told police he had left the window open overnight, but that it appeared someone had opened it farther. He also said he had wiped a smudge from the window that could have been left by an intruder....

SACRAMENTO (AP) - State Auditor Elaine Howle said Tuesday that the secretary of state's office is "headed in the right direction" to better manage millions of dollars in federal election funds, but she acknowledged it's still too early to tell if a lasting turnaround is in place. Howle, testifying one week before Secretary of State Kevin Shelley was scheduled to step down from the state's top elections post, said Shelley's office has showed progress toward removing a "cloud" over its operations. A consulting firm hired by the office also detailed its work toward tightening the scandal-tinged operation within the next...

Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, who has resigned effective March 1, will not appear Tuesday before a legislative committee investigating his handling of millions in federal voting funds. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee opted not to seek Shelley's testimony, but retains the right to request his presence at a future hearing, said Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, a Hanford Democrat who chairs the committee. "We want to build a foundation before we even discuss calling Shelley forward," Parra said. Tuesday's hearing will focus largely on what Shelley's office is doing to correct problems cited in a state audit, which portrayed his agency...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A week after announcing his resignation, embattled Secretary of State Kevin Shelley quietly named a Sacramento area attorney to a four-year term on the state board that regulates California's political campaigns. Shelley appointed A. Eugene Huguenin, a former staff lawyer for the California Teachers Association, to succeed Thomas Knox on the Fair Political Practices Commission. Knox's term expired Jan. 31. Shelley, facing allegations that he mishandled federal election funds, accepted tainted campaign contributions and sexually harassed employees, announced Feb. 4 that he would leave office March 1. According to news reports, the FPPC is one of the...

KEVIN Shelley's swift, infamous slide from public office has ended. But his resignation doesn't mean that the soon-to-be-former California secretary of state should be allowed to walk away from the accusations that undermined his credibility. There are too many of them and at least eight investigations at the local, state and federal levels. They are serious and the consequences too important to let him off the public hook just because he finally did the right thing. They must be resolved before Shelley can fade into the next phase of his life. Shelley, 49, said Friday when announcing his resignation that...