Free Republic

State lawmakers return to Sacramento this week with both a strikingly ambitious agenda for 2007 and an unusually confident, chipper attitude about their ability to get things done. We like their ambitiousness and welcome the seeming pullback from the polarization of recent years. Unfortunately, here's the bad news: The bold talk from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on down is nearly impossible to reconcile with political and fiscal realities. Consider pension reform, the latest addition to 2007's crowded agenda. In appointing a bipartisan commission last week to examine the staggering long-term costs of benefits promised to public employee retirees, the governor expressed...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) is considering ideas for "a bold agenda" announcement as he faces re-election, including a possible new U.S. space mission, his chief of staff said on Sunday.   "We have lots of suggestions that are being made by members of the president's Cabinet and administrators, like Sean O'Keefe of NASA (news - web sites). And the president will make a decision," said White House chief of staff Andrew Card. "But I guarantee he will have a bold agenda for this country," Card said when asked about a possible new moon mission on...