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SACRAMENTO (AP) - Leaders of the Legislature's Democratic majority said Tuesday they are setting aside a long-standing call for tax increases to close the state's $8.6 billion deficit next year and instead will concentrate on closing tax loopholes and chasing more federal support. Calling the new budget plan from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a Republican document, Democrats criticized the administration's plans to close the gap using billions in borrowing and taking heavily from schools and public health programs. But lacking their own budget plan and wary about a politically charged special election looming on the horizon, Democrats also said they are...

US Democrat John Kerry is asking county elections officials to allow his witnesses to inspect the 92,000 ballots cast in Ohio in which no vote for president was recorded, a Kerry lawyer said. The request is one of 11 the Kerry campaign made in a letter sent over the weekend to Ohio's 88 county boards of election, which will begin recounting presidential ballots this week. "We're trying to increase the transparency of the election process," Donald McTigue, the lawyer handling the recount for the Kerry campaign, said last night. But he said that several requests - such as using independent...

Ok folks, many on FR have pointed out the absurditiy of someo of my posts. I am new on here, so im learning really quickly what I can and cant do, but I just love the ability to communicate with fellow conservatives around the country, and a lot of times i just want to put up a post that is likely to get some kind of response.

Though Election Day was almost one month ago and Sen. John Kerry conceded the presidential race, his campaign is still not giving up in Ohio, the state which gave President Bush enough electoral votes for re-election. Kerry's campaign is looking to join a legal battle over the state's impending recount, and has asked an Ohio judge for permission to join two third-party candidates in the process.

Sometimes you'll hear things that are so out of left field, so unexpected, or so troubling that you don't register them at first. Only later, be it seconds or days, do you recall the words with a flicker of surprised recognition. Such was my reaction to yesterday's interview between John Kerry, John Edwards, and NPR's Steve Inskeep. (Realaudio stream here; no official transcript, so all mistakes below are mine.) It's worth going through this piece by piece, not in the spirit of "fisking," which tends to promote shoddy writing and thinking in equal measure, but with the intent to parse....

French authorities rushed thousands of tourists out of the Eiffel Tower after receiving a warning that a plane was about to crash into the famous Paris landmark, police and the tower's management said. Around 4,000 people were evacuated from the 324-metre (1,070-foot) structure, which was closed for two hours before police ascertained that the threat was a hoax and it was re-opened. The company managing the tower, SNTE, said in a statement it had received "an anonymous message" which triggered the alert. It refused to elaborate on the threat, but a police source said a caller had spoken of a...

<p>BUCKEYE - The female corrections officer who was held hostage for 15 days was released Sunday night when two violent felons released her peacefully.</p> <p>The inmates are also in custody after surrendering.</p> <p>"She will be reunited with her fmaily," said Cam Hunter, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Corrections.</p>

We can disarm and contain Saddam Hussein. There are a number of effective alternatives to war. Supporting the current UN disarmament mission in Iraq is critical. The U.S. initiative to win UN support for tougher weapons inspections is succeeding, and has created an ongoing monitoring system that increases the transparency of Iraq’s weapons complex. The presence of UN weapons inspectors serves as a deterrent to Iraq’s development or use of weapons of mass destruction. If Iraq does not volunteer all the documentation required by the UN, coercive pressure can be maintained through non-military means. We can improve the current containment...

AP World Politics Chirac expresses condolences over loss of space shuttle Columbia Sat Feb 1, 3:18 PM ET PARIS - President Jacques Chirac on Saturday expressed his "profound emotion" over the loss of the space shuttle Columbia, saying France felt solidarity with Americans and Israelis over the disaster. Chirac, in a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites), said the shuttle's loss was a "terrible tragedy," and he asked Bush to pass on his condolences to the victims' families. Columbia broke apart in flames 60,000 meters (200,000 feet) over Texas, killing all seven astronauts aboard minutes...

French astronaut says Columbia should no longer have been used PARIS (AFP) Feb 01, 2003 A French astronaut who took part in an earlier US shuttle mission and has criticised current space programmes said Saturday the shuttle Columbia which disintegrated should have been out of use long ago. Patrick Baudry said on French television he was "up in arms" over the disaster. "I think the shuttle should have been taken out of use long ago," Baudry said: "It's a magnificent machine that the Americans developed. But extremely dangerous." The Frenchman charged that the Columbia was limited in its capacity, and...

Californians have an interesting question to ponder following last week's elections: Why have Republicans taken total control in Washington at the very moment Democrats have total power in Sacramento? California, despite what others might think, is not just one more state. We have 12.1 percent of the U.S. population, 14 million more people than the next largest state, Texas. Our gross domestic product is, by some measures, ahead of that of France. A regional state – Connecticut, say, or Iowa or Louisiana – out of step with national trends is merely a curiosity, but California is no regional state. We...