links for 2010-02-21

Israel’s Air Force on Sunday introduced a fleet of huge pilotless planes that can remain in the air for a full day and fly as far as the Persian Gulf, putting Iran within their range.

The new aircraft, called the Heron TP, has a wingspan of 86 feet, making it the size of a Boeing 737 jetliner and the largest unmanned aircraft in Israel’s military.

The commander of Israel’s Air Force, Maj. Gen. Ido Nehushtan, said the aircraft “has the potential to be able to conduct new missions down the line as they become relevant.”

Israel’s military refused to disclose the size of the new fleet or whether it was designed for use against Iran.
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Designed for use against Iran is the best bet

Ha ha! 50 votes in 60 days! Good one. Remember when they were going to have it done before they took their summer break?

It’s Reid via The Hill, on how they are going to get that health care thing through in two months, using procedural tactics to push it through with a simple majority, bypassing the usual 60-vote filibuster barrier:

“I’ve had many conversations this week with the president, his chief of staff, and Speaker Pelosi,” Reid said during an appearance Friday evening on “Face to Face with Jon Ralston” in Nevada. “And we’re really trying to move forward on this.”
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And, the Dems will self-destruct if they use budget reconciliation – go ahead my friends.

WINNERS

The Tea Party Movement: Virtually every speaker paid homage to a movement that remains loosely defined, praising fiscal restraint and a renewed energy among activists protesting the Obama admin's policies. The media had fun interviewing the guy in the tri-cornered hat and "Don't Tread On Me" flag, but GOP leaders are doing their best to incorporate, and kowtow to, the movement. Anyone who can show they lead a local Tea Party group is leaving CPAC with an enormous sense of power, and the GOP is all too happy oblige.

Ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney: He didn't win the CPAC straw poll, but Romney came in second place to a contender no one believes is serious about running in WH'12 — Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX). Romney gave a well-regarded speech that fired up the crowd more than most of his potential '12 rivals, and his showing, 3 times more than ex-AK Gov. Sarah Palin (R), demonstrates he still has a following among the influential group of activists.
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Tim Pawlenty did not make a splash

The New York Times noted in observing Buckley's passing: "Mr. Buckley's greatest achievement was making conservatism — not just electoral Republicanism, but conservatism as a system of ideas — respectable in liberal postwar America. He mobilized the young enthusiasts who helped nominate Mr. Goldwater in 1964 and saw his dreams fulfilled when Mr. Reagan and the Bushes captured the Oval Office." (Emphasis added.)

As one of the leading organs of the Eastern Liberal Establishment, the Times unquestionably played a key role in granting Buckley the keys to the kingdom of "respectability" (whatever that means in contemporary society) by which he might possess the power to admit (or deny) an entire political spectrum passage through the pearly gates guarded by alumni of Ivy League universities and members of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.
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Read it all and understand why the nuts/extremists from the JBS should be shunned from the conservative movement

The annual Conservative Political Action Conference is a great event attended by just about everybody who is anybody in the conservative movement. It also attracts a lot of college students who aspire to make a contribution to the movement.

ABC's Jonathan Karl reports that this year's CPAC event was co-sponsored, unbelievably to me, by the John Birch Society. Karl quotes some of Buckley's characteristically vibrant denunciations of the JBS. "Two years after Buckley's death," Karl observes, "the John Birch Society is no longer banished; it is listed as one of about 100 co-sponsors of the 2010 CPAC."

Karl reasonably asks: "Why is the Birch Society a co-sponsor?"

"They're a conservative organization," according to Lisa Depasquale, the CPAC Director for the American Conservative Union, which runs CPAC. "Beyond that," she told Karl, "I have no comment."

Additional comment is required, and if Depasquale will not provide it, I will. This is a disgrace.
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Disgraceful indeed