Free Republic

K Street appears to have cashed in on the lengthy battle over healthcare reform. About 1,750 businesses and organizations spent at least $1.2 billion in 2009 to lobby on health reform and other issues, according to a study from the Center for Public Integrity released Friday. A precise figure isn’t available because lobbying disclosure forms don’t require companies or other groups to itemize how much they spend to lobby on a particular issue. The largest lobbying firm in terms of revenue, Patton Boggs, set the pace in healthcare lobbying too, according to the Center. Fifty-three clients paid Patton Boggs $7.68...

Recent tests of the Rotorcraft External Airbag Protection System (REAPS) developed by RAFAEL verified the crash protection capabilities of the system, mitigating crash loads below 25 g, thereby opening the way for future military and commercial applications. Following the November 2005 tests, which concluded a two year US Navy Concept and Technology Demonstration program RAFAEL plans to get FAA certification for passenger helicopter application. REAPS uses a external airbag array, attached under the fuselage of passenger rotorcrafts. The system uses proximity sensors to measure the ground approach deploy the airbag just before an imminent crash, thereby limiting passenger injuries and...

On Monday, suicidal truck bombers attacked three housing compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing at least 29 people, a mixed group of Saudis and foreigners. The tragedy, which U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says bears the "fingerprints" of al-Qaeda, marks a setback in the war against terrorism. But in the long term, it may actually hasten al-Qaeda's demise. For years, there has been no greater exporter, financier and ideological cheerleader of Islamist terrorism than the Desert Kingdom. By biting the hand that feeds them, the terrorists may have finally forced the Saudi royal family to abandon its subsidy of...