Tackling Crime, Drugs and Money Laundering on the Border

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

At the Senate Judiciary Committee on “Southern Border Violence: Homeland Security Threats, Vulnerabilities and Responsibilities,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that “incidents of transnational violence are, unfortunately, not a new phenomenon,” when looking at issues relating to the southwest border. She warned, “What is occurring in Mexico now is violence of a level that we have not seen before.”

Asked by Chairman Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) whether, as Secretary of Homeland Security, she considered Mexican drug cartel violence a real threat to the homeland security of the United States. Secretary Napolitano agreed with this statement.

In a prepared statement Mr. Ogden said, “The explosion of violence along the Southwest border is being caused by a limited number of large, sophisticated and vicious criminal organizations, not by individual drug traffickers acting in isolation.”

Mr. Ogden added that the Department for Justice aimed to “identify, disrupt and dismantle the Mexican drug cartels,” including “extensive and coordinated intelligence capabilities...prosecuting criminals responsible for the smuggling, kidnapping and violence in federal court.”

In a prepared statement Mr. Steinberg said, “drug related assassinations and kidnapping have reached unprecedented levels.”

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) called the current situation of growing violence on the border “a sad state of affairs.”

Major hurdles remain in patent reform legislation

Senators Leahy (D-Vt.) and Hatch (R-Utah), along with Congressmen Conyers (D-Mich.) and Smith (R-Tex.), today announced the introduction of major patent reform legislation in both chambers of Congress with bipartisan support. The House and Senate Judiciary Committees have been working on patent reform for the last 4 years, and in the last Congress the House was able to pass the legislation, while it stalled in the Senate. The Congressmen today all expressed hope that the legislation would become law this time around, though all admitted there were major issues to be worked out.

Last time the Senate took up the bill, debate deadlocked over how to reform damage calculations and the handling of inequitable conduct, which occurs when a party tries to enforce a patent it obtained without being completely honest with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. While these disagreements are large, all parties today expressed hope. Senator Leahy, asked what had changed since the last time the Senate took up the bill, responded that there is "urgency" to get the bill through. The Senators and Congressmen linked the bill to the economic downturn, saying that reforms were important to improving the economy.

The bill as introduced picks up where discussions left off last time. It includes several major changes, including switching the U.S. to a first-to-file system from a first-to-invent system, creating a post-grant opposition system to allow challenges to patents within 12 months after they have been issued, and eliminating the publication of pending patent claims. Further, it streamlines many of the forms and procedures in the patent application process.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Leahy said that hearings on the new bill will begin next week. Because the bill stalled in the Senate last time, the House Judiciary Committee is waiting for Senate action before bringing the bill up for consideration.

Pres. Obama nominates first female solicitor general

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a full hearing today to confirm the nomination of Elena Kagan, Dean of Harvard Law School, to be solicitor general of the United States. If confirmed by the Senate, she will be the first woman to hold this position. Sen. Feingold (D-Wis.) stated, "Although women have made great strides in the legal profession in recent decades, I think the nomination of the first woman solicitor general is obviously a historic moment for our country."

Sen. Specter (R-Pa.), in his introduction of Kagan, stated, "If confirmed I believe General Kagan will be an outstanding solicitor general. She brings exceptional qualifications to the job, and will be a tough, fair, powerful advocate for the constitution."

Kagan accepted her nomination as a great honor as well. "To have the opportunity to lead the Solicitor General's office is the honor of a lifetime. As you know, this is an office with a long and rich tradition, not only of extraordinary legal skill but also of extraordinary professionalism and integrity. That is due, in large measure, to the people who have led it."

Additionally, the committee confirmed the nomination of Thomas Perrelli, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, to be Associate Attorney General, the third-ranking position in the Justice Department. Perrelli accepted his nomination with his family standing by. He expressed honor in his nomination, and stated his commitment to the job he accepted. "I have no illusions at the size of the task. The challenges that the department faces today are enormous... My vision is a Justice Department of which all Americans can be proud, a department that keeps America safe from threats foreign and domestic, a department that at every level makes the even-handed application of the law and the representation of the interests of the United States," he stated.

Senate hopes for electronic medical records within 5 years

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee met to discuss "Health IT: Protecting American's Privacy in the Digital Age." The committee spoke of plans to bring about a nation-wide health IT infrastructure.

Digitizing health care records would decrease inefficiencies in the system, bring down costs, and allow more people access to health care, according to Senator Cardin (D- MD). However, he also stated that healthcare information privacy is a primary concern, and legislation must be put in place to ensure the protection of this information. Deven McGraw, director for the Center for Democracy and Technology's Health Privacy Project stated that the "information superhighway for health" could be an attractive target for people who would use it for inappropriate purposes.


Addressing these privacy concerns, Michael Stokes, the principle lead program manager of the Microsoft Corporation's Health Vault stated that the key ingredients to a nationalized digital healthcare record are "transparency, control, and security." With these measures, consumers will be assured the privacy of their health records and willing to participate in this program.

Workers in Burma victims of abuse by country's military

Co-Founder and Executive Director of EarthRights International Ka Hsaw Wa says the way workers in Burma are treated by the military are unbearable. He also says that American companies in Burma don't do anything about it. (1:18)