remarks by former oklahoma congressman mickey edwards, vice-president of the aspen institute. he talks about the relationship between the president and congress. it is an hour. >> delivered but not announced. i want to take special care in introducing our next speaker and preface my introduction by saying there are many people who served in congress and retired and were never heard from again. they perhaps ascended into the world of lobbying or went back home, but very few, i can probably count on the fingers of one hand the former members of congress who are called upon constantly for comment on

look into this second georgetown law aspen institute symposium. we selected the two cases that our pals are going to discuss today because both are about money and the elections. last term's caperton case was about when judges should refuse themselves from hearing a case and they have received donations from a party in the case. in caperton a five million dollar donation was not deemed by the recipient to be sufficient grounds to recuse himself from hearing the appeal of the case where the contributing company was the litigant. the supreme court disappeared disagree. opened the door to increase expenditures under federal election law. the reasoning will require the same result in the state. we are faced this situation where more money will go in to both federal and state elections and particularly of concern to state court elections. that money will be unprecedented and will lead to serious challenges, we believe, to judicial independence in state courts. our first panel will discuss the caperton case. the second panel will focus c itizens united.

this is where the aspen institute or other entities can come in.the american government could not easily admit all the blame for this and be liable for every birth defect or every possible, you know, illness or so in vietnam. but the american government wanted to do something. it couldn't do it directly so what we did is raise money from ford foundation, gates foundation and others. we cleaned up the dioxin and agent orange that was last at the airbase that contained it. the military has been good, the u.s. government under bush and now wonder obama has but two or 3 million each year to help with the cleanup. we said nobody has to admit fault. nobody has to say we are liable, but let's just clean it up like a good person would do if you've made a mess. and sometimes you just need practical solutions instead of everybody getting on an ideological high horse. kathy and i went to vietnam maybe three years ago and saw the containment project, were helping out with rehabilitation centers because instead of just saying we are guilty, let's pay, you know,

guess we're not going to aspen. that's fine. you see, i like tennis balls. and i'm going to a shelter. and no, they're not the same thing. shelters are for good pets that want to be adopted. jails are for criminals. i've done nothing--uh-oh. okay, i stole a cheeseburger once. i'm a dog. [ruff]

i am meryl chertoff, director of the program at aspen institute. i would be remiss if i let the opportunity to go to say a few words about some of our programs that are coming up. in november 2010, the third georgetown aspen institute symposium will take place and it will treat one of justice o'connor's other interests, and that's education. the event is going to take place -- it will be devoted to the subject of civic education which justice o'connor has done some much on in her years since leaving the supreme court. each year, we conduct a seminar in aspen, colorado and which we read classic works of political philosophy in the jurisprudence. a seminar this year will take place july 13 through 19. if you are interested, further information can be found on the aspen institute web site. the moderator's for [unintelligible] the same bottle programming i hope we're providing today will be provided in a more expansive week-long format. i now have the very distinct pleasure to introduce our keynote speaker. most of us in this room are familiar with the

i also want to mention the aspen institute each summer conduct a seminar in aspen, colorado. the justice society seminar, in which we read classic works of political philosophy and jurisprudence. the seminar this year will take place july 13-19. if you are interested in further information will be found on the aspen institute web site. this year the moderators for the excellent program will be barbara rothstein, the director of the federal judicial center, and richard burthough. the same kind of thoughtful programming, i hope we are providing today, will be provided in a more expansive we one format going back to some first principles. i urge you to take to give some consideration to taking the course this year or another year. i now have the very distinct pleasure to introduce our keynote speaker. most of us in this room are familiar with at least some of the details of the life of sandra day o'connor. raised on the lazy b branch, a stanford law school graduates whose initial job offer was legal secretary at the firm she applied to. justice o'connor rose to prominence first

i also want to acknowledge the president of the aspen institute.ting board of governors and instrumental in supporting the work on internet freedom that the aspen institute has been doing. this is an important speech on a very important subject. before i begin, i want to speak briefly about haiti. during the last eight days, the people of haiti and the people of the world have joined together to deal with a tragedy of staggering proportions. our hemisphere has seen its share of hardships. but there are few precedents to the situation we're facing in port-au-prince. communication networks have played a critical role in our response. they were decimated and in many places totally destroyed. in the hours after the earthquake, we worked with partners in the private sector to first set up the text haiti campaign so that mobile phone users in the united states could donate via text messages. that initiative has been a showcase for the generosity of the american people. thus far, it has raised over $25 million for recovery efforts. information networks ha

they're also investigated in aspen and were cleared to keep the children with them in aspen. >> apparentlytaylor. how confung is that? >> hotshot. >> if i went out with somebody like piers. actually, i can see how this works. >> it's split. >> i like it. >> if they had gotten married, she would have had the same name. >> who broke up with whom? >> it was a mutually agreed sort of thing. >> we actually heard it was her, that it was actually her. she's older. she just turned 20. he's 17. >> she's an older woman. >> cougar. >> exactly. and the distance. she's on a 50-date world tour, he's filming movies. >> he is adorable. i'm sorry, so cute. >> max steel. he'll have to bulk up even more. >> how can that happen? >> i don't know. >> that would be like hoda marrying a hoda. how weird. do you, hoda, take hoeda to be would your lawful wedded husband? >> you have a lot of opinions about marriage. >> lots. >> he's about to tie the knot. he's engaged. and we're going to meet her on thursday. >> we'll have to come back. >> yes. >> so "avatar" is a juggernaut. >> $1 billion internationally and nationa

remarks by former oklahoma congressman mickey edwards, vice-president of the aspen institute.he talks about the relationship between the president and congress. it is an hour. >> delivered but not announced. i want to take special care in introducing our next speaker and preface my introduction by saying there are many people who served in congress and retired and were never heard from again. they perhaps ascended into the world of lobbying or went back home, but very few, i can probably count on the fingers of one hand the former members of congress who are called upon constantly for comment on current developments in american politics. one of them yesterday, chuck yeager, of a much will be heard and alan simpson, former senator from wyoming, the third is someone i have known for a long time, representative mickey edwards who served on the house of representatives, a republican who served on the appropriations committee at a time when the budget committee was in its infancy. he is now vice-president of the aspen institute and he is someone who has been a regular guest at the

joining me live is now clark kent urban with the aspen institute. clark is also the former inspector general at the department of homeland security. as well as clint van zandt, nbc news analyst and former fbi profiler. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> clark, what needs to be done in the wake of this attempted attack on christmas day to make sure we are safe? is it this kind of technology being deployed? is that the first step? >> that is a key step, alex. when i was the inspector general at the department of homeland security at its inception in 2003, 2004, we recommended the widespread deployment of whole body imaging because we knew then six years ago that that really could find concealed guns and knives and bombs that cannot be found by these magnetometers. here we are only beginning to widely deploy it. we have only 40 of them in 19 airports now, efforts will be redoubled to deploy it. we need more of this. it is only part of the solution. >> yeah. clint, can you go through the new method being tested that would involve himmages

open up for questions but first i want to recognize walter isaacson and the audience, walter of the aspen institute and also leader of the effort to to marshal support behind recognizing the issue of vietnam and agent orange and a contributor to our special reports. thank you for being here, walter. some questions, the gentleman in the back right here. and please, wait until you get to the microphone, state your name and also your affiliation if any. >> my name is peter carpenter. i am a vietnam veteran who's heavily exposed to agent orange and as a consequence, was subsequently diagnosed with chronic leukemia. i was the first such veteran to be granted benefits by the va. as a consequence of knowing both harvey feinberg at the institute of medicine and kip at the v.a. i was able to get them to go back and review the data, and i just wanted to thank the panelists and the organization here for the work think you're doing because for the last five or six years this has become a sort of forgotten issue. something that we thought we dealt with, and those of us who served are now getting to th

internet has -- aspen institute has been doing.ant speech on a very important subject. before i begin, i want to speak briefly about haiti. during the last eight days, the people of haiti and the people of the world have joined together to deal with a tragedy of staggering proportions. our hemisphere has seen its share of hardships. but there are few precedents to the situation we're facing in port-au-prince. communication networks have played a critical role in our response. they were decimated and in many places totally destroyed. in the hours after the earthquake, we worked with partners in the private sector to first set up the text haiti campaign so that mobile phone users in the united states could donate via text messages. that initiative has been a showcase for the generosity of the american people. thus far, it has raised over $25 million for recovery efforts. information networks have also played a critical role on the ground. when i was with president preval in port-au-prince on saturday, one of his top priorities was to

he's now director of the aspen institute's homeland security program. mr.atement or issued a statement that the president reportedlyç said to his folks that he met with, in other words, his team, his 12 folks that were there, and the president saidç this. quote, this was a screw-up that could have been disastrous. we dodged a bullet but just it was averted by brave individuals, not because the system worked, and that is not acceptable. while there willç be a tendency to finger pointing i will not tolerate it. what do you make of that? >> i think that's absolutely spot on. the president was exactly right to say that. he has said essentially in the public statement. you can't fix a problem until you acknowledge it. theç president has said this before. this was a systemic failure. it is the first impulse of government always to down play crises.c that was the first impulse here with the department of homeland security. so the president is quite right, and the sense ofzv urgency that he conveyed is also important. most importantly to say it was a failure to

inspect general for the partment of homeland securit in the bush administration he's n director of the aspenmoment ago the white house issued a statemt or issued a statement that t president reportedlyç said his folks th he met with, in other words, hiseam, his 12 folks that were there, and the esident saidç this. quote,his was a screw-up that cld have been disastrous. we dodged bullet but just it was averted by brave indivials, not because the system worked, and that is n acceptable. while there willçe a tendency to finger inting i will not tolerate i whato you make of that? >> i thinkhat's absolutely ot on. the president s exactly right to say that. he has said essentially the public statent. you can'fix a problem until you acknowledge it. theç president hasaid this before this was a systemic failur it is the first impulse governmentlways to down play crises.c thatas the first impulse here with e department of meland security. the president is quite right, and the sensefzv urgency that he conveyeds also important most importantly to say itas a failure to conne the dots. we created four

joining me live now is clark kent irvin with the aspen institute and former inspector general at the department of homeland security. good morning again to you. >> good morning, alex. >> so, given these new parameters that the president called upon for janet napolitano and homeland security to put in place, do you think enough is being done right now in terms of aviation security? >> well, it's a step in the right direction, alex. certainly we need to redouble our efforts to deploy technology like whole-body imageers that can see through clothing and spot concealed guns and knives and explosives. had those machines been used on this suspect, mr. abdulmutallab, that device would have been discovered. we also need trace explosive detection machines, because obviously, explosives are the weapon of choice for terrorists. we need these threat image projection screens as a training tool for screeners. because to be fair to them, it's mind-numbing work, and there's a limit to the human mind's ability to concentrate for prolonged periods of time. and so, it's a step in the right direction. i

the knight commission is a project of the aspen institute and is cochaired by former solicitor general conclusion of the report is that internet freedom and universal access are interlocking tools of a functioning democracy. they function together and they should be seen as a common goal. we support the freedoms and the access to information that are at the core of the american experience. those freedoms make us who we are and we should welcome the opportunity to let them to finance. >> we are here to address that came and so it is with pride and great anticipation that i present to you the secretary of state of the united states, hillary clinton. thank you very much, alberto, for not only that kind introduction but your and your colleagues' leadership of this important institution. it's a pleasure to be here at the newseum. the newseum is a monument to some of our most precious freedoms, and i'm grateful for this opportunity to discuss how those freedoms apply to the challenges of the 21st century. although i can't see all of you because in settings like this, the lights are in my eye

. >> justice harry blackmun who enjoyed the music festival in aspen, decided that we should have an annual musicale. when we have no more hearing, we should take time out for a musical interlude that all this can enjoy. . . >> the musicales take place in the beautiful conference room where the lovely steinway grande is. and we can accommodate, i think now more than 200 -- not more than 200 people. each justice can buy up to six people. and it -- can invite up to six people. and leaders of the court's staff. for example, kathy osborne with whom you have worked. >> tell me what i should know about this court that would make it a better experience. what would you tell them? >> you'd be surprised about the high level of collegiality here. i believe we divided 5-4 and almost 1/3 of all the cases. one might get a false impression of that degree of this agreement -- disagreement. justice scalia once commented in his early years on this score, there was no justice with whom he disagreed more often than justice rennan -- brennan. yet justice scalia consider justice brennan his best friend on the co

. >> reporter: walter isaacson runs the aspen institute, a think tank in washington and has written biographies of two creative geniuses: albert einstein and benjamin franklin. >> you see at the founding of our republic you've seen that great industrial revolution where people were inventing the telephone, the telegraph, the light bulb and everything else, the phone owegraph. you've seen the push that came because of the internet and the digital revolution. now we're looking for what is going to be the engine or the driver of the new creativity. >> reporter: the challenge for the u.s. now, how to keep up that momentum. >> you can kind of feel it in our society that there's no new burst of innovation or imagination happening. >> reporter: is it an attitudinal thing? are we too greedy? >> i think one problem we've had is that people who are smart and creative and innovative as engineers went into financial engineering. they decided to go to wall street with the great derivatives and hedge fund. didn't really help our economy and i think may have hurt the economy. >> reporter: they were creative.

he is now vice president of the aspen institute. and he is someone who has been a regular guest here at the washington center, and someone whose views are always, just spot-on, right on target. he is incredibly well-informed. he expresses himself with great felicity and also just a great guy. representative mickey edwards. [applause] >> i'm afraid to say anything after that, ross. well, i'm delighted to have a chance to be back in washington center, very,. >> use the mike. >> probably hear me anyway. >> this is live though. >> take this one? does that work? okay. i feel like, you know, i ought to be on "oprah" or something but, the washington center has been just an organization that i delighted in working with over the years. so i'm very pleased to be back here. and i've got to say, i got here in time to hear most of the admiral's talk and, what a great feeling it is to know that we have people like that who are playing such an important role in our national security. i was also, i told gene alpert, i was really impressed by questi

from your left to right we have clark ervin director of the aspen institute's homeland security programmichael german a former fbi agent now serving as policy council on immigration civil liberties union. priscilla lewis co-director of the u.s. world initiative, jacob schapiro assistant professor of politics and public affairs of princeton university's woodrow wilson school of international affairs in soon to be joining us, still in the middle of his commute is paul pillar former cia official now professor and director of studies of the security studies program a georgetown university. he will be here within the next five to minutes-- to ten minutes i do believe. it would take a lot of the morning to lay out all the credentials of this fine group so instead of doing that we have put together a bio sheet that many of you have picked up. you can take a look at it. essay said after a session this morning, daniel benjamin will give as direct evidence of the administration plans, especially in light of the christmas bombing attempt and we are very appreciative he can join this. as an adminis

all was left, six old ladies who live in aspen going to vote for us.o we were, we actually pulled plug on colorado. it was really controversial. a lot of reporters asked us. ly state you have a chance in. we knew we couldn't overcome that challenge. in terms of strategic thinking on a campaign allocating resources last minute that isly important thing. that was probably a dollar a week, expenditure on television that we pulled. we got to, drive it into ohio where we still have a chance. wrongly but we still got a chance. you have to be able to laugh about it. intention to vote early. this is important before somebody said, part of why you use polling information to do this, identify what kind of people are going to vote early. even on your earliest surveys saying do you intend to vote absentee and intend to vote early, it helps you because what kind of voters are likely to vote early. what kinds of people can we target our message to vote early. where are places we do specific coalition-driven drive? is there someplace to get hispanics to vote early be

thanks to an organization called challenge aspen. military opportunities.>> nothing is beyond my reach. as long as i try. and that's the thing. things that i haven't done before -- i want to be able to at least have the nerve to give it a try. >> reporter: 33-year-old irashekia henry is among a group of warriors learning to ski. each combat injury is different, but the vets here share one thing in common, they're all women. >> what have you discovered about the depths of america's gratitude? >> that it's limitless. >> nice, beautiful! >> so good to see the support that you know, americans like myself do have. it will make me cry. but -- i love it. i do. it touches my heart. >> over the past seven years, 35,000 members of the military have been wounded in combat in iraq and afghanistan. almost 700 of them are women. >> it seems unrecognized until this point. that these women are not just arriving. they've been coming back from the war zones for sometime. >> they have. female service members account for 15% of active personnel and more have been killed and wo

the commission on the information needs of communities and a democracy, a project of the aspen instituteice president released its report here last october. a central conclusion of that report is that internet freedom and universal access are interlocking tools of a functioning democracy. they function together and they should be seen as a common goal. we support the freedoms and the access to information that are at the core of the american experience. those freedoms make us who we are and we should welcome the opportunity to let them define us. we are here today to address that theme. and so it is with pride and great anticipation that i present to you the secretary of state of the united states, hillary clinton. [applause] >> thank you for that kind introduction and your and your colleague's leadership of this important institution. it's a pleasure to be here. this is a monument to some of our most precious freedoms and i'm grateful to discuss how those freedoms apply to the challenges of the 21st century. although i can't see all of you because in settings like this the lights are in

he is now vice president of the aspen institute, and he is someone who has been a regular guest at then center and someone whose views are always sought on -- spot on. he is incredibly well informed. he expresses himself well, and he is a great guy. representative mickey edwards. [applause] >> i am afraid to say anything after that. why am delighted to have a chance to be back. >> do you need the mic? >> you can probably hear me anyway. take this one? does that work? ok, i feel like i am going to be on "o'brieprah"or something. this is an organization i have been delighted to work with for years, and i have to say i got here in time to hear most of the admiral stock -- admiral talk, and what a great feeling to know we have people likeç the playig such an important role in our national security. i told jean albert i was really impressed by the questions better ask, so now i am terrified of the questions you're going to ask me. let me start by making a couple of observations. we had an earlier session long ago. i guess it was right after the president was elected, and the topic i do not

like to open it up for questions but i would like to recognize walter isaacson, walter part of the aspentitute and leader on the effort to marshall support behind recognizing the issue of vietnam and agent orange and a contributor to our -- to our special report so thank you, walter, for being here. so some questions, the gentleman in the back right here, dan. and please wait until you get to the microphone. state your name and also your affiliation, if any. >> yes, my name is peter carpenter and i'm a vietnam veteran who was heavily exposed to agent orange. as a consequence was subsequently diagnosed with leukemia. i was the first such veteran to be granted benefits by the va. as a consequence knowing both harvey feinberg of the institute of medicine and ken pfizer of the va i was able to get them to go back and review the data and i just wanted to thank the panelists and the organization for the work you're doing. for the last five or six years this has become sort of a forgotten issue, something that we thought we dealt with. and those of us who served are now getting to the age where

open up for questions but first i want to recognize walter isaacson and the audience, walter of the aspen institute and also leader of the effort to to marshal support behind recognizing the issue of vietnam and agent orange and a contributor to our special reports. thank you for being here, walter. some questions, the gentleman in the back right here. and please, wait until you get to the microphone, state your name and also your affiliation if any. >> my name is peter carpenter. i am a vietnam veteran who's heavily exposed to agent orange and as a consequence, was subsequently diagnosed with chronic leukemia. i was the first such veteran to be granted benefits by the va. as a consequence of knowing both harvey feinberg at the institute of medicine and kip at the v.a. i was able to get them to go back and review the data, and i just wanted to thank the panelists and the organization here for the work think you're doing because for the last five or six years this has become a sort of forgotten issue. something that we thought we dealt with, and those of us who served are now getting to th

from left, your left to right, we have clark ervin, director of the aspen institute homeland securityerving at policy council on national security immigration and privacy of american civil liberties union. priscilla lewis, co-director of the u.s. and world initiative. jacob shapiro, assistant professor of politics and public affairs at princeton university's woodrow wilson school of international affairs. soon-to-be joining us, still in the middle of his commute, is paul pillar, former c.i.a. official official, now professor and director of the security studies program. he will be here within the next five to 10 minutes i do believe. it will take a lot of the morning to lay out all the credentials of this fine group. instead of doing that we have put together a biosheet many of you picked up. if you didn't manage to pick it up i'm sure a neighbor did and you can took at it. as i said after our session this morning, daniel benjamin will give us direct evidence of the administration's thinking and plans, especially in light of the christmas bombing attempt. we are very appreciative he c

walter, chairman and ceo of the aspen institute. also later on the effort to marshal support behind recognizing the issue of vietnam and agent orange, and a contributor to our special report. so thank you, walter, for being here. so questions, gentlemen in the back right here, dan? please, wait until you get to the microphone. state your name and also your affiliation, if any. >> yes, my name is peter carpenter. i'm a vietnam veteran who was heavily exposed to agent orange him and some sops support was diagnosed with chronic leukemia. i was the first such veteran to be granted benefits by the va. as a consequence of knowing both harvey fineberg at the institute of medicine and 10 kayser at the va, i was able to get them to go back and review the data. and i just want to thank the panelists and the organization you're for the work you're doing, because for the last five or six years, this has become sort of a forgotten issue. something that we thought we dealt with. and those of us who served are now getting to the age where we are i