court for judge richard posner posner war two hours of a conservative justice appointed by ronald reagan was interviewed on n.p.r. yesterday in the interview he said he sees a real deterioration in his words a real deterioration in conservative thinking over the last decade he also said quote i've become less conservative since the. publican party started becoming goofy his word so is the judge's verdict right is the republican party becoming goofy. i don't think the republican party's become goofy any more than the democratic party i think that when you get into a two party when you get into a two party system or the stars upside down like this is this is just goofy it's a tan it out this is how you play on people's emotions and you get fringe issues the leadership is always far to the left or the right of the people in the party they're not getting are you're totally get all the to shed is there snow is leaving because they're goofy you've got a situation where all they're doing is attacking on on issues that should be left in the bedroom left to people's individual liberty with that g

posner says officials have called on the chinese to release those in detention or allow access to lawyers>> chen jwan chang escaped house arrest in china and went to new york in may. he spoke with us about his fears and hopes. alec hurst reports. >> translator: for six or seven years, he was under surveillance by the authorities. i was not even allowed to call my family. >> two months have passed since chen arrived in the united states as a visiting scholar at new york university. he lives there on campus with his family. he told us that human rights in china are detee you're rariorai china. >> translator: things are really bad now. my nephew is bei ining tortured. i don't know what is happening now. >> chen, who is blind is one of china's best known human rights activists. in april. he escaped from house arrest and sought protection inside the u.s. embassy in beijing. eventually, he was given a temporary visa. chen's escape came before a bilateral cabinet level meeting. neither country wanted the request overshadowing the summit. instead of being granted or denied asylum. chen was allowe

. >> speaking of which, i'm told assistant secretary posner has to be on the hill shortly, so we'll take two more -- >> yes, thank you. the u.s. state department included organ harvesting from falun gong practitioners -- >> can you just speak up a little bit? >> sorry. the u.s. state department included organ harvesting from falun gong practitioners in its human rights report this year. was that raised in the dialogue, and what was that response? what was their response? >> we did also raise in the context of religious freedom and other kinds of discrimination, we did raise the issue of some of the falun gong representatives. and again, i'm not going to go into every back-and-forth, but it's part of our discussion. >> how just a follow-up? >> follow-up on that one? >> yeah. >> go ahead. >> because i just wonder if you specifically talk about the organ harvesting, because we know, earlier this year, wang lijun, police chief, he went to the u.s. consulate in chengdu, and so there's evidence he's deeply involved in the crimes like organ harvesting. so i'm wondering if he provided any useful

rights in china continue to deteriorate according to michael posner. he briefed reporters at the state market after a -- at the state department after the annual u.s.-china dialogue. this is about 20 minutes. >> good afternoon, everybody. thank you for joining us. as you know, we have a special briefing today by assistant secretary of state michael posner to talk about are just completed annual dialogue with china on human rights. without further ado. >> thanks, tori. before i begin, i want to say how much we welcome the appointment of by the european union of a new position, a special representative for human rights, and we welcome the first appointee, stavros lambrinidis. we have a long record of working with the european union on issues of human rights, and the creation of this position strengthens their commitment and we look forward to working with him. i want to make a short statement and then i'm glad to answer questions. on monday and tuesday of this week, we hosted our annual human rights dialogue with the chinese government. i was pleased to

now, judge posner is make the case very effectively. if there are limits on a direct individual donor's contributions because there is an abiding suspicion -- and the courts have confirmed that you don't even want to create the appearance of a quid pro quo -- the idea that a super pac whose donors are all known has less of an ability to influence a candidate and more, i think, significantly, not only a candidate but perhaps an elected official, that doesn't -- that doesn't follow. i think judge posner's comments are very on point in that this also invites the perception and perhaps the reality of i inappropriate influence on candidates and on elected officials, and that was a great deal at the heart of why we pa passed campaign finance reform legislation decades ago. now, even these points of view by norm ornstein, but judge posner have not convinced our republican colleagues to join us in effect to trying to correct the deficiencies, which my able colleague from connecticut pointed out was the fact that the case of citizens presumes th

>> when richard posner comes out with statement like that i should fire back a statement equally provocative. >> chris: here is the point that he is making. the president's decision months later after the case has been argued after the law has been passed what to do about immigration and deportating. >> have you read the whole opinion? >> chris: of course, you know i haven't read the whole opinion. >> neither have the people who read that quote. the context was that the sew lit issuesor general argued to the court that the only reason the arizona was suffering the incursion of immigrants is there was not enough funding for immigration enforcement and executives had to make decisions about where to allocate the funding. i said in my opinion even that is no justification for letting -- for refusing to let arizona supplement the enforcement. so as long as it is only enforcing federal law and not going beyond federal law. i said even if that were the reason. with yobut i added i don't knot that the solicitor general's representation is any longer correct in light of the statement by the presiden

also here, leonard posner, a criminal defense attorney. and rick, since you are here in colorado and know the law, let us know what's going to happen today. this is not an arraignment. >> no, not an arraignment. it's a first appearance or initial advisement. what's going to happen is mr. holmes will be advised of the charges that he is being investigated for. for our knowledge, he hasn't even been charged. so it's simply an indication of what they're looking at right now. >> in colorado, they have 72 hours to officially file charges, is that right? >> yeah, they have three business days, and that time can be extended either by agreement of the parties or the court on its own can extend that time if if necessary. >> so, obviously, larry, this is just the beginning of what's going to be a very long process. here we have somebody who was seen by dozens, hundreds of witnesses, picked up at the scene in body armor, directed police, they say, to an apartment that was booby trapped. this is not a question of, was he the guy, as much as, right now

so without further ado, secretary posner. >> before i began, i want to say or welcome the appointmentby the european union at a new position as special representative for human rights and we welcome the first to point b., staffers clamber reedy with a long record of working with the european union on issues of human rights and the creation of these positions strengthen their commitment and we look forward to working with him. i want to make a short statement and i'd be glad to answer questions. on monday and tuesday of this week, we hosted our annual human rights dialogue with the chinese government is pleased to lead the u.s. delegation to these meetings for the third time. our delegation included representatives from the department of justice, usaid, department of labor, u.s. trade representative, office of the vice president, national security staff and department of state. my counterpart, sean hsu is director for international organizations and the chinese foreign ministry and he let the chinese delegation which also included representatives her branch of government ministries. th

as you know, we have a special briefing today by michael posner to talk about are just-completed annual dialogue with china on a human rights. without further ado. >> before i begin, i want to say how much we are welcome -- how much we welcome the appointment by the european union of a new position of special representative for human rights. we welcome the first appointee. he has a long record of working with the european union on of human rights, and the creation of this position strengthens that commission -- commitment. we look forward to working with him. i want to make a short statement and then i'd be glad to answer questions. on monday and tuesday, we hosted our annual human rights dialogue with the chinese government. i was pleased to lead the u.s. delegation at these meetings for the third time. our delegation included representatives from the department of justice,usaid, the department of labor, national security staff, and the department of state. my counterpart is the director general for international organizations in the chinese foreign ministry. he led a chinese delegatio

i also along with assistant secretary posner met with coptic christians both here more than 15, from 15 meeting so we're very concerned about the coptic christians committee. president morsi a city will include include coptic christians sector citizens so we are looking for him to follow through on what his hummus once. >> i apologize but we don't have time for one more year spent another question about china, because earlier this year in the state department particular report on countries, it included about -- [inaudible] in this year's report for the first time. i'm wondering in your religious freedom report did you also cover this issue? and how do we take matters, take steps to push china? >> as i said, yeah, as i said previously, we are concerned not only with the tibetans and with the uighurs, we are also concerned with falun gong as well. the house church, unregistered faith groups. so we are concerned of all people of faith of opportunity express their faith so we certainly have raised it. thank you spent but beside raising the questions will you take any concrete measures, m

i want to acknowledge two people, michael posner, the assistant secretary of state, someone with whom i have had just a great privilege and honor and of working with so quickly with over the last several years, and suzanne johnson cook, the u.s. ambassador at large for u.s. religious freedom, someone i have also had the privilege of working with in the state department and in one of my previous incarnations as a senator from new york. others, two of my top advisers on this issue, i am grateful for their efforts, and all the representatives from congress, and the seas, members of the religion and foreign policy working group and others who recognize and are committed to the importance of this issue and what it represents. earlier today, the state department released its latest international religious freedom report. it opens with the words that guide our work and the work of governments and individuals devoted to freedom of religion around the world. listen to those words, because much of what i will say today is of course bring it in our constitution, and in our belief about the impor

michael roseman, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, -- michael posner. someone i have worked closely with. and suzanne johnson quote, ambassador at large for international religious freedom, so when i also had not only the privilege of working with in the state department but in one of my previous incarnations as a senator from new york. curtis and bill, one of my top advisers on civil society on this issue. i am grateful for their efforts. and all the representatives, from congress and embassies, members of the religion and foreign-policy working group and others to recognize and are committed to the importance of this issue and what it represents. earlier today, the state department released its latest international religious freedom report. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speeblinger's rooms, washington, d.c., july 30, 2012. i hereby appoint the honorable adrian smith to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the h

richard posner, a leading conservative legal scholar and a federal judge, recently said that, and i will vote -- "our political system is pervasively corrupt due to our supreme court taking away campaign contribution restrictions on the basis of the first amendment. our political system is pervasively corrupt. this from a conservative federal judge. the impact of citizens united has been very clear. in the 2010 midterm elections, the first after citizens united, there was a more than fourfold increase in expenditures from super pac's and other outside groups compared with 2006. $69 million up to $305 million, with nearly 3/4 of political advertising coming from sources that were prohibited from spending money back in 2006. also in 2010, those 501-c-4 and c-6 not-for-profit organizations spent more than $135 million in unlimited and secret political contributions. unanimous spending rose from 1% of outside spending in 2006, as that graph just showed, to 44% in 2010. we're already seeing the influence of money on the 2012 elections. super pac's and other outside groups have spent over $150