



By Peter Vincent Pry
Hardening infrastructure will be key to minimizing the threat
Independent voices from the TWT Communities

The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday called for the resignation of Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, who heads the Justice Department's Criminal Division, saying accountability in the botched Fast and Furious investigation was overdue.

The "Fast and Furious" probe isn't the first time Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.'s truthfulness has been challenged by members of Congress.

A "lack of trustworthiness" raises doubts about the nation's top prosecutor, Rep. Darrell Issa said.

Michael E. Horowitz, President Obama's nominee as the Justice Department's top watchdog, has earned more than $4 million since last year as an attorney representing the likes of Pfizer Inc., Dow Chemical Co. and Cablevision Systems Corp. But he is keeping the identities of nearly a dozen other clients secret on newly filed ethics forms.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday called a report of possible phone hacking targeting 9/11 victims and their families very disturbing and he assured them in a lengthy meeting that the department will pursue a preliminary criminal investigation of the matter.

Forty-nine Republican members of Congress have asked the House Judiciary Committee to “promptly investigate” Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan's role in preparing a legal defense for President Obama's health care law when she served as solicitor general.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, investigating whether an undercover federal operation contributed to the slaying of a U.S. Border Patrol agent, said Thursday the ATF instructed an Arizona gun dealer to engage in "suspicious sales" despite the dealer's concerns that the weapons could "end up south of the border."
Republican Gov. Robert F. McDonnell of Virginia defended his efforts Sunday to have the state's trial-court victory in its federal health reform lawsuit bypass an appeals court and go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A federal court judge in Florida ruled Thursday that key portions of a lawsuit challenging the Obama administration's health care reform law can go forward, and accused the Justice Department of taking an 'Alice-in-Wonderland' approach to its defense of the controversial "penalty" for people who don't buy insurance.

A federal judge in California on Tuesday ordered the U.S. military to stop enforcing the 17-year-old policy banning openly gay service members, the policy known as "don't ask, don't tell."

A federal judge has issued a worldwide injunction stopping enforcement of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, ending the military's 17-year-old ban on openly gay troops.
DETROIT | A federal judge on Thursday rejected an attempt to stop some key provisions of the new national health care law, saying Congress has the authority to require Americans to get insurance by 2014.

A Republican lawmaker has sternly warned Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. not to take any action against a high-ranking Justice Department official who told the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights that the government's dismissal of a civil complaint against the New Black Panther Party was a "travesty of justice."

The Justice Department supervisor who recommended pursuing a voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party testified Friday that the department's Civil Rights Division has engaged in reverse racism, refusing to bring charges in voting cases unless the victim is a minority.

An Obama administration decision telling federal prosecutors not to target dispensers of medical marijuana in states that have legalized its use has helped finance a violent and expanding drug war along the U.S.-Mexico border, a senior House Republican charged this week.
"He has acknowledged that mistake to Congress and to the attorney general, who continues to have confidence in Assistant Attorney General's Breuer ability to lead the Criminal Division. As Mr. Breuer has told Congress, he did not participate in the drafting of the Feb. 4 letter and does not recall reviewing it before it was sent," she said.
Ms. Schmaler said the Criminal Division, under Mr. Breuer's leadership, has made "critical progress in our fight against violent crime along the Southwest Border," including important prosecutions against high-ranking gang members and the extradition of dangerous fugitives.

By Meredith Somers - The Washington Times
George W. Huguely V lied to friends about his whereabouts the night Yeardley Love was ...

By David Hood - The Washington Times
Reston-based LightSquared Inc. vowed Wednesday to continue its fight to establish a national wireless broadband ...

By Kristina Wong - The Washington Times
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta engaged in a testy back-and-forth with Rep. J. Randy Forbes over ...