SAFER Colorado (Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation) Executive Director Mason Tvert explains in this interview in the Denver Post why alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana and how medical pot issues are being overblown.

Mason says the future is vaporization rather than smoking:

The future is vaporization. You basically heat marijuana to the point where it releases the chemicals and you inhale vapors. It never combusts so there's no smoke. There's never been a documented case of a marijuana- only smoker acquiring lung cancer as a result. Never. Not one.

How legalization would help the economy: [More...]

The House of Representatives will vote on the health care reform bill Saturday. The Republicans are offering their own bill, which is woefully inadequate:

The [Republican] measure would cover 3 million additional people at a cost of $60 billion through 2019, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The Democrats' bill, by comparison, would cover far more -- 36 million additional Americans -- at a much higher cost -- $1.055 trillion through 2019, the CBO has said.

It would also result in more than 52 million uninusred Americans ten years from now. The Democrats' House bill would cover 96% of Americans in ten years. The AARP will announce its support for the House bill Thursday.

Revisions to the bill to rein in health insurance premium hikes have been introduced: [More...]

Yankees win!

The New York Yankees won the 27th World Championship in their storied history by defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 in Game 6 of the World Series. The Yankees won the series 4-2.

This is an Open Thread.

DC sniper John Allen Muhammad is scheduled to be executed Nov. 10. His lawyers are asking the Supreme Court to halt the execution, because he is delusional.

In May, 2008, Muhammad wrote a rambling letter to his lawyers in which he proclaimed his innocence.

No one should be executed, but if Muhammed is mentally ill, clearly he should not be put to death. Will the Supreme Court agree?

I'm at the office for a few more hours yet. Here's an open thread for you, all topics welcome.

Matt Yglesias makes some sense:

I’m not really sure why Obama would lack the credibility necessary. [. . .] But does “credibility” really matter? Probably not. [. . . A]s far as I know, [the White House is] not actively trying to persuade anyone because the White House is afraid that if they try to persuade key legislators they might fail. That’s circular. There seems to be some feeling that the President has an obligation to act like he’s a Prime Minister and not bring proposals to the floor unless he’s sure they can pass [. . .] [T]here’s little reason to believe that trying and failing would somehow turn out much worse than simply refusing the try.

Indeed, Yglesias should go a step farther, NOT trying, or being perceived as not trying is now clearly much worse, for President Obama and all the Democrats in DC. I wonder if they realize that yet.

Speaking for me only

A bi-partisan group of dignatories (list here, pdf)has issued a declaration for safely closing Guantanamo. It is backed by the Constitution Project and Human Rights First. The plan supports trying detainees in federal court and opposes indefinite detention. The declaration is available here (pdf).

The largest bipartisan group of prominent Americans to propose a plan for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility has backed a single scheme for the disposition of cases of current and future detainees.

• close Guantanamo on schedule;
• use federal courts, not military commissions, to prosecute accused terrorists; and
• prohibit forever the practice of indefinite detention without charges.

Recognizing the difficulty that death row inmates have in bringing innocence claims before the court, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) has introduced H.R. 3986, "The Effective Death Penalty Appeals Act." (Received by e-mail from Amnesty International USA , no link yet:)

When a person facing execution has strong evidence of his innocence, he should have ample opportunity to bring those claims back into a court of law. The law as it stands today is flawed in this respect. Rep. Johnson's bill would ensure that death row inmates have the opportunity to present newly discovered evidence of innocence.

Given that 139 people have been wrongfully convicted and sent to death row in the last three decades in the United States, it is especially important that lawmakers take a close look at the flaws in a system that irreversibly takes human life.

This bill would help inmates like Troy Davis, who due to AEDPA, came within hours of being executed because courts said he could not raise his factual innocence claim. In August, the Supreme Court ruled David should be allowed a new hearing to establish his innocence. Legislation is needed to help others in this situation. [More...]

I found something worthwhile from last night's election results. TPM:

The NY-23 seat [. . .] went to Democrat Bill Owens [. . .] [a]nd the CA-10 seat [. . .] went to Democrat John Garamendi. That creates some simple arithmetic. Yesterday, Democrats had 256 voting members in the House. By week's end, they'll have 258. Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could afford to lose no more than 38 Democratic votes on a landmark health care reform bill. Next week, after Owens and Garamendi are sworn in, she can lose up to 40.

Garamendi is a liberal and Owens said about the [HCR] bill at a debate last week [. . .]: "I think moving towards this legislation is very appropriate. I think the type or the form of the public option included in this bill is reasonable. [. . .]"

(Emphasis supplied.) That's two more votes for a public option. That's the biggest story of the night.

Speaking for me only

Ezra Klein digs deeper:

[T]hose primary challenges also broke whatever historical or pragmatic attachment Lieberman and Specter had to their traditional political homes. [. . .] Lieberman endorsed McCain and will likely vote, and maybe even filibuster, against health-care reform. Heterodox as he was, neither was likely before Lamont's challenge.

(Emphasis supplied.) I'll ignore the disingenuous goal post moving by Ezra (he wrote this the first time - "Look at the Senate right now: If Democrats [. . .] fall short, it’s likely to be because liberal activists ran a primary challenge against Joe Lieberman."), and take on the wrongheadedness of his thinking - to wit, Joe Lieberman would be voting for a public option now if he had not been primaried. This is just nonsense. Joe Lieberman has been fighting against health care reform for 20 years. I know Ezra was just a kid when Lieberman started this behavior, but you can just look it up. But becoming a Village idiot is good business for Ezra.

Speaking for me only

My election post mortem - um, it's the economy stupid? Don't run crazy people in New York? Old people in Maine are bigots?

I dunno, I suppose you can force a narrative out of this but I do not see one here. 2010 will be decided by what happens between now and Election Day 2010. I think there is nothing to be garnered from last night's results.

But my head is so immersed in the escapist world of sports right now that you should not go by me on this.

This is an Open Thread.

Maine is now the third state to legalize medical marijuana dispensaries.

In a landmark vote, Maine voters today approved Question 5, making the state the third in the country to license nonprofit organizations to provide medical marijuana to qualified patients and the first ever to do so by a vote of the people.

...Under the measure, the state will license nonprofit organizations to provide medical marijuana to qualified patients and set rules for their operation. While 13 states permit medical use of marijuana, only Rhode Island and New Mexico have similar dispensary provisions, both of which were adopted by the states’ legislatures....Question 5 also expands the list of medical conditions qualifying for protection under Maine’s law to include several conditions that are included in most other medical marijuana states, including intractable pain, agitation of Alzheimer’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (“Lou Gehrig’s disease”).

[More...]

Breckenridge, Colorado tonight became the first town in the country to vote to decriminalize possession of drug paraphernalia. It also decriminalized possession of up to one ounce of marijuana for personal use.

The vote was 3 to 1, or 73 percent to 27 percent.

"This votes demonstrates that Breckenridge citizens overwhelmingly believe that adults should not be punished for making the safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol," said Sean McAllister, a Breckenridge attorney who proposed the ordinance.

Even though existing state law punishes personal possession of pot -- and bongs, pipes, etc.-- by a $100 fine rather than jail time, it still leaves those convicted with a criminal record. Thanks to voters in Breckenridge, that will no longer be the case. So it is a big deal.

The new law takes effect Jan. 1.

***

Denver Votes on Vehicle Impound Law

If you live in Denver, don't forget to vote today and oppose the vehicle impound initiative mandating police seize your vehicle if you are stopped and don't have a valid driver's license.

Aimed at undocumented residents (referred to as illegal aliens in the initiative), it has a far greater reach. Here's the text on Initiative 300. [More...]

I have no thoughts on today's elections. None.

Hope you folks can do better than me.

BREAKING! Deeds Loses In VA! (Snark)

Bloomberg Wins

Corzine Loses In NJ

Dem Leads In NY-23. Now, if we can only get the Teabaggers to win all the GOP primaries, Dems might be sitting pretty in 2010. It is always easier to run against someone than be run against.