The Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJC) has issued recommendations to the state legislature to reduce penalties for possession of drugs.

If Colorado legislators adopt the recommendations, possessing up to 4 ounces of marijuana would become a petty offense instead of a criminal misdemeanor, and possessing 8 to 16 ounces would become a misdemeanor instead of a felony.

The Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice also favored lower-level felony charges for possessing a few grams of cocaine or methamphetamine and reducing the charge for illegally possessing various prescription drugs from a felony to a misdemeanor. It excepted possession of "date-rape" drugs, which would remain a felony.

The Commission members include representatives from all parts of the criminal justice system, including prosecutors, defense attorneys, legislators, probation officers, judges and law enforcement. The full report is here (pdf.)

Can you believe Ohio State is a 16.5 point favorite over Iowa? Obviously, no one really thought Iowa was a Top 10 team. One of the myths about Iowa was that "the computers loved them." They didn't. The BCS contraption for their computer rankings, where margin of victory is ignored, loved them. The REAL computer rankings thought Iowa was about the 14th best team in the country. Sagarin now rates Iowa as the 25th best team. Before its loss, Sagarin had Iowa as the 13th best team. Yet, Sagarin does not think Ohio State is all that either. But Stanzi is out. Still, 16.5 points? I'll take the Hawkeyes (+16.5).

Tennessee had 3 players (one from my hometown in Florida) arrested for armed robbery this week. In reaction, Tennessee's coach bragged about the fact that it took 11 months in his coaching tenure before one of the members of the team committed a felony. I kid you not. He bragged about it. The Vols play at Ole Miss (-6). Even though Talk Left is a criminal defense site, I am picking Ole Miss (-6). More . . .

Today, many of us are only familiar with Khalid Sheik Mohammed or Ramzi Binashibh, who have garnered the most press. Months from now, those of us who follow these cases will know the histories of all five 9/11 defendants like the back of our hands. Here's a helpful primer of links for those who want to get a head start.

Short Profiles of the Soon to Be 9/11 Defendants:

• Human Rights First
• the Guardian

Individually, With Lots of Links

• Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
• Ramzi Binalshibh,
• Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash,
• Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and
• Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi.

More....

Ohio announced today it will switch from the three drug cocktail for lethal injections to administering a single drug, thiopental sodium.

Thiopental sodium, an anesthetic, is used to euthanize animals. "Ohio will be the first state in the U.S. to use the one-drug procedure," which was recommended by Dr. Mark Dershwitz, a professor of anesthesiology at the U. Mass Medical Center. In 205, Dr. Dershwitz recommended a single dose of pentobarbital. The problem, he said, was that it could take up to a half-hour for the heart to stop. [More...]

Happy Birthday, Gitmo? Former President George W. Bush signed the order authorizing detention at Guantanamo on November 13, 2001:

On Nov. 13, 2001, President George W. Bush signed what has become known as Military Order No. 1 [4] in what he termed a Global War on Terrorism. Without informing his national security adviser, his secretary of state, his chief of staff or his communications director, Bush approved [5] what would appear three days later in the Federal Register as: "Military Order of November 13, 2001: Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism."

[More...]

Former Congressman William Jefferson was sentenced to 13 years today. He was convicted of 11 counts related to public corruption.

Jefferson was found guilty after an eight-week trial of soliciting bribes, depriving citizens of honest service, money laundering and using his congressional office as a racketeering enterprise. The case was best known for the $90,000 federal agents found hidden in the freezer of Jefferson's home in Washington, D.C.

The five charges for which he was acquitted included single count of violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act -- the charge most closely related to the $90,000 found in his freezer.

Prosecutors asked for 27 years. The defense asked for less than 10. Jefferson was allowed to remain on bond pending a hearing next week on the Government's request he be ordered into custody immediately. [More...]

While Republicans (and Democrats like Jim Webb) quake in their boots all over the Red States, the Mayor of New York City, where, you might remember, the 9/11 attacks struck, says:

I support the Obama Administration’s decision to prosecute 9/11 terrorists here in New York. It is fitting that 9/11 suspects face justice near the World Trade Center site where so many New Yorkers were murdered. We have hosted terrorism trials before, including the trial of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

New Yorkers are not afraid. Apparently, Virginians like Jim Webb are scared senseless.

Speaking for me only

(Omar Khadr when captured and today, via the Toronto Star)

The Supreme Court in Canada held oral arguments today in the case of Canadian child soldier Omar Khadr. According to Attorney General Eric Holder's statements today, Khadr will be among those tried by military commission.

Holder also revealed that Canadian detainee Omar Khadr will be prosecuted before a U.S. military tribunal – but the attorney general indicated the U.S. government will remain open to the possibility returning detainee Omar Khadr to Canada, depending on the outcome of a Supreme Court hearing underway today in Ottawa.

Politico:

"There is no way on God's green Earth that the Stupak amendment would pass muster in a budget reconciliation bill," says Bill Hoagland, an insurance lobbyist who was the top GOP aide on the Senate Budget Committee for two decades and served as then-Majority Leader Bill Frist's budget guru. Democratic budget experts in Congress and the administration who asked not to be quoted on the record agree with Hoagland's assessment.

[. . .] If Reid chooses to go the reconciliation route, he can rely on the rules to quash Stupak's amendment, budget experts say. Under the arcane rules of the process, every provision must meet a strict, multi-pronged test -- known as the Byrd Rule -- or it can be dispensed with on a point of order that takes 60 votes to overcome. [. . .] While the Byrd Rule would sharply limit which parts of their health care plan could survive in a reconciliation bill, Stupak's language would be a victim, too, experts say. "It would violate (the) Byrd Rule, period," Hoagland said.

Another reason to favor reconciliation for health care reform.

Speaking for me only

Explanations are in order:

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and four other men accused in the plot will be prosecuted in federal court in New York City, the United States attorney general announced Friday. But the administration will prosecute another set of high-profile detainees now being held at the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba — Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who is accused of planning the 2000 bombing of the Navy destroyer Cole in Yemen, and four other detainees — before a military commission.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was tortured by the United States. And yet he can be tried in civilian court. Why then can we not try all of the Gitmo detainees in federal court? No logic is provided to explain the different treatment these detainees are receiving. See also Glenn Greenwald making a similar point.

Speaking for me only

Via mcjoan, Jacob Hacker and Diane Archer explain:

The public plan is [. . .] critical to reform as a cost and quality benchmark, one that is particularly crucial if private premiums accelerate upwards. The insurance industry has threatened that premiums will skyrocket if an individual mandate is not tough enough. It may be an idle threat, but if a final reform bill ends up looking more like the Senate Finance bill than the House bill, it might not be. In most local markets, competition is likely to be anemic, and regulation of insurers inadequate. There will be little to prevent insurers from raising rates as they have threatened.

Having a public plan in place should also help keep down the rate of growth of health insurance premiums over time. Over the past twenty years, the public Medicare plan has had a substantially slower rate of growth than private insurance. The CBO report on the House bill states that private insurers are better at controlling utilization than a public plan would be. But, to date private insurers have failed to prove their value at cost control and demonstrated they have strong incentives to delay and deny needed care rather than drive efficiencies in the system. [MORE . . ]

Your turn.

This is an Open Thread.