Barney Frank has filed a bill that would eliminate federal penalties for personal possession of less than 100 grams of marijuana. [WBZTV]
It would also make the penalty for using marijuana in public just $100. Frank said:

“I think John Stuart Mill had it right in the 1850s,” said Congressman Frank, “when he argued that individuals should have the right to do what they want in private, so long as they don’t hurt anyone else. It’s a matter of personal liberty. Moreover, our courts are already stressed and our prisons are over-crowded. We don’t need to spend our scarce resources prosecuting people who are doing no harm to others.”

On MSNBC this morning, Norah O’Donnell asked Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, “what needs to be in” a health care reform bill “for it to be bipartisan.” After saying it needs to be paid for, Grassley declared,

“We need to make sure that there’s no public option.”

By claiming that a public option would destroy bipartisanship, Grassley is ignoring the preferences of a strong majority of Americans. Earlier this week, a New York Times/CBS News poll found that a public health insurance option (which would lower costs and improve quality) is supported by 72 percent of Americans, including 50 percent of Republicans. [Read more →]

Somebody needs to change the Kool-Aid Republicans drink! Vitter, Craig, Ensign, now Sanford.

Photo: ABC photo. (Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)

ABC is reporting today that:

Apologizing profusely to his staff, family and friends for disappearing unexpectedly, a teary-eyed South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said he had been “unfaithful” and admitted affair with another woman in Argentina.

“I’ve been unfaithful to my wife,” Sanford said at a press conference this afternoon, adding that his affair was with a “dear, dear friend from Argentina.

Photo:

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is joined by his wife, Jenny, after winning the Republican gubernatorial nomination, in this June 13, 2006 file photo, in Columbia, S.C. Jenny Sanford said Monday she did not know the location of her husband. Sanford’s staff declined to disclose where he was. (Mary Ann Chastain/AP Photo)

Sanford also offered his resignation from is position of chairman of the Republican Governors Association. [Read more →]

ABC has a special scheduled to air today about reform of the healthcare system in the United States. It is called Questions for the President: Prescription for America. It will air today, Wednesday, June 24, 2009 10/9:00 Central Time. ABC promotes the special with:

As the country considers major reforms to the health care system, ABC News wants to hear from you. What question would you want to ask the president about health care? What story would you share?

It is a primetime event at the White House televised nationally.

The president will answer questions offered by audience members selected by ABC News who have divergent opinions in this historic debate, as well as some submitted via ABCNews.com.

ABCNews.com wants to hear from you. Please share your story by filling out the form below. An excerpt from your message may be used in a future ABCNews.com story or an ABCNews.com producer may contact you for more information.

[Read more →]