Barney Frank’s questions about Big Conservative Government’s advocates’ unwavering and prurient interest in regulating pot and sex get no respect from co-panelists George “Gateway Drug” Will and Paul “I Smirk” Ryan. Then the Massachusetts Congressman gets totally shut down by lame duck anchor Christiane Amanpour, who’d prefer to return to her chosen topic of ‘social mobility’ than let Barney deftly pierce the inherent personal liberty contradictions of her guests’ preferred regulatory regime.

Barney Frank revels in the opportunity to speak directly to people who have no response but to smirk at him (Ryan) or to ask for another several decades of pot research before making up their minds whether it’s a gateway drug (Will).

Rep. Barney Frank plans to retire, which means by next year, both lead co-sponsors of Dodd-Frank will be out of Congress, having secured a legacy of sorts through attaching their names to that legislation. So who might replace Frank as ranking member or Chair of the House Financial Services Committee?

Barney Frank (D. MA) announced today that he will not seek reelection in 2012.

As part of the “It Gets Better” project, the Co-Chairs of the Congressional LGBT Caucus today released a video message of hope and encouragement to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth and those questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Congressmen Barney Frank (D-MA), Jared Polis (D-CO), and David Cicilline (D-RI), produced the video.

The idea that a diverse global movement would settle on a singular idea on which to move forward may not seem realistic. But the Demands working group at Zuccotti Park is working around to that one demand, and not surprisingly, it involves the most important problem facing the nation today.

Reckless Endangerment describes the players that helped create the housing bubble and bust that were at the heart of the financial crisis. Gretchen Morgenson and Josh Rosner focus on how regulators and other officials were complicit by promoting liberalized housing finance as a way to increase homeownership. Their account chronicles how a naïve vision of the American Dream, that of homeownership as the foundation of upward mobility and stable communities, turned into a nightmare in the hands of a growth driven and increasingly predatory mortgage complex.

Jane talked to Congressman Barney Frank, a crusader for cost-of-living increase, who said he will NOT vote for The Gang of Six deal (which includes a calculation that would decrease cost-of-living adjustments). She reported on the 2000 people saying no to cuts to Social Security or Medicare benefits… who visited over 40 Congressional offices to let them know if they vote for cuts they won’t get support in the next election. Now, she’ll talk to us about what comes next.

I spoke with Barney Frank today about the current debt ceiling debate. He said he would not vote for any bill that raised the debt ceiling which included cuts to Social Security or Medicare benefits, including a chained CPI, which is included in the Gang of 6 deal.

Yes, switching to chained CPI changes not only the cost of living adjustment for Social Security and other benefit programs that use a COLA, like federal pensions and veteran’s benefits. It also changes the cost of living adjustment for…. tax brackets. A tax bracket that might go up, say, $100 year-over-year would only go up $50, under chained CPI. And that means that higher tax brackets would be available at lower yearly income. This sounds technical, but the point is it’s a tax increase, designed to bring in $60 billion over ten years. What’s more, it’s a regressive tax increase.

Today a small bipartisan group of House members lead by Ron Paul (R-TX) and Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced the “Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011.”