"Webb could challenge Clinton on other domestic issues as well.

In 1984, he spent some time as a reporter studying the prison system in Japan, which has a relatively low recidivism rate. In the Senate, he pushed for creating a national commission that would study the American prison system, and he convened hearings on the economic consequences of mass incarceration. He says he even hired three staffers who had criminal records. “If you have been in prison, God help you if you want to really rebuild your life,” Webb told me. “We’ve got seven million people somehow involved in the system right now, and they need a structured way to reënter society and be productive again.” He didn’t mention it, but he is aware that the prison population in the U.S. exploded after the Clinton Administration signed tough new sentencing laws."

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/17/inevitability-trap

I thought I would never see this; someone willing to campaign on the need to reform our prison system.

A public service message:

1:50 PM EST LIVE PORN ON MSNBC RIGHT NOW!

What else would you call a live shot of two men dangling from the World Trade Center?

Limburger cheese

I like to buy some special cheese to have around during the Holidays - Limburger, yea or nay?

I have a lot of dark beer aficionados, if that's any guide.

"How 'The Hot Zone' Got It Wrong And Other Tales Of Ebola's History"

The experts said, "Ebola is not like how it's portrayed in the book. People do not dissolve. Their internal organs do not liquefy. People do not shed bloody tears."

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/11/11/362379449/how-the-hot-zone-got-it-wrong-and-other-tales-of-ebolas-history

About the Third Way Organization and the DLC:

I think this info is worth its own thread:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Way_%28think_tank%29

"Third Way, backed by Wall Street titans, corporate money, and congressional allies, is publicly warning against divisive “soak-the-rich” politics voiced by populist Democrats. Its target: Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator whose rise to power two years ago helped galvanize Democratic grass roots against Wall Street and pushed the issue of income inequality to the forefront.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2014/10/06/struggle-for-soul-democratic-party-pits-wall-street-backed-think-tank-against-elizabeth-warren/pYk3SXRnZDmpi7C7N4ZpXN/story.html


"What’s more, Third Way’s leadership has tenuous connections to the Democratic Party it hopes to shape. Daniel Loeb, a hedge fund manager listed as a trustee on Third Way’s 2012 annual disclosure, bundled $556,031 for Mitt Romney last year. Third Way board member Derek Kaufman, another hedge fund executive, also gave to Romney."

http://www.thenation.com/blog/177437/gop-donors-and-k-street-fuel-third-ways-advice-democratic-party#

"The organization publicly discloses little about its funding. But a Globe examination of public documents and the backgrounds of its leadership offers a window into how some wealthy Wall Street and business interests — who contribute generously to Democratic candidates — have sought to tip the Democratic Party’s intellectual debate against populism.

Third Way raises just over a third of its $9.3 million annual budget from undisclosed corporations. The remainder, the bulk of its funding, is donated by individuals, almost all of whom are members of Third Way’s board of trustees.

The group is dominated by executives from the financial industry, people who are typically the targets of the populist rhetoric of Warren, and sometimes even President Obama.

Two-thirds of its 31 trustees have held senior leadership positions in investment funds or big banks or served in some other capacity on Wall Street."

http://progressivesforobama.blogspot.com/2014/10/third-way-faction-and-struggle-for.html


DLC

"An August, 2000 Newsweek story on Joe Liebermn, The Soul And The Steel reveals that some of the early funding came from ARCO, Chevron, Merck, Du Pont, Microsoft, Philip Morris and Koch Industries:"

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/DLC

"According to tax records, DLC's budget declined rapidly after 2004, from $2.6 million to $1.5 million in 2008.[23] Much of the DLC's budget, as well as that of PPI, was at one point made up of grants from Fortune 500 companies and various conservative foundations. According to the a 2002 study by the Capital Research Center, corporate contributors to the PPI included the AT&T Foundation, Eastman Kodak Charitable Trust, Prudential Foundation, Georgia-Pacific Foundation, Chevron, and Amoco Foundation. The Third Way Foundation, an umbrella group of the New Democrats in the DLC, received funding from the Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Ameritech Foundation, and General Mills Foundation. According to John Nichols in the Progressive, the DLC had funding from Bank One, Citigroup, Dow Chemical, DuPont, General Electric, Health Insurance Corporation, Merrill Lynch, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Occidental Petroleum, and Raytheon - See more at:


http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Democratic_Leadership_Council#sthash.XNV8e7xa.dpuf

How do I get rid of this problem?

I use Firefox as my browser. Recently, when I shut down my browser, I find a full page behind it promising to update my Windows 7. I'm pretty certain this is one of those sites that locks up your computer and then offers it free it for a low, low price. I've updated my virus protection several times, but it keeps turning up. Any idea how to keep it from popping up?

Like the NY lotto always says: You gotta be in it to win it!

Applies to voting as well. Best comment I've seen on what happened yesterday.

How does this election effect you personally?

It's bad news for the entire world since we won't be addressing global climate change, we will be increasing our use of oil and gas instead of wind and solar, we will be dragging down every other economy as Republicans try to take us into recession by cutting programs.

That said - I'm probably OK on ACA - my youngest will age out of our insurance before the Republicans can change the law. But student loans? There goes any chance for any relief for at least another 2 years. And I still have 3 kids looking for work.

So, MSNBC is predicting the Republicans hold the House -

How? Is it all due to gerrymandering?