Jim Cramer must still be living in la-la-land if he thinks that John Stewart has anything to answer for.

Or is Cramer so used to having his ego kissed up to by all the sycophants in the mainstream media that he can't handle actual hard-hitting journalism any more?

Ref: Empathy

I do not understand why Republicans who voted twice for a president who defined himself as "compassionate" (and here in Texas, voted twice for him to be governor) are so upset when another president says "empathy" is important.

Had not heard the item about the Washington Times pairing pictures of the Obama girs with an article about schoolchildren being murdered in Chicago. Seriously, does anyone believe their explanation that they just let a database pair pictures with stories and then post them without anyone looking at them??? This deserves way more attention then its getting.

I'm not sure why the gov. of NH is demanding this. My understanding is that the leglislation already contains such a provision. I thought the wording of it was pretty straight-forward.

BTW, even though he doesn't usually read this blog, Happy Fifth LEGAL Anniversay to my hubby! We've been together almost 18 years, but having that smirch of legality on it makes it all the sweeter. Thank you Canada!!!

dcsusie, it's not that unusual. Archiving software has made great strides in recent years. The problems crop up when the images are stored and the keyword associations are entered. You'll find that many pictures in newspapers and on the nightly news are stock footage (some of it very out-dated), unless the story requires something more current.

Even if it were simply a matter of a database picking a picture tagged with relevance to the story, I still don't believe that someone at the Times didn't catch this.

Are they saying they don't have a process to review or edit their final publications?

Combine that and the Times' right wing history, and their excuse doesn't wash.

Yep, I cracked up, all right, when I read:

Alberto Gonzales doesn't know what "empathy" means.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) thinks the humane thing to do would be to keep detainees at Gitmo, so they can enjoy "the tropical breezes." He's a joke, too.

The really humane thing to do would be to lock Jeff Sessions up in a small dark room with a bunch of banana rats. See how he likes those "tropical breezes".

Because Hasselbeck is on TV. Why single her out repeatedly when the list of people from all sides whose political opinions might be considered worthless based on their education, experience, and/or wrong opinions is limitless? Keep it up, Steve, and people might think you have a thing for her.

@ citizen_pain:

You're right: John Solomon's lame apologies about the Obama girls' pictures sound pretty sorry-ass, even for the Washington Times. "Technical glitches"? C'mon: Mr. Solomon's job description at the WT is "editor" - how hard would it be for him to do a little, y'know - editing??, so that his paper wouldn't publish embarrassing shit like this?

Wait! It's the Moonie-owned WashTimes! Publishing embarrassing shit is what they DO!!!

*Somebody* wrote the caption for the story, that mentions the Obama girls and the killings in the same caption. THAT didn't happen because software picked out the wrong photo.

Democrats closing ranks around John Murtha strikes me as a bad idea.

In consideration of the praise that you got from a blogger yesterday, I have to ask: Would you have been that sharply denuciatory had the Republicans closed ranks around Randy "Duke" Cunningham?

It's not "a bad idea", it's an attempt to obstruct justice. It's an attempt to prohibit draining "the swamp of corruption."

Murtha needs to resign his chairmanships pending the results of the investigations.

meanwhile, another successful demonstration of carbon capture and storage:

http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Carbon_Capture_Demonstration_Project_Successful_999.html

mhr here's some language a dim bulb like you can understand.Why don't you piss up a rope with that racism nonsense.

Public Service Announcement for the day:

Please don't feed the trolls. If you do, they tend to stick around and stink up the whole place. It takes forever to get rid of their stench.

Shorter WashTimes:

We're such rabid racists that even our software wants the Obama family dead.

Seriously, does anyone believe their explanation that they just let a database pair pictures with stories and then post them without anyone looking at them???

Especially not with this caption:

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOGRAPHS The Obama daughters (above) - Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10 - attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. This school year 36 of the city's school children have been killed.

Looks like the Washington Times tried that time-honored screed against liberals ("if they're so liberal, why do they send their kids to private school?!?!") but took it that extra step by actually using a picture of the girls.

* Alberto Gonzales doesn't know what "empathy" means. -- Steve Benen

Oh, he knows, he knows. He knows it means "walk a mile in my shoes". He also knows that a rich man's shoes are more comfortable than a poor man's.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) thinks the humane thing to do would be to keep detainees at Gitmo, so they can enjoy "the tropical breezes." -- Steve Benen

Once Gitmo has been closed as a prison, it should be reopened, without any modifications, as a spa for Repubs. They could partake there of such slimming techniques as stress positions and sleep deprivation and, instead of mud baths, experiment with waterboarding and icy isolation spells. And enjoy the tropical breezes in between the routines. Loud music and/or speeches by liberal personalities extra.

Item from CNN.

I wonder if John McCain will have to courage to go after Limbaugh for his latest tirade.

Limbaugh hits back at McCain's mom

Nothing happened on the Single Payer front, today, eh Steve???????

Geez, Obama would Personally like it, but, but, but - So he does the ShimSham and Shuffles the Single Payer off to Buffalo. Who gives a good God Damn about a filibuster proof 60, when Nelson blocks Johnson, Tim Johnson and the two Deleware Senators want to water down the credit card bill, Murray, Cantwell, Tester, Baucus, Dorgan join 7 other Gutless so-called Democrats in support of over ruling the inheritance tax and several of these follow this with denying bankruptcy protection to homeowners. Yeah, get your vibrators out about possible torture investigations and yuk-yuk about the daily RepuG Gaffes - We still have some of the Finest RepuGDemos money can buy. So long so-called Progressives and fellow Democrats. Last November Fifth, we might have been able to actually change things for the better. However, Big Money Talks and Principles Walk. Democratic Party Take A Hike.

A Miracle died for this future Nobelist's sins...

NYT: Chemist Shows How RNA Can Be the Starting Point for Life

For more than 20 years researchers have been working on this problem. The building blocks of RNA, known as nucleotides, each consist of a chemical base, a sugar molecule called ribose and a phosphate group ... The spontaneous appearance of such nucleotides on the primitive earth “would have been a near miracle,� two leading researchers, Gerald Joyce and Leslie Orgel, wrote in 1999. Others were so despairing that they believed some other molecule must have preceded RNA and started looking for a pre-RNA world. The miracle seems now to have been explained.

This part is just brilliant and guarantees Sutherland a Nobel:

In Dr. Sutherland’s reconstruction, phosphate plays a critical role not only as an ingredient but also as a catalyst and in regulating acidity. Dr. Joyce said he was so impressed by the role of phosphate that “this makes me think of myself not as a carbon-based life form but as a phosphate-based life form.�

Cool. Very cool...

Touche! 98 to 0 meet 98 to 0...

NYT: On the Bench and Off, the Eminently Quotable Justice Scalia

Two days later, at the argument in a big voting rights case, Justice Scalia seemed to violate his rule against citing foreign law. Expressing skepticism about the significance of the 98-0 vote by which the Senate reauthorized the Voting Rights Act, Justice Scalia said, “The Israeli supreme court, the Sanhedrin, used to have a rule that if the death penalty was pronounced unanimously, it was invalid, because there must be something wrong there.�

It was as an offhand reference to an ancient court, and Justice Scalia was not announcing a universal principle. Indeed, he almost certainly does not think that every unanimous legislative act is problematic.

In 1986, for instance, the Senate approved Justice Scalia’s nomination to the Supreme Court by a vote of 98 to 0.

Once Gitmo has been closed as a prison, it should be reopened, without any modifications, as a spa for Repubs.

Rush has already got the marketing literature and the cool gear.

Once Gitmo has been closed as a prison, it should be reopened, without any modifications, as a spa for Repubs.

Rush has already got the marketing literature and the cool gear.

I so hope Cramer tries to get back at Stewart. His career might not be able to stand another ass kicking.

Just answered a lengthy phone poll in Iowa about the gay marriage ruling and possible responses to it. 3-5 15 word questions would have sufficed. Instead the questions were long and extremely wordy, and some were rephrased and re-asked. I think they were trying to get people, at least once during the survey, to accidentally say that they supported the amendment to outlaw gay marriage. Sleazy bastards.

Re: Credit Cards
The Senate voted down Bernie Sanders (I-VT) proposal to cap Credit Card interest at 15%.

Can Obama beat the Democrats?

Good for the Senate. They don't have the right or the power to do so.

Of course they do. The Congress has the Constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce.

Elizabeth Hasselbeck is the wife of Matt Hasselbeck, a quarterback who pretty much defines the line between quarterbacks who are good enough not to get in the way of winning if the rest of your team is good and quarterbacks who actually add value.