Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has been one of my heroes for a long time. Before becoming Mayor, he was an outstanding criminal defense attorney. I've lauded him on TalkLeft several times. I've even endorsed him for Governor of Nevada.

But today, Oscar disappoints. He appeared on television and advocated that graffiti artists have their thumbs amputated on public television as punishment. Then he advocated caning as punishment for children who misbehave.

``I'm dead serious,'' said Goodman, adding, ``Some of these (children) don't learn. You have got to teach them a lesson, and this is coming from a criminal defense lawyer.''

``They would get a trial first,'' he added.

No, this is coming from a former criminal defense lawyer. Oscar, we thought we knew you. Please, take it back.

Unfortunately, this is a true story.

photo by journalist Alan Shadrake,

Darshan Singh is Singapore's official executioner. He has hanged more than 850 people in his 43 years on the job. He wants to retire. But he can't find a replacement.

"He tried to train two would-be hangmen to replace him, a Malaysian and a Chinese, both in the prison service," [his] colleague said. "But when it came to pulling the lever for the real thing, they both froze and could not do it.

The pot-bellied grandfather and former Singapore caner has an all-time record of hanging 18 people in one day. He hangs his victims while wearing very casual attire, usually a t-shirt and shorts.

The New York Times profiles Judge Reggie Walton who will preside over the Lewis Libby trial and quotes a fellow judge on the D.C. district court as saying he's a tough sentencer:

Judge Walton, a former prosecutor who handled many cases involving drugs and street crimes early in his career, is known for handing down tough sentences.

"You're always going to get a fair trial with him," Judge Lamberth said, "but if you're convicted, he's going to ensure you do adequate time to reflect the crime."

I'm not sure why this is a big deal. Tom Delay reported on his House report (pdf) that he received $13,998.55 in travel expenses from Fox News for going to Washington to appear on Fox News Sunday after his indictment.

Networks always pay travel expenses for guests they fly in to do shows. It sounds like they chartered a flight for DeLay, which also is not surprising -- why would he want to face the public in airports and and on commercial planes right after his indictment?

Now, was it "officially related travel" as DeLay claims? I checked the transcript, and he did discuss offical House business (albeit marginally) in addition to attacking the Indictment against him.

The results of a new Washington Post - ABC News poll show Bush's approval ratings have dropped to an all time low.

For the first time in his presidency, a majority of Americans question the integrity of President Bush, and growing doubts about his leadership have left him with record negative ratings on the economy, Iraq and even the war on terrorism, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

On virtually every key measure of presidential character and performance, the new survey found that Bush has never been less popular with the American people. Currently 39 percent approve of the job he is doing as president, while 60 percent disapprove of his performance in office -- the highest level of disapproval ever recorded for Bush in Post-ABC polls.

55% of the American people now believe Bush misled the country in taking us to war. 59% say Karl Rove should resign.

This quote is buried in a AP story tonight about three Congressmen who are seeking Cheney's testimony in a congressional probe.

In response, Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said that the vice president would cooperate with the Justice Department as the criminal investigation of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald moves forward.

I wish these Congressman would wait until Fitzgerald's investigation and the criminal cases are over. Don't they remember Iran-Contra? Can't they spell "immunity?" In case they forgot, here's Last Night in Little Rock. If they won't listen to us, maybe they'll listen to Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

Human Rights Watch reports that the CIA moved terror prisoners to Poland and Romania. The heads of both countries deny it.

In implicating Poland and Romania, Human Rights Watch examined flight logs of CIA aircraft from 2001 to 2004, said Mark Garlasco, a senior military analyst with the New York-based organization. He said the group matched the flight patterns with testimony from some of the hundreds of detainees in the war on terrorism who have been released by the United States.

Finally, this story has legs.

I'll admit, James Carville always has been tough for me to watch on tv. It's nothing personal, I just don't get his appeal. He figits, over-dominates the discussion and his lightening speech and country twang rub me the wrong way. Add that to his wife's politics, and he's a channel-changer for me.

Arianna makes a good argument today that he needs to take a vacation . On PlameGate, he's picking up his wife's talking points on Cheney.

Great job announcement over at Josh Marshall's Talking Points and TPM cafe. I really like the last line:

No deadline for applications. We'll hire when we've found the right person.

CNN announced yesterday that Aaron Brown is leaving and Anderson Cooper will be taking his 10:00 PM ET timeslot. I like Anderson Cooper's reporting a lot, but I also liked Aaron Brown's show. He was an oasis of calm and reason among the sea of frenetic spin shows.

Armando likes him too. It doesn't appear that Mr. Brown has lined up a new gig yet, but I wish him well.

How do reporters know whom to call for information on Judge Alito? The professionals do their own research. Others apparently rely on the White House "Office of Political Affairs."

TalkLeft friend Peter Goldberger has given several press interviews on Alito, a law school classmate. He has expressed his views here on TalkLeft.

Yesterday, Peter got a telephone call from Mike Davis at the White House Political Affairs office asking whether he could put Peter's name on a contact list for journalists. Davis said they were looking for people who may not share Alito's views but who support his nomination.

by TChris

Goose, meet gander.

Two days after U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay won a fight to get a new judge in his case, prosecutors on Thursday succeeded in ousting the Republican jurist responsible for selecting the new judge. Administrative Judge B.B. Schraub recused himself after District Attorney Ronnie Earle filed a motion asking for his removal from the case.

DeLay succeeded in removing a judge who had donated more than $5,000 to Democratic campaigns. Earle discovered that Judge Schraub has contributed more than $5,000 to Republican candidates, including DeLay's friend, Gov. Rick Perry.

Schraub will ask the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court to name a judge to preside over DeLay's case. You can bet that both sides already know whether the chief justice has been a generous supporter of political campaigns.