The opening nominations are in for the third annual Koufax blogging awards. This is the semi-final round. TalkLeft is nominated in two categories, "best expert blog" and "best single issues blog." We won the award for "best single issues" blog in 2002 and 2003.

The Koufax Awards are named for Sandy Koufax, one of the greatest left handed pitchers of all time. They are intended to honor the best of the left of blogtopia (ysitp). At its core, the Koufax Awards are meant to be an opportunity to say nice things about your favorite bloggers and to provide a bit of recognition for the folks who provide us with information, insight, and entertainment usually for little or no renumeration.

It feels a little greedy to seek to win again, but this past year, TChris also has been blogging at Talkleft, and I'd like to see him get some recognition as well as me. (Although I can tell you he will say he doesn't want any. That's just his nature.)

There is so much fine competition this year that it will be an achievement just to get to the finals in both categories. You can vote here for best expert blog and here for best single issues blog. Just scroll down and leave your vote in a comment. You can vote once in both categories. If you'd rather email your vote, you can do that here: Email Mary Beth or Email Dwight.

BBC, Britiain's public broadcasting channel, aired "Springer The Opera" last night despite receiving more than 40,000 protests, mostly from church groups. Can you imagine how many protests it would generate in America? Did anyone happen to tape it?

Inspired by Springer's trashy American television talk program, it features songs titled "Pregnant By A Transsexual" and "Here Come The Hookers." It is peppered with obscenities and has drawn the ire of Christian groups, outraged at its portrayal of Jesus Christ in a nappy admitting he is a "bit gay."

Then there's this objection which must set a new record for spreading propoganga through deceit:

Lobby group Mediawatch U.K. has attacked the level of swearing. Critics claim the show has 8,000 swear words. That figure is calculated by multiplying the number of obscenities by the 27 members of the chorus who sing the opera's expletive-laden songs.

Death Sqauds and Assassination teams may be coming to Iraq, courtesy of your U.S. Military. According to Newsweek, Rumsfeld is considering the option of counter-terrorist death squads. Go read the whole thing.

NEWSWEEK has learned, the Pentagon is intensively debating an option that dates back to a still-secret strategy in the Reagan administration’s battle against the leftist guerrilla insurgency in El Salvador in the early 1980s. Then, faced with a losing war against Salvadoran rebels, the U.S. government funded or supported "nationalist" forces that allegedly included so-called death squads directed to hunt down and kill rebel leaders and sympathizers. Eventually the insurgency was quelled, and many U.S. conservatives consider the policy to have been a success—despite the deaths of innocent civilians and the subsequent Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal. (Among the current administration officials who dealt with Central America back then is John Negroponte, who is today the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Under Reagan, he was ambassador to Honduras.)

Sgt. Tracy Perkins was convicted at his court-martial of ordering two Iraqis thrown in the Tigeris River. One, Zaidoun Hassoun, drowned. His cousin, Marwan Fadil, climbed out of the river and survived. They were forced to jump in the river at gunpoint. The jury sentenced him to six months in jail and will keep his job in the military, despite a prosecution recommendation of five years and a dishonorable discharge.

Marwan Hassoun testified that he tried to save his cousin by grabbing his hand, but the powerful current swept Zaidoun away. Marwan said the body was found in the river nearly two weeks later.

Perkins said the man had made a gesture of slitting his throat. He said he never meant to injure or kill the Iraqi by throwing him in the river; and he ordered him thrown in the river to teach him a "hard lesson" about threatening U.S. troops. He testified he saw the man climb out alive. "Basically the enemy would test your resolve. ... I didn't want them to think we were soft or weak," said Perkins, who has 14 years of military service.

The enemy? These were two young men whose truck, filled with bathroom equipment, had broken down at night.

The debate continues over the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham last February. Chicago Trib reporters Maurice Possley and Steve Mills outlined the case and its disputed forensics last month.

...trapped to a gurney in Texas' death chamber earlier this year, just moments from his execution for setting a fire that killed his three daughters, Cameron Todd Willingham declared his innocence one last time. "I am an innocent man, convicted of a crime I did not commit," Willingham said angrily. "I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do."

While Texas authorities dismissed his protests, a Tribune investigation of his case shows that Willingham was prosecuted and convicted based primarily on arson theories that have since been repudiated by scientific advances. According to four fire experts consulted by the Tribune, the original investigation was flawed and it is even possible the fire was accidental.

Today a Chicago Tribune editorial focuses on the errors in the Willingham case to make the point:

That's what passes for justice in Texas. The Willingham case undermines the notion that we execute only those we know to be guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt." It should send a shiver across the nation.

Fox News has scored a big one. Denver federal judge Phil Figa has dismissed the libel lawsuit filed against the network and reporter Carol McKinley by John and Patsy Ramsey and their son Burke.

The suit involved a December, 2002 broadcast in which McKinley said there was no evidence of an intruder, and later said the only people in the house were the Ramseys and their son Burke. The Ramseys claimed the broadcast implied one of them had something to do with the crime. The Judge disagreed:

There is a move afoot to make Puerto Rico bi-lingual by requiring the compulsory learning of English as a second language. The argument in favor of the proposal points to China and Chile which have successfully implemented programs to teach school children English and could provide Puerto Rico an opportunity to act as the gateway to South American business.

Proponents of the measure say that fears of "cultural elitists" that a bilingual Puerto Rico would eventually translate into statehood for Puerto Rico are misguided, and that fluency of the English language serves as a tool to ensure prosperity and not as a danger to cultural heritage.

There's lot's more on Puerto Rico at Let Puerto Rico Decide.

Virginia is seeking to criminalize the non-reporting of a miscarriage . The bill is H.B. 1677 and it provides:

"When a fetal death occurs without medical attendance, it shall be the woman's responsibility to report the death to the law-enforcement agency in the jurisdiction of which the delivery occurs within 12 hours after the delivery. A violation of this section shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor."

Democcracy for Virgina responds:

This from today's Buffalo News....

The Bush administration plans to eliminate a shock incarceration program that many considered a progressive way to help first-time offenders avoid long federal prison terms. While no formal announcement has been made, Carla Wilson, a U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman in Washington, confirmed Friday that the 14-year-old Intensive Confinement Program will be discontinued.

....The program was designed for younger, nonviolent, first-time convicts who faced no more than 30 months in federal prison. Those who qualified spent six months in an intensive "boot camp" that provided strict discipline, job training and counseling, followed by time in a community halfway house and home confinement.

At least one federal judge is angry. We expect more to have the same reaction - as will many professionals working within the system.

Law Prof Doug Berman of Sentencing Law and Policy analyzes the responses of Alberto Gonzales at his confirmation hearing with respect to some non-torture issues, particlarly, those dealing with rehabilitation of prisoners and the Sentencing Guidelines. In response to a question by Sen. Arlen Specter about differentiating between violent and non-violent criminals, Gonzales replied:

I agree ... that for people who commit violent crimes and are career criminals, they should remain in our prisons. But there is a segment of the prison population — juveniles, for an example, as you mentioned, and first-time, maybe sometimes second- time offenders — who can be rehabilitated. And as I said earlier in response to a question, I think it is not only smart, but I think it's the right thing to do. I think it is part of a compassionate society to give someone another chance.

But, as Professor Berman notes is a follow-up post, the plot thickens. Today's Buffalo News reports the Bush Administration is eliminating its shock incarceration program.

A U.S. Border Patrol Agent appeared in federal court yesterday charged with smuggling 750 pounds of marijuana across the border. The cops caught the agent after a high-speed chase. Pretty ballsy, he was even using an official Border Patrol vehicle. He also had a non-documented immigrant with him.

FBI agents began watching Higareda after learning of a supposed plan to move a giant drug stash over the border from Mexico to a house in Calexico, California using a marked U.S. Border Patrol car, the complaint said. Agents said they watched Higareda meet with another driver at a customs checkpoint, then chased him "at high speeds" about 20 miles to Holtville, California.

Here's the list of inaugural balls set for Bush's second coronation. Check out the names: There's the Stars and Stripes Ball, the Freedom Ball, the Patriot Ball, the Liberty Ball, the Democracy Ball, the Independence Ball...it's enough to make you sick.

On that topic, say hello to Makes Me Ralph, a (mostly) Colorado blog.

Back to the Balls, I wonder if there's any chance MTV will replay the 1993 MTV inaugural ball for then-President Clinton. Maybe they could replay it on the 19th or in the late afternoon or evening of the 20th. It opened with Don Henley singing "Dirty Laundry" and Leonard Cohen's "Democracy." ("Democracy is coming, to the U.S.A.") Even Bob Dylan's "The Times, They Are a Changing." Talk about a backslide...