We have trouble believing this actually happened but it did. A crazed surgeon in Bucharest was supposed to operate on a man's testicles. Instead he cut off the man's p*nis and sliced it into three pieces:

A ROMANIAN surgeon underwent a fit of madness while operating on a patient's testicles and instead cut off the man's penis and sliced it into three pieces, hospital officials said. The surgeon, Naum Ciomu, was described as a senior member of the hospital staff and a professor of anatomy. He had been operating on a 34-year-old man for a testicular malformation when he committed the act, the officials said.

"We are shocked by what has happened. It is the first time we have had such a case," said Sorin Oprescu, head of the Bucharest emergency hospital where the patient was rushed for emergency reconstructive surgery. The operations have been entrusted to a highly respected Romanian plastic surgeon, Ioan Lascar, who said he would try to restore the man's urinary function but that he was unlikely to recover normal sexual activity.

Lesson: Never, never go to the emergency room in Bucharest.

U.S. Marine Wassef Ali Hassoun is speaking out. He denies he's a deserter. He says he was captured and held for 19 days--during which he witnessed beheadings. Authorities aren't sure whether to believe him.

He's willing to go back to active duty. He's going to be subjected to intense military interrogation. We say give him the benefit of the doubt. Presume him innocent.

Salon writer Geraldine Sealey picks up on the friction caused by Alex Jones' slam of bloggers attending the convention with press credentials. She says it better than we could, so we'll just quote:

The difference between most bloggers and journalists is usually what attracts readers to blogs in the first place. Bloggers, among other things, chronicle, archive, editorialize, provide community for the like-minded and forums for debate, and emphasize key points being lost in the din of the mainstream coverage. Blogs provide a helpful lens, even if a partisan one, for understanding mainstream media coverage. And since blog readers are usually voracious news junkies, blogs provide them a supplement to the daily consumption of mainstream news -- they don't necessarily supplant say, the Washington Post. As with all flavors of media outlets, there are good blogs and bad, prominent ones that have risen on their reputation and track record, and others you can probably do without.

Via Electablog: Linda Ronstadt was performing at the Aladdin Casino in Las Vegas. At the end of her set, she praised Michael Moore and his Fahrenheit 911 film. She got cheers and jeers--and then the guy in charge at the Aladdin booted her out of the place, not even allowing her to return to her dressing room and get her belongings.

The Aladdin was never our casino of choice in Vegas. But now, we're demoting it further--to the same level as Slimfast.

Earlier today we were discussing whether journalists are more objective than bloggers. Check this out. The Associated Press only reports that Ronstadt got jeered. The Las Vegas Sun reports she got equal amounts of cheers and jeers.

Scotus Blog reports as follows:

Our sources who litigate these cases and have excellent contacts (you know who you are, and we thank you) tell us that there is an excellent prospect that the Solicitor General will likely take the post-Blakely questions under the Guidelines to the Supreme Court on Wednesday. One or both of two filings are contemplated: a cert. petition in the Seventh Circuit's Booker case (in which Judges Posner and Easterbrook divided); and a petition for cert. before judgment in United States v. Fanfan (a district court decision from the District of Maine that was just appealed by the government to the First Circuit). Both cases involve drug conspiracies.

The government will move to expedite both the cert. and merits stages of the cases, seeking: that any response to the petitions be filed within a week, that cert. be granted by August 2, and that merits briefing be completed by mid-September or early-October (under alternative schedules that are being discussed). Argument would be held immediately thereafter.

The Booker case was briefed and argued in the 7th Circuit by TalkLeft contributor TChris. We can't wait till he gets to the Supreme Court. On the other hand, if the Supremes take the case, it will entail an enormous amount of work, particularly in light of the expedited briefing schedule, and he may have less time to blog. Then again, if we had a choice between litigating a case in the Supreme Court and blogging, we know which one we'd choose, so we're behind TChris all the way. Even if it means blogging alone for a while.

The New York Times is expected to break the news Tuesday, although the cert petitions most likely won't be filed until Wednesday. We don't know for sure which of the two cases--or whether both will be taken up to the High Court, but we have a strong suspicion it will be both of them.

Update: As predicted, here is the New York Times article.

by TChris

There's joy in Tulia, where the government's attempt to railroad a community of African-Americans resulted in undeserved convictions, 35 pardons, and an eventual settlement (all chronicled in these TalkLeft posts). Checks began to arrive on Friday. Four million dollars will be distributed among 45 defendants. This is a well-deserved, albeit small, measure of justice for the Tulia defendants.

Ted Killory, an attorney for one of the defendants, said he was pleased that the wrongly accused got at least some compensation, but ''no amount of money is going to make up for losing four years of life in prison.''

by TChris

Taking a summer vacation in the USA? You might want to leave your camera at home ... unless you don't mind being questioned by Homeland Security.

Ian Spiers had just hours to finish an assignment for his photography class. He was taking shots of a railroad bridge near the Ballard Locks when an officer with a German shepherd approached him, asked him what he was doing and requested some ID.

Spiers showed the first officer his class assignment and asked whether he was really required to produce ID. The officer said "no" and left. Not good enough for Homeland Security.

But soon after, several armed officers approached him, including three from the Seattle Police Department and three from the federal Homeland Security Department. ... This time, Spiers said, a Seattle police officer told him he had no choice but to show his ID. A Homeland Security agent who flashed his badge told him he had broken a law by taking pictures of a federal facility.

Spiers submitted to a half hour of questioning before being told he had no choice about being photographed by Homeland Security: the agency that protects us from dangerous photographers by ... taking their pictures.

Jennifer Van Bergen, writing for Counterpunch, says that the Supreme Court's decision in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld may be the death knell for Habeas Corpus:

The Great Writ has been a core part of democratic processes for over four
hundred years. The Supreme Court may go down in infamy as the one that
destroyed the Great Writ of Liberty, and along with it, our freedom.

Here's why:

TalkLeft hit 3 million unique visitors today--with almost 5 million page views. We converted TalkLeft to a weblog on June 15, 2002--just about two years ago. (Here's our pre-blog look.) We never dreamed so many people would read us. Thanks to every one of you. And a big thanks to TChris who has become an invaluable contributor to TalkLeft.

In a 4-3 split decision, the Colorado Supreme Court today upheld a trial court's order in the Kobe Bryant Case prohibiting the media from publishing or disclosing the contents of transcripts of a sealed hearing disseminated to the media through a mistake by the court reporter--even though it is a prior restraint of press.

"This prior restraint is necessary to protect against an evil that is great and certain and would result from reportage," the court ruled.

Justice Michael Bender (formerly an esteemed Colorado criminal defense lawyer) wrote the dissenting opinion:

Justice Michael Bender .... said it was unfair to hold the media responsible if a court failed to do its job to protect confidential information. "The power the majority authorizes is the power of the government to censor the media, which is precisely the power the First Amendment forbids," Bender wrote.

The text of the decision is available here.

by TChris

Sadly, the transfer of sovereignty (full or partial) to Iraq's interim government has not lessened the death toll for American soldiers.

Nearly as many US soldiers lost their lives in Iraq in the first half of July as in all of June, even as Iraqi insurgents seem to have shifted focus from attacking US targets to aiming instead at Iraqi security forces and government officials.

Since the June 28 handover of power, the 160,000 coalition forces have averaged more than two deaths a day, among the highest rate of losses since the war began 15 months ago. By Saturday, 36 US soldiers had died this month, compared with 42 last month, according to a Globe analysis of official statistics.

How long this trend will continue is open to speculation.

[T]he continued attacks on US troops demonstrate the staying power and growing flexibility of the insurgency, believed to be made up largely of former Ba'ath Party elements as well as Sunni and Shia Muslim opponents of the US invasion, both Iraqis and foreigners. They have recently shown a greater ability to cut off US military supply routes and to force Americans to adjust their own tactics, officials said.

The United States is one of a small smattering of countries around the world that still allows the execution of juvenile offenders. It is one of our nation's greatest shames. Here's the company we keep:

In the past four years, only five nations have executed juveniles, the diplomats said: Congo, China, Iran, Pakistan and the United States.

Today, Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, the American Medical Association and 48 countries urged the Supreme Court to end the practice when it considers one such case, Roper v. Simmons, 03-633, in the fall.

"By continuing to execute child offenders in violation of international norms, the United States is not just leaving itself open to charges of hypocrisy, but is also endangering the rights of many around the world," said a friend of the court filing Monday on behalf of Nobel Peace Prize winners, including former President Carter and former Soviet President Gorbachev. "Countries whose human rights records are criticized by the United States have no incentive to improve their records when the United States fails to meet the most fundamental, baseline standards," it said. The 25-nation European Union, plus Mexico, Canada and other nations argued that execution of juvenile killers "violates widely accepted human rights norms and the minimum standards of human rights set forth by the United Nations."

The Houston Chronicle reported in January that the decision could affect 26 on death row in Texas. (available in online archives.) Can you imagine? Texas has 26 persons on death row who were under 18 at the time of their crimes?

Here are some statistics on juvenile executions.