Free Republic

Self-described "civil rights advocates" say that a ballot proposition to ban circumcision is on track for gathering signatures, meaning that San Franciscans may vote on the measure this November. The proposed law is being spearheaded by local resident Lloyd Schofield, according to the San Francisco Examiner. It's part of a national push to end the procedure, which some say is steeped in tradition but poses risks and has little medical benefit. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association do not recommend routine circumcision. Getting on the ballot is the easy part -- only about 7,000 signatures are...

The indigenous Sami peoples in the Arctic have found a way to help reindeer survive the ravages of climate change—but we’re guessing the deer don’t like it too much. Fluctuating temperatures have been a challenge for the reindeer, because melting snow often refreezes and forms ice over the pastures they feed on. Sami researchers have found that castrating male reindeer allows them to more easily break the ice, in part because they keep their antlers later into winter. It also makes the males more likely to share their food with calves that would otherwise starve to death. “To make herds...

An enraged father who disapproved of his daughter's older boyfriend went to his home and castrated him with a bread knife. Helmut Seifert, 47, an ethnic German originally from Russia, was enraged when he heard his 17-year-old daughter was having a relationship with Phillip Genscher, 57. He went to police in the town of Bielefeld where he lives but officers said they were powerless to intervene. "The man then recruited two work colleagues at his factory and then went to the house of the victim," said police. "The man was forced to remove his trousers and, fully conscious, he was...

A teacher convicted of sexually assaulting one of his students had an odd request for the judge at his sentencing Thursday. Adam Friedman, 46, offered to be castrated in an effort to avoid prison time. Friedman was an instructor at the Arts at the Capitol Theater magnet school in Willimantic when he was arrested in December 2008. Prosecutors say Friedman had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl between July and November 2008. The assaults took place at motels in Columbia and Manchester, and at the girl's grandparents' home in Hebron. He plead guilty to second-degree sexual assault, risk of...

San Bernardino County prosecutors have dropped charges against a man charged with kidnapping a 3-year-old boy after the suspect was shot to death in Mexico. Liberato Vega and another man were accused of taking the child during a home-invasion robbery last year in unincorporated south San Bernardino. The boy was later found in Mexicali, Mexico. Vega, who’s 31, was shot 16 times during a January gun battle with Mexican federal police that authorities say may have been drug-related. County prosecutor Bob Bulloch said it was difficult to confirm the death and the case wasn’t dropped until Sept. 8.

A woman with 30 tattoos claims she was told to "put a bag over her head" when she went for a job interview. Hayley O'Neil, 23, - who also has 20 body piercings - says was also advised to "stand behind a wall" when she asked a job centre official what post she could apply for. She eventually left the Job centre plus centre in Blackburn Lancs in tear without any interviewers lined up after the advisor concluded: "Who would hire you looking like that?" Miss O'Neil, who got her first tattoo from her mother as an 18th birthday present...

The NRSC sends over this passage from an interview with Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Scott McAdams: In the interview with RealClearPolitics, [McAdams] demonstrated an unwillingness to answer some of the most basic policy questions that have permeated the national debate in recent months. Asked if he would have voted for national health care reform, McAdams paused for a full 10 seconds before replying, "Let's see. One moment please." Another 15 seconds of silence came next, before McAdams finally asked to hear the reporter's next question.

<p>DOVER, N.H. — A New Hampshire high school student shocked so severely in shop class that his heart stopped beating is suing his teacher, the school district and the city of Dover.</p> <p>Kyle Dubois and his parents claim teacher Thomas Kelley did not warn Dubois and other students of the dangers of the electrical demonstration cords in their electrical trades class.</p>

Spanish banderillero Pedro Muriel is gored by a bull during a bullfight

ISLIP TERRACE, New York (WABC) -- Police say a Suffolk County man is in the hospital after losing his arm while trying to light fireworks. The incident happened in Islip Terrace on Long Island. Police say 36-year-old Eric Smith was leaning over to light a firework, but was unable to get out of the way in time when the mortar blew off his left arm. Family members, who were there for a July 4th celebration, quickly grabbed the arm and put it in a cooler.

LYNNWOOD, Wash. -- A man was shot in the testicles Sunday afternoon after a gun in his waistband accidentally discharged, police said. The man was shopping at the Lowe's hardware store in Lynnwood around 12:30 p.m. when the gun went off, said Shannon Sessions with Lynnwood police.

Surgeon 'cut off patient's testicle by mistake' A patient lost a testicle during an operation after the surgeon accidentally cut it off, the medical watchdog was told today. Dr Sulieman Al Hourani was only supposed to cut out a cyst on the patient's right testis, but instead he 'mistakenly' removed the whole testicle, the General Medical Council (GMC) heard. Dr Al Hourani, who worked as a locum surgeon at Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, Greater Manchester, is accused of misconduct over the error and faces further charges of injecting himself with a drug meant for a patient and stealing tablets....

WASHINGTON – A U.S. military doctor removed a live round of ammunition from the head of an Afghan soldier in an unusual and harrowing surgery. Doctors say a 14.5 millimeter unexploded round — more than 2 inches long — was removed from the scalp of an Afghan National Army soldier at the Bagram Air Field hospital last month.

(The Sun) - Surgeons saved a man's life after a three week erection nearly killed him, The Sun reported Wednesday. The businessman, 55, was forced to undergo an emergency operation after his problem persisted for a staggering 21 days. Doctors at a hospital in Kolkata, India, eventually performed the surgery to put the middle-aged man out of his misery. But although the hour-long operation was successful, it rendered the man impotent. Doctor Avishek Mukherjee said: "It was very late when the man sought treatment. "The treatment has to be sought within six hours, otherwise it could even lead to death,...

This image provided by ABC NEWS shows charred underwear with explosive packet, a six-inch long packet of the high explosive chemical called PETN that was smuggled onto the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 by 23-year-old Nigerian suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. (AFP/ABCNews-HO)

Word to the wise: do NOT stick your hand down the shute of a snowblower to clear an ice jam if the auger is still spinning. I let go of the hand control and thought the auger has stopped. Three broken fingers and two to-the-bone lacerations on my middle finger on my right hand have taught me this lesson today. The ER nurses and docs were very impressed. No work, no driving, great pain meds, lots of antibiotics, and seeing a hand surgeon tomorrow. Dumb, dumb, dumb...

CHILTON, Wis. (AP) -- Two Wisconsin women accused of seeking revenge on a cheating lover by gluing his penis to his stomach have reached plea deals. Forty-eight-year-old Therese Ziemann, of Menasha, was accused of doing the actual gluing.

A U.S. tourist got more then he bargained for when he was attacked by a crocodile while attempting to answer the call of nature in the Mexican resort of Cancun this week. According to Mexican police 20-year-old Andrew Dales, from Dallas in Texas, confessed that he had been on a mission to relieve himself at the edge of the local Nicupté lagoon , in the popular tourist resort of Cancun, when the crocodile suddenly snapped at him. He suffered ‘multiple bite wounds’ to his leg and neck and was also left with a head injury after the reptile knocked him...

Security officials are concerned over a tactic newly employed by al Qaeda. Sheila MacVicar reports suicide bombers are now storing explosives inside their bodies in order to avoid detection. Suicide bomber Abdullah Asieri, avoided detection by two sets of airport security and palace security by smuggling a pound of high explosives, plus a detonator in his rectum. Inside a Saudi palace, the scene was the bloody aftermath of an al Qaeda attack in August aimed at killing Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef, head of Saudi Arabia's counter terrorism operations. To get his bomb into this room, Abdullah Asieri, one of Saudi...

September 27, 2009 Police: Man doused with gasoline, burned By JULIE MURPHY Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH -- A man suffered severe burns to his face, chest and hands during a fight over beer, cigarettes and money Saturday afternoon. He had to be airlifted to the Orlando Regional Medical Center Saturday for treatment of his injuries, officials said. Dean Allen Fultz, 47, was transported first to Halifax Health Medical Center shortly after 3 p.m. with "serious burns," said EVAC Ambulance spokesman Mark O'Keefe. Fultz was airlifted to Orlando about 30 minutes later, Daytona Beach police Chief Mike Chitwood said. Fultz was...