I'm recovered from the election frenzy and thinking about the direction TalkLeft will take between now and the 2008 election, which is not far away.

Personally, I'd like to concentrate as I've always done, on the politics of crime, the crime in politics, civil liberties, criminal justice legislation in Congress, prisons, sentencing, the detainees and the War in Iraq. I haven't asked, but I suspect TChris and Last Night in Little Rock feel the same.

But I'm also grateful to Big Tent Democrat who posts on TalkLeft on politics and often exposes the non-liberal media, and glad that he has agreed to continue posting on TalkLeft even though the elections are over. After all, 2008 is right around the corner.

But, let's take a poll.

Six young men were accused of gang-rape and faced life in prison, if charged. But for a videotape, that showed the female accuser "orchestrating" the sex, it might have happened.

A Dana Point woman was told today she must serve at least 90 days in jail for falsely accusing six men of kidnapping and raping her at gunpoint. [Tamara] Moonier went to Fullerton police in June 2004 and reported that she had been kidnapped outside a bar by six men and taken to an unknown location and raped.

But one of the men videotaped the sexual encounter, and the tape contradicted Moonier's story, said Deputy District Attorney Paul Chrisopoulos. The videotape showed that instead of being a victim, Moonier was actually the instigator of much of the sexual activity, Chrisopoulos said.

Via How Appealing: An article in the California Daily Journal (pass through link) reports that one of Sen. Patrick Leahy's first efforts as probable Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee will be to hold hearings to restore some of the habeas rights taken away by the Military Commissions bill.

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who is expected to become chairman, confirmed Thursday that he is drafting a bill to undo portions of a recently passed law that prevent terrorism detainees from going to federal court to challenge the government's right to hold them indefinitely.

Leahy's goal is to "try and do something to reverse the damage," said his spokeswoman, Tracy Schmaler.

The sooner the better in my opinion. I also think Leahy is a great choice for Judiciary Committee Chair. He has been a champion for the rights of the accused on many issues, such as the original Innocence Protection Act. Even though ultimately, an overly weak IP bill was passed, it wasn't his fault. He fought till the bitter end.

I really look forward to having Sen. Leahy serve as Judiciary Chair.

Via AmericaBlog, Barr is positively insightful:

[In 1994,] Many in the new [GOP] House majority incorrectly concluded that their 1994 victory was a mandate for all they had campaigned on . . . What many congressional Republicans failed to realize until much later was that their November victory was less of a vote of confidence in them and more a vote against Clinton. . . . The Democrats will do everything in their power to avoid a return to second-class citizenship. They will be more likely than were the Republicans a dozen years ago to take modest steps, and to be careful lest rhetoric overtake feasible action. The goal for Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her battle-hardened team will be to spend two years laying the groundwork for further gains in 2008, and to push an agenda that will provide a solid and likely centrist platform for their party's standard-bearer.

Seriously, is this really Bob "Impeach Clinton" Barr? Remarkable.

Remember in 2005, when Italy issued arrest warrants for 13 CIA agents alleged to have kidnapped suspected radical muslims and flown them on Ghost Air to secret prisons in countries that practice torture?

One of those Italy alleged to have been kidnapped by the CIA, flown to Egypt and tortured was Abu Omar, also known as Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr.

The Washington Post reports that an 11 page handwritten account of his kidnap and torture has been smuggled out of the Egyptian prison where Abu is being held and made its way to Italian prosecutors. He describes his torture (many details have previously been made public by the Italian newspaper):

I'm not surprised Ken Mehlman is leaving as RNC Chair, after all, the Republicans tanked on Tuesday and the buck stops with him. But, TRex's post on Mehlman at Firedoglake is a great read:

Holy sh*t, that was fast. The AP is reporting that Ken Mehlman will be leaving his job in January to go and work for the Giuliani presidential campaign, possibly because America's Mayor is the only man in the GOP with a more pronounced lisp than his own.

Or maybe is has something to do with Bill Maher outing his scrawny a*s on Larry King Live last night....Of course, CNN edited out that bit later, but apparently the fallout was enough that this morning Big Dubya called Kenny on to the famous Carpet of Optimism in the Oval Office for a "little talk".

Follow the link for a hilarious version of their "little talk." Nice, TRex.

Kevin Drum is a smart guy but sometimes well:

In the long run, I suppose the higher totals among Latinos and independents are the big news. Beyond that, there's not much. Keep this in mind when you start reading anecdotal analyses of "what happened." Most of it doesn't hold water. Based on the exit poll data, it was just a broad-based wave of disgust against Republican rule.

Well beyond the fact that the fastest growing political group and the fastest growing minority group broke strongly to the Dems, no big whoop.

Come on Kevin, you're smarter than that. Those are HUGE political developments. They are the future, the bright Dem future.

This is just too strange not to write about. Can you imagine the I.R.S. going this route?

One cash-strapped Indian city has launched a unique collection service to dislodge payment from tax deadbeats: Door-to-door eunuchs.

Eunuchs--a term used in India to describe transvestites, postoperative transsexuals and hermaphrodites--traditionally make a living on tips for dancing at weddings or for blessing newborns. They frequently refuse to leave until they are given money.

Patna, the capital of Bihar state in eastern India, hired scores of them Wednesday to compel shop owners to pay their back taxes. "We are confident that their reputation and persuasive skills will come in handy for the municipal authorities to collect taxes from defaulters," said Bharat Sharma, a revenue officer.

At least they are an equal opportunity employer.

The New York Times reports on how and when Bush decided to get rid of Donald Rumsfeld.

President Bush was moving by late summer toward removing Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary, people inside and outside the White House said Thursday. Weeks before Election Day, the essential question still open was when, not if, to make the move.

Mr. Bush ultimately postponed action until after the election in part because of concern that to remove Mr. Rumsfeld earlier could be interpreted by critics as political opportunism or as ratifying their criticism of the White House war plan in the heart of the campaign, those people said.

The New York Times has a new profile of Sen. Harry Reid. AmericaBlog highlights the funniest parts:

Harry Reid began Election Day with 50 situps and 80 push-ups (very red state of him) and 40 minutes of yoga (very blue state of him).

He spent most of the momentous day in his Senate office, waiting. Just after 2 p.m., he finally heard some actual news: Britney Spears was filing for divorce.

“Britney Spears,” Mr. Reid said, shaking his head. “She loses a little weight, and now she’s getting all cocky about things.” He added, “Britney has gotten her mojo back.”

Few would peg Mr. Reid, 66, as someone with anything to say about Britney Spears or, for that matter, someone who would ever use the word “mojo.” But he is a tricky figure to pigeonhole or predict, a Democrat who is a Mormon opposed to abortion and who looks more like a civics teacher than someone set to become the most powerful person in the Senate.

Jim Wallis insults:

In this election, both the Religious Right and the secular Left were defeated, and the voice of the moral center was heard.

Linc Chafee is a good man. But it never was clear to me why he did not become an Independent and caucus with the Dems. He would be Senator right now if he did. And it really would reflect who he is. Because of that, I have to sympathize somewhat with some of my friends at Red State:

Since the Republican party spent over a million dollars helping him defeat a real Republican, and pulled out the GOTV machine to mobilize Democrats on his behalf, Lincoln Chafee has decided to display his trademark dazzling intellect by declaring that the appropriate thing for him to do now is leave the Republican party. . . . When asked if his comments meant he thought he might not belong in the Republican Party, he replied: "That's fair." The self-serving idiot continues peeing on the party which (inexplicably) bent over backwards to save his job ...

All of it is inexplicable.