I'll be back later for one more post - the Des Moines Register Poll. And I do not know if Jeralyn will be posting the rest of the day.

But in the meantime, Happy New Year to all, on behalf of all of us here.

And speaking for me only, GO GATORS! Destroy Michigan tomorrow!!

Like Markos, I thought Steve Gilliard was one of the finest writers the blogs ever produced. Here is Matt Bai offering a NYTimes Magazine tribute to him:

Steve Gilliard was born into this Harlem and took it all in, but he wouldn’t find his voice on the corners. He was quiet, bookish, overweight. He won entrance to an elite high school, where he passed his time reading obscure military histories, then studied history and journalism at New York University. He found his true calling, though, on the Internet. In 1998, when he was 34, Gilliard joined a new site called NetSlaves.com, whose blogger-reporters chronicled the misadventures of the new high-tech work force, and there he discovered his own kind of incendiary oration. It was by the dim light of a computer screen, rather than on the sunlit corners of Harlem, that Gilliard took to expertly excoriating the moneyed establishment.

We still miss him terribly.

I'll be offline running errands most of the day, in preparation for leaving for Iowa Monday. Here's a place for you to discuss what's going on in your world and the world at large.

Merry Christmas everyone. It's been snowing all night in Denver -- we've got 4 to 8 inches on tap by evening with treacherous driving conditions -- a good day to stay home and keep a fire going while Christmas dinner is in the oven. And, of course, check the blogs and news.

Here's a cheery Christmas video for you, Darlene Love on David Letterman, Christmas, Baby Please Come Home (hat tip to Dan at 5280.com.)

How's your day going so far?

Blog traffic is so slow on holidays. I'm going to try to give the gift of traffic through the holidays. For this morning:

• Via Avedon Carol at Sideshow: Brooklyn Girl, guest blogging at PowerPop, lists the ten sexiest male rockers, with sample video clips. I would have added Jon Bon Jovi.

• Donklephant writes about the WaPo's article on the FBI's newest biometric database keeping track of our most personal details.

• Sentencing Law and Policy doesn't like Huckabee's new attempt to avoid the soft-on-crime label.

• Grits for Breakfast writes about an expert who says drug sniffing dogs are wrong 48% of the time.

• Ed at Captain's Quarters, a conservative blog, gives a preview of how they will attack Obama if he's the nominee: inexperience.

• Digby on Jonbenet journalism

• Capital Defense Weekly notes that the Death Penalty Information Center has released its 2007 Capital Punishment Report, available here (pdf.)

• Marvin Kitman on Huffpo writes about Rudy's Yellow Badge of Courage

What are you reading or writing about this weekend? Let us know in comments, and please put urls in html format using the link button because otherwise they skew the site.

This is the month that many bloggers balance the ledger sheet and reassess their time commitment to blogging. There's no question blogging is a financial drain -- time that could be spent making real money at our day jobs. Whether blogging is an act of love or a means of keeping one's sanity in these uncertain times, we could all use a little boost.

So, as you're putting a little something in the pocket of your newspaper carrier, housekeeper, doorman, shoe shiner, hairstylist, secretary, personal trainer, whomever.....please consider a thank you gesture to the bloggers whose sites you read regularly throughout the year. A little holiday giving goes a long way.

If you're short on cash, you can contribute by voting for TalkLeft in the ABA Journal Awards. We're in the "politics for sport" category. It's free, does not require logging in or identification and takes 5 seconds or less. Voting ends January 2, 2008.

It's a travel day for me which means another open thread for you. Here's what I read in the past hour or two. I'll be back to regular blogging tonight.

• U.S. executions at lowest number in 13 years
• WaPo-ABC News Poll: Clinton tied with Obama in Iowa, Edwards in third place. Another poll has Edwards ahead.
• Edwards in the homestretch, his star is rising in Iowa
• Military Commission Applies Geneva Conventions to Guantánamo Detainee -- ACLU Says It's Six Years too late
• Judge Orders Hearing in CIA Tape Destruction
• Senate Adds $70 Billion for Iraq War in Funding Bill
• DEA Trying New Tactic Against Calif. Pot Clubs

More from around the blogosphere:

It's time for the Tuesday open thread. I'm starting my day early with court, followed by a visit to the jail, then on to the Tenth Circuit for the oral arguments in the Joe Nacchio appeal, which I hope to be live-blogging at 5280.com, provided the court doesn't decide to ban laptops from the courtroom.

After that it's a holiday party and time with the TL kid who just arrived back in Denver. Wednesday I have a date with Frontier Airlines, flying to Texas and back in time for dinner.

So, while I'm occupied elsewhere, here's a place for you to keep each other up to date on whatever is going on in your world.

It's our third snow storm of the week and I'm going to take a snow day. Here's a place for you to chat. All topics welcome. Some things to read:

• Kagro X at Daily Kos has a list of Bush vetoes.

• David Neiwert at Firedoglake on Civil Liberties and Terrorism.

• Eriposte at LeftCoaster's exhaustive reasons for why he's chosen his favorite Democratic candidate.

• The LA Times editorials, Liberty and Justice, examining the role of the President in matters of freedom and equal justice under the law.

  The next president must recognize that this nation is defined by its liberties. Personal freedom must not become collateral damage in the war on terror -- for if that occurs, we have lost it all.

• Clinton and Obama spar over negative campaigning (Des Moines Register.) Taylor Marsh points out some of Obama's and Edwards' campaigns' personal attacks.

Congress is going to hold hearings on the Mitchell Report.

Jim Parque denies the charges. So does Roger Clemens.

Lawyer Rusty Hardin told reporters Clemens had never tested positive for steroids and was being falsely accused by a former trainer who feared federal prosecution. "Roger Clemens adamantly, vehemently or whatever adjective can be used, denies he has ever used steroids or whatever the word is for improper substance," said Hardin, a prominent defense attorney in Houston, where Clemens lives.

"There has never been one shred of tangible evidence that he ever used these substances and yet he is being slandered today," he said.

More...

Joe Biden is bad on crime issues.

Joe Biden brought us the Rave Act and has been a supporter of increased rights for law enforcement and wiretapping. Here's his voting record on issues of import:

• Voted YES on loosening restrictions on cell phone wiretapping. (Oct 2001)
• Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)
• Rated 60% by the ACLU, indicating a mixed civil rights voting record. (Dec 2002)(Note: he improved in subsequent years.)
• Rated 36% by NARAL, indicating a mixed voting record on abortion. (Dec 2003) (Note: he improved in later years.)

He also introduced this doozy of a bill:

More...

I'm busy at work this afternoon so here's an open thread. A few requests:

We've fallen to a distant third place in the ABA Journal's Top 100 Law Blogs contest where we are in the Politics for Sport category. Please go on over and vote, no identification required, it takes two seconds, literally. It's okay not to win, but it would be nice to make a respectable showing. Voting closes Jan. 2.

Please Digg the TalkLeft posts you find worthwhile. It takes only a minute to get a free Digg account. In addition to submitting a favorite on your own, which takes 30 seconds, if a story has already been "dugg" it takes less than two seconds of your time to add your "digg" to it.

Blogs are free for readers. Bloggers put time and money into their sites. Very few of the thousands of readers a day make financial donations to blogs. That's fine, but please, if you're a frequent reader of a blog, give the gift of traffic by digging and sharing the posts you like.

Now, your turn, all subjects welcome.