Dominique Strauss-Kahn, you may be cooling your innocent-until-proven guilty heels at Rikers Island, but don't worry, Ben Stein is crying for you! Besides wondering why the IMF head and leading French politician has be behind bars and saying that white-collar, high-level professionals aren't usually criminals ("Can anyone tell me of any heads of nonprofit international economic entities who have ever been charged and convicted of violent sexual crimes?"), Stein writes on the American Spectator, "The prosecutors say that Mr. Strauss-Kahn 'forced' the complainant to have oral and other sex with him. How? Did he have a gun? Did he have a knife? He's a short fat old man. They were in a hotel with people passing by the room constantly, if it's anything like the many hotels I am in. How did he intimidate her in that situation? And if he was so intimidating, why did she immediately feel un-intimidated enough to alert the authorities as to her story?" And then he adds:

People accuse other people of crimes all of the time. What do we know about the complainant besides that she is a hotel maid? I love and admire hotel maids. They have incredibly hard jobs and they do them uncomplainingly. I am sure she is a fine woman. On the other hand, I have had hotel maids that were complete lunatics, stealing airline tickets from me, stealing money from me, throwing away important papers, stealing medications from me. How do we know that this woman's word was good enough to put Mr. Strauss-Kahn straight into a horrific jail? Putting a man in Riker's is serious business. Maybe more than a few minutes of investigation is merited before it's done.

Do you know what's totally gauche in France? Showing suspects in handcuffs! While the French media has descended upon New York City's police stations and courthouses for glimpses of IMF head and leading politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is accused of trying to rape a hotel maid and eventually forcing her to perform oral sex on him, it turns out that showing suspects in handcuffs is against the law in France. While Strauss-Kahn's perp walk was typical fare for us, according to the Wall Street Journal, "The footage has transfixed the nation, not least because French law prohibits cameras inside French courtrooms, as well as any footage of people in handcuffs unless they have been convicted by a court." more ›

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, was denied bail during his arraignment on sexual assault charges today. Strauss-Kahn, a leading French politician who had been expected to challenge Nicolas Sarkozy, is accused of forcing a Sofitel hotel maid to perform oral sex in his $3,000/night suite on Saturday, but his lawyers are apparently going with the "it was a consensual act" route, as defense lawyer Benjamin Brafman said, "The evidence we believe will not be consistent with a forcible encounter." more ›

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the high-profile French politician and head of the International Monetary Fund, agreed to submit DNA evidence as he faces accusations that he forced a hotel maid to perform oral sex on Saturday. Last night, the 62-year-old "appeared grim-faced and kept his mouth shut late Sunday night as he was taken, handcuffed, from the Manhattan office of the NYPD's special victims unit to the medical facility," the Daily News reports. Strauss-Kahn, whose lawyers say will plead not guilty, faces arraignment today, meaning there's a media circus at Manhattan Criminal Court. more ›