The Jack Bauer Defense

Buy at AllPosters.com

So here's the deal: The power cord for my computer blew up. I'm waiting for a new one, but in the meanwhile, my PowerBook is a paperweight. But I had to take a few of the stolen moments on my husband's computer to blog yet another "24" horror story.

As I noted here, there is an apparent propensity amongst Republicans to use the fictitious action plots as apologia for their own dark impulses. This, even though actual, real-world, interrogation specialists say torture does not work.

As per Andrew Sullivan, it seems Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is also a Jack Bauer fan and had this to say:

"Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles. ... He saved hundreds of thousands of lives," Judge Scalia said. Then, recalling Season 2, where the agent's rough interrogation tactics saved California from a terrorist nuke, the Supreme Court judge etched a line in the sand.
"Are you going to convict Jack Bauer?" Judge Scalia challenged his fellow judges. "Say that criminal law is against him? 'You have the right to a jury trial?' Is any jury going to convict Jack Bauer? I don't think so.

"So the question is really whether we believe in these absolutes. And ought we believe in these absolutes."

Yes, a member of the highest court in the land using a fictional character to argue against the rule of law. His comments were made, by the way, during a panel discussion on torture and terrorism law that included senior jurists from Canada and Europe. And we wonder why the US is becoming a laughingstock.

On the plus side, I think I'm beginning to understand why so many conservatives blame Hollywood for all our social ills. They think it's real. And they must think we're all as suggestible as they are.