Leni Riefenstahl, meet the Fox Network!

Finally, it seems, the ongoing horrorshow that is the Fox network's 24 is getting some in-depth media attention. Not for nothing is this the favorite show of the Cheney administration; in its overheated milieu of testosterone-drenched anxiety, torture is always on the menu, and it always works (and that nuclear time bomb is always somewhere, and always ticking). You could argue that this show alone is largely responsible for the support torture has among the American public - and thus also is at least partly responsible for both our losing the high ground in the "war on terror," and our sinking moral profile in the eyes of the world (as well as, of course, the torment and even murder of numerous innocent people). The situation is so clear, and so serious, that the Dean of the United States Military Academy at West Point recently flew to the show's production facility to complain about the show's effect on military personnel -who, it's been reported, sometimes model their interrogation behavior on that of psychopathic "patriot" Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland, above, with Leni); its executive producer, Joel Surnow (coincidentally a big Rick Santorum supporter) ducked the meeting, however, pleading that his attention deficit disorder prevented him from sitting still that long (no, I'm not making that up). Surnow is currently developing a "conservative answer" to the Jon Stewart show. Meanwhile, the torture continues - because we think we're living in a paranoid TV show.