Manufacturing and cherry-picking supporters.

I saw former New York Times correspondent Stephen Kinzer speak last night about his new book Overthrow, a eagle-eye's perspective on the last 14 regime changes carried out by the United States (he's written more in depth about the coups in Guatemala and Iran).

The Q&A was mostly about the situation in Iran. He mentioned having been in Los Angeles, with its very large population of American-Iranians, talking with several immigrants and dissidents friends. I saw him on CSPAN-2 Book TV a few weeks ago, but his composure was changed last night. He looked worried as he related this new story of a large number of prominent Iranian-Americans being pulled to Washington in the past week to talk with administration and military officials, who are trying to get a sense of the reaction on the street if the President were to bomb Iran. And for kickers, how would it play out in the coffeehouses if they were to, say, drop a small tactical bunker-busting nuclear weapon on Iran?

The funny part is how much the administration believes that (a) a free, democratic, Western-and-peace loving Iran is not going to want the nuclear bomb even though backwater neighbors like Pakistan have them and (b) that us bombing a couple hundred military and scientific station is going to cause a democratic revolution, and that people will rise up against the government, instead of, ya know, rallying around it, and (c) how much they want to find a dozen or so Iranian dissents to sign off on it for accountability reasons ("We've consult with people who know Iran and found that the people there crave getting nuked..."). I can only assume it's like an episode of Sopranos, with contracts going out to whomever is willing to go public with support ("you can take 3 points on the construction of Tehran, with 5 no-work jobs and 2 no-shows"); the lack of the government being able to find a patsy only highlights how poorly this is all going to go.

WHAT THE DUKE LACROSSE RAPE CASE HAS TAUGHT ME

1. The media are duty-bound to refer to the accuser solely as "the stripper" (Hey viewers! Hint! Hint! Get it? Strippers are whores. They want it, and even if they don't, they have it coming.) rather than as "alleged victim", "accuser", or even "woman."

2. The old rape apologist (rapologist?) stand-bys - Why didn't she call the police? (she did) Why didn't she go to the hospital? (she did) - are no longer relevant and have been replaced by a simple "Come on, the girl is a skank" and "There is no DNA evidence." The latter is apparently a reference to some caselaw with which I am not familiar stating that it isn't really rape if you don't blow a big load all over the victim. My mistake.

"Your honor, my dad owns a dealership."

3. Lacrosse is not a haven for bratty trust-fund fratboys who would probably be playing polo or baccarat instead if such games were competitive at the collegiate level.

4. Any public prosecutor who presses sexual assault charges in an election year is simply pandering to special interest groups - in this case, liberal feminist activists (read: lesbos) and dirty negroes (who should be thankful they're even allowed to vote in North Carolina, right?).

5. If anyone needs sympathy and protection from the overbearing justice system that is stacked against them and their interests, it is wealthy college-aged white males in former Confederate states. The courts simply cannot be trusted to treat such a marginalized underclass fairly.

6. This blog really sums it up: "It looks like the team was the victim here." These fine young men (notwithstanding the one accused rapist, Colin Finnerty, being on probation at the time of the alleged rape for having beat up a gay guy) have been forced to cancel their lacrosse season. That is, without a doubt, the biggest injustice resulting from the actions of our legal system since the good name of Officer Stacy Koon was dragged through the mud.

Thank you, mainstream media.

Drop the hacky sack! Drop it now!

It's great when the internet adds little touches to my favorite television shows. I'm thinking of the slideshows presented by the DP and costume designer for "The Sopranos" on hbo.com. Over the weekend someone told me that the 24 webpage has the resume of all their major characters posted, filling you in on some of the character's backgrounds off-air.

Since it's off the air, they get to have some fun with it. I love that, according to his online resume, the current "24" President, the cowardly, insecure and power-hungry Charles Logan, was was former House member who became the CEO of "Western Energy Coal & Reserve" (winning the "Energy CEO of the Year"), and left his energy company to become the Vice-President. Wonderful.

Those biographies add little neat details - First Lady Martha Logan has an Standford art history degree and worked as a fundraiser, a path about as Congressional wife as you can get. And my favorite, god bless them, is that Jack Bauer studied at Berkeley. I can't describe how happy I am filling in the blanks of my previous visits with Bauer running around Telegraph Street foiling hippies' plans in real time ("Audrey listen! These are plans for a drum circle! a drum circle!" tick tock tick tock).

Three things about "24": (1) For an actor, to say one line and then have to repeat it louder and more angry must be difficult to do all the time. Considering that is more than half of Jack Bauer's lines I genuinely respect Kiefer as an actor. (2) Isn't it weird to consider that Kiefer is a brat packer? He was in Stand by Me, The Lost Boys and Young Guns. Statement: Jack Bauer versus the entirety of the 80s brat pack movie generation. Through in everyone; Anthony Michael Hall to Molly Ringwald to John Cusack. Bauer wins, hands down.

(3) As a friend pointed out, if Jack Bauer asks you to go somewhere with him, don't go. He does just fine by himself, while it's about 99% likely you are going to die (if only so they don't have to write you into the next episode).