But, but, but, how will the republicans justify torture in their next debates if there is no 24?!?

In a case like this do you play Taps or God Bless America or Hail to the Chief or maybe that Love Train theme song?

i assume this was a popular television show?

Yeah, good fucking riddance. Your plots were shit, your depth was minimal, your appeal was nothing but cheap grabby suspense tricks, and Kiefer Sutherland has a fat face.

Hi Dan. Were have you been?

LA all day yesterday, in meetings -- breakfast meeting, meeting, lunch meeting, meeting, meeting over coffee, meeting, meeting over cocktails, meeting, dinner meeting, meeting in car on way to airport, on airplane.

Why? I miss something?

No, Dan, just Frizelle ranting about what a jerk you are. Nothing major.

La la la. I shant read yesterday's Slog posts then.

Why couldn't it have been Fox cancels Beck???!

Why so many meetings, Dan?

Can't say, @10.

Dan, you missed the Derrick Martin protest. Did you know his father is a teacher at the same High School? And yet he kicked him out of the house?

You missed that sick homophobe from Zimbabwe who can't understand why a man would want to marry another man when there are soooo many women around.

You missed the USMC commandant who wants to segregate all gays from the rest of the barracks because gays could not possibly live harmoniously with other Marines if DADT happens.

Oh, and you missed Winston, the cop car eating dog. I'm sure there is probably more, but that's a start.

Oh, and can you fill us in on how much was contributed to Juin's fund?

I recall some media studies course I took freshman year talking about the shift in popular perception of government agents that took place between 1920 and 1940, epitomized by James Cagney playing Public Enemy in 1931 and G Men in 1935. As far as that goes, the evolution of Jack Bauer has been an interesting barometer of the United States' processing of the 9/11 attacks and how to respond to them, morally and politically.

I'm sure there have been a million articles written about 24 and the politics and psychology of it -- an African American president and a female president, both of whom endorse and encourage horrifying acts of torture, rendition, and unsanctioned murder in the name of national security and so on. It often strikes me that liberals don't fully appreciate the implications of those elements of the story line; specifically that the Right is perfectly happy to be a big tent party as long as they have ideological unity, and that by using liberals as the political Other they're able to create that unity in spite of a terrible record on affirmative action and reproductive rights.

I wonder if future generations will be able to appreciate that 24 actually encapsulates a time when not illegally detaining and torturing people in the name of national security was a genuinely unpopular political position.

That reality show about your family in the works then? Terry changed his mind? (Not a serious question.)

But I bet it's TV. Dan's getting some kind of TV show!

Oh, and some troll under the unregistered name "Responsible Doc" has been popping up on threads about transgender issues and yammering to the effect that we should be "curing" transsexuals of their "mental disorder" rather than "mutilating" them. The Nasty Drummer Girl and I, along with a bunch of other SLOGgers, basically roasted him on a spit over that kind of idiocy. NOT SPIT-ROASTED THAT WAY.

@14: NO. That is never, ever going to happen.

Remember, Dan did tell us he cut a pilot for a talk show called "Real Sex". Also, saw an ad in the NYT yesterday morning for the Off-Broadway musical based on The Kid yesterday. Previews start April 16, opening now pushed back to May 10 to accommodate the star, who was (duh) filming a teevee pilot. Dan's mom will be played by an 80's teevee star.

Nice work if you can get it. Any of those "meetings" take place at the pool? Steam room?

Dan, i had a feeling you were busy/traveling yesterday, but i still checked incessantly to see if you were gonna show up, like a dog waiting by the door for her human.

i'm a little pathetic, i know....

@ 16, I can think of countless examples of someone saying "never, ever," then doing exactly the thing they'd "never, ever" do. But I believe you for the time being. It's probably one of the things @ 17 says.

Wow! Your very own TV show! I'll tune in.

But you'll tell us soon, right?

Maybe it's some wacky sitcom based on the Savage's life. If so, can I be cast as the kooky neighbor or co-worker? I could have a tagline (something like "well THAT's craptastic!") and then maybe I could get my own show.

You're lucky you got to fly, Dan. I had to drive it. Fourteen and a half hours, straight through, and the central valleys were so mind numbing that my 12 y.o. son started searching for constellations in the smashed remains of bugs on the windshield.

Truth be told it was good that I drove. I don't think an airline would allow me to fly with my inheritance: a shotgun, a load of whisky, and her favorite pendant.

Still, I envy your short fight and, hopefully, a happy reason to be down in LA.

Wait a minute, why did I write it was called "Real Sex"? It's called, duuuuh, "Savage Love". Too little coffee.

Kim, I know it takes a lot longer but going on the Coast is the only way to drive from Seattle or Portland to LA. The only thing to see on I-5 is Mount Shasta (which is pretty cool, but doesn't make up for the trees and ocean). I'm sure I'm not telling you something you don't already know.

So sorry for your loss. Don't drink the whiskey all at once...

Thanks, Matt.

I was in a race against time, I had to choose the I-5 route. I still have a wicked headache from going over all the passes, and no desire to get behind the wheel of a car at the moment. No worries on drinking the whisky all at once either, I drank more than my share at the wake, that I'll take it easy for a day or two. :)

Glad to see you are back Kim. Take good care.

@25-26: Train, Matt & Kim, train! Except, because we're so good at that in this country, you're going to need a couple days to spare. Probably not a good choice in a "race against time."

Still, it's way more comfortable than driving or the sardine tube that is air travel nowadays...

Hope you're settling back into home OK, Kim. Be well.

Hope the headache is gone soon, Kim. Take care, and congrats on getting your son and yourself through that awful drive in one piece...

Thanks, All.

We're good, sad, but good. We pick up our 14 y.o. daughter from Costa Rica tonight, study abroad and rain forest reforestation "sembrando oxigeno para el futuro", and that is a reason to smile.

Take care.

Ps. Sorry for the lack of an accent, can't figure it out from this phone.