I've never really gotten into the show 24, mainly because I can't just enjoy it as a work of fiction and I tend to read too much into the storyline. I can't help but think that if the Bush administration wanted to develop the perfect piece of propaganda to reinforce the War on Terror's message of fear and justify the "any means necessary" use of torture, 24 would be it.

Apparently, I'm not the only one who reads too much into the fictional show. At a recent legal conference in Canada, Justice Antonin Scalia got into a heated debate about Jack Bauer when a Canadian judge made a passing remark, "Thankfully, security agencies in all our countries do not subscribe to the mantra 'What would Jack Bauer do?'"

From the Globe and Mail:

The conservative jurist stuck up for Agent Bauer, arguing that fictional or not, federal agents require latitude in times of great crisis. "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."

This isn't the first time Jack Bauer's tactics have stirred up controversy. Recently members of the military went to the shows producers and asked if they would reining in Bauer's tactics, particularly his use of torture. They argued that the show was confusing young kids, and even members of the military, about whether torture is morally acceptable or not.

I haven't watched the show enough to know many of the running plots or any characters other than Bauer. But I've read and heard enough about it to know that Bauer frequently is willing to torture suspects and sacrifice moral and constitutional values in the interest of national security. Sound familiar?