Like my fellow blogger Bryan, I take particular pleasure in seeing people “tell it like it is.” For that reason, I particularly like the new TV show, “Lie to Me.” In it, some federal government employees (you can’t have everything) specialize in reading facial expressions and body language and they use their expertise to solve crimes. I like this show the way I liked the first season of CSI when the people involved really did investigate crimes using their skills rather than being policemen, as they have tended to do in later seasons. I have no idea whether the science (art?) has developed to the point they say it has, but it’s fun to watch them call people–often other government officials–when those people lie.

I especially like their splicing in actual videos of real people lying, expressing contempt, etc. In the episode last week, for example, they showed the famous Bill Clinton scene in which he denies having had sexual relations with “that woman.” They point out that this eyes and his finger were out of sync and put a lot of weight on that fact. My favorite two last week, though, were showing Donald Rumsfeld and Barack Obama using their middle finger.

Check out this analysis, using the same methods, of a Condi Rice interview.