I debated posting this story, because it would mean admitting that I’ve been watching American Idol. Well, I got sucked in and have been watching, although I don’t feel half as guilty as I did when I watched Bachelorettes in Alaska. Although I was dubious of the fact that the call-in public was responsible for choosing the winner, I figured that Fox was handling the voting process in a responsible and secure manner. So I am pretty damn pissed off that once again “fans” have managed to stack the phone-in votes, this time in favor of Nikki McKibbin, one of the most tone-deaf, uncharismatic, and talentless contestants to appear on the show. The fact that she’s lasted this long was a pretty good indicator for me that things just weren’t right. Tamyra Gray, who was eliminated last night, could well have deserved to win the entire contest, although Justin and Kelly are also great performers; this CNN article agrees with me. As I suspected, this USAToday story reveals how “war dialers” and “phone phreaks” with access to autodialers and computer software that can make up to 250,000 calls in two hours (!) have influenced the votes.