Duke Lacrosse

...should finally be leaving the news limelight.

The office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper will announce that he is dismissing all charges against three Duke Lacrosse players, ABC News has learned from sources close to the case.

It's not a surprise that the charges are being dismissed, though it is a disappointment that such spurious charges were taken even vaguely seriously in the first place. Hopefully we've all learned several things:

1) While there is nothing illegal about hiring an exotic dancer, morally unscrupulous activities often produce undesirable legal consequences. Paying a woman to dance for the boys is far more likely to end in trouble than hosting a small house party. Of course, the safest bet is to simply play board games with the guys. My recommendation is for a little Diplomacy.

2) Immorality often comes in packaged form. An exotic dancer is more prone to making up a ridiculous story than is your run-of-the-mill college student.

3) Feminists notwithstanding, women can and will lie about rape. This is not to say that all claims of rape are fallacious, but neither is the converse true. It is unwise for a man to be alone in a room with a woman he barely knows. It is also unwise for the woman to do so. A large number of rapes can be prevented; so too can a good portion of false rapes.

4) Last but not least, always be leery of media coverage when the story has "massive ratings" written all over it. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that a group of rich white men would rape a poor black girl, but every story of this type is so incendiary that the press is going to be liable to shoot first and ask questions later. Prudence demands that if journalists are unwilling to do their job, we must ask the questions ourselves.