Ladies and Gentlemen, please be seated. Next, please clear all liquids from your throat. Finally, we ask you to grip the edges of your table to provide proper support. Because, folks, we’re going on a ride:

Rep. Michele Bachmann kicked off her presidential campaign on Monday in Waterloo, Iowa, and in one interview surrounding the official event she promised to mimic the spirit of Waterloo’s own John Wayne.

The only problem, as one eagle-eyed reader notes: Waterloo’s John Wayne was not the beloved movie star, but rather John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer.

Thank you all. Please exit to the right. Souvenir photographs will be available in the lobby.

The wrong John Wayne [Washington Times]

“A Chicago jury has found former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich guilty of 17 of the 20 charges in his corruption trial. Blagojevich was found not guilty on one of the counts, and the jury deadlocked on two.” [TPM]

“The Supreme Court on Monday struck down on First Amendment grounds a California law that barred the sale of violent video games to children. The 7-to-2 decision was the latest in a series of rulings protecting free speech, joining ones on funeral protests, videos showing cruelty to animals and political speech by corporations.” L33t Hax0r Antonin Scalia wrote the opinion. [NYT]

“Michele Bachmann isn’t accepting an apology from Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace for asking her yesterday, ‘Are you a flake?’” [Politico]

The cruel reality of Popular Entertainment is that it needs to be entertaining before it can be popular. Your mileage may vary with the next tentpole comic-book movie to desecrate your local multiplex, but as the producers of the Spider-Man musical have learned, it’s not as easy as it looks.

Which is why we’ve never had much patience with the Liberal Hollywood Conspiracy complaint. Yes, Norman Lear wore his politics on his sleeve, but All in the Family was funny, and Rob Reiner certainly wasn’t an untouchable youth hero. For that matter, jumping ahead a generation, we thoroughly enjoyed the fourth season of 24, which was so wonderfully over-the-top that we felt deprived if Keefer didn’t shoot somebody in the thigh on a given Monday night.

And hey, we still enjoy Mamet, even if he is a fucking asshole.

All of which is to say, the well-intentioned producers behind a new direct-to-DVD TV series are missing the point:

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Forty-three years after I walked past the Stonewall Inn without noticing that anything was going on (I had a date) marriage equality comes to New York. I think I can speak for many of us when I state that this is something I never expected to see happen in my lifetime.

Another thing I never thought I’d see: The Times has something interesting to say.

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Title: “The Original Argument: The Federalists’ Case for the Constitution, Adapted for the 21st Century”

Author: Glenn Beck

Rank: 4

Blurb: “Adapting a selection of these essential essays — pseudonymously authored by the now well-documented triumvirate of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay — for a contemporary audience, Glenn Beck has had them reworked into ‘modern’ English so as to be thoroughly accessible to anyone seeking a better understanding of the Founding Fathers’ intent and meaning when laying the groundwork of our government.”

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