“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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Multiple sources are telling reporters that last week in the presence of other justices, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser grabbed Justice Ann Walsh Bradley around the neck in an argument in her chambers.  The argument happened before the court’s release of a decision upholding a bill to curtail the collective bargaining rights of public employees.  Bradley had asked Prosser to leave her office during the meeting, at which point he grabbed her by the neck with both of his hands.  Capitol Police have launched an investigation and neither Prosser nor Bradley would confirm or deny the account of what happened that had been conveyed to reporters.

Seems that Justice Prosser has an anger management issue when dealing with his uppity lady judge colleagues. He admitted in March that he called Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson a “bitch” and threatened to “destroy” her during a closed-door meeting.

Prosser was reelected earlier this year in a contested election featuring lost and found ballots and Governor Scott Walker and Sarah Palin campaigning for him.

[Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]

Mark Grisanti is a Catholic Republican state senator from Buffalo, who has opposed gay marriage. Last night, he changed his mind:

Tonight, I joined my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to legalize same sex marriage in New York State. Since I began my term as Senator I have met with many people on both sides of this issue, read numerous documents and independent studies. Given the high stakes, I felt I owed it to everyone to make a well-informed decision. I have come to believe that all New Yorkers should be entitled to the same 1,324 rights that come with a civil marriage. As an attorney I analyzed the legislation and concluded that the amendments provide critical exemptions for religious institutions. Passage of this bill now rather than later ensures that these protections be included. I cannot deny anyone in my district and across New York the same rights I have with my wife.

Barack Obama is the Democratic President of the United States. Thursday night, speaking in Manhattan, he waffled:

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Ladies & Ladies and Gentlemen & Gentlemen, start your gift registries.