Just as we (easily) predicted here, late night comedians are tying themselves in knots with gags about the controversy surrounding the RNC paying for a trip for some Republicans and potential donors to a bondage themed club. Here is Chris Matthews’ segment on it, complete with excerpts: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

If you’re Jewish like me, you spent the past two night partying at the SEDA CLUB!

What do people in our neighbor to the south think of the fledgling U.S. Tea Party movement? Is it just a collection of well-meaning Americans defending the country, or a loud fringe group creating and feeding on fear? According to columnist Angel Luis Lara of Mexico’s La Jornada, it is decidedly the latter. For La Jornada, Angel Luis Lara writes in part: Disenchanted with the political class and the...

Phil Ochs wrote this song, but Gordon Lightfoot did a lovely cover early in his career. I probably don’t have to explain why this song feels so appropriate just now:

If you’re a news junkie, it’s clear that over the past few months many GOPers wished RNC Chairman Michael Steele would somehow just go away. They had many complaints about him — from his allegedly big bux spending, to his foot in mouth comments, to the unforgivable sin of daring to criticize Rush Limbaugh (he apologized) — but one of their biggest complaints is that they feel that rather...

No fan of the rules around applause in classical concerts, Alex Ross says let our applause be heard: Emanuel Ax, not a showboating pianist, complains on his website: “I am always a little taken aback when I hear the first movement of a concerto which is supposed to be full of excitement, passion, and virtuoso display (like the Brahms or Beethoven Concertos), and then hear a rustling of clothing, punctuated...

As a performer, I experience what performers throughout time have experienced: the rehearsals can be tedious, or focus on rote, or focus on getting down specific words, movements or music. But that magic — that “organic” quality that makes it seem as if it has not been carefully rehearsed (often over and over and over) — is what usually emerges in live performance so audiences never...

Convicted sex offender Roman Polanski’s latest film, The Ghost Writer, is now in release to good, but less than rave reviews. The movie, about the ghost writing of an autobiography for a former British Prime Minister, is a dark mystery starring Pierce Brosnan as the fictional former PM, Adam Lang. Meanwhile, Polanski himself remains under house arrest in Switzerland after having been picked up by Swiss authorities...

This just in from investigative journalist Andy Borowitz: In the wake of several cranky public utterances by Arizona’s senior senator in recent days, a new poll shows that a majority of Americans favor an earlier bedtime for John McCain. Fifty-two percent of those surveyed strongly agreed with the statement, “When John McCain says he doesn’t want to serve in the Senate even though he is running for re-election...

When HBO2 airs “The Senator’s Bargain” tonight at 8 p.m. EP/PT, it’ll be doing so during a most fitting week will have a different context than it would have if it debuted just a few weeks ago. If it had aired a few weeks ago, to the many who admired the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy it would have been excruciatingly painful to watch. The reason: it documents Kennedy’s...

If ever you thought those advocating copyright term extensions were looking out for the interests of artists, not corporations, think again. This case lays bare the ugly copyright sausage factory: [Copyright lawyer, Marc] Toberoff is tackling what could be one of the most significant rights cases in Hollywood history; it’s certainly the biggest involving a superhero franchise. Unlike his continuing fight with...

Former Alaska Gov. and GOP political celebrity Sarah Palin apparently has A&E interested in her proposed reality show. She has reportedly put a pricetag on it: $1 million to $1.5 million per episode. (Power to the millionaire populists!) I wonder if the show could be seriously pitched at that price if it featured Eric Massa? (It would probably have to be shown on Showtime due to all the guest appearances...

I know this is primarily a political site but occasionally I like to throw into the mix something else that is topical and of interest… Yesterday was the beginning day of the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament, known as “March Madness.” There were some very good games on day 1. Some highlights include: The Big East got taken down a few notches with (#3) Georgetown getting beaten by (#14)...

Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart did an extended parody of Fox News’ mega-ratings powerhouse, conservative host Glenn Beck (warning some adult content):

“Like heaven above me, the spy who loved me is keeping all my secrets safe tonight.”

“You’ve put these distances between us. You’ve built these walls; they’re your design.”

Picking up where Paparazzi left off, Lady GaGa’s new Telephone video featuring Beyoncé was released late last week. The official explicit version will pass 20 million views today. It opens in a women’s prison as lady Gaga is led to her cell by a pair of butch prison guards. Thus begins her reappropriation of the women-in-prison “lezploitation” genre: The genre’s two high points...

It is now a cliche but here is a case showing that is true: it has turned out true that Michael Jackson’s death was a great career move: Even in death, Michael Jackson remains the King of Pop. Less than a year after his shocking passing, the administrators of the late pop icon’s estate have signed the biggest recording contract in music history, a deal that the Los Angeles Times speculated could...

“I am unwritten, can’t read my mind, I’m undefined…”

Remember this? Well, now, the same crowd of loony-toons has come up with a new one: Robert Gibbs is signaling messages about health care reform to Service Employees International Union (SEIU) president Andy Stern by means of a purple bracelet Gibbs wore on a couple Sunday news shows.

The *real* Jim Phelps has passed away. Rest in Peace Captain Over.

There have been a slew of charges over recent months that James Cameron lifted the plot of Avatar from previous writers, most memorably by the St. Petersburg Communist Party, who called for Cameron’s arrest for plagiarizing the work of Soviet-era science fiction writers. But this article from Ukraine’s Day newspaper makes the most convincing case of all. Columnist Maxim Chaikovsky writes that...

Inspired by Pat’s Shirley Jones video. I would have put this in the comments section of Pat’s post, but I didn’t know how to do the coding without the formatting button.

One of my favorite Elton John songs:

I can understand why Mary Katharine Ham might think that artists and writers are only productive if they work for private corporations and make barrels of money — but what does she have against proper quotation style?