Donald Sutherland

America is a totalitarian regime. Or, it was when George W. Bush was president. And maybe it still is. Or something.

As if we needed more proof that blockbuster entertainment needn’t have even a nodding acquaintance with cogent political thought, the people that brought us Suzanne Collins’s “Hunger Games” franchise can’t just quietly take their millions to the bank. They need us to know how unfair their payday is.

For many far-left MSNBC fans, one conservative on the cable network is one too many. Combine a tired tirade against Joe Scarborough of "Morning Joe" with the inanity of a Hollywood leftist's lame attempt at media commentary, and you have one entertaining Huffington Post column.

"Are the programmers at MSNBC nuts?" asked legendary actor Donald Sutherland (pictured right) on Sunday. "They give us refreshing afternoons with Chris and Ed, put us to bed with the clarifying sensibilities of Rachel and Keith and then, idiotically, wake us up with Mr. Small Mouth."

Yes, Sutherland did just use the terms "refreshing" and "clarifying sensibilities" in reference to Ed Schultz and Keith Olbermann, respectively. And no, apparently he was not being sarcastic. Then comes the Scarborough-bashing:

Is a second phase of Rush Limbaugh's highly-successful "Operation Chaos" in the works?

According to the conservative talk show host, such is possible, and if it ends up coming to pass, will have deliciously been set in motion as a result of a conspiracy theory espoused Monday by the Obama-loving actor Donald Sutherland.

For those that missed it, Kiefer's dad published a blog at the Huffington Post yesterday suggesting there's a Clinton cabal to "demoralize" presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama's base in order to "persuade disenchanted delegates on the floor of the [Democrat National] convention to make a resurgent Hillary Clinton the Party's nominee."

Limbaugh saw this, and wrote me this morning:

As far as conspiracy theories go, the one actor Donald Sutherland posited at the Huffington Post Monday certainly doesn't rank very high.

After all, there's a long line of political pundits predicting the Clintons are conspiring to steal the Democrat presidential nomination from Barack Obama.

But, coming from Kiefer's dad, and the original "Hawkeye" Pierce from "M*A*S*H," the entertainment value is, well, delicious (photo courtesy NYT).

Get out the popcorn, folks...you won't be disappointed (emphasis added, h/t NBer Gary Hall):