It’s So Funny Isn’t So Funny

Stern, serious, socialist North Korea has carved out a spot in TV history for having one of the world’s longest running comedy shows, despite it being mostly devoid of jokes for the decades it has been on the air.

The show now called “It’s So Funny” is meant to uplift the morale of troops and extol propaganda about the virtues of serving under “The General” Kim Jong-il. Laughter is optional — unless the soldiers in the audience are ordered to do so.

The format of the show is usually a conversation between a man and a woman in military uniform, who sometimes sing, dance and try a little slapstick, but mostly avoid telling one-liners.

“Often, it is really hard to find the humor,” said a South Korean official who monitors the North’s official broadcasts.

“This type of show has been on since almost the beginning of the state’s official programing (in the 1970s),” he said.

The latest version that came out in the past week extolled the virtue of beans, while avoiding any flatulence humor.

It opened with the man soldier saying to the woman soldier he feels better and looks more handsome because he has been taking medicine made from beans.

Haley Barbour Says Confederate Flag Flap Not Worth Diddly

The dustup over Virginia’s proclamation for Confederate History Month seems like a lot of noise over something that “doesn’t amount to diddly,” Mississippi’s governor said in an interview.

Virginia’s Republican governor, Bob McDonnell, apologized for leaving out of his proclamation any reference to slavery. He added language to the decree calling slavery “evil and inhumane” after being criticized for reviving what many Virginians believe is an insensitive commemoration of its Confederate past.

Fellow GOP Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi said he doesn’t think the proclamation was a mistake.

“To me, it’s a sort of feeling that it’s a nit, that it is not significant, that it’s not a — it’s trying to make a big deal out of something (that) doesn’t amount to diddly,” Barbour said in the interview aired on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Last year, Barbour issued a similar proclamation in his state that did not mention slavery. He also noted that his state has a holiday, Confederate Memorial Day, that has been maintained by Democratic and Republican governors and the state’s majority-Democrat legislature. The state also honors the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Confederate general Robert E. Lee on the same day in January.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Orders Nude Tapes Burned

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential ordinance instructing the commanders of the Palestinian security establishment to burn tapes containing images and footage of nude Palestinian officials in “embarrassing postures and situations.”

The objective of the ordinance is to thwart blackmailing attempts of Abbas’ bureau head Rafiq al-Husseini, following the “sex tape” scandal in which he was involved, according to the London-based Arabic-language al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper. 

The controversial tape was aired last month, showing al-Husseini naked in a Jerusalem house while fondling his secretary. 

Former senior figure in the Palestinian General Intelligence Service Fahmi Shabaneh, who exposed the affair, said al-Husseini tried to sexually exploit a Palestinian woman that asked him for employment. Al-Husseini claimed he fell victim to an extortion attempt orchestrated by members of the General Intelligence Service. 

Women Hold March For Equal Opportunity Toplessness

About two dozen women drew a crowd of onlookers when they shed their shirts and marched downtown in Maine’s largest city to promote what they call equal-opportunity public toplessness.

Organizer Ty MacDowell said the point of Saturday’s march in Portland was that a topless woman out in public shouldn’t attract any more attention than a man who walks around without a shirt.

The Portland Press Herald reports that by the end of the march, more than 500 people had amassed — a mix of marchers, young men snapping photos, oglers and people just out enjoying a sunny, warm day.

It’s not illegal for a woman to be topless in public in Maine, and police said there were no incidents or arrests.

Sarah Palin Drops LL Cool J

An upcoming Fox News Channel special hosted by Sarah Palin is titled “Real American Stories.”  But rapper-actor LL Cool J says his participation in the show was bogus. In response, the network has snipped him from the program.

In a Twitter posting, the entertainer wrote that Fox “lifted an old interview I gave in 2008 to someone else & are misrepresenting to the public in order to promote Sarah Palins Show. WOW.”

Country singer Toby Keith was similarly caught by surprise, his publicist said.

Elaine Schock said a radio reporter contacted her seeking details about Keith’s announced appearance on Palin’s Fox News program.

“I said, ‘You’re wrong. There is no Sarah Palin special with Toby Keith on it on Fox,’” Schock said.

She said the reporter then e-mailed her the press release issued by Fox News, which said Keith would “explain the inspiration behind his song ‘Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.’”

Robin Williams Pisses Off Australia

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has lashed out at US comedian Robin Williams for calling Australians “rednecks”, suggesting the star should look closer to home before bashing Aussies.

Rudd hit back at the Oscar-winning actor during a radio interview after Williams told US talk show host David Letterman that “Australians are basically English rednecks. You down there, ‘how are ya? Good to see you. Hello.’”

“I think Robin Williams should go and spend a bit of time in Alabama before he frames comments about anyone being particularly redneck,” Rudd said on Melbourne commercial radio on Wednesday.

The comedian went on to say: “I realised that if Darwin had landed in Australia, he would have gone: ‘I’m wrong’.”

Belgium Looking To Ban The Burqa

A parliamentary committee unanimously voted Wednesday to ban the wearing of face-covering veils in public, a major step in the legislative process that could make Belgium the first European country to impose such a religious prohibition.

The full House of Representatives is expected to vote on the issue late April.

The Interior Affairs Committee representing all major parties was unanimous Wednesday in backing the bill. The six parliamentarians from the MR french-speaking liberal party said the principle of “recognize to know” trumped other considerations in the issue.

“We cannot allow someone to claim the right to look at others without being seen,” said Daniel Bacquelaine, who proposed the bill. “It is necessary that the law forbids the wearing of clothes that totally mask and encloses an individual,” he said, adding he was not targeting the classic headscarf worn by many Muslim women.

Ann Coulter Forced To Cancel Canada Appearances

Firebrand US conservative Ann Coulter cancelled a talk at Ottawa University late Tuesday, after being met by thousands of protesters, local media reported.

The American right-wing pundit and author is in Canada for a trio of speeches.

Ahead of a talk at the University of Ottawa on Tuesday evening, she said she was warned by provost Francois Houle to use “restraint, respect and consideration” when speaking at the school.

Coulter told the Ottawa Citizen newspaper: “Now that the provost has instructed me on the criminal speech laws he apparently believes I have a proclivity (to break), despite knowing nothing about my speech, I see that he is guilty of promoting hatred against an identifiable group: conservatives.”

“The provost simply believes and is publicizing his belief that conservatives are more likely to commit hate crimes in their speeches. Not only does this promote hatred against conservatives, but it promotes violence against conservatives,” she said.

Coulter’s Canadian engagements drew the ire of leftists here who accused her of inflammatory rants such as a post-9/11 suggestion that the United States should invade Muslim countries and convert their people to Christianity.

She has also said Canada is lucky that the United States allows it “to exist on the same continent.”

ACORN Is Toast

The once mighty community activist group ACORN announced it is folding amid falling revenues — six months after video footage emerged showing some of its workers giving tax tips to conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute.

“It’s really declining revenue in the face of a series of attacks from partisan operatives and right-wing activists that have taken away our ability to raise the resources we need,” ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan said.

Several of its largest affiliates, including ACORN New York and ACORN California, broke away this year and changed their names in a bid to ditch the tarnished image of their parent organization and restore revenue that ran dry in the wake of the video scandal.

ACORN’s financial situation and reputation went into free fall within days of the videos’ release in September. Congress reacted by yanking ACORN’s federal funding, private donors held back cash and scores of ACORN offices closed.

Earlier this month, a U.S. judge reiterated an earlier ruling that the federal law blacklisting ACORN and groups allied with it was unconstitutional because it singled them out. But that didn’t mean any money would be automatically be restored.

British Porn Director Swaps Sex For Politics

A woman who has directed 300 “female-friendly” sex films is to test the liberal-mindedness of British voters and run for parliament in an election due within weeks.

Anna Arrowsmith, 38, whose works under the name Anna Span include “Be My Toy Boy,” “Hoxton Honey” and “Uniform Behavior,” is standing for the opposition Liberal Democrats in the Kent constituency of Gravesham in southeast England.

Her last-minute selection for the seat after the previous candidate dropped out made headlines across Britain over the weekend as the opposition party met in the midlands city of Birmingham ahead of the election expected in May.

Even the normally august Times newspaper put her picture on its front page above the caption: “The woman who is sexing up the Lib Dems.”