Hottie News from Kuku Land

Dem Candidates Tout 'Feminine Values' in N.H.:

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Wanted: A single, funny and dynamic woman who likes underdogs, politicians, peace in the world and universal single-payer health care.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich is looking for you.

"If you're out there call me!" the Democratic presidential candidate said at a campaign forum Wednesday night after outlining the traits he's looking for in the nation's next first lady. Kucinich is a bachelor.

Woohoo! What ever happened to long walks on the beach?

Coal to Newcastle Alert!

Saudis 'fear sand shortage'

Saudi Arabia has reportedly imposed strict border checks to enforce a ban on the export of sand.

Those darn sand smugglers! OK you kids, take off your shoes.

(Hat tip: Not Quite Tea and Crumpets)

Yee Haw!

Rebel Flag Pickup Coalition Endorses Dean

Spin Howie, Spin!

First, he wanted to "be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks."

Then after the other Donks rapped his knuckles, he's feeling "their" pain:

One day after his Democratic presidential rivals demanded he apologize for his remarks, which they called offensive to blacks and southern whites, Dean for the first time expressed remorse. "I regret the pain that I may have caused either to African American or southern white voters," he said in New York. What he had hoped to do, Dean said, was provoke a "painful" dialogue about race among all voters, including those displaying confederate flags. But, he said, "I started this discussion in a clumsy way."

And now to unclumsy it, he's complaining about Southerners:

Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean told a Tallahassee audience today that southerners have to quit basing their votes on "race, guns, God and gays."

Howie must be one of those pesky city folks that just plain doesn't know when to shut up.

Howie! Stand up straight! Try breathing deeply and slowly. And then y'all don't come back now, hear!

Yes, spirituous liquors were involved

Wisconsin Lawyers Face Bare Facts About Nudity

MADISON, Wis. -- A couple of Wisconsin lawyers are in trouble for showing a little more than their habeas corpus.

David Burleson and Todd Buss have pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct after they were busted in the nude.

The attorneys were found naked in the laundry room of a downtown Madison apartment building. It was after Wisconsin's victory over Ohio State last month.

According to police reports, the lawyers were very drunk and singing loudly. They told the officers they were rain-soaked and that a resident told them they could dry off in the laundry room.

The naked lawyers had to pay a $200 fine.

That must be tough to explain to your clients. Unless they are Badger fans too, I guess.

More on CBS's Reagan Smear Job

Adam Buckman in the NY Post - It's So Pathetically Bad That It's Hysterically Funny

It was one of the funniest tapes I had ever received from a TV network.

It was a special promo reel sent over early last month for "The Reagans," a miniseries about Ronald and Nancy Reagan - the very same miniseries that became so embroiled in controversy that CBS finally dumped it yesterday.

I never saw the finished product, but if it were anything like the promo, this four-hour miniseries was about to go down in history as one of the worst made-for-TV movies ever. This tape was so hysterical, I thought it was a joke.

In the role of Nancy Reagan, Judy Davis was seen barreling comically through the White House screaming at the top of her lungs at everyone who crossed her path. Her unabashed scenery-chewing was reminiscent of Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in "Mommie Dearest" - only Davis' performance was much worse and a lot funnier.

In contrast to Davis' raging first lady, James Brolin was seen playing the role of Ronald Reagan with all the emotion of a piece of wood - a style which has long been Brolin's trademark.

Funny as it all was, it was also seriously offensive. I thought CBS had taken leave of its senses.

Michael Medved noticed that it was a tad bad too:

"Leaving aside its content or its political slant, my guess is CBS is deciding to save itself embarrassment all around," Medved added.

CBS President Les Moonves will be able to gain a double advantage by canceling the movie, according to Medved.

"Moonves will be able to escape embarrassment by not running a stinker series at the same time he can blame those nasty right wingers," Medved said.

And Les needs all the help he can get according to John Fund - Tiffany Trips Up: CBS's problems are bigger than "Reagan." My favorite part:

This year he has stumbled twice. In May, he was embarrassed when the CBS movie "Hitler: The Rise of Evil" drew ominous parallels between Hitler's ascent to power and the reaction of the Bush administration to 9/11. After its producer, Ed Gernon, blatantly tipped his hand by telling TV Guide that "I can't think of a better time to examine this history than now," Mr. Moonves fired him.

But that dustup was nothing compared to Mr. Moonves's other blunder: his plan to launch a reality series called "The Real Beverly Hillbillies." Using so-called "hick hunts," the network intended to move an uneducated Appalachian family into an opulent West Coast mansion and invite the nation to laugh at their bumbling ways. Several union leaders and 43 members of Congress called on Mr. Moonves to shelve the show. Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia suggested that, instead, Mr. Moonves program a reality show that relocated network executives to "the sticks," where they would have to find a job. Mr. Moonves admitted the "phenomenal" opposition to the show left him "pretty surprised."

Asshats in the woods - what a concept!

And I have the first candidate, because back at the mansion, Barbra Streisand is in a tizzy! Babs, who is a bosom chum of the leftoid producers, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, and whose husband, Mr. Streisand, had a starring role, is deeply disappointed. Don't worry Babs, you just cut up the possums and put 'em in the big pot to stew. Think of it as backwoods paté.

Kids! Don't try this at home!

The AP astonishes with a photo whose caption starts "A Vodou believer pours hot pepper-spiced homemade alcohol on her genital area...".

Good thing for the caption or I would have thought something weird was going on.

I'm deeply saddened

Daschle Mad at CBS for Caving on 'The Reagans':

Little Tommy Daschle is mad that he'll have to pony up for Showtime to watch Viacom's attack on Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

CBS's decision to dump "The Reagans" onto its sister pay-cable channel "smells of intimidation to me," the Senate minority leader grumbled today.

Sorry Tommy, it smells more like some lying dung beetles got caught with their proboscises in the manure pile.

Unintended Consequences Alert!

Nonprofits Feel the Squeeze of Wage Increases - City of Berkeley mandated wage increases of course:

This July, the Berkeley City Council voted to increase the city’s living wage from $9.75 to $10.76 an hour to reflect inflation. This was the first increase since the living wage ordinance was enacted in August 2000.

But some nonprofits can’t afford to pay the increase. For example, the Berkeley Food and Housing Project, Berkeley’s largest homeless services organization, estimates it would cost some $30,000 to bring their employees’ salaries up to compliance—money the group doesn’t have. Other Berkeley nonprofits are also feeling the crunch.

“We aren’t like the business community. We don’t have any way to pass off the costs,” said Florence Green, executive director of the California Association of Nonprofits.

When businesses’ costs increase, they can raise prices or push to sell more, said Terrie Light, associate director of the Project. But for most nonprofits, the customers aren’t paying, and their government contracts and foundation grants rarely increase in pace with rising costs.

Stop, you're breaking my heart! Wait, I know - ask the taxpayers to pick up the tab.

And to prove that no bad idea goes unemulated, San Francisco wants to get in on the action - San Francisco Voting on Minimum Wage:

Proposition L, one of 14 measures on the city ballot Tuesday, would impose an $8.50-per-hour minimum wage on all employers in the city, not just those awarded municipal contracts. The state's hourly minimum wage is $6.75, and the minimum required under federal law is $5.15.

The initiative's backers, who include advocates for the poor, labor unions and San Francisco's elected supervisors, maintain that a city-specific pay mandate is long overdue in a place where working parents need to earn about twice the proposed amount to meet basic expenses.
...
If it passes as expected, San Francisco would be the first California city and only the third in the nation to set its own minimum wage. Washington, D.C., guarantees its workers $1 more than the federal minimum, which Congress last raised in 1997. Earlier this year in New Mexico, the Santa Fe City Council set a local minimum wage of $8.50 for all businesses with at least 25 employees.

San Francisco's measure is a little more ambitious because it doesn't exempt small businesses from the mandate. The new wage would take effect in three months for for-profit businesses, but would be phased in over two years for nonprofit organizations and firms with fewer than 10 employees.

City contractors already are required to pay their employees an hourly "living wage" of $9 for nonprofits and $10.25 for for-profit companies.

Unfortunately for these goofs some useful jobs just aren't worth $10 per hour. But there's another way out for a business - leaving town. Good advice for the citizens too.

Things are looking up!

Berlin brothels offer happy hours to combat recession

Brothels in Berlin are offering happy hours with half price sex to attract customers during the economic slump.

Prostitutes are also offering 'get-to-know-me' prices for new clients and discounts for regulars.

Sort of like the Welcome Wagon?