In California, Road Forks You!

Jim Grant of Carlsbad, California?  I salute you, because you are awesome.

"I actually laughed out loud in my truck and just knew I had to get some shots of this urban art before some city employee takes it down or it is vandalized," he said. He shot some photos Tuesday afternoon, posted them on CNN iReport and left a Post-it note on the sculpture in hopes of finding the artist.

The literal fork in the road was short-lived. A city crew pulled it out of the concrete Wednesday morning, saying in a statement that "although the fork in the road remains, the literal fork was removed this morning. We appreciate the creativity, but it's not legal or safe to put objects like this on public streets or medians."

CNN affiliate KFMB filmed the fork being taken away. 

It's too bad, because the guy behind the fork just rocks.

Before the fork was ripped out, Grant's Post-it note made its way to the artist, who explained he was a retired teacher who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of getting fined or sued by the city.

The 62-year-old retired math and physics teacher said he has wanted to make a fork for that island ever since he saw "The Muppet Movie" in 1979, in which Kermit tells Fozzie Bear, on their way to Hollywood, to bear left if he comes to a fork in the road. A moment later, a giant upside-down fork appears in the road.

That was more than 30 years ago, but he never had the time to work on the project until he retired in June. He spent the summer on it, laminating pieces of wood together until they resembled the kitchen utensil. He bought a can of chrome paint and sprayed the fork until the can was empty. His brother, a middle-school wood shop teacher in El Cajon, helped him smooth out the edges.

"I'm not an artist. I have no talent, but I'm not afraid to try, and I'm quite surprised that the fork came out as good as it did," he said.

With his 32-year-old son's help, they mounted it in the street on Tuesday morning.

Put the fork back, Carlsbad!

Beyond Thunder DOMA, Part 2

Another major federal appeals court decision has struck down the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional, but this time the venue was far more conservative as was the jurist handing down the decision.

In this case, the Second Circuit determined it was unconstitutional for the federal government to require 83-year-old Edith Windsor to pay over $300,000 in estate taxes after the death of her spouse Thea Spyer. Windsor and Spyer lived in New York, but married in Toronto, Canada, in 2007, after a 40-year partnership. When Spyer died in 2009, New York had not yet legalized same sex marriage, and thus the federal government required Windsor to pay taxes on Spyer’s estate — a burden that wouldn’t have befallen an opposite-sex couple, whether married in or out of state.

In February 2011, the Justice Department halted its defense of DOMA, upsetting House Republicans who have spent over $1 million defending it in the Obama administration’s stead.

“Notwithstanding the withdrawal of its advocacy, the United States continues to enforce Section 3 of DOMA, which is indeed why Windsor does not have her money,” the opinion reads. “The constitutionality of the statute will have a considerable impact on many operations of the United States.”

Judge Dennis Jacobs, who authored the opinion, is the circuit’s chief judge and was appointed to the court in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush.

The raw economic truth of same-sex marriage discrimination at the federal level is, what I believe, the most powerful legal argument as to why the Defense of Marriage Act has to go.  It's discrimination written into the United States code, period.

We'll see how it shakes out.  But this is by far the best conservative argument against DOMA, and I think it will be enough to get it struck down sometime next year.

Here's hoping.

Attention PayPal Merchants: Limited Time To Opt Out Of New TOS Change

To be clear, the quoted statements are from a full article on LifeHacker.  I also hate PayPal, after being taken for nearly a thousand dollars in stupidity after their customer service told me my problem had been taken care of.  I will never use their service again, and the author's question says all you need to know: how do they have all the power of a bank with little to no regulation?

But I digress.  PayPal has made changes to their terms of service that restrict legal options in case their merchants feel mistreated.  You have until December 1 to send in a letter refusing to take this change and it will  be honored.  Otherwise, you and all new merchants will be bound by the new terms.

The article also has a helpful link at the bottom with a template to make sure that your letter is acceptable.

I think PayPal sucks, and I'm not alone. Making matters worse, the Consumerist found that PayPal has decided to limit your ability to take legal action against them if they cause you any trouble. Fortunately, there's a way out.

Beloved Musician Dies While On Security Gig

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Musician B.B. Cunningham Jr., a member of Jerry Lee Lewis' band, was killed in a Memphis shootout early Sunday, police said.

Police said Cunningham was working as a security guard at an apartment complex on Memphis' southeast side, when he heard a gunshot at the neighboring Cherry Crest apartments and went to investigate about 2 a.m., according to The Commercial Appeal (http://bit.ly/RJ1NUs).

Police didn't provide details, but they said when officers arrived, both the 70-year-old Cunningham and a 16-year-old boy were found dead from gunshot wounds.

The teenager has not been identified. Calls to police by The Associated Press were not returned.

When contacted at his home in Washington, D.C., Bill Cunningham confirmed his brother was killed.

Byny Garcia, who lives in a unit across the courtyard from where the shooting took place, said Cunningham was well-liked.

"He'd take care of the old people and the Spanish kids," Garcia said. "He was a good person. We don't feel good at this moment."

I'm sad that a 70-year-old musician of his caliber was working a high-risk job in a city with a fairly high crime rate.  He appears to have been a good fellow, and it's unfortunate that he died this way, and couldn't enjoy a retirement.  While I was not privy to his books, I assume a man of his age and accomplishment would have found a better activity if he wanted to volunteer.

Tagg, You're Still It

Ta-Nehisi Coates on Tagg Romney wanting to "take a swing" at President Obama after his dad's debate loss Tuesday night:

Yes because a good whippin' would teach that Obama boy to mind his place. 

It's worth trying to imagine any black man associated with a credible black candidate for the presidency, joking about beating down the incumbent president of the United States. Racism isn't just in what you do and don't say, but in the terrain you walk. It is baked in the cake -- a fact which is hard to understand when you are the party of white people.

 

If you're looking for the working definition of racism versus assumption of privilege, Tagg Romney is an excellent example.  Racism is the grim realization that any minority male Obama surrogate joking they would "take a swing" at Mitt Romney would almost certainly lose their job within days, with conservatives demanding the first African-American president be made to answer for his tacit fomenting of race war during the election.  Reaction, if the races were switched, would be completely different.

 

Assumption of privilege is the even more grim realization that Tagg Romney will completely get away with saying what he said, as would any white male surrogate of Romney.  That difference in reaction is always a one-way street.

I've Got Your ACORN Right Here

We're at that time of the election season where we seem to run across inevitable voter registration fraud, and once again it's being committed by the usual suspects, this time leading to an actual arrest of the alleged fraudsters...

You know.  Republicans.

A Pennsylvania man employed by a company working for the Republican Party of Virginia was arrested by investigators from the Rockingham County Sheriff’s office on Thursday and charged with destroying voter registration forms.

Colin Small, a 31-year-old resident of Phoenixville, Pa., worked for Pinpoint, a company hired to register voters on behalf of the Republican Party of Virginia. Prosecutors charged him with four counts of destruction of voter registration applications, eight counts of failing to disclose voter registration applications and one count of obstruction of justice.

Rockingham County Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson’s office said there was no indication that the activity was widespread in their jurisdiction and said the conduct “appears to be limited in nature.” His office said there is a possibility that additional charges may be filed.

Keep in mind if this was a Democratic party related organization with an arrest for registration fraud, we would have investigations, allegations of wrongdoing by party officials, calls for mass resignations, and calls for impeachment of the President.

But he was a white Republican.  So it's an "isolated incident" by "one bad individual" that cannot possibly be an indication of widespread voter registration fraud.  Got it?

StupidiNews!

• President Obama and Mitt Romney traded barbs at last night's Al Smith charity dinner in New York.
• Add former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to the growing list of world dignitaries who believe the war on drugs has failed.
• GOP Rep. Lois Capps of California's 23rd district is facing new allegations of failing to disclose over half a million in state pension income in her reelection battle.
• Wall Street looks back on the 25th anniversary of Black Monday, the day the Dow lost 23 percent in one day.
• DC Comics has successfully defended their copyright on Superman, as a court has ruled that the family of creator Joel Shuster can't reclaim the rights to the Man of Steel.

Last Call

No sympathy for wingnut welfare recipient Dinesh D'Souza, now former head of NYC's evangelical King's College.

Conservative filmmaker and author Dinesh D’Souza, facing scrutiny over his troubled marriage and dating life, is stepping down from his post as president of King’s College in New York, according to a statement Thursday from the school.

“After careful consultation with the board and with Dinesh, we have accepted his resignation to allow him to attend to his personal and family needs,” said Andy Mills, chairman of the board, in a statement. “We thank him for his service and significant contribution to the College over the last two years.”

D’Souza directed the documentary “2016: Obama’s America,” the second-highest-grossing political documentary in American history, and he has authored books including “Obama’s America” and “The Roots of Obama’s Rage.”

The school’s decision came several days after World magazine ran a story saying that D’Souza, who is married, introduced another woman as his fiancée to several people at a conference late last month, and shared a hotel room with her that night. The evangelical Christian publication also reported that, according to court records, D’Souza didn’t file for divorce until Oct. 4 — the day the World reporter called him.

Oops.  But don't feel sorry for the one of the biggest purveyors of Obama Derangement Syndrome on the map, folks.  I'm sure he's got a nice cushy wingnut welfare job lined up at FOX, National Review, the Wall Street Journal or hell, MSNBC.  (Phil Griffin is considering it.  Trust me.)

Guys like D'Souza can never really be shamed out of the media and stripped of their credibility.  They just fail upwards to a better place.

Meeting Of The Mindless

Rep. Todd Akin getting help from Sen. Rand Paul?  Oh somebody upstairs likes me.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) jumps in to the Missouri Senate race Wednesday with a statewide television ad critical of Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill for her votes on foreign aid to countries that have seen violent demonstrations critical of the United States.

Paul is the latest Republican to defy party leaders and help the beleaguered Senate candidacy of Todd Akin, abandoned by the national GOP in August after telling a television interviewer that woman generally do not get pregnant in cases of “legitimate rape.”  Top Republicans, including presidential nominee Mitt Romney and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ken.), asked Akin to drop out and cut national party support for his campaign.

Akin apologized but sank in the polls, surviving with a small cadre of defiant supporters, mostly Christian conservatives. McCaskill leads in most polls, but Akin’s numbers have recovered from the 20-point gap that emerged after his rape comment.

And McCaskill is still leading by most poll aggregates.  Rand Paul trying to be a national GOP hero?  Good luck with that.  That may play here in Kentucky, but you're going to find that what works here in ultra-conservative Kentucky is going to be a real problem for Todd Akin.

We'll see.

Tagg, You're It

And speaking of weird-ass kids, Mitt Romney's son Tagg had some interesting words for President Obama after Tuesday's debate, apparently.

Mitt Romney’s son Tagg said Wednesday that he wanted to punch President Barack Obama during the second presidential debate.

“I’m going to ask something I think a lot of people want to know, or at least I do. What is it like for you to hear the President of the United States call your dad a liar. How do you react to that?” Tagg was asked by radio host Bill Lumaye.

“Well — jump out of your seat and you want to rush down to the debate stage and take a swing at him,” he replied. “But you know you can’t do that because, well, first there is a lot of Secret Service between you and him but also because this is the nature of the process, they’re going to do everything they can do to make my dad into someone he is not.”

Two things, Tagg.  One, forget the Secret Service, Michelle Obama would flatten you like a pancake.  Two, your dad is very much a liar, Tagg.  He told 31 whoppers by one count on Tuesday night.

Maybe you should ask your dad what his economic plan is there, Taggster.  Nobody else in America seems to be privy to it.

Including Mitt Romney himself.

Cardboard Bicycles Coming Soon

(Reuters) - A bicycle made almost entirely of cardboard has the potential to change transportation habits from the world's most congested cities to the poorest reaches of Africa, its Israeli inventor says.

Izhar Gafni, 50, is an expert in designing automated mass-production lines. He is an amateur cycling enthusiast who for years toyed with an idea of making a bicycle from cardboard.

He told Reuters during a recent demonstration that after much trial and error, his latest prototype has now proven itself and mass production will begin in a few months.

"I was always fascinated by applying unconventional technologies to materials and I did this on several occasions. But this was the culmination of a few things that came together. I worked for four years to cancel out the corrugated cardboard's weak structural points," Gafni said.

"Making a cardboard box is easy and it can be very strong and durable, but to make a bicycle was extremely difficult and I had to find the right way to fold the cardboard in several different directions. It took a year and a half, with lots of testing and failure until I got it right," he said.

Weighing approximately fifteen pounds (compared to twenty for normal bikes) and given tires that will never puncture and are also recycled, this could be a world-changing event.  Gafni says he plans to use a business model that will allow him to pay employees and still make the bikes for free or near that.  He hopes retailers will keep the price at around $20 to encourage use and get the technology out there.  Poor countries and big cities can both benefit from this, and for those who hate to pedal the unit can be customized to work with a rechargeable motor.

How awesome is that?

HPV Vaccine Causes Little To No Change In Sexual Habits

So if girls have access to protection from death by sex, they don't go out and bump uglies with every available man.  I'll pretend to be shocked.

HPV is the leading cause of cervical cancer and also has been linked with anal and oral cancers in women and men.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend HPV shots for girls and boys at age 11 or 12, before they have ever had sex. Three doses are generally recommended over six months.

Some parents have raised concerns that the shots "are a license to have sex," but the study bolsters evidence against that concern, said Dr. Elizabeth Alderman, an adolescent medicine specialist at The Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York City. She was not involved in the study.

First, license to have sex?  Regardless of whether they never had sex or humped every leg within miles, do they  not deserve the ability to save lives, including their own?

Science.  It works, bitches.

Mitt, Like A Boss

Mitt's latest gaffe from the past is from June, from a conference call with members of the National Federation of Independent Business, where Mr. Romney apparently suggested that America's bosses should make it clear that they would have to fire employees if President Obama was re-elected:

I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections. And whether you agree with me or you agree with President Obama, or whatever your political view, I hope, I hope you pass those along to your employees. 

Considering the number of awful bosses who are doing just that, Mitt suddenly has himself a big, big problem.

The call raises the question of whether the Romney campaign is complicit in the corporate attempts to influence employees' votes that have been recently making headlines. On Sunday, In These Times broke the news that Koch Industries mailed at least 45,000 employees a voter information packet that included a flyer endorsing Romney and a letter warning, “Many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer the consequences [of a bad election result], including higher gasoline prices, runaway inflation, and other ills.” Last week, Gawker obtained an email in which the CEO of Westgate Resorts, Florida billionaire David Siegel, informed his 7,000 employees that an Obama victory would likely lead to layoffs at his company. This week, MSNBC’s Up with Chris Hayes unveiled an email by ASG Software Solutions CEO Arthur Allen in which he, too, warned employees that an Obama second term would spell layoffs.

And now to hear that Romney is not only in support of these efforts, but actively telling business owners to do this, makes it pretty clear which candidate is on the side of the middle-class American worker.

It sure as hell isn't Mitt.  Spread the word.

Josh Romney Is Coming For Your Soul

Josh Romney is the most frightening man on Earth.  He's sitting next to his mother, Ann.

He is coming for your soul.

Your soul.  You, America.  YOU.

AND NOW IT'S TOO LATE HE HAS YOUR SOUL.

StupidiNews!

• FBI officials have arrested a 21 year old Bangladeshi man in connection with a plot to try to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank in New York City.
• Israeli jets have attacked the northern Gaza Strip in retaliation for Palestinian rockets hitting southern Israel.
• The Catholic Chuch is preparing for the recognition this weekend in Rome of the first Native American saint in church history.
• The world's largest re-insurance company says the disaster risk in North America has increased fivefold over the last three decades.
• Scientists say there's more than one way the moon could have broken off from the Earth after a massive collision millions of years ago.