When
you admit to yourself, 'I must make this change to be more happy'—not
because the Buddha said so, but because your heart recognized a deep
truth—you must devote all your energy to making the change. You need
strong determination to overcome harmful habits.
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Yesterday Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told a group of Colorado students that DOMA will likely be considered by the Court in the next term. Ginsburg spoke at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She was asked a student-submitted question about the equal-protection clause and whether the nation’s high court would consider it applying to sexual orientation. Ginsburg said with a smile that she couldn’t answer the question. She said she could not talk about matters that would come to the court, and that the Defense of Marriage Act would probably be up soon. “I think it’s most likely that we will have that issue before the court toward the end of the current term,” she said.So there it is. And no mention of Prop 8.
A year ago today, we upheld the fundamental American values of fairness and equality by finally and formally repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Gay and lesbian Americans now no longer need to hide who they love in order to serve the country they love. It is a testament to the professionalism of our men and women in uniform that this change was implemented in an orderly manner, preserving unit cohesion, recruitment, retention and military effectiveness. As Commander in Chief, I've seen that our national security has been strengthened because we are no longer denied the skills and talents of those patriotic Americans who happen to be gay or lesbian. The ability of service members to be open and honest about their families and the people they love honors the integrity of the individuals who serve, strengthens the institutions they serve, and is one of the many reasons why our military remains the finest in the world.
Whatever
realization may come by way of silence, our happiness is never won that
way. Happiness is not happiness unless it is shared. For happiness is
the one thing in all the world that comes to us only at the moment we
give it, and is likewise increased by being given away.
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GLAAD reports: Today, the Toronto Blue Jays announced that shortstop Yunel Escobar will work with GLAAD and the You Can Play project, after he was seen with an anti-gay slur written in Spanish on his eye-black over the weekend. The team also announced that Escobar will serve a three-day suspension. GLAAD has been in conversations throughout the day with the team and with Major League Baseball (MLB) about the incident. In announcing Escobar's suspension and intent to work with GLAAD and You Can Play, the team today stated "The Blue Jays want to reaffirm that discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated. The club looks forward to supporting the efforts of You Can Play and GLAAD to help promote education for players and fans alike and to help keep language like this out of the game and society."RELATED: The Toronto Blue Jays are owned by Rogers Communication, the same company that last year fired Sportsnet host Damian Goddard, who then told the world that he was let go because of "a single tweet supporting one-man one-woman marriage." Rogers dismissed that claim as ridiculous, but has refused to discuss the real reason for the firing because "we do not discuss personnel issues with the press." Goddard, who is Catholic, has since become a martyr to and spokesman for Vatican front group NOM and has a case pending before the Canadian Human Rights Commission. He just posted the below tweet.
UPDATE:
Escobar may have been forcing into working with GLAAD, but he's clearly
not quite apologizing. My pal Andres Duque just translated a press
conference response. 
"A
gay-rights activist entered the building of our organization, Family
Research Council, where he told our operations manager that he objected
to our politics and opened fire with a handgun. Our political beliefs
reflect our Christian faith.This comes in the context of the Southern
Poverty Law Center designating FRC a 'certified hate group' because of
our biblically-based beliefs regarding marriage and human sexuality. We
encourage love and respect for all people including those seeking to
redefine marriage, and we have made clear we abhor and reject all
violence directed against anyone for their sexual behavior. This war of
words launched by the SPLC as cover for its allied organizations on the
left has led to an open assault upon those with whom they disagree. This
type of demonizing must stop." - Tony Perkins, writing for Fox News.| Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
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We suffer because we marry our instinctive aversion to pain to the deep-seated belief that life should
be free from pain. In resisting our pain by holding this belief, we
strengthen just what we're trying to avoid. When we make pain the enemy,
we solidify it. This resistance is where our suffering begins.
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Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar took the field on Saturday with "You are a faggot" written in Spanish in his eye black.Several messages seeking comment from Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos were not immediately returned. The Jays are expected to hold a news conference Tuesday afternoon in New York, before their game against the Yankees. Escobar, 29, was originally in Sunday’s starting lineup, but was scratched before game-time. A club spokesman said he had the flu. The photo generated a flurry of responses on Twitter, mostly critical of Escobar, some urging that he be suspended for the rest of the season, some urging fans to reserve judgment until “context” became available. Others speculated that he had been pulled from Sunday’s lineup as a disciplinary measure.Escobar was drafted into the Major League by Atlanta in 2005 and was traded to Toronto in 2010. Last year he signed a two-year contract extension worth $10M. Last year a Change.org petition was launched asking the Blue Jays to join the eight other MLB teams to make an It Gets Better video, but that has not yet happened.
This shifting campaign calculus has produced a split in Romney's message. His talk show interviews and big ad buys continue to offer a straightforward economic focus aimed at traditional undecided voters. But out stumping day to day is a candidate who wants to talk about patriotism and God, and who is increasingly looking to connect with the right's intense, personal dislike for President Barack Obama. Three Romney advisers told BuzzFeed the campaign's top priority now is to rally conservative Republicans, in hopes that they'll show up on Election Day, and drag their less politically-engaged friends with them.
The earliest, ambiguous signal of this turn toward the party's right was the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as Romney's running mate, a top Romney aide said. "This is going to be a base election, and we need them to come out to vote," the aide said, explaining the pick. Another adviser, who also discussed strategy on the condition of anonymity, described the campaign's key targets as Republican activists: "The people who are going to talk to their neighbors, drive them to the polls on Election Day, and hold their hands on the way in to vote."
Zen
practice is always about returning to that place where there are no
words. Early on, I realized that to use words, you have to live life
beyond words, before words, without words. Only then do you have the
right to speak.
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