Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Via JMG: Straight Wrestler Hudson Taylor Launches Site Against Homophobia In Sports


Champion collegiate wrestler Hudson Taylor, who is straight, has launched Athlete Ally, a website where players, coaches, fans, and parents can take a pledge to end homophobia in sports. Taylor generated controversy at the University of Maryland when he competed with a Human Rights Campaign sticker on his wrestling headgear. Today he is a coach at Columbia University.


reposted from Joe

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

The Best Thing About Me Is You

About Buddhism


The greatest achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Via JMG: Arizona Legislators Give Standing Ovation To Gay Shooting Hero Daniel Hernandez


Moments ago, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer led her state's legislators in a standing ovation for openly gay hero Daniel Hernandez, who is credited with saving the life of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.


reposted from Joe

Via Courage Campaign:

Courage Campaign

"I think it's important for all leaders... not just leaders of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party... to say, look, we can't stand for this...we're on Sarah Palin's targeted list, but the thing is that the way that she has it depicted has the cross-hairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they've got to realize there's consequences to that action."
-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, March 25, 2010

Dear Daniel:

I know something about senseless violence.

I have never met Congresswoman Giffords, nor Judge Roll, nor any of the other victims of the shocking massacre that occurred Saturday in Tucson. But I recall as though it were yesterday the assassinations in 1978 of my friend and mentor Harvey Milk along with San Francisco Mayor Moscone. As if that were not enough, only seven years later, I was stabbed by a group of skinheads screaming "faggot." For me, political violence has never been hypothetical.

Harvey received so many death threats that he stopped looking at them. He almost assumed he would be killed, because of the hate speech and incendiary language that foes of equality hurled with impunity.

On Saturday, it happened again. While no one knows for sure what drove Jared Loughner to commit this heinous act, we do know that the toxic political discourse in this country today- candidates talking about "second amendment remedies", news networks featuring anti-government conspiracy theorists, and national political figures like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin describing themselves as "progressive hunters" and urging followers to "reload"- lays the groundwork for this kind of violence (1, 2, 3, 4). We shouldn't stand for it.

It has to stop. That's why today the Courage Campaign calls on Rep. Darrell Issa, the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to investigate the ties between violence and increasing calls for it in our national political dialogue.

Mr. Issa has promised to hold a hearing every day on various Obama administration programs and legislation. What about hearings on what led to this attack? How about an investigation into increasing calls for violence from national political figures, organizations, and the media? It's time for him to call hearings now on the environment that led to the deaths.

We know that law enforcement and the judiciary will bring the perpetrators to justice. But that's only this time. What about next time? We will never end this violence until we have an honest national dialogue about who and what is feeding it, and determine the steps that can be taken to prevent more violence.

Will you join me in calling on Chairman Issa to investigate how overheated political rhetoric can contribute to such violence?

Let us do more than bring the shooter to justice. Let us put the spotlight on those who are teaching the next shooter that violence is the answer.

Join me in calling on Chairman Issa to convene hearings, so that we may again become a nation of democracy and debate, rather than mob rule and violence.

Together,

Cleve Jones

(1) http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/us/politics/09giffords.html
(2) http://twitter.com/sarahpalinusa/status/10935548053
(3) http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2010/1016/Did-Glenn-Beck-s-rhetoric-inspire-violence
(4) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/16/sharron-angle-floated-2nd_n_614003.html

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Melissa Etheridge - I'm The Only One (Live at the Kodak Theatre)

Via HimalayaCrafts:


Looking at the faults of others only embitters the heart.

♥ Om Mani Padme Hum ♥

Via JMG: Here's How Giffords' Opponent Sold Himself In The 2010 Campaign


Andrew Sullivan: "If you are not disturbed by what it proclaims as the essence of true conservatism - a sunglasses wearing soldier with a machine gun in his open crotch - you should be."

NOTE: For those unaware, "RINO" means "Republican in name only." The acronym is commonly used on sites like Free Republic to mock members of the GOP who express anything other than hard-right philosophies. Similarly, some Democrats have taken up "DINO" to describe Blue Dog Dems and other Democrats who support right-of-center ideals.


reposted from Joe

CNN - Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' Intern Credited For Saving Her Life!

Via JMG: Tweet Of The Day - Lt. Dan Choi



reposted from Joe