Via AmericaBlogGay:

Chicago Cardinal again compares gay pride parade to the Klan 

Pedophile-enabling religions, that still haven't come clean, have lost any right to make moral comparisons about anything. 

Statement from Francis Cardinal George, OMI

Archbishop of Chicago

December 27, 2011

The Chicago Gay Pride Parade has been organized and attended for many years without interfering with the worship of God in a Catholic church. When the 2012 Parade organizers announced a time and route change this year, it was apparent that the Parade would interfere with divine worship in a Catholic parish on the new route. When the pastor's request for reconsideration of the plans was ignored, the organizers invited an obvious comparison to other groups who have historically attempted to stifle the religious freedom of the Catholic Church. One such organization is the Ku Klux Klan which, well into the 1940's, paraded through American cities not only to interfere with Catholic worship but also to demonstrate that Catholics stand outside of the American consensus. It is not a precedent anyone should want to emulate.

Gay journalist Rex Wockner responds via email:

"The Chicago gay pride parade attracts 800,000 people. It proceeds through a heavily congested, dense urban cityscape. Absolutely positively everything in its wake is disrupted. What on earth makes one service at one church on one day special enough to change the start time of a gigantic parade? Let alone excuses comparing 'the gay liberation movement' with the 'Ku Klux Klan'? No, cardinal, the gay pride committee is not targeting the Catholic church. 'The gay liberation movement' is not targeting the Catholic church either. Your church building is affected in no way any different from hundreds upon hundreds of buildings for miles in all directions (Lake Michigan notwithstanding). You really do need to get out more."

This is part of the larger religious right "we're so oppressed" mantra, that the Catholic church has clearly adopted now as well.  If they can't have their way in everything, if governments and elected politicians refuse to do their bidding 100% of the time, then the Catholics are being terribly oppressed. It's a spin off of the old "you're intolerant of my intolerance" argument the religious right likes to make in an effort to stifle all criticism of their bigotry.  In this case, if you don't do what the Catholic church tells you, even if you're not Catholic, well then, you're just like the Klan.

One can only imagine Cardinal George grocery shopping.  "You know who else won't accept expired coupons? The Klan."

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 29, 2011

Mindful Breathing

Mindful breathing helps you see your anger, your frustration, your suffering. When you breathe mindfully, you practice looking deeply into yourself. You are made of feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. Your true nature is what—if not these things? Because it is wrong perceptions that make you suffer, and if you don’t know the nature of your own perceptions, you are not likely to get free of your suffering. So your true nature is the nature of your feelings, your perceptions, your mental formations, and your consciousness.

- Thich Nhat Hanh, “Interbeing with Thich Nhat Hanh”
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via JMG: Did Nixon Have A Gay Affair?

According to a new biography of Richard Nixon, Tricky Dick had a long-running gay affair with Mafia-insider Bebe Robozo, who was investigated for acting as a money-carrying middleman between Howard Hughes and Nixon.

Fulsom uses recently revealed documents and eyewitness interviews — including with FBI agents — to shed new light on long-standing suspicions among White House insiders that Nixon may have been more than just good buddies with Rebozo. He claims Nixon's relationship with Pat, his wife of 53 years, was little more than a sham. A heavy drinker whom his own staff dubbed 'Our Drunk', Nixon used to call his First Lady a 'f***ing bitch' and beat her before, during and after his presidency, says Fulsom. The pair had separate bedrooms at the White House — and in Key Biscayne, the exclusive resort near Miami where Nixon holidayed, Mrs Nixon didn't even sleep in the same building. Rebozo, however, was in the house next door. Fulsom claims one of Nixon's former military aides had a secret job 'to teach the President how to kiss his wife' so they would look like a convincing couple.

One source told the book's author that Rebozo "was definitely part of Miami's gay community." Rebozo's personal wealth reportedly quintupled during Nixon's years in office.

Labels: books, GOP, Richard Nixon, The 70's

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Ron Paul's Newsletters Get Tweeted

Somebody is tweeting out Ron Paul's infamous newsletters, line by bigoted racist line.

Labels: assholery, GOP, racism, Ron Paul

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Unsurprising Ron Paul Tidbit

Michael Heath, the head of Ron Paul's Iowa campaign staff, is also on the board of directors for Peter LaBarbera's SPLC-certified anti-gay hate group, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality. In 2009 Heath headed Maine's Christian Civic League. More at Box Turtle Bulletin.

Labels: hate groups, Iowa, Mike Heath, Ron Paul

Reposted  from Joe

Via JMG: Quote Of The Day - Cardinal George

"The Chicago Gay Pride Parade has been organized and attended for many years without interfering with the worship of God in a Catholic church. When the 2012 Parade organizers announced a time and route change this year, it was apparent that the Parade would interfere with divine worship in a Catholic parish on the new route. When the pastor's request for reconsideration of the plans was ignored, the organizers invited an obvious comparison to other groups who have historically attempted to stifle the religious freedom of the Catholic Church. One such organization is the Ku Klux Klan which, well into the 1940's, paraded through American cities not only to interfere with Catholic worship but also to demonstrate that Catholics stand outside of the American consensus. It is not a precedent anyone should want to emulate." - Cardinal Francis George, repeating his "gays = KKK" comparison. (Via JMG reader Robert)

UPDATE: Veteran journalist Rex Wockner sends us this comment.

The Chicago gay pride parade attracts 800,000 people. It proceeds through a heavily congested, dense urban cityscape. Absolutely positively everything in its wake is disrupted. What on earth makes one service at one church on one day special enough to change the start time of a gigantic parade? Let alone excuses comparing 'the gay liberation movement' with the 'Ku Klux Klan'? No, cardinal, the gay pride committee is not targeting the Catholic church. 'The gay liberation movement' is not targeting the Catholic church either. Your church building is affected in no way any different from hundreds upon hundreds of buildings for miles in all directions (Lake Michigan notwithstanding). You really do need to get out more.

Labels: assholery, Catholic Church, Catholics, Chicago, gay Pride, hate groups, religion

reposted from Joe

Riley on Marketing

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 28, 2011

Friends and "Enemies"

It is not sufficient merely to see that sentient beings are suffering. You must also develop a sense of closeness with them, a sense that they are dear. With that combination—seeing that people suffer and thinking of them as dear—you can develop compassion. So, after meditatively transforming your attitude toward friends, enemies, and neutral persons such that you have gained progress in becoming even-minded toward all of them, the next step is to meditate on everyone as friends, to feel that they have been profoundly close.

- Jeffrey Hopkins, "Everyone as a Friend"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via AmericaBlogGay: NYT covers the Salvation Army gay backlash

How the Salvation Army refused to help a homeless Bil Browning (now the head of Bilerico blog) because he was gay. NYT:

Bil Browning and his boyfriend were homeless. To protect the identity of the boyfriend (now ex-boyfriend), Mr. Browning will not say specifically where, just that it was in “southern Indiana,” about 20 years ago. But he is very explicit about who refused to give them shelter.

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 25, 2011

The Light of Compassion

There has not been and will not be any such "self" or substantial entity which clings or is attached to one thing after another. But if you were to ask, "Well, what then is manifesting?" I would say that from the nature of emptiness (sunyata), great compassion manifests just as the sun manifests light. It unfolds by itself—no subject and no object.

- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Invisible Realities"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection