Sunday, April 22, 2012

Via JMG: The Death Penalty In America


 
Texas is responsible for one-third of all executions since 1976.


reposted from Joe

Thank you Secretary of State Clinton!

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 22, 2012

The Reality of Liberation

Nirvana manifests as ease, as love, as connectedness, as generosity, as clarity, as unshakable freedom. This isn’t watering down nirvana. This is the reality of liberation that we can experience, sometimes in a moment and sometimes in transformative ways that change our entire life.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Via JMG: StopBullying.gov


From the Obama administration. Valerie Jarrett explains:
Earlier today, we screened BULLY at the White House. We were joined by bullying prevention advocates from a range of communities – LGBT, AAPI, faith, disability, and others – as well as educational partners and key Obama Administration staff who work on these issues every day, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Before the film, a panel of nationally recognized experts on bullying prevention spoke from their perspectives about challenges and opportunities, and after the film, we heard from Lee Hirsch, the director and filmmaker, and several of the students and families who were directly impacted by bullying and intolerance and whose stories were featured in the film. This film is a powerful call to action: We must do everything we can to work toward the day when no young person or family suffers the pain, agony, and loss caused by bulling in our schools and communities.
Stop Bullying.


Reposted from Joe

Via Facebook:

Via AmericaBlog Gay: Anglican chaplain says Jesus probably gay



He said it in a Good Friday service.  That must have been an interesting service. Here's an excerpt

Was that divisive issue a subject for Good Friday? For the first time in my ministry I felt it had to be. Those last words of Jesus would not let me escape. "When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, 'Woman behold your son!' Then he said to the disciple. 'Behold your mother!' And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home."

That disciple was John whom Jesus, the gospels affirm, loved in a special way. All the other disciples had fled in fear. Three women but only one man had the courage to go with Jesus to his execution. That man clearly had a unique place in the affection of Jesus. In all classic depictions of the Last Supper, a favourite subject of Christian art, John is next to Jesus, very often his head resting on Jesus's breast. Dying, Jesus asks John to look after his mother and asks his mother to accept John as her son. John takes Mary home. John becomes unmistakably part of Jesus's family.
Jesus was a Hebrew rabbi. Unusually, he was unmarried. The idea that he had a romantic relationship with Mary Magdalene is the stuff of fiction, based on no biblical evidence. The evidence, on the other hand, that he may have been what we today call gay is very strong.

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 21, 2012

The End of Your World

The process of finding the truth may not be a process by which we feel increasingly better and better. It may be a process by which we look at things honestly, sincerely, truthfully, and that may or may not be an easy thing to do.
- Adyashanti, "Bliss is a By-Product"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Friday, April 20, 2012

Via JMG: Does Wal-Mart Spawn Hate Groups?


In a fascinating study, researchers say that the number of Wal-Mart locations in any particular region tends to correlate with the number of SPLC-certified hate groups.

The number of Wal-Mart stores was second only to the designation of a county as a Metropolitan Statistical Area in statistical significance for predicting the number of hate groups in a county, according to the study. The researchers, who reported their findings in the online version of , said that the number of Wal-Mart stores in a county was more significant statistically than factors commonly regarded as important to hate group participation, such as the unemployment rate, high crime rates and low education.
Researchers say they are not singling out Wal-Mart in particular and that other big box retailers likely have a similar effect on "community cohesion."


Reposted from Joe

JMG Editorial Of The Day


From the Washington Post:
WHITE HOUSE press secretary Jay Carney spent a good chunk of his time during a briefing last week trying to explain why President Obama has declined to issue an executive order barring federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. Mr. Carney struggled for some eight minutes but was unable to give a satisfactory answer. That’s understandable, because there is no principled reason for refusing to extend such workplace protections to millions of Americans. [snip] The president played a pivotal role in the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and also deserves credit for refusing to defend the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act. He should again seize the mantle of leadership by issuing an executive order that prohibits the federal government from doing business with contractors that fail to guarantee basic fairness to their LGBT employees.

Reposted from Joe