Daily Finance reports that Home Depot is continuing to ignore the demands of the American Family Association, who wants the DIY giant to pull out of all gay-friendly events. Home Depot is holding its line on the issue: "Our response on this has been and continues to be that we respect the diversity of all people and maintain an inclusive culture," Home Depot spokesman Steve Holmes said in an email. "This is what [Chairman] Frank [Blake] told the AFA publicly at our annual shareholders meeting earlier this year." Home Depot isn't the only high-profile company the AFA has targeted. It has also tangled with Walt Disney (DIS), Procter & Gamble (PG), and PepsiCo (PEP). The AFA, which brags on its website that it has been on "the frontlines of America's culture war" since 1977, insists that it has nothing against gays. All it wants is for corporate America to remain "neutral" in these same conflicts, according to Sharp. That includes both supporting gay causes and marketing to the LGBT community.Home Depot has earned your business. Go buy a dishwasher.
In recognition of GLAAD's anti-bullying Spirit Day, the White House purpled the backgrounds on its Twitter and Facebook pages.Life is possible. Situations are possible. And anybody can start to gain some kind of insight and appreciation of their lives. That’s what we call “sacred.” It doesn’t mean something dramatic, but something very simple. There’s a sacredness to everyone’s life. |
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Speaking on a local radio show, today NJ Gov. Chris Christie denounced public school teacher Vicki Knox, who last week posted an anti-gay tirade to her Facebook page. “I think that kind of example is not a positive one at all to be setting for folks who have such an important and influential position in our society. I'm really concerned about those kinds of statements being made.” Christie went on to say he would “like to see an examination of how that teacher conducts herself in the classroom.”The Human Rights Campaign approves.
“We applaud Governor Christie for doing the right thing and speaking out against the anti-LGBT vitriol this teacher chose to bring into the classroom,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Governor Christie’s denouncement sends a very strong message that intentionally and publicly spreading malicious rhetoric and falsehoods about LGBT Americans is unacceptable and cannot go ignored. Now, Union Township school officials must take action that adequately addresses the severity of Ms. Knox’s behavior.”
Many of us originally turn to the dharma at least in part as a way of trying to overcome the pain of our psychological and relational wounding. Yet we are often in denial about or unconscious of the nature or extent of this wounding. As a result, being a “good” spiritual practitioner can become a compensatory identity that covers up and defends against an underlying deficient identity, where we feel bad about ourselves, not good enough, or basically lacking. Then, although we may be practicing diligently, our spiritual practice can be used in the service of denial and defense. And when spiritual practice is used to bypass our real-life human issues, it becomes compartmentalized in a separate zone of our life that remains unintegrated with our overall functioning. |
As the above analysis of Herman Cain's 9% federal flat tax plan shows, only those who make more than $200,000 annually would see any reduction. Folks who make $30K - $75K would see an increase of about $4300. No wonder he's been endorsed by GOProud. And the above chart doesn't even address the punishment the poor would endure from a 9% national sales tax.
In times of crisis, we often feel we don’t have the time or energy to practice, but those are precisely the times when the practice is most necessary. This is what we’ve been practicing for: the situations where the practice doesn’t come easily. When the winds of change reach hurricane force, our inner refuge of mindfulness, concentration, and discernment is the only thing that will keep us from getting blown away. |
"when i found out that jamey rodemeyer killed himself - i felt deeply troubled. but when i found out that jamey rodemeyer had made an it gets better video only months before taking his own life - i felt indescribable despair. i also made an it gets better video last year - in the wake of the senseless and tragic gay teen suicides that were sweeping the nation at the time. but in light of jamey's death - it became clear to me in an instant that living a gay life without publicly acknowledging it - is simply not enough to make any significant contribution to the immense work that lies ahead on the road to complete equality." - Actor Zachary Quinto, writing on his personal blog. Quinto came out this weekend.U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle said in a ruling Monday that it was unlikely that signers would face threats or harassment. Opponents of the law that expanded gay partnership rights managed to get enough signatures in 2009 to force a vote on the issue. They had pushed in court to keep the names of petition supporters private, arguing that it was a contentious issue and that people could be harassed.RELATED: Referendum 71 failed by a margin of 53-47, becoming the first ever statewide LGBT rights law to be upheld by a public vote. Today's ruling follows a June 2010 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which voted 8-1 to uphold the constitutionality of releasing the names.
Perhaps an important difference between Buddhism and Christianity is that, within the Christian tradition, there is usually a subject you are contemplating, whereas in Buddhism, especially with the formless practices, you are really opening the mind in and of itself; you are not contemplating a particular subject or figure. Ultimately, we are looking to simply open the mind and lay bare its depths. In Christianity you find that as well, so it’s not an absolute difference but a difference in emphasis. |
