A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
In the Catholic Church's national campaign to make themselves ever more repulsive to the average American, the Diocese of Sacramento has cut off their funding of a local homeless shelter because its new director supports marriage equality.
In a letter last month, the diocese's director of social services said the Rev. Faith Whitmore's public statements on the issues clash with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Therefore, said the Rev. Michael Kiernan, the social services director, it is "impossible for the diocese to continue funding Francis House" as part of its annual Catholic Appeal. Each morning, dozens of poor people line up at Francis House, located in Sacramento's homeless services epicenter, for help with basic services such as housing and transportation. Now in its 42nd year, the organization is one of the largest homeless services agencies in the Sacramento region, serving upward of 25,000 people. It has an an annual budget of about $500,000.
The Catholic Church would rather see you homeless and starving to death than disobedient to their dogma. That can't be any more fucking apparent, can it? What will they do next to turn our stomachs? A puppy kicking contest?
In a news story titled "Homeless youth: the next battle for gay equality," the Associated Press today examines the burgeoning epidemic of LGBT kids ejected from their homes by their own families.
Iro Uikka clutches his throat as he describes the violent clash that led to spending his nights sleeping in New York City subway cars. "When I told my mother I was gay, she grabbed me by the neck and threw me out," he says. "Then she threw my coat on top of me and shut the door." That was five years ago when he was 18, still living at home in Florida. Uikka is among tens of thousands of homeless youths across America who are LGBT — lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Most are on the streets because they have nowhere else to go — outcasts who leave home after being rejected by family members or flee shelters because residents bully or beat them. LGBT young people represent a dramatically high proportion of an estimated 600,000 or more homeless youths across the country — between 20 percent and 40 percent, according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute.
Many times I've heard Carl Siciliano tell audiences that these kids are often the paradoxical victims of advances in gay rights. Emboldened by a widening acceptance in society, gay kids are sometimes now coming out at ages too young to fend for themselves when their parent don't accept the news. In the above-linked article, Siciliano says, "These kids are the collateral damage of our cultural wars."
Among the ten groups added today to the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of 27 anti-gay hate groups are three names that are very familiar to us here on JMG. Eugene Delgaudio (Public Advocate), Randy Thomasson (Save California), and Linda Harvey (Mission America). We can only hope that our relentless coverage of these evil, horrible people had some tiny role in their elevation to the most ignominious list in American culture. Congratulations you three pigs, you're now in the history books alongside the Ku Klux Klan.
JMG reader Paul Thomasson writes to tip us to a project he's embarked upon in which he is using the just-released list of names on an anti-gay petition to write and ask for a reconsidered attitude in Washington state's upcoming ballot battle on marriage. Hit the link to read Paul's full email and to see the more than 50 responses he's gotten so far.
Yesterday Seattle's KOMO learned of Paul's campaign. Travis Mayfield reports:
Those who fought the effort to keep the R-71 signatures secret argued that not doing so would lead to harassment and intimidation of the signers. And some who have replied to Thomasson may believe that’s what he’s doing. “sick . dont send me email,” reads one reply. Supporters of gay rights argued they only wanted to see the names to have personal conversations with opponents to try to respectfully change minds. Clearly some of those contacted by Thomasson believe his efforts are sincere. “Thank you for your letter and for sharing something so personal with me. I value your communication and the love you have found,” wrote a woman identified as Alanna. With 1,600 emails sent, Thomasson is just getting started working his way through the list of 121,757 names. "I intend to continue this effort until I have transcribed and emailed all of the legible email addresses.”
To question is unbelievably powerful. But if you question all the time and you remain in doubt, going first this way and then that, conviction is absent. If you develop a line of inquiry and learn from your experience, conviction grows. Then you put that conviction into practice but remain open to new information and experience. You set a steady course and remain willing to grow and learn. That is powerful.
The left is so embracing of calling themselves prostitutes, hookers and whores that they have made a line of clothing “Sluts for Obama.” Most offensive – they even have baby clothing with the phrase. (I would assume the Obama “O” is trademarked – will the Obama campaign try to put a stop to it?) Words have meaning and power. To your relatively small circle it might seem you are laughing in the face of evil but the simple fact is you are laughing at a joke where you are the punch line. Is this really where the feminist movement has fallen?
According to a just-issued report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the number of hate groups across the United States rose in 2011.
The radical right grew explosively in 2011, the third such dramatic expansion in as many years. The growth was fueled by superheated fears generated by economic dislocation, a proliferation of demonizing conspiracy theories, the changing racial makeup of America, and the prospect of four more years under a black president who many on the far right view as an enemy to their country. The number of hate groups counted by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) last year reached a total of 1,018, up slightly from the year before but continuing a trend of significant growth that is now more than a decade old. The truly stunning growth came in the antigovernment “Patriot” movement — conspiracy-minded groups that see the federal government as their primary enemy.
The SPLC notes that because of advances in LGBT rights, the number of anti-gay hate groups has exploded even as those same groups focus their attention on immigrants and Muslims.
The gay-bashing Traditional Values Coalition, for instance, last year redesigned its website to emphasize a new section entitled “Islam vs. the Constitution,” published a report on Shariah law, and joined anti-Shariah conferences. Overall, the number of anti-gay hate groups in the United States rose markedly, going from 17 in 2010 to 27 last year.
If we attempt to explain the experience of 'being the question,' we can only talk around it. Because 'being' is an experience, and the moment we try to describe it we shut down around an idea. But perhaps we could attempt to describe it by saying that being the question has something to do with our ability to tolerate or bear witness to the full expressions of experience, rather than closing down around them and then reacting to them through our preferences.
ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2011) — The less people know about important complex issues such as the economy, energy consumption and the environment, the more they want to avoid becoming well-informed, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.
And the more urgent the issue, the more people want to remain unaware, according to a paper published online in APA's Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
"These studies were designed to help understand the so-called 'ignorance is bliss' approach to social issues," said author Steven Shepherd, a graduate student with the University of Waterloo in Ontario. "The findings can assist educators in addressing significant barriers to getting people involved and engaged in social issues."
Through a series of five studies conducted in 2010 and 2011 with 511 adults in the United States and Canada, the researchers described "a chain reaction from ignorance about a subject to dependence on and trust in the government to deal with the issue."
In one study, participants who felt most affected by the economic recession avoided information challenging the government's ability to manage the economy. However, they did not avoid positive information, the study said. This study comprised 197 Americans with a mean age of 35 (111 women and 89 men), who had received complex information about the economy and had answered a question about how the economy is affecting them directly.
To test the links among dependence, trust and avoidance, researchers provided either a complex or simple description of the economy to a group of 58 Canadians, mean age 42, composed of 20 men and 38 women. The participants who received the complex description indicated higher levels of perceived helplessness in getting through the economic downturn, more dependence on and trust in the government to manage the economy, and less desire to learn more about the issue.
"This is despite the fact that, all else equal, one should have less trust in someone to effectively manage something that is more complex," said co-author Aaron C. Kay, PhD, of Duke University. "Instead, people tend to respond by psychologically 'outsourcing' the issue to the government, which in turn causes them to trust and feel more dependent on the government. Ultimately, they avoid learning about the issue because that could shatter their faith in the government."
Participants who felt unknowledgeable about oil supplies not only avoided negative information about the issue, they became even more reluctant to know more when the issue was urgent, as in an imminent oil shortage in the United States, according the authors. For this study, 163 Americans, with a mean age of 32 (70 men and 93 women), provided their opinion about the complexity of natural resource management and then read a statement declaring the United States has less than 40 years' worth of oil supplies. Afterward, they answered questions to assess their reluctance to learn more.
"Beyond just downplaying the catastrophic, doomsday aspects to their messages, educators may want to consider explaining issues in ways that make them easily digestible and understandable, with a clear emphasis on local, individual-level causes," the authors said.
Another two studies found that participants who received complex information about energy sources trusted the government more than those who received simple information. For these studies, researchers questioned 93 (49 men and 44 women) Canadian undergraduate students in two separate groups.
The authors recommended further research to determine how people would react when faced with other important issues such as food safety, national security, health, social inequality, poverty and moral and ethical conflict, as well as under what conditions people tend to respond with increased rather than decreased engagement.
The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 154,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.
reprinted from materials provided by American Psychological Association, via Newswise. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above. Journal Reference:
Shepherd, Steven; Kay, Aaron C. On the perpetuation of ignorance: System dependence, system justification, and the motivated avoidance of sociopolitical information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Nov 7, 2011 DOI: 10.1037/a0026272
APA
MLA
American Psychological Association (2011, November 21). Ignorance is bliss when it comes to challenging social issues. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 8, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121142446.htm
Sean Sutton, left, greets his boyfriend of 2 years, U.S. Navy sailor Jonathan Jewell, E5, with a kiss after Jewell returned from a seven month deployment aboard the USS Stennis on Friday, March 2, 2012 in Bremerton, Wash. The USS Stennis returned to its home port in Bremerton Friday, completing a seven-month deployment in which the aircraft carrier launched the last Navy air mission over Iraq and more than 1,000 flights over Afghanistan.
This new feature length narrative indie film takes a look at the human cost of DOMA (Defense Of Marriage Act), the law that bars same sex couples full federal level rights in America. We're currently running an indiegogo campaign for finishing funds. You can check it out here.
The Pure Land is never apart from this world, and we have the ability to work to alleviate more of the world’s suffering. Thankful for the blessings we receive, we can try to be kinder, more open-minded, and more accepting of one another. And we can work to eliminate barriers between people, so that our togetherness is brought to light and honored.
RUSH: Other California news out there. We try to keep you posted on things that we discover while we are on location. Did you see that the poster couple for gay marriage in California are getting a divorce? You see that? It's true. It's two women, they were among the first 14 same-sex couples who got married on the day the ban was lifted in California back in June of 2008. I guess the national average, three-and-a-half years, is what their marriage lasted, maybe it's the California average. I'm not sure. But I wonder if they designated one of them the husband so that he gets all the blame and has to pay all the alimony. How does that work? I wonder if we'll find out as the news covers this groundbreaking event, the first divorce of the first gay marriage couple.
Make sure you check out the second column of the AMERICAblog home page where you'll find the current list of Limbaugh advertisers and their Twitter handles.
As same-sex marriage springs up all around him, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell says that it will come soon to his state too.
In an interview with Reuters Insider TV, Markell, a Democrat, said he expects that Delaware will take up same-sex marriage legislation "probably within the next few years." Delaware began allowing civil unions -- an institution set up to give the same rights as civil marriage, while reserving marriage for heterosexual couples -- last year. Markell noted that until three years ago it was legal in Delaware "to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation," and said the state was moving towards greater acceptance of homosexuality. "I think it's inevitable," he said of gay marriage.
