Monday, April 9, 2012
Via JMG: The Straight Liberation Movement
JMG reader Mark writes to tip us that somebody calling themselves the Straight Liberation Movement has been posting flyers around the SF Bay area. A sample posting from the group's Facebook page: The discussion outside the anarchist bookfair yesterday entitled, "What is the Straight Agenda" was attacked by queers repeatedly. All fliers put up in the bookfair building were taken down, including by members of Homes Not Jails, who were trying to prevent the heterosexual afterparty from happening. The cardboard sign with the agenda on it was reapeatedly attacked by queers who tried to rip it... down, and managed to tear it in half at the end. The Sheriffs intervened to defend me, as did the bookfair organizers to their credit. The Straight Liberation Movement facebook group is also being sabotaged--about half a dozen people who asked to join were erased before they could be added, apparently by someone who knew my password. Straight people: overthrow the gay occupation of your society! Join the SLM.This could be just another Poe operation. One the other hand, in 2010 somebody with the same relatively uncommon name as the group's Facebook moderator was dragged out of a Bellingham, Washington city council meeting and arrested after screaming that a local car repair shop had decapitated his mother and was keeping her head alive "in order to torture her."
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma April 9, 2012
Polishing Our Buddhanature
Selfless service brings balance to your practice. Since it engages the body, it balances the tendency we have to think and theorize rather than act. By channeling your energy into acts of service, you transform the ideal into the real. So cleaning the inside of a temple, or picking up trash at a public park, not only cleans the space used by others (this is where the selfless part comes in); it figuratively polishes your buddhanature. It’s palpable in the joy and satisfaction you feel. |
- Shinso Ito, “Unconditional Service”
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma April 8, 2012
Taming the Monkey Mind
The biggest hindrance to our meditation is constant intrusive thoughts. This is normal for everyone and from the beginning you should expect it. The nature of our mind is to think, and it is childish to imagine that we can simply turn that process off when we wish to. Our minds have been almost completely out of control for most of our life. Recognizing this can help us to be practical and patient—it may take us some time and a lot of skillful practice to tame the crazy ‘monkey mind.’ |
- Bob Sharples, “Do The Thoughts Ever Stop?”
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
JMG Quote Of The Day - Anne Rice
"Happy Easter, Gay People of the World: you have indeed risen in the last few decades from centuries of persecution and oppression. May this be a great holiday for you all wherever you are. You are winning the battle for equal rights. And your victory over discrimination and hate is a victory for all oppressed persons. Happy Easter!" - Anne Rice, posting to her Facebook page. (Tipped by JMG reader Fritz)Via JMG: Majority of Latinos say homosexuality should be accepted.
A study released by the Pew Hispanic Center on Wednesday found that 59 percent of U.S. Latinos say homosexuality should be accepted by society. Second generation Hispanics go further, with 68 percent of those surveyed saying the same.
The study comes just a week after internal documents from the National Organization of Marriage were made public which revealed NOM's strategy of pitting Latinos against gay equality in order to pass a ban on gay marriage in Maine.
HuffPo is referring to the secret memo that revealed NOM wants to create a race war in America between blacks, Latinos and gays.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Via JMG: Zach Wahls: The Outspoken Generation
A new video series from the Family Equality Council:Family Equality Council Executive Director Jennifer Chrisler said the program was borne out of conversations with LGBT families over the last year. However, she said the need for the initiative became increasingly clear following recent news that the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) considered a strategy of recruiting the children of LGBT parents to criticize their own families. It’s clear that NOM will stop at nothing in their efforts to demonize LGBT parents, and their malicious attempts to spread misinformation about these families will not go unanswered.
“We are now seeing the first generation of children, who were lovingly raised by LGBT parents, coming into young adulthood,” said Chrisler. “We know, from our conversations with these young people and from our experience with them, that they are terrific kids who are thriving and succeeding in life by any measure you choose to use. Many of them are now telling us that they are eager to tell the truth about their families. Who better to refute the myths and lies of hate groups like NOM than our grown up children?”
Reposted from Joe
Via JMG: British Prime Minister Thanked For Gay Marriage Stance While Obama Listens
This happened during at a White House state dinner last month but we're just now hearing about it. “Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for all that you’re doing for marriage equality in Great Britain,” the guest said to Cameron, who was standing to Obama’s right, literally and figuratively. With a gesture towards the president, Cameron replied, “It takes a conservative to convince a liberal about gay marriage.” [snip] If actions speak louder than words, then there should be no doubt where Obama stands on marriage equality. But for many, until the words of the president of the United States match his actions, he’ll remain on the wrong side of history and to the right of Cameron.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Via JMG: Bully Has Been Re-Rated PG-13
While some theaters have agreed to run the film without a rating, yesterday word came that Bully has been re-rated PG-13, a move made without cutting what some consider the film's most crucial scene. The film studio exults via press release:
This decision by the MPAA is a huge victory for the parents, educators, lawmakers, and most importantly, children, everywhere who have been fighting for months for the appropriate PG-13 rating without cutting some of the most sensitive moments. Three uses of the 'F word' were removed from other scenes, which ultimately persuaded the MPAA to lower the rating. Hirsch made the documentary with the intent to give an uncensored, real-life portrayal of what 13 million children suffer through every year.The re-rating came after hundreds of thousands signed an internet petition to the MPAA.
Via JMG: Born That Way
Allegedly from a college survey form. Some of the comments on Reddit are quite amusing. "I've been Chinese all my life, Mom! You can't change who I am!"JMG Church Sign Of The Day
This sign has gone viral in the past couple of days and has even appeared on Glenn Beck's "news" site The Blaze:While the message may be a tough pill to swallow for some Christians who believe that non-belief is a tragic societal occurrence — even more tragic than Christians behaving badly — Kay Pettygrove, an administrator at the church, says that positivity has been the predominate sentiment. Pettygrove claims that there has been 30 positive comments for each negative one and says that the church is “flabbergasted” over the response. “I got an email from a young Mormon man saying, ‘Thank you so much. It made me rethink how I treat people,’” she explains. “Many atheists have said, ‘If there were more churches like yours, we would probably reconsider.’”(Tipped by JMG reader David)
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma April 6, 2012
There's Always a Tradeoff
The Buddha said, if you see a greater pleasure that comes from forsaking a lesser pleasure, be willing to forsake that lesser pleasure for the greater one. Sounds like a no-brainer, but if you look at the way most people live, they don’t think in those terms. They want everything that comes their way. They want to have their cake and enlightenment, too; to win at chess without sacrificing a single pawn. Even when they meditate, their purpose in developing mindfulness is to gain an even more intense appreciation of the experience of every moment in life. That’s something you never see in the Buddha’s teachings. His theme is always that you have to let go of this in order to gain that, give this up in order to arrive at that. There’s always a trade-off. |
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "The Dignity of Restraint”
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma April 5, 2012
Water the Flowers, Not the Weeds
If you’re out watering your flower garden by hand, you naturally concentrate the flow of water to benefit your beautiful flowers. If there’s an area of weeds, you don’t waste water there. As best you can, you avoid watering the weeds. It’s the same with your consciousness. You can learn to selectively water the positive seeds and flowers in you by attending to them. There are enough weeds. You don’t have to encourage them. |
- Thomas Bien, “Water the Flowers, Not the Weeds”
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Via JMG: Anti-Gay Liberian Christians Publish Hit List: "We Will Get Them One By One"
As a bill that worsens the penalty for homosexuality wends its way through Liberia's legislature, an anti-gay Christian group has published a hit list in which they vow to track down every gay person for brutal punishment.The fliers include this threat: "Let these individuals be aware that we are coming after them soon. We urge them to also begin saying the Lord’s Prayer.”
The fliers distributed over the weekend in parts of Liberia’s capital were signed by the Movement Against Gay’s in Liberia, or MOGAL. The group said those involved in promoting gay rights “should not be given space to get a gulp of air.” “Having conducted a comprehensive investigation, we are convinced that the below listed individuals are gays or supporters of the club who don’t mean well for our country,” the fliers read. “Therefore, we have agreed to go after them using all means in life.” No individual members of MOGAL signed the flier. But Moses Tapleh, a 28-year-old resident of the main community where the flier was distributed, said he was affiliated with the group and stressed that its threats should be taken seriously. “We will get to them one by one,” Tapleh said. “They want to spoil our country.” Asked what specific action might be taken against those on the list, he said they could be subjected to “dangerous punishments” including “flogging and death.”One of the persons named on the list said he has already received death threats by phone. Last month Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, a 2011 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, refused to consider decriminalizing homosexuality, but said she would not sign the new bill to worsen the penalty to ten years in prison.
Via Gay Politcs Report:
- Group sues U.S. over treatment of binational couples
- The U.S. government’s treatment of binational same-sex couples is unconstitutional, according to a new federal lawsuit brought by five married couples and filed by the LGBT group Immigration Equality. Rachel Tiven, the group’s executive director, said negotiations with federal officials aimed at stopping the deportations of foreign nationals who have same- sex partners in the U.S. have not been successful. Unlike straight married individuals, gay and lesbian Americans are not allowed to sponsor their foreign partners or spouses for U.S. citizenship because the Defense of Marriage Act forbids the federal government from recognizing their relationships. Advocate.com (4/2)
Via Gay Politcs Report:
- Romney funded Prop 8 through anti-gay group, documents reveal
- Mitt Romney's political action committee contributed $10,000 to help pass California's Proposition 8, but did so through a hard-to-detect PAC donation to the National Organization for Marriage, according to documents provided to the Human Rights Campaign by a whistle-blower at NOM. "It’s clear now that Romney was a major financial donor to Prop 8, but it’s also clear that his campaign very cleverly hid this contribution," said Fred Sainz, HRC's vice president for communications. NOM was a key player in the passage of Proposition 8, which ended legal marriage for same-sex couples in California. The Huffington Post (3/30)
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