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.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Via JMG: Lesbian Mom Of Kidnapped Daughter Files Organized Crime Suit Against Multiple Christian Organizations
On the same day that a preacher was found guilty of abetting the kidnapping of her daughter to Nicaragua, Janet Jenkins filed a RICO lawsuit against many of the parties suspected of conspiring in the crime, including Liberty University, the parent of the vile anti-gay hate group Liberty Counsel, whose president Mat Staver is specifically named in the suit.
Hoo-motherfucking-RAY!
The RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) provides for civil lawsuits against ongoing criminal enterprises involving multiple parties. Right Wing Wing excerpts the suit:
Unbeknownst to Plaintiff Janet Jenkins, in 2009 Victoria Zodhiates (now Hyden) was an employee of Response Unlimited, Inc., and also a "student worker" at Liberty University School of Law. On information and belief, Victoria Zodhiates sent an email during this time period to her co-workers at the law school requesting donations for supplies to send to Lisa Miller to enable her to remain outside the country. Lisa Miller's attorney, Matthew Staver was the Dean of the Law School and Ms. Zodhiates's boss. Matthew Staver and Philip Zodhiates were also personal acquaintances at this time. On September 20, 2009, both Philip Zodhiates and Victoria Hyden called Lisa Miller's father, Terry Miller in Tennessee to assist in arranging her and Isabella's transportation from a Walmart parking lot in Lynchburg, Virginia, to Waynesboro, Virginia, from whence they would depart for Canada and Nicaragua the next day.We will follow this suit VERY closely as it proceeds! Now let's see if the feds file some actual criminal charges for all parties. Liberty Counsel spokesdouche Matt Barber is spinning the lawsuit as an honor.
Labels: gay families, hate groups, Janet Jenkins, kidnapping, lawsuits, Liberty Counsel, Liberty University, Lisa Miller, Mat Staver, organized crime, religion
Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma August 15, 2012
Three Helpful Phrases
'No
matter what comes up, we can learn new ways of being with it.' 'We have
a capacity to meet any thought or emotion with mindfulness and
balance.' 'Whatever disagreeable emotion is coursing through us, we can
let it go.' Rereading those words may keep you going when sitting down
to practice is the last thing you want to do.
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- Sharon Salzberg, "Sticking with It"
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Deva Premal - Gayatri Mantra
AUM BHOOR BHUWAH SWAHA, TAT SAVITUR VARENYAM BHARGO DEVASAYA DHEEMAHI DHIYO YO NAHA PRACHODAYAT
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma August 14, 2012
Choosing Inner Peace
If
we had to make a choice between outer pleasure, comfort and peace, and
inner freedom and ultimate happiness, we should choose inner peace. If
we could find that within, then the outer would take care of itself.
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- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Invisible Realities"
Monday, August 13, 2012
Via JMG: Ten Out Olympians Win Medals
Ten openly gay athletes won medals at the London Olympics. Seven of them took the gold. Cyd Ziegler at SB Nation has the recap:
GOLD: Seimone Augustus [above center], USA, Basketball. The U.S. women's basketball team was arguably the most dominant team in any sport at these Olympics.Ziegler adds: "If Team Gay was a country, it would have finished 31st overall with seven medals, tied with Mexico, Ethiopia and Georgia. They would have beaten the medal count of such countries as Jamaica, Ireland, Argentina and India. They would have finished 21st overall for most golds (four), tied with Iran, Jamaica, Czech Republic and Korea."
GOLD: Carl Hester, Great Britain, Equestrian. Hester and his two teammates won Great Britain's first-ever Team Dressage gold. Hester finished fifth overall in the individual competition.
GOLD: Marilyn Agliotti, Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel, Kim Lammers, Maartje Paumen, Netherlands, Field Hockey. The Dutch women beat Argentina, 2-0, in the gold medal match. Paumen and Dirkse van den Heuvel scored the team's two goals.
GOLD: Megan Rapinoe, USA, Soccer. The Americans beat Japan, 2-1, in the gold medal match. Rapinoe had a key pass in the game. She also had two big goals in the semifinal match. Coach Pia Sundhage is also openly lesbian.
SILVER: Judith Arndt, Germany, Cycling. Arndt was the first out athlete to win a medal in London, taking silver in the road race time trial.
BRONZE: Edward Gal, Netherlands, Equestrian. Gal was on the bronze-medal team for Team Dressage; He finished ninth overall in the individual event.
BRONZE: Lisa Raymond, USA, Tennis. Raymond and partner Mike Bryan won the mixed doubles bronze medal.
Via JMG: REI Endorses Marriage Equality
Major national camping and sporting supplies retailer REI has endorsed marriage equality. The company is headquartered in Washington state. Via press release from Washington United, here is the statement from REI president Sally Jewell:
REI is taking a position in support of marriage equality—an issue that is important to the co-op as an inclusive organization and a welcoming place to work and do business. A referendum on this issue will come before Washington State voters in November after passage through the Washington State Legislature earlier this year; marriage equality is also gaining momentum nationally. Why is this important to the co-op? Let me begin my answer with a personal perspective. A few weeks ago, my husband Warren and I celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary. We’ve been on a journey through life together since our first date on my 18th birthday, raising our two children, changing jobs, moving to various places, and witnessing the challenges and joys of our relationship and those of our parents, three of them through end-of-life.Jewell's statement was delivered via blog post today to REI's 11,000 employees. REI has 110 physical stores in 30 states and is the nation's largest online retailer of camping and outdoor recreational equipment. I recommend a note of thanks via REI's contact page.
For heterosexual couples, it is very easy to take for granted the legal and societal benefits of marriage—health care benefits, retirement benefits, insurance, death benefits, healthcare decisions, child-rearing and custody, and many more, not to mention the meaning of the commitment of marriage that was so vivid to us as we introduced each other as husband or wife for the first time. As executrix of my mother’s estate, the legal benefits of marriage in estate and health issues became even clearer to me over the past year. Marriage equality is important to the co-op because the benefits, legal clarity and societal understanding that Warren and I have enjoyed these past 34 years should be available to any two people who want to express their love and make a permanent commitment to each other that is so clearly provided for in the legal definition of marriage.
Via JMG: Gayest Closing Ceremony EVAH
Pet Shop Boys, George Michael, openly bisexual Jessie J, and a full stadium singalong with Freddie Mercury on center-stage screens. I don't think we could have asked for much more.
Labels: Britain, dance music, gay artists, George MIchael, LGBT culture, London Olympics, Pet Shop Boys, pop music, Queen, sports
Via JMG: "Ex-Gay" Group PFOX: It's Fascist To Stop Us From Our Fascist Torture Of Gay Kids
Parent & Friends Of "Ex-Gays" are predictably quivering with anger over California's proposed bill to ban the torture and brainwashing of LGBT children. PFOX writes to the bill's main sponsor, CA Sen. Ted Lieu:
Sponsoring legislation endorsed by the gay lobby to ensure that children only receive gay-affirming therapy is an act of childhood endangerment and an unconstitutional attempt to deny parental rights everywhere, but especially for parents in California and those in your Torrance district. Your bill will turn California into a nanny state by usurping the civil rights of parents who support their child's right to receive therapy for unwanted same-sex attractions, especially when that child has been sexually molested. This smacks of fascism and ex-gay bashing. As parents of gays and ex-gays, we are ashamed of your willingness to take action against parents, children, and the family in order to support gay activists. It is people like you who endanger children, and not their parents, whom you wish to dictate on how they raise their own children. California is not a socialist state and our children do not belong to the government, subject to the ideology of the state over the objections of their parents.PFOX's letter is illustrated with a CDC graph on AIDS, of course. Last week the bill passed out its Assembly committee and must be approved by the full chamber before heading back to the Senate (where it's already been approved) for concurrence. It then would head to the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown, who has as yet not indicated his stance on the bill.
RELATED: Several major "ex-gay" figures have recently confessed that "reparative therapy" does not work, earning them the condemnation of their former colleagues in child abuse.
Labels: "ex-gay", brainwashing, California, LGBT youth, PFOX, Regina Griggs, religion, still totally gay, torture
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