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.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma July 8, 2013
Using Technology Wisely
Technology’s
value is the value we give it as a society and as individuals, in
millions of large and small decisions that are made every day. It
reshapes our world into something that can seem unfamiliar and even
strange. But we are still in human territory—territory we can navigate
with human wisdom and insight, should we choose to do so.
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- Richard Eskow, "My Technology, My Self"
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma July 7, 2013
Distinguishing Genuine Dharma
We
reassure ourselves that the changes we’ve made in Buddhism are all for
the best—that Buddhism has always adapted itself to every culture it
enters, and we can trust it to adapt wisely to the West. But this treats
Buddhism as if it were a conscious agent—a wise amoebic force that
knows how to adapt to its environment in order to survive. Actually,
Buddhism isn’t an agent, and it doesn’t adapt. It gets adapted—sometimes
by people who know what they’re doing, sometimes by people who don’t.
Just because a particular adaptation survives and prevails doesn’t mean
that it’s genuine dharma. It may simply appeal to the desires and fears
of its target audience.
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- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “Lost in Quotation”
Saturday, July 6, 2013
JMG STUDY: Sex Keeps You Younger Looking
According to a British study:
“My message is that lovemaking is good,” Dr. David Weeks told the British Psychological Society. Former head of old age psychology at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Weeks said he spent a decade prying into the private lives of thousands of men and women of all ages. Weeks found that sexual pleasure is a “crucial factor” in preserving youth.
How? Lovemaking releases the human growth hormone, which helps keep the skin elastic and thus less likely to wrinkle, he said. Sex also released endorphins, which are the body’s feel-good chemicals and natural painkillers that ease anxiety and make it easier to sleep, Weeks added. Nookie boosts blood circulation, which is good for that heart and gives skin that healthy glow, the good doctor said. Finally, sex burns fat and releases other chemicals that bolster the immune system, he said.
Via JMG: Henry Rollins On DOMA
"Bad News for the Haters Dept.: You realize that all those obnoxious 16-year-olds you see everywhere, texting their friends who are standing next to them, will be able to vote in the 2016 elections. Do you think you will be able to sell them on your anti-gay/anti-woman/anti-brown/black platform? Do you think they want to end up like you? I bet they don't. Gov. Bobby Jindal said that you all have to stop being the stupid party. I don't think you can do it. How did equality become political? Because you can't handle science, change or the truth. America is on the move, you are not." - Henry Rollins, writing for LA Weekly.
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma July 6, 2013
The Power of Presence
Presence
has no measurable product except positive feelings, feelings of
support, intimacy, and happiness. When we stop being busy and productive
and switch to just being still and aware, we ourselves will also feel
support, intimacy, and happiness, even if no one else is around.
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- Jan Chozen Bays, “The Gift of Waiting”
Friday, July 5, 2013
Via Gay Politics Report:
Marriage efforts launch across the U.S.
Hundreds of Florida couples this week signed up to challenge the state's constitutional ban on marriage equality, and in New Mexico several legal groups joined to ask the state Supreme Court to decide if same-sex couples are entitled to marriage licenses. Advocates are planning ballot campaigns to reverse marriage bans in Ohio, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada. In Arkansas, 11 couples filed lawsuits this week to strike down the state's ban on same-sex marriages.
BuzzFeed (7/3), WTVJ-TV (Miami) (7/2), Metro Weekly (Washington, D.C.)/Poliglot blog (7/3), LGBTQ Nation/The Associated Press (7/2)
Hundreds of Florida couples this week signed up to challenge the state's constitutional ban on marriage equality, and in New Mexico several legal groups joined to ask the state Supreme Court to decide if same-sex couples are entitled to marriage licenses. Advocates are planning ballot campaigns to reverse marriage bans in Ohio, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada. In Arkansas, 11 couples filed lawsuits this week to strike down the state's ban on same-sex marriages.
BuzzFeed (7/3), WTVJ-TV (Miami) (7/2), Metro Weekly (Washington, D.C.)/Poliglot blog (7/3), LGBTQ Nation/The Associated Press (7/2)
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma July 5, 2013
A Healthy Dissatisfaction
A
sense of dissatisfaction is regarded as an essential prerequisite for
progress on the Buddhist path. Far from seeking to become somehow
'nonjudgmental,' the meditator is instructed to judge all the objects of
ordinary experience as scarred by three marks: impermanence, suffering,
and no self.
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- Donald S. Lopez, “The Scientific Buddha”
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Via JMG: Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma July 4, 2013
Happy Interdependence Day
As
we open and empty ourselves, we come to experience an
interconnectedness, the realization that all things are joined and
conditioned in an interdependent arising. Each experience and event
contains all others.
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- Jack Kornfield, "No Self or True Self?"
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Via JMG: Edie's Refund: $638,000+
CNN Money reports:
Reposted from Joe
The Supreme Court decision this week striking down the Defense of Marriage Act means a lot of things to a lot of people. But to Edith Windsor, the plaintiff who brought the case, the landmark ruling also means she will finally get back the $638,000 in estate tax payments she had to make to the IRS and to New York State after her spouse -- Thea Spyer -- died in 2009. Windsor will also be paid interest on her refunds. Paul, Weiss, the law firm that represents her, estimates she will receive about $45,000 in interest on her federal refund and $25,000 on her New York State refund. The other good news for the 83-year-old Windsor? Her lawyers won't be getting a cut because Paul, Weiss took the case pro bono.
Labels: DOMA, Edith Windsor, feds, LGBT History
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma July 3, 2013
Warrior Mind
Fear
diminishes me, makes me no bigger than that part of me which fears.
Fearful, I am too small to contain thought, too small to hold real
compassion. Protecting myself, I will hurt others.
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- Sallie Tisdale, "Warrior Mind"
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Via JMG: WASHINGTON: Marriage Equality Flag Flies Atop Seattle's Space Needle
On a day that also saw the Seattle Mariners become the first major pro
sports team to fly the rainbow flag, a marriage equality flag was
hoisted to the top of the city's Space Needle.
(Tipped by JMG reader Daniel)
Reposted from Joe
(Tipped by JMG reader Daniel)
JMG Headline Of The Day
Via McClatchy:
"From an LGBT perspective, at this point, immigration is going to be an even playing field," said Cara Jobson, a partner in Wiley and Jobson, a San Francisco immigration law firm. The U.S. government is working to ensure that couples who qualify will be able to get the process started right away, Janet Napolitano, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said after the ruling. Same-sex couples have been flooding Jobson's office since Wednesday with requests for help applying for a green card for a foreign spouse, she said. Kirkbride and Kurzatkowska filed their papers Friday. The process includes filling out forms, getting a medical exam for the spouse applying for the green card, and showing that the foreign spouse won't be a financial burden to the U.S., Jobson said. The foreign spouse also has to prove that he or she entered the country legally.The entire process takes about three months before the green card arrives in the mail.
Labels: DOMA, immigration, Immigration Equality
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma July 2, 2013
What are you mindful of?
If
‘mindfulness’ is to create genuine change in our society, it must
involve being mindful of more than just our own need for comfort, good
health, or serenity. It must entail being mindful of the social and
economic forces that allow some to prosper while others struggle, forces
that promote and perpetuate certain behaviors and thought patterns
while discouraging or suppressing others.
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- Richard Eskow, “Buying Wisdom"
Monday, July 1, 2013
JMG HomoQuotable - Peter Staley
"Given the strength of the marriage movement, though, surely the major gay rights organizations could reappropriate just 10 percent of their budgets to fighting HIV and AIDS.
"Contrary to the prevailing skepticism, that battle is not a lost cause. Treating people with antivirals both keeps them alive and prevents them from infecting others. Massachusetts saw its HIV infection rates drop 45 percent between 2000 and 2009, largely because it expanded Medicaid to include people with HIV, not just AIDS; because its universal health-care system got more people onto treatment regimens; and because it launched targeted testing, prevention and treatment programs. With Obamacare, we have the potential to replicate those gains nationally, but only if there’s a concerted push.
"On Wednesday morning, when the Supreme Court released its gay-marriage opinions, I was attending an HIV working group session at a hotel off Dupont Circle. We took a break to follow the coverage on SCOTUSblog: cheering for the majority opinions, cringing at Justice Antonin Scalia’s dissent. And then it was back to work.
"As we continue to see gay love enshrined in law, we shouldn’t forget the broader form of love — of our entire community — that has sustained us and brought us this far." - Famed HIV/AIDS activist Peter Staley, writing for the Washington Post.
Read the full essay.
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