Via Pink News: United Nations to recognise same-sex marriage everywhere

Ban Ki-moon announced the policy shift yesterday

The United Nations has announced that it will globally extend its employee benefits to workers in same-sex marriages or other unions.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced the change yesterday, stating: “Human rights are at the core of the mission of the United Nations.

“I am proud to stand for greater equality for all staff, and I call on all members of our UN family to unite in rejecting homophobia as discrimination that can never be tolerated at our workplace.”

The move will impact the UN’s over 44,000 staff across the globe.

Hyung Hak Nam, of LGBTI group UN-GLOBE, said: “It is with great pleasure that I would like to inform you that, at long last, the UN will begin recognizing staff members’ legal same-sex unions.

Make the jump here to read the full article

Via American Humanist Association / FB:

Via Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian / FB :

An Open Letter to the People who Hate Obama more than they Love America

 I meet you all the time. You hate Obama. You hate gay people. You hate black people, immigrants, Muslims, labor unions, women who want the right to make choices concerning their bodies, you hate em all. You hate being called racist. You hate being called a bigot. Maybe if you talked about creating jobs more than you talk about why you hate gay people we wouldn't call you bigots. Maybe if you talked about black people without automatically assuming they are on food stamps while demanding their birth certificates we wouldn't call you racist. You hate socialism and social justice. You hate regulations and taxes and spending and the Government. You hate. 

     You like war. You like torture. You like Jesus. I don't know how in the hell any of that is compatible, but no one ever accused you haters of being over-committed to ideological consistency. You like people who look like you or at least hate most of the things that you hate. You hate everything else.

Now, I know you profess to love our country and the founding fathers (unless you are reminded that they believed in the separation of church and state), but I need to remind you that America is NOT what Fox News says it is. America is a melting pot, it always has been. We are a multi-cultural amalgamation of all kinds of people, and yet you still demonize everyone who is not a rich, white, heterosexual christian male or his submissive and obedient wife.

You hate liberals, moderates, hell, anyone who disagrees with Conservative dogma as espoused by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. You hate em.

Well, here are the facts, Jack. If you hate the Government then you are unqualified to manage it. If you hate gay people more than you love America than you should take your own advice and get the hell out. There are several countries that are openly hostile to gay people, but they are full of brown people and you don't like them much either from what I understand. It looks like you are screwed, but that's not what I am here to tell you.

More rant below. . .

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/09/1053088/-An-open-letter-to-the-people-who-hate-Obama-more-than-they-love-America?detail=email#

Via Liberal Dragon / FB:

Via Daily Dharma

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Robe of Liberation | July 4, 2014

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Vast is the robe of liberation. A formless field of benefaction. What a generous, comforting image—a robe as limitless as the sky, and at the same time a sense of being covered, held, embraced, protected.

 

—K. D. McLeod, “One Fat Buddha”

 

Flower of the Day: 07/04/14

“Everything that happens in the school of life is meant to teach you how to develop mental equanimity. If you can already be a channel of love and silence to some degree, then it is important to share this with other people, even if you sometimes run the risk of falling, because this fall serves as a sacrifice as well as a lesson. This descent means that you are still not completely immune, so if someone invites you to argue with them, you still accept their invitation. A balanced mind can be in the world relating to others and still refrain from accepting the invitation to enter warfare. Regardless of what is happening, the person always remains the same, simply observing that which is transitory and letting it pass.”

Sri Prem Baba

Flower of the Day: 07/03/14

“Your talents are at the service of humanity’s evolution, since they are the way love expresses itself through you in order to carry out your dharma, your life’s purpose. Your purpose and the gifts that will help you to fulfill it are revealed to you very early on, but they are usually forgotten. Throughout your journey the entire universe encourages you to become aware of them. You are always being inspired to ask: What does God want from me? What do I wake up for in the morning for? This movement leads you towards aligning yourself with your dharma, and when you are aligned with your dharma, you reach the sacred dwelling place.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via The Blue Street Journal / FB:

Firesign Theater Temporary Humbolt County

Via Daily Dharma

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Healthy Anxiety | July 3, 2014

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Anxieties and doubts can be healthy and creative, not only for the person but for the society, because they permit new and original approaches to reality.

 

—Joanna Macy, “The Greatest Danger”

 

Via The Blue Street Journal / FB:

Louise Hay - I Can Do It [you can heal your life daily affirmations] Full Audiobook

Flower of the Day: 07/02/14

“Our mission here on Earth is not so simple. Awakening love in everyone and everywhere demands great steadiness, determination and the constant renewal of our vows. That's the only way to deal with the immense opposing forces that exist in the world and that act through us.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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Live From Love | July 2, 2014

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Non-identification means that your sense of who you are is not fused with or defined by any limited set of emotions, sensations, or stories. When identification with the small self is loosened, we begin to intuit and live from the openness and love that express our natural awareness.

 

—Tara Brach, "Finding True Refuge"

 

Via JMG: Betty Bowers On Hobby Lobby

Labels: Betty Bowers, Hobby Lobby, religion

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: George Takei: Boycott Hobby Lobby

 

"In this case, the owners happen to be deeply Christian; one wonders whether the case would have come out differently if a Muslim-run chain business attempted to impose Sharia law on its employees. As many have pointed out, Hobby Lobby is the same company that invests in Pfizer and Teva Pharmaceuticals, makers of abortion inducing-drugs and the morning after pill. It also buys most of its inventory from China, where forced abortions are common. The hypocrisy is galling.

"Hobby Lobby is not a church. It’s a business — and a big one at that. Businesses must and should be required to comply with neutrally crafted laws of general applicability. Your boss should not have a say over your healthcare. Once the law starts permitting exceptions based on 'sincerely held religious beliefs' there’s no end to the mischief and discrimination that will ensue. Indeed, this is the same logic that certain restaurants and hotels have been trying to deploy to allow proprietors to refuse service to gay couples.

"While we work to overturn this decision by legislation, people of good conscious should BOYCOTT any for-profit business, including Hobby Lobby, which chooses to impose its religious beliefs on its employees. The only way such companies ever learn to treat people with decency and tolerance is to hit them where it counts–in their pocketbooks. I won’t be shopping there, and women everywhere should exercise their right of protest and refuse to shop there as well." - George Takei, writing on his personal blog.

Labels: boycotts, Christianists, gay artists, George Takei, Hobby Lobby, insurance, Obamacare, religion, retail, SCOTUS

posted by Joe Jervis

The Dirty 100: Meet the Companies and Institutions You Should Avoid After Hobby Lobby

It’s not just Hobby Lobby. There are one hundred cases that have been filed for the right to discriminate against women’s healthcare. NOW calls them the “Dirty 100″.

Here they are in all of their infamy: The following is a list of plaintiffs in the 100 cases that have been filed in opposition to the birth control mandate in the Affordable Care Act, as provided by the National Organization for Women.

American Family Association
American MFG Co
American Pulverizer Co
Annex Medical
Autocam Corp
Ave Maria School of Law
Ave Maria University
Barron Industries
Beckwith Electric Co
Belmont Abbey College
Bick Holdings, Inc.
Cherry Creek Mortgage Co
CNS Ministries
Colorado Christian University
Conestoga Wood Specialities Corp
Continuum Health Partnership/Management
Criswell College
Doboszenski & Sons
Dordt College
Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk
East Texas Baptist University
Eden Foods
Encompass, Develop, Design & Construct LLC
Eternal Word Television Network Inc.
Fellowship of Catholic University
Feltl & Co., Inc.
Franciscan University of Steubenville
Freshway Foods
Gilardi
Grace College and Seminary
Grote Industries
Hart electric LLC
Hastings Automotive
Hercules Industries Inc.
Hobby Lobby
Holland Chevrolet
Infrastructure Alternatives
Johnson Welded Products
Korte & Luitjohan Contractors
Liberty University
Lindsay Rappaport and Postel LLC
Little Sisters of the Poor
Louisiana College
M&N Plastics
Mersino Management Company
Michigan Catholic Conference
MK Chambers Company
O’Brien Industrial Holdings
Ozinga
Paul Wieland
Priests for Life
QC Group Inc.
Randy Reed Automotives
Reaching Souls International
Right to Life Michigan
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis
Roman Catholic Diocese of Beaumont
Roman Catholic Diocese of Biloxi
Roman Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne
Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas
Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie
Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth
Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort-Wayne – South Bend
Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville
Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh
School of the Ozarks
Seneca Hardwood
Sharpe Holdings, Inc.
Sioux Chief MFG Co
SMA LLC
Southern Nazarene University
The Most Reverend Thomas Wenski
Tonn and Blank Construction
Trijicon, Inc. (AKA Bindon)
Triune Health Group
Tyndale House
University of Notre Dame
Weingartz Supply Co
Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL)
Willis & Willis PLC
WLH Enterprises
Zumbiel

Read the full article here: http://www.politicususa.com/2014/07/01/list-100-plaintiffs-filed-opposition-birth-control-mandate-obamacare.html

Via Daily Dharma

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Dissolving the Conceptual Attitude | July 1, 2014

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Through the training of trying to be mindful, one becomes more aware, but to such an extent that it expands further and further, encompassing all situations and all moments, and finally to such an extent that trying to be more mindful and being mindful becomes one identity of just awareness. At which point there is no longer someone being aware of something. That is what is meant by the dissolving of the conceptual attitude.

 

—Tsoknyi Rinpoche, "As the Clouds Vanish"