Via The Middle Class Will Be Heard / FB:

Via Towleroad / FB: Ted Cruz Promises to Fight Gay Rights in Phone Call With Right Wing Extremists: LISTEN

In a phone call last week with anti-gay right wing extremists, Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz vowed he would fight against gay rights.

The call was organized by E.W. Jackson, a failed GOP nominee for the post of Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor, and anti-gay activist Peter LaBarbera.

 

LaBarbera asked Cruz about “the gay agenda”, specifically what he would do to “reverse and neutralize the Obergefell decision of the Supreme Court”, “end Obama’s policy of actually flying the rainbow flag at U.S. embassies worldwide”, and halt “the Equality Act, which I’m calling the Homosexual Superiority Act, in Congress.”

Cruz first addressed the question about the Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage, comparing it to the Court’s ruling on abortion in Roe v. Wade, as Right Wing Watch points out:

“It is the decision reminiscent of Roe v. Wade of a handful of unelected judges arrogantly and lawlessly decreeing the authority to fundamentally change our country and to tear down the foundations of the country,” Cruz added.

He also criticized Republicans who decided to “surrender” to the Supreme Court and treat Obergefell as the “settled law of the land.”

“My response to this decision was that it was illegitimate, it was lawless, it was utterly contrary to the Constitution and that we should fight to defend marriage on every front,” he said, before promoting constitutional amendments to overturn the ruling and put justices up for retention elections, along with legislation “to strip the federal courts of jurisdiction over challenges to marriage.”

Cruz also said he wants “to strip the federal courts of jurisdiction over challenges to marriage.” He added, “we will not use the federal government to enforce this lawless decision that is a usurpation of the authority of we the people in this country.”

On LGBT rights as they pertain to military service, Cruz remarked that he was “just hearing terrible things” about the military being “beset with these new LGBT rules”:

“You look at the military and one of the things we’ve seen is morale in the military under the Obama administration has plummeted, and it has plummeted because you have a commander-in-chief that doesn’t support our soldiers and sailors and airmen and marines, you have a commander-in-chief that doesn’t stand up against our enemies, that won’t even acknowledge or say the words ‘radical Islamic terrorism’ and you have a commander-in-chief that treats the military as a cauldron for social experimentation. He’s more interested in promoting homosexuality in the military than he is in defeating our enemy.

For example, the military is now focused on trying to promote transgendered [sic] soldiers. The role of the military is not to be some left-wing social experiment. The reason we have the brave men and women who sign up as service men and women to defend this nation is to stand for our values, to protect our safety and security, to protect innocent men and women and to stand up and defeat our enemies, and I would stop the shameless politicizing of our military to push a left-wing agenda that is contrary to the values and contrary to who we are as an American people and a nation founded on Judeo-Christian values.”

LaBarbera praised Cruz for his anti-gay advocacy, calling him a “real believer” who is “not one of these candidates who is going to say, ‘I believe in traditional marriage but I would attend a gay wedding if it was a friend of mine.’” That being a not-so-thinly veiled reference to Ohio Governor John Kasich.

Read the full article and listen to the phone call

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Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day 07/12/2015

“As distorções dos princípios vitais feminino e masculino, que se manifestam como agressividade e submissão, nascem da necessidade de retirar energia do outro. Energia significa amor – essa é a energia que alimenta o universo. O desamor é o que gera as distorções. Assim, a entidade humana, movida pelo desamor, passa a vida tentando conquistar o amor, mas tudo o que ela consegue é gerar mais desamor. O submisso gera mais ódio no agressivo porque ativa nele a violência do masculino distorcido; e o agressivo ativa ainda mais a submissão do feminino distorcido. Esse é o núcleo da guerra neste planeta.”

“Las distorsiones de los principios vitales femenino y masculino, que se manifiestan como agresividad y sumisión, nacen de la necesidad de retirar energía del otro. Energía significa amor - esta es la energía que alimenta al universo. El desamor es lo que genera distorsiones. Así, la entidad humana, movida por el desamor, se pasa la vida tratando de conquistar el amor, pero todo lo que consigue es generar más desamor. El sumiso genera más odio en el agresivo, porque activa en él la violencia del masculino distorsionado; y el agresivo activa aun más la sumisión del femenino distorsionado. Este es el núcleo de la guerra en este planeta.”

"The distorted masculine and feminine principles manifest as aggression and submission, and are born from the need to take energy from the other. Energy is love, and this energy feeds the Universe. A lack of love is what creates distortions. Thus, human beings moved by the lack of love spend their lives trying to get that love, but all they generate is more absence of love. A submissive person generates more hatred in an aggressive person because they activate the violence of the distorted masculine.In turn, an aggressive person activates even more submission of the distorted feminine. This is the nucleus of warfare on our planet."

Today's Daily Dharma: All There Is

All There Is

Wherever there is the death of one state of mind there is the birth of another, and linking the two there is bardo. The past has gone and the future has not yet come: we cannot catch that in-between moment, yet it is really all there is.

—Francesca Fremantle, "The Secret Life of the Street"

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Via FB:

Coldplay Performs 'Adventure of a Lifetime'

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day 06/12/2015

“A verdade é muito simples. A complexidade existe porque tentamos fugir da verdade. A mentira é muito complexa. Ela é a mais sutil e menos óbvia matriz do eu inferior. Ela se manifesta como autoengano – o autoengano da falsa ideia de eu. O sofrimento está sentado em cima da mentira, enquanto a verdade é a base para a alegria.”

“La verdad es muy simple. La complejidad existe porque intentamos huir de la verdad. La mentira es muy compleja. Es la más sutil y menos obvia matriz del yo inferior. Se manifiesta como autoengaño - el auto-engaño de la falsa idea de yo. El sufrimiento está sentado arriba de la mentira, mientras que la verdad es la base de la alegría.”

"The truth is very simple. Things become complicated when we try to escape the truth. Lies are very complex. Deceit is the most subtle and least obvious matrix of the lower self. Lies manifest as self-deception, which is the false idea of the self. Suffering comes from lies, whereas the truth is the foundation for joy."

Celebrate Togetherness

Home. Heart. Holiday. "The Homecoming"

Today's Daily Dharma: The Consequence of Forgetfulness

The Consequence of Forgetfulness

If we live in forgetfulness rather than in mindfulness—in a dream—we are creating violence without being aware of it. The way we live our daily lives and the way we consume creates a lot of suffering, a lot of injustice. We think it does not harm us, or others, but it can be very violent.

—Thich Nhat Hanh, "Waking Up the Nation"

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Today's Daily Dharma: Brave Enough to Be Unsure

Brave Enough to Be Unsure

Becoming intimate with the queasy feeling of being in the middle of nowhere only makes our hearts more tender. . . . By not knowing, not hoping to know, and not acting like we know what's happening, we begin to access our inner strength.

—Pema Chodron, "The In-between State"

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Bill Murray gives a surprising and meaningful answer you might not expect.

Via FreakOutNation / FB:

Via Evolver Social Movement / FB:

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day

“Liberdade significa não estar preso a absolutamente nada. Somente quando não está preso a nada é que você pode sustentar o êxtase, a alegria sem causa, o contentamento perene que não se abala com nada.”

“Libertad significa no estar atado a absolutamente nada. Solamente cuando no estás atado a nada es que puedes sustentar el éxtasis, la alegría sin causa, el contentamiento perenne que no se quiebra por nada.”

"Freedom means not being tied to absolutely anything. Only when one is no longer attached to anything can one sustain ecstasy, joy without cause and an enduring contentment that nothing can deter."

Today's Daily Dharma: Of Benefit to All

Of Benefit to All

There are a variety of skillful means and practices in Buddhism to awaken the wisdom and compassion at the core of who we really are. When our true nature is awakened, all our activities are spontaneously of benefit.

—Lama Palden, "The Gateway to Compassion"

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Via Natural Cures Not Medicine / FB:

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día -Flower of the day 03/12/2015

“Deus está a seu favor, o universo está a seu favor, a vida está a seu favor – mesmo que, as vezes, as coisas não aconteçam do jeito que você quer, do jeito que você espera. Liberte-se de qualquer expectativa ou necessidade de segurança. Essa é a verdadeira liberdade.”

“Dios está a tu favor, el universo está a tu favor, la vida está a tu favor -incluso si, a veces, las cosas no suceden de la manera que quieres, de la manera que esperas. Libérate de cualquier expectativa o necesidad de seguridad. Esta es la verdadera libertad.”

"God is in your favor, the Universe is in your favor, and life is in your favor – even if, sometimes, things don’t happen the way you wanted or the way you expected. Free yourself of any expectations or need for security. This is true freedom."