Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Via JMG: Uruguay House Overwhelmingly Approves Same-Sex Marriage By 81-6 Vote


Rex Wockner and Andres Duque have the good news:
Eighty-one of the 99 members of Uruguay's House of Representatives voted to legalize same-sex marriage this evening. Twelve members of the chamber were not present for the vote. The bill now advances to the Senate, where support is equally strong, according to LGBT activists. President José Mujica plans to sign the measure into law in early 2013. "Very happy here!" said Álvaro Queiruga of the LGBT lobby group Colectivo Ovejas Negras (Black Sheep Collective). Uruguay will be the 12th nation to offer same-sex marriage nationwide. Same-sex marriage is legal in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Mexico (where same-sex marriage is legal in the Federal District, i.e. Mexico City, and in the state of Oaxaca, and those marriages are recognized nationwide).
Yet another victory in our best year ever. So far!


Reposted from Joe

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:




Daily Buddhist Wisdom






The king said: 'Venerable Nagasena, where does wisdom dwell?' 'Nowhere, O king.' 'Then, Sir, there is no such thing as wisdom.' 'Where does the wind dwell, O king?' 'Not anywhere, Sir.' 'So there is no such thing as wind.' 'Well answered, Nagasena!'
- Milindapanha 77

Seattle Men's Chorus & Seattle Women's Chorus Celebrate Marriage Equality


Impeach Supreme Court Justic!e Antonin Scalia!

Justice Antonin Scalia Compares Gay Sex To Bestiality And Murder (AGAIN)



Yesterday Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia repeated one of his most famously foul comparisons.
Speaking at Princeton University, Scalia was asked by a gay student why he equates laws banning sodomy with those barring bestiality and murder. "I don't think it's necessary, but I think it's effective," Scalia said, adding that legislative bodies can ban what they believe to be immoral. Scalia has been giving speeches around the country to promote his new book, "Reading Law," and his lecture at Princeton comes just days after the court agreed to take on two cases that challenge the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Some in the audience who had come to hear Scalia speak about his book applauded but more of those who attended the lecture clapped at freshman Duncan Hosie's question. "It's a form of argument that I thought you would have known, which is called the 'reduction to the absurd,'" Scalia told Hosie of San Francisco during the question-and-answer period. "If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder? Can we have it against other things?"
Scalia also again rejected arguments that the U.S. Constitution should be considered a "living document" that can be updated to reflect the times. He said, "It's dead, dead, dead, dead,"


Reposted from Joe

Via O Bosque de Berkana / FB:


Não tente adivinhar o que as pessoas pensam a seu respeito.
''Faça a sua parte, se doe sem medo.
O que importa mesmo é o que você é.
Mesmo que outras pessoas não se importem.
Atitudes simples podem melhorar sua vida.
Não julgue para não ser julgado...
Um covarde é incapaz de demonstrar amor
- isso é privilégio dos corajosos.''

Mahatma Gandhi
Não tente adivinhar o que as pessoas pensam a seu respeito.
''Faça a sua parte, se doe sem medo.
O que importa mesmo é o que você é.
Mesmo que outras pessoas não se importem.
Atitudes simples podem melhorar sua vida.
Não julgue para não ser julgado...
Um covarde é incapaz de demonstrar amor
- isso é privilégio dos corajosos.''

@[166071803419940:128:Mahatma Gandhi]

Follower of the Buddha / FB: Dilgo Khyentse Fellowship - Shechen's photo.


‎"You, the practitioner, should first of all be like a bee going from flower to flower collecting nectar. At the stage when you are listening to and studying the teachings, learn all of them carefully, in both words and meaning. Then, you should be like a wild animal. Not satisfied with a mere theoretical understanding, go to live in mountain solitudes where you can be free from all the busy involvement of ordinary life. Be self-sufficient and firm in one-pointed practice, as you discover directly for yourself the profound meaning of the teachings. Finally, as you put the teachings into practice and integrate them with your being, you should be like a peg driven into hard ground. Unshaken by thoughts during meditation, remain unwavering. Cut away all limiting concepts of existence and non-existence from within, and directly encounter the face of the ultimate nature of everything. " 
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
"You, the practitioner, should first of all be like a bee going from flower to flower collecting nectar. At the stage when you are listening to and studying the teachings, learn all of them carefully, in both words and meaning. Then, you should be like a wild animal. Not satisfied with a mere theoretical understanding, go to live in mountain solitudes where you can be free from all the busy involvement of ordinary life. Be self-sufficient and firm in one-pointed practice, as you discover directly for yourself the profound meaning of the teachings. Finally, as you put the teachings into practice and integrate them with your being, you should be like a peg driven into hard ground. Unshaken by thoughts during meditation, remain unwavering. Cut away all limiting concepts of existence and non-existence from within, and directly encounter the face of the ultimate nature of everything. "  Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Photo: Matthieu Ricard