Friday, March 6, 2015

Via @FreedomToMarry





Obama administration Brief assessing #Marriage Bans as #Unconstitutional
Via @FreedomToMarry
 

This article links to many briefs.. See comment below for direct link to US DOJ Brief or find listed in article at bottom. http://tinyurl.com/mcu3xqp

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 06/03/2015

“O mantra é um instrumento de grande poder, especialmente se você conhece seu significado, e o vocaliza com presença e intencionalidade. Dessa forma o mantra age como uma frequência de luz que dissipa a escuridão; ele se transforma em uma poderosa oração.”

“El mantra es un instrumento de gran poder, especialmente si conoces su significado, y lo vocalizas con presencia e intencionalidad. Así el mantra actúa como una frecuencia de luz que disipa la oscuridad; él se convierte en una poderosa oración.”

“Mantras are an instrument of great power, especially when you know their meaning and vocalize them with presence and intention. When you do so, the mantras act like a frequency of light that dissipates darkness, and they become a powerful prayer.”

Via Daily Dharma


Unconditional Service | March 6, 2015


Selfless service brings balance to your practice. Since it engages the body, it balances the tendency we have to think and theorize rather than act. By channeling your energy into acts of service, you transform the ideal into the real.

- Shinso Ito, "Unconditional Service"

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Via JMG: George Takei: Give Alabama The Finger




Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Wall Street To SCOTUS: Yes On Marriage


Via CNN:
Wall Street's leading banks have signed a "friend of the court" brief pressing the Supreme Court to back same-sex marriage. Major financial firms including AIG, Bank of America, BlackRock, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs JPMorgan, UBS and Wells Fargo signed the brief that will be filed on Thursday. Spokespeople at each of the companies confirmed to CNN that they are named in the brief. Other signatories include a range of small and large companies in a variety of sectors including technology, healthcare and retail. "The brief argues that the existing confused legal landscape places significant burdens on employers and their employees—making it increasingly hard to conduct business," said Elliott Frieder, a spokesman for Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, the law firm that will file the brief on behalf of the firms.
A similar banking coalition filed a DOMA brief in 2013.


Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: David Koch To Sign SCOTUS Brief


Politico reports:
David Koch, the big money political donor and liberal boogeyman, has agreed to sign onto to an amicus brief supporting same-sex marriage at the Supreme Court, the Washington Free Beacon reported. The brief he will reportedly sign in DeBoer v. Snyder, a case that could afford same-sex couples a constitutional right to marry, will host a number of other prominent conservative signatories, including retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, former Reagan White House chief of staff Ken Duberstein and former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman. An attorney for Koch Industries told the Free Beacon that Koch will join the brief in a personal capacity, indicating his support for gay marriage does not necessarily indicate a larger message from the Koch network of donors.
In 2012 Koch backed Romney, who signed onto NOM's anti-marriage pledge.


Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: SCOTUS Sets The Date: April 28th


 
Equality Case Files has the announcement.


Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Twitter To SCOTUS: Yes On Marriage


 
See the full list. Facebook is there too, of course.


Reposted from Joe Jervis   31 Comments

Via JMG: Nebraska Turns Mustard





Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 05/03/2015

“Sadhana (prática espiritual) é sinônimo de bater na porta do salão da Verdade, o que significa libertar-se de tudo o que acreditamos ser verdade para que sobre apenas a Verdade. Em outras palavras, significa libertar-se de crenças, conceitos, ideias e interpretações que têm base no conhecimento emprestado, ou seja, tudo aquilo que você entende intelectualmente, mas ainda não experienciou. Isso é o que chamo de imaginação ou sonho – um sonho que projetamos no outro. Esse sonho precisa cessar, você precisa despertar, e você faz isso através do seu sadhana.”

“Sadhana (práctica espiritual) es sinónimo de golpear en la puerta del salón de la Verdad, lo que significa liberarse de todo lo que creemos que es verdad para que quede solamente la Verdad. En otras palabras, significa liberarse de creencias, conceptos, ideas e interpretaciones que se basan en el conocimiento prestado, es decir, todo aquello que entiendes intelectualmente, pero que aún no has experimentado. Esto es lo que llamo imaginación o sueño - un sueño que proyectamos en el otro. Este sueño necesita terminar, tú precisas despertar, y lo haces a través de tu sadhana.”

“Sadhana, spiritual practice, is synonymous with knocking on the door of the truth. This means freeing ourselves of everything that we believe to be true so that the only thing left is the truth itself. In other words, liberating ourselves from beliefs, concepts, ideas and interpretations that are based on borrowed knowledge. Borrowed knowledge refers to everything that we understand intellectually, but have not yet experienced for ourselves. This is what I call ‘imagination’ or a ‘dream’ that we project onto the other. This dream must end – we have to wake up, and we do so through our sadhana.”

Via Daily Dharma


Questioning the Question | March 5, 2015


Be in harmony with each breath, each moment, and know that in giving yourself this time to develop awareness and a steadiness of attention you are nourishing spirit, head, and heart. Let it be an adventure, and in the silence and the stillness that comes with practice you’ll discover wonders here for you, now.

- Gil Fronsdal, "Questioning the Question"

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Via The Law of Attraction Networks.com

“The Paradoxical Commandments

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.” 

 
― Kent M. Keith


The Law of Attraction Networks .com 

JMG Tweet Of The Day




Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 04/03/2015

“Liberdade é seguir o fluxo do coração. O sofrimento nasce pelo fato de seguirmos os comandos da mente condicionada, pois ela muitas vezes nos leva na direção oposta àquela que o coração determina. A mente condicionada está envenenada pelo passado; ela está contaminada pela ideia de fazer justiça com as próprias mãos. Você quer se vingar pelo fato de ter sido machucado, então você controla, argumenta, exige, e faz de tudo para que as coisas aconteçam do jeito que você acha que vai dar certo. Porém, essa ação te afasta cada vez mais do seu coração.”

“Libertad es seguir el flujo del corazón. El sufrimiento nace porque seguimos los comandos de la mente condicionada, pues ella muchas veces nos lleva en la dirección opuesta a la que determina el corazón. La mente condicionada está envenenada por el pasado; está contaminada por la idea de hacer justicia con las propias manos. Quieres vengarte por el hecho de haber sido herido, entonces controlas, argumentas, exiges, y haces de todo para que las cosas sucedan de la forma en que crees que van a funcionar. Sin embargo, esta acción te aleja cada vez más de tu corazón.”
'
“Freedom means following the flow of our hearts. Suffering is born when we obey the commands of the conditioned mind, as it often leads us in the opposite direction of where our hearts tell us to go. The conditioned mind has been contaminated by the past and filled with the idea of taking justice into our own hands. When we seek revenge because we were hurt, we start to control, argue, demand and do everything we can to make things happen the way we think is right. However, this behavior distances us more and more from our own hearts.”

Via Daily Dharma


Awareness Meditation | March 4, 2015


Be in harmony with each breath, each moment, and know that in giving yourself this time to develop awareness and a steadiness of attention you are nourishing spirit, head, and heart. Let it be an adventure, and in the silence and the stillness that comes with practice you’ll discover wonders here for you, now.

- Elena Rosenbaum, "Guided Meditation: Awareness of Breathing"

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Via I fucking love science / FB:


Via Right Turn: Conservatives filing brief in favor of gay marriage

Right Turn has learned that an impressive array of Republicans and Gen. Stanley McChrystal will be filing an amicus brief on Friday in support of gay marriage with the Supreme Court in DeBoer v. Snyder. The case will decide, in the wake of cases striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, if states can restrict marriage to heterosexual couples or if gay marriage falls within the protection afforded by the 14th Amendment.


The brief’s signatories include former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman, conservative pundits S.E. Cupp and Alex Castellanos, former White House chief of staff Ken Duberstein, former Mitt Romney senior advisers Beth Myers and Carl Forti, conservative economists Doug Holtz-Eakin (formerly director of the Congressional Budget Office) and Greg Mankiw (formerly on the Council of Economic Advisers), former senator Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.), former homeland security adviser Fran Townsend and former Massachusetts state Senate minority leader Richard Tisei. The presence of an esteemed general suggests that there is no segment of society in which gay marriage is not gaining acceptance. There are on the list centrist Republicans, more libertarian figures and even social conservatives. In a phone interview Mehlman said, “I think the diversity of the people is a reflection of what we have seen which is increased support in every demographic [for gay marriage].”

In the brief, the signatories argue that they “have concluded that marriage is strengthened, and its value to society and to individual families and couples is promoted, by providing access to civil marriage for all American couples—heterosexual or gay or lesbian alike. In particular, civil marriage provides stability for the children of same-sex couples, the value of which cannot be overestimated. 

In light of these conclusions, amici believe that the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits States from denying same-sex couples the legal rights and responsibilities that flow from the institution of civil marriage.” They argue that their belief in judicial restraint nevertheless is informed by their understanding that our “constitutional tradition empowers and requires the judiciary to protect our most cherished liberties against overreaching by the government, including overreach through an act of legislature or electorate. That principle, no less than our commitment to democratic self-government, is necessary to individual freedom and limited government.”

The signatories also argue from precedent that marriage is a fundamental right that enhances liberty. (“For those who choose to marry, the rights and responsibilities conveyed by civil marriage provide a bulwark against unwarranted government intervention into deeply personal concerns such as medical and child-rearing decisions.”) The brief contends, “It is precisely because marriage is so important in producing and protecting strong and stable family structures that the goal of strengthening families favors civil marriage for same-sex couples.” They make the case that even under the lowest level of 14th Amendment scrutiny, banning gay marriage cannot be defended:
Amici do not believe there is a legitimate, fact based justification for excluding same-sex couples from civil marriage. Over the past two decades, the arguments presented by proponents of such initiatives have been discredited by social science, rejected by courts, and contradicted by amici’s personal experience with same-sex couples, including those whose civil marriages have been legally performed and recognized in various States. Amici thus do not believe that any “reasonable support in fact” exists for arguments that allowing same-sex couples to join in civil marriage will damage or distort the institution, jeopardize children, or cause any other social ills. Rather, the facts and evidence show that permitting civil marriage for same sex couples will enhance the institution, protect children, and benefit society generally. Banning marriage for same-sex couples, in contrast, undermines these critical societal goals: Such bans impede family formation, harm children, and discourage fidelity, responsibility, and stability.
Put differently in layman’s terms, marriage confirms benefits and there are insufficient policy reasons to deprive gay couples of those benefits. Mehlman says, “The more people see gay couples getting married, the more they will see that marriage is a good thing.” With marriage, he says, “Freedom advances. Family values advance.” Mehlman thinks a decision in favor of gay marriage will be readily accepted. “I’ve noticed Republicans and conservatives respect the law,” he says of the reaction to previous cases. Indeed, it is remarkable how little discussion of gay marriage there has been in the presidential race. While potential candidates continue to voice their view that they “believe in traditional marriage,” many — including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Florida governor Jeb Bush — have all affirmed that they abide by court decisions. There is no real movement to defy the courts, and given the shift in opinions, it is nearly inconceivable that enough states could be induced to sign up for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Unlike abortion, which even proponents of abortion rights usually concede is a bad thing, gay marriage — no matter how its opponents might struggle — has not proved to be destructive or harmful in states where it has been adopted. The premise that gay marriage harms heterosexual marriage has never been very compelling. The longer Americans live with gay marriage, the less of an issue it seems to become. Americans remain a tolerant and accepting people. One strongly suspects that the court will agree with the signatories and thereby put the issue to rest as a legal matter. For many Americans, it is already a non-issue, and I agree with Mehlman that the rest will acknowledge once the court speaks that there is no turning the clock back.

Jennifer Rubin writes the Right Turn blog for The Post, offering reported opinion from a conservative perspective.

Via JMG: UNITED NATIONS: Russia Tries To Block Marriage Benefits For LGBT Staffers


Foreign Policy reports:
Last June, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a far-reaching administrative ruling that offered marital benefits for the first time to all of the United Nations’ lesbian and gay employees, as well as to other U.N. workers who had entered legally recognized domestic partnerships. On Monday, March 2, Russia gave the plan a resounding nyet.

Speaking Monday morning at a meeting of the U.N.’s main budget committee, a Russian diplomat demanded that Ban reverse his decision on the matter, saying the U.N. chief’s action violated a U.N. General Assembly resolution that left it to U.N. employees’ governments to determine whether are eligible for spousal benefits. Moscow has been weighing whether to force a vote in the budget committee, known as the Fifth Committee, to halt funding such benefits, a vote that it likely could win. Unlike the U.N. Security Council, the United States and other big powers don’t have the power to veto votes in the Fifth Committee. While its decisions are generally made by consensus, states can call for a vote.

“We will insist that the secretary-general urgently revoke the administrative bulletin” expanding benefits to same-sex couples, the Russian diplomat told the committee. Russia’s critics characterized the gambit as a cynical political maneuver aimed at checking the authority of a U.N. leader who has clashed with Moscow over its policies from Syria to Ukraine. Russia has transformed what is by all accounts a low-priority administrative dispute into a high-profile power struggle with the U.N. leader.
Russia's move is being opposed by the United States and the European Union. (Tipped by JMG reader Zhera)


Reposted from Joe Jervis

JMG HomoQuotable - Noah Michelson



"From Grindr profiles that demand 'masc only' to men like [Russell] Tovey who think their masculinity -- however manufactured, however antithetical to who they truly were when they landed on this planet -- is what makes them marketable or desirable, our obsession with what it means to be a man and what it means to fall short of that is keeping us from becoming truly liberated.

"If it weren't for my father, I wouldn't be who I am today. I could have been forced to play football in hopes that it would somehow unleash the man dozing inside of me. I could have been sent to therapy in hopes that I could be reprogrammed, repaired, made whole. I could have ended up with a belt around my neck and swinging from the light fixture in our formal dining room. But I wasn't. But I didn't. I am one of the lucky ones.

"My father died eight years ago. He never got to see the man that I've become and we never specifically talked about everything he did for me -- what he made me -- simply by loving me. Without a son of my own, it's a gift that I can only attempt to pay forward to the thousands of boys and men who come after me -- who brush past me in crowded subway cars or surround me on Facebook or might be reading this now -- by speaking up and saying I am a faggot and it didn't happen by mistake. And if you're a faggot too, I hope you know you don't need to toughen up. You never have to stop prancing. You are not a mistake." - Noah Michelson, writing for the Huffington Post.



Reposted from Joe Jervis