12/31/11
And my final remembrance of 2011, Hillary's stunningly courageous and progressive LGBT speech to the UN
One of the main forces behind the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1947, Eleanor Roosevelt, would be so proud of Hillary and Barack for this speech and the new U.S. government policy of promoting gay rights abroad. Hopefully, here's to celebrating many more moments like this one in the new year.
On this New Year's Eve, remembering a beautiful moment of pure compassion and love in 2011
Nothing is more beautiful or powerful than giving unconditional love to someone you don't even know and that's why I celebrate this video made by Jonathon, a young songwriter in Los Angeles, in response to a viral video by Jonah Mowry, who has been bullied for years.
12/29/11
Retreating for a few days…
I am flying back from a six-day visit with my family, feeling rested, relaxed, and full of love. I am so blessed to have such a vibrant and connected family, that I never take them for granted.
In these last few days of 2011, I am taking a break from my blog, the news and all sorts of gadgetry, to slow down, go inside, and take account before this new year begins.
I want to thank the readers of this blog for witnessing my passions and disappointments, sending me articles and photos, and sharing your views with me. This blog is an important way for me to explore my thoughts and feelings over the course of the year. Thank you for sharing this journey with me.
See you again in 2012!
All the best, Joe
12/28/11
Robert Reich predicts an Obama/Hillary ticket, as I do
Robert Reich makes political sense, especially since the GOP nominee is going to be Romney and the election is going to be a close race.
BTW, according to the latest Gallup poll, Obama and Romney are the most admired people in America.
A Buddhist perspective on "enemies"
It is not sufficient merely to see that sentient beings are suffering. You must also develop a sense of closeness with them, a sense that they are dear. With that combination— seeing that people suffer and thinking of them as dear— you can develop compassion. So, after meditatively transforming your attitude toward friends, enemies, and neutral persons such that you have gained progress in becoming even-minded toward all of them, the next step is to meditate on everyone as friends, to feel that they have been profoundly close.
--Jeffrey Hopkins
via tricycle
This is a challenging teaching, especially when thinking about people who are actively limiting the human rights of others, like Clarence Thomas and the other conservative Supreme Court judges. How can I stand up for equality by calling out fearful (and sometimes hateful) behavior without demonizing these people? Language is important, so I try to use the term "homophobic" to refer anti-gay behavior and resist the urge to call these people "homophobes," which tends to dehumanize them in the same way when they call us names. For me, these are subtle but important practices that are meant to reduce the suffering in the world, including that in my life. Like a martial artist, I want to clearly see and deflect these homophobic attacks, but use my life energy to move forward our society and the LGBT community. This is a tricky but worthwhile endeavor. --Joe
P.S. At the Phoenix airport, I am getting a chance to practice this lesson now as I sit next to an unfriendly grandmother who grimaced when I asked her to move her coat so I could have a seat. She now is reading a Glenn Beck book, and I am channeling as much compassion as I can muster to her and me...LOL
Coming together as a family...around a campy puzzle
This holiday, my mom and dad, my gay brother and his California-married husband, my "nephew"(a kid I have mentored since he was 5, now is 20...and is also gay), and I all collaborated on putting together an 1000-piece puzzle with hundreds of faces of celebrities from the 1980's. Off and on for 5-days, we pushed our puzzle-solving limits, each using of us bringing our gifts (e.g. matching colors and shapes, decoding the puzzle box, or organizing the remaining pieces) and refusing to give up when we placed only 3-4 pieces in a hour. But we are not quitters.
This campy puzzle, which would have made Andy Warhol smile (partially since he is prominently featured), became the center point of our holiday weekend and our family activities. Frustration, rivalry, compassion, encouragement, curiosity and elation are some of the feelings we experienced together.
It was a lovely experience that gave me even greater appreciation for these people I call "family."
12/27/11
Oh, these wacky GOPers are always surprising me...
Ron Paul: it is sad to see that this man has a history of homophobia and racism. More principled than most GOP politicians, but these latest allegations are becoming too serious to ignore.
Newt Gingrich: an ethically-compromised person in nearly every way and such a weak leader that even the GOP deposed him. His latest comments about ending the separation of Church and State show his true understanding of our U.S. Constitution. Not ready for prime time...or infomercials.
Richard Nixon: a straight biographer of Nixon has evidence that points to him being a closeted gay man who had a long running affair with Bebe Rebozo. Not pleasant to envision. But when it comes to self-hating gay men that's why many call it the Gay Ole' Party...
Kindness and consideration, the basis for a life full of love
I have learned so much about kindness and consideration from my family, lovers, and friends, including this couple above.
What do I mean by kindness and consideration?
Kindness: treating myself and others with an open, loving heart as well as having clear and good boundaries, again, with oneself and others. Giving people the benefit of the doubt, not making assumptions, and not dwelling on their shadow characteristics.
Consideration: taking good care of myself and then extending that self-love to others, creating more joy for everyone. Listening and showing concern for another when the subject might not interest you initially or even scare you. Showing up for your own feelings and those of loved ones.
I welcome more kindness and consideration into my life. And like anything, this is a daily practice that requires openness and diligence -- in the giving and receiving of these qualities. Yet, it is worth the effort. Just look at these guys above!
Conservative originalists are rethinking their narrow reading of the 14th Amendment...with implications for marriage equality
From Slate:
Justice Antonin Scalia created a firestorm last winter when he opined that the 14th Amendment does not protect women against discrimination on the basis of sex. The truth is that this view has been, until recently at least, a bedrock conviction of conservative originalists. In that sense then, the bigger news came at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in October when, confronted on his remarks by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Scalia backpedaled and suggested that the Equal Protection Clause did indeed protect women from state-sponsored discrimination on the basis of sex. For a Justice famous for his blunt and unchanging conservative views, Scalia’s fancy footwork was fascinating, and telling.
In fact, Scalia’s backpedaling is part of a significant reassessment of the meaning of the Equal Protection Clause that is transforming the debate over the Constitution. This debate, which is happening in conservative legal and academic circles, could have a dramatic impact on the outcome of critical cases—including Perry v. Brown, the challenge to California’s Proposition 8 and the denial of marriage equality to gay men and lesbians. After a long detour to the California Supreme Court on the question of whether the case can even go forward, Perry is heating up, with the Ninth Circuit hearing oral argument last week on two separate issues, and a decision expected on the merits in the months to come.
Here's the whole article.
I am skeptical that Anthony Scalia will rule for the Constitutional rights of LGBT people, overcoming his personal animus for homosexuals. But here's to hope! --Joe
A coach's advice on dealing with homophobia in sports
"Tackling gay issues in sports"
Interview by Mike Woitalla, from Soccer America
The hardships faced by gay teens inspired the coming-out of former University of North Carolina star David Testo after nearly a decade of pro soccer in MLS, the USL and NASL. We contacted longtime soccer coach and journalist Dan Woog, the author of five books on gay and lesbian issues, to comment on the importance of pro athletes coming out and to offer advice for coaches on how to combat the homophobia that can torment gay and questioning teens.
SOCCER AMERICA: Last month, David Testo became the first North American professional soccer player to come out as gay. He cited among the reasons for coming out reports of suicides among gay teens. What was your reaction to Testo's coming out and his view that more professional athletes doing so could help "normalize this issue?"
DAN WOOG: David Testo's coming out was a very important step. We've seen athletes in individual sports (swimming, tennis, golf, etc.) come out; we've seen athletes in team sports in other countries come out (rugby, Anton Hysen in soccer, etc.). We've seen Rick Welts come out as an NBA executive, and the reaction when Brendan Burke, the gay son of NHL executive Brian Burke, died.
But David Testo is the first male athlete in a major American team sport to come out. We're still waiting for the first active player -- in one of the "bigger" sports like football, basketball or baseball -- to come out. But this is another big step on that road.
As for his view that professional athletes coming out "normalize" the issue: absolutely. Sports is the very last "closet" -- we've got openly gay politicians, entertainers, actors, teachers, clergy, you name it. The only segment of society where gay people are still not open is professional sports.
"Normalization" is crucial -- for everyone to see that gay people are everywhere. It's not good, it's not bad; it's just a fact of life. And that "normalization" is important not just for gay youth -- who need positive role models -- but for straight people (especially young people) as well.
They will grow up and live in a world with all kinds of people around them. To realize that some of their sports heroes are gay is an important message to straight kids too.
SA: The bullying of LGBT teens sparked the creation of the "It Gets Better Project." Among the professional sports teams – including baseball's Giants, Cubs, Dodgers, Phillies and Red Sox -- that created videos for the campaign, was D.C. United, and the Seattle Sounders took part in one. How important is it for pro sports to be involved in this campaign and for soccer teams to be a part of it?
DAN WOOG: Hugely important. For better or worse, youngsters take many of their cues from sports. If they hear fans chanting "Yankees Suck," or hear sports figures talking smack about opponents, they think it's OK to do that in high school (or below).
Conversely, if they hear (or hear about) teams taking a stand against anti-gay language -- or hear sports figures telling all kids who are bullied (for whatever reason) that "it gets better," that makes a bigger impact than most adults imagine. The key, of course, is getting those videos -- or those remarks -- in front of young people.
SA: Testo mentioned he "heard tons of gay slurs" when he attended a game at his old high school in North Carolina. What impact does it have on a gay teen, or on teens unsure of their sexual orientation, to hear those words?
DAN WOOG: There are two parts of the answer. The first is, it has an enormous impact on gay or questioning teens. Wow, they think -- I can never come out. My teammates would hate me. They won't trust me. I'll ruin the team chemistry. I won't be able to play any more. And they start thinking -- worrying -- about that, and as a result they can't concentrate on what they should be concentrating on, which is the training or game or school or whatever.
The second part is, those words have an even greater impact when they are accepted as "part of the culture," or when they are not addressed. First, the gay or questioning kid thinks (subconsciously, or even consciously), "Wow, the coach doesn't let anyone use the n-word, and he even got mad when someone called his girlfriend 'my bitch.' But he doesn't say anything about 'faggot' or 'homo' -- so I must really be a bad person.”
And the message that gets sent to straight players when no one addresses those words is: "It's OK to use them. You can't say 'nigger' or anything else bad, but you can say 'faggot.'" That's a very subtle lesson -- but it's a powerful one.
SA: What should a coach do when he hears gay slurs from his players?
DAN WOOG: He should not make a huge deal of it. He should just address it in his own style. Some coaches can use humor: "This training session is gay? Does it really like other training sessions?"
Some can use a teachable moment: "Hey -- I don't want to hear that anymore. You know we talk about respect all the time. You never know who you might be offending -- the bus driver, someone with a gay uncle -- it doesn't matter. Knock it off."
Some can use a personal example: "You know, my sister is a lesbian. I love her very much -- and she's a better soccer player than you'll ever be. Please don't use that word around me again."
Many coaches are afraid to address it, because they worry what players will think: "Is he gay?" Well, they don't worry that players will think he's black if he stands up against the n-word, or a woman if he doesn't allow anti-female slurs, or a dog if he stands up for animal rights!
SA: Is homophobia a problem in youth soccer?
DAN WOOG: I'd call it "homo-ignorance." By that I mean ignorance on the part of adults that many athletes are gay, and ignorance about the power of anti-gay language. They're ignorant because they don't see gay athletes at the pro level, and they don't realize kids on their teams are gay, questioning, or have gay friends or relatives.
Which brings us back to the point of David Testo's coming-out being so important.
SA: Is there more homophobia in sports than in other sectors of society?
DAN WOOG: I think there's more overt anti-gay language, and less recognition of gay people and gay issues. That's partly because sports has been very male-dominated in the past; any sign of weakness is looked down on, and homosexuality has in the past been associated with "male weakness."
It's also because sports is hierarchical -- you do what you're told by the coach, and when you become a coach you coach the way your coaches coached -- though that is changing rapidly.
SA: Do you think gay or lesbian teens should come out to their teammates?
DAN WOOG: Every situation is different. Many gay youth -- far more than most people realize -- are out to at least a few teammates, at the high school and college level. But many are not yet ready to come out -- the climate is unsafe, they worry about family reactions or the climate at school or what opponents will say if the word gets out -- and those are valid concerns.
I always tell players that they will know when they are ready to come out, and they should come out for the right reasons -- not because they feel pressure to. Interestingly, no player has ever come out to me while he's been on one of my teams -- and that's normal. After graduation, they do come out to me.
SA: Suppose a coach notices a player is depressed and suspects it’s because the player is struggling with the issue of sexual orientation, should the coach ever broach the subject with the player?
DAN WOOG: No. If something is going on with a kid, I might say, “You don’t really seem to be yourself. … You seem really distracted …” or “You’re not smiling the way you usually do. … Is there something I should know about?" That’s all.
When I think a player is depressed or distracted, I’m not going to say, “Are your parents getting divorced? … Does your father have cancer?” or anything like that. Even if I knew it, I would never say it.
I would never put a kid on the spot like that. It’s what we talk about a lot at the youth group I work with. I’m a facilitator at GLBT youth group, and kids say, “My mother asked me a year ago if I was gay and I freaked out. I wasn’t ready for it.”
Coming out, whether it’s to a parent, a friend, a coach or a teammate, really should be on the kid’s own terms.
SA: What is it that can make life so difficult for gay or questioning teens?
DAN WOOG: I think the term “in the closet” is very apt because nobody lives in a closet. You live in your bedroom, your living room, your kitchen. In the closet there’s no light, no ventilation, spiders in the corner. ...
Being gay is this thing you’re carrying around, you’re trying to figure out, “What’s my life going to be like? ... Am I ever going to meet anybody? …” You’re going through all that and you’re worried at the same time, in the athletic context, “Oh God, everybody’s talking about the team and we all have to rely on each other. What if somebody finds out about me? Will they turn their back on me? Will they tease me? Will I be the one who disrupts the whole team?"
And you have nobody to talk to about it really, because you can’t point to this gay coach, or these gay athletes, or this guy on the team last year who’s gay. You can’t point to anybody unless you find Outsports.com or read about the very few David Testos of the world. There’s no way of reconciling your gay identity, which is important to you because it’s who you are, with your sports identity, which is important to you because that too is who you are.
(Dan Woog is the head coach of the Staples High School boys soccer program in Westport, Conn. The Wreckers have won four league championships in the last six years, and their 12th state title overall in 2010. An openly gay man, Woog has written two books on gay athletes, the “Jocks” series, and currently writes a nationally syndicated column on gay sports, “The OutField.” His web site is danwoog.com.)
Another reason DOMA needs to be overturned: the plight of binational gay and lesbian couples
Obama needs to lead more on this issue, and the Republicans need to stop persecuting the LGBT. The former is more likely to happen than the latter.
Rhetoric vs. reality: marginal tax rates today are lower than during Reagan's time
Facts often irrelevant things for the Tea Party.
12/26/11
This is what is meant by "Dutch treat"...
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Americans are some of the most generous people.
Touching hope
A baby reaches out to touch US President Barack Obama as he poses for a photo at Kaneohe Bay on Christmas Day, December 25, 2011. Obama greeted base personnel while vacationing at a rental home nearby. Via Daily Dish
Andrew Sullivan: "Mitt Romney Is A Big Fat Liar"
From a recent blog post by the libertarian gay man of letters, who holds nothing back:
One of the advantages of having put your soul on eBay is that it frees you up. You can say anything to anyone, and feel no consequences. You can go from promising to be more pro-gay than Ted Kennedy to backing an amendment to the Constitution permanently putting gays into second class status. You can go from calling yourself "progressive" to "the most conservative candidate in this race." And you also can repeat in increasingly crude terms the notion that this president is some kind of anti-American, far-left ideologue determined to turn 21st Century America into Eastern Europe c. 1978 ... and pretend that this is the actual debate we are having and that this is the universe we are living in. Given the alternative galaxies proferred by Roger Ailes, any other narrative might prove confusing for the true believers, I suppose. But if you want to read a long list of the whoppers that Romney has been touting, check out Sargent. Click here to continue reading
A day for love poetry
"Voyages"
by Hart Crane (an early 20th century poet who was gay)
III
Infinite consanguinity it bears—
This tendered theme of you that light
Retrieves from sea plains where the sky
Resigns a breast that every wave enthrones;
While ribboned water lanes I wind
Are laved and scattered with no stroke
Wide from your side, whereto this hour
The sea lifts, also, reliquary hands.
And so, admitted through black swollen gates
That must arrest all distance otherwise,—
Past whirling pillars and lithe pediments,
Light wrestling there incessantly with light,
Star kissing star through wave on wave unto
Your body rocking!
and where death, if shed,
Presumes no carnage, but this single change,—
Upon the steep floor flung from dawn to dawn
The silken skilled transmemberment of song;
Permit me voyage, love, into your hands ...
Source: The Complete Poems of Hart Crane
Photo from the wonderful movie "Weekend"
Discovering Tumblr
In the hubbub of daily life, I have been noticing more Tumblr references, links, and images, but had not made time to check out this site until late last night (then staying up to 3AM).
With Tumblr, I found a vibrant online community of microblogs, mostly dedicated to images about a specific topic: french poodles, coming out, pasta, Istanbul, etc. Most of the gay Tumblrs have been started by young gay men. While there are a lot of sex-positive Tumblr sites, I am touched by the amount of relationship-oriented photos, advice, and outlook. For example:
Or this good-hearted young guy from the South:
And this bit of wise advice:
Anyway, check out Tumblr and discover new worlds and people. I am creating a Tumblr link to this blog today.
With Tumblr, I found a vibrant online community of microblogs, mostly dedicated to images about a specific topic: french poodles, coming out, pasta, Istanbul, etc. Most of the gay Tumblrs have been started by young gay men. While there are a lot of sex-positive Tumblr sites, I am touched by the amount of relationship-oriented photos, advice, and outlook. For example:
Or this good-hearted young guy from the South:
And this bit of wise advice:
Anyway, check out Tumblr and discover new worlds and people. I am creating a Tumblr link to this blog today.
Not just for the gays, bigotry is alive & well in America
In the U.S., gays are not the only people feared and discriminated against:
It is incredibly sad that one person with his own one-man hate group can tap into anti-Muslim sentiment and lead reputable companies to make foolish judgment calls. At least two advertisers — Lowe’s, the home-improvement retailer, and Kayak.com, the online travel firm — have pulled commercials from “All-American Muslim,” a new reality series on the TLC cable channel, since the show was condemned by David Caton, an anti-Muslim and anti-gay activist, and the shell organization he founded and runs, the Florida Family Association.[snip] Both Lowes and Kayak deny that they were moved to act by Mr. Caton’s campaign, citing instead the show’s controversial nature and, in Kayak’s case, reservations about its quality. 'All-American Muslim' may not be the best TV show, but the controversy was manufactured by one man. By appearing to bow to bigotry, the companies earned a self-inflicted black eye.
--New York Times editorial
America has a lot of tolerance for all sorts of extreme Christian groups but mention the word "Muslim" and Americans tend to stop thinking and default to fear.
It is incredibly sad that one person with his own one-man hate group can tap into anti-Muslim sentiment and lead reputable companies to make foolish judgment calls. At least two advertisers — Lowe’s, the home-improvement retailer, and Kayak.com, the online travel firm — have pulled commercials from “All-American Muslim,” a new reality series on the TLC cable channel, since the show was condemned by David Caton, an anti-Muslim and anti-gay activist, and the shell organization he founded and runs, the Florida Family Association.[snip] Both Lowes and Kayak deny that they were moved to act by Mr. Caton’s campaign, citing instead the show’s controversial nature and, in Kayak’s case, reservations about its quality. 'All-American Muslim' may not be the best TV show, but the controversy was manufactured by one man. By appearing to bow to bigotry, the companies earned a self-inflicted black eye.
--New York Times editorial
America has a lot of tolerance for all sorts of extreme Christian groups but mention the word "Muslim" and Americans tend to stop thinking and default to fear.
Things are really changing: two young gay characters (Fer and David) featured on Fisica O Quimica, a popular Spanish TV drama about high school
Role models like this are great for young gay men coming of age.
12/25/11
12/24/11
Rufus Wainwright performs "Minuit Chretien"
Rufus Wainwright appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon this week and performed "Minuit Chretien," the original French version of "O Holy Night."
Yesterday at Luke Air Force base...
...when shopping with my parents at the BX, it felt good to know that gay and lesbian service members are free to be themselves, protecting our democracy with integrity and pride. I finally felt that I was welcome at Luke, too. What a difference a year makes!
The 3 hurtful things that the GOP (and the Tea Party) did to gay people this week...
#1. Michigan Tea Party Governor Rick Snyder signs domestic partner benefits ban for Michigan public employees. Why? To save money because gays are not equal to straight spouses and to energize his Tea Party (and anti-gay) base. Ironically, he exempted public universities because the top gay professors threatened to bolt to more friendly states if this law passed without modifications.
#2. Presidential contender and Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann tells a gay Iowa man that Kinsey's findings are a "myth" and "not valid." Translation: gays are not valid and gay people do not deserve to be a "protected class." This scientific wisdom from the Tea Party darling who does not believe in global warming and other rational facts.
#3. Minnesota GOP Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, one of the leading proponents of Minnesota's 2012 anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment, resigned her post in disgrace after admitting to an affair with a Senate staffer. Koch, who is is married with one child, was been a leading light in Minnesota's Tea Party movement and authored an unsuccessful bill to amend the Minnesota Constitution declaring "a marriage between a man and a woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in Minnesota.
A Minnesota gay rights advocate wrote this ironic and wry letter to Ms. Koch, apologizing for 'the failure of her marriage' (making light of the conservative claim that public acceptance of homosexuality threatens traditional marriages.) So even in the darkness of homophobia, gay people can have a laugh and make a strong political point:
An Open Apology to Amy Koch on Behalf of All Gay and Lesbian Minnesotans
Dear Ms. Koch,
On behalf of all gays and lesbians living in Minnesota, I would like to wholeheartedly apologize for our community's successful efforts to threaten your traditional marriage. We are ashamed of ourselves for causing you to have what the media refers to as an "illicit affair" with your staffer, and we also extend our deepest apologies to him and to his wife. These recent events have made it quite clear that our gay and lesbian tactics have gone too far, affecting even the most respectful of our society.
We apologize that our selfish requests to marry those we love has cheapened and degraded traditional marriage so much that we caused you to stray from your own holy union for something more cheap and tawdry. And we are doubly remorseful in knowing that many will see this as a form of sexual harassment of a subordinate.
It is now clear to us that if we were not so self-focused and myopic, we would have been able to see that the time you wasted diligently writing legislation that would forever seal the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman, could have been more usefully spent reshaping the legal definition of "adultery."
Forgive us. As you know, we are not church-going people, so we are unable to fully appreciate that "gay marriage" is incompatible with Christian values, despite the fact that those values carry a biblical tradition of adultery such as yours. We applaud you for keeping that tradition going.
And finally, shame on us for thinking that marriage is a private affair, and that our marriage would have little impact on anyone's family. We now see that marriage is more than that. It is an agreement with society. We should listen to the Minnesota Family Council when it tells us that marriage is about being public, which explains why marriages are public ceremonies. Never did we realize that it is exactly because of this societal agreement that the entire world is looking at you in shame and disappointment instead of minding its own business.
From the bottom of our hearts, we ask that you please accept our apology.
Thank you.
John Medeiros
Minneapolis MN
Gay life in Uganda: "The Love that Dares"
From an article in Mother Jones magazine by Mac McClelland. Gay life there is hard and often heart-breaking. That's why I respect David Cameron and Barack Obama so much for linking foreign aid to African countries with their treatment of LGBT citizens.
Dennis, as he is known, is the 27-year-old programs manager of Icebreakers, a grassroots organization that does everything from youth advocacy to AIDS-test drives to lube distribution. "We all need to come out aggressively," he says, and he puts his money where his fucking mouth is: He's got a blog and goes on TV, even though he both worries about using public transportation in case a bigot standing nearby recognizes him and he gets nervous when someone stares at him too long. He knows that if he'd come out as a kid, not only would he have been called names, but he also would've been expelled so all the other parents wouldn't take their kids out of his school; when he came out as a university student in 2006, he lost all his friends and had to get all new, all gay ones.
He's got a scar near his eye from having a bottle broken across his face—a sort of mirror image of my old boss in New Orleans, who lost his right eye after being beaten when he left a gay bar. "Ugandans take situations as they come," Dennis says. "If they see a transgender person and they want to beat them up, they will, whether the bill exists or not." (My fixer, Geoffrey, echoed this same general idea, though his example was that if I stole his cellphone and ran, a mob would chase me down, strip me of the stolen goods and all my clothes, and send me on my shamed and naked way. "It's the public's favorite way to do it.")
12/23/11
Racism from America's "fair & balanced" network
If liberals had said similar things about Reagan or Bush, Fox News would be up in arms.
The Justice Department wisely blocks South Carolina's Voter ID Law. There is nothing more un-American than trying to suppress democracy
What's the real intention of these Voter ID laws? Cravenly discriminatory...modern-day "Jim Crow" laws. These southern GOP politicians should hang their heads in shame, especially given their region's history of slavery. This sort of thing boils my blood but is nothing new from the party of McCarthy, Nixon, and Rove...
Read about the Justice Department's action here.
The messy practice of feeling more and being open
We have to get to know and be honest about our particular strategies for dealing with vulnerability, and learn to use our practice to allow ourselves to experience more of that vulnerability rather than less of it. To open yourself up to need, longing, dependency, and reliance on others means opening yourself to the truth that none of us can do this on our own. We really do need each other, just as we need parents and teachers. We need all those people in our lives who make us feel so uncertain. Our practice is not about finally getting to a place where we are going to escape all that but about creating a container that allows us to be more and more human, to feel more and more.
--Barry Magid, "No Gain"
Andrew Sullivan on "What Christians Owe Hitch"
I found this to the most moving tribute to the late Christopher Hitchens, a great man of letters but he was too acerbic for me to read often:
For me, his finest moment was when he went on Fox News, the propaganda channel for the American far right, and went after Jerry Falwell as a charlatan, a cynic, a money-grubber and a hater of people he didn't know. And yes: on the day after Falwell's death. He was utterly unintimidatable, drily dressing down the interviewer and finally rebelling against the whole charade with a rallying last retort: "If you gave Jerry Falwell an enema, you could bury him in a matchbox!"
Too much? For most. But we need the man or woman who says these things in public without fear. Freedom demands it. I'm a life-long believer in God and Jesus Christ, a dogged Catholic who, despite profound alienation within the current institution, cannot find a way to stop believing. Hitch knew all this from the get-go and teased me about my Catholicism with the same mischief he did my sexual orientation. He got extremely excited when I wrote an op-ed saying I was withdrawing from communion because of the sex abuse crisis and the Vatican homophobia that blamed it on gays in general. "I hear you've abandoned Mother Church!" he exclaimed, and then sank into despond when I told him the more complicated reality.
One night, we talked like college students about the Big Things, and my faith, and his hostility to faith. And it is my belief that he was a tonic for today's Christianity.
I read his book on God with some trepidation but agreed with almost all of it. Ridiculing organized religion is like shooting a shark in a tiny barrel. But there was something quite exhilarating about Hitch's deployment of a rhetorical AK-47. What the book didn't do - what it couldn't do - was weaken my faith. He was attacking the human follies and lies and cruelties that exploit and abuse faith.
As a Christian, I am grateful for that. If Christianity is to survive and prosper, it will not be because it has drawn back inside the castle of rigid orthodoxy, but when it has confronted and extirpated its anachronisms, absurdities, and abuses. Hitch's reaction to the appalling child abuse scandal in the Church was less anguished than mine, but his point was inarguable. The current Pope himself was an accomplice to the rape of several children in Munich, when he was an archbishop, as well as complicit in the hideous abuses of Father Marcial Maciel. In any moral institution, which takes moral responsibility seriously, Benedict XVI would have resigned. So would all of the criminals in the far heights of the Church. It was an atheist who pointed out this Christian truth with the starkest moral vision. An atheist.
--Andrew Sullivan
Capehart: "GOP: Gay-Obsessed Party" that blocks the LGBT from sharing fully in the American Dream
From Washington Post writer Jonathan Capehart's piece on gays and the GOP:
We’ve long known that nothing throws conservatives into a tizzy more than the Gays. They’re either signing marriage pledges or bemoaning the demise of “don’t ask don’t tell,” the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military, which was tossed in the ash can of history by Congress a year ago yesterday. Now, as we hurtle to the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, the GOP candidates or their spouses are openly discussing how they would block gays from sharing fully in the American Dream and avail themselves of the rights, responsibilities and protections it provides their families.
Read the whole article here.
12/22/11
Another image of 2011: a tree of life
This reminds me of my favorite movie of the year, "The Tree of Life," Terrence Malick's spiritual masterpiece. The Rodriguez family is going to be watching this movie over Xmas, especially given that all the artists will be in residence...Frank, Patrick, and Jason.
Dogen, the four seasons
In the spring, cherry blossoms,
In the winter the cuckoo,
In autumn the moon, and
In winter, the snow, clear, cold.
--Dogen
Jason: what a fine young man this kid has become
I have known Jase since he was 5-years-old and now he is nearly 21, a junior in college. I am so fricking proud of him.
What matters in the end
And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
--Abraham Lincoln
I would amend the above by the following: ...it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life and love in your years.
12/21/11
A prince of a prince
With his wife looking on and laughing, Prince William treated a crowd of spectators to what was quickly dubbed the “swag dance”
Too often the case...
I have worked for two CEOs like this, paid well for a job badly done.
But I appreciate good leaders who enrich everybody through their work...customers, employees, shareholders, and partners.
Most people are not resentful of a Steve Jobs...but are plenty mad at the CEOs of large banks who parachuted out of their failing companies with big dollars, and forcing tax payers to shore up these firms.
Thanks to our efforts & Obama's, this is the first same-sex couple to share what the Navy calls the “first kiss”
Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta, 22, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell, 23, were chosen to share the “first kiss” once Gaeta returned from sea on the USS Oak Hill (pictured). The couple engaged in a kiss before a cheering, flag-waving crowed, according to the AP.
Everything good requires this...
Success is ultimately about connection, not perfection.
--Whitney Johnson
(Above photo is from Japan, after the Tsunami. These two gents relax and create a communal bath: an essential Japanese tradition even in the worst of times.)
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