7/31/11
It is tempting to hate the tea party people but, if I did so, I would just be like them
Watching the fiscal crisis in Washington this weekend has been tough. I am furious to see how the Tea Party has hijacked the Republican party for their own selfish and racist purposes.
But I understand tea party philosophy even though I don't accept it. They want to dramatically reduce the size of government and its programs...unless they benefit from it. They, with their good buddies at Fox News, have tried to whip up anger about the country's allegedly high taxes when in reality federal taxes are historically low levels. They try to blame the recession and Wall Street shenanigans on Obama even though W should bear most of the blame. They talk about Obama beingin socialist and how they want their country back, when they really don't like black people and don't want one as their president. And they talk about how America has changed too much, including how gay people have the audacity to think they are God's children, too, and deserve to be treated equally, including getting married.
But the tea party politicians (Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, etc) and their supporters don't think too deeply about these matters. Besides their lack of compassion for their fellow man (and the Christian idea that we all are connected and our brother's keeper), I find their of lack of critical thinking to be the most insulting thing about them. They badly distort the facts to fit their view of the world.
I am all for trimming government programs that don't work or reforming other things about government. I also favor fiscal responsibility, and my family and I live like fiscal conservatives, not just talk like it. And while I don't like to pay or see my taxes raised but I realize that need to pay for everything for our society. It is simple math. The fallacy of the Tea Party movement and Reaganomics is the belief in magical shortcuts. By somehow cutting taxes with the Prop 13 in 1970s and in 2000 when George W cut taxes for everyone, including and especially the rich, that in the long-term we are still going to be able to pay for everything the country needs and made us great. The reason Reagan and Bush were able to cut taxes is that in the previous decades the country had invested in infrastructure, education, and other programs, and the state and country could coast for a few years without additional investment in those areas. But look at California now after decades of Prop 13 and Republican tax cuts...the golden state is a lot less appealing. Sometimes we need to cut taxes but this period is not one of them.
America has seen demagogue movements before and this latest one will not be the last. So I am going to breath deeply and tolerate their right to their opinions and political actions, not because I am a saint, because I am a true believer in a pluralistic democracy, I believe that the tea partiers are also God's children (no matter how delusional), and I don't want to be as intolerant as the people who hate me.
7/30/11
"Why The GOP Are Not Fiscal Conservatives" by Andrew Sullivan
The reason is pretty simple. A fiscal conservative puts living within one's means as the core priority; the current GOP believes that defunding the government should be the core priority. As British chancellor George Osborne has noted, the Tories want to keep taxes as low as possible and government as modest as possible within a balanced budget; the Republicans want to keep taxes as low as possible and government as modest as possible, even if this means vast deficits, or default, within a divided government. For the rest of the article, click here.
A zen lesson as our country teeters
When it is time to dress, let us put on our clothes.
When it is time to walk, let us walk.
Do not have a single thought in mind about searching for the Buddhahood.
--Lin-chi
Choi has got it right on pushing Obama to be his best
I pressure this president so he can be a great leader; you protect him because you believe otherwise.
--Lt. Dan Choi
Sounds like the GOProud gays in the back of the conservative bus just got thrown off and under it
According to official letters obtained by The Daily Caller, the gay conservative group GOProud and the ultraconservative John Birch Society won’t be co-sponsoring the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2012.
The decision was reached by a full vote of the American Conservative Union’s board of directors. The ACU organizes and hosts CPAC each year.
Representatives of GOProud and the John Birch Society were notified of the decision via mail Friday afternoon.
7/29/11
Not one GOP elected official has chosen to be in an "It Gets Better" video, which tells you a lot how much that party cares about gay youth...and us
Yesterday, Dan Savage reported that not one GOP elected official has participated in an "It Gets Better" video, while the President, Vice-President, Clinton, most of the Cabinet and many of the Democratic senators and representatives have done so.
The GOP didn't help us during the AIDS crisis, threw us under the bus in 2004 by campaigning against us, and now they don't care if our youth takes their lives due in part to the homophobia that the GOP has helped stir up. This party is morally bankrupt. But this is not news to anyone. Yes, I am pissed because their behavior is outrageous.
On a positive note, watch this "It Gets Better" video from Pixar employees:
The GOP didn't help us during the AIDS crisis, threw us under the bus in 2004 by campaigning against us, and now they don't care if our youth takes their lives due in part to the homophobia that the GOP has helped stir up. This party is morally bankrupt. But this is not news to anyone. Yes, I am pissed because their behavior is outrageous.
On a positive note, watch this "It Gets Better" video from Pixar employees:
7/28/11
There is "no ground" to this world. It is temporary...and can be beautiful
At present, the outer universe—earth, stones, mountains, rocks, and cliffs—seems to the perception of our senses to be permanent and stable, like the house built of reinforced concrete that we think will last for generations. In fact, there is nothing solid to it at all; it is nothing but a city of dreams.
--Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Via Tricycle.com
Gay bloggers win a small victory against homophobia
From Talk About Equality:
After a quick and successful campaign and a Change.org petition, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) has had their accreditation pulled in California. NARTH was on a list of several hundred organizations which could have provided continuing education credits for Licensed Educational Psychologists, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Licensed Clinical Social Workers to renew their licenses. This essentially meant that NARTH could be responsible for helping to train the people who have to counsel LGBT youth and families.
Emails, phone calls, tweets, and letters make a difference!
7/27/11
A thoughtful piece from the Atlantic: "How Obama's Slow Repeal of 'DADT' Defused the Controversy"
Advocates were outraged by the administration's pace, but the president's deliberative approach has prevented a backlash...read about it here.
7/26/11
7/25/11
One particle of dust contains...
One particle of dust contains thousands of sutras,
so the wisdom of all Buddhas is complete in the
bodies of ordinary people who do not realize it.
--Chinul
via Zen Calendar
7/24/11
I am just sayin...
Reality catches up with America's "fair and balanced" news source, just last week when it did with its founder.
Looking at things as a whole...
Any space is as much apart of the instrument
as the instrument itself.
--Pauline Oliveros
On this historic day for marriage equality in the United State, I heart New York!
And the sky isn't falling...but the temperature is rising.
7/23/11
Andrew Sullivan sums up the problem with the GOP
From "America's Cold Civil War" by Andrew Sullivan:
"The Republican refusal to countenance any way to raise revenues to tackle the massive debt incurred largely on their watch and from a recession which started under Obama's predecessor makes one thing clear. They are not a political party in government; they are a radical faction that refuses to participate meaningfully in the give and take the Founders firmly believed should be at the center of American government. They are not conservatives in this sense. They are anarchists."
7/22/11
A picture that sums up our collective denial about climate change. I am worried for my nephew
Predicted highs for today...and it isn't even August yet! I am worried.
From NOAA:
- The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for June 2011 was the seventh warmest on record at 16.08°C (60.94°F), which is 0.58°C (1.04°F) above the 20th century average of 15.5°C (59.9°F).
- June 2011 was the 316th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th century average. The last month with below-average temperature was February 1985.
- The June worldwide average land surface temperature was 0.89°C (1.60°F) above the 20th century average of 13.3°C (55.9°F)—the fourth warmest on record.
- The global average ocean surface temperature was the 10th warmest June on record, at 0.47°C (0.85°F) above average. Neither El Niño nor La Niña conditions were present during June 2011.
- According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, these ENSO-neutral conditions are expected to continue into the Northern Hemisphere fall 2011.
- The first half of 2011 (January–June) was the 11th warmest on record for the combined global land and ocean surface temperatures.
- Separately, the worldwide average ocean temperature was also the 11th warmest January–June and the worldwide average land temperature was the 12th warmest such period.
A zen teaching that has become my mantra
"When you do something, you should burn yourself completely."
--Suzuki Roshi
7/21/11
Tiger, flailing, fires long-time caddie
This line from today's SF Chronicle captures the pain of Tiger:
"In the 20 months since Woods was caught having multiple extramarital affairs, he has lost four major sponsors, changed swing coaches, was divorced from his wife and now has cut loose his caddie."
What a fall from grace.
The spiritual path is virtually never what we expect
We all enter the spiritual path as ego-based beings, and as such we have ego-based hopes and fears. Practice is virtually never what we expect. We feel like we’ve got it all wrong, thinking, “The more I meditate, the worse I become.” My teacher, Gendun Rinpoche, always responded to this by saying, “When you see your own shortcomings, it’s the dawn of qualities. If you only see your qualities, there’s a problem.”
--Lama Tsony
Via Tricycle
7/20/11
7/19/11
7/18/11
"Seriousness is an accident of time..." -- H. Hesse
Seriousness is an accident of time. It consists in putting too high value on time.
In eternity there is no time. Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke.
--Hermann Hesse
7/17/11
7/16/11
7/15/11
Good-bye to Friday Night Lights, a TV show that will continue to live in my heart
Tonight's finale did not disappoint. There were wonderful surprises, endings and beginnings. Again, Tammy and Eric showed why they are best example of a loving couple on TV. This show deserves to sweep this year's Emmy awards...it was that consistently good. The music, the writing, and the acting really moved me.
With tears in my eyes, good-bye FNL!
Leadership trifecta: A president, governor & mayor that (mostly) support my rights as a gay American citizen
While I don't consider them to be perfect on all LGBT issues, I am pretty happy with President Obama, California Governor Jerry Brown, and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee. What a difference principled leadership at the top makes!
And, we need Obama to evolve more quickly on the marriage equality issue.
7/14/11
Contact California Governor Brown today to sign SB48, a bill that would include the accomplishments of LGBT people in high school history textbooks
Recently, the CA legislature passed a bill (the FAIR Education Act - SB48) that would mandate the inclusion of the important historical contributions of gay people in California public high school history text books, just like similar state laws mandate the inclusion of other historically under-represented minorities like women, Blacks, and Hispanics. The governor is getting a lot of heat from the forces of fear (so-called christians, homophobes, and various other types of luddites).
We need to speak up for this bill and let California's kids know that LGBT people play important roles in our society, too
Please contact the Governor and tell him to sign the FAIR Education Act (SB48):
Email: http://gov.ca.gov/m_contact.php
Phone: 1.916.445.2841
Twitter: @jerrybrowngov
7/13/11
The messy process of forgiving another & myself
Recently, I have been asking myself why did I tolerate such mean and judgmental behavior from someone who I was really close to? Why didn't I end this emotionally-corrosive relationship many months earlier?
These are difficult things that I try to hold and ponder without being harshly critical of myself. But looking back, I stayed in this relationship because I saw the innate goodness in this other person...and I still do. I tried to ignore his fear, which the Course in Miracles says it isn't real in a spiritual sense. I hoped that my love would heal and transform his fear, which I was wrong about and isn't my job.
I am learning to accept other people for exactly who they are right now, not what I would like him or her to be. Also, I need to take better care of my inner little kid, speaking from my heart when someone does something to offend me. Being open and loving AND with clear and appropriate boundaries.
I am living and learning along this messy path of life. I don't mind saying that I was a fool for love (in this past relationship). But I have grown and deepened. As the movie The Tree of Life so wonderfully talks about, I chose "the way of grace:" that difficult but satisfying life approach that emphasizes forgiveness, compassion, and love.
7/12/11
Karma catches up with Rupert Murdoch
A "successful man" does not make a good one. Sleazy, unprincipled, and corrupt...it all starts at the top.
Gaga wisdom
What I am so against is the way that certain laws send a message that one person is more valuable than another.
--Lady Gaga
7/11/11
"Laughing at the whole enterprise, even myself..."
The bright moon is now shining down.
Mountains and rivers calm.
Laughing at this whole enterprise, even at myself,
startles heaven and earth!
Ha ha ha ha ha!!
--So Sahn
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