Sexuality and Socialism -Sherry Wolf

Let's Improve Our Collective Karma!

From: NamoAmituofo moonpointer@gmail.com

 

Let's Improve Our Collective Karma!













http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/04/lets-improve-our-collective-karma

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Stjepan Hauser: Largo from the opera Xerxes by G.F. Handel

Thanks to Antonius Subia.

Wheel of Time (2003) - Werner Herzog

81 min | avi | 384Kbps | 656x368 | 29fps | 900MB | Color | English

IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0331080/

Review:
Wheel of Time is a 2003 documentary film by German director Werner Herzog about Tibetan Buddhism. The title refers to the Kalachakra sand mandala that provides a recurring image for the film. The film documents the two Kalachakra initiations of 2002, presided over by the fourteenth Dalai Lama. The first, in Bodhgaya India, was disrupted by the Dalai Lama's illness. Later that same year, the event was held again, this time without disruption, in Graz Austria. The film's first location is the Bodhgaya, the site of the Mahabodhi Temple and the Bodhi tree. Herzog then turns to the pilgrimage at Mount Kailash. The film then focuses on the second gathering in Graz. Herzog includes a personal interview with the Dalai Lama, as well as Tibetan former political prisoner Takna Jigme Zangpo, who served 37 years in a Chinese prison for his support of the International Tibet Independence Movement.

Download thanks to foreignmoviesdll.com

TWO Expresses Solidarity With South Park After Muslim Extremist Threats

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, April 22, 2010 Contact: Wayne Besen Phone: 917-691-5118 E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org TWO Expresses Solidarity With Creators of South Park After Muslim Extremist Group Makes Threats Religious Extremism And Censorship Are Dangers To LGBT Equality  NEW YORK -- Truth Wins Out expressed strong support for Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of Comedy Central's South Park, after they faced calls for violent reprisals following an episode that showed the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit. Such religious extremism and intolerance threatens all Americans, particularly the gay, lesbian bisexual and transgender community, says TWO. "We stand in solidarity with the creators of South Park and strongly defend their freedom of speech," said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. "Our liberty demands that we fight back against intolerant fanatics - no matter what the religion - who believe they can bully and intimidate to get their way. If zealots have a problem with South Park, they can turn the channel. If we cave into their demands, the LGBT community will be one of the first to feel the chilling effects and suffer the consequences." Following the controversial episode, a fringe Islamic website, RevolutionMuslim.com, warned Parker and Stone that they could face retribution. The website included a graphic photo of Theo van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker who was murdered in 2004 after making a documentary on violence against Muslim women. "We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show," the website reads. "This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them...They're going to be basically on a list in the back of the minds of a large number of Muslims. It's just the reality." "The goal of these extremists is to foment fear and create an atmosphere of self-censorship," said TWO's Besen. "This would essentially lead to an unwritten blasphemy law that would curtail creative freedom. We must not allow this to happen or other fringe religious organizations will view threats of violence as a legitimate strategy to meet their demands." Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that monitors religious extremism, fights anti-gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender misinformation campaigns, and educates about the lives of LGBT people.   -

This could be any of us.

The way Gays are treated in the United States. Just a reminder that "freedom and justice for all" is a lie and always has been.

Greene v. County of Sonoma et al.

Clay and his partner of 20 years, Harold, lived in California. Clay and Harold made diligent efforts to protect their legal rights, and had their legal paperwork in place—wills, powers of attorney, and medical directives, all naming each other. Harold was 88 years old and in frail medical condition, but still living at home with Clay, 77, who was in good health.
One evening, Harold fell down the front steps of their home and was taken to the hospital. Based on their medical directives alone, Clay should have been consulted in Harold’s care from the first moment. Tragically, county and health care workers instead refused to allow Clay to see Harold in the hospital. The county then ultimately went one step further by isolating the couple from each other, placing the men in separate nursing homes.
Ignoring Clay’s significant role in Harold’s life, the county continued to treat Harold like he had no family and went to court seeking the power to make financial decisions on his behalf. Outrageously, the county represented to the judge that Clay was merely Harold’s “roommate.” The court denied their efforts, but did grant the county limited access to one of Harold’s bank accounts to pay for his care.
What happened next is even more chilling: without authority, without determining the value of Clay and Harold’s possessions accumulated over the course of their 20 years together or making any effort to determine which items belonged to whom, the county took everything Harold and Clay owned and auctioned off all of their belongings. Adding further insult to grave injury, the county removed Clay from his home and confined him to a nursing home against his will. The county workers then terminated Clay and Harold's lease and surrendered the home they had shared for many years to the landlord.
Three months after he was hospitalized, Harold died in the nursing home. Because of the county’s actions, Clay missed the final months he should have had with his partner of 20 years. Compounding this tragedy, Clay has literally nothing left of the home he had shared with Harold or the life he was living up until the day that Harold fell, because he has been unable to recover any of his property. The only memento Clay has is a photo album that Harold painstakingly put together for Clay during the last three months of his life.
With the help of a dedicated and persistent court-appointed attorney, Anne Dennis of Santa Rosa, Clay was finally released from the nursing home. Ms. Dennis, along with Stephen O'Neill and Margaret Flynn of Tarkington, O'Neill, Barrack & Chong, now represent Clay in a lawsuit against the county, the auction company, and the nursing home, with technical assistance from NCLR. A trial date has been set for July 16, 2010 in the Superior Court for the County of Sonoma.

SOURCE

Stop Sarah Palin's "Nature" show

Dear Friend,

The media conglomerate Discovery Communications used to be known for their
earth-friendly offerings. But they've just paid millions to Sarah Palin to
host a "nature" show, despite her decidedly anti-environmental stance: She
vocally advocates for habitat-destroying oil drilling, she denies global
warming is a human-caused threat, and she spearheaded a brutal
wolf-slaughter program as governor of Alaska.

It's one thing if Fox News gives Sarah Palin a platform. But when
Discovery Communications -- home to the Discovery Channel, the "Planet
Earth" series, the Science Channel, Animal Planet, and TreeHugger.com --
gives a show to Sarah Palin, it undercuts everything the Discovery brand
has come to represent.

Anti-environmentalism has no place in the Discovery Communications lineup.
Join me in demanding that the company cancel "Sarah Palin's Alaska" before
it airs. Just click on the link below to send your message.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/palin_discovery/?r_by=8720-2704780-0WwCkxx&rc=mailto1

Jesus is REALLY excited to see you at church today.

Picture is not the same one but you get the idea.

Even in death, African gays are still abused

 This Friday Feb. 5, 2010 photo shows Ousmane Diallo holding a picture of his son Madieye Diallo at his shop in Thies, Senegal. Madieye Diallo's body had only been in the ground for a few hours when a mob descended on the cemetery with shovels. They yanked out his corpse, dragged it from the weedy cemetery, spit on its torso and dumped it in front of the home of his elderly parents. A wave of intense homophobia is washing across Africa, where homosexuality is already illegal in at least 37 countries. (AP Photo/Ricci Shryock)

 

Case in Senegal shows the intensity of homophobia in Africa

The Associated Press

updated 12:01 a.m. ET, Sun., April 11, 2010

THIES, Senegal - Even death cannot stop the violence against gays in this corner of the world any more.

Madieye Diallo's body had only been in the ground for a few hours when the mob descended on the weedy cemetery with shovels. They yanked out the corpse, spit on its torso, dragged it away and dumped it in front of the home of his elderly parents.

The scene of May 2, 2009 was filmed on a cell phone and the video sold at the market. It passed from phone to phone, sowing panic among gay men who say they now feel like hunted animals.

"I locked myself inside my room and didn't come out for days," says a 31-year-old gay friend of Diallo's who is ill with HIV. "I'm afraid of what will happen to me after I die. Will my parents be able to bury me?"

A wave of intense homophobia is washing across Africa, where homosexuality is already illegal in at least 37 countries.

In the last year alone, gay men have been arrested in Kenya, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. In Uganda, lawmakers are considering a bill that would sentence homosexuals to life in prison and include capital punishment for 'repeat offenders.' And in South Africa, the only country that recognizes gay rights, gangs have carried out so-called "corrective" rapes on lesbians.

"Across many parts of Africa, we've seen a rise in homophobic violence," says London-based gay-rights activist Peter Tatchell, whose organization tracks abuse against gays and lesbians in Africa. "It's been steadily building for the last 10 years but has got markedly worse in the last year."

Desecration of bodiesTo the long list of abuse meted out to suspected homosexuals in Africa, Senegal has added a new form of degradation — the desecration of their bodies.

In the past two years, at least four men suspected of being gay have been exhumed by angry mobs in cemeteries in Senegal. The violence is especially shocking because Senegal, unlike other countries in the region, is considered a model of tolerance.

"It's jarring to see this happen in Senegal," says Ryan Thoreson, a fellow at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission who has been researching the rise of homophobia here. "When something like this happens in an established democracy, it's alarming."

Even though homosexuality is illegal in Senegal, colonial documents indicate the country has long had a clandestine gay community. In many towns, they were tacitly accepted, says Cheikh Ibrahima Niang, a professor of social anthropology at Senegal's largest university. In fact, the visibility of gays in Senegal may have helped to prompt the backlash against them.

Wedding sparks a backlashThe backlash dates back to at least February 2008, when a Senegalese tabloid published photographs of a clandestine gay wedding in a suburb of Dakar, the capital. The wedding was held inside a rented banquet hall and was attended by dozens of gay men, some of whom snapped pictures that included the gay couple exchanging rings and sharing slices of cake.

The day after the tabloid published the photographs, police began rounding up men suspected of being homosexual. Some were beaten in captivity and forced to turn over the names of other gay men, according to research by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

Gays immediately went into hiding and those who could fled to neighboring countries, including Gambia to the south, according to the New York-based commission. Gambia's erratic president declared that gays who had entered his country had 24 hours to leave or face decapitation. Many returned to Senegal, where they lived on the run, moving from safehouse to safehouse.

In March 2008, Senegal hosted an international summit of Muslim nations, which prompted a nationwide crackdown on behaviors deemed un-Islamic, including homosexuality.

The crackdown also coincided with spiraling food prices. Niang says political and religious leaders saw an easy way to reach constituents through the inflammatory topic of homosexuality.

"They found a way to explain the difficulties people are facing as a deviation from religious life," says Niang. "So if people are poor — it's because there are prostitutes in the street. If they don't have enough to eat, it's because there are homosexuals."

Muslum sermonsImams began using Friday sermons to preach against homosexuality.

"During the time of the Prophet, anytime two men were found together, they were taken to the top of a mountain and thrown off," says Massamba Diop, the imam of a mosque in Pikine and the head of Jamra, an Islamic lobby linked to a political party in Senegal's parliament.

"If they didn't die when they hit the ground, then rocks would be thrown on them until they were killed," says Diop, whose mosque is so packed during Friday prayer that people bring their own carpets and line up outside on the asphalt.

Sermons like Diop's were carried on the mosque's loudspeakers as well as in Senegal's more than 30 newspapers and magazines.

Around this time, in May 2008, a middle-aged man called Serigne Mbaye fell ill and died in a suburb of Dakar.

His children tried to bury him in his village but were turned back from the cemetery because of widespread rumors that he was gay. His sons drove his body around trying to find a cemetery that would accept him. They were finally forced to bury him on the side of a road, using their own hands to dig a hole, according to media reports.

The grave was too shallow and the wind blew away the dirt. When the decomposing body was later discovered, Mbaye's children were arrested and charged with improperly burying their father.

In the town of Kaolack three months later, residents exhumed the grave of another man believed to be gay. In November 2008, residents in Pikine removed a corpse from a mosque of another suspected homosexual and left it on the side of the road.

The grave-robbing has shocked even hardened gay activists, such as Nigerian Davis Mac-Iyalla.

"People have done horrible things (in Nigeria). I have seen people spit on coffins and people spit on graves," he said. "But it stopped there."

Diallo's deathAmong the people who appeared in the photograph published from the gay wedding was a young man in his 30s from Thies. He was an activist and a leader of a gay organization called And Ligay, meaning "Working together," which he ran out of his parents' house.

He was HIV-positive and on medication.

When the tabloid published the photograph, Diallo went into hiding, according to a close friend who asked not to be named because he too is gay. Unable to go to the doctor, Diallo stopped taking his anti-retrovirals. By the spring of 2009, he was so ill that his family checked him into St. Jean de Dieu, a Catholic hospital in downtown Thies, says the friend.

He was in a coma when he died at 5:50 a.m. on May 2, 2009, according to the hospital's records. Although the hospital has a unit dedicated to treating HIV patients, the young man's family never disclosed his illness, according to the doctor in charge.

Several gay friends tried to see Diallo in the hospital but were told to stay away by his family, says the friend.

When the AP tried to speak to Diallo's elderly father at his shop on the main thoroughfare in Thies, his other children demanded the reporter leave. One sister covered her face and sobbed. Another said, "There are no homosexuals here."

Hours after he died, his family took Diallo's body to a nearby mosque, where custom holds the corpse should be bathed and wrapped in a white cloth. Before the family could bathe him, news reached the mosque that Diallo was gay and they were chased out, says the dead man's friend. His relatives hastily wrapped him in a sheet and headed to the cemetery, where they carried him past the home of Babacar Sene.

"A man that's known as being a homosexual can't be buried in a cemetery. His body needs to be thrown away like trash," says Sene. "His parents knew that he was gay and they did nothing about it. So when he died we wanted to make sure he was punished."

Video of desecrationThe video footage captured on a cell phone shows what happened next. His thin body was placed inside a narrow trough in the middle of the bald cemetery dotted with clumps of weeds. Then you hear shouting.

The shaky image shows a group of men jerking around the edges of the grave. One of them straddles the pit and shovels away the fine gray dirt until you can see the shrouded body. It's still inside the trough when they tie a rope around its feet.

They yank it out, cheering as the body bends over the lip of the grave. The shroud catches on the ground and tears off, revealing the dead man's torso.

Rassul Djitte, 48, watched from behind the wall of a nearby school. He had not known Diallo personally, but says he felt a stab. "People were rejoicing," he says. "They dragged him past me and his body left tracks in the sand. Like a car passing through snow."

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36376840/ns/world_news-africa/

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© 2010 MSNBC.com

Teabonics

These are signs seen primarily at Tea Party Protests.

They all feature "creative" spelling or grammar.

This new dialect of the English language shall be known as "Teabonics."

LINK

Kuan Yin: Androgynous spirit of compassion

Buddhists celebrate the birth of Kuan Yin, androgynous spirit of compassion, on the day before Easter this year -- a holy synchronicity.

I didn’t know about this “coincidence” when I invited gay author Toby Johnson to write the following piece to post on Kuan Yin’s feast day as part of the GLBT saints series here.

Upon reflection, it seems appropriate that Kuan Yin was born the day before Christ rose to new life. After all, Jesus is the Christian embodiment of compassion. I am pleased to present Kuan Yin on Holy Saturday, as churches hold Easter vigils. As Johnson says, Kuan Yin is wonderful for LGBT people and our allies because he/she unites male and female. 


Read the rest at Jesus in Love

Notice the mustache on the last image.

Gay Relationships and Spiritual Practice- Gregory Millard, Ph.D

Talk and discussion on gay relationships by Gregory Millard, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist who specializes working with gay men. Greg incorporates mindfulness awareness and training as a part of the therapy he provides to both individuals and couples. Greg's own spiritual practice includes yoga, meditation, and an active involvement with community. For questions about the talk, send an email to Greg at gamillard@aol.com. For more information on the Gay Buddhist Sangha, visit http://gaybuddhisgtsangha.com.

Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawai'i

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY ADOPTS RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE RIGHTS OF SAME-GENDER COUPLES

On Friday, February 12, 2010, the 98th Annual Legislative Assembly of the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii approved a resolution in support of equal rights for same-gender couples.

"Members of our Sangha (congregation) believe we should share our perspective on this important issue," said President Alton Miyamoto. "We want to share our Buddhist values of Universal Compassion, Equality and Interdependence with the larger community. We believe this issue is a matter of civil rights. We affirm the human dignity and worth of all people and that everyone deserves equal treatment within our society."
Over 100 delegates and observers from 36 temples across the State of Hawaii convened at the state headquarters located at 1727 Pali Highway. The Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii is a Shin Buddhist community which celebrated its 120th Anniversary in Hawaii in 2009. The Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii is the largest Buddhist denomination in Hawaii.
"Our primary goal as Buddhists is to awaken to the spiritual truth of interdependence and equality," said Bishop Thomas R. Okano. "To truly realize interdependence we need to become aware of the inherent interconnectedness with others and develop a profound sense of compassion and responsibility for the welfare of all beings. In Buddhism, the ideal is Universal Compassion. If it's good for one person, it must be good for another. Equality is of prime importance."


ESTABLISHING THE RIGHTS OF SAME-GENDER COUPLES

 WHEREAS, the Dharma (universal teachings) provides guidance on how to live
mindfully with an awareness of universal compassion which embraces and uplifts each and every
person; and
 WHEREAS, in order to truly realize universal compassion, we need to cultivate a
profound sense of responsibility for the welfare of all beings; and
 WHEREAS, the Buddhist ideal of universal compassion does not discriminate between
good and evil, young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight; and 
 WHEREAS, Buddhism affirms the inherent worth and dignity of all persons independent
of gender; and
 WHEREAS, families today are composed of many combinations and what connects
individuals as a family is a conscious commitment to share in the responsibilities of life; and
 WHEREAS, the Dharma (universal teachings) affirms and celebrates human expressions
of love and partnership, guiding us to strive for responsible, faithful, and committed relationships
that recognize and respect the Buddha-nature (potential for Enlightenment) in all people; and
 WHEREAS, Shakyamumi Buddha, the founding teacher of Buddhism, encouraged
people to carefully reflect on all situations and to find truth for themselves by teaching that all
beliefs, even the Buddha's own words, should not be accepted unless they have been tested
through objective observation, careful logical analysis and positive life experiences; and
 WHEREAS, Shinran Shonin, the founder of Shin Buddhism, affirmed the inherent
equality among all people whose lives are karmically (causally) bound and interconnected by
teaching that the great Wisdom and Compassion of Amida (ultimate reality) embraces all beings
equally and unconditionally without exception; and
 WHEREAS, some Shin Buddhist ministers and Sangha (congregations) have held
commitment services to honor the relationships of gay and lesbian couples for some time; and
 WHEREAS, the rights of same-gender couples is an issue deserving of serious and
mindful discussion by faith communities; NOW, THEREFORE,
  BE IT RESOLVED, that the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii, a Shin Buddhist
organization, affirms that same-gender couples should have access to equal rights and quality of
life as conferred by legally recognized marriage; and
 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that same-gender unions shall be considered equal to
opposite-gender unions in ceremonies officiated by its ministers; and 
 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii shall
pursue opportunities through which its members, friends and the general public can better
understand Shin Buddhist teachings in relation to same-gender unions; and 
 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution be transmitted to all
temples and organizations affiliated with the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii, other
Buddhist organizations in Hawaii, the Governor of the State of Hawaii, members of the Hawaii
State Legislature, and members of the Hawaii news media.  

Please click here for FACT SHEET