Today is International Day Against Homophobia

Connecticut. Maine. Iowa. California. Massachusetts. Vermont, Oh My!

I am a rabid believer in the separation of church and state – the way the Founding Fathers wanted it – and now that the horrors of the Bush Regime can be rolled back, I read this great news recently in The Washington Post (Jacqueline L. Salmon, April 10, 2009): “Faith organizations and individuals who view homosexuality as sinful and refuse to provide services to gay people are losing a growing number of legal battles that they say are costing them their religious freedom. The lawsuits have resulted from states and communities that have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation. Those laws have created a clash between the right to be free from discrimination and the right to freedom of religion, religious groups said, with faith losing.”

For example, “A Christian photographer was forced by the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission to pay $6,637 in attorney's costs after she refused to photograph a gay couple's commitment ceremony.” This brings up a clash of freedom from persecution vs/ freedom of religion. I personally think religions that preach hatred and intolerance do not deserve to be protected, but luckily there is this thing called The Constitution in the USA. You remember The Constitution, don’t you? It’s that piece of paper Cheney used to wipe his ass. “But gay groups and liberal legal scholars say they are prevailing because an individual's religious views about homosexuality cannot be used to violate gays' right to equal treatment under the law.”

And in other news… Oh Horrors! Marriage has been re-defined and then the sky fell down! Oh wait, no it didn’t.

Webster’s Dictionary has modified its definition of marriage to include both same-sex and other-sex couples. So marriage has literally been re-defined – to the chagrin of all you homophobic shit-for-brains out there – and the world did not fall apart. My very happy heterosexual marriage was in NO WAY made less by this, in fact I think it elevates all marriages. Here is what Wesbter’s said about it:

"We often hear from people who believe that we are promoting – or perhaps failing to promote – a particular social or political agenda when we make choices about what words to include in the dictionary and how those words should be defined," associate editor Kory Stamper wrote in response. "We hear such criticism from all parts of the political spectrum. We're genuinely sorry when an entry in – or an omission from – one of our dictionaries is found to be offensive or upsetting, but we can't allow such considerations to deflect us from our primary job as lexicographers."

In other words, objective, educated people are seeing the reality of the modern world, and describing marriage as it IS, not as they think it OUGHT to be. Maybe we should tell Miss California…

Meat kills.

Have you put that pork chop down yet?!? No? My mean, judgmental rants haven’t helped yet, eh? : ) Well now, the most corrupt, drug-pushing pimp in history, the US Government, says that we should adhere to a plant-based diet. Re-he-he-heally?!?

This report (24 March, 2009) ran in Reuters, by Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor, and detailed the results of The US National Cancer Institute Study about the effects of red meat consumption on general health. Here are some of the findings of the thorough, careful study. (I have tried to find documentation about the study itself, but it seems it’s not yet published. However, click here to read the full Reuters article):

- “Even when other factors were accounted for -- eating fresh fruits and vegetables, smoking, exercise, obesity -- the heaviest meat-eaters were more likely to die over the next 10 years than the people who ate the least amount of meat.”

- “The quintile [of study participants] who ate the most red meat had a higher risk for overall death, death from heart disease and cancer than the men and women who ate the least red meat.”

- “For overall mortality, 11 percent of deaths in men and 16 percent of deaths in women could be prevented if people decreased their red meat consumption to the level of intake in the first quintile.” I also contend that taking meat out of your diet is better for your psychic (or spiritual, if you like) health. Many Buddhists believe that when you eat a sentient being, you also eats that being's karma - and since it's a hierarchical karmic ladder, the lower you eat on the karmic chain, the worse karma you yourself ingest. In other words, that chicken has tons of poopy karma, otherwise they wouldn't be a chicken -- and you just ate it.

- “The U.S. government now recommends a ‘plant-based diet’ that stresses fruits, vegetables and whole grains.”
- “…‘farming animals for meat causes greenhouse gas emissions that warm the atmosphere and uses fresh water in excess,’ [a nutrition expert] said. ‘I was pretty surprised when I checked back and went through the data on emissions from animal food and livestock,… I didn't expect it to be more than cars.’”

- And here’s a real shocker: “The meat industry denounced the study as flawed.”

Here is as good a time as any for me to embrace so-called Social Darwinism: maybe all the meat eaters should continue on their path, and eventually you’ll breed yourselves out by dying early! There are too many damn people on the planet anyways, so why don’t you guys just go ahead and select yourselves out of the equation?

March 10 is Tibet Day

March 10th Statement of H.H. the Dalai Lama (Published: Monday, 9 March, 2009)

"Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the Tibetan people’s peaceful uprising against Communist China’s repression in Tibet. Since last March widespread peaceful protests have erupted across the whole of Tibet. Most of the participants were youths born and brought up after 1959, who have not seen or experienced a free Tibet. However, the fact that they were driven by a firm conviction to serve the cause of Tibet that has continued from generation to generation is indeed a matter of pride. It will serve as a source of inspiration for those in the international community who take keen interest in the issue of Tibet. We pay tribute and offer our prayers for all those who died, were tortured and suffered tremendous hardships, including during the crisis last year, for the cause of Tibet since our struggle began..."

For full version visit
www.longlivehhdl.ning.com
www.dalailama.com (Official Website of His Holiness the Dalai Lama)

Happy No Losar! Tibet news

In solidarity with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, and Tibetans the world over, I am choosing not to celebrate Losar this year. You can read more about it here. 

As His Holiness the Dalai Lama continues to age and suffer from some illnesses, the question of his successor looms large for Tibetans, Buddhists and lovers of peace the world over. His Holiness himself has said in numerous writings that the 15th Dalai Lama may very well be found in the Tibetan diaspora community -- for example, in the 90s, a reincarnation of a high monk (called a tulku) was found to be reincarnated in a young boy in Seattle. These two articles report that the next reincarnation of His Holiness could be a female, and that installing the Karmapa Lama as regent should hold back Chinese agression while the search for, education and maturation of the new HHDL can be established.

"By naming a young and popular regent now, the Dalai Lama could assure a smooth transition to a figure who has become like a son to him, while dashing Chinese hopes of simply outwaiting the Tibetan exiles. He might also help to head off a full-blown power struggle over succession. As it is, any new leader—or joint leadership—will have to balance sectarian rivalries, win over alienated youth in Dharamsala, mollify the demands of sympathizers abroad and possibly deal with rival claimants to the title of the next Dalai Lama (each with his own powerful tutors and advisers)." 

Read the full article here.

Now the Karmapa Lama is the head of a different, I suppose rival, sect of Buddhism. In a sense, the Dalai Lama is only the head of his own sect, the Gelug-pa (Yellow hats - this is my school) and that groups happens to be the most powerful sect in Tibet. So that might bring up some sectarian fighting. As for female incarnations...

"The Dalai Lama didn't name a successor at the recent gathering of 600 exiled Tibetan leaders in Dharamsala, India, but triggered a wave of speculation by saying that he "may even choose a young girl," noting that he believes women have a greater capacity for compassion. If that happens, experts say it would be the first time a female outside the United States led a major world religion. It also would signify Tibetan Buddhism's capacity to evolve with the times.

While Tibet has never witnessed a female Dalai Lama, scholars say other high-ranking lamas, like the Demmo Lama, have occasionally been reincarnated in female form. Still, while the 14th Dalai Lama's succession ideas are revolutionary (he's also mentioned letting Tibetans democratically choose to abolish the post altogether), it's uncertain whether the tradition-bound population would accept a female leader. Seems there are glass ceilings even on the rooftop of the world."

Read the full article here.

And while we're at it, a few mistakes and misunderstandings in these articles, and in the general Western conception of Asian Buddhism:

- the present Dalai Lama does not "name" a successor, he merely points those who find the new reincarnation in the right direction through mystical statements, his position at the time of death, and so forth. It's not a question of picking or appointing or nominating.

- The high lamas of Tibet (or gurus in other schools of Buddhism) ARE NOT GODS! HHDL is NOT a deity; neither he nor his people see him that way. What these lamas are is living manifestations of buddhas -- that is, enlightened beings who chose to live in samsara to help other sentient beings escape it. There are NO capital-G Gods in Buddhism, as it is NOT a theistic religion. Especially from a standpoint of what we would call "high theology," attachments to a God or gods of any sort is dangerous attachment, bad for karma, and will keep one mired in samsara -- that is Mara pulling the wool over your eyes. In what I call 'folk' or popular Buddhism, the animist gods of the native religions (Bon in Tibet, Shinto in Japan, etc) do play a part in the daily lives of practitioners; Tibet has a particularly vivid panoply of demons, ghosts and gods in their cosmology. But understand that this does not mean HHDL is in any way a living God, or "God-King" as he's often rendered in Western media.

- The status of women is Buddhism is sticky, touchy and not easy to tease apart. Mainly, if women are even allowed to join the Sangha in various Buddhist vehicles, their ordination is more difficult and it is felt they must be re-born as men to acheive enlightenment. That is really food for another blog, but here are many questions over which to ruminate in the meantime...

Reason #8745897 to stop eating meat

"When it comes to global warming, hamburgers are the Hummers of food, scientists say. Simply switching from steak to salad could cut as much carbon as leaving the car at home a couple days a week."

So says an article I read online today. I actually hate meat consumption almost as much as Hummers, but there are few things I hate more than Hummers. Appealing to people's sense of compassion is clearly not the way to go -- because most of you are educated adults, you know where meat comes from, you know the animals are tortured and slaughtered after leading a horrid life, and you still eat meat anyways, don't you? Appealing to your pocket-book hasn't worked either, which I find shocking as Americans don't give a shit about anyone or anything unless it affects their own bottom line. Meat is so much more expensive, on so many levels, than vegetables and grains. But could this environmental 'angle' work?

Now I know some of you, especially in the UK, are saying, "But I only buy organic, free-range meat." Bravo for you (I meant that sarcastically). Sure that is better for your health, but it does almost nothing to help the devastating environmental consequences of meat consumption, although the lives of the animals before they are murdered and consumed are marginally better. And you are still eating the muscle tissue of a sentient, sapient animal with thoughts and feelings and conscience. Cruel and gross. Is that what you want to teach your children?!

Back to the article; "That's because beef is such an incredibly inefficient food to produce and cows release so much harmful methane into the atmosphere, said Nathan Pelletier of Dalhousie University in Canada. Pelletier is one of a growing number of scientists studying the environmental costs of food from field to plate. By looking at everything from how much grain a cow eats before it is ready for slaughter to the emissions released by manure, they are getting a clearer idea of the true costs of food. The livestock sector is estimated to account for 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and beef is the biggest culprit. Even though beef only accounts for 30 percent of meat consumption in the developed world it's responsible for 78 percent of the emissions, Pelletier said Sunday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science... Food is the third largest contributor to the average US household's carbon footprint after driving and utilities, and in Europe - where people drive less and have smaller homes - it has an even greater impact."

Don't you find that shocking?!?

For more information on how to eat a low carbon diet, visit www.eatlowcarbon.org.

And please, for the love of the planet - stop eating meat. Just stop it. You don't need it, it's bad for your body, your karma, your spirit, and the earth.

Tribute to Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, and the rest

"Masters Of War" Bob Dylan

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

Copyright ©1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music

Click here to view The Roots cover it to the tune of our national anthem.

even more proof Neil Finn is a GOD!

Seven Worlds Collide 2008/2009

Over Christmas 2008 and New Year 2009, Neil Finn has invited the core band from his 2001 Seven Worlds Collide project, plus some other special guests, to create a new album at Roundhead studios in Auckland, New Zealand.

Guests confirmed so far are Radiohead's Phil Selway and Ed O'Brien, legendary guitarist Johnny Marr, founder member of The Smiths and current member of US alternate rock innovators Modest Mouse, Soul Coughing's Sebastian Steinberg, multi-instrumentalist Lisa Germano, Wilco members Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche and Pat Sansone, Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall, along with NZ musicians Liam Finn, Don McGlashan and Bic Runga. All proceeds from this very special recording will go to support the continuing great work of Oxfam International.

And look out – if you think this is just going to happen behind closed doors, you're mistaken – Neil plans to share this unique event with music fans in New Zealand by presenting a short series of intimate and informal live performances at The Powerstation, Mt Eden Road, Auckland, NZ.