Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Via JMG: STUDY: Gays Less Likely To Divorce


Via Pink News:
Same-sex couples are more likely to have stable, long-lasting relationships than straight couples, according to a new study. Statistical research conducted by the Williams Institute at the University of California looked at data on the break-up of same-sex marriages and partnerships in New Hampshire, Vermont, California, DC, New Jersey, Washington and Wisconsin. The data showed that in New Hampshire and Vermont, 5.4% and 3.6% of marriages were terminated across the first four years of marriage equality. While these numbers seems high, it corresponds to an annual relationship termination rate of 1.1% – which is just over half the comparable mixed-sex divorce rate of 2%.
The study notes that in states that had already legalized same-sex marriage, the rate of gay nuptials increased after the demise of DOMA.

UPDATE: JMG reader Chris notes that the Washington Post has an issue with the study's methodology. 
 
Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: FLORIDA: City Of Fort Lauderdale Plans Beach Wedding For 100 Gay Couples


 
Via the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel:
The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau plans to invite at least 100 couples from around the country and around the world to marry oceanside in a common ceremony sometime this winter, said Nicki Grossman, president of the Broward County tourism group in an interview. The 100 number also will honor Broward's 100th birthday celebration now underway. "We're going to pull out all the stops, just like a proud father does when their child marries," said Grossman, calling gay travelers "a very loyal and important part of our destination." The wedding extravaganza is just the first of many gay-marriage activities planned in Broward, a pioneer in promoting gay tourism. In 2013, more than 1.3 million LGBT travelers visited Broward and spent about $1.5 billion, accounting for about 10 percent of tourism in the county, Grossman said. And that counts only those who came on LGBT tours, attended gay events, responded to gay ads or in some way, self-identified as LGBT. "We believe that there are considerably more LGBT travelers than that" in Broward, Grossman said.
A date for the event has not yet been announced.


Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via The Hunger Site / FB:


Baha'i A Field Guide to the Faith by MrDonut



And some day I am bitter:

Product Details

  • Paperback: 134 pages
  • Publisher: Blurb.com; 1st edition (November 15, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 160725526X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1607255260
  • Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,699,281 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Editorial Reviews

    Review

    Nancy Ellen Walker's first novel manuscript was 'inadvertently destroyed" some decades back by a Baha'i reviewer who condemned it for saying the Baha'i Faith's founder was "awesome." It started her thinking about the poet-god Baha'u'llah and the metaphor he created for his life: a prisoner and an exile. Today, that metaphor is strong in the Baha'i community, and Baha'i administration itself has taken on the role of pash and sultan. It drives its members into corridors of fear and submission to denial of conscience while presenting front populated by Ph.D.s and professionals who woo government and media for respectability. Emerging from the Baha'i organization was like getting a very slow divorce. It was challenged by Baha'i administrators who employed tactics of secrecy, silence, and slander to remove her from the community. Ultimately, Ms.Walker sees g Baha'i world administration (which begins in your neighborhood) as an attempt by Western Baha'is to imitate Sharia law - even though Islam regards the Baha'i Faith as a poseur religion. The opportunities for slavish worship and for unquestioned control of the worshipper's conscience thrive in this 'religion' that forbids its members to read material of its many "enemies" - those who stand for the right to read their own history, and worship as their conscience dictates. The Baha'i Faith has evolved in less than 200 years from the musings of a a disgruntled poet-aristocrat to an organization that is ready to claim kinship and supremacy over all other world religions. Ms.Walker finds its mighty claims and aims are the result of a long Perisan family feud that has squandered its resources to build a garden park on Mount Carmel and attempt control of the writings of its central and peripheral figures. The gravity and solemnity demanded by the Baha'is towards almost anything 'Baha'i' is the target of this book. Ms.Walker exposes with wit, satire, essay and images the futility of a few people to organize mankind into a collective. Thanks to the Internet she has explored the big empty spaces in Baha'i history. She tackled the 'forbidden' texts and sorted out the history Baha'is are forbidden to examine on pain of excommunication. What she found was real men and women who, whatever they thought of God, had very human needs, fears, and desires, and made very human choices to achieve their ends. Ms.Walker shows that the Baha'is have never refused to dress their heroes in something more than a human can bear, and it is the raiment they end up worshipping. The real founder, the man Husayn Ali, his sons, his family - are quite forgotten. This book brings them down from Mt.Carmel so we can see them as people just like us. One of the Baha'i catch phrases is "We Are One." Well, we ARE one, when we see each others' humanity and divinity without distinction. At such times it is impossible to mount character attacks and excommunication proceedings against anyone. We are one. This is the message of " Baha'i - A Field Guide to the Faith" by MrDonut. And why MrDonut? MrDonut is a companion cat who lends his name to the author in the same way Baha'is lend titles to real people: for distance, for removal of ego, for affection. --MrDonut 

    About the Author

    A late-blooming Bennington girl. Believes in pounding a guitar , blowing harmonicas, and looking for new keys with the local acoustic players. Always book-crazy. Looked deeply into many places for that Self and found it while committed to making her parents' last years some of their best. Now settling comfortably into Tao, sometimes called a state of grace. Her first published book 'Bahai A Field Guide to the Faith' is big medicine for a drooping soul. Her first novel manuscript was 'inadvertently destroyed" some decades back by a Baha'i reviewerwho objected to associating the word "awesome" with "Baha'u'llah", even though Mr.Baha'u'llah referred to himself in terms not unlike it. The Zen of it started her thinking about the poet-god Baha'u'llah and the metaphor he created for his life: a prisoner and an exile. Emerging from the Baha'i organization was like getting a very slow divorce, made easier by the fact that she was both officially shunned and unofficially excommunicated. Finally she was free to read the forbidden Things! She sees the vast and far-reaching Baha'i world administration (which begins in your neighborhood) ultimately as an attempt by Western Baha'is to imitate Sharia law - even though Islam regards the Baha'i Faith as a poseur religion. She sees the Baha'i Faith as an article of genuine human evolution, from a disgruntled aristocrat's musings to an organization that is ready to claim kinship and supremacy over all other world religions. She finds its mighty claims and aims are the result of a long Perisan family feud that has squandered its resources to build a garden park on Mount Carmel and attempt to bring under its control the lovers of the writings of its central and peripheral figures. 


Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 30/12/2014

“Nos dias atuais a espiritualidade precisa ser prática. Isso significa aprender a se relacionar sem machucar a si mesmo e ao outro. Essa é a principal prática espiritual, o principal desafio para o ser humano nessa fase da jornada evolutiva. A espiritualidade prática também é sustentável, ou seja, ela integra e equilibra a vida espiritual com a vida material. Mosteiros, templos e ashrams continuam sendo centros sustentação da luz, mas a espiritualidade deve ser cultivada em todos os lugares, em todos os setores: ciência, saúde, educação, economia, politica, artes... Em tudo.” 
 
“Hoy en día la espiritualidad necesita ser práctica. Esto significa aprender a relacionarse sin herirse a uno mismo ni al otro. Esta es la principal práctica espiritual, el principal desafío para los seres humanos en esta fase del camino evolutivo. La espiritualidad práctica también es sustentable, es decir, ella integra y equilibra la vida espiritual con la vida material. Monasterios, templos y ashrams siguen siendo centros que sustentan la luz, pero la espiritualidad debe ser cultivada en todos los lugares, en todos los sectores: ciencia, salud, educación, economía, política, artes... En todo.”

“Nowadays, spirituality needs to be practical. This means learning how to relate to others without hurting them and without hurting yourself. This is the main spiritual practice and the main challenge for humans in this phase of the evolutionary journey. Spiritual practice is also meant to be sustainable – that is, it integrates spiritual and material life and creates balance between the two. Monasteries, temples and ashrams continue to be centers that sustain light, but spirituality must be cultivated in all places, and in all sectors: from science, health and education, to economics, politics and the arts. It's in everything.” 

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma


No More Worry | December 30, 2014

One in All
All in One—
If only this is realized,
No more worry about your not being perfect!



- Sosan Ganchi Zenji, "Shin Jin Mei"