Darrell Davis

Invest In Rare Coins

Caligula_quinarius,
originally uploaded by Joe Geranio.

Let's face it; the U.S. Dollar is in trouble. It's value is sinking around the world. For added security, many people say put your money in gold because the value of it doesn't go down. Although that statement is not accurate, gold is a good place to put your money.

Another good place is in rare coins. Aside from the safety and reliability of investing in coin, there is also an aesthetic value to them. They are works of art. Check out Keeper of The Coins.  This site gives you a basic understanding of rare coins and offers coins for purchase.You don't need a lot of money. Just buy a coin here and there and get yourself a safe deposit box to put them in.

Super Bowl Sunday!

Forget that the Super Bowl is a multi-million dollar spectacle. Forget that millions of dollars will be wasted and millions made. Never mind that in our society sports are used to distract us from politics. It keeps millions from participating in the democratic process. Whether by gun or sports, you want only a few people making decisions in an oppressed society that doesn't know it is oppressed. Forget all of that; relax and have fun. It is good to rest. Just don't over do it. For tomorrow, there is work to be done! Giants by 10!

Steve Jobs and the Hangman's Noose

You would think that with all the ugliness in the news of late relating to race, that Steve Jobs of Apple fame, would use some common sense, and distance himself from the ugliness of a hangman's noose. Yet given the chance, Jobs turned out to be an everyday rich, arrogant and insensitive human being.

I use a Mac notebook and appreciate the innovations of Apple products. So in the course of promoting my Personal Development Philosophy, I sent Jobs an email. I also mentioned to him that one of his magazines
(which he quickly responded he doesn't have a magazine, sorry) was using an ad of a hangman's noose. I hoped he would thank me and looked into it. He basically brushed me off.

This is unfortunate because the noose, the add, the product (iMuffs) all exists because of and in support of Apple and Jobs. And yet, this man took this hurtful issue so lightly. The ads have been running in Mac Life magazine.

Please send Steve an email (sjobs@apple.com) and tell him these ads are offensive and that he needs to either stop them or make a statement distancing himself from them.

And The Band Played On...

I woke before my alarm clock had a chance to terrorize me. I was groggy and had a slight headache, probably sinuses. I reached for the remote and flipped on the morning news. Some kids in the midwest had killed several of his classmates in a shooting rampage. I remember thinking about Tim McVeigh and Columbine. Mass killings are always so upsetting. I need a shower.

I come out of the bathroom and resume my familiar stroll through the morning news. I need some coffee. Into the kitchen and back in time to catch another report: Innocent woman and children killed in a mistaken bomb attack in Afghanistan. I turn the channel. A commercial for the new Hummer. Military vehicles becoming more affordable. I keep turning. More children dead in Iraq. I think my coffee is making me nauseous.

I turn to CNN. President Bush is considering military action against Iran and South Korea. Billions more for military helicopters and jets. Russia and the United States are at odds again over military issues and gas prices continue to rise.

Enough TV. I need to get ready for my speech today. The topic is "The Impact of Rap Music on Black Youth." And the band played on...

Don't Be Mad at Paris

A lot of people are angry at Paris Hilton. I ain't one of them. Let us not make the mistake of continuously separating individuals from faulty criminal justice system. In the case of Hilton, the system did exactly what it was designed to do-favor the rich.

So don't be mad at her. Work to make the criminal justice system more fair. Hilton is one woman. Rich, spoiled and drunk as much on fame, as liquor. Remember how the whole legal-aid system was gutted. How millions of poor and working class people are unjustly going to jail or getting abused by businesses and landlords.

Paris Hilton is a diversion. Nothing more, nothing less. It doesn't matter whether she is in jail or not. She is small potatoes.

Good Bye Blair

If ever there was an example of the word lackey, it is British Prime Minister Tony Blair. This is a man who was having a brilliant political career when he became President Bush's poodle.

People all over the world have been asking why he supported Bush in two of the biggest political blunders in history, going into Afghanistan and going into Iraq. I have to wonder if there isn't a swiss bank account out there somewhere. Blair is an intelligent man and yet he stayed on a sinking ship until the end. Why? Even Nelson Mandela at one point referred to him as "the U.S. foreign minister."

But the important thing to know is that there is a world wide movement for peace and that as much as anything else brought Blair down. Help to strengthen that movement.

Please donate for peace and justice. And send me an email about hosting a peace rally in your community.

War In Iraq

Enough is enough.  President Bush needs to be removed from office!  Let us stop fiddling while Iraq is burning.  What more evidence does this democracy need that these people in the White House shouldn't be running this country?  This is perhaps what dictatorship looks like through an American lens.

The type of Personal Development that I espouse is practiced in a democracy. Or you are part of the struggle for democracy.  This is not a close your eyes and relax philosophy.  This is not a "suffering" spirituality.  This is about the highest form of spirituality.  Fighting the good fight.  Standing up for the oppressed, the weak and exploited.

I can't enjoy prosperity if I don't do something to help the less fortunate.  That doesn't mean I am asking all to sacrifice everything.  But I am saying live with a conscience.  Help others eat and stay warm.  Look at the children of the world as being your own. And don't allow the richest most powerful nation destroy whole economies so they can fashion it to their liking.  Much death and destruction form the fabric of that change.

I want to enjoy life.  I can tell you that poverty truly does suck and despite what the conservatives say, no one willingly chooses it.  I have been homeless.  I know what it is to live with a hungry belly.  I have on many nights read by candlelight ( hello Com Edison !).  How many days in a row can you eat peanut butter.  I remember.  I know that the difference between me and the impoverished now is the shift in my thinking.

The lack of democracy - and we are currently lacking it- is directly related to poor living conditions around the world and here.  If you want a peaceful soul, you need to seek a peaceful world. If the president you have now worships war, and this one does, throw him out!

Virginia, Guns and Reality

This man, that did this thing to himself, to our family... The human family died a little more that day. And an inhuman yell crossed the hunter, Orion. Some babies going home.

How could this happen? We ask again. Why? Gun control...for or against? Is it TV, is it video? I'm sure rap music played a hand. Or is it something deeper? Like the vengeance of a God we don't believe in...or maybe the one we do? Oh, you say you don't believe in God? Then maybe it is "The Secret" or the pent up suffering of the millions you don't see on reality TV. Gushing forth into your very own reality.

Maybe this kid was an American soldier who wandered out of the deserts of Iraq or Africa - still shooting and killing, into your garden.
It is a bitter fruit, this harvest.

This ain't no nightmare...this ain't no dream!!!!!!
It is a heavy grief, the angels bow...
Whatever your belief, how does it serve you now?

Rappers and the N-Word

It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is for the great logical thinking systems that came out of Europe to be so warped today.

Descartes, Leibniz, Russell and other European philosophers laid out clear rules of logic that today are completely ignored by the most "advanced" society on the planet today.

For example. Terrorists destroy the World Trade Center. Bush says Bin Laden did it, he is hiding in Afghanistan, So we invade Iraq! More on that later.

The latest twist in logic involves the demented utterances of radio host Don Imus. We all know what he said (nappy-headed hoes). He made some clearly racist and sexist statements, so what do we do? Blame Black Rappers! ( I'm assuming Eminem don't count 'cause he's white).

Eventually the talking heads will find a way to work O.J. into the blame game.

What is it about European thinking that makes them feel they get to take credit for all things great and blame someone else for all things bad.

Certainly many rappers do not add anything positive or constructive to the problem of violence and female demeaning messages in our communities. Yet the most powerful and popular "Black" television station, BET (Black Entertainment Television) is white owned. It is they, and other media, who decide to promote and feature rap artist who have a negative message.

It is white owned radio and television stations who hire clowns to take up our air time with foolishness and ignore the serious problems in our communities. It is the white owned media who use clowns (Bill Cosby) and athletes (take your pick ) as our "spokespersons" to comment on important social issues that they know nothing about.

They want to point to gang violence in the Black community and ignore their own even stronger "gang problem" that sells even more drugs and kills even more people. And they- not Blacks- control the multi-billion dollar pornography and prostitution industry. What, this doesn't demean women? They call them "organized". They make you hate the Black gangs, but the white gangs, they make you fall in love with them. They have names for them like Soprano and Corleone.

You can't use faulty logic and point fingers when, even though some slaves that work for you are Black, it is you who hold all the power and make all the money from the negativity you unleash on our community.

The real problems with violence and demeaning women in our community has to do with power and money- not the color of the lackey- and you hold it all.

Impeach Bush!

At some point, those in America who claim they supported "Operation Freedom" in Iraq need to support it here. The stench of hypocrisy can no longer be ignored. The war hawks and macho men who never served in the military, but are quick to send our young into death and hell are feigning blindness to the collapse of Democracy here.

You will have a very difficult time convincing me that George Bush is more intelligent than Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. These great minds-even with the contradictions of slavery- had a reason for designing the government with checks and balances. George Bush doesn't feel that is necessary. He doesn't think we need courts so he names anyone he wants an "enemy combatant" to get around the courts and constitutional law. He uses the excuse of fighting terrorist to spy on American citizens. When he does this, Bush is not looking for enemies of the state, but enemies of the administration and the Republican Party.

This man, even if he is wiser than Solomon, should be impeached. There is more than enough evidence of lies, corruption and constitutional violations to impeach him. Even if he is so wise as to know better than the Founding Fathers, Congress, the courts, and the public, then he is extremely incompetent. That two is grounds for impeachment.

There was a time when diplomacy was an honorable thing, a sign of social progress. We have allowed some oil bandits to turn those noble efforts into a thing to be ashamed of. We are better than that. The caveman way went out shortly after the dinosaur. Bush has to be removed from office to start the process of rebuilding peace and stability in the world. And he and those like him need to be made to pay for what they want-oil!- instead of selling out the lives of our kids and the safety of this nation.

If you would like to organize a community forum on this issue, read my About link for more information. Also, feel free to donate.