Support legalization......

Over 300 economists, including three Nobel Laureates, recently signed a petition that encourages the president, Congress, governors and state legislatures to carefully consider marijuana legalization in America. The petition draws attention to an article by Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron, whose findings highlight the substantial cost-savings our government could incur if it were to tax and regulate marijuana, rather than needlessly spending billions of dollars enforcing its prohibition.
Miron predicts that legalizing marijuana would save $7.7 billion per year in government expenditure on enforcement, in addition to generating $2.4 billion annually if taxed like most consumer goods, or $6 billion per year if taxed similarly to alcohol and tobacco. The economists signing the petition note that the budgetary implications of marijuana prohibition are just one of many factors to be considered, but declare it essential that these findings become a serious part of the national decriminalization discussion.
The advantages of marijuana legalization extend far beyond an opportunity to make a dent in our federal deficit. The criminalization of marijuana is one of the many fights in the War on Drugs that has failed miserably. And while it's tempting to associate only the harder, "scarier" drugs with this botched crusade, the fact remains that marijuana prohibition is very much a part of the battle. The federal government has even classified marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance (its most serious category of substances), placing it in a more dangerous category than cocaine. More than 800,000 people are arrested for marijuana use and possession each year, and 46 percent of all drug prosecutions across the country are for marijuana possession. Yet this costly and time-consuming targeting of marijuana users by law enforcement and lawmakers has done little to quell use of the drug.
The criminalization of marijuana has not only resulted in a startlingly high number of arrests, it also reflects the devastating disparate racial impact of the War on Drugs. Despite ample evidence that marijuana is used more frequently by white people, Blacks and Latinos account for a grossly disproportionate percentage of the 800,000 people arrested annually for marijuana use and possession. These convictions hinder one's ability to find or keep employment, vote or gain access to affordable housing. The fact that these hard-to-shake consequences – bad enough as they are — are suffered more frequently by a demographic that uses marijuana less makes our current policies toward marijuana all the more unfair, unwise and unacceptable.
Our marijuana policies have proven ineffective, expensive and discriminatory. Our courtrooms, jails and prisons remain crowded with nonviolent drug offenders. And yet, the government persists in its costly, racist and counterproductive criminalization of marijuana. We learned our lesson decades ago with alcohol prohibition; it is long overdue for us to do the same with marijuana prohibition. In the face of Miron's new report, and its support from hundreds of economists, we are hopeful that not only will the national conversation surrounding marijuana change, but so will our disastrous policies.

Sistah's we need to do better: HIV/AIDS

BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL 

First let's start off, I am a freak and I love sex as much as anyone.  Second, I am not looking down on any one's sexual preferences or behavior, but when I read an article and see the statistics of  Black women acquiring HIV and dying of AIDS it's time to speak up.   Currently,  the CDC (center for disease control) says that 1 out of every 32 black women will be infected with HIV during her lifetime.  Although black women represent only 14 percent of the US female population, they constitute 66 percent of all new HIV infections.   The infection rates of black women in the United States rival those in the Congo and Kenya. Wow.  Here in America, land of the free and our rates are similar to third world country, women and the center of civilization the reproductive necessity for our race.  We can blame conspiracy theories all day but it boils down to a healthy lifestyle and personal responsibility.  Educate yourselves on risky behaviors, get tested, know your sexual partners status and practice a healthy lifestyle that is IV drug free, abstinent of sex and/or use of condoms.

 Here is some ideas from Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition.


1) We must take a serious look at the prison industrial complex: The war on drugs sent hundreds of thousands of black men to prison for long periods of time.  This dramatic move was no less devastating to the black family ecosystem than removing an entire species from the animal kingdom.  Women have fewer men to marry, the children of these men grow up without fathers, and men come out of prison without the ability to provide for a family.  Additionally, the fact that we’ve decided to make prison rape into some kind of joke at cocktail parties means that many lives are lost when women are infected by the men for whom they’ve been waiting.
2) Too many black men don’t go to the doctor: A scholar reached out to me stating that he does research on heterosexual black men (not just the downlow brothers that Oprah likes to talk about).  The researcher took a random test for Chlamydia at a local barbershop.  During the test, it was determined that nearly half (45%) of these men were infected with the disease, and none of them knew they were infected.  In a world where mass media encourages black men to have sex with anything that moves, it’s frightening that there are men who’ve literally slept with 5 or 10 women per year for the last several years and have never taken an HIV test.
3) Most of the women in the study didn’t know their own status or that of their partners: It was bad enough when many men began teaching each other to be irresponsible in their sexual choices.  Things got worse when women started to behave like men.  While we can continue scapegoating gay and heterosexual men for the problems with the spread of HIV, many of our so-called “good Christian black girls” are “gettin it in” in their own little sexual revolution.  Not that sex is a bad thing, but many of these women have been led to believe that you can do whatever you want and are completely safe as long as you wear a condom.  So, the next time you share your body with the guy who swoons you with smooth words and nice smile, remember that there may be hundreds of other women who’ve shared the same man.
4) Many African Americans are delaying or walking away from marriage: I am not here to thump a bible and promote the values of marriage, for we’ve all seen the tragedy and financial devastation that occurs during divorce.  But the deterioration of the black family has occurred largely because many of us don’t know the first thing about what it takes to keep a marriage together. The answer does NOT lie in a damn Steve Harvey book (the last thing we need is for women to start thinking like men).
Without judging one way or the other, the fact remains that when people get married, they usually have sex with fewer partners than they did when they were single.  So, the 30-something year old black woman who might have focused all of her energy on one man suddenly finds herself going through 2 or 3 guys per year and promptly ends up on the wrong end of an STD exam.  It happens regularly, but this quiet epidemic is hardly something that any of these women would advertise on the six o’clock news.
Life would be a lot simpler if every 25-year old black woman was assigned a 42 -year old mentor who could be honest about the consequences of her sexual choices.  Unfortunately, sex is like going to the bathroom:  Everyone does it, but no one talks about it.  We then end up repeating the mistakes of our predecessors.
5) We seem to forget that there are STDs other than HIV: While everyone loves to focus on the deadliest and most highly publicized sexually transmitted disease, HIV, we often forget that there is an equally-alarming rise in the percentage of black folks being diagnosed with Herpes, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, HPV and Syphilis.   So, checking your partner’s HIV status, quite frankly, isn’t enough.  The sexually promiscuous person who brags about his/her negative HIV test may be carrying other “goodies” that can be yours for just one drunken night in the sack.
The fact is that sex in America has become dangerous and serious. While getting tested, checking your partner’s status and protecting yourself are incredibly important, this may not be enough.  Instead, we must reconsider the systemic, cultural and personal factors that keep us from building sustainable families.  We must also think about how these factors encourage us to engage in risky behavior (yes, black men and women are influenced by hip hop artists who brag about having sex with hundreds of women at the same time).  There is no such thing as 100% safe sex, so perhaps the old fashioned idea of respecting your body might apply from here on out.  Either way, something needs to change, and following the crowd is a great way to end up dead.

Thank you Dr. Watkins for sharing this crisis with us, I encourage y'all to share this information because knowledge IS power and I want us as a people to be empowered with self determination, to become the Kings and Queens we are ordained to be.

Peace, Love and Strength
 T. Davis

Poverty Tour

There are nearly 150 million poor and near poor people in America who are not responsible for the damage done by the Great Recession. Yet they pay the price. The poor did not create the deindustrialization of America, unmatched corporate profiteering and greed, more than a decade of foreign wars , and unregulated tax benefits for the wealthy. When the largest economic institutions in the world were brought to their collective knees, they went crawling to the government’s doorstep in search of salvation. The government obliged, allowing Wall Street to socialize its failure on the backs of Main Street Americans. The housing and jobs crisis they created fostered a poverty unseen in generations—not just in inner-city ghettos and barrios, but also in suburbs and rural areas crossing racial, age, and gender lines. Nearly one-third of the American middle class—mostly families with children—have fallen into poverty.”
—Tavis Smiley and Cornel West

As we look at the Occupy Wall Street movement and discuss tax benefits for the 1% wealthy population I find myself drawn to the poverty tour in which Dr. West and Tavis are conducting around the country.  I will begin to do more research and hope to attend a event soon.  I encourage you to also study what these intellectual brothers are up to and be enlightened to the plight of the poor.

Peace, Love and Strength

T. Davis

For more info please visit:  http://www.therichandtherestofus.com

Educator and philosopher Cornel West is the Class of 1943 University Professor at Princeton University. Known as one of America’s most gifted, provocative, and important democratic intellectuals, he is the author of the contemporary classic Race Matters, which changed the course of America’s dialogue on race and justice; the New York Times bestseller Democracy Matters; and the memoir Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. He is the author of 17 other texts and the recipient of the American Book Award. West holds more than 20 honorary degrees, and will return this fall as Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

 From his celebrated conversations with world figures to his work to inspire the next generation of leaders as a broadcaster, author, advocate, and philanthropist, Tavis Smiley continues to be an outstanding voice for change. Currently, Smiley hosts the late-night television talk show Tavis Smiley on PBS; The Tavis Smiley Show, distributed by Public Radio International (PRI); and is a co-host of Smiley & West (PRI). He is the first American to simultaneously host signature talk shows on both public television and public radio. In addition to his radio and television work, Smiley has authored 16 books, including his New York Times bestselling memoir What I Know for Sure and the book he edited, the #1 New York Times bestseller, Covenant with Black America. He is also the presenter and creative force behind America I AM: The African American Imprint—an unprecedented and award-winning traveling museum exhibition celebrating the extraordinary impact of African American contributions to our nation and to the world. In 2009, Smiley was named one of TIME’s “100 Most Influential People in the World.”

Friendship is Love

I've have had the same best friend for over 25 years and through thick and thin we have been there for each other.  Now as older adults, things change and I find our lives going in different directions.  This blog is dedicated to her and the discussion of relationships in general.

Friendship has many different meanings to different people, it is defined as the following:

• wanting the best for the other
• having sympathy and empathy
• honesty
• enjoy each others company
• trust
• reciprocity- a give and take

Friendship is the beginning of lovers, partnership and marriage thus it takes two to make it work and put forth the same effort.  But what happens if there is no reciprocity? or the other not truly wanting the best for you?  When a friend, lover or partner is not honest therefore the trust is broken how productive is the friendship?  At what point do you bail ship, or remain loyal?  Do you resist the sinking like the Titanic (thus friend SHIP), is that person holding you back?  Out of loyalty do you let go and go down with the ship realizing you are on different life paths, when do you let go?  Can you truly love someone at a distance?

Communal friendship is when you are only there in a time of need, this works for some people. Best friends tend to have a higher level of intimacy than traditional friendships so there should be a little more loyalty and commitment.  Frenemies is a friend that is actually a enemy, you never really know.

Healthy relationships improve mental and social health.  Although studies suggest 25% of people have no close confidants, is their health in jeopardy?  Children who don't develop emotionally have difficulty with intimacy and friendships as adults, this explains why some people cannot be true friends to others.

I like the following quote "a true friend is one who walks in when others walk out"

Moral of this story, the vitamin for friendship is B1.

Peace, Love and Strength

T. Davis