Please sign the petition below to remove the statue of Jefferson Davis currently in Kentucky’s Capitol Rotunda, and replace it with a tribute to Muhammad Ali, “the Louisville Lip” and “the Greatest of All Time.”
I just heard from the Ali family: It is the Champ’s belief that Islam prohibits three-dimensional representations of living Muslims. Accordingly, I have adjusted the petition to call for a two-dimensional representation of Ali (a portrait, picture or mural) in lieu of a statue.
UPDATE (Tuesday, December 2, 2014)
In this interview with WHAS-TV’s Joe Arnold, Governor Steve Beshear endorses the idea of honoring Muhammad Ali in the State Capitol (although he disagrees with removing Davis). Arnold explores the idea further on his weekly show, “The Powers that Be.”
Click here to check out WDRB-TV’s Lawrence Smith’s coverage of the story.
And here’s my op-ed in Ali’s hometown paper, the Louisville Courier-Journal.
UPDATE (Saturday, June 4, 2016)
In the wake of the 2015 Charlestown tragedy, in which a Confederate flag-waving murderer united the nation against racism, all of the most powerful Kentucky policymakers — U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, Governor Matt Bevin, Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker Greg Stumbo — called for the removal of the Davis statue from the Rotunda. Today, as we commemorate last night’s passing of Muhammad Ali, there is no better moment to replace the symbol of Kentucky’s worst era with a tribute to The Greatest of All Time.
UPDATE (Wednesday, June 8, 2016):
Great piece by Lawrence Smith of WDRB-TV in Louisville on the petition drive to replace Jefferson Davis’ statue in the Capitol Rotunda with a tribute to Muhammad Ali.
UPDATE (Thursday, June 9, 2016):
Excellent piece on the petition drive by Jack Brammer that was featured on the front page of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Highlight of the article:
Miller said he has received a few “angry comments” on his call to honor Ali.
“One of them encouraged me to kill myself,” he said. “You can quote me that I have decided not to take their advice.”
UPDATE (Friday, June 10, 2016)
The petition drives continues to show the Big Mo(hammed): check out these stories from WKYU-FM public radio in Bowling Green and WKYT-TV, Channel 27 in Lexington:
UPDATE (Saturday, June 11, 2016):
Still not convinced? Check out this excerpt from today’s New York Times:
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Aug 2, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
Fight Club. Did it inspire you…but seem just a tad too much?
Now there may be a new option.
Pinch Club.
That’s right. Sort of like Fight Club but from the Ladies Tees.
I was fascinated by the movie Fight Club which I saw for the first time about 2 years ago. No doubt many males can fall into a consumer-culture corporatized and commoditized ennui that leaves them needing something deeper and… more primitive to bring meaning to their lives.
Fighting–the punching with fists kind– would seem the natural dramatic first choice. But what it yours is a milder case? Or you are less disposed to physical violence? The option of a Pinch Club seems to accomplish the same end without all the messy and needlessly painful excesses.
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Aug 2, 2013 at 10:00 AM ET
If want to know first all of the day’s developments about the hottest 2014 campaign in the country, and you haven’t yet subscribed to The RP’s KY Political Brief– prepared every weekday morning by former journalist Kakie Urch with links to all of the day’s Kentucky political news — WHAT’S A MATTA WIT YOU?!?! Click here to subscribe FOR FREE!
As always, KY’s Political Review is on top of all of the latest Kentucky political news. And the hottest story this weekend, of course, is the annual Fancy Farm picnic.
Here’s the latest on the event and the premiere 2014 race in the country, featuring U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, and businessman and Tea Party favorite Matt Bevin.
SENATE RACE 2014
MCCONNELL CAMPAIGN: POLL RESULTS ARE FICTITIOUS DEM CREATIONS
Polls that show Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes nearly even with, or leading Sen. Mitch McConnell in the Senate 2014 race are “fictitious” creations of people like George Soros and other Obama allies, McDonnell campaign leaders tell a Louisville TV station. [WHAS]
LUNDERGAN GRIMES HAS “1 in 4” CHANCE OF BEATING MCCONNELL, CROSS SAYS
Alison Lundergan Grimes has about a “1 in 4” chance of beating incumbent Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2014, according to Al Cross, leading Kentucky political journalist and University of Kentucky professor. Cross addressed a Western Kentucky breakfast audience in Owensboro on current political races and issues. [SurfKY]
HOW TO TURN A RED STATE BLUE
Michael Tomasky opinion piece on the new poll numbers showing a very close general election race between the Republican candidate and the Democratic newcomer and how they should have been expected by everybody, especially in context with the culture of Kentucky. [The Daily Beast]
NEW DEMOCRATIC POLLS LUNDERGAN GRIMES NEAR EVEN W MCCONNELL
Two new polls, both from Democratic sources, show the gap between GOP Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democrat Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes to be narrowing. One poll, released by the Lundergan Grimes campaign, shows her 2 percentage points ahead of McConnell, as the state heads into Fancy Farm weekend, the traditional kickoff of the political season. [C-J]
ALISON LUNDERGAN GRIMES TO POLITICO: “THE GOAL IS TO WIN”
Manu Raju, reporting from Bowling Green, talks to Democratic Secretary of State on her plans, McConnell campaign says the race will be about issues, not Lundergan Grimes’ “platitudes.” [Politico]
FANCY FARM
FULL FANCY FARM PREVIEW
Light on issues, heavy on personality and perspiration? That’s our Fancy Farm. This year’s annual political season kickoff at the St. Jerome Parish church picnic in Western Kentucky is upon us. What had seemed only months ago to be an “off year” for intensity, now seems to be pretty fancy. Full preview. environment. [C-J]
WHAT IT’S LIKE ON THAT FANCY FARM STAGE: HE CAME, HE SAW, HE STUMBLED
What if you were about to get onstage at Fancy Farm to deliver the most important speech of your life and the phone rang and it was your dad, saying he was going to get a divorce from his wife? What if your dad was former Gov. John Y. Brown, Jr. and his wife was former Miss America/sportscaster First Lady Phyllis George? What if after receiving that call, you turned around and there was the Courier-Journal’s Al Cross, with a microphone , asking you for a comment on it? What if on the stage, your political opponent, running against you, then brought up that “Bluegrass Conspiracy” book and attacked your father’s record? What if you got so riled that a guy had to clothesline you to keep you from attacking your opponent? And what if that solid wall of iron was the sitting Gov. Paul Patton? Former Kentucky Secretary of State John Y. Brown’s piece on his speech at Fancy Farm (and the 18 years it took to get over it) shows why the political picnic goes on for generations (and should). [T The Recovering Politician]
WEATHER FORECAST FOR FANCY FARM With a high of 90 degrees, looks cooler than usual. [ACCUWEATHER]
ABRAMSON ANNOUNCEMENT, IS FANCY FARM A THING OF THE PAST?
Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson, former mayor of Louisville, has said that he may make an announcement about a possible 2015 gubernatorial bid “around Fancy Farm” time, but is skipping the event. The yelling and screaming, he tells John David Dyche, is a throwback and not effective in discussing issues. [WDRB]
FANCY FARM KET VIDEO ARCHIVE: THIS YEAR’S STREAMING LINK
Kentucky Educational Television takes a field trip to Fancy Farm every year and through its digital technology, takes us with it. Catch up on years past, because who wants to miss the “Mullets For Chandler” guy (2003)? The following is also the link to use to stream the coverage listed below from KET, usually based in Lexington, on the road to Fancy Farm. {Where’s that Fancy Farm streaming link? Right here, where it’s been all week] [KET STREAMING VIDEO]
[KET FANCY FARM GUIDE, ARCHIVE]
KENTUCKY EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION (WKET) TO BROADCAST, TWEET, “COMMENT”
WKET will again provide comprehensive coverage of the Fancy Farm Picnic political activities, beginning with an edition of “Comment on Kentucky w Farrell Wellman” tonight, Aug. 2 from the site. Guests will be Herald-Leader political writer Jack Brammer, CNHI Frankfort reporter Ronnie Ellis and WKMS (Murrary) news director Chad Lampe. Then, during the day at the picnic Saturday Aug. 3, KET anchors Bill Goodman and Renee Shaw will provide in-depth coverage for viewers with expert guests. Then, on Monday, a highlights show is planned. Highlight video of Fancy Farm 2011 and Fancy Farm 2012 is viewable at the KET website. [KET]
Even naked isn’t naked enough in the ridiculous heat and humidity we’ve been having on the east coast. In my last article, I listed hot weather survival measures for clothing and grooming, but this time shoes are on my mind. If you’ve never switched up your footwear when the temperature rises and your dogs start barking, I urge you to consider it. You’ll look more seasonally appropriate, and your feet will thank you. Read on for Rath-approved picks in 8 categories of summer footwear.
1) Espadrilles
These stylishly nonchalant espadrilles from Castañer ($150) are an excellent alternative to flip-flops for those wanting more toe coverage.
2) Leisure Shoes
Ok, so this category is totally made-up. But the name fits these Riviera shoes ($80), doesn’t it? Don’t wear for anything other than leisure.
Read the rest of… Julie Rath: Free Your Feet — Summer Shoes
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Aug 1, 2013 at 3:00 PM ET
Kentucky has a constitutional oath that requires officeholders to swear they won’t fight in a duel. Yet at the same time Kentucky has the political crucible of Fancy Farm that requires candidates seeking statewide… and congressional office are required to endure each August —which at times has seemed less inviting than a duel with guns (and a few times less dangerous, too.).
It’s not bullets you fear but jeers and cheers (for your opponent) and the momentary mental lapse of twist of tongue that could be the gaffe that everyone talks about the next day. You fear humiliation on the most prized of our state’s political stages, the platform for political speeches at Fancy Farm.
Fancy farm is an amalgam of history and entertainment. Part historic and revered much like the old Chautauqua assembly and yet also part “trial by ordeal” much like the carnival game of baseball toss to cause the seated person to fall into the dunking tank. As a speaker at Fancy Farm you strive to be remembered as falling into the former category rather than into the metaphorical dunking tank. And if you succeed, you are the exception to the rule.
At 32 I was the Democratic Party’s nominee for secretary of state and slated to speak at the vaunted Fancy Farm picnic. The picnic is on a Saturday and I was staying in Paducah, Kentucky the entire week before leading up to Fancy Farm to campaign in the Western Kentucky region and prepare mentally for the big day. As the big day approached, the more nervous I got. Thursday I was barely able to eat. To make matters worse, it was my anniversary and, yes, I somehow blanked out and forgot. And didn’t remember before my wife reminded me. She had not forgotten. Fortunately, with the help of some wonderful local friends we found a romantic restaurant in Paducah to spend our 4th anniversary together. And after that romantic dinner, and the gift of a kitchen table my wife had been lobbying me to buy us for several months, and the passing of another 18 years of marriage, I almost feel like that incident is behind me now. Almost.
The next day was the other big annual event that weekend: The Democratic Party’s Bean Supper in Marshall County. It was my first visit to Marshall County since the primary and I got off to a rocky start after I announced to the large audience that it was “Great to be back in McCracken County again.” After the speech the chair of the Democratic Party, Terry McBrayer, whispered to me that I was actually in Marshall County. I asked Terry if I should get back on stage and correct myself and maybe explain it was confusing with both counties starting with the letter “M” but he suggested I just let it lie and work on getting it right next year. That was wise advice.
I also learned after my less than dazzling speech that swung for the fences and at best turned out to be a broken bat single (or arguably a forced walk) that sometimes less is more from the speaking stump. I spoke after attorney general candidate and current state auditor Ben Chandler. Ben gave a familiar and non-controversial speech that was well received, as always. I was all over the place with my speech trying to stand out. Trying to quote Shakespeare and comparing Larry Forgy to Hamlet. Afterward as we listened to others give their speech I asked Ben how I did. He smiled in the way a mentoring friend would if he were wanting to say to you, “Well, you didn’t humiliate yourself. But you came darn close a few times.” Of course, Ben was too much of a gentleman to say that and instead whispered to me, “You know, it’s not always the best strategy to try to give the most memorable speech at Fancy Farm.”
Read the rest of… John Y. Brown, III: Fancy Farm Memories
Who is Rod Jetton and what was his involvement in Missouri politics? What is the theme that comes through this book that is written by 12 different authors? Where did he make his biggest mistake while in office and what is his chapter about? What is human nature when you are caught? What is his advice for those entering politics? What is the average person’s misconception about politicians?
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Aug 1, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
Redefining being “overweight.”
When I was in college I had a “reducible hernia” in my lower left abdomen. I had a small protrusion that could be “pushed back in,” hence “reducible.” I would push it back in until I finally got the problem properly diagnosed and repaired. And I haven’t seemed to have a problem with it ever since.
Until this afternoon when I felt my stomach before playing basketball and my stomach is, well, I guess you could say it sort of protrudes. The main problem, however, is that it isn’t “reducible.” I can’t push it back in like I used to be able to do with the hernia in my youth.
This may just be a product of getting older or it may be a more dramatic tear….or something.
I can’t tell if I’m not pushing in the right place, or not pushing at the correct angle or perhaps not pushing hard enough. Whatever I do my stomach stays, more or less, slightly protruded and doesn’t appear to have anything it’s poking out of to be pushed back into.
But how is it my fault that I haven’t figured out yet how to put it–my stomach– back into its proper place. Until someone tells me otherwise, I’ve decided to conclude that I’m not really overweight but merely have a “temporarily irreducible and slightly herniated stomach” in my lower and upper abdomen on both sides.”
All I know is that this is a medical condition that isn’t a reflection of my lack of will power or discipline. And it’s probably just a minor flair up from my hernia repair 28 years ago. These repairs can’t last forever. This one is just a little more pronounced.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Oh, and don’t you dare ask me in my current medical condition to lift any heavy objects. I do remember that’s the last thing you ask someone with a small hernia (or even medium sized hernia–or larger) is to do heavy lifting —at least until they are fully recovered. ; )
Having had the ill-timing of criticizing Barack Obama’s limited reactions to the Zimmerman trial at precisely the moment he was making extended comments on the subject, I’ll add a few updated thoughts, some tough on Obama, some equally tough on conservatives.
First, I read Obama’s 16 minutes on race not so much historically (the Jeremiah Wright speech was substantially more decisive to his career, and the entirely peaceful, mostly civil furor over the verdict does not begin to compare to the drama around either Lyndon Johnson’s “We shall overcome” epic a few days after Selma, or John Kennedy’s masterpiece the night after George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door) but as a pretty fair brief for what he does and does not bring to the national debate. When engaged, the president ratifies the convictions of his admirers and the roughly half of the country that sees the world as he does compellingly, more so than any public figure not named Bill Clinton. Given that successful politicians need to keep their base inspired, that’s no small thing.
But what Obama has been perpetually unable to do is to break down the resistance of Americans who don’t share his worldview. He has, in fact, no history of shifting public opinion on any single cause he adopts: from health care, to immigration reform, to expanded gun background checks, to tougher climate change regulations. Obama’s defenders aren’t off-base in their insistence that he has the misfortune of presiding during a hyper-partisan time, but that excuse seems to conveniently wish away Obama’s 2008 rationale that he was singularly equipped to reverse that same polarization.
So, the responses to even Obama’s best speeches disconcertingly resemble the old split screens after the OJ Simpson acquittal a generation ago: rapture on one side, stone cold indifference or hostility on the other. It does not help that from a hard tactical perspective, Obama has not been adept at the Clintonian maneuver of telling tough truths to his base that build credibility across the divide. Instead, he has taken the easy route of addressing black on black crime in the context of gun availability but rarely through the larger prism of young men devaluing their neighbors and themselves to the point of making violence routine. He has infrequently, at least since his 2008 Philadelphia speech on race, evoked the mutual recriminations between blacks and whites that are so pervasive that they have degraded casual language and can ever so often still produce fatal outcomes. For instance, I’m in the camp that thinks something like this circle of shared hostility is really the proximate cause in Sanford, Florida that turned suspicious looks into words, and that segued into a confrontation that ended in death.
But whatever Obama’s inadequacies as a national persuader, conservatives are wrong to dismiss Obama’s talk as just so much “divisiveness” or “race-baiting”, to pick out a few choice adjectives. It’s a revealing error of judgment, though: to see Obama’s observations about the persistence of racial indignities as something unduly provocative is to purchase a myth much too common on the political right—that racial limitations are nothing more than a proxy for something else, perhaps class or educational differences, and that stressing over discrimination is just a liberal wedge tactic. While, as Gallup just documents, well below a majority of blacks describe bias as the most significant obstacle they face, the number who genuinely believe race has vanished altogether as an impediment is infinitesimal, well below the roughly 900,000 or so African Americans who voted for Mitt Romney. The evidence against too pollyannish a thesis on race is sweeping, from surveys documenting the large numbers of whites who harbor stunningly stereotypical views of blacks on subjects ranging from intelligence to work ethic, to the rickety foundations black owned businesses enjoy even when they are propped up with government loans, to astonishingly low numbers of blacks on some of the most prestigious fast tracks in America (elite law firm partnerships, Wall St brokerage firms, senior leadership at Fortune 500 firms to signal out a few).
The right’s tendency to embrace too sanguine a view of race, and to brush off consternation over profiling and stop and frisk as the lament of professional activists, may actually be the single most intractable reason why Republicans fall flat with parts of the black population who are affluent enough that their security doesn’t depend on Obamacare, welfare, food stamps or some other element of the safety net. And the fact that a good chunk of the conservative base is resistant to the notion that there are institutional barriers that flow from those cultural suspicions of blacks has opened a blind spot: precious few on the political right are willing to update their vision to contain reforms that might alleviate some of those burdens, or to acknowledge the reductions of those burdens as a price of restoring a freer market and a more cohesive culture.
Read the rest of… Artur Davis: What Conservatives Need To Take From Obama’s Race Speech
We have all had moments where we fall down and lose focus. It happens to us all but we must have a plan to get back up. I call this preparing for chaos in my book.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Jul 31, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
How to be special. And be able to prove it.
I just realized, according to a popular idiom, that are very few individuals out there who can be considered special.
How did I come to this inevitable conclusion?
Yesterday I used the phrase in describing two well known public figures I had met many years ago in my childhood as two men who, “Put their pants on one leg at a time just like the rest of us.” Therefore, my friend and I agreed that since that was the case, it was surely true that these two public personalities were “just like us” in all the important ways. That they were just normal and ordinary, after all.
But that got me to thinking, “Does that mean that everyone—every single person—who puts their pants on one leg at a time is basically an ordinary person?” I mean, that’s the whole point of the phrase, right? “He (or she) puts his (or her) pants on one leg at a time.” Ergo, they aren’t special. It’s the great equalizer. Pants putting on, that is.
In other words, anyone who puts their pants on one leg at a time instantly moves from the category of “special” (if they possess some rare talent or skill) to the category of “ordinary.”
So, how to we find truly special people? It means we should really ask–for the sake of efficiency —who DOES NOT put their pants on one leg at a time. Since that is a small group, presumably, we will quickly limit all the possible candidates for being a special person. Once we have this tiny group of people who, for whatever reason, pass the “ordinariness” threshold test by putting their pant on in some way other than one leg at a time, we are ready for the critical next step.
Of these individuals in the “non-one leg at a time pants putting on routine when getting dressed,” which ones also have some rare talent or gift? Once we identify those individuals–given we have eliminated the great equalizer test in the pants department, we will, technically speaking, have a list of the only truly “special” people in this world. Just like that!
Isn’t logic a a wonderful tool enabling us to reach correct conclusions?! It sure is!
Oh by the way, I’m trying to teach myself to put my pants on over my head like a pull over shirt. It’s slow-going so far… but I am determined. To be special, that is.
Did you know that we have a second Texas? If you didn’t, it’s not your fault. We don’t talk about it all that much. Unlike the Texas everyone’s familiar with, this one isn’t located in any one geographic location. Rather, it’s scattered throughout the United States. You probably know someone from the second Texas. Here’s the thing: Because we hardly ever talk about it, hardly anyone knows that only 17% of it is employed, compared to 59% (according to the American Communities Survey 2011) in the Texas most people think of.
However, most people in this Texas want to work. Of the other 83%, fully 80% want to work at least part-time and contribute to our society. This population is our nation’s disabled, and it is truly our country’s most underused economic resource.
Our disabled population makes up a large share of the total population – about one-fifth, according to some estimates. Saying that our disabled population is roughly the first Texas’ size is a very conservative estimate. The Census says that it’s actually both a second Texas and a second New York combined, all with that dismal 17% employment rate.
If counted on its own, Texas would have the 15th largest economy in the world based on 2011 data. New York would have the 16th largest. Together, the two states would be ninth, right under Italy and above Russia. Imagine what our second New York and Texas could be if they were employed at the same rate as everyone else. So why aren’t they working and contributing?
Read the rest of… Lauren Gilbert: The 17% Employment Rate No One is Talking About
Blog this!
