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 Lauren Mayer, on Tue Sep 25, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET
There have been so many moments in this election cycle that I hope my kids will remember, and tell my (as-yet-unborn-but-my-kids-had-better-provide) grandkids someday – Herman Cain’s speech quoting the Pokemon movie, Joe Biden’s prematurely spilling the beans about gay marriage, Clint Eastwood claiming an empty chair was swearing at him – I could go on & on.
But no one has provided more of those moments than Mr. Romney – in fact, his missteps and ‘oops’ moments are the stuff of legend, the type of epic ballads that Johnny Cash might once have song. (So this week I’m morphing from the old southern blues singer of last week to a Jewish-mother-version of ‘the Man in Black’)
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Sep 25, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
The first of three presidential debates occurs in about a week—three historic debates that will likely determine who will be a next president and which direction our country will take.
Many pundits are looking for clues from the 2008 debates to try to predict who will win and why.
But I am taking a different tack.
I think what Election 2012 really comes down to is whether you were more of fan of Donny Osmond and the Osmond Brothers, or a fan of Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5.
And I have found some historic footage that may be the best preview available of what we can expect when Mitt Romney and Barack Obama take the stage together next week.
And near the end of the video clip they even give a sense of what it will be like to appear with their running mates.
Which returns us to the most important question at hand. Are you more of a Michael or a Donny kind of voter?
Sure, both have music with a good beat, and you can dance to it. But in November, when we enter that voting booth all by ourselves, we can only choose one.
By Nancy Slotnick, on Tue Sep 25, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET
Some of you are too young to be Billy Joel fans. I’m just young enough to admit it, and yet old enough to see it as retro chic. Regardless of the complexity of my Billy Joel fan status, I had to bring him up today because his song Vienna keeps ringing in my head. So it must mean something, despite the fact that I don’t want to recommend you take relationship advice from Billy Joel. But his poetry is another matter entirely.
Vienna waits for you. I’ve never been to Vienna, but I think I know what he means. What is your Vienna? I’m asking myself this lately. What is that dream of yours that you might be missing because you’re “so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need”? Slow down you crazy child! It’s so weird- we have to slow down so we can speed up our dreams? Hard to understand but it’s true. You can get what you want or you can just get old.
In 2006 I wrote a book entitled Turn Your Cablight On: Get your Dream Man in 6 Months or Less. What does Dream Man mean for you? Can he still be the man of your dreams once he’s a reality? You know how they say—Be careful what you wish for, because you might get it. Once you get it, it’s hard to remember how to appreciate it.
In 1996 when I was single and about to open my dating-café, Drip, I chose an architect for the project who was also a college classmate of mine. We’ll call her Amanda, because that’s her name. I won’t say her last name, because this story could be a little embarrassing but it’s totally flattering. So I’m walking with Amanda and she realizes she has to go to her apartment to get some architectural plans. She invites me up to her apartment, but stops first for some instruction: “When we go up to my apartment, you’re probably going to meet my husband. So, I have to warn you, he’s a babe.” Well, I have heard a lot of things in my life, but that one was without a doubt the coolest thing I had ever heard anyone say. Still is. I really don’t even know why she felt the need to say it but it was so cute. (And, yes, he is a babe.)
Read the rest of… Nancy Slotnick: Vienna Waits for You
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Mon Sep 24, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
The Politics of Pigskin
The big news of the day is that the Jets’ star CB Darrelle Revis is out for the season with a torn ACL. It’s a tough break after the Jets barely eeked out a win over the poorly Dolphins. [ESPN]
An interesting tidbit is that Week 3 marked the first time ever that Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and BenRoethlisberger all lost in the same week. [Twitter]
More replacement ref wackiness this week as the referee leading the team that worked the 49ers-Vikings game admitted that he didn’t know the rules relating to coach’s challenges. His admission came after scrutiny when he awarded 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh two challenges after he had used all of his timeouts. [PFT]
Raven’s LB Brendon Ayanbadejo was less than subtle regarding the replacement refs on Twitter after the Ravens beat the Patriots Sunday night. [Twitter]
Peter King adds a little legitimacy to Ayanbadejo’s argument and offers his assessment of the referee situation. [SI]
If anyone had any questions regarding the importance of a head coach in the NFL or regarding the potency of of the NFL’s penalties against the Saints they should refer to this fact: “Not only are the Saints 0-3, but the teams that have beat them are 0-6 against everyone else.” [Twitter]
Finally here is your RP Bowl update after two weeks.
This year’s biggest YouTube obsession — earning the recent Zeitgeist-confirming attention of Saturday Night Live — is the South Korean pop sensation “Gangnam Style,” a truly phenomenal phenomenon for those of us who are vocally and lyrically challenged, and for those of us whose best dance move is imitating a jerky horse ride. If you’ve been living under a virtual rock, here are your five minutes of infamy:
Of course, YouTube is besieged with parody versions. Our favorite is “Jewish Style”. To rock in the new year South Korean style, enjoy it here (a bit NSFW):
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Sep 24, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
I recently read this book. It’s titled The Maie Brain. And is a science-based based, well researched book on the inner workings of the male brain.
I’m a guy so, you know, I was hoping to find out some pretty encouraging stuff about the we guys think.
But it was more like a personality test you take in the back of a magazine that tells you, after spending 45 minutes finishing it, that you really aren’t very interesting after all.
Except with this book, you can’t go back and change your answers to make yourself more interesting.
Actually, the image that kept coming to me as I approached the last few chapters will date me.
It was Geraldo Rivera’s infamous opening on live TV of Al Capone’s secret vault. The event was hyped for weeks. And all Geraldo found when opened was a stop sign and two lunch pales.
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Sep 24, 2012 at 11:00 AM ET
Shortly before Ali’s conversion, a future musing RP lays down the Hebrew Hammer
As a natural followup to my piece earlier this morning in which I named Muhammad Ali one of Kentucky history’s most influential political figures, here’s the seminal interview by Tomorrow’s Tom Snyder, in which the Greatest of All Time announced his conversion to Judaism.
OK, it was Harry Shearer as Snyder and Billy Crystal as the Champ, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Enjoy (h/t to my Uncle Harvey):
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Sep 24, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET
A few weeks ago, I received an interesting assignment from my hometown newspaper, the Lexington Herald-Leader: For a special section that would highlight what was especially special about Central Kentucky — “Go Big Bluegrass” — I was asked to prepare an essay on the state’s rich political history…in 400 words or less.
Here’s an excerpt from my piece:
Despite its modest size and a location that’s remote from the centers of power, Kentucky has exercised considerable political influence since nearly the beginning of the republic.
Much of our early prominence stemmed from Lexingtonian Henry Clay, arguably the most influential politician of the early 19th century. Though he’d famously “rather be right than be president” — and proved it by losing several presidential bids — Clay occupied many other important national offices, from speaker of the House to secretary of state.
Most significantly, “The Great Compromiser’s” scrupulous and diligent statesmanship helped delay civil war for several decades. Clay’s greatest triumph, however, may have been in inspiring into public service the very rail-splitter who led us through that bloody conflict.
While Abraham Lincoln spent his formative years in Illinois, his iconic log cabin birthplace is in Hodgenville; he married into a prominent Lexington family; and as president, he clearly recognized the strategic value of his home state: “I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky,” he said.
And then let me know how I did: Whom did unfairly omit? How did I err, exaggerate or evade?
And best of all — if you can do it better, leave your 400 word attempt in the comments section below. Or send me an email to Staff@TheRecoveringPolitician.com.
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Sep 21, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
More secretly taped video from the controversial Mitt Romney fundraiser.
These surreptitiously obtained videos are really dirty pool late in the campaign season. They aren’t fair and can easily get misinterpreted or taken out of context.
But I’m afraid this latest clip will only do more damage to Mr Romney as he is caught again in a candid moment talking tough (singing, in this instance) to his supporters earlier that same day. A prelude to the milder 47 percent reference.
====
Mitt’s Father Jeremiah moment?
Yes.
That’s what I think the secretly taped “47%” comment amounts to for candidate Mitt Romney. Which is to say, it’s a political and electoral non-event event.
What do I mean by that?
Remember the public outcry last election cycle when Barack Obama’s pastor, Father Jeremiah Wright, had videotapes of him released online saying absurd things about America?
It was supposed to be the political scandal that would sink candidate Barack Obama’s campaign. But didn’t.
Was it a politically significant event for Barack Obama? Yes, in my view. But not because it caused his supporters to bolt. It didn’t.
What it did do is give a concrete event on which those who already had a vague unease about voting for Barack Obama —and weren’t going to vote for him anyway —something to point to and hang their hat on as the reason for not voting for him.
Yes, they were uncertain about Barack Obama—his politics, his origins, his qualifications for president and even his name. But those things weren’t as tangible or easy to talk about as the Father Jeremiah video which was disturbing and could explain why someone would not want to vote for Barack Obama.
Read the rest of… John Y. Brown, III: Mitt’s “Father Jeremiah” Moment
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