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 Nancy Slotnick, on Tue Sep 18, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET
The new year is always a time for resolutions and self reflection. Since it’s the Jewish New Year (and I’m Jewish), I’ve been doing a lot of that lately. Of course, being married to a therapist, and having had years of therapy myself, I tend to do that year‘round. So, even if you’re not Jewish, I would encourage you to join me. Extra self reflection never killed the cat. I don’t even think curiosity did. Curiosity is a beautiful thing, and cats have 9 lives regardless.
So I invented a way of helping myself when I am trying to reach a goal. I ask “Future Me”what I should do. For example, one of my goals for this year is around my business. In my mind’s eye, Matchmaker Café is about to be large and in charge. (I apologize that my mind’s eye talks like a ‘90s rapper sometimes.) But how I can garner the traction and the capital to get there is a big ordeal. So when I feel overwhelmed and I don’t know what to do next, or when I am trying to make a hiring decision or a partnering decision, what do I do? I ask Future Me.
I just discovered this trick and the amazing thing is that she always knows! And she’s so calm- how the hell does she do that? (Hold on, I’ll ask…….. Ok, she says it’s because she’s satisfied.) Occasionally she says “Too soon to tell” or “Wait and see,” kind of like the Magic 8-Ball. Sometimes she says “You’ll know in 5 years.” I hate that one! But most of the time she knows the answer, almost immediately.
I tried this out with a client of mine yesterday, as a reality check, just in case I was hearing voices, ya know? You never know. I also wanted to see how it would work for someone who is single and looking for the One. In this case, Future You=Married You. It worked like a charm. Questions that would usually perplex her yielded answers instantaneously. I was pleasantly surprised. (especially to discover that I have not had a psychotic break- phew!)
So I would recommend you try it. Word of warning- just as with Willy Wonka and his crazy gum, this philosophy is untested and may go awry by dessert. Especially if you are more like Veruca Salt than Charlie. You have to be very self-explored in order to truly connect with Future You. Be wary of giving yourself the answer you want to hear. There’s a fine line between the purpose of this exercise and being delusional. Having a guide such as a therapist or a coach can always help. (I happen to know of 2 of those right in my apartment—just in case you’re looking. 😉 )
Read the rest of… Nancy Slotnick: Future You Is Your New Guru
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Mon Sep 17, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
The Politics of Pigskin
Two weeks into the season and there is some good drama courtesy of head coaches. This week Tom Coughlin took offense the the Bucs’ actions at the end of the game as the Giants were kneeling down. As he executed the Victory formation Eli Manning was knocked down by the Bucs defense and Coughlin let Bucs coach Greg Schiano know how he felt about it. [ESPN]
“CJ. Spiller is first player to average at least 10 yards per carry through first two games (minimum 25 attempts) since Jim Brown in 1963.” -Adam Schefter. That’s a pretty amazing statistic. [Twitter]
Joe Flacco is not pleased with the performance of the replacement refs. [PFT]
Peter King gives his opinion on the replacement refs and the status of the negotiations between the normal crews and the league as well as the other big stories from Week 2. [SI]
The Cardinals picked up a big win this week by beating the Patriots away from Arizona. [Yahoo]
Here is are the standings of the Recovering Politician Bowl after Week 1. If you would like to cheer on yours truly then keep an eye out for the Fighting Mongooses. [Yahoo FF]
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Sep 17, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
If you are middle-aged and want to get your “Cool on,” here’s an idea.
The other night while hanging out in the Electronics section of Wal-Mart—just minding the business of my own bad self— I was bombarded by a Wal-Mart promotional adloop featuring “Mr Worldwide.”
I felt foolish not knowing who Mr Worldwide is and could tell by his demeanor and confident speech that I should have heard of him.
I tried Googling him on my iPhone but can’t read the small text–but could tell from the search returns Mr Worldwide was important, cool and goes by the more traditional name “Pitbull.”
He grows on you.
After about the 20th loop you start thinking to yourself, “He’s not as irritating as I thought during the first 10 loops and I don’t think he’d hurt me–so maybe he’s a gansta-type I can pretend knowing about and it would up my cool status and not be too outrageous.
So I want to get the word out to other midsters who– may be like me and not have heard of Mr Worldwide (aka Pitbull)– that he exists and we need to know about him if we hope to stay relevant to the younger generation.
If you want to know more about him and his bad self (his bad self, unlike mine, apparently really is bad) and don’t follow modern rap music, then get down to your loca Wal-Mart and stand in the Electronics section—near the flat screen TVs and you can learn all about him.
By Bradford Queen, Managing Editor, on Mon Sep 17, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET
The Politics of Media
Maureen Dowd (really – who’d have thought?) caused quite a stir with her Sunday column on the Romney-Ryan view of foreign policy. Liberals and conservatives alike were leveling charges of anti-Semitism against the New York Times columnist. The Times’ editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal dismissed the claims that she forward stereotypes in the piece. [Politico]
Quotation approval is a topic of much discussion among media members of late. Recently, many government and campaign officials are making interviews conditional to their own approval of quotes. Last week, Michael Lewis received some criticism from several journalists for allowing the West Wing to approve his quotes in a new piece about the President for Vanity Fair. The NYT’s David Carr took a look at the issue this weekend. [NYT]
30 Rock takes issue with the way the “Tiffany Network” is characterizing the ratings of ‘Face The Nation’. [AP]
Sign of the times? The new redesign for USA Today also signaled the addition of Web TV listings for YouTube and Hulu. [NewMediaRockstars]
But the evidence, as of this writing, is that Obama gained measurable ground last week, at least before being hit by another set of poor jobs numbers. Whether the gains last, or fade as other Obama bounces have done this year, depends on how effectively Team Romney pivots to reenter the conversation this week, and how much the dark economic clouds dominate post-convention coverage. It is fair, though, to conclude that Democrats used their week more effectively than their Tampa counterparts.
Part of the difference, obviously, is the bravura speechmaking of Bill Clinton, who seems destined to hold two spots of prominence in this era: the last universally popular president and the sole politician of his generation who mastered the technique of persuasion. In a time span in which Barack Obama and George W. Bush won the presidency primarily by selling themselves, and in Bush’s case, and perhaps Obama’s, held the office by relying on their opponent’s deficiencies, Clinton alone has the gift of arguing for a theory of government and policies that match it.
Read the rest of… Artur Davis: The Democrats’ Fury
By Nancy Slotnick, on Mon Sep 17, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET
I love my job. I get to help people find love. But better than that. I get to help them enjoy it after they’ve found it. As a dating coach, people hire me (primarily successful smart attractive single women) to help them when they are ready to find the One. I don’t find it for them. (That would be too easy, right?) I don’t actually believe that it works that way. Matchmakers who promise that they can find love for you if you pay them thousands of dollars are often flim-flamming you.
That being said, I do have a matchmaking site on Facebook. It’s called Matchmaker Café. We don’t charge thousands of dollars- just the same amount as what online dating sites charge. And we set up the date for you- ‘cuz that’s the hardest part! But I digress.
True love finds you. You just have to be open to it. That’s what I call “turning your Cablight on.” But that’s not the real trick of love. (It’s not supposed to be about turning tricks, either.) The trick is to be happy once you find it. I have a lot of clients who think that once they find the “One” that they should fire me. And they may be right, of course. There’s a reason that Recovering Dater sounds like I’m part of a 12 step Program (more than a writer of a blog.) That’s because once you find love, you shouldn’t be interested in dating anymore! And you certainly shouldn’t need a dating coach.
However, even once you find that [almost] perfect person, you have a choice of being hopelessly miserable with each other or hopelessly romantic. Or everything in between.
The beginning stages of dating are like precedents in the law. Once certain patterns are set, there’s no going back. And you will always refer back to that pattern. It’s like when a river dries up but there is still the path. Pour a big rainstorm back in and that water goes in the same direction that it always did for years. Enough metaphors for you? Sorry about that- here’s a real world example.
One of the hardest jobs I’ve ever done in my life was teaching Hebrew school when I was in college. It’s hard enough to be a teacher and control the classroom. But then try controlling a classroom of kids who have been in school for 8 hours that day already! $12 per hour was a lot of money in those days- it had to be. So, in the event that you have been a teacher then you will know what I mean about this- the very first day is your only shot for establishing order and discipline. The students can get to know you and like you later. But if you are “soft” on the first day, you’re done for the year. By the next year you have learned, but it’s a new class by then.
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Sep 14, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET
With seemingly every news agency and blog conducting its own polling for the 2012 presidential race, it’s often tough to get a true picture where the race stands: Did Obama get a convention “bounce”? Will it be permanent? Who’s really ahead?
Over the past few years, I have come to rely on the New York Times‘ Nate Silver, whose diligent and informed analysis of all public polling data has become the gold standard in political prognostication.
I encourage you to check in periodically at his web site (Click here), but today’s post was so informative, I excerpt it below:
We have seen a shift toward Mr. Obama in the polls since the Democratic convention. It appears that if an election were held today, he’d win it by somewhere in the neighborhood of four or perhaps five percentage points.
If Mr. Obama is ahead by four to five points nationally, we’d certainly also expect him to post his share of leads by about that margin in swing states. Because of statistical variance and differences in methodology, some of the numbers are going to be a little bit better for him than others. But the consensus of the data ought to quite strong for him.
The Marist polls probably did meet that standard. But there were also two other polls of Ohio released on Thursday that showed Mr. Obama up only one point instead, along with a trio of Florida polls showing a tie there, on average. Those aren’t bad numbers for Mr. Obama exactly, but they aren’t great ones either — they are more like those we were seeing from the polling firms in question before the conventions.
There were also polls out on Thursday in several other swing states — in New Hampshire, Michigan and Colorado, for example. The data, taken as a whole, was pretty good for Mr. Obama, as he led in almost all of the surveys, although mostly by small margins.
But the forecast model is now judging Mr. Obama by a higher standard. Why? Because it had more or less fully priced in his convention bounce as of a few days ago. In fact, its assumption is that Mr. Obama’s polls probably slightly exaggerate his standing right now.
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Sep 14, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
About a decade ago, a friend of mine called in a local radio station to report a tree had just fallen during a rain storm and was blocking a major traffic artery.
The call was appreciated, reported amd my friend even got to give a live update and describe the situation as it was developing. He was thanked for doing a good civic deed.
That impressed me, and I hoped to someday be able to volunteer my own civic good deed –by reporting back from about some important fact that those at home would appreciate knowing about.
Today, I feel, is my moment.
So here goes:
“Hey Louisville, I have been out driving all over our city for nearly 4 hours now and, I swear, almost every store is closed. Don’t go out unless you have to or just want to go to Thorton’s or Bed, Bath and Beyond. They are both open. And so is Panera Bread. But there isn’t a single place in our city open for a hair cut, if you are a guy. If you are a guy and want a haircut today, forget it! Ain’t happening! Wait until tomorrow. Or call a friend who cuts hair in her apartment —but even she is probably not working today because she is at some barbecue or cookout. And if Walmart is open today –and you absolutely have to get your haircut–don’t buy a Flowbee. I bought one once and it doesn’t work like on TV.”
OK, Louisville, over and out. Or whatever it is I am supposed to say.
Hey, next time I am going to do this with a cute weather girl so we can do some happy chatting about now–but since I am alone, I can’t do any vacuous chatting so I am just going to stop.
By Bradford Queen, Managing Editor, on Fri Sep 14, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET
The politics of the screen were on full display this week as an anti-Islam film has been credited with inciting violent protests in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Protestors attacked U.S. embassies in a number of countries. In Libya, an attack resulted in the death of Libya Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other staffers. Actors and workers on the film said they were duped. Now, the U.S. is bracing for more violence. [CBS News]
“Saturday Night Live” returns tomorrow, and presidential politics will be center-stage. Lorne Michaels has announced the men that will play the roles of President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in the show’s satirical sketches. [NYT]
A trailer for Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” biopic was released yesterday. [LA Times]
“Arbitrage,” the new drama featuring Richard Gere about a hedge fund manager who’s life seems to be crumbling is released this weekend. [NYT Review]
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Sep 14, 2012 at 9:15 AM ET
Some of the most brilliant comedy shorts have been produced over the years for ESPN Sportscenter television promos. But this one tops them all. See what the reserved, nerdy John Clayton (at left) is really like behind the camera:
Blog this!
