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:
Few would deny that Rupert Murdoch and his papers’ dirty tactics went too far, but now London is seeing hesitation by news outlets to track down any of these “unsavory” stories. [NY Times]
Awaiting the day they will return home, Syrian refugees in Turkey have found some peace and normalcy for now. [NY Times]
A motley crew marched on the White House yesterday, demanding more government support for the fight against AIDS. [WSJ]
In my book, keynote speech and leadership workshops, all under the title “Building Cathedrals:The Power of Purpose,” I introduce a powerful metaphor of a “Fire” to describe personal and organizational setbacks we’ve all experienced. The metaphor originates from the great fire of 1666 that leveled London. Pre 1666, London was a very medieval town. 10,000 people annually dying of the plague. The major cause of the plague was diseased carrying rats and fleas. After the fire, the rats and fleas were gone. The leaders of London were determined and succeeded in rebuilding and making London a great city. We too, like London, can come out of our personal “fires” great.
I’m sure optimism played a big part in the leaders of London as they began to rebuild. Optimism has played a significant role in my transition from 20 plus years in corporate America to now an independent business owner, realizing that while I would experience months without making any money whatsoever, I would eventually be successful. In fact my co-author, Skip Wirth, lists seven characteristics of those who come out of “fires,” with number seven being “optimism.” And while I still believe more than ever the power of being optimistic, I also realize the challenge of never confusing faith that we will prevail in the end—which we cannot afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of our current reality (our “fires”), whatever they might be.
Admiral Stockdale
This lesson is best explained in an interview with Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was the highest ranking United States military officer in the “Hanoi Hilton” prisoner-of-war camp during the height of the Vietnam War. Tortured over 20 times during his eight-year imprisonment from 1965 to 1973, Stockdale lived out the war with without any prisoner’s rights, no set release date and no certainty as to whether he would ever see his family again. He shouldered the burden of command; doing everything he could to create conditions that would increase the number of prisoners who would survive unbroken, while fighting an internal war against his captors.
During an interview, Admiral Stockdale was asked what helped him and the other survivors endure the torture and isolation. He described elaborate communications systems, strategies to reduce the sense of isolation and even coping mechanisms while being tortured. Reluctantly, the interviewer finally asked the question, “Who didn’t make it out?”
Read the rest of… Greg Coker: Prevailing in the End
While traveling through the Jewish State, The RP was interviewed about his new book, The Liberal Case for Israel by The Times of Israel. Here’s a clip:
Q: Your book debunks “eight crazy lies” about the Jewish State. Are they actually lies, or possibly misunderstandings?
A: There are many misunderstanding, but I identify untruths that really do rise to the level of crazy lies. This includes the libel that Israel is an Apartheid state and the ridiculous notion that Israel promotes gay tourism as a way to “pinkwash” its faults.
Q: One of the lies you debunk in the book is the use of the word “apartheid” when referring to Israel. In brief, what is your argument against this lie?
A: Arab citizens of Israel have all of the same rights and responsibilities as their Jewish neighbors (with one exception — military conscription which is now being debated.) This thoroughly refutes the notion that there is apartheid. Even in the disputed territories, Palestinian engage in self-government — a completely opposite approach of the former apartheid regime in South Africa.
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Jul 24, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
“I know it is going to be a good day when….(fill in the blank with what the tip odf is for you).
Me?
It’s when driving to work I nail lip-synching Mos Def’s “Know That” from the album Black on Both Sides. And when I nail both Mos Def’s AND Talib Kweli’s part –like I did this morning….well, step aside son.
Anything is possible for me.
There is nothing I can’t lip-sync.
That is until I get …to the office and am waiting at the elevator. Then I start to question the correlation between my illest hip-hop impersonations and having a successful day at work. But I smile to myself because I know deep down if free styling hip-hop is required, I won’t have any trouble taking down the other 4 guys on the elevator with brief cases.
The finances of Lin’s departure to Houston are more complicated than they appear. See how last summer’s negotiations left a loophole for the Rocket’s back office. [ESPN]
College basketball fans everywhere are drooling over the new ACC match ups set to begin in 2013, but Pitt had to pay a pretty penny to make the jump. [Yahoo]
Oh, so that’s why Nash went to LA. Hollywood is calling. [Grantland]
As usual, USA will be favored in tonight’s rematch of the 2008 Olympic finale. However, the Spaniards’ post presence and team experience may prove to be trouble for the guys in red, white, and blue. [Bleacher Report]
#1 ranked prospect of 2013, Jabari Parker, has an arsenal of offensive talents that will leave you saying, “He’s only how old?!” [Youtube]
It’s official: The RP is a very, very, very old man.
To commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Six Day War (and his ignominious birthday milestone), The RP is traveling the Jewish State with Mrs. RP and an RPette. The big birthday celebration will be held in Eilat, on a cruise boat in the Red Sea. At the conclusion, The RP will part the Red Sea, a la Moses.
(Hey, it couldn’t be much more difficult than reaching a World Series of Poker final table!)
Above, The RP is enjoying four of his favorite things: an RPette, his birthday hat, the State of Israel, and the country’s largest solar installation at Kibbutz Katura in the Negev desert in Southern Israel.
If you want to join in the commemoration of this dreadful day, please feel free to add your birthday wishes in the comments below.
But it is the donations to the “super PACs” that have whipped Democrats into a frenzy and spurred the news media to turn their spotlight on the growing role and influence of these PACs and the individuals who fund their activities.
Such big donations lead some politicians and pundits to paint super PAC donors as nefarious agents corrupting the political process. The political left has especially been critical of the role that these organizations and their donors play since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Citizens Unitedv. Federal Election Commission in 2010.
Specifically, the high court ruled that “the Government may not suppress political speech based on the speaker’s corporate identity.” In other words, PACs that did not make contributions to candidates, parties or other PACs could accept unlimited contributions from individuals, unions and corporations (both for-profit and not-for-profit) for the purpose of making independent expenditures for “express advocacy or electioneering communications purposes.” Citizens United essentially ensured that corporations would have the right to free speech, just as the unions were enjoying.
The Supreme Court gave little credence to the government’s argument that the First Amendment does not cover corporations because they are not “persons.” Corporations are, after all, the court would note, just “associations of people,” and the First Amendment should protect their right to petition the government.
That being said, most donations to super PACs have come not from corporations but from the wealthy individuals who run them. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the top 100 individual super PAC donors in 2011-12 made up just 3.7 percent of contributors but accounted for more than 80 percent of the total money raised.
Given that labor-union political activities and money favoring Democrats had previously been dominant in federal campaigns, it is interesting to hear the screams of indignation now that Republican-leaning corporate moguls are stepping up their political and financial support.
Of course, super PACs are being criticized specifically for engaging in heavily negative campaign advertising. Yet, like them or not, such attack ads often work to drive up the negatives of opponents. Ironically, despite calls for less negative campaigning by the presidential candidates as well as their respective super PACs, research early in the 2012 campaign indicated that most voters found negative advertising informative and that candidates benefited from negative advertising sponsored by PACs.
The Citizens United case and its aftermath, however, have nothing to do with the fact that the campaign-finance-reform law passed by Congress and from which the Citizens United case was born woefully neglected to include an effective donor-reporting mechanism that could have been an adequate check on the mega-donations made to such PACs. Simply put: Congress should have written full disclosure into the law.
By January 2010, though, at least 38 states and the federal government had come around to requiring disclosure for all or some independent expenditures or election communications — stipulations intended to deter potentially corrupting donations. Yet, despite these laws, many voters go to the polls not knowing who funded those political commercials running incessantly for the past three weeks. In fact, in federal elections, PACs have the option of filing reports on a monthly or quarterly basis, which often means that funds are collected and spent long before the legal filing disclosure is required.
Read the rest of… Michael Steele: What’s So Bad About Super PAC-Men?
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