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:
Protesters marched in Mexico City, demanding justice after accusations that president-elect Enrique Pena Nieto bought off votes. [NYT]
A chargeable tweet: one Bahraini activist will do 3 months hard time for 140 characters or less. [Chicago Tribune]
In Egypt more political uncertainty is on the way and threatening the nation’s fledgling democracy. [Washington Post]
Some governors have charged the Supreme Court health-care ruling as an affront to American freedoms. But where does principle end and voter politics begin? [Brookings]
Kickstarter has become a mainstream Internet mechanism where individuals can donate money in advance to help with funding an idea or platform and get a perk or product in return. Innovative recent Kickstarter projects such as the Pebble Smart Watch, Elevation Dockand Brydge have blown away expectations and proven that the crowdfunding concept works. A simple, but innovative platform for creative projects.
A group of high-tech entrepreneurs in Kansas City, Mo., witnessed the success of Kickstarter and websites like the Million Dollar Homepage and decided — why can’t we do this with civic projects? At a time where funding from local, state or federal government is a big if and taxpayers are burnt out on funding major infrastructure projects, Neighbor.ly was born.
Neighbor.ly creates a system where everyone wins through crowdfunding. Capital improvement projects under the transportation, sports, entertainment, education and public amenities umbrella are Neighbor.ly’s focus. The first major endeavor is the proposed streetcar line in downtown Kansas City, Mo. So how does everyone win with civic crowdfunding? Lets take a look at the example of a streetcar plan. Neighbor.ly creator and CEO Jase Wilson believes:
The city wins because it pays less for financing the project. Citizens win because they get a new streetcar. The local economy wins because it limits the impact on taxpayers, and because the streetcar creates jobs. Basically it’s a win engine. Our mission is to transform the streetcar starter line from an obligation affecting a small number of Kansas Citians into an opportunity open to anyone in the world.
Read the rest of… Jason Gril: Crowdfunding Civic Infrastructure? The Next Big Thing
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Jul 10, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Mental Molting or Convergence?
Once upon a time I had a well trained mind. Disciplined; respectful; dutiful; useful and predictable.
It used to be when I was given a new topic for consideration my mind would race breathlessly to pull up as much relevant information as possible and have it ready to stand at attention and be manipulated or marshaled as needed to impress or persuade.
Not so much anymore.
I don’t know if it is some glorious harmonizing of the totality of our mental capacities that now–as my mind ripens with age– allows me to hear a new topic for consideration and, for several minutes immediately following, hear the stark sound of crickets. And then follow up with the expressionless expression exuded by Jack Nicholson’s character in the final scene of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as we realize he’s been lobotomized. Maybe it is some form of intellectual convergence at work. But I suspect it’s something different and inglorious.
Like pruning or mental molting. New topics I hear these days stimulate either nothing or something random I later try to make a logical excuse for popping into my mind.
For example, I was discussing the news website Digg.com. After listening for several minutes about it all I could think of was the lyric “Dig this!” from The Main Ingredient singing “Everybody Plays the Fool.”
And now I’m trying to introduce the song as a logical and relevant part of our discussion about Digg.com.
So, if you can relate, Dig this!
And let’s hope others only think we’re “playing the fool.”
Yesterday, the RP joined his friend — and Louisville’s most popular radio host — Terry Meiners on Terry’s afternoon drivetime program (WHAS 700 AM) to discuss his impossible journey through the World Series of Poker.
Despite a lack of true post players, the USA Olympic team looks primed for another gold medal run in London. [ESPN]
Picture Dirk in a jersey that doesn’t say Dallas. As painful as it is, you might want to prepare yourself. The big man claims he’s “too old” for a team that’s rebuilding. [CBS]
Krzyzewski has always been hesitant to pull the trigger on transfers – but when he does, they’re good. Is Rodney Hood the next Blue Devil success story? [Yahoo]
Whether you support it, think it’s too strict, or not strict enough, only one thing is for certain: nothing is for certain when it comes to the future of basketball’s “one-and-done” rule. [ESPN]
A College of Charleston senior will be lacing them up for the home team in this summer’s Olympic games. [CBS]
By Jonathan Miller, on Tue Jul 10, 2012 at 9:15 AM ET
It’s instructive that my impossible run through the World Series of Poker tournament was a study in black and white:
An exhilarating roller coaster ride encompassing 40 hours of mind-thumping boredom.
A liberal former politician succeeding by playing with an über-conservative game plan.
A victory of steadfast patience, the absence of which has been my defining character flaw.
The long distance coaching of one of my better friends, whom I’ve only met twice in person.
A game legendary for its macho bravado that’s dominated by pasty-faced math geeks.
And the most striking contrast of all: I’ve lived a life of painstaking diligence — some might say monomaniacal zeal — toward building a career centered around moral values; and one of my life’s highlights — indeed one of its most truly spiritual moments — came playing a card game that I’d hardly practiced and that’s banned in my home state because of its purportedly immoral implications.
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On Independence Day 2012, the 73rd anniversary of baseball legend Lou Gehrig’s famous statement that he was “the luckiest man on the face of the earth,” I began a journey that certainly contested the Iron Horse’s declaration. Indeed, it was pure serendipity that I was even playing in the tournament in the first place.
Months earlier, when we learned the schedule of my youngest daughter‘s summer in Israel program, my wife, who had a trip planned already to Mexico, suggested that after I dropped Abby off at JFK airport, I should make it a long weekend playing poker in Vegas. She knew how much I loved no limit Texas hold ’em — a game that both rewarded my high school math skills and stoked my innate competitive fires — and that I so rarely got chance to play since online poker was made illegal.
Read the rest of… The RP: My Impossible Run Through the World Series of Poker
Blog this!
