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 Jonathan Miller, on Mon Jun 4, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET
Woody Allen once famously said that, “90 percent of life is just showing up.” Our members of Congress apparently aren’t big believers in this philosophy.
Among the many reasons for Congressional gridlock is the fact that they’re rarely in session together, if at all. This past May offered a representative example as the House and Senate were only in session at the same time during nine out of 22 available work days.
Congressional absenteeism is hardly a new problem. In the last 10 years, the House averaged only 135 days in session per calendar year, while the Senate averaged 160. But in recent years, it has reached tragicomic proportions, as some members don’t even show up when Congress is in session.
Members of Congress now routinely fly home to their districts on Thursday nights to meet with constituents or attend fundraisers, and they often don’t return until the following Tuesday. That often leaves only a few days a week available for actual legislating. As former Democratic Senate leader Tom Daschle once said, “When we scheduled votes, the only day where we could be absolutely certain we had all one hundred senators there was Wednesday afternoon.”
This is simply unacceptable. America has big problems to solve, and we won’t have much hope of solving them if we effectively have a part-time legislature. Thankfully, members of Congress from both parties are starting to speak up.
Read the rest of… The RP: Make Members Come to Work
Does John Edwards deserve to go to prison? The jury has decided, and he’s walking.
Whatever we may think of the Edwards trial, one thing is certain: the prosecution was a ridiculous waste of taxpayer money on a non-crime. Who cares if a billionaire wants to give a multimillionaire some money to hide his mistress (who pays taxes on the gift)?
The prosecution of Edwards was never so much about Edwards as it was about George Holding.
Wait — who is George Holding? And why should we care?
After winning a recent primary, Holding is likely the next congressman in the 13th District of North Carolina. He initiated the prosecution against Edwards while he was a U.S. Attorney. But he didn’t argue the case in court. Instead, after receiving a year’s worth of headlines (and Republican praise) for charging Edwards, Holding resigned from the case to run for Congress.
Maybe Holding understood the weakness of the case, which rested upon Edwards’ failure to report the money billionaire heiress Bunny Mellon and another wealthy donor gave to him to help hide his mistress. The problem is that if Edwards had reported contributions and then used them for personal expenses, he would have been guilty of a crime, since the Federal Election Commission bars spending official campaign funds on personal expenses. Therefore, according to Holding, Edwards was damned if he did, and damned if he didn’t.
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Jun 1, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
I’ve noticed younger people on Facebook (OK, kids!) often can post a single word for a status update and add three exclamation points– and they are deluged with “likes” and comments.
How do they do that?
It must be some sort of secret young people language or maybe it’s just brevity of thought.
Oh never mind. I’m depressed now.
This is the first time ever I referred young people as “kids” and it makes me feel… it….it’s….I’m going to need some time to let this sink in before finishing this thought.
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Fri Jun 1, 2012 at 9:30 AM ET
In an unsurprising move NBC sports has hired newly-retired Steelers WR and former Dancing with the Stars Champion Hines Ward as a studio analyst. Many people have guessed that Ward would explore this route to begin his post-playing days. [ESPN]
Farms, cows and Dorothy? Try entrepreneurship, high tech and the arts.
The Kansas City Metropolitan area is becoming the envy of individuals on the East and West coasts who have long since considered it merely flyover country. The City of Fountains has been praised as a great place to live, work and visit for many years, but recently it is becoming a hot bed for entrepreneurial investment, high culture and the innovations of the future.
Kansas City, Missouri, is home to the world renownedKauffman Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to help individuals attain economic independence by advancing educational achievement and entrepreneurial success. The Kauffman Foundation’s focus on entrepreneurship, innovation, education, and research has helped fuel Kansas City’s global presence as an attractive place for creativity and business. Nearly 300,000 individuals from throughout the world have been part of the Kauffman FastTrac program, which has helped entrepreneurs start and grow their business. In addition to the Kauffman Foundation, the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Graduate Entrepreneurship Program was recently named the 2012 National Model Graduate Entrepreneurship Program by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). Entrepreneurship is booming and alive in Kansas City.
The entrepreneurial spirit in Kansas City has led the city to become a national leader in technology. Google recently announced it will build its first ultra high-speed broadband network between Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas. Kansas City was chosen over 1,100 other cities. Google Fiber will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans experience. The Wall Street Journal recently coined Kansas City as “Silicon Prairie” and believes that the first Google Fiber network “will likely bolster cloud-based technologies and pave the way for high-definition streaming services that will be hard to find elsewhere.” Combine this with the friendly business climate on the state and city leveland the low cost of living, and you will understand how Kansas City is gaining innovators and entrepreneurs from coast to coast.
Read the rest of… Jason Grill: Flyover Country? Not this Kansas City!
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu May 31, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
The Politics of Tech
“CEO Says SOPA & CISPA Are Needed Because A Disgruntled Customer Once Set Up A Parody Site To Mock Him.” Okay then. [techdirt]
Three heavyweight committees in the European Parliament gave their voting recommendations on ACTA today. All three gave the same recommendation: reject ACTA. [Falkvinge]
SpaceX Dragon has returned to Earth off the coast of California. [MSNBC]
“I’m going to argue that the futures of Facebook and Google are pretty much totally embedded in these two images” [Robin Sloan]
Hollywood want to make it illegal to skip commercials. [Public Knowledge]
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu May 31, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
The Politics of Pigskin
Wide Receivers Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald Travel to Ethiopia to help create farm-able land and also buy cows for the villagers. [ESPN]
HBO has finally found its team to showcase on Hard Knocks: The Miami Dolphins. There will be some nice story lines they will be able to focus on. [Yahoo! Sports]
Seven years after playing his last down in the NFL Kordell Stewart is officially retiring. [Fox Sports]
Worst to First – the most likely teams to go from last in their division in in 2011 to first in the upcoming 2012 season. [SB Nation]
Terrell Owens’ career seems to have come to a fitting end. He has been released from his IFL team. Oh, you didn’t know he was playing in the IFL, don’t feel too bad. [ESPN]
No Labels isn’t alone pressing for immediate congressional reform.
“Fools on the Hill” is a new documentary that makes the case that Congress needs to pass some stringent laws to keep themselves in check. Things like no more adding hundreds of pages to a bill in the middle of the night and passing it the next morning.
The documentarians are organizing a march and rally on Congress July 17, and are asking people to sign a petition and join them as they converge on DC to demand Congressional reform.
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