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 John Y. Brown III, on Tue May 8, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Sometimes there’s no substitute for the hackneyed phrase, “Only in America”
Tough economic times have led to long discussions with friends and colleagues about how best we to cope as they navigate a painfully tight job market.
My favorite resolution came from a fella I didn’t know well but was related to a dear friend. This person had gone through some tough times personally and vocationally recently and deserved a break.
Although I couldn’t help him, he helped me by giving me inspiration and teaching me a thing or two about persistence, self-confidence and, most of all, good old American pluck!
After losing his job and enduring a messy divorce he tried and failed starting his own business. After that he went through seemingly endless rounds of interviews in multiple industries and repeatedly came up empty handed. But then he had a brilliant idea.
By Kristen Hamilton, RP Staff, on Tue May 8, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET
Politics of Fashion
Who wore what? Relive the glorious fashion debuted at the 2012 Kentucky Derby. [The Cut]
Thought we were done with Kentucky Derby fashion? Of course not! Check out the most important part of the Derby besides the horses: the hats. [Fashionista]
It is Lyndon Baines Johnson’s fate that as much as he was venerated during his career for his raw skills, he is remembered today largely as a colossal blunderer, by the right as a prototype of excess who spent taxpayers’ money profligately, and by the left as an adventurer who made a catastrophe out of a molehill called Vietnam. His own party, while framing the signature achievements in his domestic record–Medicare, the Voting Rights Act–as a secular temple that Republicans must be kept from dismantling, simultaneously avoids awarding Johnson much of the credit. His image is as grainy as the black and white television reels of his era, as harsh and remote as the perpetual grimace on his face in the footage from those reels.
Robert Caro’s latest entry in his opus on LBJ, “Passage to Power”, will do something to revive the 36th president’s reputation. It spans from Johnson’s inept, misconceived effort to win the presidency in 1960—a race which he never embraced and never seemed to think he should, much less would, win—to the stretch in the wilderness as John Kennedy’s vice president; to Johnson’s frenetic succession to power after November 22, 1963. Unexpectedly, the narrative stops in the spring of 1964, short of the demolition of Barry Goldwater, and well short of the 1965 legislative season that was Johnson’s epic moment. Caro’s readers will recognize that he has rarely felt bound by the precision of a conventional biographical framework and has stopped and started these volumes based on his own sense of rhythm and his perspective on which details best illuminate his much misunderstood subject.
So, the last and next edition is the one that will take on the well worn tale of Johnson going up and down Mt. Olympus between the 64 election and the fall from grace in 1968. This narrative dwells on the less familiar struggles of a politician who was unsuited to the changes that television and the atrophy of the establishment were effecting during the 1960 election; and to the almost as forgotten description of a president seeking to convert an unprecedented public moment, the assassination of a leader with an unfulfilled and active agenda, into a legislative program on Capitol Hill, in a political climate that was decidedly more right-leaning and resistant to change than is currently appreciated.
Read the rest of… Artur Davis: The No Longer Practiced Politics of LBJ
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon May 7, 2012 at 5:00 PM ET
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the best political decision I ever made — picking up my hat from the ring, withdrawing from the Kentucky gubernatorial primary, and endorsing Steve Beshear.
Beshear went on to win landslide primary and general election victories, and I went on to enjoy my family, happiness, and peace.
And when I look back, it’s only with fondness; knowing that while I enjoyed the journey, the path ahead is much brighter.
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon May 7, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Favorite horse racing story.
When my son was in kindergarten his school had a tradition of a stick horse derby race. Parents take it seriously.
There were rumors of moms and dads advising their children on tricks and techniques for winning…and I didn’t want our son to be at a disadvantage.
So I took him out to our backyard to show him some stick horse racing tricks of my own–which I was making up as I go.
The key, I said, was staying focused on running hard no matter what. I demonstrated. Tucking the stick part of the stick horse between my legs and running back and forth as fast as I could. Until I stepped into a hole in the yard and tripped.
At that point I was jarred from my “hyper-competitive parent” mode and looked up and around me. I realized there was at least on neighbor watching me racing on a stick horse in my back yard. And injuring myself.
She was courteous enough to pretend she was looking in another direction in that way that says, “I’m so embarrassed for you that I’m going to do you the favor of pretending I didn’t see that. But I did. And, yes, you looked that ridiculous.”
I went inside and put ice on my ankle.
And didn’t go outside to the backyard again for several weeks. Until I had some dignified and serious reason to be there.
Still, the stick horse race went well. My son finished “in the money” so to speak. I was proud. And I like to think I may have helped contribute to his successful run.
It was a proud moment that made me think to myself in that loving way, “Like father, like son.” Sort of.
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon May 7, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET
Derby brush with celebrities…..
OK…yeah, I went to Derby…and, yeah, I tried spotting the celebs. I saw Fred Willard (who is a great comic I have long admired). I saw three people who seemed to be Brad Pitt but none were. I saw two people who appeared to be Cindi Lauper and one was.
For the past few years I’ve watched “The Real Housewives of….(fill in the blank with a city)” with my wife.
Yes, it was my wife’s idea. But only at first. What I didn’t realize is that watching that show was really just preparation for today’s big moment when I met Vicki Gunvalson, Real Housewife of Orange County.
My good friend John Esham (right) and I approached The OC Real Housewife and found her very very approachable and pleasant.
Of course, this picture with Vicki Gunvalson was really just a ruse for John and I to get our picture taken with authentic Louisville celeb and Unbridled Eve impresario, Tonya York Dees.
By Kristen Soltis, on Mon May 7, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET
Having weathered the tense, topsy-turvy contest for the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney now moves into the next chapter of the 2012 campaign. But how that next chapter reads is yet to be determined.
The departure of Rick Santorum from the race has sparked debate about how much Romney will need to “fire up the base” as he moves forward in order to turn out very conservative voters in November. Yet as voters grow increasingly frustrated with both parties, it is disaffected voters and disappointed independents who will be most decisive in this coming election.
The great news for Romney is that, no matter how you slice the electorate into target groups, the economy and jobs are the top issues on voters’ minds.
This is not an election that will be decided on social or cultural issues.
Despite Democrats’ efforts to turn fundamentally economic and fiscal issues into cultural issue wedges, the election will not hinge on issues like free contraception or funding for Planned Parenthood.
The White House will go to the candidate who voters believe truly has a plan to create jobs and grow the economy.
Read the rest of… Kristen Soltis: One Approach, For Two Audiences
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Fri May 4, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
The Politics of Tech
In a very important ruling New York judge Gary Brown has concluded that IP addresses are not enough to identify people as copyright infringers. [TorrentFreak]
A new study has found that you are more likely to pick up a computer virus form visiting a website based on a religion than from going to a pornographic website. “’It is interesting to note that websites hosting adult/pornographic content are not in the top five, but ranked tenth,’ Symantec said in the report.” [Raw Story]
Harvard and MIT have joined forces to offer free online education courses that could lead to obtaining a “certificate of mastery.” This is exciting news for anyone even slightly interested in continuing education. With the rising costs of post-secondary education in the US anything that is stamped FREE is automatically worth checking out. [NY Times]
A video game project on the Kickstarter website has been exposed as a scam. This is leading many people to wonder is Kickstarter is doing enough to vet projects before letting the public have access to them. [BBC]
ISPs in the UK have been ordered to block The Pirate Bay website from their users. Here is more info. [Telegraph]
By Chris Schulz, RP Staff, on Fri May 4, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET
Scientists witness a star being “consumed by a black hole. [latimes.com]
Many people look to gardening as a healthy and green activity. But beware that many garden tools have been found to have dangerous chemicals. [cnn.com]
The early warm weather this year is affecting plants much more than models have predicted. [bbc.co.uk]
Indonesia’s Mangroves are disappearing at an alarming rate, and some are trying to save them. [npr.org]
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri May 4, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
I was remembering today when Al Gore explained that he and Tipper were whom the author of the novel and later hit movie Love Story was based on.
The movie starred a young, dashing and quite handsome Ryan O’Neal and the lovely and endearing Ali McGraw. Gore claimed he was played by Ryan O’Neal.
Not Ali McGraw.
The author later disputed that claim… but that’s beside the point. It’s fun to think that a celluloid couple remind you of you and your spouse.
Anyway, it made me wonder if there was a movie that had characters that reminded my wife and me of each other. Both individually and even the way they related to one another.
I wanted to suggest Love Story but knew it wouldn’t pass muster.
We agreed, however, that the couple in Albert Brooks Lost in America was a pretty close parallel to us.
Albert Brooks is no Ryan O’Neal in the looks department but seems to think more like I do. An advertising exec who wants to drop out of society and repeat a motor home version of Easy Rider. And fails miserably at it.
As for the female lead, Ali McGraw is lovely but Julie Haggerty is lovely, too, and is probably a lot sweeter. And even better, Julie Haggerty’s character doesn’t die at the end of the movie.
Blog this!
