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 Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Fri May 4, 2012 at 9:15 AM ET
Junior Seau’s family has officially given the OK for this brain to studied for effects of concussions. It’s the right call by them and seemingly one they were always going to make. There is one absolute fact when it comes to studying concussions: progress can only be made if the research centers continue to have concussion-affected brains to study. Junior Seau knew what he was doing when he shot himself in the chest. [ESPN]
So why is MLS and the sport of soccer having so much recent success? Many factors contribute to this formula. Soccer is no longer just for “hipsters” or people who like to be different in the America sports culture. I have seen this up close with the growth of Kansas City’s soccer franchise Sporting KC. A re-brand from the KC Wizards to Sporting KC, as well as the opening of the state of the art, soccer-specificLivestrong Sporting Park has taking soccer in Kansas City to the next level. This is happening all over the country with the number of soccer-specific stadiums being built. Currently 13 of the 19 MLS franchises have soccer-specific stadiums with one more on the way and one being proposed. This has changed the all-around fan experience and made the in stadium intimacy unlike any other in American sport. Throw in supporter and member sections like the Kansas City Cauldron and you have a recipe for a lively experience at every match. The members section in Kansas City is comparable, if not better than, the bleachers atWrigley Field or the student section at a major college football or basketball game. Brett Bates, a founding member of Sporting KC’s Brookside Elite supporters club believes, “No other sports league in America has the supporters culture that MLS does and that’s what sets it apart. The individuals at the top know how important the average Joe is to building a passionate fan base in the city and region.” Not only is this happening in the Midwest, it is also happening in the Pacific Northwest. The Seattle Sounders andPortland Timbers have formed a great rivalry very quickly and their supporters sections are incredible. The Seattle Sounders are number one in MLS merchandise sales by a large margin and their attendance issetting records. Have you seen the Portland Timbers Army sing the national anthem on ESPN?
Chilling isn’t it?
Read the rest of… Jason Grill: Not Your Older Brother’s MLS: Soccer Matters America
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu May 3, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
The Politics of Pigskin
Sad news broke yesterday as future Hall of Fame, former San Diego Charger Junior Seau is dead due to an apparent suicide. It is being reported that Seau died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest ala Dave Duerson. Seau was 43. [CBS Sports]
Here is more on what Seau’s legacy is already shaping up to be. [Sports Illustrated]
Roger Goodell and the league office have officially doled out the punishments stemming from the Saints’ bounty program. They are harsh, especially for linebacker Jonathan Vilma who is now out for the season, but they are harsh in order to send a message. [ESPN]
Now we can get to the fun of grading the drafts of teams around the league following the draft last week. First is USA Today’s ranking of all 32 teams. [USA Today]
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu May 3, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
What doth it profit a man to reduceth his cholesterol if he CRS?
That’s my dilemma.
I’m in a tiny minority who respond well to statins (reducing my cholesterol levels) but experience significant memory loss on the flip side.
And it’s true with any statin. I’ve tried about 4 different ones.
My doctor, thinking the memory problems were minor, even suggested it may be worth the payoff.
That reducing cholesterol by 80 points is worth struggling to remember an old phone number or friend’s name you hadn’t seen in years was worth the trade off.
So I tried again.
Within 3 days I was leading a conference call with a client and had my boss and several other colleagues on. Three times within 15 minutes I could not remember my boss’ name.
I told my doc, whose name I was fortunate enough to remember, and he said best to look for alternatives to statins….I agree.
Washington is a city that loves to see itself on the television screen. Unlike New York or Los Angeles, neither of which is parochial or insecure enough to revel in the attention, the capital loves any affirmation of its glamour; it still takes quiet offense at the barb that it is Hollywood for powerful people who are simultaneously ugly and dull. So, it is no surprise that ABC’s late season series “Scandal”, which tries hard to inject some wit and sexiness into the conventional account of political tawdriness and cover-up, is buzz-worthy in certain sectors of the District. It helps that the show breaks genuine historic ground at the same time.
Most descriptions of “Scandal” have rightly accentuated the ground-breaking part: the casting of an African American woman (Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope) in the starring role in a drama is a development that has not happened either since Diahann Carroll appeared in “Julia”, or, perhaps, since Regina Taylor shared the lead role in the underrated and elegant “I’ll Fly Away”. (At this rate, a ten year old black girl will have her moment by the time I turn 65). It’s a weird—make it maddening, inexcusable thing—that there is still history to be made in the choice to cast a black woman in the lead, but it is unmistakable boldness on ABC’s part. Only three times in the life of our culture has a “big 4” television network trusted a black woman in an up-front role without a laugh track, and ABC to its credit ups the ante by rendering a narrative that has next to nothing to do with race or reimagining the culture of discrimination: no small thing in an industry that still makes movies about maids.
Olivia Pope is no sacrificing, modest victim of limitations. She is a stylish, equally lionized and feared practitioner of crisis management, which in the mythology of “Scandal”, is the business of burying the secrets of the high and mighty. (as to the impressionable among you, be advised that the real-life version of the profession has more to do with debunking corporate whistleblowers, spinning CEO demotions, and messaging sudden stock deflation). If you are the kind of viewer who catches the stray details in dialogue, it seems that Pope is a Republican—albeit, the moderate, feminist, non Tea Party loving kind. She was an instrumental member of the campaign team that elected the incumbent president, with whom she also shared a bed in between strategy sessions (a disclosure that was only slyly alluded to in the series trailer and which in a more intricate plot might have been late season cliff-hanger material, but which was offered up much too promptly within the opening hour).
Read the rest of… Artur Davis: ABC’s “Scandal”: The Bland & The Beautiful
By Jimmy Dahroug, on Thu May 3, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET
Despite the recent GOP filibuster to block passage of the Buffett Rule in the Senate, the Whitehouse and the Democratic Party have vowed to continue the debate. While the proposal’s popularity does benefit President Obama in his bid for reelection, the Buffett Rule has merit because it is about fundamental fairness for taxpayers.
The Buffett Rule originated from Warren Buffett’s example of how the second richest man in the United States pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. Warren Buffett does not pay the bulk of his annual income in actual income taxes. Buffett only pays an effective income tax rate of about 15 percent because he is compensated in stocks from his company. Under the current system, an estimated 55,000 millionaires use this loophole in the United States to pay a lower tax rate than millions of middle class workers.
The proposed legislation stipulates that a taxpayer who earns at least one million dollars pay at least a 30 percent tax rate. Under the current system at least a quarter of all millionaires pay a lower tax rate than millions of middle class workers.
It is important to point out that the legislation does not raise the capital gains tax rate itself. The Buffett rule targets the loophole where individuals essentially make their annual income from capital gains, and in turn benefit from the lower rate of 15 percent. They include individuals who purposely choose to take compensation as stocks rather than salaried income, so that they will pay a lower tax rate than the rest of the people in their income tax bracket.
Read the rest of… Jimmy Dahroug: The Case for the Buffet Rule
As a former state senator who served prison time for lying about a campaign finance violation of approximately $10K, I unfortunately have a unique perspective on the John Edwards imbroglio – and also on the broader issues of campaign finance law, selective prosecution, and budget priorities in a time of scarcity.
If John Edwards goes to prison, then many other politicians should join him, according to the Department of Justice’s logic.
A candidate who innocuously accepts a second-hand sportcoat from a supporter who laments the candidate’s ill-fitting blazer, or accepts a free haircut from a friendly barber who understands the importance of candidate’s presentation – but doesn’t report them on quarterly contribution reporting form – has broken the law just as John Edwards did, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.
(FEC rules state that any gift to a federal candidate that is meant to influence an election and which has not been given routinely prior to the benefactor’s candidacy must be reported.)
But if the DOJ has anything to say about it, there will be a precedent set for candidates, even political neophytes who know little about the intricacies of federal campaign finance law.
Any failure to report such gifts would merit a felony charge and, potentially, prison time.
Read the rest of… Jeff Smith: Is John Edwards a Criminal Or Just a Jerk?
Blog this!
