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 Mar 2, 2012 at 9:00 AM ET
The Pittsburgh Steelers have released DE Aaron Smith, who is widely regarded as one of the best 3-4 defensive ends of all time. Smith’s release comes on the heels of the release of Hines Ward. As the Steelers work to control their cap space they have cut two potential Hall of Fame players in as many days. [ESPN]
Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele‘s tumultuous tenure as head of the national GOP was marked by his tendency toward outspokenness, a tendency that earned him little reward. Since he become a contributor for MSNBC almost a year ago, however, that tendency has become an asset. Although still a strong critic of President Obama, the Chairman isn’t afraid to tell uncomfortable truths about his own party. In part two of our exclusive interview, Chairman Steele discusses one such truth: the Republican Party’s rocky relationship with racial politics.
One of the more remarkable moments of Michael Steele’s stint as RNC chairman was his stunning admission that, by virtue of the decades-long, race-based Southern Strategy, his party had given black voters very little reason to vote for them.
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu Mar 1, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
The Politics of Tech
Wolfram Alpha is an amazing tool. Here are 10 even more amazing uses of it. [How-to Geek]
How to escape the search engine filter bubble you are most definitely stuck in (whether you know it or not). [DuckDuckGo]
“Six ways that Congress could fix copyright, now” [ars technica]
Yep, Facebook has been caught spying on its users again. This time they have been shown to read users personal text messages. [news.com.au]
Are you a hacker? Do you want to make $1 million? Well, Google will give you $1 million, all you have to do is prove you can exploit Chrome. [ars technica]
Ever wondered the differences between 3G and 4G, this article explains them quite well. [PC Mag]
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Mar 1, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Sometimes when I’m in a long line at Starbucks and in a hurry, I wonder to myself, “Who was the annoying customer who kept complaining that the Barista never asked if he wanted ‘room for cream?'”
That person was probably the cause of the blanket Starbucks policy to ask every customer ever time that same question ad nauseum.
That question, repeated millions of times a day seems to take a lot of time for the Barista to ask, the customer to think about, the customer to answer, the Barista to process and the Barista to respond to. And I’m not sure it’s an important enough question to ask millions of times daily.
I think Starbucks should post a “Room for cream opt out” policy.
In other words, it will be assumed that all Starbucks customers want room for cream unless the order otherwise (e.g. “No room for cream, please” or “I don’t need room for cream” or “I’m utilizing the ‘opt out’ policy for room with cream”—or something like that).
I suggest a pilot project for Louisville. I suspect we’ll see a lot of freed up time to Starbucks customers that is currently time being drained from our local economy. And wouldn’t it be interesting if we discovered that this inane question asked of everyone passing through Starbucks turned out to be the primary cause of our current recession?
Of course, I don’t really believe the “room for cream” question contributed to the recession.
Just aggravated it a little.
I do think that the new additional –and more complicated—Starbucks question, “Would you prefer light or dark roast?” has the potential to seriously undermine out economy.
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu Mar 1, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET
The Politics of Pigskin
The NFL Scouting Combine has just concluded and it is once again proof that the NFL knows how to market itself better than just about any entity in the world. [The New Yorker]
Now that the Combine is finished what are some things that we have to look forward to? [ESPN]
Take a look at 10 players who came out of the Combine having improved their draft stock. [Yahoo! Sports]
On the flip side, here are 10 players that likely saw their draft stock fall due to a poor Combine performance. [Yahoo! Sports]
You saw Dontari Poe on the list of 10 Combine winners, but it deserves to be said again how impressive his workout really was. [CBS Sports]
There are two weeks left until the NFL’s free agency period. Here is some info to get yourself prepared. [ESPN]
Rumors are that the Washington Redskins are willing to be aggressive and give up a lot in order to get RG3 in the draft. [CBS Sports]
William Galston has been writing with authority about communitarian politics since I was an adolescent, and his recent essay in New Republic may be the best thing written yet on the strengths and defects of Barack Obama’s rhetorical embrace of “community”. It’s a window, for reasons intentional and unintentional, into why modern liberals have struggled so much with building a broad case for their most cherished reforms.
As Galston observes, communitarian language has deep roots in American civic tradition, from the pilgrim John Winthrop’s “shining city on a hill”, a biblical phrase that he reshaped into a clarion call for shared sacrifice and mutuality; to Teddy Roosevelt’s New Nationalism and its paen to heroic civic vigor; to Mario Cuomo’s 1984 Democratic keynote address, which elegantly describes “the family of America, recognizing that at the heart of the matter we are bound to one another.” The same strains have surfaced prominently in Obama’s best recent efforts—including the Osawatomie, Kansas “inequality” speech in December, and the State of the Union.
Read the rest of… Artur Davis: Can Obama Sell the Idea of Community?
By Stephanie Doctrow, RP Staff, on Wed Feb 29, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET
What’s your biggest regret? Researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that for most Americans, it’s a missed romantic opportunity. [NY Times]
Feeling a little back pain or numbness? Your skinny jeans or stilettos may be to blame. [Wall Street Journal]
New research from Britain shows common sleep medications may be linked to a shorter lifespan. But don’t stress yet, insomniacs– many doctors are doubtful of the study’s validity. [CNN]
When is it okay to give your child a sick day home from school… and when is it okay to send them, despite their sniffles? [Washington Post]
New research shows that richer people are often less ethical because they view greed differently than other demographics. [Time]
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Feb 29, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
“Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good!”
Remember the old saying, “I feel like a million bucks!”?
That was very popular a few decades ago and meant you felt good physically and were on top of the world.
I have done an economic analysis based on when that saying was at the height of popular usage and have adjusted for inflation.
In today’s monetary terms, the proper saying should be “I feel like $2,435, 721.32”
However after adjusting for what each individual on average owes over their lifetime based on our national debt, the new adjusted number is roughly “$6.48.”
So, if you are feeling especially good today…and especially positive about the future, cock your head, put back that gleam in our eye and say, “Hey there, pal! I’m feeling like roughly $6.48 today, adjusting for inflation and my portion of the debt!”
It’s not quite as catchy as the original line, but spirit of that expression is still in there somewhere.
On the other hand, if you aren’t feeling especially good today physically or about your personal future, you will need to adjust further downward if someone asks you to estimate your dollar value based on your frame of mind today.
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of wiggle room. I guess what I’m saying is I hope everyone is feeling, as Larry David likes to say, “Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good” about things. Figuratively speaking. ; )
Blog this!
