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 Thu Jan 26, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
The Politics of Tech
Raspberry Pi, the $25 PC, is back in the news. This time as it is show to outperform (double) the performance of an iPhone 4S. [Geek]
Microsoft is calling for Washington state to legalize gay marriage. Microsoft argues that it is hard for them to hire their preferred candidates because they are based in a state that discriminates against them. [The Atlantic]
Some people out there are tech savvy enough to jailbreak their phones. However, this practice could soon become illegal. Again. [Gizmodo]
Actor Wil Wheaton has called out Chris Dodd regarding the claimed job losses due to piracy. [techdirt]
Europe is considering a sweeping new law that would force Internet companies to obtain explicit consent from consumers about the use of their personal data, delete that data forever at the consumer’s request and face fines for failing to comply. [NY Times]
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu Jan 26, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET
The Politics of Pigskin
The best day of football all season, Championship Sunday, is in the books and we were treated to two outstanding games. The Giants edged out the 49ers in overtime and the Patriots narrowly avoided going to overtime with the Ravens when Billy Cundiff missed a relatively easy 32 yard field goal to tie the game. Here are some judgments to help you break down what happened this past weekend. [CBS Sports]
Here is Peter King’s weekly analysis in his MMQB column. See what he thought about Sunday’s games and his impressions of the matchups going forward. (Pro-tip: there are some links on the first page to other quality analysis) [Sports Illustrated]
John Clayton plays Q&A on the Super Bowl XLVI matchup. [ESPN]
Joe Paterno passed away this weekend. The legendary coach lost his battle with cancer. No matter what you may think about his actions and what transpired at Penn State during the Jerry Sandusky years it is always rough to see someone die in disgrace. [Yahoo! Sports]
As is common around this time of year players are getting added to the Pro Bowl roster to replace injured players and others that might be playing in the Super Bowl. One of the big names that was added was rookie QBs Cam Newton. [National Football Post]
After a disappointing first round exit from the playoffs Pittsburgh Steelers Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians announced his retirement. Or did he? There are some reports that the OC that helped the Steelers to two Super Bowls was let go so that the team could go in a different direction on offense. [ESPN]
By Patrick Derocher, on Thu Jan 26, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET
Fulfilling something of a dream of mine, I had the opportunity to spend the week leading up to this year’s New Hampshire presidential primary on the ground in New Hampshire and as such, The RP asked me to do a write-up of what the election looked like from the Granite State (though that may have also had something to do with the fact that I missed several blog entries whilst traipsing about New Hampshire).
In the interest of full disclosure, and to more fully explain where I’m coming from here, I spent my time working for former Utah governor Jon Huntsman’s campaign, in a position that is best described as full time volunteer, and so this piece will include some observations specific to that campaign. Given my position (I wasn’t even considered staff), the extent to which I can comment on Jon 2012 is rather limited, as is the extent to which I feel it is my place to comment on specifics. That said, there are a few questions I have been asked on multiple occasions that I will start off by talking about.
– Why did Huntsman never really catch on with voters? The simple fact of the matter is that most voters did not view Governor Huntsman as a conservative. This is, of course, more than a bit absurd (you can start and finish with his implementation of a flat tax, but there’s so much more). Perhaps it was the often fawning media coverage, or his moderate temperament and willingness to work across party lines, but the basic problem remains the same: The “moderate” label was affixed, and there was no changing many voters’ minds. As for why Huntsman appeared to have limited support among independents, that is more pertinent to the body of this piece and will be discussed shortly.
Read the rest of… Patrick Derocher: The Ephemera of Politics — On Polling and Primaries
By Stephanie Doctrow, RP Staff, on Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET
The newest cure researchers are looking into for depression, addiction, and post-traumatic stress is… magic mushrooms? [Time]
We’ve all heard that high heels are bad for your feet, but new research actually shows the damage at a tendon and joint level. [NY Times]
You may have heard about the case of 12 girls at the same public school suddenly picking up Tourette’s-like symptoms of tics and verbal outbursts. Now, doctors finally have a diagnosis. [TODAY]
Here’s a reason to bring your ego down a notch: a new study finds that narcissistic men have higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. [CNN]
Read about the persistence of the white picket fence American Dream, and why it can lead to problems. [Psychology Today]
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 12:30 PM ET
Romney should be calling all of his bundlers and soliciting money into Santorum’s campaign to make sure Santorum stays alive. Otherwise Newt may well win Florida and then all bets are off.
In 2002, a few well-informed individuals supporting the re-election campaign of Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) understood that he probably couldn’t get to 50 percent against John Thune and that he’d probably attracted as many indies as possible, but that Libertarian Kurt Evans could potentially draw an extra point or two from Thune’s right flank. A few of these aforementioned individuals apparently organized a last minute effort to boost Evans, who ended up garnering 2,500 votes as Johnson edged Thune by 520 votes.
The dynamics are slightly different in a primary but the principles are the same. Santorum’s approximately 10 percent in Florida/nationally are essentially off-limits to Mitt in a contested primary, unless somebody like Huntsman is the sole alternative. To win Florida, Mitt must prevent the conservative bloc, currently split between Newt and Santorum, from coalescing behind Newt. So Mitt must keep Santorum in the race. The best way to do that is money. And Mitt (and his homies from the real streets of America) have nothing if not mad benjamins.
It might seem crazy but it’s perfectly legal and it’s what Romney’s people should be quietly communicating to their most sophisticated (and cynical) bundlers.
And hell, we’re in the post-Citizens United age, so one of those bundlers – if his creative juices are flowing – could just decide to start his own PAC and just start running positive ads for Santorum in Florida to boost Santorum’s #s there. Eliminate the middleman(ager) – that’s the Bain way, right?
In sum, to borrow some Bain-style jargon: for Romney, in the absence of a very unlikely Santorum surge, the marginal benefit of an extra dollar spent boosting
Santorum is higher than another dollar spent attacking Newt or another dollar spent trying to boost Romney.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Are the eyes truly the window to the soul?
I think they are.
About 5 years ago a book came out titled, “A Hand To Guide Me: Legends and Celebrities Celebrate the People who Shaped Their Lives.”
It had a picture of Denzel Washington on the cover. (See below).
This book had an important impact on me.
I never bought the book, or the book on tape.
Never borrowed it from a friend to read. In fact, never once opened the book. Never even ever touched it.
But I would stare at it every time I’d go to the book store, which was at least once a week. This went on for nearly six months.
What did I stare at? Denzel Washington’s calm, humble and yet assured look. Not seeming assured with confidence– but rather assured with integrity.
I love this picture and decided I wanted to live my life in such a way that if the eyes are truly the window to the soul, one day I could transmit through my eyes the same calm and peaceful soul Denzel Washington appears to in the picture.
I’m still working on that…and will be for years to come. Many days I feel my eyes look less like a composed and serene Denzel and more like the frenzied, fearful, vacant eyes of the protagonist in the movie Eraserhead.
But I try. It’s a goal. And a good one. And I got if from a book. With a picture of a man who’s soul spoke to me.
Blog this!
Romney should be calling all of his bundlers and soliciting money into Santorum’s campaign to make sure Santorum stays alive. Otherwise Newt may well win Florida and then all bets are off.
