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 Chris Schulz, RP Staff, on Fri Jan 13, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET
The illegal ivory trade gets a lot of attention but the biggest threat to many African animals is the sale of ‘bushmeat’. [bbc.co.uk]
Millions of dollarinof energy saving projects in Southern California go unused because agreements cannot be reached with Southern California Edison. [latimes.com]
The first bluefin tuna sold this year went for $736,000. This is sending the wrong message to fishermen who may illegally fish dwindling bluefin stocks. [npr.org]
Wave farms are an emerging source of green energy. [latimes.com]
By Robert Kahne, RP Staff, on Fri Jan 13, 2012 at 12:30 PM ET
I haven’t done one of these in a long while, and it’s pretty close to the new year, so here are some songs from 2011 which I think are great and which were not plastered all over commercial radio. So, if they are new to you and you like them, you ought to check out the artist.
[Iron and Wine – Monkey’s Uptown] This song was very close to being my favorite album of the whole year. I have never really dug Iron and Wine, but this album opens up his sound more than any of his previous stuff. You should check it out.
[The Black Keys – Lonely Boy] Are The Black Keys on commercial radio? Part of me thinks they are. This band has been around forever, but their last album was a huge smash hit, so this might be a song you’ve already heard, which doesn’t really jibe with the theme of this post. I’m sorry. It’s a good song anyway, and you should listen to it. The video is great too, as a bonus.
[Quarter Chicken Dark from the Goat Rodeo Sessions] This album was engineered for me to love it. Chris Thile, who fronted one of my all time favorite bands (Nickel Creek), gets together with Yo Yo Ma and Stuart Duncan to record some epic folk music. Its a gem.
[Paul Simon – So Beautiful Or So What] Did you know Paul Simon came out with an album this year? If you didn’t, you are now. There is no excuse for not listening to this whole album at least twice. He’s one of the greatest song writers of all time. OF ALL TIME.
[Gary Clark Jr. – Bright Lights] I started listening to The Black Keys back in 2005, when their 3rd album Rubber Factory was released. I loved that album, but wondered 1) why had I never heard of these guys before? and 2) Why wasn’t this album more popular that it was? Then, a couple of albums later, Brothers was a huge hit. Gary Clark Jr. is a bit like that. He’s a phenomenal musician. His sound is great, and it seems like this guy would be getting more spins on commercial stations. I figure when he comes out with a full length album (his release this year was just an EP), it will be huge. Maybe. Hopefully.
If you think these songs are good and think I might know what I am talking about when it comes to music, I made a list of the top 20 albums of 2011. You can read it here.
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Fri Jan 13, 2012 at 9:15 AM ET
The coaching carousel is spinning and spinning and the biggest name on the market is former Titans head coach Jeff Fisher. The St. Louis Rams and the Miami Dolphins are reported to be the leading candidates. Many have been anticipating for days now which one Fisher will choose, however, Fisher insists neither team has offered him. [ESPN]
Given the tenuousness of Democratic control of the U.S. Senate, I imagine more than a few people in Washington are hoping former Sen. Bob Kerrey will run for the seat vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson. As both local andnational sources are reporting, Kerrey is seriously exploring the bid – and Republicans are taking his possible entrance just as seriously. Operatives of both parties seem to agree that he may be the only Democrat who could hold the seat. I hope that he makes the race. But I don’t think he will.
First, some politicos call Kerrey a serial floater. They refer to his frequent Hamlet routine, in which he contemplates but ultimately declines to run for various offices: in 2000 for president, in 2005 for New York City mayor, and in2008 for the last open U.S. Senate seat in Nebraska.
Second, after a decade in the private sector, I doubt Kerrey is excited by the prospect of a year of retail campaigning. He was famously aloof in his 1992 presidential campaign, which reinforced the regrettable nickname “Cosmic Bob.” As a former aide to ex-presidential candidate Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., I traveled with Kerrey briefly in western Iowa in late 1999 as he helped campaign for Bradley before the caucuses. During a break between events, an advance man suggested that Kerrey shake hands in a small-town square; Kerrey suggested bowling instead. While I appreciated his quirky charisma, obvious intelligence, and willingness to speak hard truths, I found him miscast for the practice of politics. Accounts of his time in the Senate suggest a similar distaste for schmoozing.
Third, he could lose. Nebraska has reddened quite a bit since his last race in 1994. Back then, Nebraska had a Democratic governor and two Democratic U.S. senators; now, Nelson is the last elected Democratic statewide officeholder (and likely would’ve lost in ’12, which was why he bowed out). And surely, his having spent his last decade heading one of the nation’s most liberal universities — located in the lefty bastion of Greenwich Village — would take a little explaining to culturally conservative Nebraska voters. Attempting a comeback in such a risky race, after an unblemished career record of wins, may seem unappealing.
Read the rest of… Jeff Smith: Democrats Can’t Count on Kerry
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu Jan 12, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
The Politics of Tech
You may remember several news stories coming out a while back regarding Foxconn, a manufacturer in China that makes primarily Apple products and Xbox 360s. They are back in the news as a group of workers recently threatened mass suicide. [The Atlantic]
Here is an update on the German hacker space program that would bring us uncensored Internet from space. [PopSci]
Twitter has been ordered by the US DoJ to hand over the account information of people thought to have connections to controversial whistle-blower Wikileaks. [Mashable]
A leaked internal memo has suggested that RIM, Nokia, and Apple provide governments backdoor access to their devices. [Slashdot]
Google, Facebook, and Twitter could be in talks to coordinate a blackout in opposition of SOPA. [TIME]
Finally, a super-cool story about a girl that snuck into a Russian military rocket facility. Check out the pictures she took, they really are amazing. [Gizmodo]
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu Jan 12, 2012 at 12:30 PM ET
Do you remember last year’s State of the Union address?
I’m not asking about the speech itself. I’m referring to the fact that members of Congress abandoned their usual, and frankly juvenile, practice of sitting with their own precious cliques – Republicans on one side, Democrats on the other.
They crossed the aisle to demonstrate unified support for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) who had been shot just a few days previously. It was a wonderful gesture. But the next day, things were back to hyper-partisan business as usual.
As you know, bipartisan seating is reform #10 of our Make Congress Work! action plan. It’s the reform that gets a “Duh” response from anyone who hears about it. As in, “Of course, they should sit together. It makes perfect sense.” Unfortunately, the fact that an idea makes sense doesn’t make it any more likely for Congress to act on it.
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Jan 12, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Earlier today I had an incident stuck on multiple automated call loops trying to get a simple question answered.
I know how it is and that these services help reduce time spent by employees dealing with routine questions but…… I had a simple but non-routine question and spent, on and off, 2 hours trying to get through. I finally did but the person kept referring to me as Mrs Brown until I corrected him–using my Barry White voice. But that’s another story.
So, as always, I tried to come up with a better way, a better mousetrap, a “big idea” to fix this commonplace problem.
But I couldn’t come up with anything beyond, well, hire live people to talk to live customers. That just doesn’t seem practical. And it’s so 1970s.
So, I griped a bit and then came up with what at the moment seemed an innovative and workable new approach that would decrease the “aggravation factor” for customers calling.
What was it?
Read the rest of… John Y.’s Musings from the Middle: Automated Call Loops
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu Jan 12, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET
The RP has written his most provocative piece yet — He argues in favor of legalizing marijuana. Check out an excerpt from his Huffington Post column published this morning:
While a recent Gallup poll revealed that a majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana, and Ron Paul — a proponent — has run well in the early GOP presidential primaries, most mainstream politicians still refuse to touch the subject, and many journalists continue to refer to legalization as a “radical” position.
It’s no wonder. The loudest voices for reform usually come from the political margins: the “hippie” Far Left and the libertarian Far Right. And while emanating from different directions, the two extremes share a similar credo: An out-of-control government has no business telling me what I can ingest.
A politically-influential cross-section of Americans, however, disagree. Many associate pot advocacy with the “anything goes” counter-culture of the 1970s that they blame for the decline of personal responsibility. Others worry that the logical extension of the philosophy could lead to legalizing “harder” drugs, prostitution, even polygamy. All of them — liberals, moderates, and conservatives — believe that there must be some moral standards established to guide public policy.
I’m part of that moral majority. But unlike Jerry Falwell’s version, my values system is based on the multi-religious mandate to “love your neighbor as yourself.” I’ve even written a book, The Compassionate Community, which applies Bible lessons and other religions’ texts to advocate for progressive policies that promote the common good.
And I’ve recently concluded that these same enduring moral values compel me to support legalizing marijuana.
Click here to read the full piece, “The Moral Case for Legalizing Marijuana”
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