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:
Kim Kardashian explains what happened to her marriage with Kris Humphries. Why did they only last 72 days? [Huffington Post]
Rose Marie Belforti wins reelection as a New York town clerk after refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Belforti claims same-sex marriage is against her Christian beliefs. [Waterdown Daily Times]
Is your partner suddenly interested in fitness? A recent study shows that this is a way for individuals in relationships to prepare to reenter the dating game. Is he or she looking to break up? [ABC News]
“I am what they call me, a pirate, she mused. And several other things too, for have I not lived many lives in one? And known more than one man… her lips curled into a smile, remembering. I’ve taken what I wanted, but I’ve also done the best I could for those who depended on me. Some call me an ally and some think me a traitor because they do not understand that.”
I devoured all of those 792 pages about the legendary Grace O’Malley this summer, because I needed to find my inner lady pirate.
Did it help?
Yup.
Dr. Deepak, founder of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing, says that the need for archetypal role models are key in uncovering one’s hidden potential. Because archetypes offer profound wisdom across the ages, they typically represent strength and endurance in the face of struggle; define character traits in which we long to aspire; and they demonstrate the potential to live with a little more oomph.
A lot more oomph.
While I’m very happy in my marriage and don’t need more than one man (one is great, thanks), I was (am) exploring what it means to be, what my beloved female mentor, Rosalyn Bruyere, calls a “Goddess”, and what my young adult girlfriends call, “kick-ass.”
Grace O'Malley
And Grace O’Malley (Grania, in Ireland) delivers. She was a big specimen of female apparently–tall and strong with big thick hair, trousers, a hearty laugh and an appetite to match.
She learned to swim in order to avoid drowning at the hands of obnoxious village boys, and she learned to sail the world at the knee of her sea faring father. With work to be done on every expedition, she pulled her weight, literally, with hands raw and bloody along side every single sailor on every single voyage.
And years later, on her own ship when fire broke out on deck and relentless flames threatened to take her ship along with the lives of her crew, she beat back the firey rage over and over again with the only thing available in close proximity, her jerkin.
That’s old timey talk for “shirt off her backside.” Errr, frontside. So basically waist-up naked, she saved 40 men serving under her. That doesn’t sound right.
OR maybe it does.
Read the rest of… Lisa Miller — Sisters: Empower Your Inner Pirate
By Jonathan Miller, on Wed Nov 9, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET
Since its spontaneous generation a few months ago, Occupy Wall Street has made me cautiously optimistic.
“Optimistic” because I’m thrilled that there’s finally a highly visible effort to shine a spotlight on one of our country’s worst modern tragedies: the cancerous spread and increasing metastasization of income inequality.
“Cautious” because I’ve feared, as have many others, that the movement’s uber-anti-hierarchical — some would say anarchistic — organizational structure would frustrate the emergence of any meaningful, concrete reforms that could actually tackle the worthy issues OWS is raising.
Fortunately, here in my hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, local OWS organizers have developed a concrete, comprehensible platform: They have formed “Invest in Kentucky,” which they describe on their Web site as “a grassroots initiative calling on the Kentucky State Treasurer to reinvest the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s public funds into a financial institution that is headquartered in Kentucky.” They’ve also specifically called upon the Treasurer to divest the state’s funds from J.P. Morgan Chase, an out-of-state financial institution which was at the center of the country’s 2008 financial collapse, and are asking interested citizens to sign a petition to that effect.
Unfortunately, however, “Invest in Kentucky” is aiming its rhetorical weapons at the wrong target.
The Kentucky State Treasurer has absolutely no authority — administrative, legal, or political — to take the action “Invest in Kentucky” is demanding. And while I don’t pretend to be the expert on many state policy matters, I’m pretty familiar with this one: I served in that office for eight years.
The good news is that there is another, viable path for meaningful reform, should “Invest in Kentucky” choose to take it. And I’m happy to show the way.
But first a little history is in order.
Read the rest of… The RP: Occupy Wall Street’s “Invest in KY” — Worthy Cause; Misplaced Tactics
Since 1992, women have outnumbered men in college enrollment statistics. See here for an account of how the pattern has developed overtime, as well differences between male and female valuation of college. [Pew Research Center]
Not only are more women enrolled in college, but now there are more employed women than employed men above 25 with at least a bachelor’s degree. [Smart Planet]
One ramification of the imbalance between men and women in college has been an alteration to the typical dating scene. As females outnumber males, girls are forced to accept a situation in which they “compete” for a small group of eligible bachelors while guys find themselves in a world with increased flexibility. [NY Times]
When looking at colleges, women have the option of enrolling in all-girl schools. There are about sixty of these in the country today and they provide a distinct learning environment for their students. See here for a short account of the advantages of a single sex school and a list of female colleges in the United States [College View][College Scholarships]
Although overall more women are enrolled in college, in engineering schools female enrollment is actually decreasing. See here for the statistics, as well as an explanation for some causes of this disparity. [FINS]
By Stephanie Doctrow, RP Staff, on Tue Nov 8, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
More women than ever are entering the blogosphere. Although more men blog than women, according to the “State of the Blogosphere 2011” survey, the gap between the genders is closing fast. [CNN]
In reaction to new of Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries’ divorce after 72 days of marriage, a group set up an ironic vigil outside Kardashian’s store, Dash, in Soho. Is this the beginning of a bigger trend? [NY Magazine]
A Swedish lingerie chain is in trouble for requiring its employees to display their cup sizes on their badges while working. [Jezebel]
Could you avoid mirrors for an entire year? Would you ever want to? One woman’s quest focuses in on body image issues created by the media. [Time]
Ladiaes, read these stats for a reality check and a confidence boost. [Mom Grind]
Prediction: Herman Cain will make it through this week, and those coming, without losing ground in the polls because of his past inappropriate advances. And he won’t even have to give out free slices of pizza to remain near the top of the Republic field. Now, please realize that I make this prediction without condoning Cain’s behavior. If he did it, it was wrong. Seriously, who are these guys’ mothers? Power corrupts, I guess.
But back to my thoughts on Cain’s polling position. Here are the reasons why I think the Hurri-Cain will weather this storm.
1) The Right’s Undying Mistrust of the Left: I don’t think a Republican would trust a Democrat to make a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich these days. What, you put the jelly on first? Preposterous! All kidding aside, as bad as the Cain campaign has been at responding to these sexual harassment stories, the crew has been GOP-good at blaming it on the mainstream media (read: Politico, Washington Post, and the rest of the liberal elite). If Cain can continue to frame this issue as a left-wing media attack on a rising, serious Republican challenger to President Obama, expect the money to keep pouring in to the Cain coffers. Plus, Gloria Allred got involved. As good as Allred is at getting women a soapbox, she is just as bad at preserving her “clients’” credibility. Again, Allred’s participation makes for the perfect fundraising e-mail and speech line.
2) We are Still in Primary Season: If this was 4 months before the general election, I wouldn’t be making this prediction (note: I don’t think Cain will win the Republican nomination anyway. But, I don’t think these harassment issues will be dispositive. . .Cain’s candidacy is plagued by other problems that I’ll try to address in a later column.). But, as we haven’t had our first primary yet, Cain can rest easier. Yesterday’s announcement about sexual harassment from 1997 – 14 years ago – is highly unlikely to push any Cain supporters away. I think it is just as unlikely that these reports are the straw that breaks the Independent voter’s back (that is, the Independent voter voting in a Republican primary). They’ll vote for someone other than Cain for a different reason, not because of this. With Democrats still sitting on the sidelines waiting for November 2012, Cain’s poll numbers won’t suffer at their hands. If these stories had to come out at all, this is a good time.
3) Cain’s Malfeasance Pales in Comparison to Some of his Republican Counterparts’ Bugaboos: Conservatives still don’t trust Mitt Romney. The GOP wants health care to be a keystone of its general election attack on President Obama. Obamacare will still be relevant if Romney wins the nomination, but the attacks won’t be as biting because of Mitt’s Massachusetts’ Plan. Plus, nobody knows what he’s going to do about abortion. That scares a lot of Republicans. Rick Perry is as unpredictable a candidate since Howard Dean…and things didn’t turn out too well for him. Newt Gingrich cannot deny his moral missteps. In a lesser-evils look at the GOP front-runners’ personal problems, Cain slips by.
4) Cain is a Black Republican: His fellow candidates won’t hit him on these harassment stories. Fox News and other Conservative media outposts want to be the cool kids embracing the new cool thing, so they will lay off, too. And Republican voters are looking for a demographic answer to not only President Obama, but also to the race and national origin gaps between the two parties. Marco Rubio is that answer, but Cain is the fill-in for this election cycle.
5) Cain has Nothing to Lose: Think about it. Cain is running for President of the United States. His poll numbers show him right up there in the top-tier of GOP candidates seeking their party’s nomination (note: We all know that national poll numbers aren’t the gospel during primary season. Still, Cain’s numbers are good signs for him.). He is in his mid-60s and likely won’t be running for national office again. He is still trying to sell his book. And each extra week he spends on the campaign trail, he may be able to raise his speaking fee by a few thousand dollars. Wouldn’t you fight through this week, too?
Like most young women of my generation, running for office was something I never pictured myself doing. I tended to think of politicians as coming from two different-and unappealing groups-extreme partisans and opportunists.
But when I decided to run for US Congress in early 2009, shortly after my daughter was born and in the throws of the idealism and hope that President Obama’s inauguration represented, I realized that things are the way they are in this country in large part because people like me, young mothers, young women struggling to make careers and find their way in the world, don’t participate very much in the political process.
We tend not to run for office. We feel in fact virtually excluded from the national political conversation. And I felt, and still feel, that the absence of the voices of women generally, and young women in particular, was hurting us as a country.
So, even though I felt absolutely 100% terrified about the whole process, I threw my hat in the ring and ran for US Congress. I thought that if I could overcome my shyness and insecurities and run for office, perhaps that would serve as an example for a few more young women to run and that those few more could serve as an example for more still until eventually thousands of young women, from all over the country, decided to participate in the political process and run for office at every level, and the higher the better. There’s no question in my mind that if this were to happen things in this country would really change.
Read the rest of… Krystal Ball: Why We Need More Young Women in Politics
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