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 John Johnson, on Fri Oct 7, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
I am not Jewish, but I have so many friends who are that over the years I have learned a lot about Judaism.
Self-reflection, introspection, exploring the meaning of your own path. Anyone who knows me knows I am incredibly emotional and a constant thinker. Yom Kippur was tailor made for me!
When I think of my life the last few years, I realize the constant has been rapid change, stress, and lots of perpetual motion. This can often lead me to lose perspective.
When I was thinking about this blog post, I came about this story which I think captures my resolutions far more effectively than I ever could express in my own words:
There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. ’Well,’ she said, ‘I think I’ll braid my hair today.’
So she did and she had a wonderful day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. ’H-M-M,’ she said, ‘I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.’
So she did and she had a wonderful day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. ’Well,’ she said, ‘today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.’
So she did and she had a wonderful day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head. ’YAY!’ she exclaimed.
‘I don’t have to fix my hair today!’
Attitude is everything!
Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.
Live simply, Love generously, Care deeply, Speak kindly .
Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass… It’s about learning to dance in the rain.
Remember back in the day when Arizona Governor Jan Brewer erroneously claimed that the Arizona desert was strewn with “beheaded” bodies from Mexico? Or, more recently, when Texas Governor (and GOP presidential candidate) Rick Perry showed off his geography skills by claiming that Juarez was the most dangerous city in America? Nobody disputes that there is extreme, gratuitous and savage violence occurring in Mexico, but in a New York Times op-ed piece yesterday, El Paso resident Veronica Escobar bemoans the misrepresentation of the border region for political advantage. [All Quiet on the Southern Front]
How do you say “LGBT” in Español? A recent rally in Chicago brought two seemingly disparate groups together to fight for basic civil rights and against marginalization. [Hispanically Speaking News]
Y por fin, ESPN’s annual “Body Issue” will hit the newsstands this Friday, and it features its fair share of Latino athletes in the buff. Fortunately for las damas, most of the Latino sports celebrities are hombres (including José Reyes, Hélio Castroneves and Sergio Martínez). But don’t worry, chicos, the one image of Spanish golfer Belen Mozo is worth the look-see. [Meet The Hispanics]
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Oct 7, 2011 at 9:45 AM ET
While I personally support President Obama’s re-election — and you may as well, or perhaps prefer one of the candidates seeking the GOP nomination — I ask you to consider supporting the Draft Dave Walker campaign in the Politico presidential primary.
Politico is running a “parlor game” to select five picks who readers want to run as independent candidates for president. No Labels is entering the game by trying to draft former U.S. Comptroller General and No Labels Co-Founder Dave Walker to enter the race.
Supporting “Draft Dave Walker” will help No Labels raise awareness for its critical cause — urging our leaders to put aside their labels on occasion to work together, forge compromise, and do what is good for the country.
Watch this video to see why we think Dave would be a great candidate to enliven the debate and give voice to the millions of citizens across the country who have been muted for so long:
To participate, click here. On the website, type “Dave Walker” into the box at the right of the screen and click submit. You will be taken to a page with a tweet saying “I nominate Dave Walker in the #POLITICOprimary because…” Complete the sentence and spread the word.
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Fri Oct 7, 2011 at 9:15 AM ET
Miami Dolphins starting QB Chad Henne is out for the season and has been placed on IR (injured reserve) after deciding to have shoulder surgery. This past Sunday Henne suffered a separated shoulder that led him to require surgery. The Dolphins signed Sage Rosenfels, recently released by the New York Giants, but expect to see backup Matt Moore start this weekend. [ESPN]
For a medley of reasons, Herman Cain’s ascension in the polls is not going to lead him to the Republican nomination for president.
He has never won an election, has shown no capacity to run any massive public institution, much less America, and his campaign has been operated in a chaotic, haphazard fashion: all of the above are equal opportunity disqualifiers, regardless of race.
But it is no small thing that a steady, dedicated stream of white conservatives are embracing Cain’s candidacy and that he is still standing strong when more accomplished rivals have fallen or are lagging. My guess is that Cain will end up mattering, for the same reason other losers like Howard Dean, Jesse Jackson and Mike Huckabee have made a difference. Just as Dean foretold the emergence of the internet as a campaign tool, and Jackson paved the way for a black/progressive alliance, and Huckabee discovered early traces of the Tea Party, Cain may be onto something too: the eventuality of the next serious minority candidate for national office arising in the party of Lincoln instead of the party of Jefferson and Jackson.
The very thought will rankle some of the liberal hierarchy, which views the right-wing’s loathing of Obama as racial antipathy.
But the facts are inconvenient for Democrats: the 2010 primary cycle was atrocious for black Democratic candidates running statewide in Alabama and Georgia as moderates, and the general was a graveyard for worthy black candidates in Florida and Georgia who campaigned as conventional liberals. Even the exceptions are weighted with qualifiers: Kamala Harris, an incomparably gifted candidate, won as California’s Attorney General only after lagging well behind the rest of the Democratic ticket, and Governor Deval Patrick’s reelection would likely not have happened without a conservative independent siphoning Republican votes.
The breakthrough artists in 2010 were Republican minorities who won large shares of the white vote in a variety of different environments: Tim Scott and Allan West in the House; Marco Rubio in the Senate; Nikki Haley, Susanna Martinez, and Brian Sandoval in statehouses. 2012 promises to continue the trend. No plausible Democratic minority has surfaced in any competitive district or state in this cycle, while Ted Cruz is a first tier Latino Republican Senate contender in Texas.
Read the rest of… Artur Davis: The Herman Cain Phenomenon
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu Oct 6, 2011 at 3:00 PM ET
The Politics of Tech
Steve Jobs, one of the most important figures in technology of our generation has died at age 56. [CNN]
Steve Jobs will leave a legacy as an innovator. “The iRevolution.” [Huffington Post]
This was written a while back, but here are 10 things you may not have known about Steve Jobs. [The Altucher Confidential]
After three months Google+ is still chugging along and appears that it will be around for good. CEO Larry Page seems to be in favor of making it the flagship product of the Google brand. [gigaom]
Facebook tracks you even after you log out. Yep, they just got sued for it. [CNET]
Check out this robot used for prostate surgery as it peels the skin off a grape. [Wired]
We will know about 13 months from now if he made the right move from the standpoint of his presidential dreams, but his choice seems right for the voters who elected him in 2009.
For some reason, the Christie speculation never focused enough on the fractiousness of New Jersey politics and the disruption and mischief his in-state adversaries would have caused his campaign. Unlike their counterparts in Perry’s Texas, New Jersey’s Democratic legislators have real power and the undoing of Christie would have become their primary obsession. Give Christie credit for knowing this.
As for the race, with Perry imploding and Cain implausible, Romney has one real thing left to fear: the cascade of independent conservative expenditures that are going to link him to tax hikes, and Obamacare, and social liberalism, for a Republican base that still does not know the details of Romney’s Massachusetts record.
My resolution is to take 10 to 30 minutes every night to reflect on all of the interactions I had that day with all other humans. I will reflect to see if I could have handled the conversation better than I did. I believe that words are the most powerful thing we have and they can build up or tear down people in a very few minutes. I want to be true to myself and my opinions but not in a way that destroys other people.
Having a strong personality can be a gift or a curse. I want it to be a gift.
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Thu Oct 6, 2011 at 10:00 AM ET
The Politics of Food
What do milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat and soy have in common? Together, they account for 90% of all food allergies. In two years the percentage of reported food allergies in children has doubled. [Cleveland.com] This has prompted some schools to ban outside foods from being brought to school. [The Inquisitr]
Donald Trump dabbles in the wine industry. [Sacbee.com]
Want to save money on dining without looking cheap? Here are some tips. [Huffington Post]
The RP’s Recipe of the Week: Honey Glazed Salmon (I reccomend a slight variation–use teriyaki in place of soy sauce in this recipe.)
Blog this!
As for the race, with Perry imploding and Cain implausible, Romney has one real thing left to fear: the cascade of independent conservative expenditures that are going to link him to tax hikes, and Obamacare, and social liberalism, for a Republican base that still does not know the details of Romney’s Massachusetts record.
