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 Patrick Derocher, on Thu Oct 6, 2011 at 9:16 AM ET
Because no situation can avoid all traces of frivolity, a new Twitter hashtag has popped up in the past several days: #OccupySesameStreet. First emerging around the time of the Radiohead-performing-at-Occupy Wall Street hoax, the tag has become a bit of a running gag, with everyday Twitter users, in addition to celebrities like Patton Oswalt and Joshua Malina, coming up with Sesame Street-related Tweets with which to use the tag. We’re sure Jim Henson would have approved. [Gothamist]
Eating a good steak is almost like a religious experience for me. It’s an occasion … such as a birthday dinner at a throw-back steakhouse whose environment encourages even the most effete of men to talk like Goodfellas.
Cincinnati’s most well known restaurateur, Jeff Ruby, plays up this pageantry at his steakhouses.
The grand opening of one of his restaurants came in the form of an invite tied around the neck of a dead fish, playfully evoking the mafia intimidation tactic of sending would-be victims the message that they would soon be “sleeping with the fishes .”
Often outside Ruby’s restaurants you’ll see men awkwardly smoking a big cigar, trying to look the part, but perhaps tying a little too hard. (I also enjoy an occasional good cigar, but smoke mine in private.)
My Grand Pa Leon became a well regarded restaurateur in Chicago after years as a kosher butcher. He knew a good cut of meat, and never strayed from quality. His restaurant, Frenkel’s, had the best corned beef and even earned a reference in a David Mamet play. He actually looked the part of a gangster … a cigar aficionado who drove big Buicks and resembled a thicker, stronger version of Robert DeNiro. Yet his ethics and honesty were very much unlike that of a Mafioso. In his early years as a shop owner when the mafia came by for their take, he chased them out with a meat cleaver. Year later, he abruptly left a thriving restaurant and nightclub in downtown Chicago when he learned his partner had mafia ties. (No offense, Mr. Ruby and other would-be goodfellas, but I share my grandfather’s disdain for the mob and wannabe’s that glorify thieves and thugs.)
Read the rest of… Greg Harris: A Herbivorous New Year
By Patrick Derocher, on Wed Oct 5, 2011 at 4:30 PM ET
This is what I need to do. Congress should be getting us a budget.
While considering what I would write for this (potentially) apolitical piece, all I could think about was my senior thesis. I’ll be finishing my bachelor’s in December, and while this plan has certain advantages (moving out of dorms a semester early), it also means I have to write my thesis in my last semester of school. I mean that I really have to get it done, which is a bit of an issue given that it’s a month in and I have… slightly more than nothing. Granted, it’s not that I’m worried about finishing. Rather, it’s that I need to put my nose to the grindstone; focus on doing the research, writing, and classwork I have to do; and not let unnecessary distractions get in my way. There is something here that needs to get done, whether I like it or not, and only once I have it taken care of can I do other things, engage in the activities I want to, expand beyond what I have to do…
Kind of like Congress.
It occurs to me that this is a rather simple lesson Congress could learn, too, and use as its New Year’s resolution. At the risk of inflicting overly-cute wordplay on this blog’s readers, it seems that Congress should adopt a Resolutions Resolution. In recent years, Congress has become reliant upon continuing resolutions as a way of allowing the federal government to function in lieu of actual appropriations bills. Although Congress hasn’t been using such measures as much as a decade ago (there were 21 for the 2001 budget), it is much worse now than in, say, the latter half of the Bush Administration, and still historically very high. This is silly. Constitutionally, the budget is absolutely paramount among Congress’s duties; that the body cannot even pass such basic laws is a travesty, one that Congress should take it upon themselves to fix. Here is my proposal for Congress’s Resolutions Resolution: focus until you can pass a budget in a timely fashion. No commemorations, no pet projects, no filler, no nothing until continuing resolutions are not in constant use as a fiscal and legislative crutch.
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Wed Oct 5, 2011 at 12:30 PM ET
If he’s ever going to be president, now’s the time. He doesn’t have to look very far for two case studies: Newt Gingrich and Barack Obama.
The former missed his chance to strike while the iron was hot, passing up a race in 1996 when he likely could’ve taken the nomination from the laconic Bob Dole.
The latter went back on his pledge not to run in 2008 because he understood how quickly and ruthlessly media churns through its sensations. You can only be Bieber for a while (although if you have any actual talent or savvy you may be able to reemerge a decade later a la Timberlake).
I don’t think Christie will have the opportunity to re-emerge in four years, though; my sense (as a recent transplant to Jersey) is that he will not be reelected here. All of the adulation of the national conservative intelligentsia doesn’t seem to have affected folks here; indeed, I’ve heard a few call him too big for his britches (not sure if pun was intended).
And so while he could pull a Romney, quit the governorship w/o contesting re-election, and begin running for the 2016 nomination in the last year of his term, I wouldn’t advise it. You can’t catch lightning in a bottle twice.
When someone calls and says they have news that you should have known about your son, all kinds of things go through your mind. In this case, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Arrested on Wall Street? Piece ‘o’ cake compared to the other possibilities that cascaded through my mind.
It turns out Max was arrested for wearing a mask while demonstrating, under an ordinance dating to 1845 banning masked gatherings in New York City. He was held for a couple of hours and charged with loitering.
Read the rest of… Paul Hodes: A Public Apology to My Son, The Wall Street Protestor
My resolution is to engender the Kentucky Green Party to success. The two party political system in the United States and Kentucky is hopelessly broken and beyond repair.
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Wed Oct 5, 2011 at 9:15 AM ET
The Politics of Faith
The Dalai Lama cancels his visit to South Africa due to concerns of not being granted an entry visa. This has caused outrage in retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu towards the South African government. [Huffington Post]
Here are my ideas on what I think a few of our leaders New Year’s resolutions might be.
President Obama– I’m going to start being non-partisan, stop the name calling and work with everyone in Washington just like I promised in 2008.
Vice-President Biden– I promise to stop saying stupid stuff so folks won’t say I’m stupid.
Secretary Hillary Clinton– I’m going to force the President to stand strong for Israel, and I’m going to stop listening to Bill tell me how I need to take Obama on!
Speaker Boehner– I’m going to keep my temper under control and resist the urge to momma slap the President in the Oval Office. And I’m going to try not to momma slap those pesky fiscal Republican members as well.
Read the rest of… Rod Jetton: New Year’s Resolutions for Some Famous Politicos
Blog this!
Because no situation can avoid all traces of frivolity, a new Twitter hashtag has popped up in the past several days: #OccupySesameStreet. First emerging around the time of the Radiohead-performing-at-Occupy Wall Street hoax, the tag has become a bit of a running gag, with everyday Twitter users, in addition to celebrities like Patton Oswalt and Joshua Malina, coming up with Sesame Street-related Tweets with which to use the tag. We’re sure Jim Henson would have approved. [
If he’s ever going to be president, now’s the time. He doesn’t have to look very far for two case studies: Newt Gingrich and Barack Obama.
When someone calls and says they have news that you should have known about your son, all kinds of things go through your mind. In this case, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
