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:
President Obama must step up to the plate and hit a home run next Thursday night. However, let’s be honest here, Congress has to be willing to put politics aside and do what is in the best interest of this country and our economy.
Our government came together to bail out Wall Street and the banking system, using taxpayer dollars, almost as fast as Usain Bolt runs a 100-meter dash. Why are they not doing this with jobs, the economy, and unemployment?
This is a serious crisis. President Obama needs to present a strong jobs plan on Thursday night and put some new ideas into the fast lane. Congress needs to think about the future of this country rather than the 2012 elections. Congress has to be willing to play ball on job creation and the economy at such an important time. So is it election politics as usual or is Washington D.C. really going to help find real solutions to the problems that face our economy? Is the 2012 presidential race really more important than a 9.1 percent unemployment rate? We shall see…
By Stephanie Doctrow, RP Staff, on Thu Sep 8, 2011 at 10:00 AM ET
Reporters in their young twenties are cheap labor, and they’re taking over presidential election coverage. [NY Times]
Here’s what reporters should be asking politicians about religion… and what’s just taking up space in the news cycle. [Time]
Sunday was the fourth anniversary of the death of Steve Irwin, also known as The Crocodile Hunter. [The Examiner]
The Church of Scientology fights back against the New Yorker for a supposedly damaging feature the magazine ran on the group… by handing out a fake New Yorker? [NY Magazine]
One organization that isn’t doubting the power of print media: The Onion. Keep on investing, folks! [The Onion]
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu Sep 8, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET
While Americans seem bitterly divided over political issues, there’s one that seems to unite most of us: We all hate negative political TV ads.
So for this week’sHuffington Post column, I try to defend the indefensible: I argue that truthful negative ads can be quite valuable to voters and can help strengthen our democracy.
Call me crazy, but read on:
Recently, a close friend and early political supporter of
mine confided that she would no longer contribute to political campaigns that engaged in negative advertising.
And really, who could blame her?
Every election season, the television airwaves are barraged by a seemingly endless succession of 30-second jeremiads that manipulate the facts and embitter the public. Worse yet, many of the most vicious advertisements are paid for by shady, vanilla-named cartels who’ve maneuvered through loopholes in the Swiss-cheese-like election finance law to poison our politics without ever revealing the sources of their funding.
But all negative ads aren’t equally offensive. Indeed, some are critical to preserving public confidence in our political system.
Sound counterintuitive? A political campaign featuring only positive advertisements that focus on “the issues” might seem to be ideal.
But sometimes, the gauziest, most emotion-laded, goose-bump-inspiring advertisements can be the most deceptive, and can do the greatest disservice to the public dialogue. As with marketing for any product, positive political ads tend to exaggerate a candidate’s merits while ignoring his flaws. And the worst of them can paint a thoroughly misleading — or sometimes even completely inaccurate — picture of an official’s character, virtues and record on issues of import.
While the press can serve a mitigating role — calling out false claims and exposing whitewashes — a large and continually growing proportion of voters no longer follows the mainstream media, and many that do no longer trust what they see. Further, on the local level, decimated budgets have crippled the ability of many daily newspapers to engage in the necessary level of scrutiny of candidates and campaigns.
Accordingly, it’s often up to truthful negative ads to expose corruption and hypocrisy and to properly educate the public on the worth and merits of particular candidates.
By Stephanie Doctrow, RP Staff, on Wed Sep 7, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
Catch up on coverage of the Texas wildfires that are driving Austin residents out of their homes. [CNN]
How could punishing 19 men and boys for the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl be the subject of dispute? [GQ]
A sign that our political system needs a major overhaul: former mayor Rudy Giuliani will throw his hat into the presidential ring “if things get desperate.” [NY Magazine]
But there is some good news. The economic downturn isn’t as bad as we think it is, for once. [The Atlantic]
Check out this beautiful photo essay that documents the Twin Towers and their absence in the New York City skyline over more than 30 years. [Time]
By Robert Kahne, RP Staff, on Wed Sep 7, 2011 at 10:00 AM ET
The Politics of Film
George Lucas has touched the lives of millions with his Star Wars franchise, but he can’t seem to leave the iconic movies well enough alone. Rumor has it that Lucas is making some alterations to the Blu Ray versions of A New Hope, Return of the Jedi, and The Phantom Menace. [The Movie Blog]
As readers of this post surely know, I am really excited about the new marvel film The Avengers. Recently, Marvel talked at length about how the companion films The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2 will fit together with their new project. [IFC]
I went to go see the film Attack The Block yesterday. It was a really fun film to watch. If its showing in your town, you would do well to see it. Young star of the film, John Boyega, has been attached to the HBO series Da Brick, which is to Mike Tyson what Entourage was to Mark Wahlberg. [Film Junk]
Netflix streaming really got booming several years ago when it partnered with Starz, allowing the service to show all of their on-demand films. Recently, however, Starz has decided to forgo the partnership, meaning hundreds of films will be lost to Netflix, including favorites such as The Social Network. [The Guardian]
Juno Temple (Atonement, Greenburg) has been attached to the Batman sequel The Dark Knight Rises for several months now. Now, we might know who she will be playing. [/Film]
Countless events will obviously reshape the answer to this question. But this is what should hearten Obama supporters about 2012: presidents in the modern era (post 1932) tend to be reelected, regardless of their political position a year out. And the three who have lost – Ford, Carter, and the first Bush – all overcame huge polling deficits and weak economies to become competitive in the final weeks. In fact, if Reagan and Carter don’t debate in the final week in ’80, and if Perot does not collapse the GOP base in ’92, as weak as they were, even Carter and Bush might have won.
This, however, is what should keep Democratic strategists up at night: not counting blacks, Obama’s approval ratings have dipped dramatically with every sector of his 2008 majority, including Latinos, Jews, independents, white working class voters, and whites under 29. In other words, even if Obama achieves the 2008 turnout model, there is no guarantee that he will duplicate his ’08 demographic performance levels. And if he does not, he will have almost no margin for error.
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Tue Sep 6, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
The Politics of Faith
Public praise and adoption of Ayn Rand and her philosophical and political views is in fashion for conservative politicians, including those who identify themselves as Christians. Some challenge, however, that Rand’s values are antithetical to Christianity. [EvangelicalsForSocialAction.org]
9/11 inspired a new generation of Muslims that have worked diligently in the past decade to launch organizations that foster understanding and cooperation between Muslims and the rest of the America. [CNN]
Clergy not invited to 9/11 memorial ceremony. [Huffington Post]
A cross shaped bean on the site of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum sparks controversy. [NY Times]
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