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:
Implement term limits: 4 terms for Congress, 3 for US Senators and same for KY State House and Senate, starting ASAP or in 2015.
Remove the influence of money from elections by going to public financing.
If Murdoch or Soros or some corporation or PAC want to contribute to a candidate, they must contribute to the public pool and designate which candidate they want to support, and only the amount that the other candidate raises is allowed to be released to their choice. If any money from their contribution is left over at the end of the campaign, they can choose to leave it in the pool for the next race, but it goes into a blind pool to be doled out evenly by the public pool board or they can get what’s left back, interest free.
Supreme Court be damned on this one. I understand their individual free speech argument, but it is hurting the public good which trumps. The last 6 months highlights this point better in any time in recent history.
But for those of you good doers out there, we have a reward. This week’s posts on The Recovering Politician will be dedicated to the proposition of making our political system a better one. Fixing Politics will be our mantra.
Two particular qualifications:
1. We will be hearing from a number of our readers who offer challenging, outside-of-the-box ideas to make American democracy stronger. You may love ’em or you may hate ’em, but remember, these views, as always represent those of the writer only and not the management at the RP.
2. We’d really love to hear from you as well. We are hoping the comments section will be filled with your reactions to the articles posted. And hopefully some new ideas as well.
So please enjoy, and better yet, help participate during Fixing Politics Week. Who knows? Maybe one of your ideas will be adopted by our powerful readership and set the country on the right course. Or more likely, will at least give some of us more confidence that we are living in a truly participatory democracy.
The RP’s appearance on Fox and Friends this morning was the stuff of legendary scandal. Unlike most cable TV talk show debates, there was no screaming, no storming off the set, not even any projectile vomiting to entertain the disappointed audience.
In fact, the three panelists: the RP, Santita Jackson (Jesse’s daughter and a popular Chicago radio host), and Dylan Glenn (a former GOP Congressional candidate in Georgia) seemed to agree on every major issue, particularly that hyper-partisanship and rigid ideology are destroying American politics.
So if you can stand rational discussion without angry recriminations, go ahead and watch the clip below. (And if it inspires you to join the No Labels movement that the RP promotes and whose message the other panelists echo, click here.)
By Kristen Hamilton, RP Staff, on Fri Aug 19, 2011 at 2:00 PM ET
Still high off studying abroad in Paris, I decided to compile a list of my most enjoyable moments in Paris. This list is in no particular order, because to be quite honest, it is a bit difficult to choose between indulging in the luxury of Chanel and nearly getting attacked on the Metro. See what I mean? Check out my top 5 below:
1. Praying in the Sacré-Coeur
Regardless of the trek that it took to finally reach Sacré-Coeur, it was completely worth it. Unlike Notre Dame, I actually had the chance to go into this church (it was free) and sit down in the sanctuary. A lot of people sat down to hopefully put an end to their incessant sweating (myself, included); however, while sitting down, I was moved to pray. Tears rolled down my eyes out of nowhere; this experience was moving, to say the least. I actually had the opportunity to visit Sacré-Coeur twice, and I can honestly say that I will forever cherish the memories that I made there. Okay, enough of the crying – now to the fun stuff.
2. Visiting Notre Dame AND then watching Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame
Another church? I know, but I actually didn’t go into this one, and I don’t know what excited me more: seeing Notre Dame in person or seeing Notre Dame in person AND then running back to my room to watch the Disney classic featuring the beloved Quasimodo. The Hunchback of Notre Dame was never my favorite Disney movie (not even top 10); however, that is the power of the real Notre Dame. In walking distance from where I stayed, Notre Dame is majestic in all ways possible. It is one of those places where something comes over you, but you have no idea what it is. Maybe it’s the reverberation of the church bells that ring throughout the city or maybe it’s just the fact that you are standing in front of history. Regardless, my visit to Notre Dame, followed by my viewing of Quasimodo and the gargoyles, was special.
3. Playing Petanque
Petanque is probably one of the greatest games of all time. Seriously. Petanque is France’s precious sport jewel, and I am completely bummed that we do not have this game in the States. It just so happens that petanque requires a lot of skill that of which I do not have. There are two teams and each team has their own set of steal balls. In the beginning of the game, a small green ball is thrown, and wherever it lands, that is the target that each person is to aim for. The object of the game is to land the steal ball closest to the little green ball. This may sound simple (probably not with my horrible description of the game), but no, not quite. You have to throw the ball underhandedly, and the outdoor elements do not always help. My team ended up losing (of course), but I can’t remember when I have had that much fun playing a game with what looked like steal tennis balls.
Read the rest of… Kristen Hamilton: Top 5 Favorite Moments in Paris
As we celebrate a week of 'no politics' on The Recovering Politician, let's share just what such a vacation means to us. For me, it means, switching off from the news about politicians and what they are or are not achieving. It means turning off the tv, the radio, the news websites, the computers and all the other 'connected' devices. It means walking right past the tv as the stock market plunges and talking heads gyrate on the screen. It means not allowing ourselves, for one week, to worry about retirement or our child's education. As ghastly as it sounds, it means putting despair about starving children on 'pause' for just a week and letting others, like Bono and Anderson Cooper, do the worrying.
Taking a vacation means temporarily putting aside obligations to 'keep up with the news', do community work, check on extended family members, meet responsibilities and finish 'chores' around the house. It means just kicking back with spouses and children to do a puzzle, play cards, build with blocks, paint with watercolors, visit a museum, hike a trail, have a beer in the afternoon, swim, take a nap, and to marvel at this vast country by visiting somewhere new.
And to politicians, I’d say this…”take a break!” be normal people, spend time with your family, read a novel, vegetate. For one week, don’t make a political calculation. the latter might be the single hardest thing to do.
And please, when the week is over and you are recharged, please come back and think differently. Cast your gaze away from the economy, towards the environment…Fresh air and fresh water hold the key to life itself and in restoring both, we just may create enough economic activity to put the economy right again. It may even enable us to relieve the very worst suffering in this world, that of a starving child.
By Stephanie Doctrow, RP Staff, on Fri Aug 19, 2011 at 10:00 AM ET
What’s scarier, the fact that three people got killed from a rare amoeba that thrives in rivers, or that a brain-eating amoeba actually exists? [Time]
A French company is under fire after releasing a new line of adult-inspired lingerie… for young girls. [CNN]
One Colorado school district works to make school lunches better and healthier for growing kids. Maybe other districts around the country will take note? [NY Times]
I concluded my previous blog post pondering whether or not any superheros had ever been created that I would actually feel were worthy of kids’ admiration. After a top five list of some of the best superheroes from mainstream comic books… all of them fell way short.
Are there any nonviolent superheroes outside of mainstream comic books that are worthy of acclaim and true admiration? Well, as it turns out–
YES! Far more than you’ll find on the shelves of comic book stores these days.
Here’s my top five list of superheroes that exist solely outside of comic books:
5.) Super Grover
There’s a wonderful book that my daughter loves for me to read to her. It is called Hooray for Our Heroes by Sarah Albee and Tom Brannon (ISBN: 978-0375822681). This book alone makes me love Super Grover.
4.) The Super Readers (Whyatt Beanstalk aka Super Why, Princess Pea aka Princess Presto, Red Riding Hood aka Wonder Red, and Pig aka Alpha Pig)
This PBS TV series is aimed at children from ages three to six and teaches reading skills including spelling, pronunciation, the alphabet, writing, phonics, and word usage.
3.) You
What better than a chance to save the world– yourself? Wildfire* is a game that gives you the power to make real change, and let’s you see what you will do with it. (If you like this idea, check out other games like it here ) Wildfire is a game about saving the world. Opponents like rampant poverty, gender inequality, inadequate education and environmental degradation cannot be defeated by marching armies, secret potions, or magic swords– but they can be defeated by YOU.
Read the rest of… Chris Skidmore: Top 5 Nonviolent Superheroes
As Politics Free Week comes to a close tomorrow, we are already looking forward to our next venture. As promoted earlier, the week of August 22, we will dedicate the site every day to what’s wrong with politics and how it can be fixed.
We’ve already received several submissions, but we still want to hear from you. Please send us your essays on how to fix the American political system — one specific part, or the whole darn thing (1500 words or less) — by Saturday night, August 20 to Staff@RecoveringPolitician.com.
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