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 Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Mon Jun 6, 2011 at 3:00 PM ET
The Politics of Tech
Lets start off with a bit of fun, shall we? Apple is currently constructing one of the largest Apple stores in the world in Hamburg, Germany. Things seemed to be going according to plan until a few pranksters decided to do a bit of trolling. [OS News]
Ladies and gentlemen, I’m pleased to introduce Windows 8. Or at least a sneak peek of the future iteration of Microsoft’s 25-year-old operating system. [All Things D]
Are you using an old browser? Specifically IE7, Safari 3, Firefox 3.5 or older? Well stop it! Mainly because you are severely limiting yourself, but also because at the beginning of August Google will cease supporting those browsers. [BBC]
Three banks are responsible for 95% of spam transactions. Surprised? I don’t blame you. However, this is revealed in a study conducted by the University of California-San Diego, the University of California-Berkeley, and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. [ars technica]
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Jun 6, 2011 at 2:15 PM ET
John Edwards’ indictment last week is an issue that will occupy the blogosphere and the political chattering class for months.
And it’s one to which we will be devoting considerable attention here at The Recovering Politician.
For the Edwards affair touches on a significant number of issues that are of primary concern and interest to our contributors and our readership: the privacy rights of public figures; the criminalization of politics; the special responsibilities of our state and national leaders.
My take on the issue is fairly simple. While I have never been much of a fan or supporter of Edwards, and while I find the cover-up scheme for which he was charged to be reckless, irresponsible, and farcical; I oppose his prosecution, and I am hoping that he will escape criminal punishment.
I published an essay on my views in today’s Huffington Post. Here is an excerpt:
I really wanted to like John Edwards. I just couldn’t help myself.
From the time of his first presidential bid, Edwards’ focus on poverty reduction and his sublimely poetic identification of “two Americas” perfectly captured my own communitarian vision of politics and public service.
But I couldn’t support him. There was just something about him.
I wish I could say it was because I suspected the arrogance and recklessness that led him to risk the Democratic Party’s fortunes – indeed, the fate of the country — on an implausible scheme to cover-up the paternity of his child. But I wasn’t that insightful.
Only recently, upon reflecting on my own political career, did I understand what it was.
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Mon Jun 6, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
The Politics of Faith
Paul Ryan, Congressman from Wisconsin, draws criticism from a broad coalition of religious voices for his praise of Ayn Rand, the philosopher who once said she “promote[d] the ethic of selfishness.” The coalition questions the morality of the choices reflected in budget cuts and tax policy supported by the GOP. [Time]
Progressive Muslim-American feminist Amanda Quraishi creates 365muslim, an app providing daily facts about Islam, passages from the Quran, sayings from the prophet Muhammad, and other information about Islam. [Statesman.com]
Issues concerning the separation between Church and State were hot last week– In Texas, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that prayer at a public high school graduation is not unconstitutional. Supporters of the previous prayer ban argue that “[a]ll children should feel welcome at this important event in their lives regardless of their opinions about religion.” [Huffington Post]
Up north, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that New York City can keep religious services out of its schools without violating worshippers’ free speech or free exercise of religion rights. [International Business Times]
Who says faith can’t be fun? Check out this blog–Food, Faith and Being Fabulous: A Foodie’s Guide to Life, or A Seminarian’s Guide to Food, and Other Things. [www.reverendchef.com]
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Jun 6, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET
Yesterday, June 5, marked the 43rd anniversary of the tragic assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
His daughter, our very own contributing RP, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, spent the weekend paying tribute to the virtue of public service. In a speech before the The Women’s Network, Townsend shared her thoughts on the meaning of her father’s legacy:
In 1968, as you all remember, my father was running for president. David Frost asked Ronald Reagan and my father a question. I’m going to ask you that same question and give you thirty seconds of silence to think about how you’d answer that question, okay? The question is, “What is the purpose of life?” Think about how you would have answered it, okay?
Both Ronald Reagan and my father came up with good answers, and answers that rooted in the American tradition. Ronald Reagan said “The first thing is you have to reproduce yourself. Of course my mother [of ten] did a really good job on that one. And then he said what we really need in this country is individual freedom. We’re based on a belief in the Judeo-Christian belief of individual salvation and so what we need is individual freedom within the extent of the law. That was his answer. That makes a certain amount of sense. We talk about freedoms, we’re clelebrating Franklin Roosevelt’s four freedoms.
But I think Ronald Reagan missed something. My father said the first thing you do, you need enough food, clothing and shelter. If you don’t have that, that’s not a worthwhile life. But after you do that, you have to help others. You may have no shoes, but there’s always somebody else who has no feet. Our responsibility is to help others.
What had happened in 1968 when my father lost the election is we moved away from a sense that we’re all in this together, we’re part of a larger community, and we have to help one another. [We moved to] A belief only in ourselves, individualism. That started to dominate our economic system, which wasn’t there before. Milton Friedman, Allen Greenspan, who only thought: “What can we do for me?” Ayn Rand. And that has been a destructive economic system. We hear the rhetoric: “We want to cut taxes to create wealth”. Well, wealth for whom? Wealth for the top two percent of Americans. Wealth for the rest of Americans has not gone up in thirty years. What we’ve done is focused on wealth and not on worth. It means our country is weaker of this bad ideology which we have to change, and that’s what Democrats need to do.
Coincidentally (?) , Townsend entered the patheon of the American intellectual zeitgeist yesterday as well. She was featured as a clue in the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle:
106 Down: “Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, to J.F.K.” Five letters.
Earlier today, former Governor and U.S. Senator Evan Bayh joined our team of contributing recovering politicians.
We thought it was appropriate then to share the video of his moving speech in which he announced that he would not seek a third term in the U.S. Senate. The themes he strikes — a lack of civility in politics, the hyper-partisanship of Washington — are many of the same messages that animated the creation of The Recovering Politician.
So sit back and enjoy our RPTV Friday Video Flashback:
By Chris Schulz, RP Staff, on Fri Jun 3, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
Politics of the Planet
Life is discovered at new depths beneath the Earth’s surface. [bbc]
Countries abroad are leasing or buying land in Africa to grow wheat. This could lead to the destabilization of African countries, especially Egypt. [nytimes]
UK report claims that “nature is worth billions”. [bbc]
The food pyramid undergoes a change. Vegetables are more important and grains and meat are less important, will this help to change our farming system? [cnn]
Bees and beekeeping are vital to all aspects of our food supply, but they’re numbers are dropping at an alarming rate. [washingtonpost]
By Stephanie Doctrow, RP Staff, on Fri Jun 3, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
A rare strain of E.coli has spread to 10 countries and is blamed for 16 deaths and hundreds of illnesses… Is the United States next? [CNN]
New research indicates that crossing your arms actually helps you manage pain better. No, we’re not making this up. [Time]
Yesterday the USDA introduced new nutrition guidelines that relate healthy eating to portions on a plate, to rave reviews. [USA Today]
The New York Times offers tips for those of us who still can’t get a good night’s sleep. [NY Times]
If this isn’t a sign that our world needs to unplug, I don’t know what is: a 17-year-old in China sold his kidney on the black market to pay for an iPad 2. [Techland]
Yesterday on the RP, we highlighted a recent study that concludes that bilingualism may significantly inhibit or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. As an added benefit, speaking another language may help (and even alter!) your sex life. According to Dr. Yvonne Fulbright, speaking even a few lines of a foreign language when you faire l’amour could potentially give you “multiple personalities” in the boudoir and, thus, “keep things fresh and exciting in Swedish, German, Spanish, Italian . . .” Je t’aime, je t’aime mon petit chou!! Sultry Sex Talk to Seduce Any Lover
Speaking of Swedish, apparently Swedish erotica can significantly decrease in a relationship when one or both partners partake in a long commute to work. A Swedish researcher found that a couple is 40% more likely to separate if a job calls for a long commute. Lesson for lovers: stay close to home! US News and World Report
And if you’re gay, and your home is one of these cities, you can stay close to home and feel comfortable in and welcomed by your community. Check out six “surprising” places it’s great to be gay. (And your correspondent’s hometown is one of them.) AlterNet
Finally, check out this interesting article from Canada about the “sexual economy.” Apparently, marriage is the highest price that one can “pay” for sex, and fewer women are demanding that price these days. Increasing co-habitation is the result. You know, there’s an economic theory for everything. Tell us what you think! Ottawa Citizen
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