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:
Our newest contributing recovering politician was a Secretary of State, two-term Governor, two-term Senator, and on the short-list of potential Vice Presidential nominees three times. So Evan Bayh needs little introduction. Suffice it to say that the centrist Democrat is one of the most well-known and well-respected recovering politicians in the country.
In this week’s edition of RPTV’s Fifteen Minutes of Fame, Bayh shares his thoughts about political retirement, the virtue of public service, and the fiscal course our nation faces. Enjoy this interview as the RP welcomes Bayh to The Recovering Politician:
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu Jun 2, 2011 at 5:00 PM ET
I’m thrilled to report that our highest profile contributing RP yet, Evan Bayh, will be joining the team tomorrow morning at The Recovering Politician.
For those of you who don’t follow politics or read the newspaper, Evan Bayh is the former two-term Governor and two-term U.S. Senator from Indiana, who chose not to run for a third term in 2010 because he had tired of the hyper-partisanship and polarization in Washington.
Tomorrow morning, we will have a special, personal episode of RPTV in which Bayh and I discuss his post-politics life, his reflection on the merits of public service, and his judgment on today’s great budget debates.
I hope you will join us first thing tomorrow morning for Evan Bayh, and stay with us the rest of the day for our usual feast of civil dialogue.
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu Jun 2, 2011 at 3:00 PM ET
The Politics of Speed
If you haven’t heard, the 100th annual Indianapolis 500 was this past weekend. Dan Wheldon drank the milk and came away with his second Indy 500 win on the heels of one of the most dramatic finishes in racing history. Sure, the events at the end of the race with rookie J.R. Hildebrand leading were unbelievable, but was his wreck on the final turn one of the biggest choke-jobs in sports history? What do you think? [ESPN]
The time is right for Danica Patrick to make the leap from Indy car driver and part-time NASCAR driver to a full-time stock car driver for NASCAR. [NASCAR.com]
Never lie to a drifter about your drifting credentials. Make sure you click the CC button to get English subtitles. [Youtube]
While we are on drifting here is Ken Block’s Gymkhana. One of the most amazing runs you are going to see. You can’t help but love this if you are into drifting and if you’re not, you may be converted. You have been warned. [Youtube]
Finally, I’ll send you home today with the Ten Coolest Futuristic Movie Cars. [Jalopnik]
As we previewed a few hours ago, the RP, contributing RP Lisa Borders, and a bipartisan group of national leaders, committed to promoting civility and bipartisan solutions to the nation’s toughest problems, have launched No Labels Radio.
No Labels is a new grassroots movement of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents who are united in the belief that we do not have to give up our labels, merely put them aside to do what’s best for America. No Labels Radio will offer a weekly dose of news and interviews with the policymakers who are working to find bipartisan answers to the otherwise intractable problems our country faces.
In the Bush (W)-era of the 21st Century, undocumented aliens in the United States were often rounded up at work sites, breaking up families and communities and scaring the cajones off individual workers—not employers. Breaking with that tradition, the Obama administration is quietly going after employers that knowingly hire people who clearly cannot satisfy their I-9 requirements. Will this approach finally get employers to push for immigration reform? New York Times
What do you call someone that speaks three languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone that speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone that speaks one language? American. Here’s just one more among thousands of reasons to learn at least one other language. Allez-y!! The Bilingual Advantage
Many North Americans tend to lump all Latinos into one group: Mexican. But, of course, the Latino community is much more diverse than that. So please don’t ask your Hispanic neighbor if he “speaks Mexican.” Pew Research Center
And speaking of diversity, check out the latest installment of the always interesting, funky and fun Alt.Latino: The Show. ¡Es fantastico!
Our very own contributing RP, Andrei Cherny, recent launched an initiative to focus attention on small business development in Arizona. He wrote about it in an op-ed in the Arizona Republic:
As a businessperson, I’ve seen Arizona fall behind our economic competitors – around America and around the world. As chair of the Arizona Democrats, I’ve made it a priority for us to offer leadership that will help turn our economy around.
That’s why we recently held the first meeting of our new Business and Entrepreneurship Council, a group of Arizona business leaders committed to pushing new ideas that will bring back jobs and spur economic growth.
As I looked around the room at the start of our meeting, I saw businesspeople ranging from leaders of Arizona’s largest businesses to entrepreneurs of high-tech startups to owners of “mom and pop” small businesses. The people there were Democrats, Republicans and independents alike.
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu Jun 2, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
Maybe it is because I’m on a business trip in Washington DC today, but it seems that every third news story and every other conversation revolves around an entirely implausible “scandal” featuring the fully-clothed nether regions of a mostly unknown Congressman.
What’s the story here, people?
Unless you live without electricity or batteries, you are probably aware that Congressman Anthony Weiner’s Twitter account sent a possibly lewd picture to a college student over the weekend. Weiner has both claimed his account was hacked, and that he cannot say with “certitude” that the picture is not of himself.
It seems that the media has excused itself by focusing on the fact that Weiner may be lying. But he’s not accused of doing anything remotely illegal. Nor can anyone argue that Weiner has abused tax dollars or his position of power. And as I’ve argued on behalf of Sarah Palin and Arnold Schwartzenegger, lying in such personal cases, simply with the very human motive of protecting one’s family from embarrassment, should neither be criminal nor a subject of constant media speculation.
RP Nation — If you think this is a legitimate story, please explain in the comments section below.
If not, take the Honorable Clancy Wiggum’s advice below, and move on, there’s nothing to see here:
Last week, the RP, contributing RP Lisa Borders, and a group of other Democrats, Republicans and Independents from across the country, helped launch No Labels Radio.
No Labels is a new grassroots movement of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents who are united in the belief that we do not have to give up our labels, merely put them aside to do what’s best for America. No Labels Radio will offer a weekly dose of news and interviews with the policymakers who are working to find bipartisan answers to the otherwise intractable problems our country faces.
No Labels Radio is broadcast every Thursday at 2 PM EDT. Just go to nolabels.org.
Tune in TODAY at 2 to listen to this week’s episode, featuring an interview with former U.S. Senator Bob Kerry of Nebraska.
Last week’s broadcast is now online. You can listen to it here:
Blog this!
