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:
We’ve received a lot of feedback on The Atlantic magazine’s piece that we posted this week, in which former New York City School Chief Joel Klein praised the work that contributing RP Eva Moskowitz has been doing to promote education in the innercity.
We thought that now is an appropriate opportunity to hear it from Eva herself. Accordingly, we present a ten-minute video of a speech Eva gave last year in Denver on the subject of charter schools.
By Chris Schulz, RP Staff, on Fri May 27, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
The Politics of the Planet
Hundreds of European flights are cancelled due to a volcanic eruption in Iceland. Fortunately, scientists say the eruption could end by the weekend. [Bloomberg News]
Two teen Girl Scouts have been leading a five-year crusade against the Tagalongs, Thin Mints, and other cookies they love and sell. The trademark cookies are made with palm oil, which is the single ingredient under protest because of its link to Rainforest deforestation and Orangutan endangerment. [CBS News]
Urban farmers embrace new technology and invest in Aquaponics, an indoor farming method that produces both greens and fish. [Chicago Tribune]
Even in these weak economic times, more people in the United States and Europe are willing to spend more money for organic foods, which in turn is attracting more investors to this growing mass market. [NY Times]
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri May 27, 2011 at 12:30 PM ET
Continuing my newly-established tradition of plagiarizing from Nick Hornby and sharing my pop culture Top Five lists (See my Favorite Breakup Songs , my Favorite Hoops Books, and the Most Jew-ish Gentiles), and in honor of my oldest RPette’s recent acquisition of an adorable bunny (named “Louie” not “Bugs”), I ask the question that has confused, even haunted my generation:
What’s up with all of the guys named “Doc” who’ve never practiced medicine or even earned a graduate degree?
Without further agonized perplexion, I hereby list My Five Favorite “Doc”s Who Weren’t Really Doctors:
5. (tie) Doctor J and Doctor K
Julius Erving (who supposedly got his nickname from a high school buddy) and Dwight Gooden (an homage to Erving — K stands for strikeout — that was later shortened to “Doc”) were two of the greatest athletes of the last three decades of the 20th Century. J was the fifth highest scorer in pro basketball history, the first great populizer of the slam dunk, and one of the most graceful and elegant atheletes to ever play the game (And how ’bout that ‘fro!). K was one of the most feared and dominant baseball pitchers, whose brilliant career could only be stopped by drug use and injury. And yet, despite their greatness, there is no sensible reason to award them with the title of doctor. (At least J gathered a few honorary degrees after his career ended.)
4. Doc, the Dwarf
Doc wasn’t necessarily the brightest of the dwarfs — he seemed to stammer and lose his train of thought quite often — but he held sway over the rest of the crew, with the possible exception of Grumpy, of course. (Here is a great summary of his life and career.) Doc’s authority emenated from being the gray eminence of the group, the centered, moral authority. Yet there was no evidence whatsoever of a medical license or doctoral dissertation at an accredited university. Indeed, it took the efforts of a fully-heighted fellow (The Prince) to relieve Snow White of her food poisoning ailment.
Read the rest of… The RP: What’s Up Doc? — My Five Favorite “Doc”s Who Weren’t Really Doctors
By Stephanie Doctrow, RP Staff, on Fri May 27, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
CNN looks at the 30 year anniversary of HIV/AIDS being cited in a medical publication, through the eyes of literature professor and activist Edmund White. [CNN]
Should kids under 13 be allowed to use Facebook? [Time]
The number of sex-selective abortions in India is on the rise, and experts say that this is due to the increase in wealth and literacy rates in the country. The “missing girl” crisis is creating a population imbalance that will affect India for years to come. [NY Times]
It’s 2011, and the stem cell debate is raging even harder than ever. [Newsweek]
Stay away from the Four Loko. Even though the caffeinated alcoholic beverage banned in some states and the makers recently removed caffeine from its recipe, experts say it’s still dangerous. [Huffington Post]
“The Project for Excellence in Journalism” sounds like an anachronistic oxymoron in the age of the blogosphere, a 24 hour news cycle and Fox News (there, I said it). In a case in point, the organization took a look at blog links during a week with two significant and historical events: the death of Bin Laden and the break up of the Schwarzenegger / Kennedy marriage. Can you guess which story actually led the blogs? Journalism.org
Is there rehab for an addiction to love (cue Robert Palmer video here)? Apparently, should you need it, there is help: Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous. Rather than putting the rabbit in the pan in response to unrequited love and poor romantic choices, you can 12 Step it! Being a website about “recovery,” however, your correspondent is skeptical that an “addiction” to love qualifies as a disease in the sense of alcohol and drug addiction, but you decide! The Fix
Finally, happy Friday to all, and the RP wishes everyone a happy, joyous and free life filled with serenity and Real Love. Have a
great Memorial Day weekend.
We’re going to start a Memorial Day tradition here at The Recovering Politician.
Too often, we think of Memorial Day for its picnics, newly-opened swimming pools, and brighter, lighter fashion statements.
But its very name demands, Memorial Day should be one in which we honor and remember the men and women who bravely served our country in uniform. As the Scripture instructs, there is no greater love than to give one’s life on behalf of his or her neighbor.
Accordingly, next Monday, May 30, The Recovering Politician will be dedicated exclusively to tributes to these great patriots. The RP, the contributing RPs, the Friends of RP, and the RP staff will all be sharing stories of their friends, family and loved ones who served our country.
And we are opening up the site to our readers as well. Please send us your story (from 100 to 1000 words) about a brave loved one whom you are remembering this Memorial Day. If you have a picture — particularly one of them in uniform — please send along as well. We will publish all of the appropriate entries on Monday.
Please email the story and picture to Staff@TheRecoveringPolitician.com by Saturday night, May 28, at 11:00 PM EDT, and we will share it Monday on The Recovering Politician.
Thanks in advance for joining us in this Memorial Day Tribute — putting the Memorial back in Memorial Day.
A big day is in store tomorrow at The Recovering Politician.
First, the RP’s latest “Top Five” list is in queue, and it’s a doozy. Check in around lunchtime for a few laughs.
In the afternoon, we’ll feature our latest addition of RPTV’s Friday Video Flashbacks.
And, lastly but mostly, The Recovering Politician will be doing something for the first time in its long storied history: inviting our readers to write a short piece for a special day next week.
Tune in first thing Friday morning for the details, and be ready for your chance to shine as an RP contributor.
Our own contributing RP, Jason Atkinson, has a need for speed.
Specifically, he’s pushing to raise the interstate speed limit in Oregon, which is the slowest state west of the Mississippi.
Here is what the (Southern Oregon) Mail Tribune reports:
Sen. Jason Atkinson, R-Central Point, has joined Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Hillsboro, in a push to increase the speed limit to at least 70 mph for noncommercial vehicles and 60 mph for semitrucks and other commercial traffic.
They’ve proposed an amendment to a House transportation bill (HB 3150) that would give the Oregon Transportation Safety Division the authority to raise the limit to a maximum 75 mph at its discretion. Atkinson said he hopes OTSD will meet in the middle with an increase of 5 mph.
Atkinson, who is on the state committee for Business, Transportation and Economic Development, said raising the speed limit would streamline traffic on the interstates.
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu May 26, 2011 at 3:00 PM ET
The Politics of Speed
Kyle Busch was arrested on May 24th after being caught by police going 128 mph while test-driving a Lexus LFA. However, I learned something much more interesting from this article: NASCAR does not require its drivers to have a driver’s license to race in its events. How is that possible? If anyone knows a good reason for this please let me know in the comments section. [USA Today]
Some of you may have heard that the U.S. Department of Transportation recently released a new fuel economy sticker. When department secretary Ray LaHood showed up to unveil it he did so in a 12 mpg Chevrolet Suburban. [Jalopnik]
More from Jalopnik as they bring you the 10 Most Beautiful Ugly Cars. [Jalopnik]
Danica Patrick has plans to make the move to be a full-time NASCAR driver in 2012. Most people became familiar with her when she became the first woman to win an open-wheel race as an Indycar driver. While she may be a bit over-rated and her GoDaddy.com (her NASCAR sponsor) commercials are annoying, it will still be pretty cool to see her racing against the boys every weekend. [ESPN]
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.
Blog this!
