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:
Terry Jones, the Quaran-burning preacher who has sparked violence in Afghanistan, compares himself to Martin Luther King Jr. [Miami Herald]
While Western religious traditions may focus on questions like why the earthquake in Japan happened, Eastern religious traditions focus on behavior in reaction to tragedy. [CNN Belief Blog]
In this Lenten season, Christian pastor posits that churches should stop making such a big deal out of Easter worship. [Huffington Post]
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Apr 11, 2011 at 9:30 AM ET
While the Internet has provided some extraordinary new vehicles for the modern campaign to share its message, a particularly abhorrent one has emerged over the past several months: The Online Petition.
In what appears to be a nakedly transparent method to collect email addresses and/or to raise small-dollar campaign contributions, our email boxes have been filled since the last election cycle with hundreds of banal, completely ineffective, poorly-considered online petitions seeking our virtual signature. I was recently solicited (by a politician/friend, mind you) to “sign” a petition in support of a college basketball team’s efforts to win a ball game. They lost, natch.
So, I am taking the next logical step, and exercising my First Amendment rights — by distributing a online petition, urging politicians to cease and desist in this odious online petition practice.
We, the undersigned, are sick and tired of politicians who send out campaign-related petitions, as a guise to raise money and/or collect email addresses from fellow travellers. We urge you to stop this abhorrent practice, which undermines the constitutionally-protected right of Americans to petition for their real grievances. Such as a better voting system on American Idol. Or to ban mom jeans. Or to allow struggling recovering politicians to build traffic for their new Web site.
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Apr 11, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET
When Jonathan Miller told me about his idea of starting a website titled The Recovering Politician, I thought it was a clever concept—-a partly tongue-in-cheek, partly insightful look at life after elective office. There is the famous last scene in the film The Candidate where Robert Redford’s character, a charismatic underdog running for the US Senate, pulls out a narrow upset against an entrenched incumbent. Just before his acceptance speech he ducks into a small room to avoid the throng of supporters cheering him on. He wants a moment alone with his campaign manager whose sole purpose in life is to win political campaigns. The Candidate, looking perplexed, looks up and solemnly asks, “What do we do now?”(Click on Redford’s mug to view the scene.)
It’s an “Aha” moment for the audience that what primarily drives some of our political candidates may not be the privilege of toiling over mundane public policy day in and day out, but rather to “win” some kind of overdramatized contest and the sense of accomplishment that comes with it. (Think of the hit TV series the Apprentice that follows job applicants for months going through a variety of ordeals until one is finally told by Donald Trump, “You’re hired.” We never find out—or care, for that matter—how the winner actually performs on the job.) Political candidates often get similar treatment from voters and the media. We treat business and politics as part sport and part theater.
But The Recovering Politician asks a slightly different and more personally poignant question: When one’s political yearnings have been squelched, dashed, sated, or otherwise drummed out of him or her, doesn’t every ex-politician go into that same small room ––this time alone—and ask, “Now what do I do?” The answer, of course, is yes —and the choices ex-politicos make to create meaning in their lives post-politics is more interesting and hopeful than one might think. The Recovering Politician blog explores this area in hopes of humoring and humanizing the reader—and the subjects.
By Jonathan Miller, on Sun Apr 10, 2011 at 3:41 AM ET
For those of you who were introduced to this web site by Al Cross’ column this morning (if not, we’ve linked it here), welcome to The Recovering Politician!
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Apr 8, 2011 at 5:00 PM ET
Thanks to all of our readers for making our first full week such a big success.
Next week, the site gets even bigger and better.
Of course, we will be debuting three new recovering politicians as regular contributors to the site.
Late in the week, two Congressmen who shot for higher office and lost will share their plans for the future exclusively with RP readers.
And starting off first thing on Monday morning, you will be able to enjoy the satiric stylings of one of the funniest people ever to hold statewide office: The third generation of a state political dynasty will share with you — tongue firmly planted in cheek — his method of recovery, and offer you an 18-question test to see if you too might be genetically predisposed to become someday a recovering politician. A must read.
Finally, an A-list movie star will be gracing RPTV to discuss her new book on Tuesday. You can’t miss that.
So enjoy your weekend, and rest up for a busy week ahead at The Recovering Politician.
By Robert Kahne, RP Staff, on Fri Apr 8, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
The Politics of the Planet
People have been searching for a technical fix for global climate change for a long time. One of the leading plans has been “cloud whitening” which would decrease the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth, thereby decreasing the greenhouse effect. However, new evidence from Europe shows that this technique might actually warm the planet even more. [BBC]
Are you more optimistic about the use of technology to solve the planet’s climate ills? Scientists at the University of Minnesota have unlocked a way to use carbon dioxide as a fuel for vehicles. That could be useful. [Futurity]
Building are often the leading culprit in municipal government’s carbon footprint. This is certainly the case for New York City. Mayor Bloomberg has decided to implement a new kind of leasing arrangement which would incentivize energy efficiency. [NYC.gov][Explanation from Tapped]
One of the reasons I volunteered for the RP before he was recovering was because of his stance on mountaintop removal coal mining. If you don’t much about the issue of MTR, I would encourage you to educate yourself about it. The Rainforest Action Network releases yearly report cards to banks about their exposure to this form of mining. Their most recent report just came out. See how your bank scored. [RAN]
One of the other WWGs which I do is The Politics of Hoops. I love basketball. I also love it when my WWGs overlap. Here is a picture from the 70s of Phil Jackson with his bicycle. This makes me want to cheer for the Lakers. [tumblr]
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Apr 8, 2011 at 12:30 PM ET
Four days before the 1988 presidential general election, featuring a matchup between then-Vice President George H.W. Bush and Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis, I was asked to appear on the cable television program that helped usher in the age of political broadcast incivility: CNN’s Crossfire. At the ripe age of 21, I was serving as Executive Director of College Democrats of America, and I was poised to debate my counterpart at College Republicans, as well as the ultra-formidable Pat Buchanan.
I really didn’t know the Duke’s policy positions that intimately — I had worked for Al Gore in the primaries — so I pulled an all-nighter reading white papers. In addition to being exhausted, I was sick to my stomach: extremely nervous because I WAS GOING ON FRICKIN’ NATIONAL TV TO DEBATE PAT BUCHANAN!!!
So, green in more ways that one, equipped with an all-purpose Watergate one-liner to parry Pat, and sporting my regrettable 80’s era hairdo (Does Justin Bieber owe me a commission?), I had my 10 minutes in the bright lights. Enjoy:
By Stephanie Doctrow, RP Staff, on Fri Apr 8, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
The Politics of Wellness
Sometimes laughter really can be the best medicine. Zach Anner, a 26-year-old filmmaker from Austin, Tex. who has cerebral palsy, won his own comedy show on Oprah’s new OWN network: [New York Times]
Take a deep breath. A new study reveals that people with anxiety might actually be causing some of those nervous feelings themselves. [Newsweek]
Look for a new doc, sneak in a quick workout, and keep first-aid tips on hand, all from your iPhone. Self Magazine lists the top health-related apps to keep you informed wherever you are. [Self]
A new website allows you to look at the each county’s health ranking based on stats like mortality, obesity and availability of healthy foods. How does your county stack up? [Time Magazine]
Humans aren’t the only creatures with inter-species buddies. Get ready to say “Aww!” [National Geographic]
Blog this!
