Hey.   I got it.    May be, in celebration of Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., there will be fewer shootings and killings in the city?

Its disgusting to see the way this mayor is slobbering all over
the guy.  No "thank you" to the NRA for pumping $$$ in to local
economy, but he can go on and on over Clay.

The few million dollars that the NRA, or any other organization may have spent in Louisville, is less than nothing compared to Muhammad Ali. (or Clay, as you insist on calling him).
Ali was the most recognized and most popular person in the world. There was nowhere on this planet where he could go and not be, immediately, recognized. He raise billions of dollar for charities, he was named the greatest athlete of the century by Sports Illustrated, he was boxing's World Heavyweight Champion three times, he forced the US Government to recognize its own laws, when it required him to report for the draft in violation of the law, he was an Olympic Gold Medal winner and a UN ambassador. The mans accomplishment's would shame those of any ten men alive today. What would be "disgusting" would be failing to recognize the man's accomplishments. The man has streets and buildings named for him all over the world. The greatest men of this century can not produce even one tenth of the accomplishments of this one man. I would like to see the total of all of the accomplishments of all the detractors of Ali, they wouldn't amount to the spit in Ali's mouth. He is the most famous person to ever set foot in Louisville. Mayor Fischer should have done more. He should have done it sooner. The City of Louisville should have done more, not just try to use Ali for all they could get from his name. He was treated shamefully here and he never complained about it or retaliated.

About twenty years ago, I had the honor of meeting Muhammed Ali. It was on a Mother's Day Sunday and I had taken my wife and daughter to Alexander's, in Louisville, for dinner. Ali was there, with his mother. As always happened, people surrounded him. Everybody wanted to shake his hand or say "Hello". Ali was polite and patient with all of them. He loved children and they were all over him. He was picking them up and hugging them. I asked my daughter, who was about six then, if she wanted to meet him. He was a little shy but delighted. I took here over to Ali and introduced myself and my daughter. He shook my hand, but immediately his attention was on my daughter and spoke to her. Ali loved to do magic tricks and he pulled a quarter out from behind my daughter's ear and asked her why she kept it there. She was amazed and she remembers all of it to this day. She still has that quarter and I doubt that she would trade it for all the money that NRA spent in Louisville this year. That experience is one of the happiest of her life. He spent hours with strangers that day, when all he really wanted to do was take his mother to dinner. Everyone that was in the crowd that day left there knowing that they had met a rare and great person.This earth will not see his equal anytime soon. Anyone that can bring joy into the lives of children is OK with me. Ali could do it with everyone. The entire world is in mourning.

Many remember Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in the 60' and 70's. I could not stand him then and never got past it. He loved to needlessly hurt people outside the ring. It was like sport to him. I did have a bit of respect for those who suffered his antics. I have since learned that some (many) loved him.

From that time period, on TV, on the news, I heard about rapes in Greater Cincinnati, riots, and pictures of the Vietnam war including executions. None of them bothered me more than Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. .

Though he called his given name a slave name, the truth is; it was his father's full name as taken from the 19th-century Republican politician and staunch abolitionist, Cassius Marcellus Clay, also from the state of Kentucky.

At one time, he said no black person should marry any white person. Some would agree and others would not. But, he would add any who would should be killed. Interestingly, his  great grandfather, on his mother's side, was a white Irishman.

He denounced Christians. I can disavow him for that alone as Jews, Christians, and Muslims are all children of Abraham.

He refused to serve in any capacity (in the military). He could have been a consciousness objector, legally, and serve in a non combat role. He said he should not serve in a Christian American's war in Vietnam. That was a very thought provoking idea to me. His comments were regarding the civil war in Vietnam. I have wondered, let us apply that principle to the white men of the north who fought the black man's war during the American Civil War? It is an intriguing concept, at the least.

For those reasons and others, I view his life and mouth as worthless. I would trade his existence for that of one American fighting man. To me, he was never worthy to carry the chamber pot of an American fighting man.

We all know opinions are like tail holes. Everyone has one...

And everybody thinks that the other guy's stinks.

Well said.

Amen.

Fuck clay and the horse he rode in on. I can not believe all of the hype for an America hating muslim.

ETA Ok Now I believe it. Just checked out the crowd.

Yeah, 3 TV stations, 1 radio station, live streaming on the net, free TARC
rides to and from and people tossing flowers in front of the funeral hearse
seems a bit excessive.

This city has lost its collective minds.

I wonder how many people, any kind of people, will attend the funerals of all of us here on ARFCOM. Could the entire combined membership of this group draw as many admirers as did Ali? Excessive? Maybe. Will there be any excesses at my funeral? No, no "excesses" that day, not many will care. What about the rest of us? Will anybody mourn "excessively" on those days? Will a city shut down because we have passed on? Will dignitaries from around the world travel thousands of miles to attend and pay their respects? Will streets be closed? Will buses run special routes to accommodate all the grief stricken mourners? I doubt that any of these things will happen for any of us. These things are reserved for the "greatest" among us. Some among us can say, "He was nothing special", but the numbers and the level of respect and love say differently. If he was "nothing special", why did all of these people show up to honor him and celebrate his life? We will not see his equal ever again in our lifetimes. Few generations produce such a man.

If you think today was "excessive", just wait. There will be statues, schools, office buildings and (more)streets named for him. If he had died six months earlier, we might be driving on the Muhammad Ali bridge for a trip to Indiana, and don't forget, the East End Bridge has not been named yet. Today was just the beginning of the "excesses".

That is all true.   It was not lost on me.   Thoroughout this week and especially today I have wondered about that.  

However, I have the opposite view.   I wondered, are  all of these things true...

Obama won two terms.    He must be a great man?  

The military men who died, headed back to small towns and poor families were nobodies who's sacrifice meant nothing?

Nelson Mandela was a great man.    He was a hero around the world.    He must have been a good man, right?

The events of the last week have made me think.    Surely our nation will come together and honor Kimberly Jean Bailey "Kim" Davis, the county clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky who gained international attention in August 2015 when she defied a U.S. federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, following the June 26, 2015, U.S. Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. Davis reacted to the decision by denying marriage licenses to all couples, saying she was acting "under God's authority".   I did not view her as a great person, until this week.     Now, I see her greatness, just as the rest of the world must.    She was also married 4 times, as was "Ali".  

Fact is, I know of no record of Cassius Clay Jr apologizing for his many wrongs.   He always went on like they never happened.       Throughout his life, he demonstrated an unequaled arrogance that never faded.    His shortcomings can't be disputed as they are recorded history, though ignored just as those of Nelson Mandela.

I have known countless greater men, a few I have held in my arms as they died.    But, they were nobodies who went home to small towns, tiny families, and were buried with no fanfare... except for an American flag drapped over their casket.

I have never said that Ali was the only great man to walk this earth. I have no problem agreeing with you about the people that you mentioned, but I never knew them or of them. I know of nothing to make me suspect that those people were anything except what you say they were. I don't ask anyone to see things my way, concerning Ali or any other subject. People often disagree with my assessment of things. I have my opinions and they have their's. I won't try to change your mind. It was never my intent to change anybody's mind. I have no interest in changing you or anything about you. If the people of Louisville want to hold a ceremony for any of the people that you mentioned, I will be happy to attend. If you would like to organize a movement to have such a ceremony, I will support it, but today's ceremony was about Ali and that is what my comments were about. When that other ceremony is held I will comment on it. There was nothing said by me that should be taken by anyone to mean any disrespect of or disregard for any other person. Ali is the only subject of my comments. I did not organize the ceremony today. I was not asked, nor did I give any approval for it to happen. I have only commented on it. Others have commented on it. They didn't mention these other people in their comments. I did not mention them in mine.

I see no reason to attempt to diminish any person. My mother taught me that if I couldn't say something nice about somebody, to not say anything. People pick those that they want to honor and those that they choose to ignore. I can see no purpose in blaming those that have been picked to be honored for the fact that some other person was ignored, even if you think the one more worthy than the other. Life is seldom fair. Women pick the man that they want, men pick the women that they want. Is it always the best pick? Certainly not. Our heroes are never as perfect as we think and our villains not as evil as we think.

Garnering "attention" is not the same as earning and keeping respect and admiration. Numbers don't make anything right, but my father told me that if enough people tell you that you are drunk, you ought to lay down. Today, there were a lot of people in Louisville saying Ali was a great and good man, that they loved and admired. I don't know of any one of those people that was demanding that you or I agree with them, or disagree. They seemed to want nothing more than to express their own feelings. I don't understand why some people get so angry about that. I am content to let them have their say for today and can not think of anything that would be accomplished by trying to convince them that they are wrong. I can be impressed and astonished at the magnitude of the celebration without agreeing or disagreeing with any one of them. I am sure I could find both in a crowd like that. What I doubt that I could find is a person that feels EXACTLY like I do. Tomorrow, we can start on a celebration of some of those people you want recognized.

This is almost exactly how Nelson Mandela was treated upon his death.  No mention of the bad stuff.  The bombings, racism (except against him), "necklacing" aka torture and killing.  

This is about reshaping history and pushing an agenda.  Make no mistake about it.  All the millennials will ever hear about him are the "great" things.

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Not sure what I am doing wrong. Wanted to put this in bold black.
I am out of here so as not to turn this into GD . Fuuuuukkk muhammddd with a rusty spike.

Yup. Whitewashing history. The Soviets were masters at it...looks like the liberals
are too.