Re: Muhammad Ali

Submitted by Lawrence M. Dubin (United States), Dec 1, 2005 at 15:11

My law firm did some legal work for Ali when he was at the height of his powers as a fighter, and later after he was quite ill with Parkinson's. I think if you check the record, you will find that he was extremely generous to all sorts of charities, including Magen David Adom. It is my understanding that he gave them several ambulances.

I suggest it is not unreasonable to judge who he became as a champion and later with greater weight than who he was as a loud mouth kid from St. Louis when he was starting out, and later when he fell under the spell of Elijhah Muhammed. Most of us have the capacity for growth and maturity, and Ali has surely grown and matured more than many, if not most. He is a very sweet guy, and deserves better at this stage of his life than what you emphasize.

As to Bush's award, I suggest many of these are more for burnishing his image rather than the image of the grantee. I suspect that a public opinion poll would show much higher standing for Ali than for Dubya.

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