| I received
30 responses. "Dad" led with 4 responses; Michael Jordan came in second
with 3. Seconds came in for Mandela and Bibi Netanyahu. Clinton got one
vote but several people mentioned him favorably, as did God, Al Gore, the
head of the CIA, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Harkin, Howard Metzenbaum, Mike Kinsley,
Janet Reno, Bill Gates, Ted Kuczinsky's (the unabomber) brother who turned
him in, Richard Branson of Virgin, Helmut Kohl, and King Hussein of Jordan,
a brother and mom. one person nominated me. how cute. Some others are listed
below. If people gave me a list, i only used the first name on it. my nomination
appears at the end.
Following are excerpts from some of the more intriguing
nominations:
There are so many people for whom I share high
admiration, but one of the more outstanding is Oprah Winfrey. She went
from a no-name, two-bit weatherperson down south and really made something
of herself. A top- rated TV show for over a decad and CEO of HARPO, a multi-million
dollar TV Broadcasting company, Oprah is a house hold word and she gently
impelements her agenda of bringing healing and conciousness raising to
the "greater American public". YOU GO GIRL- OPRAH!!
------
Easy question to answer...The person I admire
most is: Nelson Mandela, because He defeated apartheid in South Africa,
and liberated his people simply by the force of his will and the strength
and truth of his beliefs. He proved that a free people cannot be held in
bondage forever. It gives me hope that someday (in spite of all that is
going on now) the Palestinians will be able to do the same Nothing more
needs to be said.
----
If forced at gunpoint to name one individual,
probably Patrick Bossert, for his elegant solution to the Y2K problem for
embedded systems.
----
I admire my father and brother the most. I strive
to be like them. I seem to recall you met him at Penn. Another person is
a New Jersey cop, whose name I forget, who made the front page of the Local
Section of the New York Times a week or two ago. He turned in fellow corrupt
police officers to the FBI, and has since been fired and virtually blacklisted
from local police forces.
---------
#1 Business Person: Richard Branson (owner and
CEO of the Virgin group of companies)- he is able to combine a great entrepreneur
and businessman, a family father, and a real adventurer and sportsman
#1 Political Person: Helmut Kohl (former German
chancellor) - he was the key person to the German and European union ----------
I could mention names (there are a few), but you
probably dont know them.
I think that's one small reason why they are so
admirable.
------
Although I dispise him and am disgusted by him,
I guess I would have to say Bibi, for his ability to endure. and a second
runner up would definietly be Arie Der'ee again for the same reasons. Mark
my words, Der'ee will be prime minister one day.
------------
Dr.Laura Schlessinger holds a postdoctoral certification
and licensing in marriage and familky therapy. She hosts her own internationally
syndicated radio program in which she answers call-ins about morals, values
and ethics. She, her husband and son completed their orthodox conversion
to Judaism in 1998.
------------
OK, now here's Ivan's nomination:
my nomination (made before i put out this poll)
is King Hussein of Jordan. I have been thinking about a lot and today decided
that i will stick with this choice. i had been vacillating because i wanted
to be sure that his choice of abdullah to succeed him was judicious and
i agree that it is. why him? here's 10 reasons though i'm sure i could
come up with more:
1. he has survived as king for 47 years. started
when he was a teenager. anyone else out there been around that long in
such an inherently unstable neighborhood? or anywhere?
2. the people of jordan really really like him
alot and he genuinely likes his people.
3. he made mistakes (ie: the 1967 war), admits
to them and learned from them.
4. he runs an honest show and does not appear to
tolerate corruption. the people of jordan are a classy responsible breed
and honest in great part because the government is relatively clean and
they follow the leader who set the rules and the tone.
5. he is a patriot who wants stability and prosperity
for his people and country and has been willing to put his life on the
line and do unpopular things such as make peace with israel (so far not
a good deal for jordan) and stick with it. think about what it meant when
5 years after the 67 war he gets in a helicopter and flies to israel to
warn them of the 1973 war.
6. he is a real people person. remember when he
visited the families in israel whose children were shot by a crazed border
guard. think about this: if king hussein would run for prime minister of
israel, i'd bet hands down that at least one-third of the country would
vote for him.
7. he is a wise person who says great things who
brings peace. he got off his cancer bed at the mayo clinic to talk sense
to bibi and arafat at the wye plantation and was credited with getting
the sides to agree. doesn't matter if the agreement held up. the point
is what he did at that moment. his speeches at rabin's funeral and at the
white house on several occasions are memorable.
8. he took the initially risky step of insuring
a stable succession by staring down 30 years of history and putting his
brother hassan to the side in favor of abdullah.
9. he's cool -- a pilot.
10. he is a king but truly fears g-d. not just
talks about it. |