Posted on 12/03/2003 5:15:10 AM PST by thesummerwind
Past generations of the families, however, traveled in the same circles. Bush’s grandmother served as a bridesmaid to Dean’s grandmother.
A small world, indeed!
From this entire article, Howard seems like he's a damn nice guy. He liked to party, was very friendly to all and quite unpretentious, the black room mate story is nice, and playing offensive line in football as a smaller guy is VERY cool, too.
I, for one, like this guy ---- but maybe not as President! But, Doc. Howard seems like a really nice guy.
Maybe, he should just be a SKI INSTRUCTOR instead of Prez.
He was commenting on the overthrown pass. Righteous indignation at a very poorly thrown pass. ;)
But he was good to his mother: Murdering for militant Islam by Daniel Pipes (Jerusalem Post) December 2, 2003
The news last week that police had arrested Sajid Badat at his home in Gloucester, England, shook many Britons.
The charges against him concerned his training with al-Qaida in Afghanistan and his possessing PETN explosives, the same substance would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid had tried to set off. Police believe Badat intended to carry off the very first suicide bombing in the United Kingdom.
But not everyone was shaken by this news. Gloucester's Muslim community esteemed Badat too much to credit the charges. One admirer called him "a walking angel" and "the bright star of our mosque."
Another described him as "a friendly, warm, fun-loving character." A cousin insisted Badat was "nothing more than a friendly, sociable, normal young lad, who had lots of friends and did not hold extreme views in any way."
Interestingly, a similar gulf in attitudes recurs almost every time a supporter of militant Islam has either been arrested on terrorism-related charges or engaged in an actual terrorist operation.
Consider three other European examples:
"He was a very nice person. He used to train our kids. He was very jolly and always laughing." This eulogy by a mosque leader describes Wail al Dhaleai, a British immigrant of Yemeni origins who carried out a suicide attack against US troops in Iraq. Another mosque figure called Dhaleai a "jolly fine gentleman" and a neighbor noted how he went "out of his way to help the children." Dhaleai's martial arts coach added, "He just made you laugh. – I cannot say enough nice things about him. He was such a nice guy."
"He was just a big teddy bear – honorable and very polite – a well-liked and respected pupil": those are some of the depictions of Asif Hanif, a Briton of Pakistan origins who blew himself up in a Tel Aviv pub, killing three.
"He was smart, clever and kind, a really nice boy." That's Zacarias Moussaoui, sometimes known as 9/11's "twentieth hijacker," as described by his older brother.
The same admiration for accused terrorists also gets expressed in the United States:
"He was the nicest guy. He didn't mess with anybody," said Iyman Faris's former employer right after Faris, an Ohio trucker of Pakistani origins, had pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to provide support. Faris's stepson spoke endearingly of his stepfather's "very good sense of humor."
"Just a normal, good-natured young man who dreamed of a family of his own, whose young adult years in [Florida] were filled with driving children to school, buying groceries and taking college courses." That's the Miami Herald paraphrasing his family talking about Adnan Gulshair El'Shukri-jumah, a Florida-raised Saudi suspected of being an al-Qaida member who helped with 9/11, and someone the FBI considers "a very, very, very serious threat."
"She was an educated person, concerned with educating people about Islam." She here is Aafia Siddiqui as portrayed by her imam, a Pakistani woman sought for questioning about ties to al-Qaida.
And similar responses are found in the Muslim world – for example this case from Thailand's Muslim-majority south:
"Friendly and charming – a kind person," someone beloved by villagers for offering free health checks and cheap medicine; that's how a religious leader described Waemahadi Wae-dao, a medical doctor arrested on charges of planning to bomb embassies and tourist spots in Thailand.
Such high regard for terrorists has several important implications. First, it points to the adherents of militant Islam being indeed "normal, good-natured young" people, and not misfits. In common with other totalitarian movements, militant Islam finds support among many accomplished, talented, and attractive individuals – which renders it all the more dangerous a threat.
Second, the fact that those who murder on behalf of militant Islam often enjoy psychological soundness, educational attainment, sporting success, economic achievement, or social esteem suggests that Islamist violence cannot be reduced by adopting the "root causes" approach of addressing personal poverty and despair. The phenomenon needs to be fought head-on.
Third, that terrorists are (unsurprisingly) skilled at hiding their intentions has the unfortunate consequence of making them harder to discern and therefore spreads suspicion to the larger Muslim community. This in turn points to that community's heightened responsibility and incentive to ferret out potential terrorists in its midst.
Herein is a picture of Howard in his longer-haired hip college days. I think he would have been a nice guy to know, to be very fair! We could have polished off the end of that keg together at the end of the night.
I'd post the picture, but I'm computer illiterate (in many languages). Take a look.
Not to get your shorts in a bind,TB9, but that description sounds alot like G.W. too. That's exactly what George was like at Yale too.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being "ingratiating".
Time to lighten up, maybe?
Howard liked to tip a few and party for a good period of time as a young man. However, he decided to quit after a particular overindulgence of his which is said to have happened at his bachelor party. Hmmm!
Ski Instructor!
Don't you have a quote on Ghengis Kahn or Vlad the Impaler to use too?
That is very hard to find. I've been looking.
Maybe he took a year off between his junior and senior years in high school to go SKIING! (like he did for eight months after the military turned him down with that pesky bad back!)
Well I don't know the man, but unpretentious his hardly a word I'd use to describe him.
Somehow in my mind, before I saw it, I didn't see him with this much hair. Did you?
Do you think his hair was this long when he went into his examination with his x-rays under his arm to get out of the military? ;)
I'll bet those thick, long locks looked good blowing in the winter wind on the ski slopes, though.
Nevertheless from the article, Doc Dean seems like a guy I would have been proud to hang out with, especially polishing off that keg at 4:00 in the morning.
And the part about him typing with one hand and cramming (looking like Little Richard) was very funny.
If we can be honest, the guy is most likely a decent guy, I like his short fuse and his general frankness. But let's let G.W. be the President!
Howie can be a ski instructor and remove appendix on the side! ;)
For him winning isn't the most important thing, it is the the only thing that matters. Why he should win is immaterial. He is about as attached to political principles as he is attached to the practice of medicine --they are temporary, emphemeral means to ascent.
My, my, you disagree with the opinions of everyone in this article, and with all others whom I know who know Howard.
Didn't he listen to you back at Yale? Maybe he just found you slightly-less-than-appealing. Just maybe. Maybe you caught him on a bad day.
Seriously though, I can imagine he can seem and be a bit unbending and brittle. That's easy to see. However, with your people skills, you should have been able to get through that. I have plenty of friends today, who at first meeting, one would have a tendency to feel that way about. You have to get through all that.....or not.
Go see him now, maybe you can talk it over. ;)
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