Twenty Men I Admire

Samurai Frog, the guy I think of as the little brother I always wanted but never had, tagged me with a cool newish meme. Here's the rules:
A. Link back to the blog that tagged you.
B. Link back to the originator of this meme, which is The Dino Lounge.
C. Create your own list of 20 men that you admire and post them on your blog.
D. Tag 5 other people to participate in this meme.
E. If you like, please let The Dino Lounge know that you've participated in this meme so he can check out your posting and comment on it.

Here, in no particular order, are the twenty men I admire most right now:

1) Dennis Kucinich-He's the politician who most closely mirrors my own positions on all the issues. And how could you not love a guy who marries a babe like that?

2. Gandhi-He taught us all that to be really powerful you don't have to use violence.

3. Hugh Hefner-Sure, now he's a sleazy old caricature of his younger self but without Hef we'd still be sexually repressed and hung up like mofros.

4. Lech Walesa-He took on a giant and he defeated it.

5. Stan Lee-The man behind Marvel Comics, which was the best comic book company in the world when I was growing up.

6. Willie Horton-An unsung American hero who just happened to play baseball.

7. Woody Allen-Comedian, writer, actor, director, and the man who showed glasses wearing nerds like me that if we stuck to being smart and funny the chicks would eventually notice and appreciate us. Thank you Woody.

8. Sam Shepard-Playwright, actor, and all around cool dude.

9. Bill Murray-One of my comedy and acting heroes.

10. John Waters-Film writer, director, and cultural gadfly, he showed me that you can be who you are and still conquer the world, even if it takes the rest of the world years to appreciate what you do.

11. President Jimmy Carter-The most underrated President ever. He saw the troubles we're going through now and he tried to warn us about them 30 years ago. He's set the gold standard for what President's should do with their post Presidential years.

12. Larry David-He never compromised his comedy or comic vision in order to make it. He stayed true to himself and eventually the rest of us caught on. He's a national treasure.

13. Alan Abel-He's the court jester of the media age. Without him the asswipes in charge of the media would take themselves waaaaaay too seriously.

14. Howard Zinn-He's showed us that history is not just the story of the rich and powerful and that the stories of the poor and down trodden matter just as much as the stories about kings, queens, and Presidents.

15. Vaclav Havel-The man who perfected the 'theatre of the absurd' style of play writing and who was a long time political dissident in the country we used to know as Czechoslovakia. He went from being an outlaw to being President after the fall of Communism. He suffered mightily so his countrymen and women wouldn't have to.

16. Hank Aaron-The man who broke Babe Ruth's career home run record and he did it without any performance enhancing drugs. He never hit over 50 homers in season and throughout his career he played with dignity and class. In his chase for the home run crown he put up with abuse and racism the likes of which would have killed a lesser man.

17. Evo Morales-A humble working man and a landless peasant who managed to ride the wave of change and become President of his country.

18. Elvis Costello-Sometimes witty, sometimes angry, always diverse and interesting. He's my favorite singer/songwriter of all time. He's always changing but he's always the most talented guy in the room. With all the CD's, tapes, and albums of his I've bought over the years, the least the guy could do is name a wing in his house after me.

19. Helder Camara-Brazilian priest who said, "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist." If there had been more guys like him in organized religion then I might still believe in that stone age clap trap. Unfortunately he was one of the exceptions that proved the rule when it came to all organized religions.

20. Walter Cronkite-The last network news anchorman that you could trust.

I tag any of you hep cats out there in blog land who want to do this meme.