Discovery Channel, "Greatest American "

[AmerDem]

The Discovery Channel is running a poll asking for your choice of "Greatest American". You can choose 5 people. The nomination phase ends on January 31st. The winner will be announced later in the year during an audience participation special.

Go here if you want to contribute, http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/greatestamerican/greatestamerican.html

[AntiCoup2K4]

1. Shit. AOL owns Discovery??

Well if that's the case you know who their #1 choice will be, even without the Freepers' help :(

[AmerDem]

2. If they ever did pick shrub

no one would believe it.

[AntiCoup2K4]

7. Why not? 51% of America apparently believe whatever the moron says...

...or what ever the mediawhores say about him.

[AmerDem]

9. I suggest you start

getting current on the election fraud that handed him these last two presidencies.

Granted this Discovery page is being sent out to every AOL/repuke user available but that's all the more reason to participate.

[whosinpower]

3. what? An American show

Copying a popular Canadian show???

Too funny!!!!! BTW - the greatest Canadian ended up being none other than....TOMMY DOUGLAS. For those less educated, he was the founder of Medicare in Canada....yep, a socialist, through and through. He was a minister in Saskatchewan, a small man with big ideas for a better society.

[canberra]

27. actually, originally a British show

the Greatest Briton, in which Winston Churchill beat out Brunel, Princess Diana, Darwin, Shakespeare and Newton.

There was also the Greatest Australian, won by Howard Florey, who won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of penicillin. He beat out "father of the nation" Henry Parkes, Barry Humphries and Rupert Murdoch (no, really).

For the greatest American I'd vote for FDR. Biggest worry is all the rightwing nutjobs putting together some campaign for Reagan.

[newyawker99]

44. Hi canberra!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[SoCalifer]

4. My Choices.

My Choices were:

- Martin Luther King

- Thomas Jefferson

- Andrew Jackson

- Patrick Henry

- Samuel Gompers




My reasons for choosing Patrick Henry (Mr. Give me liberty or give me death) and Thomas Jefferson are because IMO they were both troubled -and fought against- the hypocritical acts towards our country's supposive core principles coming out of politics as far back as then. i.e. money interest / plutocracy, and the beginning of the government defining certain individual rights. And the danger of that being of course: If the government can give it - then the government can take it.

Martin Luther King because he devoted his life to fighting against injustice.

Andrew Jackson because he not only understood the enormous economic consequences towards the regular people of having a "private" centralized bank. He "Killed" the bank - as is even placed on his tombstone. Unfortunately we now today are all "slaves" (and that's no over statement) to the return of a new "private" centralized bank (our Federal Reserve Bank) and the New World Order (the corporate globalists).

Samuel Gompers because: You can read here > http://www.history.umd.edu/Gompers/index.htm

[AntiCoup2K4]

8. The irony of Andrew Jackson and the Federal Reserve Bank

...is that the $20 bill is the most widely circulated denomination, especially since the invention of ATM machines which spew nothing but $20's.

Andrew's gotta be doing triple somersaults in his grave over that one.

[SoCalifer]

11. Thank You AntiCoup2K4

LOL.. You gave me a good laugh. Not at you, but at the irony you pointed out. It's so true isn't it?

[E_Smith]

12. Can you explain

why Federal Reserve makes us all slaves? I understand it controls the money supply but I don't quite understand why it is such a negative thing. links?

[SoCalifer]

19. Yes I can.. :)

E_Smith, yes I would be more than happy to explain, because I believe education is so important.

In short; we are slaves to the 'private' group who deceptively named themselves the FED because "taxation without representation" is slavery. When you do not own your labor (even just a portion of it) the person who owns it, is your master. And when I refer to taxation without representation, I am referring to the built in "hidden tax" which is the federal reserve system. This built in hidden tax upon your labor is the whole reason behind the creation of a privately run centralized bank -AND- is the real reason behind the formation of the IRS.



Please allow me to explain further:

First of all "money" -as you're aware of- is nothing but a medium upon which everybody accepts to use as an "exchange" item for goods and services. Obviously your services or commerce has value, and money merely represents that value.

Now ask yourself this: Why is it that back when I was a child (30 something years ago) a candy bar only cost about 10¢ - but now costs over a dollar? The reason for this is commonly known as "inflation." And what this money inflation is; is simply nothing more than the federal reserve increasing the money supply representing each unit of value of all goods and services. So in short; the candy bar's "Value" hasn't increased, but rather the amount of money in circulation representing the candy bar's value has increased.

The mechanism behind this is know as "fractional reserve banking." Which is the practice of creating receipts (in this case your money is the receipt for your goods/services) without the actual good or service backing said receipt. In other industries this is called "fraud" and is a felony. In the money industry this is also known as writing a rubber check and also counterfeiting.

Now how this is important to you and I, and how it represents taxation without representation is: Just like with any counterfeiting act, when this "new" money is first spent into the economy it greatly benefits the first spenders and receivers of it. However, as the economy "adjusts" to the increased amount of money supply by increasing it's prices, the later spenders (the working class) end up paying for the early spenders' windfall by having to pay for the increased prices before their wages adjusts to the inflation. And by the time this later class's wages catch up to reflect this adjustment, the private central bank has already pumped in more money and benefited from it again through the working class paying for it through inflation. (taxation without representation through this hideous hidden tax).


Secondly This act of ever increasing the money supply through fractional reserve banking IS the cause of EVERY depression throughout history. Now I am sure you're asking "why would anyone want to cause a depression?". Because when you understand this banking system we and the rest of the industrialized world have. You'll know that during a depression and other economic turmoil --Wealth-- is never destroyed. Instead, a large amount of wealth is merely transferred from the hands of many to the hands of a very few (those on the inside of and connected to the private centralized bank).

This is caused through fractional reserve banking because as I am sure you're aware of. Inflating the money supply can't continue on forever without devaluing your money to a point where it's almost worthless. So to counter this, eventually there needs to be a "money retraction" a.k.a. deflation. And when this happens on even a moderate scale; what it causes is you and anybody else who is contracted out with loans (such as a mortgage) or has wealth invested in the market, to lose that investment and that mortgaged property, as well as other assets, through foreclosures brought about by defaults on loans as a result of "deflation." In other words; a redistribution of wealth from many into the hands of a few.


Thirdly The money in your pocket is supposed to be yours - you earned it. However, the federal reserve system has "charged" you for your own money. Another "hidden tax."

What I mean is: The way the federal reserve system creates money, is it buys government bonds with money it created from nothing. Now if you didn't already catch that, allow me to elaborate.

Remember the federal reserve is a "private" business. And this business has federal reserve notes printed (the receipts we use for money) without anything of value to back it. Then it uses these notes to purchase government bonds. Which in turn you and I have to pay for (at interest) through our taxes. And the money we pay for it with, is the money created from nothing by the federal reserve which it used to buy government bonds with.

So in short: What's going on with this part of the system (or should I say: this part of the scam) is basically no different than you borrowing money from your Visa, and when the bill came in the mail, you borrowed more money from your Visa to pay the bill, etc, etc and repeat forever. Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist at this point to understand that by doing this, you have created for yourself a money system based solely on debt. And that debt will only continue to stack on itself. THIS is the reason behind our national debt. Its a debt money system.

Now in my example with the Visa card, at least Visa actually gave (loaned) you some of their wealth. But remember, as I have pointed out, the federal reserve system creates its federal reserve notes "without" anything backing it up, then uses it to buy the bonds that you and I have to pay for, and with interests.


And the definition of a slave is someone who doesn't own their own labor, even if its just a portion of it. And THIS is the whole argument against "taxation without representation." It's an argument against being a "Slave."


I tried to make that as short as possible. I hope it was adequate.. :)

[E_Smith]

20. thanks! great explanation

i minored in economics and i don't think i ever grasped this concept, particulary regarding slavery.

Was the FED created with this agenda in mind? Who are the actors that benefit each time they increase the money supply and screw the workers? Wall Street investment bankers? (oh yeah, when the bonds are purchased with fake money, how is that released into the money supply?)

Also, how is a depression caused through the money retraction. Was money retraction the cause of the great depression? Also, I'm not clear on how that results in foreclosures/loan defaults.

[serryjw]

23. A fascinating article on the subject

explains a.lot about what is happening today.

http://www.usagold.com/FederalReserve.html

[SoCalifer]

32. Thanks Serryjw

That was a good read Serryjw - thank you for the link.. Sorry for the delayed response. I was being heavily distracted by someone of the female persuasion at the time I posted the video links above. :)

[SoCalifer]

25. Thank you E_Smith for asking good questions.. :)

Yes E_Smith. The FED WAS created with this agenda in mind and is just one example in a LONG history of this. And all throughout our history, there has been a running battle over who prints and issues the money. On one hand, you have people not unlike myself who are informed on this scam from the "international financiers." And on the other hand, you have these international financiers maneuvering to implement this system.

When the bonds are purchased with this fake money. Through the ability of them being allowed to "fractional reserve bank", they are able to print up money around 10x the amount worth of bounds they now hold and loan them out to it's member banks. The member banks in turn are also allowed to print up 10x the amount of the portion they received from the FED and loan it out. So these bonds were purchased by the FED then through fractional reserve banking practices, there now is around 100x that amount printed up as federal reserve notes loaned out, and thus into the economy.

This inflation then deflation of the money supply is what's also known as the "Business Cycle". And when this type economy has a plentiful money supply, good times roll (in a manner of speaking). But because, as I have mentioned above, this type system can not continue forever without devaluing your money to a point of it being next to worthless. A money retraction must occur, and when it does, there is now a great likelihood that there no longer is enough money to meet the demand on outstanding contracts plus the everyday exchange of goods & services. The result is: The persons who have outstanding contracts, will not be able to afford to pay on their debts because of one or all of three of these reasons.

(1) Because of deflation and the person in question's wages adjusted downward to reflect it. The person no longer earns enough to pay on the outstanding contract. And thus defaults.
(2) Because of deflation (a retraction of the money supply) there is no longer enough money in circulation to meet the demand of everyday commerce plus pay on the outstanding contracts. Result: defaults are inevitable
(3) As a part of deflation the banks tighten-up or eliminate all together, additional loans to pay off existing contracts. Result: usually no other but default.


Was money retraction the cause of the great depression? YES! And many top economists even say so - To include the Nobel Prize of Economics winner Milton Freedman.

E_Smith, if you're interested, I've inluded two well made videos on this matter. The first one is not that long and refers to going back to a gold standard as a solution. The second one is in two parts and it goes over the whole history behind this topic. Does an outstanding job as far as I am concerned, and also explains why going back to a gold standard is not the correct solution. This second two part video is a long 3½ hrs long --But-- If you're really interested in knowing what's going on with this system. I have yet to see a more comprehensive video than this one.


http://www.propagandamatrix.com/multimedia/fed.wmv (video)



Part one: http://www.propagandamatrix.com/multimedia/Money_Masters_Tape1_Part1_all.wmv (video)

Part two: http://www.propagandamatrix.com/multimedia/Money_Masters_Tape2_128KBps.wmv (video)

[Quixote1818]

17. Patrick Henry was a Fundamentalist Christian

Jefferson, Adams and Madison were afraid he was going to screw up the constitution.

[atre]

22. Elaborate

As I understand the definition of "fundamentalist Christianity", it didn't arise until about the turn of the twentieth century, and then only as a reaction to emerging scientific evidence which - they feared- might contradict parts of the Bible.

[Quixote1818]

38. By todays standards he would have been considerd that.

He believed in the literal interpretation of the Bible and considered the United States a Christian Nation.

Here you go:

http://www.humanistsofutah.org/1998/genapr98.html

[catbert836]

5. My Nominees

1. Abraham Lincoln- because he freed the slaves, and he took the greatest step towards reuniting the North and South
2. Malcolm X- Because he was a great civil rights leader, and he realized that violence wasn't the right path.
3. Edgar Allen Poe- The greatest, although most diturbed, American writer.
4. Jimi Hendrix- The greatest guitarist, American or otherwise.
5. Eugene V. Debs- Another great worker's rights and civil rights leader.

Nice progressive mix there.

[AmerDem]

6. My Choices

1. Franklin Roosevelt
2. George Washington
3. Wes Clark
4. John Conyers
5. Barbara Boxer

modern day folks need to be thought of as well.

[warrior1]

10. My pick

Mark Twain
Bill Clinton
Abe Lincoln
Jimmy Carter
and the one and only Senator from California Barbara Boxer.

[faithfulcitizen]

37. Wes Clark made my list too!

1. Wesley K. Clark
2. Martin Luther King Jr.
3. Alice Paul
4. Albert Einstein
4. Abe Lincoln

[Cheswick2.0]

13. Three Woman, Two Men

Sojourner Truth
Alice Paul
Eleanor Roosevelt
Abe Lincoln
Martin Luther King Jr

[Dirty Hippie]

14. My choices:

Dr. Martin Luther King
Jimmy Carter
Sojourner Truth
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Paul Wellstone

In no particular order.

[Cheswick2.0]

15. HELP US GET SOME GREAT AMERICAN WOMEN NOMINATED

My #1 pick is Sojourner Truth. What an inspiration. Here is a bit of information on her.

Her most famous speech (not an official copy)but from someone's memory because it was not written down.
Several preacher stodd and spoke about how women were inferior to men and must be taken care of. So she stood to speak dispite some of the other women in the room fearing she would make their cause seem to controversial... and this is what she said:

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/sojtruth-woman.html

and some information:

http://www.susanmccarthyart.com/gaw/product_info.php?cPath=0&products_id=11

[Quixote1818]

16. Jefferson, Twain, Emerson, King, FDR

I also like Franklin, Madison and Ingersol.

[Dookus]

18. I voted

Lincoln
Washington
FDR
MLK
Einstein

[JI7]

33. yes, Einstein too

i keep thinking mostly in the political area. but thinking science, literature ,invention etc might bring up many more who should be considered.

[Borgnine]

21. I voted:

Martin Luther King Jr.
Robert Kennedy
Abraham Lincoln
George Washington
Michael Moore

[AmerDem]

24. kick

:kick:

[baldguy]

26. Mine.

Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln
Franklin Roosevelt
Martin Luther King Jr
Whoever topples the current neo-conservitive neo-fascist American oligarcy

[Senator Lamb]

28. my picks

Benjamin Franklin
George Washington
Lincoln
FDR
MLK

[poe]

29. These Five at the Same Table

CHIEF SEATTLLE
MLK JR
SOJOURNER TRUTH
DAVID BROWER
THELONIUS MONK

[serryjw]

30. I only have 3 so far.......

Thomas Jefferson

Thurgood Marshall

Rosa Parks

still deciding on my other 2

[GreenArrow]

39. CHIEF SEATTLE

How refreshing!

[Dinger]

42. My Second List, If I Can Nominate More

Of course, after I read the other lists on this thread, I saw some I feel terrible for leaving out.

1. Black Elk
2. Paul Wellstone
3. Chief Joseph
4. Chief Seattle
5. John F. Kennedy

[AmerDem]

31. kick

:kick:

[JI7]

34. Cheif Justice John Marshall

a possibility when you consider how big the supreme court has become because of their ruling on issues based on Constitution as Marshall did first.

[JI7]

35. great thread

just the names brought up give us something to think about and learn throughout our history.

[iwantmycountryback]

36. Some candidates

George Washington
Abraham Lincoln
FDR
Thomas Jefferson
Martin Luther King

[Emboldened Chimp]

40. When I think of Greatest American...

I think of someone who best encompasses the word 'freedom'. So, here are my five:

Rosa Parks
Martin Luther King Jr.
Mark Twain
Nathan Hale
Jerry Garcia (no kidding)

[Dinger]

41. My List (Can You Submit More Than Once?)

Abraham Lincoln
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Lyndon B. Johnson
Gen. Wesley K. Clark

[jayctravis]

43. Humble list:

Stephanie Tubbs Jones
Tom Paine
Oprah Winfrey
Jon Stewart
Dave Chappelle