The Greatest American

[B5C]

Quick question, how much do you know of the mccarthy era? As, if i recall correctly, that was all due to a fear of infiltration by a foreign group(soviet russia) and there were various measures bought into operation which ended up with large numbers of people in public life including an icon of holywood, charlie chaplin, emigrating to europe.

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McCarthy was a hero for America. Since his findings show that communists were indeed in the US Government.

 

 

McCarthy was Right!!

 

When the right was right

Pat Buchanan

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/patbuch...b20030512.shtml

[Laozi]

McCarthy was a hero for America. Since his findings show that communists were indeed in the US Government.

 

McCarthy was Right!!

 

When the right was right

Pat Buchanan

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/patbuch...b20030512.shtml

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Well anyone who would quote anything provided by Pat Buchanan is obviously not interested in the truth. Hes too right wing for the republican party that should tell you something.

 

 

And if you call witch hunts a good thing then ya hes a real hero

[alternative_genius]

Quick question, how much do you know of the mccarthy era? As, if i recall correctly, that was all due to a fear of infiltration by a foreign group(soviet russia) and there were various measures bought into operation which ended up with large numbers of people in public life including an icon of holywood, charlie chaplin, emigrating to europe.

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McCarthy was a hero for America. Since his findings show that communists were indeed in the US Government.

 

 

McCarthy was Right!!

 

When the right was right

Pat Buchanan

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/patbuch...b20030512.shtml

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Using the witchunt tactics he did use its hardly surprising he found the odd communist, he didn't just pick on people who were close to being communists he picked on people who held strong left-wing views. Basically he tried to create if not a one-party state then a one ideal state. Now i'll be the first to say that i am not in any way shape or form right wing but i would be highly angered if extrememe right-wingers were accused of being traitors merely because of their idealogical beliefs.

[BuckeyeRowe]

Presidents:

Lincoln - rags to great President

Regan - did well with Soviets and I had to have one modern guy

 

Indurstrialists:

Andrew Carnagie

John D. Rockefeller - both were smart and made themselves; plus Carnagie gave all those libraries

 

Inventor:

Thomas Edison - I'm typeing in a room with a light on; plus the other hundreds of thing he invented

 

I wanted to nominate people who weren't extremely obvious like Washington and Jefferson (hey, Lincoln is just too good not to pick).

[Colrom]

Ben Franklin

George Washington

Abe Lincoln

FDR

Martin Luther King Jr.

[Laozi]

Lincoln denied states rights and for that he has placed the entire country under the majorities control, losing our democracy, a little known fact.

[Colrom]

I know what you mean.

 

But I'm coming from a different place.

 

I had Robert E. Lee in the list for while, since he was my boyhood hero, but decided that, although he was a great general and a basically good man, he was not sufficiently influential and was after all a traitor.

[Oerwinde]

So me and my friends thought the Greatest Canadian competition was a really dumb idea, because there were so many great canadians and for different reasons that you can't really pick one(the one they did pic though was the guy who started our health care system)

 

Does anyone here think the same of this greatest american thing?

[Laozi]

So me and my friends thought the Greatest Canadian competition was a really dumb idea, because there were so many great canadians and for different reasons that you can't really pick one(the one they did pic though was the guy who started our health care system)

 

Does anyone here think the same of this greatest american thing?

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I thought you where from cybertron

 

 

Anyway you mean there are so few note worthy canadian, it make little since right? I mean after Neil Young, The Kids in the Hall, and that hot iceskater theres really not much to work with. Alanis Morissette, the guy who found out you could attract deer by covering yourself in there urine, Ben Johnson, and Martin Short where the only other ones to make the list. And ofcourse the guy who had to win it, Wayne Gretsky

[Ludozee]

AOL and the Discovery Channel.

 

 

George Wallace was a racist, but he had great idea to shrink the US government.

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So did Pim Fortuyn, but the leftwing opposition managed to label him a racist, only because one of many of his points (and his most controversial) was his idea of how Holland should deal with asylumseekers and alike. The man had some very decent ideas about our healthsystem for example, but you don't hear anyone about it. I am by no means a Pim Fortuyn supporter, but I just loathe the hyporisy of the of Hollands "established" politicians regarding Pim Fortuyn.

 

And Mr. U was right: the man was a charismatic opportunist, but so are most politicians. Look at Geert Wilders and Ayaan Hirsi Ali at this moment. They are so taking advantage of the whole "musim fundamentalism" issue in Holland. I think that if those two just stop with their self proclaimed war, the unrest comes to an end in Holland. The only thing those two achieve is polarize the society. It was very sad that Theo van Gogh was murdered, but the way Holland (the complete nation) reacted made things only worse in my opinion...

[Arkan]

http://tv.channel.aol.com/greatestamerican

 

Ok people you can vote for the Top 100 greatest Americans.

 

Vote damn it!

 

Lets discuss who we voted for.

 

My vote:

 

George W. Bush

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You automatically lose the thread.

[The Bardic Pen]

So me and my friends thought the Greatest Canadian competition was a really dumb idea, because there were so many great canadians and for different reasons that you can't really pick one(the one they did pic though was the guy who started our health care system)

 

Does anyone here think the same of this greatest american thing?

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I think the most riddiculous part is that Anne Murray wasn't even in the top 50. I spent a week thinking that the MPs had legalized marijuana and I hadn't heard about it.

[BuckeyeRowe]

Lincoln denied states rights and for that he has placed the entire country under the majorities control, losing our democracy, a little known fact.

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I am well aware of what Lincoln did, including such "horrible things" such as suspending Habius Corpus (sp?). It was a time of war, I don't blame him. But if you want to complain about states rights, blame it on Chief Justice Marshall.

 

The reason I chose Lincoln is because he filled "The American Dream". A poor boy from Kentucky, he taught himself to be a lawyer. Upon becoming a politician, he stood on his moral, not giving in to political pressure (for the most part - and yes, I know Lincoln didn't really like the blacks and wanted to send them back to Africa).

[Oerwinde]

So me and my friends thought the Greatest Canadian competition was a really dumb idea, because there were so many great canadians and for different reasons that you can't really pick one(the one they did pic though was the guy who started our health care system)

 

Does anyone here think the same of this greatest american thing?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I thought you where from cybertron

 

 

Anyway you mean there are so few note worthy canadian, it make little since right? I mean after Neil Young, The Kids in the Hall, and that hot iceskater theres really not much to work with. Alanis Morissette, the guy who found out you could attract deer by covering yourself in there urine, Ben Johnson, and Martin Short where the only other ones to make the list. And ofcourse the guy who had to win it, Wayne Gretsky

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The top ten were

 

1 Tommy Douglas - Responsible for Canada's public health care

2 Terry Fox - Ran across half of canada with one leg for cancer research

3 Pierre Elliott Trudeau - Most popular canadian PM, added the bill of rights to the Canadian constitution, and signed the act that made Canada fully independant of Britain. Enacted the war measures act to crush domestic terrorist group, and is responsible for the Canadian national debt..

4 Sir Frederick Banting - Discovered Insulin

5 David Suzuki - Environmentalist.

6 Lester B. Pearson - Responsible for Canada Pension Plan, National Labour Code, the Canadian flag, and he received the Nobel Piece Prize.

7 Don Cherry - TV Personality, the face of Canadian Hockey.

8 Sir John A. Macdonald - First Canadian PM, brought the maritime provinces and BC into confederation.

9 Alexander Graham Bell - Telephone.

10 Wayne Gretzky - So far, the greatest player in hockey history. Many people believe Sidney Crosby could be the next Gretzky.

 

Alexander Graham Bell shouldn't really count because he was Scottish, but I guess just having citizenship counts.

 

These are the other 90 on the top 100

http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/greatcanadians

 

There are a lot of hockey players on that list, and several people don't deserve to be on it, let alone be as high on the list as they are, but thats the reason I thought it was a dumb idea. I mean Avril Lavigne the greatest canadian?!

[kumquatq3]

I'm going to wait a little, and then I will tell you who the greatest American is. Once I present my case, there will be little doubt.

 

you'll see

 

I'm not kidding either

[Laozi]

Its not going to Michael Jordan is it?

[kumquatq3]

Its not going to Michael Jordan is it?

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God Dam...gzzzz....errr.....um....noooooooo "

 

But I'll give you a hint: He played running back for the Chicago Bears.

 

Seriously, this person saved millions (if not an estimated BILLION, BILLION with a B) of lives (without killing anyone else) and this person did it with self sacrifice, hard earned knowledge in this persons field (this person didn't save lives because of of fluke, a la Penicillin), and this person won a nobel prize for his efforts.

 

Yet I'd bet 9 out of 10 Americans, at least, have never heard of this person. Until about a year ago, I hadn't either.

 

This person may be responsible for more lives lived and a higher quality of life for these people than any one person to ever live.

 

and this person is American

 

In fact, I'd argue that short of Jesus actually being the son of god , this person is the greatest person to ever live (and even then I could make a good case).

 

Guesses anyone?

[B5C]

Here is a image version of the Greatest Canadians:

www.filibustercartoons.com

[Oerwinde]

Here is a image version of the Greatest Canadians:

www.filibustercartoons.com

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Yeah, some of those shouldn't be in the top 10. Cherry and Suzuki shouldn't, the rest I can understand.

[Meshugger]

The greatest american? How do you define that? Heroism? Scientific discovery? Economical success? Maybe someone in the veins of Oscar Schindler or Ghandi, putting aside personal gain or wealth for the sake of humanity.

 

- Martin Luther King jnr, perhaps.

 

 

McCarthy is as un-american you can get --> borderline fascism.

[HomoUniversalis]

I cried when I saw Oscar Schindler next to Gandhi.

 

I don't consider Ayaan Hirsi Ali a populist. Wilders is, indeed, populistic, though I agree with him on some issues, Turkey not joining the EU for example.

 

I will agree however, that Ayaan Hirsi Ali is not a good 'congress-member', She is just more suited making Submission parts, writing books and coming up for the rights of the muslim woman in other ways.

 

Anyshoe, I don't think the US has any true heroes. The nation is too young for that, and instead they worship quasi-/semi-heroes. Stop nationalism, start nihilism and moral relativism!

 

Mr U

[Blarghagh]

In which a racist politician who did nothing but get shot won. So that basically proved to me that whoever wins is the opposite.

 

 

You think conservatives are racists? Holland is trying to survive an unslaught of Muslim fundelmentalism.

 

Probably late here, but:

 

I didn't call him a conservative. Conservatives want things to stay the same, mostly. He wanted to kick non-dutch people out neverminding the fact that our multiculture is now part of our countries identity. That's not conservatism. That's fascism. Plain and simple, the most known politician of the last century he resembled was none other than Adolf Hitler.

 

By the way, that 'onslaught'(which is widely exaggerated and mostly caused by whites retaliating against the non-fundamentalists pissing the fundamentalists off even more) hadn't even ****ing started when he got shot. He got shot by a white guy who just plain didn't agree with the bastard. Do your research.

[HomoUniversalis]

He wanted to kick non-dutch people out neverminding the fact that our multiculture is now part of our countries identity.

 

I did not read his books, but could you direct me to a quote where he stated he wanted to kick out non-Dutch people?

 

Mr U

[Blarghagh]

I can't, but it was pretty obvious by the anti-asylum system he was fronting. Which mostly passed, too, dagnabbit.

[kumquatq3]

Anyshoe, I don't think the US has any true heroes. The nation is too young  for that, and instead they worship quasi-/semi-heroes. Stop nationalism, start nihilism and moral relativism!

 

 

First, that is retarded logic, and pretty ignorant. I can only hope your kidding.

 

 

Second, I will now tell you who the greatest American is. He also most likely happens to be the worlds greatest person to ever live. I guess you might say that he is the worlds greatest hero.

 

 

 

Norman Ernest Borlaug was born on March 25, 1914 on a farm near Cresco, Iowa.

 

After completing his primary and secondary education in Cresco, Borlaug enrolled in the University of Minnesota where he studied forestry. Immediately before and immediately after receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in 1937, he worked for the U.S. Forestry Service at stations in Massachusetts and Idaho. Returning to the University of Minnesota to study plant pathology, he received the master's degree in 1939 and the doctorate in 1942.

 

From 1942 to 1944, he was a microbiologist on the staff of the du Pont de Nemours Foundation where he was in charge of research on industrial and agricultural bactericides, fungicides, and preservatives.

 

Pretty humble start right? Doesn't sound like the worlds greatest hero to me, I've never even heard of the guy, right?

 

In 1944, the Rockefeller Foundation invited him to work on a project to boost wheat production in Mexico. At the time Mexico was importing a good share of its grain.

 

There Norman breed a new kind of high-yielding short-strawed, disease-resistant wheat over the course of almost 20 years.

 

In the late 1960s, most experts were speaking of imminent global famines in which billions would perish. "The battle to feed all of humanity is over," biologist Paul Ehrlich famously wrote in his 1968 bestseller The Population Bomb. "In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now." Ehrlich also said, "I have yet to meet anyone familiar with the situation who thinks India will be self-sufficient in food by 1971." He insisted that "India couldn't possibly feed two hundred million more people by 1980."

 

He was wrong.

 

Normans efforts in Mexico landed him numerous university honors from around the world. He is estimated to have saved a million plus lives in Mexico, at least, and raised the quality of life for millions of others there. You can live better lives when wondering what you'll eat today isn't your first concern.

 

A million people saved and millions more able to have access to sufficent quantity of food is a good start for the worlds greatest hero, but Norman Borlaug was far from done.

 

He took his wheat to India and Pakistan. You have to remember, India alone at that time was looking at mass starvation in the the near future numbering in the tens of millions if not hundreds of millions. Norman Borlaug went in with a team and gave the new wheat, which was altered for the areas condidtions, to the farmers, and stuck around to teach local farmers how to cultivate it properly. This I suppose is nice enough, but he did this while the two countries were at war.

 

In Pakistan, wheat yields rose from 4.6 million tons in 1965 to 8.4 million in 1970. In India, they rose from 12.3 million tons to 20 million. This happened, you have to remember, in only about 5-6 years. And the yields continue to increase. In 1999, India harvested a record 73.5 million tons of wheat, up 11.5 percent from 1998.

 

Contrary to popular belief at the time, hundreds of millions didn't die in massive famines. India fed far more than 200 million more people, and it was just about self-sufficiency in food production by 1971 . India's population has more than doubled, its wheat production has more than tripled, and its economy has grown nine-fold. The expected quality of life for these people has jumped by leaps and bounds. Norman is the reason Indias future went from starvation in the streets to the US worrying about them taking IT jobs.

 

For his efforts, Norman won the Nobel peace Prize in 1970 and started a movement called "The Green Revolution".

 

Shortly after their work in India. Norman and his team created high-yield rice varieties that quickly spread through out Asia. Norman also introduces wheat grains to any African nation that will allow him to come.

 

All told, it is estimated that the number of lives saved by Norman numbers in the hundreds of milllions, maybe into to the BILLIONS, and the numbers continue to rise. Most of these lives, I think it is worthy to note, were of people that were a different race than him and that he had never met. The number of lives, in terms of quality, that he effected for the better may never be known. Just stop and think about these numbers for a second.

 

If you ask Norman, the last info I could found said he was still teaching at Texas A&M at the age of 86 and speaking about his causes, what his greatest honor ever bestowed on him was (and there are many) he will tell you it is a little street that was named after him in Mexico near where he first invented his wheat grain.

 

Millions, if not a billions, of people saved. Not bad for a kid from Iowa. I only hope that my short and skinny rendition of his life didn't do him an injustice.

 

 

 

So that is my nomination for the worlds greatest hero and the greatest American.

 

Whats yours?

 

(I hope the guy who voted for Bush reads this)

 

 

Links:

 

Nobel prize website to Norman