My review of the decade, top ten events

[Reaganfan]

#10. The Death of Michael Jackson
June 25, 2009


In recent times, only the death of Elvis Presley and the murder of John Lennon have had such a widespread impact across the world as did the death of Michael Jackson in the Summer of '09. One billion people around the world watched his memorial service, internet traffic slowed and crashed, and people all around the world were shocked and saddened to hear the news about the untimely death of one of the greatest performers of the last 40 years.
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#9. Northeast Blackout of 2003
August 14, 2003


On the afternoon of August 14, 2003, I was in Northfield, OH...when just 3 miles away the first of many power failures began with power lines in Walton Hills, OH. This, in conjunction with other failures, resulted in one of the worst blackouts in history. Lucky for me, my father's house never lost power, so I didn't have to live with the outage, but rather watch it unfold.
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#8. Virginia Tech Massacre
April 16, 2007


Following Columbine High School's massacre in April 1999, schools across America changed forever. The days of being "free" in school turned into days of not being able to walk into a school unless you are buzzed in the door. The days of feeling safe and secure were switched to days of being on "lock down", which is a nice way of saying, "Stay in your class and hope nobody walks in to kill you." (As if sitting on the floor next to your desk will protect you)

Eight years after Columbine, almost to the day, the nation gripped with the massacre at Virginia Tech. This...again...showed just how vulnerable America is to attack, be it from an airplane or from one armed kid. It is a stark reminder however, that guns don't kill people....losers like Seung-Hui Cho...kill people.
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#7. London Terror Attacks
July 7, 2005


I woke up early on July 7, 2005, went to my computer to check the latest on deadly Hurricane Dennis in the Caribbean Sea, when my father told me, "Terrorist attack in London". I nodded, accepting that this was inevitable knowing the undying will of Islamic terrorists to destroy all those who don't believe in their extreme Islamic vision. London, Madrid, Bali, New York, Washington, D.C, Glasgow, and even Shanksville, Pennsylvania would all be witness to this throughout the decade.
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#6. Hurricane Katrina
August 29, 2005


For those who don't know, I am a self-proclaimed weather nerd. I find meteorology fascinating, particularly hurricanes. I began tracking hurricanes around 1998, with Hurricanes Georges and Mitch, and continued every year since then.

For years when speaking about "worst case scenarios" with hurricanes, the worst case for New Orleans would be a large, slow moving, Category 5 storm. Katrina thankfully weakened from Category 5 to Category 3 in the final six hours before landfall, came in just east of the city, and was not slow moving. However, all the water built up and the sheer size of the storm decimated the Gulf Coast. The aftermath of the levee breach in New Orleans would flood many portions of the city, adding to the disaster. Failures on the part of local, state and federal officials would become a topic of discussion in America and the world for many years to come. I often said prior to Katrina that it was impossible for thousands of Americans to die in the Hurricane in the United States in the 21st century, with all the warnings and technology. Hurricane Katrina proved me wrong.
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[Reaganfan]

5. 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
December 26, 2004


The day after Christmas, one of the strongest Earthquakes in recorded history struck the Indian Ocean region, creating a catastrophic tsunami. In some places, the wave height reached 80 feet while pushing ashore, and peaked at near 100 ft high while traveling inland. Hundreds of thousands were killed. For years I had watched documentaries about how tsunamis have happened before and would "happen again". I should have known that in a decade as historic as the 2000s, it would now occur.
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4. Election of Barack Obama
November 2, 2008


Having been a staunch supporter of Senator John McCain for President as early as December 2006, I knew as I voted for the McCain/Palin ticket on Election Day that Barack Obama was the next President of the United States. I had known this since around September 20th or so when McCain's lead in the polls disappeared following the economic collapse in America.

Despite disagreeing with his politics, and not voting for Barack Obama, I find it satisfying that America finally elected an African American President. The dreams of many were achieved on that Tuesday in November of 2008.
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3. Operation Iraqi Freedom
March 20, 2003


The "deadline" given to Saddam by George Bush in March of 2003 made for an action-movie atmosphere in the United States. In school teachers mocked and rolled their eyes as we sat in class watching Bush speak of "shock and awe" but that didn't stop the spread of Patriotism that began in 2001 from being felt among myself and other students. I remember finding most people very supportive of President Bush, but the support seemed much softer than it had a year and a half earlier after 9/11.

I remember sitting in wood shop class and staying behind with a couple students watching a video of the detonation of the "Mother of all bombs" and rooting our Military and President as we knew war was being brought to Saddam. Add to that the surprise Thanksgiving visit to troops in Iraq, and the capture of Saddam Hussein in a hole, 2003 was yet another year of jingoism and patriotism. The Dixie Chicks were banned on many American radio stations for their criticism of George Bush. French Fries were dubbed "Freedom Fries" following the French criticism of Bush's policies in March 2003. Action figures of George Bush in a flight suit became popular Christmas gifts. It was as if America was in a real-time action movie. Americans were united.
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2. Election of George Bush
November 7, 2000


Throughout the Summer and Fall of 2000, I had no doubt in my mind that George W. Bush would be elected President of the United States. Every night I'd watch Tom Brokaw show the latest tracking poll (the days before we had a computer) and every night Bush led (despite the closeness of the race).

It was a feeling of enthusiasm as I was entering my teenage years. Growing up and reading and watching things about history, I was too young to remember the 1990/1991 Gulf War or any of the Reagan era. I felt as though Bush and Cheney would maybe rehash a little of that era and give us a break from the tiresome news days of the 1990s (Bob Dole? The Balkans? Monica? Nirvana? YAWN.)

About four nights before Election Day, FOX News broke the DUI story about George Bush. For the first time in the entire election, I began extremely nervous. By Election Night, I began writing electoral totals on my dry-erase board imitating Tim Russert. The news was good for Al Gore. He had won Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Florida. But Bush still had a narrow lead, and states like Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oregon, New Mexico, and Iowa could still give Bush a victory, I thought.

I went to sleep only to wake up the next morning filled with excitement. I ran downstairs to find my mother curling her hair in the bathroom before work. I said, "What happened?" She told me, "Bush won, Gore conceded, then he called Bush back and retracted his concession." I was stunned.

It turns out, in our school election, they also recounted the votes, with Bush narrowly winning our school election. I had a very conservative teacher who told me in early 2000 that she wanted Gore because she liked his education views, while my teacher in 6th grade who was very liberal was a Bush voter solely because of his position on abortion. The 2000 electorate played a key-role in how the decade would have turned out. Had Nader not been in the race, indeed Gore would have had at least 537 more votes in Florida, thus giving him the Presidency. But history didn't turn out that way.
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#1. September 11, 2001


I remember the final week before 9/11 quite vividly. The Summer of 2001 had been a very changing one for me. I count it as the last summer of my childhood. The end of innocence. I had just begun 7th grade Jr. High School, and a few days prior to 9/11, I had been switched around in my periods of English and Reading class. On Sunday, September 9, 2001, my father and I went to the movies to see "Jeepers Creepers" and Monday was an uneventful day. Tuesday, September 11, 2001 began the same way. I went to school, my dad went to the Police Station, my mom went to the Bank.

Around 9am, whispers in class began of something horrible going on. Teachers were acting strange and everything from rumors about the High School being on fire to a building in downtown Cleveland being on fire were being whispered around the classroom. As we changed classes, I walked into English class. My friend Becky was right in my face. Before I could ask what was happening she said the following words, "They bombed New York." My instant thoughts were about my family, then about our government. Indeed, it was the first real time I had thought much regarding the Bush administration since he came into office. My English teacher told us that terrorists had used planes to bomb the World Trade Center. She said that people were going to banks and taking money out and that America was under attack. I was confused. I kept picturing bombs being dropped from planes on Pearl Harbor...she had said that were bombing using planes...but the confusion ended when she turned on the TV and NBC showed pictures of an airplane streaking through the World Trade Center. The picture reception was extremely fuzzy and within minutes the picture and sound became so distorted that we shut off the TV. I was very upset. A classmate mockingly said, "Mike looks so sad..." almost poking fun at my despair. I remember saying the words to him as if I said them yesterday. I said to him, "You don't understand...this changes everything." At the time, maybe I was being a little over-exaggerating, but as the news of the day about the Pentagon and United 93 in Pennsylvania continued to come in, we all began to realize the gravity of the situation.

The next morning, walking up the steps to my class, I remember thinking about how 10 to 20 thousand people had died the previous day. Of course, the death toll ended up near 3,000...still an unacceptable toll. It took a few weeks for it all to really sink in. The War in Afghanistan, Anthrax, the murder of Daniel Pearl, the bombings in Bali, the D.C. Beltway sniper, the Invasion of Iraq, and Madrid and London attacks, the 2006 thwarted attacks on planes from the U.K. to the U.S., to the Glasgow attacks in the Summer of 2007 all the way to the attempted attack in Times Square in May 2010....all of this dominated our world...my world...following that one September morning in 2001.

As we approach the 10th marking of 9/11, we remember the victims, the patriotism that has long since disappeared. It's hard to remember the days when people poured change into fireman boots, or wore the American flag just to show their patriotism. It's hard to remember the days when George W. Bush was the most popular President ever, in early November 2001, or the effect 9/11 had on this country. From movies and tv to air travel to politics to law enforcement and beyond, the attacks altered the world, especially the United States. I remember hearing a radio station ID bumper in October 2001 that had a clip of President Bush speaking and it said, "Support the President, and Support our Troops". It wasn't a political ad or anything of the sort, just a common sense ad that captured our time that fateful Fall. The chain of events of that began on Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, still affect our world today.

[memphis]

Looking to get a job at USA Today?

[fezzyfestoon]

Disaster, disaster, disaster.  Things like the invention of Facebook and YouTube, the wardrobe malfunction, the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts, and other less self-pitying events are far more significant in the long run than all these disasters.  Eight of your ten were disasters, that's ridiculous.  9/11 covers the significance of the development of a culture of fear in this country adequately.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Naso's reflective phase is horrible.

[memphis]

Just a suggestion for what I think was a dreadfully underreported event: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Congo_War

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Just a suggestion for what I think was a dreadfully underreported event: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Congo_War

Also Darfur. Certainly more important than Michael Jackson.

[Oakvale]

The only ones that really belong on the list are 9/11 and Obama's election, I think - 9/11 could be stretched to include the "War on Terror", after all.

[memphis]

Just a suggestion for what I think was a dreadfully underreported event: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Congo_War

Also Darfur. Certainly more important than Michael Jackson.

Darfur at least got some celebrity attention. Not that anybody took any action, but I think a substantial portion of the population had at least vaguely heard of it. Second Congo War was the biggest war since WWII, and nobody in America was even aware of it.
Also, to paraphrase the Vice President, the earthquake in Haiti was a big f'ing deal.

[AndrewTX]

With 9/11 at # 1, sounds like Rudy Guiliani took over Naso's account.

 Anyways, do you even remember most of these events? You were like, 10 when the decade started.

[phk]

I'd include.

Events that I think kind of embody the whole decade, in no particular order.

1) Emerging Markets Boom. Global GDP nearly doubled in nominal terms.
2) Presidency of George W. Bush
3) 9/11 -- Iraq War (not insinuating they are connected but more along the lines of West/Islamic world tensions).
4) Transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0

2000
*2000 Republican primaries
*Nasdaq peaking
*Bursting of the dot-com bubble
*PS2 launching
*Vicente Fox elected President of Mexico
*2000 Election

2001
*Koizumi elected as Prime Minister of Japan
*9/11
*Xbox/GameCube launching
*Afghanistan war begins
*Mohammad Khatami re-elected President of Iran

2002
*Web 2.0 all inclusive of Social Networking, Blogging etc,. Includes things that launched later such as MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, YouTube, Wikipedia.
*Emerging markets boom starts getting noticed.
*Enron bankruptcy
*Worldcom bankruptcy
*President Bush signs Sarbanes-Oxley into law

2003
*Beginning of Iraq War
*Northeast Blackout
*Saddam Hussein's capture
*California recall election

2004
*Madrid terrorist attacks
*Housing bubble starts taking off
*2004 Democratic Primary Season
*President Bush re-elected President of the US
*Tsunami in South Asia and Southeast Asia.

2005
*Tony Blair re-elected as Prime Minister of the UK
*Ahmadinejad elected as President of Iran
*London Bombings
*Xbox 360 launches
*Hurricane Katrina

2006
*Lebanon/Israel war
*Thai Coup D'etat
*PS3 and Wii launch

2007
*iPhone launches
*Bear Stearns goes bellyup
*Benazir Bhutto's assassination rocks Pakistan.

2008
*2008 Democratic Primaries
*2008 GOP Primaries
*Financial crisis/housing bubble burst
*Russia invades Georgia
*Commodities bubble peaks
*President Obama re-elected

2009
*President Ahmadinejad re-elected in Iran setting off a wave of massive protests.

[Keystone Phil]

Ah, the good old Mike Naso returns.

[Reaganfan]

With 9/11 at # 1, sounds like Rudy Guiliani took over Naso's account.

 Anyways, do you even remember most of these events? You were like, 10 when the decade started.

I was 13 in 2001, 17 in 2005, and 21 in 2009.

I might also add I was deeply aware of all these events as they unfolded.

Here I am in 2004 shortly before Bush's re-election, showing my support on my 16th birthday.

[King]

Ah, the good old Mike Naso returns.

Is Pat Toomey reenacting a scene from Mulholland Dr?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Ah, the good old Mike Naso returns.

Is Pat Toomey reenacting a scene from Mulholland Dr?

Hilarious reference, but I'm sure Phil hasn't seen it.

[Hash]

Random things of much importance

a) rise of anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe
b) end of right-wing neoliberal era in South America (Brazil with Lula in 2002, Argentina with Kirchner, Bolivia with Morales, Ecuador with Correa, Uruguay with Vasquez, Paraguay with Lugo, Nicaragua with Ortega, Chavez consolidating power)

[Eraserhead]

Your writings depress me. Also, it remains to be seen whether the election of yet another white man was more important than the election of the first black man to the presidency.

[Reaganfan]

Your writings depress me. Also, it remains to be seen whether the election of yet another white man was more important than the election of the first black man to the presidency.

The 2000 election was by far more significant than the 2008 election. We went through a prolonged 36-day legal battle to decide who the President of the United States was. Obama was declared President at 11pm EST.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

For the world?

I don't doubt the 2000 is significant, but nowhere near as significant as the election of the first AA president... seriously, lol

[Eraserhead]

Your writings depress me. Also, it remains to be seen whether the election of yet another white man was more important than the election of the first black man to the presidency.

The 2000 election was by far more significant than the 2008 election. We went through a prolonged 36-day legal battle to decide who the President of the United States was. Obama was declared President at 11pm EST.

First black President > Recount in terms of historical significance. I would think that that would be a no brainer really. We've had several extremely close and controversial Presidential elections throughout history. Don't recall any black Presidents though.

Now if you want to argue that the aftermath of Bush's election is more important than the aftermath of Obama's, that is an argument that I would be completely open to... if Obama's time as President were over anyway.

[King]

I actually agree with Naso on this one, sort of.  Obama's election is more historically significant.  But Bush's election had far more influence on the decade.  That's pretty much what this thread is about.

[Eraserhead]

I actually agree with Naso on this one, sort of.  Obama's election is more historically significant.  But Bush's election had far more influence on the decade.  That's pretty much what this thread is about.

In the post above he's arguing that the 2000 election itself was more significant than the 2008 election because a legal battle ensued. lol.

[courts]

For the world?

I don't doubt the 2000 is significant, but nowhere near as significant as the election of the first AA president... seriously, lol

Yeah I can't think of many other affirmative action presidents. Might want to mention the economy sort of crashing and burning before he got elected though Naso... That seems sort of more relevant to most people's lives than some pop star ODing or yet another school shooting.

[King]

I actually agree with Naso on this one, sort of.  Obama's election is more historically significant.  But Bush's election had far more influence on the decade.  That's pretty much what this thread is about.

In the post above he's arguing that 2000 election itself was more significant than the 2008 election because a legal battle ensued. lol.

Hence the "sort of."

[Reaganfan]

I should note I saw another recent list from a news organization which also listed 9/11 at number one and the 2000 election at number two.