Reflecting On This Decade

Wow! I cannot believe it! This decade flew by fast. Gees, when you get older, time flies faster. The 2000’s or “The Oughts” whatever you want to call it is heading down to Memory Lane. What an eventful and turbulent decade it has been. 2000 felt like yesterday for me. Who could remember when some people thought that the year 2000 marked the end of the world in 1999? Nothing serious really happened. 2001 marked the start of the Third Millenium. Together, we witnessed events from 9/11 Terrorist Attacks, Indian Ocean Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, Virginia Tech Massacre, Hurricane Ike, and now the Global Recession.

Let us see what happened between 2000-2009.

2000
-The world marks the start of than “Y2K”, which at the time there was fear of the “Y2K” Bug.
-Elian Gonzalez is seized by federal agents.
-Air France Concorde crashes claiming a total of 113 lives.
-Russian submarine Kursk explodes and sinks claiming 118 lives.
-Stock market drops.
-Election is in turmoil in Florida and ends up in the Supreme Court. George W. Bush wins over Al Gore.

2001
-Tropical Storm Allison floods out Texas, Louisiana, Carolinas, and Pennsylvania. It claims a total of 40 lives from Texas to Maine.
-Clear Lake mother, Andrea Yates drowns five of her own children in the bath tub.
-September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack in New York, Arlington, and Shanksville. The attack levels the World Trade Center and leaves the Pentagon burning. 3,000 people died in the terrorist attack as it unfolded on live television.
-America goes to war in Afghanistan in response to 9/11.
-Enron files for the largest ever bankruptcy in US history.
-American Airlines Flight 587 crashes in Queens while taking off from Kennedy International Airport.

2002
-Robert Steinhauser kills 17 people at Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt,Germany, before committing suicide.
-China Airlines Flight 611 crashes in the Taiwan Strait with all 225 people dead.
-WorldComm files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
-World marks the first anniversary of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks.
-A Bali night club is bombed and claims 202 lives.

2003
-Space Shuttle Columbia explodes mid-air over Texas. It was landing in Florida when it disintegrated with all seven crews on board.
-America invades Iraq.
-String of tornado outbreaks plague the South and Midwest.
-Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh is assassinated.
-Concorde makes its last flight before being retired.
-Bam, Iran is hit by an earthquake that claims a total of 27,000 lives.

2004
-Bombs explode in Madrid trains claiming 191 lives.
-Muslim terrorists take a Beslan elementary school hostage in a three day siege. It ends in a bloodbath that claims 350 lives, including about 180 children.
-Hurricane Charley, Francis, Ivan, and Jeanne ravage Florida within a 6 week period.
-Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 26, 2004. A strong 9.2 earthquake strikes off the coast of Sumatra Island of Indonesia. A tsunami ensues that affects all of Indian Ocean basin and claims at least 250,000 lives.

2005
-Jeffrey Weise opens fire at Red Lake High School claming 9 lives before committing suicide.
-Pope John Paul II dies and Joseph Ratzinger becomes Pope Benedict XVI.
-Hurricane Katrina makes landfall on Louisiana and Mississippi on August 29, 2005. The storm surge floods out and levels coastal Mississippi and causes levees to breach in the New Orleans area. It leaves the New Orleans area flooded for months and claims more than 2,500 lives.
-2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season is the most active on record and broke many records with the most storms, most hurricanes, most intense, and most costliest ever recorded.

2006
-Israel attacks Lebanon.
-Mumbai train system is attacked by strings of bombing that claims a total of 209 lives on July 11, 2006
-String of school shootings in Quebec, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
-The population of America reaches the 300 million mark.
-Saddam Hussein is executed for crimes against humanity.

2007
-Comet McNaught is the brightest comet in 40 years.
-Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom are brutally tortured and murdered by Lamaricus Davidson, Letalvis Cobbins, George Thomas, Vanessa Coleman, and Eric Boyd.
-Seung-Hui Cho opens fire with two pistols at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. A dormitory, West Ambler-Johnson Hall and a classroom building, Norris Hall are attacked. The massacre claims 32 lives and injures 25 in what is the deadliest single day mass shooting in America.
-The I-35W Bridge over Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapses claiming a total of 13 lives.
-World learns about the Missouri MySpace suicide when 13 year old Megan Meier commits suicide after being harassed by Lori Drew and company.
-Start of the recession.

2008
-Super Tuesday Tornado Outbreak claims a total of 57 lives in 24 states that were holding election primary.
-Tropical Cyclone Nargis slams into Burma, claiming 146,000 lives. The world offered help, but the ruling junta denies it.
-A strong earthquake hits Sichuan province of China claiming 80,000 lives.
-Michael Phelps wins 8 gold medals in swimming events at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
-Hurricane Ike makes landfall on the Upper Texas Coast. It leaves 50 people dead and $24 billion of damage, making it the third costliest after Katrina and Andrew.
-Lehman Brothers collapses, which symbolizes the start of the financial crisis.
-World’s stock market drop on “Bloody Monday”.
-Bernard Madoff’s pyramid scheme is revealed due to the recession.

2009
-US Airways Flight 1549 crashes into the Hudson River in New York. All 155 people on board survived.
-Black Friday Wildfires in southern Australia claim a total of 173 lives.
-String of mass shootings in America and Europe.
-Air France Flight 447 mysteriously crashes in the middle of the Atlantic.
-America switches off analog and goes all digital for television broadcast.
-Samoa gets hit by tsunami that claims 189 lives.
-Nadil Hasan attacks Fort Hood near Killeen, Texas, claiming 14 lives.

So many news events in this decade. We witnessed an d remembered them well. So many to remember and know. Some dates and days we will never forget as long as we live. We will remember them to the day we die. In some cases, they changed the world as we know it. Here is what I think are the top events for this decade.

Top 10 News Events of the Decade:
1.) September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks
2.) Indian Ocean Tsunami
3.) Hurricane Katrina
4.) Hurricane Ike
5.) Tropical Cyclone Nargis
6.) Sichuan Earthquake
7.) Virginia Tech Massacre
8.) Fort Hood Attack
9.) Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster
10.) Financial Meltdown

Notice most of them are disasters, either man natural or man made.

This decade saw some people that we just all love to hate. Thankfully, some have passed on. They will not be missed for sure when their time is up.

Worst People of the Decade:
1.) Osama bin Laden-9/11. Need I say more.
2.) Lori Drew-Evil and worthless mom from Hell who harassed Megan Meier to suicide.
3.) John Walker Lindh-American Taliban. Should be burned for being a traitor.
4.) Casey Anthony-Stupid and self-absorbed mother that killed Caylee Anthony.
5.) Fred Phelps-Funeral picketing and severely repressed gay man. The real “fag enabler” is you and come out of the closet and deal with it.
6.) Seung-Hui Cho-Mute boy that massacred 32 people in cold blood.
7.) Bernard Madoff-Psychopath who ran a Ponzi scheme.
8.) Michael Crook-Soldier bashing, America hating, and victim bashing scumbag who admires Fred Phelps. Proof why inbreeding is dangerous.
9.) Anyone Who Blames America For 9/11-Just as bad as the terrorists themselves.
10.) Paris Hilton-Trust fund whore and skank.

This decade also saw good people we grew to love. They did many good and/or heroic deeds. Some have passed on and will be missed. This was a tough one to decide.

Best People of the Decade:
1.) American Soldiers-Our finest men who protect America and maintain our freedoms and way of life. God bless them all!
2.) New York Firefighters and Police on September 11, 2001-They bravely entered the burning World Trade Center to help people evacuate, to only find themselves victims of the horrible terrorist attack.
3.) Pope John Paul II-One of the greatest pope of all times. He help bring down Communism in Eastern Europe and Soviet Union.
4.) Sully Sullenberger-Airline captain that landed in the Hudson River and everyone lived to tell about stories of survival and courage.
5.) Iranian Dissidents-Rose and stood up against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs following the 2009 Iranian Election.
6.) Byrd and Melanie Billings-A wealthy couple that adopted 16 special needs children, whose lives were cut short by murder.
7.) Aung San Suu Kyi-Burmese dissident who is putting fear to the military junta.
8.) Pat Tillman-A professional football player who turned down multi-million dollar contracts to serve for America. Tragically, his life was cut short.
9.) Susan Boyles-Shows that nothing is too late in life.
10.) Steve Fossett-Adventurer who flew around the world non-stop in an airplane and balloon.
11.) Vince Young-Led Texas Longhorns to glory in the 2005 college football season.
12.) Michael Phelps-Won 8 gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

Time to pop the champagne bottle for the new year! Cheers for a better year and decade. Happy New Years to all!

Jay slips even more
By MICHAEL STARR
Last Updated: 3:46 AM, November 11, 2009
Posted: 2:41 AM, November 11, 2009

‘The Jay Leno Show” has struggled mightily — but Mondays have been extra-tough.

“Leno” averaged just over 4 million viewers at 10 p.m. Monday — nearly equaling its all-time low of 3.9 million viewers set on Monday, Nov. 2.

This past Monday, “Leno” was up against original episodes of CBS’ “CSI: Miami” and ABC’s “Castle,” which averaged 14 million and 11 million viewers, respectively.

New York Post-Jay slips even more

Gees, all that promotions not helping. Jay Leno is a late night person, not prime time person. Also, talk shows like that work better at night.

Director John Hughes dies at 59
‘Breakfast Club’ helmer died of a heart attack
By PAT SAPERSTEIN
Variety
August 6, 2009

John Hughes, who captured the zeitgeist of 1980s teen life as writer-director of “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles” and produced and scripted family hits such as “Home Alone,” died Thursday of a heart attack in Manhattan while taking a walk. He was 59.

After an impressive string of hits — “Home Alone” is one of the top-grossing live-action comedies of all time — Hughes, who never won a major show business award, stopped directing in 1991 and virtually retired from filmmaking a few years later, working on his farm in northern Illinois.

The filmmaker, whom critic Roger Ebert once called “the philosopher of adolescence,” was a major influence on filmmakers including Wes Anderson, Kevin Smith and Judd Apatow, who told the L.A. Times last year, “Basically, my stuff is just John Hughes films with four-letter words.”

Full Article

Sad day for Hollywood. A great talent has passed. I like Home Alone and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Great movies and true classics. Home Alone has a great Christmas music, Somewhere In My Memory. Everytime I hear it, I think of Christmas. RIP John Hughes.

Here is KPRC-TV coverage of Hurricane Jerry of 1989. I remember this hurricane, no rain, just some clouds. It was a small hurricane like Humberto in 2007. Jerry was unpredictable and made a last minute landfall on Galveston.

It’s at the 2:38 mark. It is short, but what a total mess Audrey left for Louisiana. Since KTRK-TV has many newsreels going back to 1957, it would be interesting to see all of them, especially weather and major events.

We are at the halfway mark for 2009. After a tough decision on determining who are currently the most hated people. There is always a need for public enemies and someone to hate. These 20 loathesome are hated for a good reason and rightfully deserve it. I came to the conclusion of the 20 most hated people. We will started with the twentieth and descend to number one.

20 Most Hated People

20.) Kim Kardashian
A Paris Hilton wanna-be socialite. Thankfully, she is not as well known.

19.) Lindsey Lohan
Another no talent actress who has not done anything in years. Only thing she is famous for is being famous and getting into trouble. Even Brittany Spears cleaned up her act and she did have a real problem, unlike Lohan, who is washed up.

18.) Paris Hilton
A skanky no talent attention whore. She tries to be an actress and singer and fails at that. There are many aspiring singers, actors, and directors who are a lot better. Oh, she is a trust fund kid.

17.) Alex Jones
A 9/11 Truther and whacked out conspiracy theorists. Still in denial, huh? Lay off the tinfoil will ya!

16.) Steven Fowler
Elitist and pompous British ex-pat father in San Fransicko. He thinks soldiers are idiots with no education. He is no better than fellow scumbags, Fred Phelps and Michael Crook.

15.) Suzanne Lukas
Standish, Maine superintendent who did not give Justin Denney his diploma when he graduated after he bowed down and blew some kisses at his parents. This is showing respect at its best. Lukas needs to get a life! What a moron!

14.) Nadya Suleman
The Octo-Mom. I mean c’mon, she has six children and that is a lot for anyone. Her excuse is that she was the only child. I have had friends who were the only child and they were happy. If she was adopting fourteen children, people would be singing a different tune to her.

13.) Rod Blagojevich
Disgraced Illinois governor. He acts like if nothing is happening, which only puts him on thin ice. I suggest you keep your mouth shut. Hey Blaggo, how is life being a reality TV star? Oh, he is to go to trial in June of 2010. Let see you weasel that out.

12.) David Letterman
Pervert and unfunny meth head loser. Whether you love or hate Sarah Palin, attacking her children was wrong and uncalled for. He is MUCH worse than Conan O’Brian and I don’t like him that much.

11.) Keith Olbermann
If there is a world’s worst person, than Keith Olbermann is the one. Okay, save a terrorist or dictator. He hosts his pompous show, Countdown with Keith Olbermann. More like “I Am A Dumb Moron With A Show On PMSNBC”.

10.) Perez Hilton
If there is repressed homosexuality in Fred Phelps, than there must be repressed heterosexuality and it comes in the form of Perez Hilton. Well, he is gay and hates himself. Loves to gossip and ruin people’s lives and attacked Carrie Prejean. A failed actor who goes by the name because he is obsessed with Paris Hilton, another vapid and skanky whore, like he is. Karma struck when he called will.I.am, a “faggot” and got punched. Also, he attacked Michael Jackson when he died. I wonder why he does not talk about Fred Phelps? Oh, that is because he is his secret gay lover.

9.) Michael Crook
Proof why inbreeding is dangerous and cultures condemn it. He is infamous for his defunct anti-soldier site, Craig’s List baiting, sending fake DMCA letters, and attacking people who die in tragic circumstances. EFF sued his sorry ass for sending fake DMCA letters. How dumb is that? He tried looking for relationship on a Neo-Nazis forum called Storm Front and was kicked out for that.

8.) Bernard Madoff
Big time con artist of the lowest denominator. How does one maintain a Ponzi scheme for nearly 20 years is beyond me. You make Robert Stanford look like an amateur. You and Stanford deserve each other in a prison cell. Talk about Machiavellian right there! Oh, he got thrown into the slammer for 150 years!

7.) Casey Anthony
Another sorry ass mother who killed her own daughter, Caylee and did not report her missing for a month. Also, why did her parents did not notice Caylee was missing. Something is seriously wrong with the Anthony family. What a self-centered and self-absorbed scumbag she is.

6.) Fred Phelps
Deranged self-hater and sexually repressed psychopath. He pickets funerals of dead soldiers and people who die in tragic circumstances. He also accused Mr. Rogers and Farrah Fawcett of promoting homosexuality. He is proof why eugenics is a good thing for humanity. Phelps needs to come out of the closet and admit he is gay and should find his illegitimate children, which he has in all probabilities.

5.) Lori Drew
Pathetic sorry ass mother from Missouri. She used MySpace with her daughter Sarah and employee Ashley Grills to harass Megan Meier to suicide. The reason, it was over that Megan called her Sarah a “Lesbian”. Really pathetic if you ask me and I think it has to do with her being a latent homosexual. The skank is too stupid to realize how infamous she is, besides Jim Jones and Adolf Hitler. Is your biological father Fred Phelps? You seem to remind me of him in appearance and behavior. She is acquitted, but she is still one of the most hated person and is the lowest ranked women.

4.) Hugo Chavez
A filthy commie that is ruling Venezuela. Venezuela has a long and rich history and sadly it is being ran into the ground by him. Looks like he is forming the Unholy Trinity with Raul Castro, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Kim Jong-Il.

3.) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
This used car salesman that rules Iran. Actually, he is a puppet of the Mullahs and they seem to be irritated by him too. He was involved in the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis. He could be overthrown soon among with the Mullahs. The Iranian election has caused turmoil and hopefully the Mullahs will be ousted in the process along with him.

2.) Kim Jong-Il
Leader of Gulag State of North Korea. This guy has nukes to launch and is stirring up trouble. He lives like a king, while the people starve to look for any food. This guy is a caricature of a whacked out lunatic. He is a lunatic.

1.) Osama bin Laden
Need I say more? He attacked the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and failed attack near Shanksville on September 11, 2001. A day no one will forget. He is also behind terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq and killing our soldiers there. Bin Laden is evil personified and is the worst person right there! Worst person ever. Okay, save Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, and Mao Zedong.

Russia, rest of G8 clash on approach to Iran
Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:26pm BST
Reuters

* G8 statement will condemn Iranian “repression”, Italy says

* Russia says election was “an exercise in democracy”

* Delegates want to leave open door to nuclear talks

By Daniel Flynn and Phil Stewart

TRIESTE, Italy, June 25 (Reuters) – Group of Eight powers were divided on how to respond to Iran’s disputed election on Thursday, with hosts Italy pushing for a strong condemnation of violence and Russia calling the vote “an exercise in democracy”.

Western nations at a meeting of G8 foreign ministers in Trieste were pushing for tough language in a final communique on Iran, where about 20 people have been killed in demonstrations following the June 12 presidential election two weeks ago.

“We are working on a document that should condemn the violence and the repression and at the same time stress that electoral procedures are an (internal) Iranian matter,” said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

Full Article

The Iranian election is a farce. Both candidates, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mir Hossein Mousavi are extremists. Mousavi was behind the Iran-Iraq War and the current nuclear program. Perhaps this could be a good thing for Iran and have the Mullahs overthrown once and for all.

ABC = All Barack Channel?
Tom Borelli
FOXNews.com
June 23, 2009

onservatives are outraged about the special access given to ABC News to broadcast a series of programs from the White House on Wednesday. ABC is scheduled to broadcast “Good Morning America” from the White House lawn, “World News” its nightly news show from the Blue Room and a special prime time “Questions for the President: Prescription for America” on President Obama’s health care reform proposal from the East Room.

Many fear objective and balanced coverage of the president controversial health care plan will be the casualty of “ABC day” at the White House. The transformation of a major news network from watchdog to Obama lapdog would threaten the very nature of an independent press that is vital in maintaining liberty and a civil society.

Co-opting corporations, especially media giants such as ABC News, to promote his policies appears to be part of Obama’s political strategy. General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt, for example, is a member of the president’s Economic Recovery Board (PERB) and the company’s media units NBC News, CNBC and MSNBC frequently advance Obama’s energy policy through its programming and news coverage which would also benefit GE’s investment in green technologies.

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Walt Disney must be reeling in his grave right now. ABC has reached a new low and shows that they are biased to the left. ABC News has combined entertainent with news, just look at Nightline. I thought NBC would do this. You know, Keith Olbermann.

ABC TURNS PROGRAMMING OVER TO OBAMA; NEWS TO BE ANCHORED FROM INSIDE WHITE HOUSE
Tue Jun 16 2009 08:45:10 ET

On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care — a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!

Highlights on the agenda:

ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House.

The network plans a primetime special — ‘Prescription for America’ — originating from the East Room, exclude opposing voices on the debate.

Full Article

Can you say “Government Media Complex”? This is just plain disturbing. ABC like all the legacy networks have become another entertainment show. ABC’s website is like Enterntainment Tonight. Check out Nightline especially.

Sarah Palin Calls for Uprising Against Letterman for Joke About Her Daughter
Palin Says Letterman Explanation That Joke Referred to 18-Year-Old Bristol Palin Is ‘Very Convenient’
By DAVID CHALIAN and RICK KLEIN
June 12, 2009

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin called on the public to rise up in opposition over David Letterman’s “degrading” jokes about her daughter this week. In a Friday morning television interview on NBC’s “Today” show, Gov. Palin said the late-night comedian’s remarks are a “sad commentary on where we are as a culture, as a society, to chuckle and laugh through comments such as he had made the other night, I think is quite unfortunate.”

Letterman’s explanation that he was referring to her 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, instead of her 14-year-old daughter, Willow, who accompanied her recently to New York, was met with derision by the governor. She called the remarks a “very convenient excuse” that took him a couple of days to present. “It was a degrading comment about a young woman. I would hope that people really start rising up and deciding it’s not acceptable. No wonder young girls especially have such low self-esteem in America when we think it’s funny for a so-called comedian to get away with being able to make such a remark as he did and to think that that’s acceptable,” Palin said.

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David Letterman is a DUMB MORON. You’re so unfunny. I don’t watch late night talk show because they are lame and have gotten worse. What the hell is it worth watching on late night TV? None! NADA! If Free Republic can bring down Dan Rather, a veteran CBS reporter, than they can bring down Loserman. Don Imus got fired for making comments and he has done that many times. Not that I am a fan of him. Well, Letterman’s days are numbered. I predict he will be out soon. I made the same prediction of Bill Maher of Politically Incorrect in 2000 that his show would be canned by 2002. Turned it was in part because of comments he made not too long after 9/11, an emotionally charged time.