The Year 2009 in Review

2009 is winding down very quickly. Not only is another year winding down, but another decade is about ready to cease. We've almost finished the first decade of the 21st century. It went by very quickly. The landscape of our world has changed since the dawn of the year 2000. America was beset by some of the worst terrorist attacks on our soil on September 11, 2001. Since that time America has launched a "war on terrorism" and to date our country is bogged down both in Iraq and Afghanistan. We had a number of new technological inventions in the last decade. Americans have been introduced to MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, which are social networking sites and several million people are logged into these social networks. However, I'm briefly going to mention about some of the things that took place in 2009. We're about ready to dawn on 2010, which will be a new year and a new decade. Many more changes will be taking place before our eyes. I venture to say there's a great possibility the Lord could be coming back. You never know. However, time is winding down and the world stage is being set for the appearance of the antichrist, which is spoken about in the book of Revelation. Here are a few of the highlights of 2009.

One of the most eventful occasions took place on January 20, 2009 for some Americans; especially those that are black or African-American. Americans witnessed the inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama on that date. He was the first black (racially mixed) president of the United States. He defeated rival John McCain for the presidency in November 2008. Many black civil rights leaders were overjoyed to have him as president because he's the first black president ever elected. He came into office in the midst of an economic recession beginning with the revelation of the mortgage meltdown in September 2008. He had promised hope and change and that the atmosphere and tone in Washington would be different. Almost a year after his presidency began it's mostly the same old business as usual except he's pushing the socialist agenda on America. He still continued the same policy of mortgage bailouts as former President Bush and then-Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson started late last year. The Obama administration gave $30 billion in TARP money (on top of what the Bush administration gave) to AIG earlier this year. The Obama administration also continued giving bailout money to GM and Chrysler. Later, the Obama administration took control of General Motors when they filed for bankruptcy protection in June and forced Rick Wagoner (GM CEO) to resign. Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection and Bob Nardelli was removed from CEO as well. The Obama administration has also crafted some new rules for the financial markets.

When President Obama took office, he signed an executive order which ordered for the closing of Gitmo in Guatanamo Bay, Cuba. As of yet, there's no set date when Gitmo will close as well as the administration is trying to decide where all the Gitmo detainees might be transferred. Some could be transferred to Yemen. Also, President Obama appointed Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic justice to the Supreme Court who replaced the retiring David Souter. At the end of January, Congress passed a stimulus bill which was supposed to help revive America's economy. Much of that money went to special interest groups as well as many of the states across America. It was nothing but a spending bill which didn't accomplish much when it came to the reviving of our economy. Small businesses should've received some of that money to help keep them going. However, the hope and change that Obama had promised didn't take place. He appointed a record number of czars who are very radical in their beliefs that support Communism. The White House Communication czar said one of her heroes was Mao Tse-tung (leader of Communist China). The national debt continues skyrocketing. He has the largest budget deficit ever in the history of our country in just one year's time. Washington can't throw our money away quickly enough. Also the Obama administration decided to scrap the missile shield program which would've protected Poland from missile attacks from Iran. Russia wasn't for the missile shield program and Obama caved into Russia's demands.

In the midst of the ire against Washington and how it's been ruining this country, the Tea Party movement has sprung up and has been holding rallies in Washington, D.C. and in communities all across America. The Tea Party had rallies on April 15, July 4, and other dates as well this year. It's not a partisan movement. It's a populist movement. It started as the result of voters being angry at the sky-high federal deficits in Washington as well as all the federal bailouts of the troubled Wall Street firms. The Tea Party gatherers were showing their disgust with Washington's policies. The mainstream media didn't view them very favorably other than FOX news. During the August recess many town hall meetings were conducted across the country. The senators and U.S. representatives met with their constituents and the electorate voiced their disgust at the healthcare proposal that was being debated before Congress. On a negative note, Congress and the Senate ignored their constituents' wishes and passed the healthcare proposal in both the House and the Senate. The Senate passed their's on Christmas Eve due to some bribery of a few Senators by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The bill passed on a 60-39 vote and it will head to conference committee once Congress is back in session.

There has been efforts this entire year led by the "World Net Daily", talk-show host Jim Sumpter and some other very conservative causes to try to force Barack Obama to reveal his birth certificate to determine whether he's a natural-born citizen. Those efforts have been futile thus far. However, Obama's citizenship has been questionable ever since he ran for president. He's not revealed his true birth certificate nor has he shown any of his college transcripts. A president isn't qualified unless he's a "natural-born citizen." However, the liberal media such as MSNBC and CNN covered for Obama when he ran for president last year. He is the poster child for the liberal media.

There have been an array of deaths this past year by some famous people. Some of the famous names are Patrick Swayze, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Ed McNamara, Walter Cronkite, and a host of others. I remember when Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett passed away. They both passed away on June 25. There was extensive media coverage of Michael Jackson's life and many of the news networks showed his funeral live. It's amazing the undue attention these Hollywood superstars receive. Sen. Kennedy received a lot of accolades following his death by the media and by his former colleagues in the Senate. He was very liberal in his political philosophy and he'd been instrumental in pushing for nationalized health care the last four decades. When the Senate voted for the healthcare bill on Christmas Eve, President Obama called Kennedy's wife to congratulate her. When ailing Senator Robert Byrd was wheeled up to the Senate to vote for the meausre, he stated he was doing it for his friend, Ted Kennedy.

America has also had an interesting year in sports as well. The Pittsburgh Steelers won the Superbowl in February. This is the second time this decade that the Steelers had won. The Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA championship in June. The University of North Carolina Tarheels won the NCAA basketball championship in April for the men. The University of Connecticut won the NCAA basketball championship for the women's team beating the University of Louisville to cap a perfect 39-0 record. The New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies to win the World Series this year for the first time in almost a decade. One major development in men's college basketball was the firing of the University of Kentucky coach Billy Gillespie in late March due to some comments he made about not being an ambassador for UK. UK hired former University of Memphis Coach John Calipari on April 2nd to be Kentucky's new head coach. He landed some amazing recruits in the process such as John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, and DeMarcus Cousins, to name a few. Kentucky so far is doing great with a 14-0 record and they won 2000th all-time career victories on December 21.

Tonight there will be a huge celebration at New York Time's Square to ring in the New Year. I will be in church tonight celebrating the New Year. I want to wish everyone a Happy and safe New Year!