Most Important Events of the Century

As the sand drains down on the current decade, it is a good time to take a look back on the events of the last 10 years and make a call on what was most significant of the young 21st century. Here are my picks in order of significance:

1. Indonesian tsunami - More than 230,000 people died in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. The breath of human destruction was incomprehensible.
2. 9/11 - More Americans died in New York that day than on December 7th, 1941 at Pearl Harbor. Yet the American reaction was much different. We are so tolerant that the architect of 9/11 still lives.
3. Election of Barrack Obama - Whatever you think of the man's politics, the election of America's first black president was an historic event. We can only hope that breaking the old white man barrier will lead to the first woman president (Sarah Palin?) and the first Asian president (Bobby Jindal?).
4. Financial crisis of 2008 - What may go down as the biggest mistake of the Bush presidency, his support of TARP 1 handed the new president Barrack Obama with a pot of borrowed money he could use to finance his socialist agenda. What the democrats could never do legislatively, Bush enabled with the bail out.
5. Record Deficit Spending - In one year, Barrack Obama and an irresponsible Congress have run up more public debt that all past presidents combined! The consequences of their actions will linger for decades.
6. North Korea goes Nuclear - Our fear of the clinically insane owning an atomic weapon is now a reality. Will Obama's "can't we all just get along" approach work?
7. The Hanging of Saddam Hussein - If nothing else, it signalled to the world's despots that even they can be held accountable for their actions.
8. Invention of the iPod - This may seem mundane, but how many inventions will you see in your lifetime that completely change an entire industry in the matter of a few short years? Remember the 1990's. All music was bought on CD or pilfered from Napster and then burned to a CD. Music was listened to from CD, in cars, home stereos or portable CD players. Flash forward to 2009. iPods and other digital music players are the predominate method of enjoying music, and while the music can still be purchased on CD, the trend is to purchase and obtain music online from iTunes or the legitimate Napster service.
9. facebook - Those who are socially challenged, like I am, can now keep in touch with others.
10. Digital Photography - Is film even sold now?
11. The Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team win their 2000th game again proving they are the cream of the college basketball crop.