Just recently I watched the television special that Barbara Walter’s had on the people who she felt were the most fascinating and influential people of 2009.  Well, that got me thinking, most of the people on her list at my age, didn’t seem to be people who I would have chosen, nor did they affect my,
“Oh, my goodness, I can’t believe that happened.”  And when I think of something from the past 2009 events and people, I want that, “wow, I can’t believe that happened to that person.”  So here is a list of people and events that shocked me and were put on the board for being jaw dropping stories of 2009!!   This list is not in any specific order.

• Barack Obama becoming the first Mulatto President of the United States of America.

 

• The Bachelor’s Melissa Rycroft getting dumped on National television by Jason Mesnick after being engaged to pursue a relationship with the runner-up on the series.

 

• Michael Jackson being murdered by his physician.

 

• Shawn Graham trying to sell New Brunswick Power to Hydro Quebec a Province that doesn’t want to be part of Canada.

 

• Oprah’s announcement for retirement at the end of next season.

 

• Adam Lambert who is American Idol’s runner-up VERY controversial performance “For Your Entertainment, “ on the American Music Award’s .

 

• Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift’s speech on the VMA/MTV’s award show.

 

• Swine Flu becoming a Global Pandemic.

 

• John Travolta’s Son having a seizer and passing away.

 

• Bernard Madoff operator of the world’s largest Ponzi scheme is being charged with 11 counts of defrauding billions of dollars out of people.

 

• A US Airways plane with 155 people on board landed into a chilly Hudson River, after striking at least one bird upon takeoff .   The pilot, Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, emerged as a hero, with praise being heaped on him by passengers, officials and aviation experts.

 

• Sarah Palin, resigning as the former Governor of Alaska and running mate of John McCain.

 

• Canada makes waves battling Somali pirates.  Crew of 240 sailors were aboard HMCS Winnipeg in thick of anti-piracy fight off Somali coast.

 

• Paolo Zamboni, a professor of medicine at the University of Ferrara in Italy, learned in his medical detective work, suggests that MS is not, as widely believed, an autoimmune condition, but a vascular disease.  US scientists are testing a radical new theory that multiple sclerosis (MS) is caused by blockages in the veins that drain the brain.

 

• Tareq and Michaele Salahi aspiring reality-TV stars from Northern Virginia crashed the White House’s state dinner November 25, 2009, penetrating layers of security with no invitation to mingle with political dignitaries such as Vice President Biden and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

 

• Ballon Boy’s story was discovered a hoax, ployed by his father to enhance his families chances to become reality stars.

 

• You can  Pay $100 million dollars to fly to the moon.

 

• Patrick Swayze dies of Pancreatic cancer at the age of 57.

 

• Jaycee Dugard surfaces alive after being abducted 18 years ago.  Kidnapped by Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy, in 1991 from the bus stop in front of her South Lake Tahoe home, Jaycee, now 29, lived, along with the two children she bore her rapist, in lean-tos and tents behind his Antioch, Calif., house for 18 years.

 

• Army psychiatrist killed 13 in US Army base.  A US army major killed 13 fellow soldiers at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, USA.

 

• Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates Jr.  Arrested for Disorderly Conduct after Protesting Claim he Broke into His Own Home.  Falsified report done by arresting police officer.  The officer is now being called a racist.

 

• It’s regrettable that Canadian taxpayers are funded $10.5-billion bailout of General Motors.

 

• 2009 was the year we were in recession.  Last recession was in 2001.

 

• Farrah Fawcett died on June 25, 2009, of colorectal cancer at age 62.

 

• James Delory, an autistic 7-year-old, dies in hospital after being lost in the woods close to his family home.

 

• Russell Hantz runner up on Survivor Samoa the best villain on Survivor!!

 

• Curtis Bonnell, 29, is charged with first-degree murder against cousin Hilary Bonnell, the 16-year old girl who disappeared in September from the Esgenoopetitj First Nation in New Brunswick.

 

• Air france jet crashes in paris with  228 aboard.

 

• Actress Brittany Murphy dies at the age of 32.

 

• Nadya Denise Doud-Suleman Gutierrez (born Natalie Denise Suleman, July 11, 1975) known as Octomom in the media, is an American woman who came to international attention when she gave birth to octuplets in January 2009.

 

So let me know what you think of my list.  If you think that I have forgotten something, let me know.  And if there was something that affected you, please tell me your story.