The Top Ten Most Influencial People of the Decade

There are various things that can make a person famous or influential. Some can have it happen by accident. Others will become famous or influential as a result of the position that they hold. Still others will not plan to be famous, but become such because of things that they do or get caught doing. Here are ten people that I think left an impression on the past decade for various reasons and in no particular order.

While I do not think this is anywhere near the most important thing of the decade many people will see the election of Barack Hussein Obama as President is a huge issue. He is the first half white president in the office and I can see some people having a sense of pride. It is also worth note that by making an issue that he is the "first black President" perpetuates racism than heals it because you draw attention to the difference. I believe that he came to office with high hopes from everyone, but I think he will let America down and was not ready to lead. He already is spending money like it is going out of style and has popularity ratings that have steadily been declining. This is in spite of the fact that some groups worship him like a false prophet. I think people expected too much and he encouraged that. In the end I think it will hurt him. Health socialization, amnesty for illegal immigration, and a tax and spend policy will be his downfall. I will say that he is a highly intelligent man and a rather nice guy. For all the above reason he makes the list. He also is the least qualified president since Lincoln.

Nancy Pelosi makes the list as being the first female speaker of the house. She got the title in 2006 when backlash against President George Bush resulted in the Republicans losing control of both chambers of congress for the first time since 1994. A brief lapse in sanity of the American people like the election of Barack Hussein Obama also probably played a part. What a mess they have us in. Got 10% unemployment anyone? Anyway this was good to show that a woman could do this. She is a rather interesting case though. She is supposed to be catholic yet she is pro gay marriage and pro abortion. She also believes in every legal policy you can think of. She has had lower popularity ratings than President Bush for some time when he was finishing out his term in office.

George w bush makes the list because of some good and some bad. Contrary to what many may think I am not a big fan of George Bush. I do believe he was a much better leader than Barack Hussein Obama as he ran a business and a state before running for president. He guided the United States through the period following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He immediately sought to get the ones behind it that came to be found out was Osama Bin Laden and he was hiding in the hills of Afghanistan who was under the dictatorship of a radical Muslim regime known as the Taliban. We lit up their world like the "fourth of July" and are still trying to get democracy established there and keeping it from being a safe haven for terrorist activity. On the down side he invaded Iraq. This did get rid of a dictator named Saddam Hussein, but cost lots of money and American lives. Anyone can play Monday quarterback, but I did think Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction as did the Clinton administration, so I don't think it is fair to down him about that. One thing he did that I hated was the bail outs to all the banks and financial companies. I think Main Street should have been bailed out instead of Wall Street. He did get a Medicare part D drug plan passed. Many have argued against it, but estimates have said that saves lives itself because by taking medicine many older Americans wont need some of the healthcare services they would have had they not taken medicine. I think the figure CBS gave was that for every $1 the program costs it would save like $2 in Medicare expenses.

Tom Brady makes my list for his prowess on the football field. In case you do not know, he has won three super bowls and has been named the MVP in two games. IN all fairness all three wins were by last second field goals. Because of this I am not ready to anoint him anywhere near as good as Joe Montana, but he was defiantly the quarterback of the decade. The three wins came in a span of four years. He also won the league MVP in 2007. He did all of this after being a sixth round draft choice out of Michigan. After Drew Bledsoe was injured Brady took over and led the Patriots to their first Super bowl victory. He also has been named a Sportsman of the year and been on numerous magazine covers. His story is one of those that make you think that if you want something bad enough and work hard enough that dreams come true.

Ben Nelson makes my list because of all the drama lately over the national healthcare debate in congress. Ben Nelson is a Senator (probably former Senator) from Nebraska. This SOB actually sold his vote on this bill after saying he would not vote for it over his objections to abortion. He sold out for getting his state exempted for eternity from the increases that the 49 other states will have to pay for the increased amount of people that will be eligible for Medicaid. Not only do I think this is political corruption at its worse, but I also think this we be a very big mistake for the country. There are good points to the healthcare legislation but its going about too fast and with too much government. There is way too much back room deal making. I think when all is said and done this vote will be one of the key things that happened in the 2000s. He is voting for that bill in spite of the fact that 67% of Nebraskans are opposed to it as a majority of Americans in general are.

Osama bin laden makes this list because of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. I won't rehash what happened on that fateful day as most people know. I will say that he has a price so big on his head that he has serious issues. I believe one of his own people might turn him in one day. He has been on the watch list for quite some time in the United States. At one point Oliver North was even suggesting to Congress that a hit team be sent to go after him. This was rebuked in the 1980's by the then liberal congress of course. He has been involved in the planning, financing or training of many of the largest terrorist operations around the world and is currently believed to be alive in either Pakistan or Afghanistan. This man actually needs to read the Koran to understand true Islam and not pervert it.

Bernie Madoff is the guy you are always warned about a wolf in sheep's clothing. This guy is a convicted felon that swindled various individuals, companies, charities, and governments out of large amounts of money in what is called the biggest Ponzi scheme ever. I will say I don't agree with that. The biggest Ponzi scheme was social security and will probably become Obamacare. The amounts that he stole through fabricated gains have been said to be at least 18 billion, but could be as high as 65 billion depending on how fare the fraud goes back. It has been thought the business might never have been a legitimate venture at all. He would receive 150 years in prison as the maximum he could receive. Various business's, non profits, and other companies failed as a result of the fraud committed by Madoff. The lesson learned here is how greed can be dangerous. Being honest still would have made him a millionaire, but he wanted it all and took several good people's money. The Jerk should rot. Most of his property is being seized, but most people will not get anywhere near the amount of money they lost back. This also shows that when something is too good to be true it usually is.

Michael Phelps literally made a splash during the decade in Olympic swimming. He won various medals at both the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He broke fellow American Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals from the 1972 Olympic Games. In 2008 Mike Phelps won eight gold medals in a single Olympics. He also has won a total of fourteen gold medals and two bronze medals in his Olympic career and holds numerous world records in swimming events. Overall he seems to be a pretty good person. He did have an incident that occurred in 2009 Phelps was photographed with a bong, which is a device that is used to smoke reefer or marijuana. He was suspended from swimming by the USA Swimming Association and lost an endorsement with Kellogg's.

Contrary to what many may think reality television has been around since the 1940s with shows like candid camera. It was during the 2000s that reality television really took off into mainstream popularity. Jeff Probst became a household name when he became hosting the now enormously popular reality show. People are so used to him being on that people almost look foreword to Thursday nights when Survivor will often air. He does a great job of explaining the game as it happens so the viewers at home can follow along as well as the contestants. He clearly is an asset to the show.

Anabolic steroids use by baseball players also came to be a very controversial topic in the

2000s. this was very similar to the faced by college and professional football in the 1980s and 1990s. There were many people that were named and accused of the use of anabolic steroid use. Probably the best know Is Barry "Balco Barry" Bonds. He was an outfielder for the San Francisco Giants and Pittsburg Pirates. There was a company that used the Letters BALCO that provided various athletes with a performance enhancing drug called "the clear" because it could not be tested for in drug tests. Barry Bonds claims he did not use it and that he got some flax oil from a trainer and if he used it then it was an accident. I personally thought that was bull and many other people do as well. He was also chasing home runs records held by Babe Ruth and then Hank Aaron as well around the time much of this came to light. Many arguments have been made the home run record of Hank Aaron's that Barry Bonds finally broke could be tainted. He still vehemently denies the record being tainted or that he used performance enhancing drugs. He first tied Aaron's record of 755 home runs and then broke it with 756 during august of 2007. Previously in 2006 Bonds had tied and then broken Babe Ruth's second place record with career homers 714 and 715 respectively. As of now the record stands at 762 home runs in a career. Bonds also holds the record for home runs in a season with 73 hit in 2001. Some have suggested that an * should be in the record books because of the surrounding controversy. Fashion designer Marc Ecko won the ball at auction and let fans decide what he should do with it by setting up a website they could vote at. Over 47% wanted it donated to the Baseball Hall of Fame with an * branded in it which was done after much controversy. Barry Bonds has stated he will boycott the Hall of Fame if they display the ball. I don't think it matters as he might not get there anyway. Others have had less evidence against them with regards to steroids and have been shunned by the hall. He might have been right when he said "I will never be in the Hall of Fame. Never.......Barry Bonds will not be there". A very popular shirt and slogan started at the time about how others have done it without drugs " Babe Ruth did it with hot dogs and beer and Hank Aaron did it with class" implying that drugs were not involved. Hank Aaron was supportive at first but later seemed to dismiss the record broken by Bonds.

In all fairness to Bonds, I do believe in innocent until proven guilty, but I know what steroid builds look like from my time playing football. I did not personally take them, but knew several people who did. He has a clearly steroid built physique. If you look at pictures from his days with the Pirates and then when he was breaking all those records it is very obvious. He also has the very high voice that will sometimes happen to men who take steroids and also seems to have lost quite a bit of his hair. I am fairly certain he did use them. I think he could man up and admit it and maybe people would cut him some slack. There has been much more anti steroid messages coming from baseball because of this scandal.

Those are my top ten people of the decade. There are many more who could have and should have made the list. I found these ten to be the most influential both in the decade and possibly for decades to come. For example, I think that in 200 years when kids are reading about the country that used to be know as the United States of America the election of Barack Hussein Obama will be something that will be in history books as the beginning of the downward slope in the country and one of our biggest mistakes ever as a nation.

Sources

CBS NEWS

FOX NEWS

ESPN NEWS

http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-obama/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27775757/

http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Nancy_Pelosi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Brady

http://givebentheboot.com/index.html

http://www.adl.org/terrorism_america/bin_L.asp

http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/12/madoff-ponzi-hedge-pf-ii-in_rl_1212croesus_inl.html

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/phelpshistory

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/20169917//