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William “Bill” Clinton
Democrat - Arkansas
George H. W. Bush
Republican - Texas
H. Ross Perot
Independent - Texas
It seemed like Bill Clinton had
everything going for him. He defeated an
incumbent President and became the first
Democrat to win the White House since
Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford. He
had a Democratic House and a
Democratic Senate to work with him.
One of the first major initiatives he began was
health care reform. Many Americans were
concerned about spiraling medical costs.
Medicare did not cover prescription drugs and
only paid a portion of health care costs. Over 20
million Americans had no health insurance
whatsoever. Clinton assembled a task force to
study the problem and assigned his wife
Hillary to head the committee. She
became the most politically active
first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt.
Eventually Clinton presented a plan to limit
costs and insure each American citizen to the
Congress. Powerful interest groups
representing doctors and insurance
companies opposed Clinton. Many in the
Congress thought the program too costly.
Conservatives compared the plan to
socialized medicine. Despite a "friendly"
Democratic Congress, the Clintons' proposal
was defeated.
In January 1998, a scandal that nearly ended
Clinton's Presidency unfolded in the press. It
was reported that Clinton engaged in a sexual
relationship with a White House intern named
Monica Lewinsky during his first term.
Although Clinton originally denied the
charges, overwhelming evidence was
presented that Clinton and Lewinsky
engaged in repeated sexual contact,
even in the Oval Office.
Republicans were outraged. An independent counsel
named Kenneth Starr was appointed to gather
evidence against Clinton. As the summer ended,
Clinton admitted that many of the reports were true
and that he was ashamed of his behavior. The
House Judiciary Committee drew up articles of
impeachment on four counts including abuse of
power and obstruction of justice. Across the
nation, Americans debated whether or not
Clinton's misbehavior constituted an
impeachable offense.
The House decided that two articles of
impeachment were in order, and in December
1998, Clinton joined Andrew Johnson as the
only Presidents to be impeached. In such
proceedings, the Senate has the final word
and acts as a judge and jury. Two-thirds of the
Senators must vote guilty to remove a
President from office. Clinton survived
this final vote to impeach which
unfolded along party lines.
Some have begun to call it the
Information Revolution. Technological
changes brought dramatic new options to
Americans living in the 1990s. From the
beginning of the decade until the end,
new forms of entertainment, commerce,
research, work, and communication
became commonplace in the United
States. The driving force behind much of
this change was an innovation popularly
known as the Internet.
Personal computers had become widespread
by the end of the 1980s. Also available was the
ability to connect these computers over local or
even national networks. Through a device
called a modem, individual users could link
their computer to a wealth of information using
conventional phone lines. What lay beyond the
individual computer was a vast
domain of information known as
cyberspace.
One early problem faced by Internet
users was speed. Phone lines could only
transmit information at a limited rate.
The development of fiber-optic cables
allowed for billions of bits of information
to be received every minute. Companies
like Intel developed faster
microprocessors, so personal computers
could process the incoming signals at a
more rapid rate.

In the early 1990s, the World Wide Web was
developed, in large part, for commercial purposes.
Corporations created home pages where they could
place text and graphics to sell products. Soon airline
tickets, hotel reservations, books, and even cars and
homes could be purchased online. Colleges and
universities posted research data on the Internet, so
students could find valuable information without
leaving their dormitories. Companies soon
discovered that work could be done at home and
submitted online, so a whole new class of
telecommuters began to earn a living from home
offices unshaven and wearing pajamas.

New forms of communication were introduced.
Electronic mail, or email, was a convenient way to
send a message to associates or friends. Messages
could be sent and received at the convenience of the
individual. A letter that took several days to arrive
could be read in minutes. Internet service providers
like America Online and CompuServe set up
electronic chat rooms. These were open areas of
cyberspace where interested parties could join in a
conversation with perfect strangers.

Advocates of the Internet cited its many
advantages. The commercial possibilities were
limitless. Convenience was greatly improved.
Chat rooms and email allowed individuals to
converse who may never have had the
opportunity in the past. Educational
opportunities were greatly enhanced because
of the wealth of knowledge now placed at the
fingertips of any wired individual. "Surfing the
'net" became a pastime in and of itself.

Critics charged that the Internet created a technological
divide that increased the gap between the haves and
have-nots. Those who could not afford a computer or a
monthly access fee were denied these possibilities. Many
decried the impersonal nature of electronic
communication compared to a telephone call or a
handwritten letter. Hate groups were using the Internet
to expand their bases and recruit new members. The
unregulated nature of the Internet allowed pornography
to be broadcast to millions of homes. Protecting children
from these influences, or even from meeting violent
predators would prove to be difficult. Regardless of its
drawbacks, by the end of the 1990s, the world was fast
becoming wired.

The "dot-com bubble" (or sometimes "IT
bubble" or "TMT bubble") was a
speculative bubble covering roughly
1995–2000 (with a climax on March 10,
2000 with the NASDAQ peaking at
5132.52) during which stock markets in
industrialized nations saw their equity
value rise rapidly from growth in the
more recent Internet sector and related
fields.

While the latter part was a boom and
bust cycle, the Internet boom sometimes
is meant to refer to the steady
commercial growth of the Internet with
the advent of the world wide web as
exemplified by the first release of the
Mosaic web browser in 1993 and
continuing through the 1990s.

The period was marked by the founding
(and, in many cases, spectacular failure)
of a group of new Internet-based
companies commonly referred to as dotcoms. Companies were seeing their stock
prices shoot up if they simply added an
"e-" prefix to their name and/or a ".com"
to the end, which one author called
"prefix investing"

A combination of rapidly increasing
stock prices, market confidence that the
companies would turn future profits,
individual speculation in stocks, and
widely available venture capital created
an environment in which many investors
were willing to overlook traditional
metrics such as P/E ratio in favor of
confidence in technological
advancements.

According to dot-com theory, an Internet
company's survival depended on expanding
its customer base as rapidly as possible, even
if it produced large annual losses. For
instance, Google and Amazon did not see any
profit in their first years. Amazon was
spending on expanding customer base and
letting people know that it existed and Google
was busy spending on creating more powerful
machine capacity to serve its expanding
search engine.

The phrase "Get large or get lost" was the wisdom
of the day. At the height of the boom, it was
possible for a promising dot-com to make an
initial public offering (IPO) of its stock and raise a
substantial amount of money even though it had
never made a profit — or, in some cases, earned
any revenue what so ever. In such a situation, a
company's lifespan was measured by its burn
rate: that is, the rate at which a non-profitable
company lacking a viable business model ran
through its capital served as the metric.

Over 1999 and early 2000, the U.S. Federal
Reserve increased interest rates six times, and
the economy began to lose speed. The dot-com
bubble burst, numerically, on March 10, 2000,
when the technology heavy NASDAQ
Composite index, peaked at 5,048.62 (intraday peak 5,132.52), more than double its value
just a year before.

The NASDAQ fell slightly after that, but this
was attributed to correction by most market
analysts; the actual reversal and subsequent
bear market may have been triggered by the
adverse findings of fact in the United States v.
Microsoft case which was being heard in
federal court. The findings, which declared
Microsoft a monopoly, were widely expected
in the weeks before their release on April 3.
When two students entered Columbine High
School in Littleton, Colorado in April 1999 with
weapons, they murdered thirteen people
before taking their own lives. Critics pointed to
a media that glorified and promoted violence,
permissive gun laws, failing schools, and
neglectful parenting.

The Columbine High School massacre occurred
on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High
School in Columbine, an unincorporated area
of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States,
near Denver and Littleton. Two senior
students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold,
embarked on a massacre, killing 12 students
and one teacher. They also injured 21 other
students directly, and three people were
injured while attempting to escape. The pair
then committed suicide. It is the fourthdeadliest school massacre in United States
history.
Eric Harris
and Dylan
Klebold
caught on the
high school's
security
cameras in
the cafeteria
shortly before
committing
suicide.

The Oklahoma City bombing
was a bomb attack on the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal
Building in downtown
Oklahoma City on April 19,
1995 by Timothy McVeigh, an
American militia movement
sympathizer who detonated an
explosive-filled truck parked in
front of the building.
McVeigh's co-conspirator,
Terry Nichols, had assisted in
the bomb preparation.

It was the most destructive act of terrorism on
American soil until the September 11, 2001
attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives,
including 19 children under the age of 6, and
injured more than 680 people. The blast
destroyed or damaged 324 buildings within a
sixteen-block radius, destroyed or burned 86
cars, and shattered glass in 258 nearby
buildings. The bomb was estimated to have
caused at least $652 million worth of damage.

Motivated by his hatred of the federal government
and angered by what he perceived as its mishandling
of the Waco Siege (1993) and the Ruby Ridge
incident (1992), McVeigh timed his attack to coincide
with the second anniversary of the deaths at Waco.
Within 90 minutes of the explosion, McVeigh was
stopped by Oklahoma State Trooper Charlie Hanger
for driving without a license plate and arrested for
unlawfully carrying a weapon.

Forensic evidence quickly linked McVeigh and
Nichols to the attack; Nichols was arrested, and
within days both were charged. Michael and Lori
Fortier were later identified as accomplices.
Extensive rescue efforts were undertaken by local,
state, federal, and worldwide agencies in the wake of
the bombing, and substantial donations were
received from across the country. The Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) activated
eleven of its Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces,
consisting of 665 rescue workers who assisted in
rescue and recovery operations.



As a result of the bombing, the U.S. government
passed legislation designed to increase the protection
around federal buildings to deter future terrorist
attacks. From 1995 to 2005, over 60 domestic
terrorism plots were foiled due to preventive
measures taken in response to the bombing. On April
19, 2000, the Oklahoma City National Memorial was
dedicated on the site of the Murrah Federal Building,
commemorating the victims of the bombing. Annual
remembrance services are held at the
same time of day as the original
explosion occurred.

The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince
William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989, when the
Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long Beach,
California, struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef
and spilled 260,000 to 750,000 barrels (41,000 to
119,000 m3) of crude oil. It is considered to be one of
the most devastating human-caused environmental
disasters ever to occur in history. As significant as
the Valdez spill was — the largest ever in U.S. waters
until the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill — it ranks
well down on the list of the world's largest oil spills
in terms of volume released.

However, Prince William Sound's remote location,
accessible only by helicopter, plane and boat, made
government and industry response efforts difficult
and severely taxed existing plans for response. The
region is a habitat for salmon, sea otters, seals and
seabirds. The oil, originally extracted at the Prudhoe
Bay oil field, eventually covered 1,300 miles (2,100
km) of coastline, and 11,000 square miles (28,000
km2) of ocean. Then Exxon CEO, Lawrence G. Rawl,
shaped the company's response.


The Oil Pollution Act (101 H.R.1465, P.L. 101-380 )
was passed by the 101st United States Congress to
mitigate and prevent civil liability for future oil spills
off the coast of the United States.
The law stated that companies must have a "plan to
prevent spills that may occur" and have a "detailed
containment and cleanup plan" for oil spills. The law
also includes a clause that prohibits any vessel that,
after March 22, 1989, has caused an oil spill of more
than one million U.S. gallons (3,800 m³) in any
marine area, from operating in Prince William Sound

The North American Free Trade Agreement or
NAFTA is an agreement signed by the
governments of Canada, Mexico, and the
United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in
North America. The agreement came into force
on January 1, 1994. It superseded the CanadaUnited States Free Trade Agreement between
the U.S. and Canada. In terms of combined
purchasing power parity GDP (Gross Domestic
Product) of its members, as of 2007 the trade
bloc is the largest in the world and second
largest by nominal GDP comparison.

The goal of NAFTA was to eliminate barriers of trade
and investment between the USA, Canada and
Mexico. The implementation of NAFTA on January
1, 1994, brought the immediate elimination of tariffs
on more than one half of U.S. imports from Mexico
and more than one third of U.S. exports to Mexico.
Within 10 years of the implementation of the
agreement, all US-Mexico tariffs would be eliminated
except for some U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico
that were to be phased out in 15 years. Most USCanada trade was already duty free. NAFTA also
seeks to eliminate non-tariff trade barriers.
George W. Bush
Republican - Texas
Al Gore
Democrat - Tennessee
Ralph Nader
Green Party - Connecticut
Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Bush/Cheney,
Blue denotes those won by Gore/Lieberman.

As the night wore on, the returns in a handful
of small-to-medium sized states, including
Wisconsin and Iowa, were extremely close;
however it was the state of Florida that would
make clear the winner of the election. As the
final national results were tallied the following
morning, Bush had clearly won a total of 246
electoral votes, while Gore had won 255 votes.
270 votes were needed to win.

Two smaller states - New Mexico (5 electoral votes)
and Oregon (7 electoral votes) - were still too close to
call. It was Florida (25 electoral votes), however, that
the news media focused their attention on.
Mathematically, Florida's 25 electoral votes became the
key to an election win for either candidate. Although
both New Mexico and Oregon were declared in favor
of Gore over the next few days, Florida's statewide vote
took center stage because that state's winner would
ultimately win the election. The outcome of the election
was not known for more than a month after the
balloting ended because of the extended process of
counting and then recounting Florida's presidential
ballots.

At approximately 7:50 p.m. EST on election day, 10
minutes before the polls closed in the largely Republican
Florida panhandle, which is in the Central time zone,
some television news networks declared that Gore had
carried Florida's 25 electoral votes. They based this
prediction substantially on exit polls. However, in the
actual vote tally Bush began to take a wide lead early in
Florida, and by 10 p.m. EST those networks had retracted
that prediction and placed Florida back into the
"undecided" column. At approximately 2:30 a.m., with
some 85% of the votes counted in Florida and Bush
leading Gore by more than 100,000 votes, the networks
declared that Bush had carried Florida and therefore had
been elected President.

However, most of the remaining votes to be counted in
Florida were located in three heavily Democratic
counties - Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach - and
as their votes were reported Gore began to gain on Bush.
By 4:30 a.m., after all votes were counted, Gore had
narrowed Bush's margin to just over 2,000 votes, and the
networks retracted their predictions that Bush had won
Florida and the presidency. Gore, who had privately
conceded the election to Bush, withdrew his concession.
The final result in Florida was slim enough to require a
mandatory recount (by machine) under state law; Bush's
lead had dwindled to about 300 votes by the time it was
completed later that week. A count of overseas military
ballots later boosted his margin to about 900 votes.

Most of the post-electoral controversy revolved
around Gore's request for hand recounts in four
counties (Broward, Miami Dade, Palm Beach, and
Volusia), as provided under Florida state law.
Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris
announced she would reject any revised totals from
those counties if they were not turned in by
November 14, the statutory deadline for amended
returns. The Florida Supreme Court extended the
deadline to November 26, a decision later vacated by
the U.S. Supreme Court.

Miami-Dade eventually halted its recount and
resubmitted its original total to the state canvassing
board, while Palm Beach County failed to meet the
extended deadline. On November 26, the state
canvassing board certified Bush the winner of
Florida's electors by 537 votes. Gore formally
contested the certified results, but a state court
decision overruling Gore was reversed by the Florida
Supreme Court, which ordered a recount of over
70,000 ballots previously rejected by machine
counters. The U.S. Supreme Court quickly halted the
order.

On December 12, the Supreme Court ruled in a 7–2
vote that the Florida Supreme Court's ruling
requiring a statewide recount of ballots was
unconstitutional, and in a 5–4 vote that the Florida
recounts could not be completed before a December
12 "safe harbor" deadline, and should therefore cease
and the previously certified total should hold. The
Supreme Court's decision was an unsigned or "Per
Curiam" ruling; the ruling was “limited to the
present circumstances” and could not be cited as
precedent. The Governor of Florida at this time was
Jeb Bush, brother to the Republican candidate
George W. Bush.

Though Gore came in second in the electoral vote, he
received 543,895 more popular votes than Bush. Gore
failed to win the popular vote in his home state,
Tennessee, which both he and his father had
represented in the Senate. Gore was the first majorparty presidential candidate to have lost his home
state since George McGovern lost South Dakota in
1972. Bush lost in Connecticut, the state of his birth.
Bush is also the first Republican in American history
to win the presidency without winning Vermont or
Illinois and the second Republican to win the
presidency without winning California. (James A.
Garfield in 1880 was the first.)

In the 2006 documentary An Unreasonable Man,
Nader describes how he was unable to get the views
of his public interest groups heard in Washington,
even by the Clinton Administration. Nader cites this
as one of the primary reasons that he decided to
actively run in the 2000 election as candidate of the
Green Party, which had been formed in the wake of
his 1996 campaign.

In October 2000, at the largest Super Rally of his
campaign, held in New York City's Madison Square
Garden, 15,000 people paid $20 each to hear Mr. Nader
speak. Nader's campaign rejected both parties as
institutions dominated by corporate interests, stating that
Al Gore and George W. Bush were "Tweedledee and
Tweedledum". A long list of notable celebs spoke and
performed at the event including Susan Sarandon, Ani
DiFranco, Ben Harper, Tim Robbins, Michael Moore,
Eddie Vedder and Patti Smith. The campaign also had
some prominent union help: The California Nurses
Association and the United Electrical Workers endorsed
his candidacy and campaigned for him

In 2000, Nader and his running mate Winona
LaDuke received 2,883,105 votes, for 2.74 percent of
the popular vote (third place overall), missing the 5
percent needed to qualify the Green Party for
federally distributed public funding in the next
election, yet qualifying the Greens for ballot status in
many states.

Nader's votes in New Hampshire and Florida vastly
exceeded the difference in votes between Gore and
Bush, as did the votes of all alternative candidates.
Exit polls showed New Hampshire staying close, and
within the margin of error without Nader as national
exit polls showed Nader's supporters choosing Gore
over Bush by a large margin, well outside the margin
of error. Winning either state would have given Gore
the presidency, and while critics claim this shows
Nader tipped the election to Bush, Nader has called
that claim "a mantra — an assumption without data."

Michael Moore at first argued that Florida was so
close that votes for any of seven other candidates
could also have switched the results, but in 2004
joined the view that Nader had helped make Bush
president. Other Nader supporters argued that Gore
was primarily responsible for his own loss.

But Eric Alterman, perhaps Nader's most persistent
critic, has regarded such arguments as beside the
point: "One person in the world could have
prevented Bush's election with his own words on the
Election Day 2000." Nation columnist Alexander
Cockburn cited Gore's failure to win over
progressive voters in Florida who chose Nader, and
congratulated those voters: "Who would have
thought the Sunshine State had that many
progressives in it, with steel in their spine and the
spunk to throw Eric Alterman's columns into the
trash can?"

Nader's actual influence on the 2000 election is the
subject of considerable discussion, and there is no
consensus on Nader's impact on the outcome. Still
others argued that even if Nader's constituents could
have made the swing difference between Gore and
Bush, the votes Nader garnered were not from the
Democrats, but from Democrats, Republicans, and
discouraged voters who would not have voted
otherwise.

Bush was sworn in as president on January 20, 2001.
Though he originally outlined an ambitious domestic
agenda, his priorities were significantly altered
following the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
Wars were waged in Afghanistan and later Iraq
while significant debates regarding immigration,
healthcare, Social Security, economic policy, and
treatment of terrorist detainees took place within the
United States.

Over an eight year period, Bush's once-high
approval ratings steadily declined throughout
his Presidency while his disapproval numbers
increased significantly over the same time
frame. During 2007, the United States entered
into the longest post World War II recession
and the administration responded by enacting
multiple economic programs.
The September 11 attacks (often referred to as
September 11th or 9/11) were a series of
coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon
the United States on September 11, 2001. On
that morning, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked
four commercial passenger jet airliners. The
hijackers intentionally crashed two of the
airliners into the Twin Towers of the World
Trade Center in New York City,
killing everyone on board
and many others working in the
buildings.
Both buildings collapsed within two hours,
destroying nearby buildings and damaging
others. The hijackers crashed a third airliner
into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just
outside Washington, D.C. The fourth plane
crashed into a field near Shanksville in rural
Pennsylvania after some of its passengers and
flight crew attempted to retake control of the
plane, which the hijackers had redirected
toward Washington, D.C. There were no
survivors from any of the flights.
The death toll of the attacks was 2,996,
including the 19 hijackers. The overwhelming
majority of casualties were civilians, including
nationals of over 70 countries. In addition,
there is at least one secondary death – one
person was ruled by a medical examiner to
have died from lung disease due to exposure to
dust from the World Trade Center's collapse

The damage to the Pentagon was cleared and repaired
within a year, and the Pentagon Memorial was built
adjacent to the building. The rebuilding process has
started on the World Trade Center site. In 2006 a new
office tower was completed on the site of 7 World Trade
Center. 1 World Trade Center is currently under
construction at the site and, at 1,776 ft (541 m) upon
completion in 2013, it will become one of the tallest
buildings in North America. Three more towers were
originally expected to be built between 2007 and 2012 on
the site. Ground was broken for the Flight 93 National
Memorial on November 8, 2009, and the first phase of
construction is expected to be ready for the 10th
anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2011
A jet airliner
approaches the
second World
Trade Center
tower in New
York after
another plane
hit the first
tower.
(AP photo by Carmen
Taylor / September 11,
2001) A fireball explodes
from one of the World
Trade Center towers in
New York after a jet
airliner crashed into the
building.
(AP photo by Amy
Sancetta / September
11, 2001) The south
tower of the World
Trade Center begins to
collapse after a terrorist
attack on the New York
landmark.
(AP photo by Richard
Drew / September 11,
2001) A person jumps
from the north tower of
the World Trade Center
as another clings to the
outside (left) while
smoke and fire billow
from the building.
Terrorists crashed two
hijacked airliners into
the New York landmark
and brought down its
twin towers.
(AP photo by
Suzanne
Plunkett /
September 11,
2001) People
run from the
collapse of the
World Trade
Center in
lower
Manhattan
after terrorists
crashed two
jet airliners
into the twin
towers.
(New York Times
photo by Steffen
Kaplan /
September 11,
2001) Smoke
billows over
downtown
Manhattan after
the second tower
of the World Trade
Center collapsed in
a terrorist attack
with hijacked
airplanes.
(AP photo by
Graham
Morrison /
September 11,
2001) A
firefighter
moves through
piles of debris
at the site of
the World
Trade Center.
About 300 New
York firefighters
exposed to
smoke and dust
from the
disaster are
now on medical
leave for
respiratory
problems.
(AP photo by
Alex Fuchs /
September 11,
2001) The
remains of the
World Trade
Center stand
amid smoke and
debris after the
terrorist attack
on the New York
buildings.
(AP photo by
Diane Bondareff
/ September 11,
2001) People flee
the scene near
New York's World
Trade Center
after terrorists
crashed two
planes into the
towers in a
coordinated
series of attacks
that brought
down the twin
110-story towers.
(AP photo by
Amy Sancetta /
September 11,
2001)
Pedestrians flee
the area of the
World Trade
Center in lower
Manhattan
following a
terrorist attack
on the New York
landmark.
(AP photo by
Ernesto Mora /
September 11,
2001) Two
women hold
each other as
they watch the
World Trade
Center burn
following a
terrorist attack
on the twin
skyscrapers in
New York.
(AP photo by Doug Mills
/ September 11, 2001)
President Bush's Chief of
Staff Andy Card whispers
into the ear of the
President, telling him
about the planes
crashing into the World
Trade Center. Bush was
visiting the Emma E.
Booker Elementary
School in Sarasota, Fla.
(Reuters photo
by Larry Downing
/ September 11,
2001) A rescue
helicopter flies
over the damage
to the Pentagon
Building as fire
fighters battle
flames after
American Airlines
Flight 77 crashed
into the U.S.
military
Headquarters
outside of
Washington.
Firefighters hose down
the twisted and
smoldering remnants of
one side of the
Pentagon after
American Airlines Flight
77 crashed into the
Pentagon's west wall on
the morning of Sept.
11, 2001.
(AFP/Getty photo by David
Maxwell / September 11,
2001) Firefighters and
emergency personnel look
through the debris of
United Airlines Flight 93
after it crashed on the
morning of Sept. 11, 2001
near Shanksville,
Pennsylvania. 40 victims
were killed in the crash
after passengers
reportedly stormed the
cockpit to thwart
terrorists' plans to use
that plane as a weapon
like the others.
(Tribune-Democrat
photo by David Lloyd /
September 11, 2001)
Firefighters and
emergency personnel
investigate the scene
of the fatal crash of
United Airlines Flight
93 on the morning of
Sept. 11, 2001 near
Shanksville,
Pennsylvania. 40
victims were killed in
the crash after
passengers reportedly
stormed the cockpit to
thwart terrorists' plans
to use that plane as a
weapon like the
others.
The United States responded to the attacks by
launching the War on Terrorism: it invaded
Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, who had
harbored al-Qaeda terrorists. The United States also
enacted the USA PATRIOT Act. Many other
countries also strengthened their anti-terrorism
legislation and expanded law enforcement powers.
Some American stock exchanges stayed closed for
the rest of the week following the attack and posted
enormous losses upon reopening, especially in the
airline and insurance industries. The destruction of
billions of dollars worth of office space caused
serious damage to the economy of Lower Manhattan.
Operation Active Endeavour is a naval operation of
NATO started in October 2001 in response to the
September 11 attacks. It operates in the
Mediterranean Sea and is designed to prevent the
movement of militants or weapons of mass
destruction and to enhance the security of shipping
in general. The operation has also assisted Greece
with its prevention of illegal immigration.

Operation Enduring Freedom is the official name used
by the Bush administration for the War in Afghanistan,
together with three smaller military actions, under the
umbrella of the Global War on Terror. On September 20,
2001, in the wake of the September 11 attacks, George W.
Bush delivered an ultimatum to the Taliban government
of Afghanistan to turn over Osama bin Laden and alQaeda leaders operating in the country or face attack.The
Taliban demanded evidence of bin Laden's link to the
September 11 attacks and, if such evidence warranted a
trial, they offered to handle such a trial in an Islamic
Court.The US refused to provide any evidence.


Subsequently, in October 2001, US forces (with UK and
coalition allies) invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban
regime. On October 7, 2001 the official invasion began
with British and US forces conducting airstrike
campaigns.
Waging war in Afghanistan had been of a lower priority
for the US government than the war in Iraq. Admiral
Mike Mullen, Staff Chairman the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
said that while the situation in Afghanistan is "precarious
and urgent," the 10,000 additional troops needed there
would be unavailable "in any significant manner" unless
withdrawals from Iraq were made. Mullen stated that
"my priorities . . . given to me by the commander in chief
are: Focus on Iraq first. It's been that way for some time.
Focus on Afghanistan second."


Iraq had been listed as a State sponsor of international
terrorism by the United States since 1990, when Saddam
Hussein fell out of US favor. The regime of Saddam Hussein
proved a continuing problem for the UN and Iraq’s neighbors
in its use of chemical weapons against Iranians and Kurds.
After the Gulf War, the US, French and British militaries
instituted and began patrolling Iraqi no-fly zones, to protect
Iraq's Kurdish minority and Shi'a Arab population—both of
which suffered attacks from the Hussein regime before and
after the Gulf War—in Iraq's northern and southern regions,
respectively. US forces continued in combat zone
deployments through November 1995 and launched
Operation Desert Fox against Iraq in 1998 after it failed to
meet US demands of "unconditional cooperation" in weapons
inspections.

The George W. Bush administration called for the
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to again
send weapons inspectors to Iraq (previous inspectors
had been expelled after being caught spying for the
US) to find and destroy the alleged weapons of mass
destruction and called for a UNSC resolution.[40]
UNSC Resolution 1441 was passed unanimously,
which offered Iraq "a final opportunity to comply
with its disarmament obligations" or face "serious
consequences."

Resolution 1441 did not authorize
the use of force by member states.
The Iraqi government subsequently
allowed UN inspectors some access
to Iraqi sites, while the US
government continued to assert that
Iraq was being obstructionist.
 In
October 2002, a large
bipartisan majority in the United
States Congress authorized the
president to use force if necessary
to disarm Iraq in order to
"prosecute the war on terrorism.“

One Senator stood up to oppose this – Senator Paul
Wellstone (D – MN). Wellstone voted against the use
of force before the Iraq War on October 11, 2002 (the
vote was 77–23 in favor). Wellstone was one of 11
senators to vote against both the 1991 and 2002
resolutions. On October 25, 2002 Wellstone, along
with seven others, died in a plane crash in northern
Minnesota, at approximately 10:22 a.m. This led to
the election of Bush’s hand picked candidate for this
Senate seat – Norm Coleman.

After failing to overcome opposition from
France, Russia, and China against a UNSC
resolution that would sanction the use of force
against Iraq, and before the UN weapons
inspectors had completed their inspections
(which were claimed to be fruitless by the US
because of Iraq's alleged deception), the
United States assembled a "Coalition of the
Willing" composed of nations who pledged
support for its policy of regime change in Iraq.


On March 19, 2003, the Iraq War began and the
invasion of Iraq was launched the next day. The Bush
administration stated the invasion was the "serious
consequences" spoken of in UNSC Resolution 1441.
Iraq's government was quickly toppled and on May
1, 2003, Bush announced that major combat
operations in Iraq had ended. However, an
insurgency arose against the US-led coalition and the
newly developing Iraqi military and post-Saddam
government. This insurgency led to far more
coalition casualties than the invasion.

Elements of the insurgency were led
by fugitive members of President
Hussein's Ba'ath regime, which
included Iraqi nationalists and panArabists. Many insurgency leaders
are Islamists and claim to be fighting
a religious war to reestablish the
Islamic Caliphate of centuries past.

In January 2007 President Bush presented a new
strategy for Operation Iraqi Freedom based upon
counter-insurgency theories and tactics developed by
General David Petraeus. The Iraq War troop surge of
2007 was part of this "new way forward" and, along
with US backing of Sunni groups it had previously
sought to defeat, has been credited with a widely
recognized dramatic decrease in violence by up to
80%, and a more controversial possible increase in
political and communal reconciliation in Iraq.
 The
war concluded on August
19, 2010, with the last of the
U.S. combat brigades moving
out. However, 50,000 U.S.
troops remain to provide
support for Iraqi locals.
George W. Bush
Republican - Texas
Ralph Nader
Independent - Conneticut
John Kerry
Democrat –
Massachusetts

Nader's 2004 campaign ran on a platform consistent with the
Green Party's positions on major issues, such as opposition to
the war in Iraq. Due to concerns about a possible spoiler effect
as in 2000, many Democrats urged Nader to abandon his 2004
candidacy. The Chairman of the Democratic National
Committee, Terry McAuliffe, stated that Nader had a
"distinguished career, fighting for working families," and that
McAuliffe "would hate to see part of his legacy being that he
got us eight years of George Bush." Nader replied to this, in
filmed interviews for An Unreasonable Man, by arguing that,
"Voting for a candidate of one's choice is a Constitutional
right, and the Democrats who are asking me not to run are,
without question, seeking to deny the Constitutional rights of
voters who are, by law, otherwise free to choose to vote for
me." Nader's 2004 campaign theme song was "If You Gotta
Ask" by Liquid Blue.



In May 2009, in a new book, Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a
Two-Party Tyranny, Theresa Amato, who was Nader's national campaign
manager in 2000 and 2004, alleged that McAuliffe offered to pay off Nader
to stop campaigning in certain states in 2004. This was confirmed by
Nader, and neither McAuliffe nor his spokeswoman disputed the claim.
In the 2004 campaign, Democrats such as Howard Dean and Terry
McAuliffe asked that Nader return money donated to his campaign by
Republicans who were well-known Bush supporters, such as billionaire
Richard Egan.[65][66] Nader's reaction to the request was to refuse to
return any donations and he charged that the Democrats were attempting
to smear him.[65] Nader's vice-presidential running mate, Peter Camejo,
supported the return of the money if it could be proved that "the aim of
the wealthy GOP donors was to peel votes from Kerry." According to the
San Francisco Chronicle, Nader defended his keeping of the donations by
saying that wealthy contributors "are human beings too."
Nader received 463,655 votes, for 0.38 percent of the popular vote, placing
him in third place overall

The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as
the "Patriot Act") is an Act of the U.S. Congress
and signed into law by President George W.
Bush on October 26, 2001. The title of the Act is
a contrived acronym, which stands for Uniting
and Strengthening America by Providing
Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and
Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001.

The Act dramatically reduced restrictions on law
enforcement agencies' ability to search telephone, e-mail
communications, medical, financial, and other records;
eased restrictions on foreign intelligence gathering
within the United States; expanded the Secretary of the
Treasury’s authority to regulate financial transactions,
particularly those involving foreign individuals and
entities; and broadened the discretion of law
enforcement and immigration authorities in detaining
and deporting immigrants suspected of terrorism-related
acts. The act also expanded the definition of terrorism to
include domestic terrorism, thus enlarging the number of
activities to which the USA PATRIOT Act’s expanded
law enforcement powers could be applied.
The Act was passed by wide margins in both houses of
Congress and was supported by members of both the
Republican and Democratic parties. Many of the act's
provisions were to sunset beginning December 31,
2005, approximately 4 years after its passage. In the
months preceding the sunset date, supporters of the
act pushed to make its sunsetting provisions
permanent, while critics sought to revise various
sections to enhance civil liberty protections.
In July 2005, the U.S. Senate passed a reauthorization
bill with substantial changes to several sections of the
act, while the House reauthorization bill kept most of
the act's original language. The two bills were then
reconciled in a conference committee that was
criticized by Senators from both the Republican and
Democratic parties for ignoring civil liberty concerns.
The bill, which removed most of the changes from
the Senate version, passed Congress on March 2,
2006, and was signed into law by President George
W. Bush on March 9 and 10, 2006.
Barack Obama
Democrat - Illinois
John McCain
Republican - Arizona
Ralph Nader
Independent - Conneticut
Barack Obama
Democrat - Illinois
John McCain
Republican - Arizona



In February 2007, Nader criticized Democratic front-runner
Hillary Clinton as "a panderer and a flatterer." Asked on CNN
Late Edition news program if he would run in 2008, Nader
replied, "It's really too early to say...."Asked during a radio
appearance to describe the former First Lady, Nader said,
"Flatters, panders, coasting, front-runner, looking for a
coronation ... She has no political fortitude." Some Greens
started a campaign to draft Nader as their party's 2008
presidential candidate.
After some consideration, Nader announced on February 24,
2008, that he would run for President as an independent. His
vice-presidential candidate was Matt Gonzalez.
Nader received 738,475 votes, for 0.56 percent of the popular
vote, placing him in third place overall.

The first bill signed into law by Obama was the
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, relaxing
the statute of limitations for equal-pay
lawsuits. Five days later, he signed the
reauthorization of the State Children's Health
Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover an
additional 4 million children currently
uninsured.

In March 2009, Obama reversed a Bush-era
policy which had limited funding of embryonic
stem cell research. Obama stated that he
believed "sound science and moral values...are
not inconsistent" and pledged to develop "strict
guidelines" on the research.


On September 30, 2009, the Obama administration
proposed new regulations on power plants, factories
and oil refineries in an attempt to limit greenhouse
gas emissions and to curb global warming.
Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James
Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a measure that
expands the 1969 United States federal hate-crime
law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual
or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender
identity, or disability, on October 8, 2009.

the deepening worldwide recession.[130] The act includes
increased federal spending for health care, infrastructure,
education, various tax breaks and incentives, and direct
assistance to individuals, which is being distributed over the
course of several years.



President Barack Obama signs the ARRA into law on
February 17, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. Vice President Joe
Biden stands behind him.
In March, Obama's Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner,
took further steps to manage the financial crisis, including
introducing the Public-Private Investment Program for
Legacy Assets, which contains provisions for buying up to $2
trillion in depreciated real estate assets

Obama intervened in the troubled automotive
industry[133] in March 2009, renewing loans for General
Motors and Chrysler to continue operations while
reorganizing. Over the following months the White
House set terms for both firms' bankruptcies, including
the sale of Chrysler to Italian automaker Fiat and a
reorganization of GM giving the U.S. government a
temporary 60% equity stake in the company, with the
Canadian government shouldering a 12% stake. In June
2009, dissatisfied with the pace of economic stimulus,
Obama called on his cabinet to accelerate the investment.
He signed into law the successful Car Allowance Rebate
System, known colloquially as "Cash for Clunkers",
running from July to August 2009, which not only
reduced inventories but set off increased production runs
at GM, Ford and Toyota, resulting in the rehiring of laidoff workers.

Obama called for Congress to pass legislation reforming
health care in the United States, a key campaign promise
and a top legislative goal. He proposed an expansion of
health insurance coverage to cover the uninsured, to cap
premium increases, and to allow people to retain their
coverage when they leave or change jobs. His proposal
was to spend $900 billion over 10 years and include a
government insurance plan, also known as the public
option, to compete with the corporate insurance sector as
a main component to lowering costs and improving
quality of health care. It would also make it illegal for
insurers to drop sick people or deny them coverage for
pre-existing conditions, and require every American
carry health coverage. The plan also includes medical
spending cuts and taxes on insurance companies that
offer expensive plans.
Year
Title
Year
Title
1993
Schindler's List
2007
1994
Forrest Gump
NO COUNTRY FOR
OLD MEN
1995
Braveheart
2008
1996
The English Patient
SLUMDOG
MILLIONAIRE
1997
Titanic
2009
THE HURT LOCKER
1998
Shakespeare in Love
2010
?
1999
American Beauty
2000
GLADIATOR
2001
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
2002
CHICAGO
2003
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE
RETURN OF THE KING
2004
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
2005
CRASH
2006
THE DEPARTED
Year
Title
1993
The Piano
1994
Pulp Fiction
1994
The Shawshank Redemption
1995
Apollo 13
1996
Fargo
1996
Jerry Maguire
1997
Good Will Hunting
1998
Elizabeth
1998
Saving Private Ryan
1999
The Sixth Sense
1999
The Green Mile
2000
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2000
Erin Brockovich
2001
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2001
Moulin Rouge
2002
Gangs of New York
2002
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Year
Title
2003
Lost In Translation
2003
Mystic River
2003
Seabiscuit
2004
The Aviator
2004
Ray
2004
Sideways
2005
Brokeback Mountain
2005
Good Night, and Good Luck
2005
Capote
2006
Letters From Iwo Jima
2006
Little Miss Sunshine
2007
Juno
2008
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2008
Frost/Nixon
2009
Avatar
2009
Precious
2009
The Blind Side
#1 Shows since 1993
Season
Show
Network
1993 - 94
Home Improvement
ABC
1994 – 95,
1997 - 98
Seinfeld
NBC
1995 – 96,
1998 - 99
E.R.
NBC
1999 - 2000
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
ABC
Top 12 Shows 2000 - 2009
Show
Network
Friday Night Lights
NBC
Battlestar Galactica
Sci-Fi
The Wire
HBO
Lost
ABC
Veronica Mars
UPN/The CW
The Office
NBC
Firefly
FOX
Arrested Development
FOX
Big Love
HBO
24
FOX
Family Guy
FOX
Doctor Who
BBC
Show
Network
Married …with Children
FOX
The Simpsons
FOX
Stargate SG-1
Sci-Fi
The Sopranos
HBO
Deadwood
HBO
Mad Men
AMC
30 Rock
NBC
Sex and the City
HBO
CSI : Crime Scene Investigation
CBS
House, M.D.
FOX
The West Wing
NBC
Babylon 5
PTEN/TNT
7th Heaven
The WB
That ‘70’s Show
FOX
Ally Mc Beal
FOX
Friends
NBC
Other
Popular
TV Shows
of the 1990’s
and 2000’s
.
Year
Song
Artist
1993
What Is Love
Haddaway
1994
All I Wanna Do
Sheryl Crow
1995
Cotton Eye Joe
Rednex
1996
Macarena
Los Del Rio
1997
Barbie Girl
Aqua
1998
I Don't Want To Miss a Thing
Aerosmith
1999
All Star
Smash Mouth
2000
Who Let The Dogs Out
Baha Men
2001
Cha Cha Slide
Mr C The Slide Man
.
Year
Song
Artist
2002
A Moment Like This
Kelly Clarkson
2003
Crazy In Love
Beyonce Featuring Jay-Z
2004
Yeah!
Usher Featuring Lil Jon & Ludacris
2005
Hollaback Girl
Gwen Stefani
2006
Sexyback
Justin Timberlake
2007
The Sweet Escape
Gwen Stefani and Akon
2007
Girlfriend
Avril Lavigne
2008
Single Ladies (Put A Ring On it)
Beyonce
2009
I Gotta Feeling
Black Eyed Peas
2009
You Belong With Me
Taylor Swift
Year
Song
Artist
1994
Crazy
Aerosmith
1995
I'll Be There For You
Rembrandts
1995
Run-Around
Blues Traveler
1995
Waterfalls
TLC
1996
Breakfast At Tiffany's
Deep Blue Something
1997
Wannabe
Spice Girls
1997
Tubthumping
Chumbawamba
1997
Missing You
Puff Daddy & Faith Evans
1998
Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)
Green Day
1998
My Heart Will Go On
Celine Dion
1999
Man! I Feel Like A Woman
Shania Twain
1999
Mambo No. 5
Lou Bega
2000
It's My Life
Bon Jovi
2000
Breathe
Faith Hill
2000
Oops! I Did It Again
Britney Spears
Other Popular songs of the time
Year
Song
Artist
2001
God Bless The USA
Lee Greenwood
2001
I Hope You Dance
LeeAnn Womack
2001
Bad Day
Danial Powter
2001
Thank You
Dido
2002
Complicated
Avril Lavigne
2002
The Middle
Jimmy Eat World
2002
Hey Baby
No Doubt and Bounty Killer
2003
Stacy's Mom
Fountains Of Wayne
2004
American Idiot
Green Day
2004
1985
Bowling for Soup
2004
Redneck Woman
Gretchen Wilson
2005
Pon De Replay
Rihanna
2005
Collide
Howie Day
2005
Don't Cha
The Pussycat Dolls Featuring Busta Rhymes
Year
Song
Artist
2006
Hips Don't Lie
Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean
2006
Unfaithful
Rihanna
2006
Lips of An Angel
Hinder
2006
Photograph
Nickelback
2007
Before He Cheats
Carrie Underwood
2007
Rehab
Amy Winehouse
2007
Bubbly
Colbie Caillat
2007
Candyman
Christina Aguilera
2007
Rockstar
Nickelback
2008
All Summer Long
Kid Rock