The Summer of 2009: A Look Back

Now that it’s over, what do you remember most about the summer of 2009?

While reflecting over the major events of the past summer three things come to our minds: an inordinate number of celebrity deaths, the heated town hall meetings over healthcare and the bad movies that made a lot of money at the box office.

TPH takes a look back at the summer of 2009. Despite the first section being labeled the “the summer of death,” we stayed away from tragic and horrible events like H1N1, Iranian election protests, deadly earthquakes and Al Franken being sworn in as a U.S. Senator. We decided to stick with more cheery subjects.

The summer of 2009 stretched from June 21 to Sept. 22.

The Summer Of Death
What most people will remember about the summer of ’09 is the death of Michael Jackson on June 25. Despite being a world class freak, Jackson was one of the greatest performers of all-time. His sudden death and the myriad of memorials that followed reminded us all just how good, and just how exploited, he really was.

The coroner ruled his death a homicide—he died from a combination of drugs in his system—and law enforcement officials are currently investigating.

The summer of 2009 will always associated with Jackson even though the questions surrounding his death may not be answered for years to come.

Besides the King of Pop, there were several over celebrity deaths this past summer: Ed McMahon (June 23), Farrah Fawcett (June 25), Billy Mays (June 28), Steve McNair (July 5), Walter Cronkite (July 18), The Taco Bell Chihuahua (July 23), John Hughes (Aug. 6), Eunice Kennedy Shriver (Aug. 11), Ted Kennedy (Aug. 5), and Adam Goldstein “DJ AM” (Aug. 28).

Cash For Clunkers
Officially known as Car Allowance Rebate System, Cash for Clunkers offered American citizens economic incentives to turn in their old jalopy for a new fuel efficient car. The program started on July 1 and ended Aug. 24.

Was it a success? If you judge it by the 690,114 dealer transactions then yes it was a success. If you judge it by the fact that taxpayers will have to pay for the $3 billion the government spent on the program then no.

Teachable Moment
On July 16, Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested at his home by police investigating a 9-1-1 call about men trying to break into a house.

As the cop was doing his job, Gates broke out the “Why, because I’m a black man In America?” routine. Eventually Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct.

When President Obama heard of the incident he called it a “teachable moment.” The officer and the cop were invited to the White House for a beer with the President and Vice-President.

Town Hall Meetings and Tea Parties
When concerned Americans gathered at the various town hall meetings held around the country to question lawmakers on the proposed government takeover of healthcare, the media branded them as racist, crazy and on the fringe.

When Americans gathered at Tea Parties organized around the country to protest high taxes and big government, the media branded them as racist, crazy and on the fringe.

What we learned from these events is there are many Americans fed up with high taxes and big government. Sure, a few were a bit whacky, but for the most part they were honest Americans with honest gripes.

We also learned that if there’s one sign comparing President Obama to Hitler, the mainstream media will find it.

Track Gets A Bolt
He’s doing the impossible. He’s making us care about track and field in an off-Olympic year. Jamaica’s Usain Bolt shattered the 200m and 100m sprint records at the Berlin World Championships in August. Second-for-second, he’s the most exciting athlete in the world.

Oregon Rolls A Blount
The college football season opened Sept. 6 with a sloppy game between Boise State and the University of Oregon. After the game, Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount, who said earlier in the week the Ducks owed the Broncos an ass kicking, punched Boise State defensive end Byron Hout. ESPN’s cameras perfectly captured the moment. Blount was rightly suspended for the rest of the season but his throw-down gave college football fans something to talk about.

ACORN Falls & Takes The Mainstream Media With It
On Sept. 8 Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe released the first of five videos revealing employees of ACORN were more than willing to help a prostitute and a pimp get their business going. If that wasn’t bad enough, the ACORN employees also counseled the couple on trafficking underage girls from El Salvador.

Giles posed as the prostitute and O’Keefe played the part of the pimp.

Despite the undeniable evidence, the mainstream media ignored the story. There was a time when they would have jumped on a scandal like this and reported on it incessantly. Apparently those days have passed and so have the days of the MSM being relevant.

Rude Interruptions
First it was Joe Wilson shouting “You Lie” at President Obama during a joint session of congress (Sept. 9).

That weekend, Serena Williams threatened to shove a ball down a line judge’s throat at the U.S. Open (Sept. 12).

The following night, Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards (Sept. 13).

These incidents got the media and the blogosphere all lathered up and ready to extract a pound of flesh. Not to defend their churlish behavior, but the aforementioned outbursts were by far the most exciting moments of their respective events.

Beatles Infestation
For the umpteenth time in history, the Beatles dominated the summer. On Sept. 9, the band re-released its re-mastered catalog as well as video game, “The Beatles: Rock Band.” Both will introduce the Fab Four to a whole new audience.

While the Beatles were on everyone’s mind they weren’t the only thing that happened in the world of music this summer:

On Aug. 5, Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler fell off a stage during a concert in Sturgis. Tyler was hurt bad enough that the band had to cancel the rest of their tour.

On August 29, Noel Gallagher quit Oasis.

On Sept. 10, Phil Collins announced that due to a spinal injury he will never play drums again.

Good Box Office, Bad Movies
Hollywood may have set box office records this summer but their movies set back cinema hundreds of years.

Transformer 2: Revenge of the Fallen (released June 19) and G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra (released Aug. 5) took in pant loads of money but both were downright awful and insulting to our intelligence.

We left the theater asking who watches this stuff and then we realized we just did. No wonder Hollywood keeps churning out crap.

Conclusion
Did TPH miss something? Did TPH include something we shouldn’t have included? What will you remember about the summer of 2009?