The+United+States+1996-2011

**Since you were born, what has happened in the United States?**
 * Tell the World Your Story**

The Presidential Election of 2000
//by: Jackie and Perry// The Presidential Election of 2000 was and extremely close contest between George W. Bush and Al Gore in which Gore received more popular votes but Bush won more electoral votes. The outcome was eventually decided by a close contest in the state of Florida, which networks initially said Gore won, then reversed themselves and gave it to Bush, but then said it was “too close to call.”

It took five weeks to deicide who had won because the votes were so close. There were lawsuits and requests for recounts, but the Supreme Court ruled that there was no more time for a new count and the election was won by Bush.

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media type="youtube" key="KV5deafKcyI" height="265" width="320" Works Cited: "The Disputed Election of 2000 ." N.p., 23/09/2011. Web. 23 Sep 2011. .

// Additonal Sites: @http://www.270towin.com/, PBS//

September 11 Attacks- New York
//by: Ally, Cadence, and Dominic// On September 11, 2001, at 8:45 a.m. a hijacked Boeing 767-223ER -American Airlines Flight 11- with ninety two people on board crashed into the World Trade Center’s north tower. At 9:03 a.m. a hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 with 65 people on board crashed into the World Trade Center’s south tower. At 9:50 a.m. the south tower collapsed; the north tower collapsed shortly after.

The attacks coincided with hijackings that crashed airliners into the Pentagon and in an empty field in Pennsylvania

The terrorist group Al Qaida, headed by Osama Bin Laden, claimed responsibility. Obama blamed the United States for stationing troops in Saudi Arabia, supporting Israel, and the sanctions against Iraq.

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media type="youtube" key="7xomUzh3QOg?fs=1" height="265" width="320" Works Cited:"The Past Three Decades: Years of Crisis - Years of Triumph ." N.p., 23/09/2011. Web. 23 Sep 2011. 

//Additional Sites: 102 Minutes that Changed America//

September 11 Attacks- The Pentagon and Pennsylvania
//by: Danielle and Syris// On September 11, 2001, five hijackers who were a part of a terrorists group called al-Qaeda, attacked the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Almost 200 people died in the attack that day.

A total of 19 terrorists attacked America on September 11, 2001. Five of the terrorists attacked the Pentagon. The terrorist hijackers took control of American Airlines Flight 77 and crashed it into the building. They deliberately crashed on to the west side of the Pentagon at 9:37am. All 65 passengers on the plane, including the 5 hijackers, died. In addition, 125 people in the Pentagon also died. media type="youtube" key="TAaP4Z3zls8?fs=1" height="265" width="320"

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The Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster
//by: Brandon B. and Sydney// The Columbia Space Shutle, was launched on January 16th, 2003 and crashed over north central Texas about 9 a.m. EST, February. 1, 2003, killing the crew on board The crew of Space Shuttle Columbia consisted of 7 astronauts: Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, and Ilan Ramon.

This Columbia Space shuttle went on a 16-day science research mission in Earth’s orbit on January 16th.. After 16 days they got all the research they needed and headed back to Earth. However, The crew didn’t know that there were damages to the shuttle caused during liftoff.

It was determined that the left wing of the shuttle was hit by a piece of foam from the Space Shuttle’s External Tank (ET) during launch. media type="youtube" key="JmWbV_YkQT0?fs=1" height="265" width="320" Works Cited: Vic, Stathopoulos, and. "Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster." aerospaceguide.net. N.p., 09/11/11. Web. 23 Sep 2011. .

Hurricane Katrina
//by: Andres and Grace// On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina struck the state of Louisiana, leaving at least 1,836 people dead. Hurricane Katrina was one of the five deadliest hurricanes in United States history, causing a total damage of 108 billion dollars. Louisiana was hit the hardest, but Katrina also affected Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Ohio. The winds in Hurricane Katrina reached speeds of 175mph.

The United States Government was criticized for the lack of leadership before and after the storm. There was also a delay in help for the city of New Orleans, who was suffering from flooding.

media type="youtube" key="QBB_PZy4p84" height="251" width="336" Works Cited: Wikipedia contributors. "Hurricane Katrina." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 20 Sep. 2011. Web. 23 Sep. 2011.

The Mars Rover
//by: Brandon and Courtney// The Phoenix is a robotic space probe used for NASA’s Mars Scout program exploration mission. The Phoenix lander was the sixth lander launched onto mars by NASA, and was also the most recent. This project was leaded by the Lunar and Planetary laboratory at the University of Phoenix.

The probe landed on Mars on May 25, 2008 and the point of the mission was to find microbial life, to search for water and ice, and to take dirt samples.

In general, the Lander discovered that there was exposed ice at the landing area, and that water was there long ago, but evaporated into the atmosphere.

In the end one of the primary scientists said exactly this about what was under the soil at the landing area: "We could very well be seeing rock, or we could be seeing exposed ice in the retrorocket blast zone." If that is true then there could be life on mars. media type="youtube" key="4aW9WBNXdJk" height="187" width="336"

The Presidential Election of 2008
//by: Sophie and August// Barack Obama was a junior United States senator originally from Illinois. On August 27, 2008, he was chosen to be a nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election. On November 4, 2008, Obama won the election which made him the first African American elected President of the United States. Now Obama is the 44th president of the United States. At the end of the election in 2008 the two nominees for President were Barack Obama and John McCain. Barack Obama got 66,882,230 popular votes and John McCain got 58,343,671 popular votes. Barack Obama got 365 electoral votes and John McCain got 173 electoral votes.

During the campaign Obama proposed an expansion of health insurance 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 included 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.

John McCain’s health care plan focused on open-market competition rather than government funding or control. At the heart of his plan were tax credits - $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families who do not subscribe to or do not have access to health care through their employer. To help people who are denied coverage by insurance companies due to pre-existing conditions, McCain proposed working with states to create what he calls a "Guaranteed Access Plan". media type="youtube" key="F-nNIEduEOw" height="251" width="336" Works Cited: Wikipedia contributors. "Election 2008." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 23 Mar. 2008. Web. 23 Sep. 2011.

The Presidency of Barack Obama
//by: Josh and Kristen// The presidency of Barack Obama began at noon on January 20, 2009 when on that day became the 44th President of the United States. He is the first African-American to become president as well as the first to be born in Hawaii. Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961. He was raised with the help from his grandfather and his grandmother. He received scholarships to attend college. After college, he moved to Chicago where he worked as a community organizer. He then went to Harvard high school then taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago.

Obama before was a Senator from Illinois at the time of his victory over Arizona Senator John McCain. In October 2009, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and copperation between people.” He served for the U.S from 2005-2008 then he resigned from the office then elected president as the 44th president of the United States married to Michelle Obama and with two kids Malia 13, Natasha 11. media type="youtube" key="VjnygQ02aW4" height="251" width="336" Works Cited: Wikipedia contributors. "Presidency of Barack Obama." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 Sep. 2011. Web. 23 Sep. 2011.

// Additional Sites: @http://www.whitehouse.gov///