Hey everyone.  Happy New Years!  We, at 7DayBuzz, hope you all have a blessed and prosperous year.

2008 was an event-filled year, wasn’t it?  I thought I’d compile a list of the 10 stories that caught my attention the most.  I’d love to hear about the stories that captured your attention!  Okay, here goes:

10. Heath Ledger’s Death
I was not really a fan of Heath Ledger’s movies.  But he played the heck out of the joker in Dark Knight.  Such a terrible waste.

9. The Pregnant “Man”
This is so disturbing to me.  “He” was born a woman but is living his life as man, thus the media called him the pregnant “man.”  Even Oprah interviewed him!  Just a mess, in my opinion.

8. Michael Phelps and the Beijing Olympics
Yeah, the security measures were newsworthy, but Michael Phelps was THE story!  He took home 8, yes 8, gold medals.  Amazing!

7. Jeremiah Wright
He was Obama’s pastor  But he has uttered some very debatable statements, like “Blacks should not sing ‘God Bles America, but God Damn America.”  He also believes that the U.S. brought on the 9/11 attacks because it (the U.S.) has performed terrorists acts of its own.

6. Hillary Clinton
She began the presidential run as the front runner.  She ended up behind Barack.  But she got closer than any other woman.  Impressive.

5. Gas Prices
Oil started off this year over $100/barrel.  Got as high as $140+ a barrel.  Analysts were predicting prices would go over $150.  This contributed to astronomical gas prices.  In some places, gas was selling for $5/gallon!  What?!  Now, here we are on January 1, 2009 and oil is less $45!  I passed a gas station today and gas was around $1.39/gallon!

4. The Economy
Wow!  What do you say to this?  A lot of people are being hammered.  IT started with the influx of foreclosures, then banks started closing, then major car companies needed help.  Right now, it’s a trying time.

3. Tina Fey As Sarah Palin
She’s not your normal imitator.  In fact, she not an imitator at all, but man, did she have Sarah Palin down pat!  Sometime, it was hard to tell the two apart.  I guess Sarah was such a fan, that she used some of Tina Fey’s answers when interviewing:–)

2. Sarah Palin
She came out of nowhere.  Breathed life into John McCain’s listless campaign.  The Republicans were elated – INITIALLY!  Unfortunately, she wasn’t the smartest person when it came to interviews.  She turned out to be quicksand instead of the rock of Gibralter the Republican party was hoping for.

1. Barack Obama, elected as the first Black US President (44th to be exact)
He came, he saw, he conquered.  He started his quest for presidency with “Yes We Can” and ended up with “Yes We Did.”  His nickname is Teflon Obama because whatever was thrown his way just didn’t stick (and still doesn’t stick).