Name	Dave Zirin
Occupation	Sports journalism
Credits	A People's History of Sports in the United StatesWelcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports
Url	http://edgeofsports.com/

Dave Zirin is an American sportswriter currently living in Takoma Park, Maryland.

Career

Zirin's column, Edge of Sports, appears on Sports Illustrated’s website and he is the host of XM satellite’s weekly show, Edge of Sports Radio. Zirin is a frequent contributor to The Nation, a columnist for SLAM Magazine, and The Progressive, as well as being a frequent guest on ESPN's Outside The Lines and Democracy Now. His first book, What’s My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States (Haymarket Books) has entered its third printing.

Zirin has also published Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports, and “A People’s History of Sports in the United States,” a sports-related volume in the manner of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States series for The New Press. In addition to “What’s My Name, Fool?” for Haymarket Books, he has also published “The Muhammad Ali Handbook” for MQ Publications. Zirin is also the published children’s book author of “My Name is Erica Montoya de la Cruz” (RC Owen). In addition, he is working on a sports documentary with Barbara Kopple’s Cabin Creek films on sports and social movements in the United States.

Controversies

Calls for political boycott

Zirin has repeatedly called for sports boycotts on certain players, teams, states, or nations for non sports related, political reasons.

On April 27, 2010, writing for the Guardian, Zirin called for a boycott against sports teams from Arizona, in particular the Diamondbacks, to protest the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act -- aka the Arizona immigration bill. He did however express tremendous enthusiasm and support during the 2010 NBA Playoffs for the Phoenix Suns, who went by "Los Suns" as a statement against the Arizona immigration law.

On June 2, 2010, writing for the Nation, Zirin justified the decision of the Turkish U-19 soccer team to boycott a match against Israel. He described the Gaza flotilla raid as an act of state terror committed by the Israeli government and proposed a boycott of Israel.

Bibliography

What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States, Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2005. | ISBN 978-1931859202

Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports, Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2007. | ISBN 978-1931859417

Muhammad Ali Handbook , Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2007. | ISBN 978-1846011559

A People's History of Sports: From Bull-Baiting to Barry Bonds, Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2008. | ISBN 978-1595581006

Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love, New York: Scribner Books, 2010. | ISBN 978-1-4165-5475-2

References

External links

The Edge of Sports

Category:American columnists Category:American sportswriters Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Name	Rachel Maddow
Caption	Maddow hosting KPTK "Changing the Media, Changing America" event in Seattle (June 2006)
Birthname	Rachel Anne Maddow
Birth date	April 01, 1973
Birth place	Castro Valley, California, U.S.
Education	B.A., Stanford UniversityD.Phil, Oxford University
Occupation	News anchorPolitical commentatorTelevision host
Religion	Roman Catholic
Credits	The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC)The Rachel Maddow Show (Air America Radio)
Url	http://www.rachelmaddow.com/

Rachel Anne Maddow (; born April 1, 1973) is an American radio personality, television host, and political commentator. Referencing John Hughes films, she describes herself in high school as "a cross between the jock and the antisocial girl". In July 2010, Maddow was presented with a Maggie Award for her ongoing reporting of healthcare reform, the murder of Dr. George Tiller, and the anti-abortion movement. In August 2010, Maddow won the Walter Cronkite Faith & Freedom Award, which was presented by The Interfaith Alliance. Past honorees included Larry King, Tom Brokaw, and the late Peter Jennings.

}}

External links

Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC

Rachel Maddow official site

The Rachel Maddow Show website

Category:1973 births Category:Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Category:American anti-Iraq War activists Category:American people of Canadian descent Category:American political pundits Category:American Rhodes scholars Category:American talk radio hosts Category:American television personalities Category:American women journalists Category:LGBT journalists Category:LGBT people from the United States Category:LGBT radio personalities Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:LGBT television personalities Category:Living people Category:MSNBC Category:NBC News Category:People from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Stanford University alumni

Name	Howard Zinn
Caption	Howard Zinn at Babylonmedia's "B-Fest" in Athens, Greece, May 2009.
Birth date	August 24, 1922
Birth place	Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Death date	was an American historian, author, left-wing anarchist activist, playwright, intellectual and Professor of Political Science at Boston University from 1964 to 1988. He wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United States. Zinn wrote extensively about the civil rights, civil liberties and anti-war movements. His memoir, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train, was also the title of a 2004 documentary about Zinn's life and work.
Quote	We were not born critical of existing society. There was a moment in our lives (or a month, or a year) when certain facts appeared before us, startled us, and then caused us to question beliefs that were strongly fixed in our consciousness-embedded there by years of family prejudices, orthodox schooling, imbibing of newspapers, radio, and television. This would seem to lead to a simple conclusion: that we all have an enormous responsibility to bring to the attention of others information they do not have, which has the potential of causing them to rethink long-held ideas.
Source	Howard Zinn, 2005

Zinn was Professor of History at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia from 1956 to 1963, and Visiting Professor at both the University of Paris and University of Bologna.

Fresh from writing two books about his research, observations, and participation in the Civil Rights movement in the South, Zinn accepted a position at Boston University in 1964. His classes in civil liberties were among the most popular at the university with as many as 400 students subscribing each semester to the non-required class. A Professor of Political Science, he taught at BU for 24 years and retired in 1988.

"He had a deep sense of fairness and justice for the underdog. But he always kept his sense of humor. He was a happy warrior," said Caryl Rivers, journalism professor at Boston University. Rivers and Zinn were among a group of faculty members who in 1979 defended the right of the school's clerical workers to strike and were threatened with dismissal after refusing to cross a picket line.

Zinn came to believe that the point of view expressed in traditional history books was often limited. He wrote a history textbook, A People's History of the United States, to provide other perspectives on American history. The textbook depicts the struggles of Native Americans against European and U.S. conquest and expansion, slaves against slavery, unionists and other workers against capitalists, women against patriarchy, and African-Americans for civil rights. The book was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1981.

In the years since the first edition of A People's History was published in 1980, it has been used as an alternative to standard textbooks in many high school and college history courses, and it is one of the most widely known examples of critical pedagogy. The New York Times Book Review stated in 2006 that the book "routinely sells more than 100,000 copies a year".

In 2004, Zinn published Voices of A People's History of the United States with Anthony Arnove. Voices is a sourcebook of speeches, articles, essays, poetry and song lyrics by the people themselves whose stories are told in A People's History.

The People Speak, scheduled for release on DVD in February 2010, is a documentary movie inspired by the lives of ordinary people who fought back against oppressive conditions over the course of the history of the United States. The film includes performances by Zinn, Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder, Viggo Mortensen, Josh Brolin, Danny Glover, Marisa Tomei, Don Cheadle, and Sandra Oh.

Civil Rights movement

From 1956 through 1963, Zinn chaired the department of history and social sciences at Spelman College. He participated in the Civil Rights movement and lobbied with historian August Meier "to end the practice of the Southern Historical Association of holding meetings at segregated hotels."

While at Spelman, Zinn served as an adviser to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and in 1964, Beacon Press published his book SNCC: The New Abolitionists. Zinn collaborated with historian Staughton Lynd mentoring student activists, among them Alice Walker, who would later write The Color Purple, and Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund. Edelman identified Zinn as a major influence in her life and, in that same journal article, tells of his accompanying students to a sit-in at the segregated white section of the Georgia state legislature.

Although Zinn was a tenured professor, he was dismissed in June 1963, after siding with students in the struggle against segregation. As Zinn described in The Nation, though Spelman administrators prided themselves for turning out refined "young ladies," its students were likely to be found on the picket line, or in jail for participating in the greater effort to break down segregation in public places in Atlanta. Zinn's years at Spelman are recounted in his autobiography You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times. His seven years at Spelman College, Zinn said, "are probably the most interesting, exciting, most educational years for me. I learned more from my students than my students learned from me."

While living in Georgia, Zinn wrote that he observed 30 violations of the First and Fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution in Albany, Georgia, including the rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and equal protection under the law. In an article on the civil rights movement in Albany, Zinn described the people who participated in the Freedom Rides to end segregation, and the reluctance of President John F. Kennedy to enforce the law. Zinn has also pointed out that the Justice Department under Robert F. Kennedy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, headed by J. Edgar Hoover, did little or nothing to stop the segregationists from brutalizing civil rights workers.

Zinn wrote about the struggle for civil rights, both as participant and historian. His second book, The Southern Mystique was published in 1964, the same year as his SNCC: The New Abolitionists in which he describes how the sit-ins against segregation were initiated by students and, in that sense, were independent of the efforts of the older, more established civil rights organizations.

In 2005, forty-one years after his firing, Zinn returned to Spelman where he was given an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters and gave the commencement address where he said in part, during his speech titled, "Against Discouragement," that "The lesson of that history is that you must not despair, that if you are right, and you persist, things will change. The government may try to deceive the people, and the newspapers and television may do the same, but the truth has a way of coming out. The truth has a power greater than a hundred lies."

Anti-war efforts

Zinn wrote one of the earliest books calling for the U.S. withdrawal from its war in Vietnam. Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal was published by Beacon Press in 1967 based on his articles in Commonwealth, The Nation, and Ramparts.

In Noam Chomsky's view, The Logic of Withdrawal was Zinn's most important book. "He was the first person to say—loudly, publicly, very persuasively—that this simply has to stop; we should get out, period, no conditions; we have no right to be there; it's an act of aggression; pull out. It was so surprising at the time that there wasn't even a review of the book. In fact, he asked me if I would review it in Ramparts just so that people would know about the book."

In December 1969, radical historians tried unsuccessfully to persuade the American Historical Association to pass an anti-Vietnam War resolution. "A debacle unfolded as Harvard historian (and AHA president in 1968) John Fairbank literally wrestled the microphone from Zinn's hands." Correspondence by Fairbank, Zinn and other historians, published by the AHA in 1970, is online in what Fairbank called "our briefly-famous Struggle for the Mike."

In later years, Zinn was an adviser to the Disarm Education Fund.

Vietnam

Zinn's diplomatic visit to Hanoi with Rev. Daniel Berrigan, during the Tet Offensive in January 1968, resulted in the return of three American airmen, the first American POWs released by the North Vietnamese since the U.S. bombing of that nation had begun. The event was widely reported in the news media and discussed in a variety of books including Who Spoke Up? American Protest Against the War in Vietnam 1963–1975 by Nancy Zaroulis and Gerald Sullivan. Zinn and the Berrigan brothers, Dan and Philip, remained friends and allies over the years.

Daniel Ellsberg, a former RAND consultant who had secretly copied The Pentagon Papers, which described the internal planning and policy decisions of the United States government during the Vietnam War, gave a copy of them to Howard and Roslyn Zinn. Along with Noam Chomsky, Zinn edited and annotated the copy of The Pentagon Papers that Ellsberg entrusted to him. Zinn's longtime publisher, Beacon Press, published what has come to be known as the Senator Mike Gravel edition of The Pentagon Papers, four volumes plus a fifth volume with analysis by Chomsky and Zinn.

At Ellsberg's criminal trial for theft, conspiracy, and espionage in connection with the publication of the Pentagon Papers by The New York Times, defense attorneys called Zinn as an expert witness to explain to the jury the history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam from World War II to 1963. Zinn discussed that history for several hours, later reflecting on his time before the jury. "I explained there was nothing in the papers of military significance that could be used to harm the defense of the United States, that the information in them was simply embarrassing to our government because what was revealed, in the government's own interoffice memos, was how it had lied to the American public. The secrets disclosed in the Pentagon Papers might embarrass politicians, might hurt the profits of corporations wanting tin, rubber, oil, in far-off places. But this was not the same as hurting the nation, the people," Zinn wrote in his autobiography. Most of the jurors later said that they voted for acquittal. [p. 161] However, the federal judge dismissed the case on the ground that it had been tainted by the Nixon administration's burglary of the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist.

Zinn's testimony as to the motivation for government secrecy was confirmed in 1989 by Erwin Griswold, who as U.S. solicitor general during the Nixon administration, prosecuted The New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case in 1971. Griswold persuaded three Supreme Court justices to vote to stop The New York Times from continuing to publish the Pentagon Papers, an order known as "prior restraint" that has been held to be illegal under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The papers were simultaneously published in The Washington Post, effectively nulling the effect of the prior restraint order. In 1989, Griswold admitted that there was no national security damage resulting from the publication of the papers. during which former G.I.s testified about atrocities" they either participated in or witnessed in Vietnam.

Iraq

February 2004.]]

Zinn opposed the invasion and occupation of Iraq and wrote several books about it. He asserted that the U.S. would end its war with an occupation of Iraq when resistance within the military increased in the same way resistance within the military contributed to ending the U.S. war in Vietnam. He compared the demand by a growing number of contemporary U.S. military families to end the war in Iraq to parallel demands "in the Confederacy in the Civil War, when the wives of soldiers rioted because their husbands were dying and the plantation owners were profiting from the sale of cotton, refusing to grow grains for civilians to eat." Zinn argued that "There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people for a purpose which is unattainable."

Jean-Christophe Agnew, Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University, told the Yale Daily News in May 2007 that Zinn’s historical work is "highly influential and widely used". He observed that it is not unusual for prominent professors such as Zinn to weigh in on current events, citing a resolution opposing the war in Iraq that was recently ratified by the American Historical Association. Agnew added, “In these moments of crisis, when the country is split — so historians are split.”

Socialism

Zinn described himself as “Something of an anarchist, something of a socialist. Maybe a democratic socialist.” He suggested looking at socialism in its full historical context. In Madison, Wisconsin in 2009, Zinn said:

FBI files

Due to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, on July 30, 2010, the FBI released a file with 423 pages of information on Howard Zinn’s life and activities. During the height of McCarthyism in 1949, the FBI first opened a domestic security investigation on Zinn (FBI File # 100-360217), based on Zinn’s activities in what the agency considered to be communist front groups and informant reports that Zinn was an active member of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA). Zinn denied ever being a member and said that he had participated in the activities of various organizations which might be considered Communist fronts but that his participation was motivated by his belief that in this country people had the right to believe, think, and act according to their own ideals. The FBI memos also show that they were concerned with Zinn’s repeated criticism of the FBI for failing to protect blacks against white mob violence. in Santa Monica, California on January 27, 2010. He had been scheduled to speak at the Santa Monica Museum of Art for an event titled "A Collection of Ideas... the People Speak."

In one of his last interviews he said he'd like to be remembered "for introducing a different way of thinking about the world, about war, about human rights, about equality," and "for getting more people to realize that the power which rests so far in the hands of people with wealth and guns, that the power ultimately rests in people themselves and that they can use it. At certain points in history, they have used it. Black people in the South used it. People in the women's movement used it. People in the anti-war movement used it. People in other countries who have overthrown tyrannies have used it."

He said he wanted to be known as "somebody who gave people a feeling of hope and power that they didn't have before."

Zinn is survived by his daughter Myla Kabat-Zinn, son Jeff Zinn and five grandchildren.

Notable Recognition

2008 Howard Zinn was selected as a special senior advisor to Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, the President of the United Nations General Assembly 63rd session.

Awards

For his leadership in the Peace Movement, Zinn received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award in 1996. He received the Thomas Merton Award and, in 1998, the Eugene V. Debs Award. In 1998, he won the Lannan Literary Award for nonfiction and the following year won the Upton Sinclair Award, which honors social activism. In 2003, Zinn was awarded the Prix des Amis du Monde diplomatique for the French version of his seminal work, Une histoire populaire des Etats-Unis.

On October 5, 2006, Zinn received the Haven's Center Award for Lifetime Contribution to Critical Scholarship in Madison, Wisconsin.

References in popular culture

An interview with Zinn is featured in the documentary film Sacco and Vanzetti (2007).

The Brother Ali song "Lookin' At Me Sideways" from the album The Undisputed Truth (album) claims "I am Howard Stern meets Howard Zinn."

The Pearl Jam song "Down" from the album Lost Dogs (album) was inspired by the band's friendship with Zinn. In the March 13, 2010 episode of Saturday Night Live, lead singer Eddie Vedder's guitar sports a sticker reading "ZINN". A tribute to Howard Zinn's wife, Roslyn, was prominently featured in the tour program for Eddie Vedder's solo tour of 2008. Actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who grew up near Zinn and were family friends, gave A People's History a plug in their Academy Award-winning screenplay for Good Will Hunting.

In the System Of A Down song "Deer Dance", about Police Brutality against peaceful protest, Zinn is paraphrased in the line "We can't afford to be neutral on a moving train" and in their song "A.D.D" from their album "Steal This Album!": "There is no flag large enough, to hide the shame of a man in cuffs."

Viggo Mortensen and Buckethead used snippets of one of Zinn's speeches in the song "What Kind of Nation" from their album Intelligence Failure.

Bibliography

Author

Artists in Times of War (2003) ISBN 1-58322-602-8.

The Cold War & the University: Toward an Intellectual History of the Postwar Years (Noam Chomsky (Editor) Authors: Ira Katznelson, R. C. Lewontin, David Montgomery, Laura Nader, Richard Ohmann, Ray Siever, Immanuel Wallerstein, Howard Zinn (1997) ISBN 1-56584-005-4. Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology (1991) ISBN 0-06-092108-0.

Disobedience and Democracy: Nine Fallacies on Law and Order (1968, re-issued 2002) ISBN 0-89608-675-5.

Emma: A Play in Two Acts About Emma Goldman, American Anarchist (2002) ISBN 0-89608-664-X.

Failure to Quit: Reflections of an Optimistic Historian (1993) ISBN 0-89608-676-3.

The Future of History: Interviews With David Barsamian (1999) ISBN 1-56751-157-0.

Hiroshima: Breaking the Silence (pamphlet, 1995) ISBN 1-884519-14-8.

Howard Zinn On Democratic Education Donaldo Macedo, Editor (2004) ISBN 1-59451-054-7.

Howard Zinn on History (2000) ISBN 1-58322-048-8.

Howard Zinn on War (2000) ISBN 1-58322-049-6.

You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times (1994) ISBN 0-8070-7127-7

Justice in Everyday Life: The Way It Really Works (Editor) (1974) ISBN 0-89608-677-1.

Justice? Eyewitness Accounts (1977) ISBN 0-8070-4479-2.

La Otra Historia De Los Estados Unidos (2000) ISBN 1-58322-054-2.

LaGuardia in Congress (1959) ISBN 0-8371-6434-6, ISBN 0-393-00488-0.

Marx in Soho: A Play on History (1999) ISBN 0-89608-593-7.

New Deal Thought (editor) (1965) ISBN 0-87220-685-8.

Original Zinn: Conversations on History and Politics (2006) Howard Zinn and David Barsamian.

Passionate Declarations: Essays on War and Justice (2003) ISBN 0-06-055767-2.

The Pentagon Papers Senator Gravel Edition. Vol. Five. Critical Essays. Boston. Beacon Press, 1972. 341p. plus 72p. of Index to Vol. I–IV of the Papers, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, editors.

A People's History of the Civil War: Struggles for the Meaning of Freedom by David Williams, Howard Zinn (Series Editor) (2005) ISBN 1-59558-018-2.

A People's History of the United States: 1492 – Present (1980), revised (1995)(1998)(1999)(2003) ISBN 0-06-052837-0.

A People's History of the United States: Teaching Edition Abridged (2003 updated) ISBN 1-56584-826-8.

A People's History of the United States: The Civil War to the Present Kathy Emery and Ellen Reeves, Howard Zinn (2003 teaching edition) ISBN 1-56584-725-3.

A People's History of the United States: The Wall Charts by Howard Zinn and George Kirschner (1995) ISBN 1-56584-171-9.

A People's History of American Empire (2008) by Howard Zinn, Mike Konopacki and Paul Buhle. ISBN 978-0-8050-8744-4.

The People Speak: American Voices, Some Famous, Some Little Known (2004) ISBN 0-06-057826-2.

Playbook by Maxine Klein, Lydia Sargent and Howard Zinn (1986) ISBN 0-89608-309-8.

The Politics of History (1970) (2nd edition 1990) ISBN 0-252-06122-5.

Postwar America: 1945–1971 (1973) ISBN 0-89608-678-X.

A Power Governments Cannot Suppress (2006) ISBN 978-0-87286-475-7.

The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace Editor (2002) ISBN 0-8070-1407-9.

SNCC: The New Abolitionists (1964) ISBN 0-89608-679-8.

The Southern Mystique (1962) ISBN 0-89608-680-1.

Terrorism and War (2002) ISBN 1-58322-493-9 (interviews, Anthony Arnove (Ed.)).

The Twentieth Century: A People's History (2003) ISBN 0-06-053034-0.

Three Strikes: Miners, Musicians, Salesgirls, and the Fighting Spirit of Labor's Last Century (Dana Frank, Robin Kelley, and Howard Zinn) (2002) ISBN 0-8070-5013-X.

Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal (1967) ISBN 0-89608-681-X.

Voices of a People’s History of the United States (with Anthony Arnove, 2004) ISBN 1-58322-647-8; 2nd edition (2009) ISBN 978-1-58322-916-3.

A Young People's History of the United States, adapted from the original text by Rebecca Stefoff; illustrated and updated through 2006, with new introduction and afterword by Howard Zinn; two volumes, Seven Stories Press, New York, 2007.

* Vol. 1: Columbus to the Spanish-American War. ISBN 978-1-58322-759-6.

* Vol. 2: Class Struggle to the War on Terror. ISBN 978-1-58322-760-2.

* One-volume edition (2009) ISBN 978-1-58322-869-2.

The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy (1997) ISBN 1-888363-54-1; 2nd edition (2009) ISBN 978-1-58322-870-8.

The Bomb (City Lights Publishers, 2010) ISBN 978-0-87286-509-9

Contributor

''Admirable Radical: Staughton Lynd and Cold War Dissent, 1945–1970 (2010), Kent State University Press by Carl Mirra ISBN 978-1-60635-051-5

A Gigantic Mistake by Mickey Z, (2004) ISBN 1-930997-97-3.

A People's History of the Supreme Court by Peter H. Irons (2000) ISBN 0-14-029201-2.

A Political Dynasty In North Idaho, 1933–1967 by Randall Doyle (2004) ISBN 0-7618-2843-5.

American Political Prisoners: Prosecutions Under the Espionage and Sedition Acts by Stephen M. Kohn (1994) ISBN 0-275-94415-8.

American Power and the New Mandarins by Noam Chomsky (2002) ISBN 1-56584-775-X.

Broken Promises Of America: At Home And Abroad, Past And Present: An Encyclopedia For Our Times by (Douglas F. Dowd (2004) ISBN 1-56751-313-1.

Deserter From Death: Dispatches From Western Europe 1950-2000 by Daniel Singer (2005) ISBN 1-56025-642-7.

Ecocide of Native America: Environmental Destruction of Indian Lands and Peoples by Donald Grinde, Bruce Johansen (1994) ISBN 0-940666-52-9.

Eugene V. Debs Reader: Socialism and the Class Struggle by William A. Pelz (2000) ISBN 0-9704669-0-0.

From a Native Son: Selected Essays in Indigenism, 1985–1995 by Ward Churchill (1996) ISBN 0-89608-553-8.

Green Parrots: A War Surgeon's Diary by Gino Strada, (2005) ISBN 88-8158-420-4.

Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear And The Selling Of American Empire by Sut Jhally editor, Jeremy Earp editor, (2004) ISBN 1-56656-581-2.

If You're Not a Terrorist…Then Stop Asking Questions! by Micah Ian Wright, (2004) ISBN 1-58322-626-5.

Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal by Anthony Arnove, (2006) ISBN 978-1-59558-079-5.

''Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney Dennis Loo (Editor), Peter Phillips (Editor) Seven Stories Press: 2006) ISBN 1-58322-743-1.

Life of an Anarchist: The Alexander Berkman Reader by Alexander Berkman Gene Fellner, editor, (2004) ISBN 1-58322-662-1.

Long Shadows: Veterans' Paths to Peace by David Giffey editor, (2006) ISBN 1-89185-964-9.

Masters of War: Latin America and United States Aggression from the Cuban Revolution Through the Clinton Years by Clara Nieto, Chris Brandt (trans) (2003) ISBN 1-58322-545-5.

Peace Signs: The Anti-War Movement Illustrated by James Mann, editor (2004) ISBN 3-283-00487-0.

Prayer for the Morning Headlines: On the Sanctity of Life and Death by Daniel Berrigan (poetry) and Adrianna Amari (photography), (2007) ISBN 978-1-934074-16-9.

Silencing Political Dissent: How Post-9-11 Anti-terrorism Measures Threaten Our Civil Liberties by Nancy Chang, Center for Constitutional Rights (2002) ISBN 1-58322-494-7.

Soldiers In Revolt: GI Resistance During The Vietnam War by David Cortright, (2005) ISBN 1-931859-27-2.

Sold to the Highest Bidder: The Presidency from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush by Daniel M. Friedenberg (2002) ISBN 1-57392-923-9.

The Autobiography of Abbie Hoffman Intro by Norman Mailer, Afterword by HZ (2000) ISBN 1-56858-197-1.

The Case for Socialism by Alan Maass, (2004) ISBN 1-931859-09-4.

The Forging of the American Empire: From the Revolution to Vietnam, a History of U.S. Imperialism by Sidney Lens (2003) ISBN 0-7453-2101-1.

The Higher Law: Thoreau on Civil Disobedience and Reform by Henry David Thoreau, Wendell Glick, editor, (2004) ISBN 0-691-11876-0.

The Iron Heel by Jack London, (1971) ISBN 0-14-303971-7.

The Sixties Experience: Hard Lessons about Modern America by Edward P. Morgan, (1992) ISBN 1-56639-014-1.

You Back the Attack, We'll Bomb Who We Want by Micah Ian Wright, (2003) ISBN 1-58322-584-6.

A People's History of the American Revolution by Ray Raphael, (2002) ISBN 0-06-000440-1 Howard Zinn Foreword for New Press People's History Series.

Recordings

A People's History of the United States (1999)

Artists in the Time of War (2002)

Heroes & Martyrs: Emma Goldman, Sacco & Vanzetti, and the Revolutionary Struggle (2000)

Stories Hollywood Never Tells (2000)

You Can't Blow Up A Social Relationship, CD including Zinn lectures and performances by rock band Resident genius (Thick Records, 2005)

Theatre

Emma (1976)

Daughter of Venus (1985)

Marx in Soho (1999)

Biographies

Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller, Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (film 2004)

Davis D. Joyce, Howard Zinn: A Radical American Vision (Prometheus Books, 2003), ISBN 1-59102-131-6

See also

A People's History of American Empire

A People's History of the United States

References

External links

Helene Atwan, director of Beacon Press on "The Loss of Howard Zinn" January 29, 2009.

Howard Zinn, Historian, is Dead at 87, By Michael Powell, New York Times, January 28, 2010

Associated Press obituary January 27, 2010

2004 Interview With Howard Zinn.

HowardZinn.org.

Interview with Guernica: a magazine of arts and politics.

The Tavis Smiley Show: "Howard Zinn and the Omissions of U.S. History", November 27, 2003, National Public Radio.

ZNet and Z Mag articles.

The Progressive articles.

Articles and videos featuring Howard Zinn at AnarchismToday.org.

Harvard Law School in March 2008">Howard Zinn speaks on "Confronting Empire" at Harvard Law School in March 2008

An Interview with Howard Zinn on Anarchism: Rebels Against Tyranny by AK Press

Zinn Education Project Free teaching activities for bringing A People's History to middle and high school classrooms

"War is the Health of the State: An Interview with Howard Zinn", By Paul Glavin & Chuck Morse, Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, Vol. 7, No. 1, Spring 2003

Howard Zinn's FBI files

Obituary in the Oxonian Review

Videos

The Legacy of Howard Zinn – video by Big Think

Howard Zinn on why there are no just wars: "Holy Wars" – video by Democracy Now!

Empire or Humanity?: What the Classroom Didn't Teach Me about the American Empire; by Howard Zinn; Narrated by Viggo Mortensen

Howard Zinn’s talk at the 2008 National Conference for the Social Studies (NCSS) hosted by the Zinn Education Project

Zinn Speaking About his Book ~ A Power Governments Cannot Suppress - one hour speech by C-SPAN

Howard Zinn on Marxism, Anarchism, and the Paris Commune interviewed by Sasha Lilley, November 5, 2009

Howard Zinn (1922-2010): A Tribute to the Legendary Historian with Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Naomi Klein and Anthony Arnove

documentary featuring interviews with Howard Zinn and others

Zinn on Class in America - Interview series on The Real News (TRNN) (6 videos) - April 2009

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Name	Tim Tebow
Width	225px
Caption	Tebow at a Jacksonville Jaguars home game where he was honored at halftime in December 2007
Currentteam	Denver Broncos
Currentnumber	15
Currentpositionplain	Quarterback
Birthdate	August 14, 1987
Birthplace	Makati City, Philippines
Heightft	6
Heightin	3
Weight	245
College	Florida
Draftyear	2010
Draftround	1
Draftpick	25
Debutyear	2010
Debutteam	Denver Broncos
Pastteams
Status	Active
Highlights
Statweek	17
Statseason	2010
Statlabel1	TD–INT
Statvalue1	5-3
Statlabel2	Passing yards
Statvalue2	654
Statlabel3	QB Rating
Statvalue3	82.1
Statlabel4	Rushing Yards
Statvalue4	227
Statlabel5	Rushing Touchdowns
Statvalue5	6
Nfl	TEB603856

Timothy Richard "Tim" Tebow (; born August 14, 1987) is an American football quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Broncos as the 25th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football at Florida.

Tebow played quarterback for Nease High School in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida and was ranked among the top quarterback prospects in the nation as a high school senior. He ultimately chose to attend the University of Florida. Tebow was a dual threat quarterback, adept at rushing and passing the football. As a college freshman, the Gators' coaches largely used him as a change of pace to the team's more traditional passing quarterback, Chris Leak. Tebow contributed to the Gators' 2006 college football season as a key back-up, helping the team win college football's national championship game for the first time since 1996.

During the 2007 season, Tebow was Florida's starting quarterback and became the first college football player to both rush and pass for 20 or more touchdowns in a single season and the first college sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy. In addition to winning the Heisman Trophy, his 2007 performance earned him the Maxwell Award as the nation's top football player, the Davey O'Brien Award as the nation's best quarterback and the James E. Sullivan Award as the nation's most outstanding amateur athlete in any sport. In 2008, Tebow led Florida to its second national championship in three years. He was named the offensive MVP of the national championship game.

Early years

as a high school senior.]] Tebow was born in Makati City in the Philippines, the son of Pamela (née Pemberton) and Robert Ramsey Tebow, who were serving as Christian missionaries at the time. While pregnant, Pam suffered a life-threatening infection with a pathogenic amoeba. Because of the drugs used to rouse her from a coma and to treat her dysentery, the fetus experienced a severe placental abruption. Doctors expected a stillbirth and recommended an abortion to protect her life. In 1996, legislation was passed in Florida allowing homeschooled students to compete in local high school sporting events. The law specifies that homeschooled students may participate on the team of the local school in the school district in which they live. The Tebows lived in Jacksonville, Florida, and Tim played linebacker and tight end at the local Trinity Christian Academy for one season. Tebow's preferred position was quarterback, but Trinity football team's offense did not rely on passing the football, so he began to explore his options to play for a new high school. He decided to attend Nease High School, which under head coach Craig Howard was known for having a passing offense. With the rest of his family living on a farm in Duval County, Tim and his mother moved into an apartment in nearby St. Johns County, making him eligible to play for the football team at Nease. His performance soon turned heads and led to a minor controversy regarding the fact that he was a home-schooled student having his choice of school to play for.

As a junior at Nease, Tebow gained prominence as he became a major college football quarterback prospect and was named the state of Florida's Player of the Year. He would repeat as Player of the Year in his senior season. During his senior season he led the Nease Panthers to a state title, earned All-State honors, was named Florida's Mr. Football and a Parade magazine high school All-American. Tebow finished his high school career with 9,810 passing yards, 3,186 rushing yards, 95 passing touchdowns and 62 rushing touchdowns. He played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas which features the top 78 senior high school football players in the nation and is shown nationally on NBC television.

Tebow was considered one of the nation's top recruits and was the subject of an ESPN "Faces in Sports" documentary. The segment was titled "Tim Tebow: The Chosen One", and focused on Tim's homeschool controversy and missionary work in the Philippines, as well as his exploits on the field of play and the college recruiting process. Tim Tebow was also featured in Sports Illustrated on the "Faces in the Crowd" page. In 2007 he was named to FHSAA's All-Century Team that listed the Top 33 football players in the state of Florida's 100 year history of high school football.

Despite having family ties to the University of Florida, where his parents first met as students, Tebow remained open-minded during the recruiting process and became very close to Alabama coach Mike Shula. After careful consideration he decided to play for Urban Meyer's Florida Gators. One of the reasons he chose Florida was because of Meyer's spread option offense, an offense for which Tebow was deemed an archetypal quarterback.

Tebow spent the last three summers before enrolling at the University of Florida in the Philippines, assisting with his father's orphanage and missionary work.

In answer to a 2009 interview question, Tebow stated that he was a virgin. The statement was subject to much discussion about whether the question was necessary, including criticism of the reporter who originally asked.

Effect on homeschooling movement

On January 7, 2007, Tebow was featured prominently in an ESPN "Outside The Lines" feature on homeschooled athletes seeking equal access to high school athletics in other states. Because a homeschooler's access to public and private school athletic functions vary by state, Tebow and New York Jets defensive end Jason Taylor (who was allowed to play at his local high school in Pennsylvania) argue in favor of extending the right to play for local teams to more states.

Upon becoming the first home-schooled athlete to be nominated for the Heisman Trophy, Tebow remarked, "That's really cool. A lot of times people have this stereotype of homeschoolers as not very athletic – it's like, go win a spelling bee or something like that – it's an honor for me to be the first one to do that."

Tebow's example inspired equal access supporters in Alabama to name their bill in the Alabama Legislature "The Tim Tebow Bill". The bill, which is pending in the Alabama Legislature, will allow Alabama homeschool athletes to play for their local high school teams just as Tebow did in Florida.

In January 2009, the "Tebow bill" was introduced in the Kentucky General Assembly. This bill, which is still pending, is also modeled after Florida state law, allowing homeschool athletes to play for their local sports teams.

Tebow received the 2008 Quaqua Protégé Award as an outstanding home-education graduate.

College career

As one of the most highly recruited quarterback prospects in the nation, Tebow received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Urban Meyer's Florida Gators football team from 2006 to 2009. From his freshman season in 2006, when he was a backup behind the Gators' career passing yardage leader, Chris Leak, to his Heisman Trophy-winning sophomore season in 2007, to his BCS Championship-winning junior season in 2008, to his 13–1 senior season, Tebow left an indelible legacy on the Florida Gators football program.

2006

Tebow started his career at Florida in the 2006 "Orange and Blue" Spring scrimmage, where he completed 15 of 21 pass attempts for 197 yards and one touchdown. Coach Urban Meyer declared that Leak would remain the starting quarterback despite the expectations and performance of Tebow in the game. Prior to the 2006 season, Tebow was listed by Sports Illustrated as college football's future top mobile quarterback. Although Tebow remained the freshman backup behind senior Chris Leak throughout the season, Tebow was a significant contributor to the Gators' 2006 success.

Tebow made his college debut coming off the bench behind Chris Leak in a goal line situation against Southern Miss. He rushed for a touchdown on a designed quarterback scramble on his first play. In his next game, he led the team in rushing yards against UCF.

Tebow made his SEC debut against the Tennessee Volunteers on September 16. His performance included a ten-yard run on his first carry and converting a critical fourth down near the end of the game, which led to the Gators' go-ahead touchdown.

Tebow's biggest game in the season came against the LSU Tigers on October 7, where he accounted for all three of the Gators' touchdowns, passing for two and rushing for another. Tebow had a one-yard run on the goal line for his first score, a one-yard "jump pass" to tight end Tate Casey, in which he jumped in the air and double-pumped his arm before releasing the ball, and a 35-yard play-action pass to wide receiver Louis Murphy.

Tebow played a role in the Gators' victory in the 2007 BCS National Championship Game against Ohio State. He threw for one touchdown and rushed for another, finishing with 39 rushing yards. He finished 2006 with the second-most rushing yards on the Gator team.

2007

Tebow was named as one of the "Breakout Players of 2007" for college football by Sporting News, and was named the starter at quarterback for the Florida Gators before the 2007 season. The Gators' offense in 2007 was expected to be similar to what Urban Meyer used at Utah, since Meyer views Tebow as "very similar to Alex Smith." Smith was quarterback for Meyer's last team at Utah in 2004, which became the first team from outside the BCS conferences to play in and win a BCS bowl game, and went on to be the top overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft.

There were some questions about how Tebow would perform as a full time passer, but he opened the year 13-of-17 for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns in his starting debut against Western Kentucky University. Tebow finished the regular season with 217 completed passes in 317 attempts for 3132 yards gained and 29 touchdowns with six interceptions—giving him the second highest passing efficiency in the nation with 177.8. Additionally, he rushed 194 times for 838 yards and 22 touchdowns on the ground through 11 games. Tebow's 51 touchdowns were more than 87 Division 1-A Teams scored.

In week 4 of the season, when the Gators faced Ole Miss in an SEC match-up, Tebow broke the school record for rushing yards by a quarterback in one game, with 166 yards. On November 3, against Vanderbilt, Tebow rushed for two touchdowns to break the all-time SEC quarterback TD record in a single season. Against LSU, leading by 10 in the 4th quarter, Tebow was largely ineffective and had a turnover as he was unable to lead his team to any score, and LSU came back to win the game. LSU went on to win the 2007 National Championship.

In a game versus the South Carolina Gamecocks on November 10, Tebow broke the school record for rushing touchdowns in a season and set a career high with 5 rushing touchdowns. This brought his season total to 19 rushing touchdowns, which tied him for the SEC record for any player in a season (shared with Shaun Alexander, Garrison Hearst, and LaBrandon Toefield). He also broke Danny Wuerffel's conference record for touchdowns accounted for in a single season with 42.

On November 17, Tebow had a record day against Florida Atlantic, he scored his 20th rushing touchdown to set a new conference record for most rushing touchdowns in a season. He also became the only person ever in NCAA History to score 20 touchdowns rushing and 20 touchdowns passing in the same season.

After the season was over, Tebow became a favorite for the Heisman Trophy, given to the most outstanding college football player of the year, which he won on December 8 in New York City. He also received the Davey O'Brien Award, annually given to the best quarterback in the nation, on February 18 in Fort Worth, Texas.

While the Gators finished the season in Orlando, Florida with a 41–35 loss to Michigan in the 2008 Capital One Bowl, Tebow maintained his record for both rushing and passing for at least one touchdown in every game played, and he raised the record for total touchdowns accounted for in a single season to 55. He played with a soft cast on the hand he broke in his previous game.

Heisman Trophy

On December 8, 2007, Tebow was awarded the Heisman Trophy, finishing ahead of Arkansas's Darren McFadden, Hawaii's Colt Brennan, and Missouri's Chase Daniel. He was the first to have ever won the Heisman Trophy. He finished the regular season as the only player in FBS history to rush and pass for at least 20 touchdowns in both categories in the same season. He had 32 passing touchdowns, and 23 rushing touchdowns. Tebow's rushing TD total in the 2007 season is the most recorded for any position in SEC history. The total also set the record for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in FBS history. Tebow became the third UF player to win the Heisman Trophy, joining Steve Spurrier and Danny Wuerffel.

2008

Before the 2007 season had even come to a close, Florida coach Urban Meyer stated that he would likely use two quarterbacks during the 2008 season to take some of the workload off of Tebow's shoulders. Tebow led the Gators in rushing in 2007 but also had to play through a bruised shoulder and broken non-throwing hand. In doing so, he joined a growing list of athletes, coaches and universities to make the choice not to accept this dubious honor.

On November 1, 2008, playing against the Georgia Bulldogs, Tebow ran for his 37th rushing touchdown, breaking the school record previously held by former Florida running back Emmitt Smith.

Tebow led the Gators to a 12–1 record in 2008. After clinching the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division title, the team played for and won the SEC title in the 2008 SEC Championship Game against the Alabama Crimson Tide. The win secured the #2 ranking in the final BCS standings, which earned the Gators the chance to play the #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners in the 2009 BCS National Championship Game, which they won 24–14.

On December 13, 2008, Tebow finished third in the 2008 Heisman Trophy voting, with Oklahoma's Sam Bradford taking the top spot followed by Texas' Colt McCoy, despite Tebow receiving the most first-place votes. Tebow also won the Maxwell Award in 2008, becoming only the second player to win the award twice.

On January 11, 2009, at a national championship celebration held at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Tebow announced that he would not make himself eligible for the 2009 NFL Draft, but would instead return for his senior season at Florida. One day later, he had surgery on his right shoulder to remove a bone spur in an effort to reduce chronic inflammation.

2009

Tebow opened the 2009 season continuing a streak of throwing and running for a touchdown in blowout wins over Charleston Southern and Troy. He ran for a touchdown in the third game, a win against Tennessee, but failed to throw for a touchdown for the first time since his freshman season.

Tebow started against Kentucky despite suffering from a respiratory illness and taking two bags of intravenous fluids before the game. He ran for two touchdowns to put him in 2nd place on the all-time SEC touchdown list and he also threw for a touchdown. Late in the third quarter he was hit in the chest by Kentucky defensive end Taylor Wyndham and then in the back of the head while falling by knee of Florida tackle Marcus Gilbert. Upon impact, he briefly displayed a prominent Fencing Response with his left arm, indicating that a concussion had taken place. He lay motionless for several minutes before being helped to the sidelines. Once there, he vomited. He was taken by ambulance to the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center. A CT scan showed no bleeding in the brain, with the injury described as a mild concussion. Coach Urban Meyer stayed the night in the hospital with Tebow, who was discharged in the morning.

On October 31, 2009, while playing against the Georgia Bulldogs, Tebow ran for his 50th and 51st rushing touchdowns, breaking the SEC career record previously held by former Georgia running back Herschel Walker. His penultimate collegiate game, the 2009 SEC Championship saw him once again facing the University of Alabama. After a poor performance from the QB, the game ended in a Florida loss with Tebow on the sideline in tears. In the 2010 Sugar Bowl, Tebow's last college game, he had 533 yards of total offense—a record for a Bowl Championship Series game—and accounted for four touchdowns in a 51–24 Florida win against Cincinnati.

Tebow graduated from the University of Florida in December 2009 with a bachelor's degree in family, youth and community sciences.

Statistics

by media because it would have affected him, banned messages on eye paint. Tebow stated of the searches "It just goes to show you the influence and the platform that you have as a student-athlete and as a quarterback at Florida". An NCAA spokesman said "When this rule was proposed the committee did not focus on any one team or student athlete. That measure reinforces what the intended use of eye black is, which is to shade the eyes from the sun." Former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy said he would pick Tebow with a top 10 pick, and would take him over any quarterback in the 2010 draft. On the other hand, NFL analyst Mel Kiper, Jr. believes Tebow does not have the intangibles to play quarterback in the NFL. "I don't think he can be a fulltime quarterback. I don't think he can be the quarterback of the future for you, but I do think in the third round, maybe the second round, he'll be the same as Pat White", said Kiper.

Tebow was particularly mentioned as a potential third round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars, his hometown team. Some, including Florida governor Charlie Crist, believe that Tebow could be the remedy for dwindling Jaguars ticket sales at EverBank Field. Early in the 2009 season, Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver stated: "He (Tebow) clearly is an outstanding football player and would be an asset to any football organization. Clearly there's going to be a groundswell for Tebow, and we'll have to make that evaluation if we have a draft pick that's going to be anywhere near him." Not everyone in the organization agreed, as Jaguar lineman Uche Nwaneri posted doubts about Tebow's potential NFL success on his team's website message board.

Denver Broncos

2010

Tebow was drafted by the Denver Broncos 25th overall in the 2010 NFL Draft. The Broncos received the pick from the Baltimore Ravens for draft picks in the second, third and fourth rounds of the 2010 NFL Draft. Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels said about his two first-round selections, which included Tebow, "We want players who are tough, smart, have great character, love football and are passionate about coming here and helping the Broncos win a championship. I think both players fit that role, and I think that's something that we're looking for in all of our players. What we're trying to build here is team chemistry and a team that cares about winning and winning a championship, and that's it." He also added specifically about Tebow, "He has all the traits you look for. It's a good pick."

ESPN's Bill Williamson said, "Josh McDaniels' legacy is Tim Tebow."

When asked how Tebow will be used, McDaniels commented that Tebow probably won't start at QB as a rookie; although, he said he'll "play when he's ready." He also said that there could be some packages custom-made for Tebow right away and indicated that he could initially contribute to Denver's variation of the wildcat formation, called the wild horse formation.

Tebow wore number 15 on his jersey for the Broncos, the same number he wore in college. He set an NFL Draft record for jersey sales. He also had the best-selling jersey in the entire NFL each month since being drafted. The Broncos, as a whole, led the NFL among all teams in jersey sales as well.

On July 29, 2010, Tebow signed a five-year contract with the Broncos that had a base value of $11.25 million (he can make as much as $33 million through certain performance-based incentives). The contract also included $8.7 million guaranteed.

On October 17, 2010, Tebow scored his first NFL touchdown, which was a five-yard running play against the New York Jets. On November 14, 2010, Tebow threw a three-yard touchdown pass to Spencer Larsen on his first career NFL pass attempt, as part of a 49-29 home victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. He also added a one-yard rushing touchdown in the game. His performance against the Chiefs earned him his first Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week honor.

Tebow started his first NFL game on December 19, 2010, which was a 39-23 road loss to the Oakland Raiders. Tebow completed eight of 16 passes for 138 yards, including a 33-yard touchdown pass. He also rushed for 78 yards, 40 of which came on a touchdown run in the first quarter of the game. It was the longest touchdown run for a quarterback in Broncos history and the longest touchdown run in NFL history for a quarterback in his first start. Tebow became just the third quarterback in NFL history to throw for a touchdown of 30 or more yards and run for a touchdown of 40 or more yards in the same game. He finished the game with a 100.5 passer rating, the highest ever in team history for a professional debut.

Tebow's first career victory came in his second start on December 26, 2010. The Broncos defeated the Houston Texans, 24-23, in Denver. Tebow helped rally the Broncos from a 17-0 deficit at halftime, as he finished the game with 308 passing yards and one touchdown pass. He also added a fourth quarter rushing touchdown, which capped the comeback. Tebow received his second Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week honor following his performance.

Tebow finished his rookie season playing sparingly in six games as a back-up (primarily on plays involving the wild horse formation, which is Denver's variation of the wildcat formation) before starting the last three games of the Broncos' season. He threw for a total of 654 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. He also rushed for 227 yards and six touchdowns. Tebow became the first quarterback in NFL history to rush for a touchdown in each of his first three career starts.

Statistics

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center;" ! rowspan=2|Season ! rowspan=2|Team ! colspan=3|Games ! colspan=8|Passing ! colspan=2|Sacks ! colspan=4|Rushing ! colspan=2|Fumbles |- ! GP !! GS !! W-L ! Comp !! Att !! Pct !! Yds !! Y/Att !! TD !! INT !! Rating ! # !! Yds ! Att !! Yds !! Avg !! TD ! FUM !! Lost |- ! 2010 !! rowspan=4|Denver Broncos | 9 || 3 || 1-2 | 41 || 82 || 50.0 || 654 || 8.0 || 5 || 3 || 82.1 | 6 || 26 | 43 || 227 || 5.3 || 6 | 1 || 0 |}

In the media

Tebow appeared on the September 2008 cover of Men's Fitness magazine.

On April 8, 2010, Tebow was announced as the cover athlete for all three game platforms of the video game NCAA Football 11.

Tebow is a spokesperson for Jockey International and FRS Health Energy.

Tebow was the first quarterback featured in ESPN's "Year of the Quarterback" series in 2011. The documentary, entitled "Tim Tebow: Everything in Between," followed him from the 2010 Sugar Bowl to the 2010 NFL Draft. It premiered on January 6, 2011.

Super Bowl Ad

A nationwide controversy surrounded Tebow's decision to appear in an ad funded by Focus on the Family that was broadcast during Super Bowl XLIV on CBS. There were two 30-second commercials, which included Tebow's personal story as part of an overall pro-life stance. The abortion issue was not specifically mentioned in the ad. A national columnist for CBSSports.com, Gregg Doyel, objected to CBS' decision to show the ad during the Super Bowl.

Awards and honors

College

2006 season

SEC All-Freshman TeamSEC Freshman of the Week

2007 season

Walter Camp Foundation National Offensive Player of the WeekSoutheastern Conference Offensive Player of the Week, three timesDavey O'Brien Award winner

Heisman Trophy winner

Maxwell Award winner

Sporting News Player of the Year

Harley Award winner

NCAA QB of the Year First-team Academic All-AmericanManning Award finalistRivals.com National Offensive Player of the YearRivals.com SEC Offensive Player of the Year First-team All-SEC (Associated Press,Rivals.comAssociated Press Player of the Year

First-team All-American by: Associated Press, Football Writers Association of America, Walter Camp Football Foundation, Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, CBS Sports, College Football News, Rivals.com, and Scout.com

James E. Sullivan Award, awarded to the Nations top amateur athlete Roy F. Kramer SEC Male Athlete of the Year. Third Florida Gator to win this award, Danny Wuerffel (won twice) and Ryan Lochte. ESPY for Best Male College Athlete

2008 season

First-team All-America by College Football News.

Disney Spirit Award

ESPY for Best Male College Athlete

Heisman Trophy finalist

Manning Award winner

Maxwell Award winner

Southeastern Conference Offensive Player of the Week

2008 SEC Championship Game Most Valuable Player

First-team All-SEC (AP, Coaches, Rivals.com)

Southeastern Conference Offensive Player of the Year

Southeastern Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year

Wuerffel Trophy winner

First-team Academic All-American Coaches, Rivals.com)

Second-team All-America (Walter Camp Foundation)

Southeastern Conference Offensive Player of the Year

Sugar Bowl Most Outstanding PlayerSports Illustrated College football Player of the Decade

Professional

2× Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week - Weeks 10 and 16 (2010)

See also

2007 College Football All-America Team

2008 College Football All-America Team

2009 College Football All-America Team

List of Denver Broncos first-round draft picks

List of Florida Gators football players

List of Heisman Trophy winners

List of SEC Most Valuable Players

List of University of Florida alumni

References

Bibliography

Carlson, Norm, University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). ISBN 0-7948-2298-3.

External links

Official website

Tebow's Profile on the University of Florida website

Player bio on the Gator website

SI Player Card

Category:1987 births Category:Living people Category:All-American college football players Category:American Christians Category:American football quarterbacks Category:Denver Broncos players Category:Florida Gators football players Category:Heisman Trophy winners Category:James E. Sullivan Award recipients Category:Maxwell Award winners Category:Parade High School All-Americans (football) Category:People from Jacksonville, Florida Category:People from Makati City Category:People from St. Johns County, Florida Category:Players of American football from Florida Category:U.S. Army All-American football players

This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.

				Passing									Rushing
Season	Team	GP		Rating	Att	Comp	Pct	Yds	TD	INT	Sack		Att	Yds	TD
2006	Florida Gators	14		201.7	33	22	66.7	358	5	1	0		89	469	8
2007	Florida Gators	13		172.5	350	234	66.9	3286	32	6	13		210	895	23
2008	Florida Gators	14		172.4	298	192	64.4	2747	30	4	15		176	673	12
2009	Florida Gators	14		155.6	304	213	70.1	2895	21	5	25		217	910	14

Order	44th
Office	President of the United States
Term start	January 20, 2009
Vicepresident	Joe Biden
Predecessor	George W. Bush
Birth date	August 04, 1961
Birth place	Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Birthname	Barack Hussein Obama II former member of United Church of Christ
Signature	Barack Obama signature.svg
Website	Official White House Website
Footnotes	}}

The Presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20, 2009 when he became the 44th President of the United States. Obama was a United States Senator from Illinois at the time of his victory over Arizona Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Obama became the first African-American president of the United States.

His policy decisions have addressed a global financial crisis and have included changes in tax policies, legislation to reform the United States health care industry, foreign policy initiatives and the phasing out of detention of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. He attended the G-20 London summit and later visited U.S. troops in Iraq. On the tour of various European countries following the G-20 summit, he announced in Prague that he intended to negotiate substantial reduction in the world's nuclear arsenals, en-route to their eventual extinction. In October 2009, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

Transition period

The presidential transition period began following Obama's election to the presidency on November 4, 2008. The Obama-Biden Transition Project was co-chaired by John Podesta, Valerie Jarrett, and Pete Rouse. During the transition period, Obama announced his nominations for his Cabinet and administration. Shortly after the election on November 4, Obama chose Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois as his Chief of Staff. Currently the White House Chief of Staff of the Executive Office of the President of the United States is William M. Daley.

Cabinet nominations included former Democratic primary opponents Hillary Rodham Clinton for Secretary of State and Bill Richardson for Secretary of Commerce (although the latter withdrew on January 4, 2009). Obama appointed Eric Holder as his Attorney General, the first African-American appointed to that position. He also nominated Timothy F. Geithner to serve as Secretary of the Treasury. On December 1, Obama announced that he had asked Robert Gates to remain as Secretary of Defense, making Gates the first Defense head to carry over from a president of a different party. He nominated former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice to the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, which he restored to a Cabinet-level position.

During his transition, he maintained a website Change.gov, on which he wrote blogs to readers and uploaded video addresses by many of the members of his new cabinet. He announced strict rules for federal lobbyists, restricting them from financially contributing to his administration and forcing them to stop lobbying while working for him. The website also allowed individuals to share stories and visions with each other and the transition team in what was called the Citizen's Briefing Book, which was given to Obama shortly after his inauguration. Most of the information from Change.gov was transferred to the official White House website Whitehouse.gov just after Obama's inauguration.

Inauguration

Barack Obama was inaugurated on January 20, 2009. He officially assumed the presidency at 12:00 noon, EST, and completed the oath of office at 12:05 PM, EST. He delivered his inaugural address immediately following his oath. After his speech, he went to the President's Room in the House Wing of the Capitol and signed three documents: a commemorative proclamation, a list of Cabinet appointments, and a list of sub-Cabinet appointments, before attending a luncheon with congressional and administration leaders and invited guests. To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of former President Abraham Lincoln, the same Bible that was used for Lincoln's inauguration was used in Obama's inauguration.

In administering the oath, Chief Justice John G. Roberts misplaced the word "faithfully" and erroneously replaced the phrase "President of the United States" with "President to the United States" before restating the phrase correctly; since Obama initially repeated the incorrect form, some scholars argued the President should take the oath again. On January 21, Roberts readministered the oath to Obama in a private ceremony in the White House Map Room, making him the seventh U.S. president to retake the oath; White House Counsel Greg Craig said Obama took the oath from Roberts a second time out of an "abundance of caution".

First 100 days

Expectations

Obama's 100th day in office was April 29, 2009. In his first post-election interview with 60 Minutes, Obama said that he has been studying Roosevelt's first 100 days, while adding, "The first hundred days is going to be important, but it's probably going to be the first thousand days that makes the difference."

Obama's first 100 days were highly anticipated ever since he became the presumptive nominee. Several news outlets created web pages dedicated to covering the subject. Commentators weighed in on challenges and priorities within domestic, foreign, economic, and environmental policy. CNN lists a number of economic issues that "Obama and his team will have to tackle in their first 100 days", foremost among which is passing and implementing a recovery package to deal with the financial crisis.

The New York Times devoted a five-part series, which was spread out over two weeks, to anticipatory analysis of Obama's first hundred days. Each day, the analysis of a political expert was followed by freely edited blog postings from readers. The writers compared Obama's prospects with the situations of Franklin D. Roosevelt (January 16, Jean Edward Smith), John F. Kennedy (January 19, Richard Reeves), Lyndon B. Johnson (January 23, Robert Dallek), Ronald Reagan (January 27, Lou Cannon), and Richard Nixon.

Legislation and executive orders

Within minutes of taking the Oath of Office on January 20, Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, issued an order suspending last-minute federal regulations pushed through by outgoing President George W. Bush, planning to review everything still pending. Due to the economic crisis, the President enacted a pay freeze for Senior White House Staff making more than $100,000 per year, as well as announcing stricter guidelines regarding lobbyists in an effort to raise the ethical standards of the White House. He asked for a waiver to his own new rules, however, for the appointments of William Lynn to the position of Deputy Defense Secretary, Jocelyn Frye to the position of director of policy and projects in the Office of the First Lady, and Cecilia Muñoz to the position of director of intergovernmental affairs in the executive office of the president, leading to some criticism of hypocrisy and violation of his pledge for governmental openness.

In his first week in office, Obama signed an executive order suspending all the ongoing proceedings of Guantanamo military commission and ordering the detention facility to be shut down within the year. He also signed an order requiring the Army Field Manual to be used as a guide for terror interrogations, banning torture and other coercive techniques, such as waterboarding. Obama also issued an executive order entitled "Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel", setting stricter limitations on incoming executive branch employees and placing tighter restrictions on lobbying in the White House. Obama signed two Presidential Memoranda concerning energy independence, ordering the Department of Transportation to establish higher fuel efficiency standards before 2011 models are released and allowing states to raise their emissions standards above the national standard. He also ended the Mexico City Policy, which banned federal grants to international groups that provide abortion services or counseling.

In his first week he also established a policy of producing a weekly Saturday morning video address available on Whitehouse.gov and YouTube, much like those released during his transition period. The first address had been viewed by 600,000 YouTube viewers by the next afternoon.

The first piece of legislation Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 on January 29, which revised the statute of limitations for filing pay discrimination lawsuits. Lilly Ledbetter joined Obama and his wife, Michelle, as he signed the bill, fulfilling his campaign pledge to nullify Ledbetter v. Goodyear. On February 3, he signed the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIP), expanding health care from 7 million children under the plan to 11 million.

, Colorado. Vice President Joe Biden stands behind him.]] After much debate, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was passed by both House and Senate on February 13, 2009. Originally intended to be a bipartisan bill, the passage of the bill was largely along party lines. No Republicans voted for it in the House, and three moderate Republicans voted for it in the Senate (Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania). The bill combined tax breaks with spending on infrastructure projects, extension of welfare benefits, and education. The final cost of the bill was $787 billion, and almost $1.2 trillion with debt service included. Obama signed the Act into law on February 17, 2009 in Denver, Colorado.

On March 9, 2009, Obama lifted restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, and in doing so, called into question some of George W. Bush's signing statements. Obama stated that he too would employ signing statements if he deems upon review that a portion of a bill is unconstitutional, and he has issued several signing statements.

Early in his presidency, Obama signed a law raising the tobacco tax 62 cents on a pack of cigarettes. The tax is to be "used to finance a major expansion of health insurance for children", and "help some [smokers] to quit and persuade young people not to start". At the end of his first week, 68% of respondents in a Gallup poll approved of how Obama was handling his job, matching the early approval ratings of Dwight D. Eisenhower and trailing only John F. Kennedy in post-World War II presidents.

Throughout early February polls showed scattered approval ratings: 62% (CBS News), 64% (USA Today/Gallup), 66% (Gallup), and 76% in an outlier poll (CNN/Opinion Research). Gallup reported the congressional address in late February boosted his approval from a term-low of 59% to 67%.

Throughout autumn 2009, Rasmussen estimated Obama's approval as fluctuating between 45 and 52% and his disapproval between 48 and 54%; as of November 11, Pew Research estimated Obama's approval between 51 and 55% and his disapproval between 33 and 37% since July.

Handling of the economy

Rasmussen reported in mid-February 2009 that 55% of voters gave Obama good or excellent marks on his handling of the economy. In early March, a Wall Street Journal survey of 49 economists gave Obama an average grade of 59 out of 100, with 42% of the respondents surveyed giving the administration's economic policies a grade below 60 percent. In comparison, only 30% of those same economists considered the response of governments around the world to the global recession to have been adequate. In April, a Gallup poll showed trust in Obama's economic policy with 71% saying they had "a fair amount" or "a great deal" of confidence in Obama's handling of the economy, higher than for Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, or leaders of Congress. Another Gallup poll in June showed 55% of Americans approved Obama's overall handling of the economy, but 48% and 51% disapproved of his handling of the federal budget deficit and controlling federal spending, respectively. A CBS News poll taken August 27–31 showed 53% of those polled approved of his handling of the economy. A Rasmussen poll taken on November 12 found 45% of Americans rating Obama's handling of the economy as poor and 39% rating him as doing a good or excellent job. They found 72% of Democrats rated his handling of the economy as good or excellent, while only 10% of Republicans and 27% of voters not affiliated with either party agreed.

2010

On March 25, 2010, following his signing of landmark health care reform legislation into law, Obama's polling was revealed by Bloomberg to be 50%, with higher marks for relations with other countries (58%) and his running of the war in Afghanistan (54%). "Obama's approval rating is roughly equal to what Bill Clinton had at this point in his presidency, according to data maintained by Gallup (and) higher than the 45 percent Ronald Reagan recorded in April 1982" and more favorable than Democrats or Republicans currently in office. They found Obama's approval rating was at 85% among Democrats, compared with 46% among independents and 11% among Republicans.

Fox News released the results of two polls on April 8–9, 2010. The first showed a drop in Obama's approval rating to 43%, with 48% disapproving. In that poll, Democrats approved of Obama's performance 80–12%, while independents disapproved 49–38%. The other poll, which concentrated on the economy, showed disapproval of Obama's handling of the economy by a 53–42% margin, with 62% saying they were dissatisfied with the handling of the federal deficit. According to a Gallup Poll released April 10, 2010, President Obama had a 45% approval rating, with 48% disapproving. In a poll from Rasmussen Reports, released April 10, 2010, 47% approved of the President's performance, while 53% disapproved.

Major legislation

Legislation signed

2009

January 29: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

February 4: Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act

February 11: DTV Delay Act

February 17: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

March 30: Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009

April 21: Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act

May 20: Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act

May 20: Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009

May 22: Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009

June 22: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

August 6: Cash For Clunkers Extension Act

October 22:

October 28: Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act

October 30: Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act

November 6: Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009

2010

January 27: Emergency Aid to American Survivors of Haiti Earthquake Act

March 4: Travel Promotion Act

March 18: Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act)

March 23: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

March 30: Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010

May 5: Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010

May 17: Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act

July 1: Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act

July 21: Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

July 22: Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010

July 22: Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010

August 10: SPEECH Act of 2010

September 27: Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010

December 13: Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010

December 17: Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010

December 22: Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010

2011

January 2: James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 () January 4: Food Safety and Modernization Act, ,

Personnel

Cabinet appointees

Twenty-two members of the Obama administration are either in the United States Cabinet (15) or are in positions considered to be Cabinet-level (7). The members of the Cabinet are the heads of the fifteen major departments (State, Defense, Justice, etc.), and the seven cabinet-level positions are the Vice President, White House Chief of Staff, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador to the United Nations, and the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. Since Robert Gates was a member of the previous administration, his letter of resignation (a formality at the end of a President's term) was simply not accepted, and he did not need confirmation. On January 19, 2009, Senate Democratic leaders requested fifteen of the twenty positions to be ratified by unanimous consent, and seven gained unanimous confirmation by voice vote the next day: Ken Salazar, Steven Chu, Arne Duncan, Peter Orszag, Eric Shinseki, Tom Vilsack, and Janet Napolitano. On January 21, Obama presided over the swearing in of the seven unanimous nominees. Later that day, the Senate confirmed Hillary Clinton by a 94–2 vote. On January 26, the Senate confirmed Geithner by a 60–34 margin.

At the conclusion of Obama's first week as President, Hilda Solis, Tom Daschle, Ron Kirk, and Eric Holder had yet to be confirmed, and there had been no second appointment for Secretary of Commerce. and on February 3, Obama announced Senator Judd Gregg as his second nomination for Secretary of Commerce. Daschle withdrew later that day amid controversy over his failure to pay income taxes and potential conflicts of interest related to the speaking fees he accepted from health care interests. Solis was later confirmed by a vote of 80-17 on February 24,

Gregg, who was the leading Republican negotiator and author of the TARP program in the Senate, after publication that he had a multi-million dollar investment in the Bank of America, on February 12, withdrew his nomination as Secretary of Commerce, citing "irresolvable conflicts" with President Obama and his staff over how to conduct the 2010 census and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. . Former Washington governor Gary Locke was nominated on February 26 as Obama's third choice for Commerce Secretary and confirmed on March 24 by voice vote.

On March 2, Obama introduced Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius as his second choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services. He also introduced Nancy-Ann DeParle as head of the new White House Office of Health Reform, which he suggested would work closely with the Department of Health and Human Services. At the end of March, Sebelius was the only remaining Cabinet member yet to be confirmed. Though Geithner was confirmed, and Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, thought Daschle would have been confirmed, Daschle withdrew his nomination on February 3. A senior administration official said that Killefer's tax issues dealt with household help. but she was later confirmed on February 24. While pundits puzzled over U.S. Trade Representative-designate Ron Kirk's failure to be confirmed by March 2009, it was reported on March 2 that Kirk owed over $10,000 in back taxes. Kirk agreed to pay them in exchange for Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus's aid in speeding up the confirmation process; he was later confirmed on March 18.

Notable non-Cabinet positions

Appointees serve at the pleasure of the President and were nominated by Barack Obama except as noted.

Sheila Bair, Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation¹

Richard Holbrooke, special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan

Retired General James L. Jones, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs

George J. Mitchell, special envoy to the Middle East

Robert Mueller, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation²

Leon Panetta, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Christina Romer, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers

Mary Schapiro, Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission

Lawrence Summers, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of National Economic Council, succeeded by Gene Sperling

Paul Volcker, Chairman of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board

¹Appointed by George W. Bush in 2006 to a five-year term ²Appointed by George W. Bush in 2001 to a ten-year term

Judicial nominees

Supreme Court

Obama appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: Sonia Sotomayor 2009 Elena Kagan 2010

Other courts

Outside of the Supreme Court, by October 2009 Obama had nominated fewer than two dozen judges to fill judicial vacancies, of which there were close to 100. This has prompted some Democrats to criticize the pace of Obama's judicial appointments as too slow. In December 2009, Senator Patrick Leahy criticized Republicans for stalling those judicial nominations that had been made, noting that the Senate confirmed more district and circuit court nominees during the first year of the George W. Bush administration than it had approved by that point during the Barack Obama presidency.

As of July 2010, Obama's nominees to the district and circuit courts had been confirmed at a rate of only 43.5 percent, compared to 87.2 percent during Bill Clinton's administration and 91.3 percent for George W. Bush. The Center for American Progress, which compiled the data, commented:

Judicial confirmations slowed to a trickle on the day President Barack Obama took office. Filibusters, anonymous holds, and other obstructionary tactics have become the rule. Uncontroversial nominees wait months for a floor vote, and even district court nominees—low-ranking judges whose confirmations have never been controversial in the past—are routinely filibustered into oblivion. Nominations grind to a halt in many cases even after the Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously endorsed a nominee.

Policies

Economy

Upon entering office, Obama planned to center his attention on handling the global financial crisis. Even before his inauguration he lobbied Congress to pass an economic stimulus bill, which became the top priority during his first month in office. As President, Obama made a high profile trip to Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. to dialog with Congressional Republicans and advocate for the bill. On February 17, 2009, Obama signed into law a $787 billion plan that included spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks and incentives, and direct assistance to individuals. The tax provisions of the law reduced taxes for 98 per cent of taxpayers, bringing tax rates to their lowest levels in 60 years.

As part of the 2010 budget proposal, the Obama administration has proposed additional measures to attempt to stabilize the economy, including a $2–3 trillion measure aimed at stabilizing the financial system and freeing up credit. The program includes up to $1 trillion to buy toxic bank assets, an additional $1 trillion to expand a federal consumer loan program, and the $350 billion left in the Troubled Assets Relief Program. The plan also includes $50 billion intended to slow the wave of mortgage foreclosures.

and Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett about job creation in July 2010.]] In a July 2009 interview with ABC News, Vice President Biden was asked about the sustained increase of the U.S. unemployment rate from May 2007 to October 2009 despite the administration's multi-year economic stimulus package passed five months earlier. He responded "The truth is, we and everyone else, misread the economy. The figures we worked off of in January were the consensus figures and most of the blue chip indexes out there ... the truth is, there was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited." In October 2009, the national unemployment reached 10.1%, the highest since 1983. However by March 2010 the employment rate had decreased to 9.7% and 162,000 jobs were added in a single month, the most in three years. The White House indicates that 2 million jobs were created or saved due to the stimulus package in 2009 and self reporting by recipients of the grants, loans, and contracts portion of the package report that the package saved or created 608,317 jobs in the final three months of 2009.

The economy posted a 5.6% rise in annualized GDP for the fourth quarter of 2009. which was significantly higher than the Eurozone and Japanese GDP growth rates for the same period. The economy grew at a 3.2% annualized rate in the first quarter of 2010, slightly lower than analyst expectations.

During November–December 2010, Obama and a lame duck session of the 111th Congress focused on a dispute about the temporary Bush tax cuts, which were due to expire at the end of the year. Obama wanted to extend the tax cuts for taxpayers making less than $250,000 a year. Congressional Republicans agreed but also wanted to extend the tax cuts for those making over that amount, and refused to support any bill that did not do so. All the Republicans in the Senate also joined in saying that, until the tax dispute was resolved, they would filibuster to prevent consideration of any other legislation, except for bills to fund the U.S. government. On 7 December, Obama strongly defended a compromise agreement he had reached with the Republican congressional leadership that included a two-year extension of all the tax cuts, a 13-month extension of unemployment insurance, a one-year reduction in the FICA payroll tax, and other measures. On 10 December, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) led a filibuster against the compromise tax proposal, which lasted over eight hours. Obama persuaded many wary Democrats to support the bill. The $858 billion Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, which The Washington Post called the "the most significant tax bill in nearly a decade", passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress and was signed into law by Obama on December 17, 2010.

Ethics

Lobbying reform

Early in his presidential campaign, Obama stated that "they [lobbyists] won't find a job in my White House", but softened his stance later in the campaign. to William J. Lynn III, a lobbyist for Raytheon, to hold the position of Deputy Secretary of Defense; Ten additional waivers were announced in September, 2009.

Not all recent former lobbyists require waivers; those without waivers write letters of recusal stating issues from which they must refrain because of their previous jobs. Lobbyists in the administration include William Corr, an anti-tobacco lobbyist, as Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services and Tom Vilsack, who lobbied in 2007 for a national teachers union, as Secretary of Agriculture. and Mark Patterson, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's chief of staff, is a former lobbyist for Goldman Sachs. The pledge was twice broken during Obama's first month in office when he signed SCHIP legislation and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act with less than the full five days of "sunlight before signing". The administration has said that they are still "working through implementation procedures and some initial issues with the congressional calendar".

Obama plans to post a video address each week on the site,

On January 21, 2009, by executive order, Obama revoked Executive Order 13233, which had limited access to the records of former United States Presidents. Obama issued instructions to all agencies and departments in his administration to "adopt a presumption in favor" of Freedom of Information Act requests. In April 2009 the United States Department of Justice released four legal memos from the Bush administration to comply voluntarily with a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. The memos were written by John Yoo and signed by Jay Bybee and Steven Bradbury, then Principal Assistant Attorneys General to the Department of Justice, and addressed to John Rizzo, general counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency. The memos describe in detail controversial interrogation methods the CIA used on prisoners suspected of terrorism. Obama became personally involved in the decision to release the memos, which was opposed by former CIA directors Michael Hayden, Porter Goss, George Tenet and John Deutch.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act requires all recipients of the funds provided by the act to publish a plan for using the funds, along with purpose, cost, rationale, net job creation, and contact information about the plan to a website Recovery.gov so that the public can review and comment. Inspectors General from each department or executive agency will then review, as appropriate, any concerns raised by the public. Any findings of an Inspector General must be relayed immediately to the head of each department and published on Recovery.gov.

On June 16, 2009, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration in order to get information about the visits of coal company executives. Anne Weismann, the chief counsel for CREW, stated "The Obama administration has now taken exactly the same position as the Bush administration... I don't see how you can keep people from knowing who visits the White House and adhere to a policy of openness and transparency." On June 16, MSNBC reported that its more comprehensive request for visitor logs since Obama's January 20 inauguration had been denied. The administration announced that White House visitor logs will be made available to the public on an ongoing basis, with certain limitations, for visits occurring after September 15, 2009. Beginning on January 29, 2010, the White House did begin to release the names of its visitor records. Since that time, names of visitors (which includes not only tourists, but also names of union leaders, Wall Street executives, lobbyists, party chairs, philanthropists and celebrities), have been released. The names are released in huge batches up to 75,000 names at a time. Names are released 90–120 days after having visited the White House. The complete list of names is available online by accessing the official White House website.

Obama stated during the 2008 Presidential campaign that he would have negotiations for health care reform televised on C-SPAN, citing transparency as being the leverage needed to ensure that people stay involved in the process taking place in Washington. This did not fully happen and Politifact gives President Obama a "Promise Broken" rating on this issue. After White House press secretary Robert Gibbs initially avoided addressing the issue, President Obama himself acknowledged that he met with Democratic leaders behind closed doors to discuss how best to garner enough votes in order to merge the two (House and Senate) passed versions of the health care bill. Doing this violated the letter of the pledge, although Obama maintains that negotiations in several congressional committees were open, televised hearings. Obama also cited an independent ethics watchdog group describe his administration as the most transparent in recent history.

Foreign policy

and Barack Obama before the G20 summit in London on April 1, 2009.]] In his inaugural address, Obama suggested that he plans to begin the process of withdrawing from Iraq and continuing to focus on the war in Afghanistan. He also mentioned lessening the nuclear threat through "working tirelessly with old friends and former foes". He spoke about America's determination to combat terrorism, proclaiming America's spirit is "stronger and cannot be broken — you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you." To the Muslim world, Obama extended an invite to "a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect". He also said the USA would "extend a hand" to those "who cling to power through corruption and deceit" if they "are willing to unclench" their fists. Shortly after his inauguration President Obama first called President Abbas of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Calls were also made to President Mubarak of Egypt, Prime Minister Olmert of Israel and King Abdullah of Jordan. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton named George Mitchell as Special Envoy for Middle East peace and Richard Holbrooke as special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan on January 23, 2009. At the same time, Obama called on Israel to open the borders of Gaza, detailing early plans on his administration's peace plans for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. are welcomed by Queen Elizabeth II to Buckingham Palace in London, April 1, 2009.]] On February 18, 2009, Obama announced that the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan would be bolstered by 17,000 new troops by summer. The announcement followed the recommendation of several experts including Defense Secretary Robert Gates that additional troops be deployed to the war-torn nation.

Obama declared his plan for ending the Iraq War on February 27, 2009, in a speech at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, before an audience of Marines stationed there. According to the president, combat troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by August 2010, leaving a contingent of up to 50,000 servicemen and servicewomen to continue training, advisory, and counterterrorism operations until as late as the end of 2011.

Other characteristics of the Obama administration on foreign policy include a tough stance on tax havens, continuing military operation in Pakistan, and avowed focus on diplomacy to prevent nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea.

On April 1, 2009, Obama and China's President, Hu Jintao, announced the establishment of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue and agreed to work together to build a positive, cooperative, and comprehensive U.S.-China relationship for the 21st century.

In that same month, Obama requested that Congress approve $83.4 billion of supplemental military funding, mostly for the war in Iraq and to increase troop levels in Afghanistan. The request also includes $2.2 billion to increase the size of the US military, $350 million to upgrade security along the US-Mexico border, and $400 million in counterinsurgency aid for Pakistan.

In May 2009, it was reported that Obama plans to expand the military by 20,000 employees.

On June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a speech at Cairo University in Egypt. The wide ranging speech called for a "new beginning" in relations between the Islamic world and the United States. The speech received both praise and criticism from leaders in the region. In March 2010, Secretary of State Clinton criticized the Israeli government for approving expansion of settlements in East Jerusalem.

On April 8, 2010, President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the latest Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), a "major" nuclear arms control agreement that reduces the nuclear weapons stockpiles of both countries.

Guantánamo Bay detention camp

On his first day in office, Obama requested a 120-day suspension of all trials for alleged terrorists held at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, so the new administration could "review the military commissions process, generally, and the cases currently pending before military commissions, specifically". Another order established a task force to lead a review of detention policies, procedures and individual cases. Obama addressed the State Department that "the United States will not torture" and drafted an executive order to close Guantánamo within a year. On January 22, 2009, Obama signed an executive order ensuring safe, lawful, and humane treatment of individuals detained in armed conflicts. This order restricts interrogators to methods listed and authorized by an Army Field Manual. A detainee released since Obama took office claimed in an interview with Agence France-Presse that conditions at Guantánamo had worsened, stating guards wanted to "take their last revenge" before the facility is closed. On March 13, 2009, the administration announced that it would no longer refer to prisoners at Guantánamo Bay as enemy combatants, but it also asserted that the president has the authority to detain terrorism suspects there without criminal charges.

The case review of detainee files by administration officials and prosecutors was made more difficult than expected as the Bush administration had failed to establish a coherent repository of the evidence and intelligence on each prisoner. By September 2009 prosecutors recommended to the Justice Department which detainees are eligible for trial, and the Justice Department and the Pentagon worked together to determine which of several now-scheduled trials will go forward in military tribunals and which in civilian courts. While 216 international terrorists are already held in maximum security prisons in the U.S., Congress was denying the administration funds to shut down the camp and adapt existing facilities elsewhere, arguing that the decision was "too dangerous to rush". In November, Obama stated that the U.S. would miss the January 2010 date for closing the Guantánamo Bay prison as he had ordered, acknowledging that he "knew this was going to be hard". Obama did not set a specific new deadline for closing the camp, citing that the delay was due to politics and lack of congressional cooperation. The state of Illinois has offered to sell to the federal government the Thomson Correctional Center, a new but largely unused prison, for the purpose of housing detainees. Federal officials testified at a December 23 hearing that if the state commission approves the sale for that purpose, it could take more than six months to ready the facility.

Overseas Contingency Operation

President Obama discontinued use of the term "War on Terror" and instead uses the term "Overseas Contingency Operation". However, Obama has stated that the U.S. is at war with Al-Qaeda saying "Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred."

In April 2010, the Obama administration took the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted killing of an American citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was believed to have shifted from encouraging attacks on the United States to directly participating in them.

Gun control

During the presidential campaign, Obama announced that he favors measures that respect Second Amendment rights, while at the same time keeping guns away from children and criminals. On February 25, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Obama administration would seek a new assault weapons ban across the United States, claiming that it would have a positive impact on the drug-related violence in Mexico. After the statement drew criticism from the NRA and some House Democrats, the Administration reportedly ordered the Justice Department to end public discussion of the issue. Obama has signed into law two bills containing amendments reducing restrictions on gun owners, one which permits guns to be transported in checked baggage on Amtrak trains and another which allows carrying loaded firearms in national parks located in states allowing concealed carry.

Science and technology

.]]

Cybersecurity

Obama initiated a 60-day review of cybersecurity by Melissa Hathaway, a consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, appointed Acting Senior Director for Cyberspace.

The New York Times reported in 2009 that the NSA is intercepting communications of American citizens including a Congressman, although the Justice Department believed that the NSA had corrected its errors. United States Attorney General Eric Holder resumed the wiretapping according to his understanding of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008 which Congress passed in July 2008 but without explaining what had occurred.

Environment

On January 27, 2009, Obama issued two presidential memoranda concerning energy policy. One directed the Department of Transportation to raise fuel efficiency standards incrementally to by 2020, and the other directed the Environmental Protection Agency to allow individual states to set stricter tailpipe emissions regulations than the federal standard.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides $54 billion in funds to double domestic renewable energy production, renovate federal buildings making them more energy-efficient, improve the nation's electricity grid, repair public housing, and weatherize modest-income homes.

On February 10, 2009, Obama overturned a Bush administration policy that had opened up a five-year period of offshore drilling for oil and gas near both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has been quoted as saying, "To establish an orderly process that allows us to make wise decisions based on sound information, we need to set aside" the plan "and create our own timeline".

On May 19, 2009, Obama announced a plan to increase the CAFE national standards for gasoline mileage, by creating a single new national standard that will create a car and light truck fleet in the United States that is almost 40 percent cleaner and more fuel-efficient by 2016 than it is today, with an average of 35.5 miles per gallon. Environmental advocates and industry officials welcomed the new program, but for different reasons. Environmentalists called it a long-overdue tightening of emissions and fuel economy standards after decades of government delay and industry opposition. Auto industry officials said it would provide the single national efficiency standard they have long desired, a reasonable timetable to meet it and the certainty they need to proceed with product development plans.

On May 27, 2010, Obama extended a moratorium on offshore drilling permits after the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill which is considered to be the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Although British Petroleum took responsibility for the disaster and its ongoing after effects, Obama began a federal investigation along with forming a bipartisan commission to review the incident and methods to avoid it in the future. Obama visited the Gulf Coast on May 2 and May 28 and expressed his frustration on the June 8 NBC Today Show, by saying "I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick." Obama's response to the disaster has drawn confusion and criticism within segments of the media and public.

NASA

Obama set up the Augustine panel to review the Constellation program in 2009, and announced in February 2010 that he was cutting the program from the 2011 United States federal budget, describing it as "over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation." After the decision drew criticism in the United States, a new "Flexible path to Mars" plan was unveiled at a space conference in April 2010. It included new technology programs, increased R&D; spending, a focus on the International Space Station and contracting out flying crew to space to commercial providers. The new plan also increased NASA's 2011 budget to $19 billion from $18.3 billion in 2010.

Stem cell research

On March 9, 2009, Obama repealed a Bush-era policy that prevented federal tax dollars from being used to fund research on new lines of embryonic stem cells. Such research has been a matter of debate between those who emphasize the therapeutic potential of such research and those who suggest that elements of this research breach ethical limitations. Obama stated that "In recent years, when it comes to stem cell research, rather than furthering discovery, our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values...In this case, I believe the two are not inconsistent. As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering. I believe we have been given the capacity and will to pursue this research — and the humanity and conscience to do so responsibly."

Social policy

In January 2009, Obama repealed the Mexico City Policy, a controversial Bush-era measure that required any non-governmental organization receiving US Government funding to refrain from performing or promoting abortion services in other countries.

On June 17, 2009, Obama authorized the extension of some benefits (but not health insurance or pension benefits) to same-sex partners of federal employees. Obama has chosen to leave larger changes, such as the repeal of Don't ask, don't tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, to Congress.

On October 19, 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a directive to federal prosecutors in states with medical marijuana laws not to investigate or prosecute cases of marijuana use or production done in compliance with those laws.

On December 16, 2009, President Obama signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, which repealed a 21-year-old ban on federal funding of needle exchange programs.

Health care reform

Once the stimulus bill was enacted, health care reform became Obama's top domestic priority. On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,000 page plan for overhauling the US health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of the year.

The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the ten-year cost to the federal government of the major insurance-related provisions of the bill at approximately $1.0 trillion. In mid-July 2009, Douglas Elmendorf, director of the CBO, testified that the proposals under consideration would significantly increase federal spending and did not include the "fundamental changes" needed to control the rapid growth in health care spending. However after reviewing the final version of the bill introduced after 14 months of debate the CBO estimated that it would reduce federal budget deficits by $143 billion over 10 years and by more than a trillion in the next decade.

After much public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on September 9 where he addressed concerns over his administration's proposals. In March 2010, Obama gave several speeches across the country to argue for the passage of health care reform. On March 21, 2010, after Obama announced an executive order reinforcing the current law against spending federal funds for elective abortion services, the House, by a vote of 219 to 212, passed the version of the bill previously passed on December 24, 2009 by a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate. The bill, which includes over 200 Republican amendments, was passed without a single Republican vote. On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the bill into law. Immediately following the bill's passage, the House voted in favor of a reconciliation measure to make significant changes and corrections to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was passed by both houses with two minor alterations on March 25, 2010 and signed into law on March 30, 2010.

Education reform

On March 30, 2010, President Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, which ended the role of private banks in lending out federally-insured student loans. By directly lending to students, the government is projected to save taxpayers $68 billion dollars over the next several years. Federally-insured student loans will instead be distributed by the Department of Education. The law also increased the amount of Pell Grant awards given each year, doubling its current funding. Starting in 2014, the law permits borrowers to cap the amount they spend on student loans each year to 10% of their discretionary income and have their balance forgiven if they have faithfully paid the balance of their loan over 20 years. Additionally, the law seeks to make it easier for parents to qualify for Grad PLUS loans, and spends billions on poor and minority schools and $2 billion for community colleges.

Wall Street reform

On July 21, 2010 President Obama signed the Wall Street reform bill considered to be the largest financial system overhaul since the New Deal. The law recognizes complex financial derivatives and makes rules to protect consumers from unfair practices in loans and credit cards by establishing a new consumer protection agency. At the signing ceremony in the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington D.C. Obama proclaimed, "There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts. Period." Obama also mentioned that "These reforms represent the strongest consumer financial protections in history." At the ceremony were Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the two committee chairmen who sponsored the bill.

2010 Midterm elections

Due to voter frustration over high unemployment and the sour economy, Republicans won control of the House in the 2010 Midterm Elections. Democrats narrowly retained the Senate majority and will continue to control it through the 112th Congress.

Obama called the elections "humbling" and a "shellacking". He said that the results came because not enough Americans had felt the effects of the economic recovery.

References

External links

"President Obama's People" (photography: Nadav Kander)

The Official White House YouTube page

Full transcript and video of President Obama's inaugural address

Full Video of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 signing ceremony on February 17, 2009 (from C-SPAN)

Official Video of Open For Questions Online Town Hall on March 26, 2009 from (WhiteHouse.gov)

Full Video of President Obama's first State of the Union Address (from C-SPAN)

Obama, Barack

Name	Muhammad Ali
Nationality	American
Nickname	The GreatestThe ChampThe Louisville Lip
Height
Reach
Weight	Heavyweight
Birth date	January 17, 1942
Birth place	Louisville, Kentucky, United States
Style	Orthodox
Total	61
Wins	56
Ko	37
Losses	5
Draws	0
No contests	0

}} Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; January 17, 1942) is a former American boxer and three-time World Heavyweight Champion, who is widely considered one of the greatest heavyweight championship boxers. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. After turning professional, he went on to become the first boxer to win the lineal heavyweight championship three times.

Originally known as Cassius Clay, Ali changed his name after joining the Nation of Islam in 1964, subsequently converting to Sunni Islam in 1975 and more recently to Sufism. In 1967, Ali refused to be conscripted into the U.S. military, based on his religious beliefs and opposition to the Vietnam War. He was arrested and found guilty on draft evasion charges, stripped of his boxing title, and his boxing license was suspended. He was not imprisoned, but did not fight again for nearly four years while his appeal worked its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was successful.

Nicknamed "The Greatest", Ali was involved in several historic boxing matches. Notable among these are three with rival Joe Frazier and one with George Foreman, whom he beat by knockout to win the world heavyweight title for the second time. He suffered only five losses (four decisions and one TKO by retirement from the bout) with no draws in his career, while amassing 56 wins (37 knockouts and 19 decisions). Ali was well known for his unorthodox fighting style, which he described as "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee", and employing techniques such as the rope-a-dope. He was also known for his pre-match hype, where he would "trash talk" opponents on television and in person some time before the match, often with rhymes. These personality quips and idioms, along with an unorthodox fighting technique, made him a cultural icon. In later life, Ali developed Parkinson's disease. In 1999, Ali was crowned "Sportsman of the Century" by Sports Illustrated and "Sports Personality of the Century" by the BBC.

Biography

Amateur career and Olympic gold

Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. and his mother, Odessa Grady Clay, was a household domestic. Although Cassius Sr. was a Methodist, he allowed Odessa to bring up both Cassius and his elder brother Rudolph "Rudy" Clay (later renamed Rahman Ali) as Baptists. He is a descendant of pre-Civil War era American slaves in the American South, and is predominantly of African-American descent, with some Irish and English ancestry.

Clay was first directed toward boxing by the white Louisville police officer and boxing coach Joe E. Martin, who encountered the 12-year-old fuming over the theft of his bicycle. However, without Martin's knowledge, Clay also began training with Fred Stoner, an African-American trainer working at the local community center. In this way, Clay could make $4 a week on Tomorrow's Champions, a local, weekly TV show that Martin hosted, while benefiting from the coaching of the more experienced Stoner, who continued working with Clay throughout his amateur career.

Under Stoner's guidance, Cassius Clay won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union National Title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Clay's amateur record was 100 wins with five losses.

Ali states (in his 1975 autobiography) that he threw his Olympic gold medal into the Ohio River after being refused service at a 'whites-only' restaurant, and fighting with a white gang. Whether this is true is still debated, although he was given a replacement medal at a basketball intermission during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where he lit the torch to start the games.

Early professional career

After his Olympic triumph, Clay returned to Louisville to begin his professional career. There, on October 29, 1960, he won his first professional fight, a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker, who was the police chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia.

Standing tall, at 6-ft, 3-in (1.91 m), Clay had a highly unorthodox style for a heavyweight boxer. Rather than the normal style of carrying the hands high to defend the face, he instead relied on foot speed and quickness to avoid punches, and carried his hands low.

From 1960 to 1963, the young fighter amassed a record of 19–0, with 15 knockouts. He defeated boxers such as Tony Esperti, Jim Robinson, Donnie Fleeman, Alonzo Johnson, George Logan, Willi Besmanoff, Lamar Clark (who had won his previous 40 bouts by knockout), Doug Jones and Henry Cooper.

Clay built a reputation by correctly predicting the round in which he would "finish" several opponents, and by boasting before his triumphs. had Clay's colorful persona and nonstop braggadocio as its sole appeal.

Faversham confronted Clay about his association with Malcolm X (who, at the time, was actually under suspension by the Nation as a result of controversial comments made in the wake of President Kennedy's assassination). While stopping short of admitting he was a member of the Nation, Clay protested the suggested cancellation of the fight. As a compromise, Faversham asked the fighter to delay his announcement about his conversion to Islam until after the fight. The incident is described in the 1975 book The Greatest: My Own Story by Ali (with Richard Durham).

During the weigh-in on the day before the bout, the ever-boastful Clay, who frequently taunted Liston during the buildup by dubbing him "the big ugly bear" (among other things), declared that he would "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee," and, summarizing his strategy for avoiding Liston's assaults, said, "Your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see."

First title fight and aftermath

At the pre-fight weigh-in, Clay's pulse rate was around 120, more than double his norm of 54. Liston, among others, misread this as nervousness. In the opening rounds, Clay's speed kept him away from Liston's powerful head and body shots, as he used his height advantage to beat Liston to the punch with his own lightning-quick jab. And in relation to inter-racial marriage: "No intelligent black man or black woman in his or her right black mind wants white boys and white girls coming to their homes to marry their black sons and daughters."

Appearing shortly thereafter for his scheduled induction into the U.S. Armed Forces on April 28, 1967 in Houston, he refused three times to step forward at the call of his name. An officer warned him he was committing a felony punishable by five years in prison and a fine of $10,000. Once more, Ali refused to budge when his name was called. As a result, he was arrested and on the same day the New York State Athletic Commission suspended his boxing license and stripped him of his title. Other boxing commissions followed suit.

At the trial on June 20, 1967, after only 21 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Ali guilty.

Quotes about Vietnam war

}}

The Fight of the Century

In 1970, while his case was still on appeal, Ali was allowed to fight again. On August 12, 1970, with the help of Leroy R. Johnson, a Georgia State Senator, he was granted a license to box by the City of Atlanta Athletic Commission. In Atlanta on October 26, 1970, he stopped Jerry Quarry on a cut after three rounds. Shortly after the Quarry fight, the New York State Supreme Court ruled that Ali had been unjustly denied a boxing license. Once again able to fight in New York, he fought Oscar Bonavena at Madison Square Garden in December 1970. After a tough 14 rounds, Ali stopped Bonavena in the 15th, paving the way for a title fight against Joe Frazier, who was himself undefeated.

Ali and Frazier met in the ring on March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden. The fight, known as '"The Fight of the Century," was one of the most eagerly anticipated bouts of all time and remains one of the most famous. It featured two skilled, undefeated fighters, both of whom had legitimate claims to the heavyweight crown. Frank Sinatra—unable to acquire a ringside seat—took photos of the match for Life magazine. Legendary boxing announcer Don Dunphy and actor and boxing aficionado Burt Lancaster called the action for the broadcast, which reached millions of people. The fight lived up to the hype, and Frazier punctuated his victory by flooring Ali with a hard, leaping left hook in the 15th and final round. Frazier retained the title on a unanimous decision, dealing Ali his first professional loss.

In 1973, Ali fought Ken Norton, who broke Ali's jaw and won by split decision in 12 rounds. Ali won the rematch, also by split decision, on September 10, 1973, which set up Ali-Frazier II, a nontitle rematch with Joe Frazier, who had already lost his title to George Foreman. The bout was held on January 28, 1974, with Ali winning a unanimous 12-round decision.

The Rumble in the Jungle

In one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, Ali regained his title on October 30, 1974 by defeating champion George Foreman in their bout in Kinshasa, Zaire. Hyped as "The Rumble In The Jungle", the fight was promoted by Don King.

Almost no one, not even Ali's long-time supporter Howard Cosell, gave the former champion a chance of winning. Analysts pointed out that Joe Frazier and Ken Norton had given Ali four tough battles in the ring and won two of them, while Foreman had knocked out both of them in the second round. As a matter of fact, so total was the domination that, in their bout, Foreman had knocked down Frazier an incredible six times in only four minutes and 25 seconds.

During the bout, Ali employed an unexpected strategy. Leading up to the fight, he had declared he was going to "dance" and use his speed to keep away from Foreman and outbox him. However, in the first round, Ali headed straight for the champion and began scoring with a right hand lead, clearly surprising Foreman. Ali caught Foreman nine times in the first round with this technique but failed to knock him out. He then decided to take advantage of the young champion's weakness: staying power. Foreman had won 37 of his 40 bouts by knockout, mostly within three rounds. Eight of his previous bouts didn't go past the second round. Ali saw an opportunity to outlast Foreman, and capitalized on it.

In the second round, the challenger retreated to the ropes—inviting Foreman to hit him, while counterpunching and verbally taunting the younger man. Ali's plan was to enrage Foreman and absorb his best blows to exhaust him mentally and physically. While Foreman threw wide shots to Ali's body, Ali countered with stinging straight punches to Foreman's head. Foreman threw hundreds of punches in seven rounds, but with decreasing technique and potency. Ali's tactic of leaning on the ropes, covering up, and absorbing ineffective body shots was later termed "The Rope-A-Dope".

By the end of the seventh round, Foreman was exhausted. In the eighth round, Ali dropped Foreman with a combination at center ring and Foreman failed to make the count. Against the odds, Ali had regained the title.

The "Rumble in the Jungle" was the subject of a 1996 Academy Award winning documentary film, When We Were Kings. The fight and the events leading up to it are extensively depicted in both John Herzfeld's 1997 docudrama and Michael Mann's 2001 docudrama, Ali.

The Thrilla in Manila

In March 1975, Ali faced Chuck Wepner in a bout that inspired the original Rocky. While it was largely thought that Ali would dominate, Wepner surprised everyone by not only knocking Ali down in the ninth round, but nearly going the distance. Ali eventually stopped Wepner in the fading minutes of the 15th round. Following a title defense with Ron Lyle, in July Ali faced Joe Bugner, winning a 15 round decision.

On October 1, 1975, Ali fought Joe Frazier for the third time. Although widely perceived as a publicity stunt, the match against Inoki would have a long-term detrimental affect on Ali's mobility. Inoki spent much of the fight on the ground trying to damage Ali’s legs, while Ali spent most of the fight dodging the kicks or staying on the ropes. At the end of 15 rounds, the bout was called a draw. Ali's legs, however, were bleeding, leading to an infection. He suffered two blood clots in his legs as well.

In 1993, the Associated Press reported that Ali was tied with Babe Ruth as the most recognized athlete, out of over 800 dead or alive athletes, in America. The study, conducted by Nye Lavalle's Sports Marketing Group, found that over 97% of Americans, over 12-years of age, identified both Ali and Ruth.

He was the recipient of the 1997 Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

In retirement

Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1984, a disease for which those subject to severe head trauma, such as boxers, are many times more susceptible. Despite the disability, he remains a beloved and active public figure. In 1985, he served as a guest referee at the inaugural WrestleMania event. In 1987 he was selected by the California Bicentennial Foundation for the U.S. Constitution to personify the vitality of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights in various high profile activities. Ali rode on a float at the 1988 Tournament of Roses Parade, launching the U.S. Constitution's 200th birthday commemoration. He also published an oral history, by Thomas Hauser, in 1991. That same year Ali traveled to Iraq during the Gulf War and met with Saddam Hussein in an attempt to negotiate the release of American hostages. Ali received a Spirit of America Award calling him the most recognized American in the world. In 1996, he had the honor of lighting the flame at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

, alongside Interstate 64 on Louisville's riverfront]]

He appeared at the 1998 AFL (Australian Football League) Grand Final, where Anthony Pratt invited him to watch the game. He also greets runners at the start line of the Los Angeles Marathon every year.

In 1999, the BBC produced a special version of its annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award ceremony, and Ali was voted their Sports Personality of the Century, receiving more votes than the other four contenders combined. His daughter Laila Ali also became a boxer in 1999, despite her father's earlier comments against female boxing in 1978: "Women are not made to be hit in the breast, and face like that... the body's not made to be punched right here [patting his chest]. Get hit in the breast... hard... and all that."

On September 13, 1999, Ali was named "Kentucky Athlete of the Century" by the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in ceremonies at the Galt House East.

on display at the Ali Center]]

In 2001, a biographical film, entitled Ali, was made, directed by Michael Mann, with Will Smith starring as Ali. The film received mixed reviews, with the positives generally attributed to the acting, as Smith and supporting actor Jon Voight earned Academy Award nominations. Prior to making the Ali movie, Will Smith had continually rejected the role of Ali until Muhammad Ali personally requested that he accept the role. According to Smith, the first thing Ali said about the subject to him was: "Man, you're almost pretty enough to play me."

On November 17, 2002, Muhammad Ali went to Afghanistan as "U.N. Messenger of Peace". He was in Kabul for a three-day goodwill mission as a special guest of the United Nations.

On January 8, 2005, Muhammad Ali was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President George W. Bush.

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony on November 9, 2005, and the "Otto Hahn Peace Medal in Gold" of the United Nations Association of Germany (DGVN) in Berlin for his work with the US civil rights movement and the United Nations (December 17, 2005).

embraces Muhammad Ali after presenting him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 9, 2005, during ceremonies at the White House.]]

On November 19, 2005 (Ali's 19th wedding anniversary), the $60 million non-profit Muhammad Ali Center opened in downtown Louisville. In addition to displaying his boxing memorabilia, the center focuses on core themes of peace, social responsibility, respect, and personal growth.

According to the Ali Center website, "Since he retired from boxing, Ali has devoted himself to humanitarian endeavors around the globe. He is a devout Muslim, and travels the world over, lending his name and presence to hunger and poverty relief, supporting education efforts of all kinds, promoting adoption and encouraging people to respect and better understand one another. It is estimated that he has helped to provide more than 22 million meals to feed the hungry. Ali travels, on average, more than 200 days per year."

At the FedEx Orange Bowl on January 2, 2007, Ali was an honorary captain for the Louisville Cardinals wearing their white jersey, number 19. Ali was accompanied by golf legend Arnold Palmer, who was the honorary captain for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade.

A youth club in Ali's hometown and a species of rose (Rosa ali) have also been named after him. On June 5, 2007, he received an honorary doctorate of humanities at Princeton University's 260th graduation ceremony.

Ali lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with his fourth wife, Yolanda "Lonnie" Ali. They own a house in Berrien Springs, Michigan, which is for sale. On January 9, 2007, they purchased a house in eastern Jefferson County, Kentucky for $1,875,000. Lonnie converted to Islam from Catholicism in her late 20s.

On the 17th of August 2009, it was voted unanimously by the town council of Ennis, Co Clare, Ireland to make Ali the first Freeman of Ennis. Ennis was the birthplace of Ali's great grandfather before he emigrated to the U.S. in the 1860s, before eventually settling in Kentucky. On September 1, 2009, Ali visited the town of Ennis and at a civic reception he received the honour of the freedom of the town.

Ranking in heavyweight history

are preserved in the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History]]

Ali is generally considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time by boxing commentators and historians. Ring Magazine, a prominent boxing magazine, named him number 1 in a 1998 ranking of greatest heavyweights from all eras.

Ali was named the second greatest fighter in boxing history by ESPN.com behind only welterweight and middleweight great Sugar Ray Robinson. In December 2007, ESPN listed Ali second in its choice of the greatest heavyweights of all time, behind Joe Louis.

Personal life

Muhammad Ali has been married four times and has seven daughters and two sons. Ali met his first wife, cocktail waitress Sonji Roi, approximately one month before they married on August 14, 1964. Roi's objections to certain Muslim customs in regard to dress for women contributed to the breakup of their marriage. They divorced on January 10, 1966.

On August 17, 1967, Ali (aged 25) married 17-year old Belinda Boyd. After the wedding, she converted to Islam and changed her name to Khalilah Ali, though she was still called Belinda by old friends and family. They had four children: Maryum (b. 1968), Jamillah and Liban (b. 1970), and Muhammad Ali Jr. (b. 1972).

In 1975, Ali began an affair with Veronica Porsche, an actress and model. By the summer of 1977, Ali's second marriage was over and he had married Veronica. At the time of their marriage, they had a baby girl, Hana, and Veronica was pregnant with their second child. Their second daughter, Laila, was born in December 1977. By 1986, Ali and Veronica were divorced.

On November 19, 1986, Ali married Yolanda Ali. They had been friends since 1964 in Louisville. They have one adopted son, Asaad Amin, who they adopted when Amin was five.

Ali has two other daughters, Miya and Khaliah, from extramarital relationships.

Ali in the media and popular culture

As a world champion boxer and social activist, Ali has been the subject of numerous books, films and other creative works. In 1963, he released an album of spoken word on Columbia Records titled I am the Greatest! He has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated on 37 different occasions, second only to Michael Jordan. He appeared in the documentary film Black Rodeo (1972) riding both a horse and a bull. His autobiography The Greatest: My Own Story, written with Richard Durham, was published in 1975. In 1977 the book was adapted into a film called The Greatest, in which Ali played himself and Ernest Borgnine played Angelo Dundee. When We Were Kings, a 1996 documentary about the Rumble in the Jungle, won an Academy Award, and the 2001 biopic Ali garnered an Oscar nomination for Will Smith's portrayal of the lead role.

For contributions to the entertainment industry, Muhammed Ali was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard.

Professional boxing record

|- | style="text-align:center;" colspan="8"|56 Wins (37 knockouts, 19 decisions), 5 Losses (4 decisions, 1 retirement), 0 Draws |- style="text-align:center; background:#e3e3e3; background:#e3e3e3;" | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Res. | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Opponent | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Type | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Rd., Time | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Date | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Location | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Notes |- style="text-align:center;" | Loss | Trevor Berbick | Decision | 10 | 1981-12-11 | Align=left| Nassau, Bahamas | |- style="text-align:center;" | Loss | Larry Holmes | TKO | 10 | 1980-10-02 | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Leon Spinks | Decision | 15 | 1978-09-15 | Align=left| New Orleans, LA | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Loss | Leon Spinks | Decision | 15 | 1978-02-15 | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Earnie Shavers | Decision | 15 | 1977-09-29 | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Alfredo Evangelista | Decision | 15 | 1977-05-16 | Align=left| Landover, MD | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Ken Norton | Decision | 15 | 1976-09-28 | Align=left| The Bronx, New York | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Richard Dunn | TKO | 5 | 1976-05-24 | Align=left| Munich, Germany | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jimmy Young | Decision | 15 | 1976-04-30 | Align=left| Landover, MD | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jean-Pierre Coopman | KO | 5 | 1976-02-20 | Align=left| San Juan, Puerto Rico | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Joe Frazier | TKO | 14 , 0:59 | 1975-10-01 | Align=left| Quezon City, Philippines | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Joe Bugner | Decision | 15 | 1975-06-30 | Align=left| Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Ron Lyle | TKO | 11 | 1975-05-16 | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Chuck Wepner | TKO | 15 , 2:41 | 1975-03-24 | Align=left| Richfield, OH | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | George Foreman | KO | 8 , 2:58 | 1974-10-30 | Align=left| Kinshasa, Zaire | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Joe Frazier | Decision | 12 | 1974-01-28 | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Rudi Lubbers | Decision | 12 | 1973-10-20 | Align=left| Jakarta, Indonesia | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Ken Norton | Decision | 12 | 1973-09-10 | Align=left| Inglewood, CA | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Loss | Ken Norton | Decision | 12 | 1973-03-31 | Align=left| San Diego, CA | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Joe Bugner | Decision | 12 | 1973-02-14 | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Bob Foster | KO | 7 | 1972-11-21 | Align=left| Stateline, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Floyd Patterson | TKO | 7 | 1972-09-20 | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Alvin Lewis | TKO | 11 , 1:15 | 1972-07-19 | Align=left| Dublin, Ireland | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jerry Quarry | TKO | 7 , 0:19 | 1972-06-27 | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | George Chuvalo | Decision | 12 | 1972-05-01 | Align=left| Vancouver, Canada | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Mac Foster | Decision | 15 | 1972-04-01 | Align=left| Tokyo, Japan | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jürgen Blin | KO | 7 , 2:12 | 1971-12-26 | Align=left| Zurich, Switzerland | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Buster Mathis | Decision | 12 | 1971-11-17 | Align=left| Houston, TX | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jimmy Ellis | TKO | 12 , 2:10 | 1971-07-26 | Align=left| Houston, TX | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Loss | Joe Frazier | Decision | 15 | 1971-03-08 | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Oscar Bonavena | TKO | 15 , 2:03 | 1970-12-07 | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jerry Quarry | TKO | 3 | 1970-10-26 | Align=left| Atlanta, GA | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Zora Folley | KO | 7 , 1:48 | 1967-03-22 | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Ernie Terrell | Decision | 15 | 1967-02-06 | Align=left| Houston, TX | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Cleveland Williams | TKO | 3 | 1966-11-14 | Align=left| Houston, TX | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Karl Mildenberger | TKO | 12 | 1966-09-10 | Align=left| Frankfurt, Germany | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Brian London | KO | 3 | 1966-08-06 | Align=left| London, England | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Henry Cooper | TKO | 6 , 1:38 | 1966-05-21 | Align=left| London, England | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | George Chuvalo | Decision | 15 | 1966-03-29 | Align=left| Toronto, Canada | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Floyd Patterson | TKO | 12 , 2:18 | 1965-11-22 | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Sonny Liston | KO | 1 , 2:12 | 1965-05-25 | Align=left| Lewiston, ME | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Sonny Liston | TKO | 7 | 1964-02-25 | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Henry Cooper | TKO | 5 , 2:15 | 1963-06-18 | Align=left| London, England | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Doug Jones | Decision | 10 | 1963-03-13 | Align=left| New York City, NY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Charley Powell | KO | 3, 2:04 | 1963-01-24 | Align=left| Pittsburgh, PA | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Archie Moore | TKO | 4 , 1:35 | 1962-11-15 | Align=left| Los Angeles, CA | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Alejandro Lavorante | KO | 5 , 1:48 | 1962-07-20 | Align=left| Los Angeles, CA | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Billy Daniels | TKO | 7 , 2:21 | 1962-05-19 | Align=left| New York City, NY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | George Logan | TKO | 4 , 1:34 | 1962-04-23 | Align=left| New York City, NY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Don Warner | TKO | 4, 0:34 | 1962-03-28 | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Sonny Banks | TKO | 4 , 0:26 | 1962-02-10 | Align=left| New York City, NY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Willi Besmanoff | TKO | 7 , 1:55 | 1961-11-29 | Align=left| Louisville, KY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Alex Miteff | TKO | 6 , 1:45 | 1961-10-07 | Align=left| Louisville, KY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Alonzo Johnson | Decision | 10 | 1961-07-22 | Align=left| Louisville, KY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Duke Sabedong | Decision | 10 | 1961-06-26 | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | LaMar Clark | KO | 2 , 1:27 | 1961-04-19 | Align=left| Louisville, KY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Donnie Fleeman | TKO | 7 | 1961-02-21 | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jimmy Robinson | KO | 1 , 1:34 | 1961-02-07 | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Tony Esperti | TKO | 3 , 1:30 | 1961-01-17 | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Herb Siler | KO | 4 | 1960-12-27 | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Tunney Hunsaker | Decision | 6 | 1960-10-29 | Align=left| Louisville, KY |

See also

List of heavyweight boxing champions

List of North American Muslims

List of people from Louisville, Kentucky

List of WBA world champions

List of WBC world champions

Notable boxing families

Conscientious Objector

Notes

References

External links

www.maprc.com Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center (MAPC)

Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami

Cassius Clay: Before He Was Ali - slideshow by Life magazine

Honors and Awards.com - Presidential Citizens Medal

http://boxrec.com/ratings.php?country=&sex;=m&division;=Heavyweight&status;=E&SUBMIT;=Go

http://boxrec.com/ratings.php?country=&sex;=m&division;=P4P&status;=E&SUBMIT;=Go

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Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:African American boxers Category:American boxers of Irish descent Category:American boxers of English descent Category:American anti-Vietnam War activists Category:Boxers from Kentucky Category:World Heavyweight Champions Category:Heavyweights Category:WBA Champions Category:WBC Champions Category:African American Muslims Category:American conscientious objectors Category:American Sufis Category:Boxers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Category:COINTELPRO targets Category:Converts to Islam from Christianity Category:International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Category:Kentucky colonels Category:Olympic boxers of the United States Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States Category:People with Parkinson's disease Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Category:Presidential Citizens Medal recipients Category:Professional wrestling referees Category:People from Louisville, Kentucky Category:People from Paradise Valley, Arizona Category:Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers Category:African American converts to Islam Category:Former Nation of Islam members

Width	200
Caption	Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls in 1997
Position	Shooting guard-Small forward
Height ft	6|height_in= 6
Weight lbs	215
Number	23, 45, 9, 12
Birthdate	February 17, 1963
Birthplace	Brooklyn, New York, United States
High school	Emsley A. Laney High School (Wilmington, North Carolina)
Career start	1984
Career end	2003
Draftyear	1984
Draftround	1
Draftpick	3
Draftteam	Chicago Bulls
College	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Teams
Stat1label	Points
Stat1value	32,292 (30.1 ppg)
Stat2label	Rebounds
Stat2value	6,672 (6.2 rpg)
Stat3label	Assists
Stat3value	5,633 (5.3 apg)
Letter	j
Bbr	jordami01
Highlights
Hof player	michael-jordan

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a former American professional basketball player, active businessman, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." During his three seasons at North Carolina, he averaged 17.7 ppg on 54.0% shooting, and added 5.0 rebounds per game (rpg).

Professional career

During his first season in the NBA, Jordan averaged 28.2 ppg on 51.5% shooting. and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the heading "A Star is Born" just over a month into his professional career. Jordan was also voted in as an All-Star starter by the fans in his rookie season. The Bulls finished the season 38–44, and lost in the first round of the playoffs in four games to the Milwaukee Bucks. Jordan set the still-unbroken record for points in a playoff game with 63 in Game 2. The Celtics, however, managed to sweep the series. The Bulls finished 50–32, However, the Bulls then lost in five games to the more experienced Detroit Pistons, However, the Pistons again defeated the Bulls, this time in six games, In an unusual ending to the fourth and final game, Isiah Thomas led his team off the court before the final minute had concluded. Most of the Pistons went directly to their locker room instead of shaking hands with the Bulls.

The Bulls compiled an outstanding 15–2 record during the playoffs, In his first Finals appearance, Jordan posted per game averages of 31.2 points on 56% shooting from the field, 11.4 assists, 6.6 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 1.4 blocks. Jordan won his first NBA Finals MVP award, and he cried while holding the NBA Finals trophy.

Jordan and the Bulls continued their dominance in the 1991–92 season, establishing a 67–15 record, topping their franchise record from 1990–91. In the first game, Jordan scored a Finals-record 35 points in the first half, including a record-setting six three-point field goals. After the sixth three-pointer, he jogged down the court shrugging as he looked courtside. Marv Albert, who broadcast the game, later stated that it was as if Jordan was saying, "I can't believe I'm doing this." The Bulls went on to win Game 1, and defeat the Blazers in six games. Jordan was named Finals MVP for the second year in a row and became the first player in NBA history to win three straight Finals MVP awards.

Gambling controversy

During the Bulls' playoff run in 1993, controversy arose when Jordan was seen gambling in Atlantic City, New Jersey the night before a game against the New York Knicks. In that same year, he admitted to having to cover $57,000 in gambling losses, and author Richard Esquinas wrote a book claiming he had won $1.25 million from Jordan on the golf course. When Bradley asked him if his gambling ever got to the level where it jeopardized his livelihood or family, Jordan replied, "No." James R. Jordan, Sr. was murdered on July 23, 1993, at a highway rest area in Lumberton, North Carolina, by two teenagers, Daniel Green and Larry Martin Demery. The assailants were traced from calls they made on James Jordan's cellular phone, caught, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. Jordan was close to his father; as a child he had imitated his father's proclivity to stick out his tongue while absorbed in work. He later adopted it as his own signature, displaying it each time he drove to the basket.

In his 1998 autobiography For the Love of the Game, Jordan wrote that he had been preparing for retirement as early as the summer of 1992. The added exhaustion due to the Dream Team run in the 1992 Olympics solidified Jordan's feelings about the game and his ever-growing celebrity status. Jordan's announcement sent shock waves throughout the NBA and appeared on the front pages of newspapers around the world.

Jordan then further surprised the sports world by signing a minor league baseball contract with the Chicago White Sox. He reported to spring training and was assigned to the team's minor league system on March 31, 1994. Jordan has stated this decision was made to pursue the dream of his late father, who had always envisioned his son as a Major League Baseball player. The White Sox were another team owned by Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who continued to honor Jordan's basketball contract during the years he played baseball. He had a brief professional baseball career for the Birmingham Barons, a Chicago White Sox farm team, batting .202 with 3 HR, 51 RBI, 30 SB, and 11 errors. The team received a lift, however, when Jordan decided to return to the NBA for the Bulls.

On March 18, 1995, Jordan announced his return to the NBA through a pithy press release: "I'm back." The game had the highest Nielsen rating of a regular season NBA game since 1975.

Although he had not played in an NBA game in a year and a half, Jordan played well upon his return, making a game-winning jump shot against Atlanta in his fourth game back and scoring 55 points in a game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on March 28, 1995. after which Jordan returned to wearing his old number (23). Jordan averaged 31 points per game in that series, but Orlando prevailed in six games. Strengthened by the addition of rebound specialist Dennis Rodman, the Bulls dominated the league, starting the season 41–3, and eventually finishing with the best regular season record in NBA history: 72–10. and won the league's regular season and All-Star Game MVP awards. However, this year Jordan was beaten for the NBA MVP Award by Karl Malone. The team again advanced to the Finals, where they faced Malone and the Utah Jazz. The series against the Jazz featured two of the more memorable clutch moments of Jordan's career. He won Game 1 for the Bulls with a buzzer-beating jump shot. In Game 5, with the series tied 2–2, Jordan played despite being feverish and dehydrated from a stomach virus. In what is known as the "", Jordan scored 38 points including the game-deciding three-pointer with less than a minute remaining. The Bulls won 90–88 and went on to win the series in six games. With the Bulls trailing 86–83 with 40 seconds remaining, coach Jackson called a timeout. When play resumed, Jordan received the inbound pass, drove to the basket, and hit a layup over several Jazz defenders. although the officials did not call a foul. Jordan then released what would be the climactic shot of his career. After a desperation three-point shot by John Stockton missed, Jordan and the Bulls claimed their sixth NBA championship, and secured a second three-peat. Once again, Jordan was voted the Finals MVP, Jordan's six Finals MVPs is a record; Shaquille O'Neal, Magic Johnson, and Tim Duncan are tied for second place with three apiece.

Second retirement

With Phil Jackson's contract expiring, the pending departures of Scottie Pippen (who stated his desire to be traded during the season) and Dennis Rodman (who would sign with the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent) looming, and being in the latter stages of an owner-induced lockout of NBA players, Jordan retired for the second time on January 13, 1999.

On January 19, 2000, Jordan returned to the NBA not as a player, but as part owner and President of Basketball Operations for the Washington Wizards. He'd earlier made a bid to become part-owner of the Charlotte Hornets, as a full partner of founding owner George Shinn. However, negotiations collapsed when Shinn refused to give Jordan total control of on-court operations.

Jordan's responsibilities with the Wizards were comprehensive. He controlled all aspects of the Wizards' basketball operations, and had the final say in all personnel matters. Opinions of Jordan as a basketball executive were mixed. He managed to purge the team of several highly paid, unpopular players (such as forward Juwan Howard and point guard Rod Strickland), but used the first pick in the 2001 NBA Draft to select high schooler Kwame Brown, who did not live up to expectations and was traded away after four seasons.

Despite his January 1999 claim that he was "99.9% certain" that he would never play another NBA game, this time with his new team. Inspired by the NHL comeback of his friend Mario Lemieux the previous winter, Jordan spent much of the spring and summer of 2001 in training, holding several invitation-only camps for NBA players in Chicago. In addition, Jordan hired his old Chicago Bulls head coach, Doug Collins, as Washington's coach for the upcoming season, a decision that many saw as foreshadowing another Jordan return. In an injury-plagued 2001–02 season, he led the team in scoring (22.9 ppg), assists (5.2 apg), and steals (1.42 spg). During his stint with the Wizards, all of Jordan's home games at the MCI Center were sold out, and the Wizards were the second most-watched team in the NBA, averaging 20,172 fans a game at home and 19,311 on the road. However, neither of Jordan's final two seasons resulted in a playoff appearance for the Wizards, and Jordan was often unsatisfied with the play of those around him. At several points he openly criticized his teammates to the media, citing their lack of focus and intensity, notably that of the number one draft pick in the 2001 NBA Draft, Kwame Brown. The Miami Heat retired the number 23 jersey on April 11, 2003, even though Jordan had never played for the team. At the 2003 All-Star Game, Jordan was offered a starting spot from Tracy McGrady and Allen Iverson, but refused both; in the end, however, he accepted the spot of Vince Carter, who decided to give it up under great public pressure.

Jordan's final NBA game was on April 16, 2003 in Philadelphia. After scoring only 13 points in the game, Jordan went to the bench with 4 minutes and 13 seconds remaining in the third quarter and with his team trailing the Philadelphia 76ers, 75–56. Just after the start of the fourth quarter, the First Union Center crowd began chanting "We want Mike!". After much encouragement from coach Doug Collins, Jordan finally rose from the bench and re-entered the game for Larry Hughes with 2:35 remaining. At 1:45, Jordan was intentionally fouled by the 76ers' Eric Snow, and stepped to the line to make both free throws. After the second foul shot, the 76ers in-bounded the ball to rookie John Salmons, who in turn was intentionally fouled by Bobby Simmons one second later, stopping time so that Jordan could return to the bench. Jordan received a three-minute standing ovation from his teammates, his opponents, the officials and a crowd of 21,257 fans.

Olympic career

Jordan played on two Olympic gold medal-winning American basketball teams. As a college player he participated, and won the gold, in the 1984 Summer Olympics. Jordan led the team in scoring averaging 17.1 ppg for the tournament. In the 1992 Summer Olympics he was a member of the star-studded squad that included Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and David Robinson and was dubbed the "Dream Team". Playing limited minutes due to the frequent , Jordan averaged 12.7 ppg, finishing fourth on the team in scoring. Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and fellow Dream Team member Chris Mullin are the only American men's basketball players to win Olympic gold as amateurs (all in 1984) and professionals.

In addition, Jordan and fellow Dream Team member (and Bulls teammate) Scottie Pippen are the only players to have won both NBA championship and Olympic gold medal in the same year (1992).

After retiring as a player

After his third retirement, Jordan assumed that he would be able to return to his front office position of Director of Basketball Operations with the Wizards. However, his previous tenure in the Wizards' front office had produced the aforementioned mixed results and may have also influenced the trade of Richard "Rip" Hamilton for Jerry Stackhouse (although Jordan was not technically Director of Basketball Operations in 2002). Since 2004, Jordan has owned Michael Jordan Motorsports, a professional closed-course motorcycle road racing team that competes with two Suzukis in the premier Superbike class sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA). Jordan and his then-wife Juanita pledged $5 million to Chicago's Hales Franciscan High School in 2006, and the Jordan Brand has made donations to Habitat for Humanity and a Louisiana branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. On June 15, 2006, Jordan bought a minority stake in the Charlotte Bobcats, becoming the team's second-largest shareholder behind majority owner Robert L. Johnson. As part of the deal, Jordan was named "Managing Member of Basketball Operations," with full control over the basketball side of the operation. Despite Jordan's previous success as an endorser, he has made an effort not to be included in Charlotte's marketing campaigns.

In February 2010, it was reported that Jordan was seeking majority ownership of the Bobcats. As February wore on, it emerged that the leading contenders for the team were Jordan and former Houston Rockets president George Postolos. On February 27, the Bobcats announced that Johnson had reached an agreement with Jordan and his group, MJ Basketball Holdings, to buy the team pending NBA approval. On March 17, the NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved Jordan's purchase, making him the first former NBA player ever to become the majority owner of a league franchise.

Player profile

Jordan was a shooting guard who was also capable of playing small forward (the position he would primarily play during his second comeback with the Washington Wizards). Jordan was known throughout his career for being a strong clutch performer. He decided numerous games with last-second plays (e.g., The Shot) and performed at a high level even under adverse circumstances (e.g., ). His competitiveness was visible in his prolific trash-talk and well-known work ethic.

Jordan had a versatile offensive game. He was capable of aggressively driving to the basket and drawing fouls from his opponents at a high rate; his 8,772 free throw attempts are the ninth highest total of all time. As his career progressed, Jordan also developed the ability to post up his opponents and score with his trademark fadeaway jumpshot, using his leaping ability to "fade away" from block attempts. According to Hubie Brown, this move alone made him nearly unstoppable. Despite media criticism as a "selfish" player early in his career, Jordan's 5.3 assists per game and combined this with his ball-thieving ability to become a standout defensive player. His 2,514 steals are the second highest total of all-time behind John Stockton, while his steals per game average is third all-time. Jerry West often stated that he was more impressed with Jordan's defensive contributions than his offensive ones.

Legacy

Jordan's basketball talent was clear from his rookie season. Jordan's total of 5,987 points in the playoffs is the highest in NBA history. He retired with 32,292 points in regular season play, placing him third on the NBA's all-time scoring list behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone. Jordan placed second to Babe Ruth in the Associated Press's list of 20th century athletes. In addition, the Associated Press voted him as the basketball player of the 20th century. Jordan has also appeared on the front cover of Sports Illustrated a record 49 times. In the September 1996 issue of Sport, which was the publication's 50th anniversary issue, Jordan was named the greatest athlete of the past 50 years.

Jordan's athletic leaping ability, highlighted in his back-to-back slam dunk contest championships in 1987 and 1988, is credited by many with having influenced a generation of young players. Several current NBA All-Stars have stated that they considered Jordan their role model while growing up, including LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. In addition, commentators have dubbed a number of next-generation players "the next Michael Jordan" upon their entry to the NBA, including Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway, Grant Hill, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Vince Carter, and Dwyane Wade. Although Jordan was a well-rounded player, his "Air Jordan" image is also often credited with inadvertently decreasing the jump shooting skills, defense, and fundamentals of young players, Television ratings in particular increased only during his time in the league and have subsequently lowered each time he left the game. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in September 2009, with former Bulls teammates Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Charles Oakley, Ron Harper, Steve Kerr, and Toni Kukoc in attendance.

Personal life

Jordan is the fourth of five children. He has two older brothers, Larry Jordan and James R. Jordan, Jr., one older sister, Deloris, and a younger sister, Roslyn. Jordan's brother James retired in 2006 as the Command Sergeant Major of the 35th Signal Brigade of the XVIII Airborne Corps in the U.S. Army.

He married Juanita Vanoy in September 1989, and they have two sons, Jeffrey Michael and Marcus James, and a daughter, Jasmine. Jordan and Vanoy filed for divorce on January 4, 2002, citing irreconcilable differences, but reconciled shortly thereafter. They again filed for divorce and were granted a final decree of dissolution of marriage on December 29, 2006, commenting that the decision was made "mutually and amicably". It is reported that Juanita received a $168 million settlement, making it the largest celebrity divorce settlement in history at the time on public record.

On July 21, 2006, a Cook County, Illinois judge determined that Jordan did not owe his alleged former lover Karla Knafel $5 million. Jordan had allegedly paid Knafel $250,000 to keep their relationship a secret. Knafel claimed Jordan promised her $5 million for remaining silent and agreeing not to file a paternity suit after Knafel learned she was pregnant in 1991. A DNA test showed Jordan was not the father of the child. Jeffrey graduated as a member of the 2007 graduating class and played his first collegiate basketball game on November 11, 2007, for the University of Illinois. After two seasons, Jeffrey left the Illinois basketball team in 2009. He later rejoined the team for a third season, then received a release to transfer to the University of Central Florida, where Marcus was attending. Marcus transferred to Whitney Young High School after his sophomore year and graduated in 2009. He began attending UCF in the fall of 2009.

In December of 2010, the Charlotte Observer reported that Jordan had purchased and combined the two top-floor penthouses at The Trust, a luxury condominium building in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina.

Media figure and business interests

is a silhouette of Jordan used by Nike to promote the Air Jordan shoes, among other merchandise.]] Jordan is one of the most marketed sports figures in history. He has been a major spokesman for such brands as Nike, Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, Gatorade, McDonald's, Ball Park Franks, Rayovac, Wheaties, Hanes, and MCI. Jordan has had a long relationship with Gatorade, appearing in over 20 commercials for the company since 1991, including the "Like Mike" commercials in which a song was sung by children wishing to be like Jordan.

Nike created a signature shoe for him, called the Air Jordan. One of Jordan's more popular commercials for the shoe involved Spike Lee playing the part of Mars Blackmon. In the commercials Lee, as Blackmon, attempted to find the source of Jordan's abilities and became convinced that "it's gotta be the shoes". The brand has also sponsored college sports programs such as those of North Carolina, Cincinnati, Cal, St. John's, Georgetown, and North Carolina A&T;.

Jordan also has been connected with the Looney Tunes cartoon characters. A Nike commercial shown during the 1993 Super Bowl XXVII featured Jordan and Bugs Bunny playing basketball against a group of Martian characters. The Super Bowl commercial inspired the 1996 live action/animated movie Space Jam, which starred Jordan and Bugs in a fictional story set during his first retirement. They have subsequently appeared together in several commercials for MCI. In addition, when Jordan's power at the ticket gates was at its highest point the Bulls regularly sold out every game they played in, whether home or away. Due to this, Jordan set records in player salary by signing annual contracts worth in excess of $30 million US dollars per season. An academic study found that Jordan’s first NBA comeback resulted in an increase in the market capitalization of his client firms of more than $1 billion.

Most of Jordan's endorsement deals, including the first deal with Nike, were engineered by his agent, David Falk. Jordan has said of Falk that "he's the best at what he does", and that "marketing-wise, he's great. He's the one who came up with the concept of 'Air Jordan.'"

In June 2010, Jordan was ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 20th most powerful celebrity in the world with $55 million earned between June 2009 and June 2010. According to the Forbes article, Brand Jordan generates $1 billion in sales for Nike.

Honors and awards

at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill game honoring the 1957 and 1982 men's basketball teams.]]

Jordan won numerous awards and set many records during his career. The following are some of his achievements:

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2009

2 Olympic Gold Medals – 1984, 1992

6-time NBA Champion

6-time NBA Finals MVP

5-time NBA MVP

10 NBA Scoring Titles

3-time steals leader

3-time minutes leader

14 NBA All-Star Selections

3-time NBA All-Star Game MVP

11 All-NBA Selections

9 All-Defensive First Team Selections

2-time NBA Slam Dunk Contest Champion – 1987, 1988

NBA Rookie of the Year – NBA Defensive Player of the Year –

ACC Freshman of the Year – 1981–82

2-time Consensus NCAA All-American First Team – 1982–83, 1983–84

ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Year – 1983–84

USBWA College Player of the Year – 1983–84

Naismith College Player of the Year – 1983–84

John R. Wooden Award – 1983–84

Adolph Rupp Trophy – 1983–84

Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year – 1991

Named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996

Ranked #1 by SLAM Magazine's Top 50 Players of All-Time

Ranked #1 by ESPN Sportscentury's Top 100 Athletes of the 20th century

Elected to North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame

See also

List of National Basketball Association top rookie scoring averages

List of National Basketball Association top individual scoring season averages

List of individual National Basketball Association scoring leaders by season

List of National Basketball Association season steals leaders

List of National Basketball Association players with most points in a game

List of National Basketball Association players with most steals in a game

List of National Basketball Association players with 50 or more points in a playoff game

List of National Basketball Association career scoring leaders

List of National Basketball Association career assists leaders

List of National Basketball Association career steals leaders

List of National Basketball Association career turnovers leaders

List of National Basketball Association career free throw scoring leaders

List of highest playoff series scoring averages in National Basketball Association history

List of National Basketball Association players with most championship rings

; Outside basketball

Michael Jordan Steakhouse

Michael Jordan's Restaurant

Michael Jordan in Flight

NBA 2K11

References

External links

NBA History: Jordan bio

NBA.com historical playerfile

NBA Player Stats

Michael Jordan Motorsports

Category:1963 births Category:ACC Athlete of the Year Category:African American basketball players Category:African American sports executives Category:Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Category:Basketball players at the 1983 Pan American Games Category:Basketball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Category:Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Category:Basketball players from North Carolina Category:Birmingham Barons players Category:Charlotte Bobcats executives Category:Charlotte Bobcats owners Category:Chicago Bulls draft picks Category:Chicago Bulls players Category:Living people Category:McDonald's High School All-Americans Category:Minor league baseball players Category:National Basketball Association executives Category:National Basketball Association owners Category:NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award winners Category:NBA Finals MVP Award winners Category:NBA Slam Dunk Contest champions Category:North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players Category:National Basketball Association players with retired numbers Category:Olympic basketball players of the United States Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States Category:Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Category:People from Brooklyn Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:People from Highland Park, Illinois Category:People from Wilmington, North Carolina Category:Shooting guards Category:Sportspeople of multiple sports Category:United States men's national basketball team members Category:Washington Wizards executives Category:Washington Wizards players

Name	Glenn Beck
Caption	Beck at the Time 100 Gala, 2010
Birth name	Glenn Edward Lee Beck
Birth date	February 10, 1964
Birth place	Everett, Washington, U.S.
Hometown	Mount Vernon, Washington
Education	Sehome High School
Nationality	American
Occupation	Political commentator, author, media proprietor, entertainer
Salary	US$ 32 million (2009–10)
Spouse	Claire (1983–1994)Tania (m. 1999)
Children	4
Website	http://www.glennbeck.com/
Religion	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)
Residence	New Canaan, Connecticut
Home town	Mount Vernon, Washington

Glenn Edward Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative radio and television host, author, entrepreneur and political commentator. He hosts The Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks; and also a cable news show on Fox News Channel. As an author, Beck has had six New York Times-bestselling books, with five debuting at #1. Beck is the founder and CEO of Mercury Radio Arts, a multimedia production company through which he produces content for radio, television, publishing, the stage, and the Internet.

Beck has received wealth and fame, as well as controversy and criticism. His supporters praise him as a constitutional stalwart defending traditional American values from secular progressivism, while his critics contend he promotes conspiracy theories and employs incendiary rhetoric for ratings.

Personal life

Early years

Glenn Lee Beck was born in Everett, Washington, to William and Mary Beck, who lived in Mountlake Terrace, Washington. The family later moved to Mount Vernon, Washington, where they owned and operated City Bakery in the downtown area. He is descended from German immigrants who came to the United States in the 1800s. Beck was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Mount Vernon.

Glenn and his older sister moved with their mother to Sumner, Washington, attending a Jesuit school in Puyallup. On May 15, 1979, his mother drowned in Puget Sound, just west of Tacoma, Washington. A man who had taken her out in a small boat also drowned. A Tacoma police report stated that Mary Beck "appeared to be a classic drowning victim", but a Coast Guard investigator speculated that she could have intentionally jumped overboard.

After their mother's death, Beck and his older sister moved to their father's home in Bellingham, Washington, where Beck graduated from Sehome High School in June 1982. In the aftermath of his mother's death and subsequent suicide of his stepbrother, Beck has said he used "Dr. Jack Daniel's" to cope. At 18, following his high school graduation, Beck relocated to Provo, Utah, and worked at radio station KAYK. Feeling he "didn't fit in," Beck left Utah after six months, taking a job at Washington D.C.'s WPGC in February 1983. The couple divorced in 1994 amid Beck's struggles with substance abuse. A recovering alcoholic and drug addict, Beck has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

By 1994, Beck was suicidal, and imagined shooting himself to the music of his fellow Washingtonian, Kurt Cobain. Beck would later claim that he had gotten high every day for the previous 15 years, since the age of 16.

This was followed by Beck going on a "spiritual quest" where he "sought out answers in churches and bookstores." Beck would be baptized by his old friend, and current-day co-worker Pat Gray.

Beck announced in July 2010 that he had been diagnosed with macular dystrophy, saying "A couple of weeks ago I went to the doctor because of my eyes, I can't focus my eyes. He did all kinds of tests and he said, 'you have macular dystrophy ...you could go blind in the next year. Or, you might not." The disorder can make it difficult to read, drive or recognize faces.

Career

]] As an author, Beck has reached #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List in four separate categories : Hardcover Non-Fiction, Paperback Non-Fiction, and Children's Picture Books.

The Real America: Messages from the Heart and Heartland, Simon & Schuster 2003. ISBN 978-0-7434-9696-4

An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems, Simon & Schuster 2007. ISBN 978-1-4391-6857-8

The Christmas Sweater, Simon & Schuster 2008. ISBN 978-1-4165-9485-7

America's March to Socialism: Why We're One Step Closer to Giant Missile Parades, 2008 (Audiobook) An Unlikely Mormon: The Conversion Story of Glenn Beck, Deseret Book 2008 (Audiobook). ISBN 978-1-59038-944-7

The Christmas Sweater: A Picture Book Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing 2009. ISBN 978-1-4169-9543-2

America's March to Socialism: Why We're One Step Closer to Giant Missile Parades Simon & Schuster Audio 2009 (Audio CD). ISBN 978-0-7435-9854-5

Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Simon & Schuster 2009. ISBN 978-1-4391-6857-8

Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government, Simon & Schuster 2009. ISBN 978-1-4165-9501-4

Idiots Unplugged, Simon & Schuster 2010 (Audio CD). ISBN 1-4423-3396-0

The Overton Window, Threshold Editions 2010. ISBN 1-4391-8430-5 Idiots Unplugged, 2010 (Audiobook) , Simon & Schuster 2010. ISBN 1-4423-3457-6.

Stage shows and speeches

In 2009, the Glenn Beck show was one of the highest rated news commentary programs on cable TV. For a Barbara Walters ABC special, Beck was selected as one of America’s "Top 10 Most Fascinating People" of 2009. In 2010, Beck was selected for the Times top 100 most influential people under the "Leaders" category.

Beck has referred to himself as an entertainer, and a "rodeo clown".

Time Magazine described Beck as "[t]he new populist superstar of Fox News" saying it is easier to see a set of attitudes rather than a specific ideology, noting his criticism of Wall Street, yet defending bonuses to AIG, as well as denouncing conspiracy theories about the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) but warning against indoctrination of children by the AmeriCorps program. (Paul Krugman and Mark Potok, on the other hand, have been among those asserting that Beck helps spread "hate" by covering issues that stir up extremists.) What seems to unite Beck's disparate themes, Time argued, is a sense of siege. One of Beck's Fox News Channel colleagues Shepard Smith, has jokingly called Beck's studio the "fear chamber", with Beck countering that he preferred the term "doom room." The progressive watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting's (FAIR) Activism Director Peter Hart argues that Beck red-baits political adversaries as well as promotes a paranoid view of progressive politics. Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post has remarked that "Love him or hate him, Beck is a talented, often funny broadcaster, a recovering alcoholic with an unabashedly emotional style."

Critical biographies

In June 2010, investigative reporter Alexander Zaitchik released a critical biography titled , with a title mocking Beck's work, Common Sense. In an interview about the book, Zaitchik theorized that "Beck’s politics and his insatiable hunger for money and fame are not mutually exclusive", while stating: "Beck’s true religion is not Patriotism, Mormonism, or Conservatism. His true religion is cross-platform self-marketing ... According to Beck’s worldview, there’s no inherent contradiction between his sophisticated instinct for self-promotion, his propagandist rodeo clown act, his self-image as a media mogul, and his professed belief system. I think he actually believes that God wants him to make a ton of money and become this huge celebrity by fear mongering and generally doing whatever it takes in the media to promote right-wing causes."

In September 2010, Philadelphia Daily News reporter Will Bunch released The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama. One of Bunch's primary theses is that Beck is nothing more than a morning zoo deejay playing a fictional character as a money-making stunt.

Satire, spoof and parody of Beck

Beck has been the subject of mockery and ridicule by a number of humorists. In response to Beck's animated delivery and views, he was parodied in an impersonation by Jason Sudeikis on Saturday Night Live. The Daily Shows Jon Stewart has spoofed Beck's 9-12 project with his own "11-3 project", impersonated Beck's chalk board-related presentation style for an entire show, and quipped about Beck "finally, a guy who says what people who aren't thinking are thinking." Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report satirized Beck's "war room" by creating his own "doom bunker." Through the character Eric Cartman, South Park parodied Beck's television program and his commentary style in the episode "Dances with Smurfs". The Onion, a satirical periodical and faux news site, ran an Onion News Network video "special report" where it lamented that the "victim in a fatal car accident was tragically not Glenn Beck." Meanwhile, the Current TV cartoon SuperNews! ran an animated cartoon feature titled "The Glenn Beck Apocalypse", where Beck is confronted by Jesus Christ who rebukes him as the equivalent of "Sarah Palin farting into a balloon." Political comedian and satirist Bill Maher has mocked Beck's followers as an "army of diabetic mallwalkers", while The Buffalo Beast, named Beck the most loathsome person in America in 2010, declaring "It’s like someone found a manic, doom-prophesying hobo in a sandwich board, shaved him, shot him full of Zoloft and gave him a show."

Public disputes

Several incidents involving Beck and President Barack Obama have resulted in notable public controversy. In response to Obama's remarks on the Henry Louis Gates controversy, Beck argued that Obama has repeatedly shown "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture," saying "I'm not saying he doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist." These remarks drew criticism, and resulted in a boycott promulgated by Color of Change. In 2009, the boycott resulted in at least 57 advertisers requesting their ads be removed from his programming, to avoid associating their brands with content that could be considered offensive by potential customers. He later apologized for the remarks, telling Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace that he has a "big fat mouth" and miscast as racism what is actually, as he theorizes, Obama's belief in black liberation theology.

In July 2009, Glenn Beck began to focus what would become many episodes on his TV and radio shows on Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs at Obama's White House Council on Environmental Quality. Beck was critical of Jones' involvement in STORM, a left wing non-governmental group, and his support for death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, who had been convicted of killing a police officer. Beck spotlighted video of Jones referring to Republicans as "assholes", and a petition Jones signed suggesting that George W. Bush knowingly let the 9/11 attacks happen. In September 2009, Jones resigned his position in the Obama administration, after a number of his past statements became fodder for conservative critics and Republican officials. Time magazine credited Beck with leading conservatives' attack on Jones.

In 2009, Beck and other conservative commentators were critical of Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) for various reasons, including claims of voter registration fraud in the 2008 presidential election. In September 2009, he broadcast a series of heavily edited undercover videos by conservative activists James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, which seemed to portray ACORN community organizers offering inappropriate tax advice to people who said they were engaged in illegal activities. Following the videos' release, the U.S. Census Bureau severed ties with the group while the U.S. House and Senate voted to cut all of its federal funding. Beck's lawyers argued that the site infringed on his trademarked name and that the domain name should be turned over to Beck. The WIPO ruled against Beck, but Eiland-Hall voluntarily transferred the domain to Beck anyway, saying that the First Amendment had been upheld and that he no longer had a use for the domain name.

Websites

As of 2009, GlennBeck.com was estimated to receive 5-million unique visitors per month. and Pat Gray, begun in 2010

Beck University, interactive classes offered beginning in July 2010

In August 2010, Mercury Radio Arts also launched the independent political blog, The Blaze.

See also

Beck University

Conservative talk

List of most-listened-to radio programs

References

External links

Glenn Beck's Official Website

Glenn Beck's Radio Program

Glenn Beck – The 912 Project

Glenn Beck's Common Sense Tour

Official Site at Fox News

Multimedia

A Day in the Life of Glenn Beck - photo slideshow by Time magazine

Katie Couric Interview of Glenn Beck - video by CBS News

"Brand it like Beck" - video interview by Forbes magazine

John Stossel: "Glenn Beck, Conservative Narcissist?" - video by ABC News

Glenn Beck Discusses his Mormonism - video testimonial at The Week

Category:American activists Category:American anti-communists Category:American Latter Day Saints Category:American magazine editors Category:American magazine founders Category:American political pundits Category:American political writers Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:Former Roman Catholics Category:American talk radio hosts Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American people of German descent Category:Conservatism in the United States Category:Converts to Mormonism from Roman Catholicism Category:Environmental skepticism Category:People from Bellingham, Washington Category:People from Fairfield County, Connecticut Category:People from Mount Vernon, Washington Category:People from Seattle, Washington Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Tea Party movement Category:Writers from Washington (U.S. state) Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:Fox News Channel people

Name	Etan Thomas
Position	Center--Power forward
Height ft	6
Height in	10
Weight lb	260
Nationality	American
Birth date	April 01, 1978
Birth place	Harlem, New York
Team	Atlanta Hawks
Number	36
College	Syracuse University
Draft round	1
Draft pick	12
Draft year	2000
Draft team	Dallas Mavericks
Career start	2001
Teams	Washington Wizards (2001-2009)Oklahoma City Thunder (2009-2010)Atlanta Hawks (2010-present)

Dedreck Etan Thomas, commonly referred to as Etan Thomas (born April 1, 1978 in Harlem, New York), is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association.

College

Etan Thomas played college basketball at Syracuse University from 1996–2000, where he averaged 11 points per game and almost 7 rebounds per game. His senior year he was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year. At the end of his Syracuse career, Thomas was drafted 12th overall in the 2000 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks. He also played basketball at Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, OK, where he was a teammate of De'mond Parker, R.W. McQuarters and Ryan Humphrey.

Professional career

Without ever playing a game for the Mavericks, he was traded to the Washington Wizards in 2001 and has averaged 6.7 points and 5.3 rebounds throughout his career.

On June 23, 2009, he was traded along with Oleksiy Pecherov, Darius Songaila, and a first-round draft pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Randy Foye and Mike Miller.

On July 27, 2009, he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder along with a 2010 second-round draft pick and a conditional 2010 second-round draft pick in exchange for guards Chucky Atkins and Damien Wilkins.

On September 2, 2010, it was announced that the Atlanta Hawks had signed Thomas.

Health concerns

During the Wizards' training camp for the 2007–08 NBA season, a routine physical examination discovered that he had a leaking aortic valve. On October 11, 2007, Thomas successfully underwent open heart surgery. He returned to play for the Wizards on October 29, 2008, a full year after his surgery. In his first game back, he had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Personal life

In 2005, Thomas released a book of poetry titled "More Than an Athlete: Poems by Etan Thomas" which included works critical of former Wizards head coach Doug Collins.

He is a peace activist; in September 2005, Thomas was one of several celebrities to speak at the anti-war rally in Washington D.C.. He also spoke out at the September 15, 2007 anti-war protest in Washington D.C. He regularly blogs on the Huffington Post.

Thomas actively supported President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign. On August 16, 2008, he appeared with Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean at stops in northern Virginia as part of the Democratic National Committee's "Register for Change" bus tour to encourage local voter registration drives. Thomas gave speeches at two stops in Fairfax County (Lee District: Etan Thomas speech) and the City of Alexandria.

In January 2010, Thomas donated $30,000 to the Haiti relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti Earthquake.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

|- | align="left" | 2001–02 | align="left" | Washington | 47 || 0 || 13.1 || .536 || .000 || .554 || 3.9 || .1 || .4 || .7 || 4.3 |- | align="left" | 2002–03 | align="left" | Washington | 38 || 0 || 13.5 || .492 || .000 || .638 || 4.3 || .1 || .2 || .6 || 4.8 |- | align="left" | 2003–04 | align="left" | Washington | 79 || 15 || 24.1 || .489 || .000 || .647 || 6.7 || .9 || .5 || 1.6 || 8.9 |- | align="left" | 2004–05 | align="left" | Washington | 47 || 10 || 20.8 || .502 || .000 || .528 || 5.2 || .4 || .4 || 1.1 || 7.1 |- | align="left" | 2005–06 | align="left" | Washington | 71 || 9 || 15.8 || .533 || .000 || .600 || 3.9 || .2 || .3 || 1.0 || 4.7 |- | align="left" | 2006–07 | align="left" | Washington | 65 || 32 || 19.2 || .574 || .000 || .558 || 5.8 || .4 || .3 || 1.4 || 6.1 |- | align="left" | 2008–09 | align="left" | Washington | 26 || 7 || 11.8 || .485 || .000 || .696 || 2.5 || .2 || .1 || .7 || 3.1 |- | align="left" | 2009–10 | align="left" | Oklahoma City | 23 || 1 || 14.0 || .456 || .000 || .591 || 2.8 || .0 || .2 || .7 || 3.3 |- | align="left" | Career | align="left" | | 396 || 74 || 17.7 || .514 || .000 || .600 || 4.8 || .4 || .3 || 1.1 || 5.8

Playoffs

|- | align="left" | 2004–05 | align="left" | Washington | 8 || 0 || 15.8 || .655 || .000 || .455 || 4.5 || .3 || .0 || .9 || 6.0 |- | align="left" | 2005–06 | align="left" | Washington | 3 || 0 || 6.0 || .400 || .000 || .500 || 2.0 || .0 || .7 || .7 || 2.0 |- | align="left" | 2006–07 | align="left" | Washington | 4 || 4 || 21.0 || .412 || .000 || .667 || 5.5 || .3 || .5 || .8 || 5.0 |- | align="left" | 2009–10 | align="left" | Oklahoma City | 2 || 0 || 8.5 || .833 || .000 || 1.000 || 2.0 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 6.0 |- | align="left" | Career | align="left" | | 17 || 4 || 14.5 || .579 || .000 || .541 || 4.0 || .2 || .2 || .7 || 5.1

See also

List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career blocks leaders

References

External links

NBA.com Profile - Etan Thomas

ESPN.com Profile - Etan Thomas

Basketball-Reference Profile - Etan Thomas

Etan Thomas on Huffington Post

OrangeHoops Profile on Etan Thomas

The Speech Everyone Is Talking About: Etan Thomas Electrifies Anti-War Washington Dave Zirin, Commondreams.org, Sept 27, 2005.

Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:African American basketball players Category:American people of Grenadian descent Category:American people of Sierra Leonean descent Category:People from Manhattan Category:Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Category:Syracuse Orange men's basketball players Category:Dallas Mavericks draft picks Category:Washington Wizards players Category:Centers (basketball) Category:Basketball players from New York Category:Oklahoma City Thunder players Category:Atlanta Hawks players

Name	Don Imus
Birth name	John Donald Imus, Jr.
Birth date	July 23, 1940
Birth place	Riverside, California, U.S.
Occupation	Radio and television talk show host, writer, humorist
Spouse	Harriet Showalter (1st)Deirdre Coleman (2nd)
Allegiance	United States of America
Branch	United States Marine Corps
Serviceyears	1957 to 1960

John Donald "Don" Imus Jr. (born July 23, 1940) is an American radio host, humorist, philanthropist and writer. His nationally-syndicated talk show, Imus in the Morning, is broadcast throughout the United States by Citadel Media and relayed on television by the Fox Business Network.

Personal life

Imus was born in Riverside, California, the son of Frances E. (née Moore) and John Donald Imus, Sr. He was raised on a sprawling cattle ranch called The Willows near Kingman, Arizona. He served in the Marine Corps as a bugler from 1957 to 1960.

Imus battled alcoholism during his early career in New York, but in 1987 finally pursued effective treatment. (As of 2008, he has remained sober for 20 years). In 1988, with his cocaine and alcohol addictions now legendary in show business, Imus reshaped his show from strictly comedy into a forum for political issues, charitable causes and news-based parodies.

In 1979, he divorced his first wife, Harriet. He married his second wife, Deirdre Coleman on December 17, 1994. He has two stepdaughters that he adopted from his first marriage, two daughters from that marriage, and one son, Frederick Wyatt (nicknamed Wyatt, born July 3, 1998), from his current marriage. Both Don and Deirdre Imus are vegetarians.

In 1999, Imus and his wife founded the Imus Ranch, a working cattle ranch near Ribera, New Mexico, southeast of Santa Fe, for children with cancer, as well as siblings of SIDS victims. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day each year, the Imus family volunteers their time at the Imus ranch. Imus continues his broadcasts from a studio there, while the rest of his cast broadcast from New York. In 2000, Imus suffered serious injuries after a fall from a horse at his ranch, and broadcast several shows from a hospital.

Imus maintains three residences; an apartment in Manhattan, a waterfront mansion valued at $25 million, in Westport, Connecticut, and the Imus Ranch in Ribera, New Mexico.

On March 16, 2009, Imus announced on his radio show that he had been diagnosed with stage two prostate cancer.

Early career

Imus was a brakeman on the Southern Pacific Railroad. After hearing a morning disc-jockey, he went to the nearby radio station and persuaded the owner to hire him. Thus he began his career as a radio disc jockey on June 28, 1968 at radio station KUTY in Palmdale, California. He stayed at the station until 1969 when he left for a job at KJOY, a small radio station in Stockton, California. He was later fired for saying "hell" on air. After being fired in Stockton, he went to KXOA in Sacramento, California. His on-air pranks, such as calling up a restaurant and ordering 1200 hamburgers to go, made his show immensely popular and boosted ratings. He was inspired to pursue a career in radio by listening to California radio personality Don MacKinnon.

Imus in the Morning

After a stint at WGAR radio in Cleveland, Ohio, Imus moved to New York City and WNBC radio in December 1971. During this first stint at WNBC, Imus recorded three record albums, two for the RCA Victor label (1200 Hamburgers to Go, including some of his more popular "humor" from KXOA, WGAR and WNBC broadcasts, and One Sacred Chicken to Go with Anthrax, a primarily studio-created album centering on his satirical character, The Right Rev. Dr. Billy Sol Hargus) and one for the Bang label (This Honky's Nuts, an album of his stand up comedy act at the Manhattan nightclub "Jimmy's"). There was also a 1973 RCA Victor single, "Son of Checkers," issued by Imus. He returned to Cleveland radio WHK and made the front page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer his first day back in town. He regeared for what continues to be an unprecedented 30-year run in New York, the most competitive radio market in the world. In 1978, Imus commuted between Cleveland and New York to tape a TV talk show, Imus Plus at WNEW-TV. (The show was nationally syndicated by Metromedia, which owned both WHK and WNEW-TV at the time.)

Imus returned in September 1979 as WNBC's morning drive time host. From 1982 to 1985, the station also employed talk-radio host Howard Stern, and WNBC heavily promoted the pair in print and television ads, which often featured the slogan "If We Weren't So Bad, We Wouldn't Be That Good." Although Stern's show aired later in the day, Imus and Stern often made brief appearances on each other's shows, giving the audience an occasional glimpse of an on-and-off-air rivalry that continued for many years.

During this period, Imus was best known for character Billy Sol Hargus, a radio evangelist whose name was a cross between infamous real-life radio and television preacher Billy James Hargis and real-life Texas fertilizer swindler Billie Sol Estes. As Hargus, Imus touted on-air the merits of the "First Church of the Gooey Death and Discount House of Worship". Imus published the 1981 best-selling novel God's Other Son that further depicted Hargus's adventures. The novel was republished in 1994 by popular demand and spent seven weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Other regular Imus characters included the supposed general manager "Geraldo Santana Banana" (played by doo-wop singer Larry Chance), and "Moby Worm", a monstrous creature who devoured local schools (which was reported on the show's "breaking news updates").

Imus was also the utility announcer for Geraldo Rivera's monthly TV series Good Night, America, which aired as a recurring segment of ABC's Wide World of Entertainment program, and he was one of the inaugural video jockeys for the launch of the VH-1 cable network in 1985.

In 1988, WNBC radio was sold to Emmis Broadcasting; on October 7, 1988, WNBC permanently signed off the air and Emmis' WFAN was moved from 1050 AM to WNBC's former spot, 660 AM. Imus in the Morning remained at 660 AM among WFAN's sports programs with his music and comedy bits as the staples of the program and the beginnings of a political forum.

The radio show became nationally syndicated in 1993, and began simulcasting on MSNBC in 1996. He wore his signature cowboy hat during his broadcasts.

Imus’s behavior has often drawn the attention of the press. He famously called Rush Limbaugh "a fat, pill-popping loser" and a "drug-addled gas bag", and Lesley Stahl a "gutless, lying weasel." His comedic exchange of quips ("fat pig") regarding his show’s former news reader, Contessa Brewer, made news, as did Brewer's response ("cantankerous old fool"). When Tucker Carlson brought up Brewer on the program in 2005, Imus hung up on him, calling him "a bowtie-wearing little pussy."

While on the air during the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Imus in the Morning program was among the few live American broadcasts to continue airing commercials well after the first reports of the attack. While speaking live with famed sportscaster Warner Wolf, who was being interviewed by Imus from his high-rise apartment with direct sight to the World Trade Center, the second plane hit the towers with Mr. Wolf literally giving play-by-play. The commercials that continued to air included one for a major airline, Continental, along with a jeweler based in the World Trade Center, and a spot read "live" on the air for a broadcasting school, in which it was said careers in broadcasting were "exploding." Imus noted the irony, but continued reading the spot. His production staff of 13 years also had great difficulty in simulcasting live TV news coverage when requested by Imus. This staff stayed with Imus after the MSNBC debacle and moved with him to the new ABC/RFD-TV arrangement. Imus is still plagued by technical difficulties, which have become part of his daily comedy diatribe.

Imus was instrumental in raising over $60 million for the Center for the Intrepid, a Texas rehabilitation facility for soldiers wounded in the Iraq War. The largest technological center of its kind in the country, it is designed to help treat disabled veterans and help them with their transition back into the community. Imus has also taken on the cause of the living conditions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, visiting wounded veterans at the hospital to boost morale. Imus's reporting preceded Army resignations, including that of Lieutenant General Kevin Kiley, then Army Surgeon General. Imus had earlier criticized Kiley's personal fitness for military duty and dedication to wounded soldiers.

Rutgers women's basketball controversy

On April 4, 2007, during a discussion about the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship, Imus characterized the Rutgers University women's basketball team players as "rough girls" commenting on their tattoos. His executive producer Bernard McGuirk responded by referring to them as "hardcore hos". The discussion continued with Imus describing the girls as "nappy-headed hos" and McGuirk remarking that the two teams looked like the "jigaboos versus the wannabes" mentioned in Spike Lee's film, School Daze; apparently referring to the two teams' differing appearances. At 6:00 p.m. that evening, Media Matters for America released recorded transcripts to the news media highlighting the brief exchange:

After some outrage from the initial repeated reports, Imus dismissed the incident as "some idiot comment meant to be amusing".

Imus immediately issued a statement of apology:

On April 9, Imus appeared on Al Sharpton's syndicated radio talk show, Keepin It Real with Al Sharpton to address the controversy. Sharpton called the comments "abominable", "racist", and "sexist", and repeated his earlier demand that Imus be fired. Imus said, "Our agenda is to be funny and sometimes we go too far. And this time we went way too far. Here's what I've learned: that you can't make fun of everybody, because some people don't deserve it."

Shortly thereafter Imus was suspended. Media commentators were divided on the suspension: on MSNBC's Scarborough Country on April, 10, for example, Pat Buchanan said that Imus is "a good guy... [who] made a bad mistake and apologized for it" and that the show should stay on the air. Comedian Bill Maher said that if a comedian apologizes for stepping over a line, that should suffice. Steve Adubato, an MSNBC media analyst, disagreed, saying that this incident was "not isolated". Joe Klein made the same charge, referring to Imus's comment about New York Times reporter Gwen Ifill 14 years before as evidence of a pattern of offensive comments. On The View, Rosie O'Donnell spoke out in support of keeping Imus on the air on free speech grounds, while Emil Steiner of The Washington Post argued that Al Sharpton used the issue to further divide America along racial lines.

The basketball team held a news conference at which coach C. Vivian Stringer stated that the team would meet with Imus to discuss his comments. Several of the players expressed their outrage over his remarks. Team captain Essence Carson said Imus' remarks had "stolen a moment of pure grace from us".

African American Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page, at one time a frequent guest, once had confronted Imus about his characterization of certain black athletes and got Imus to take a pledge to stop. After the Rutgers team incident, Page said he would not appear on the show again and said of the original two-week suspension:

CBS board member and former NAACP president Bruce S. Gordon said that Imus should not be allowed to come back even after the suspension, claiming that his remarks "crossed the line, a very bright line that divides our country."

On April 11, 2007, Steve Capus of NBC News, bowing to pressure from Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, announced that MSNBC would no longer simulcast Imus in the Morning, effective immediately. While the decision came on the same day that a few advertisers left Imus, the network also said employee concerns played a role. Sen. (and presidential candidate) Barack Obama, and several high-profile NBC African-American personalities, including Al Roker previously a friendly guest on the show, opposed Imus's return. The absence and silence from Imus's frequent NBC guests Brian Williams, Andrea Mitchell, David Gregory, Chris Matthews and close friend Tim Russert was too obvious to ignore and foreshadowed NBC's future action.

In announcing the decision, Steve Capus, President of NBC News, said:

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The next day, CBS Radio canceled Imus in the Morning, effective immediately. CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves stated:

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The day before, CBS chairman Sumner Redstone said he trusted Moonves would "do the right thing," but didn't elaborate. Moonves had met with Sharpton and Jesse Jackson shortly before the announcement was made.

In an internal memo, Moonves said that employee concerns were a factor in the decision to cancel Imus's show, but also said that the decision was "about a lot more than Imus." Moonves said that CBS had to take Imus off the air in order to change "a culture that permits a certain level of objectionable expression that hurts and demeans a wide range of people."

Seven sponsors had either pulled their ads outright or suspended advertising on Imus's show to protest his remarks — General Motors (Imus's biggest advertiser), Staples Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, Sprint Nextel, PetMeds, American Express and Procter & Gamble. One other advertiser, Bigelow Tea, expressed uncertainty at renewing their ads with Imus's show.

Just hours after the announcement of his firing, Imus met with Stringer and her team at Drumthwacket, the New Jersey governor's mansion. The three-hour meeting was arranged by Buster Soaries, the former New Jersey Secretary of State and Stringer's pastor. New Jersey governor Jon Corzine planned to attend the meeting but was injured in a car accident on the way to the meeting. Imus left without commenting, but Stringer said the meeting went well. She later commented that they had accepted Imus's apology, and "It would sadden me for anyone to lose their job,... And he came [to the meeting] in spite of the fact that he lost his job. So let's give him credit for that." She also emphasized that the basketball team had not called for Imus to be fired.

CBS was criticized by some as being too harsh for canceling Imus's show. Senator John Kerry said a "long suspension" would be "appropriate to pay a price on the airwaves but I’m not sure that it was appropriate to say you’re off forever."

Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton's role in the controversy has drawn complaints. Conservative African American columnist Armstrong Williams criticized Jackson and Sharpton for "ratcheting up the rhetoric" and holding Imus to a “higher standard” than they would have themselves judged by. Columnist Jason Whitlock questioned the motives of Sharpton and Jackson, "who pushed the hardest and shouted the loudest for Imus’s demise," suggesting that their aim was not to help the Rutgers basketball team but to "cause division for profit." Williams and Whitlock both called Imus's statement offensive, however. Sharpton has been criticized for his hypocrisy in not attacking rappers who use similar terms.

Subsequent litigation

By May 2, 2007, Imus had hired prominent attorney Martin Garbus to pursue a wrongful termination lawsuit against CBS for the remaining $40 million on his five-year contract. The contract contained a clause indicating CBS hired and supported Imus to exhibit "irreverent" and "controversial" programming.

On August 14, 2007, CBS announced a settlement with Imus on his $40 million contract. On the same day, Rutgers basketball player Kia Vaughn, one of the women involved in the controversy, filed suit against Don Imus, NBC Universal, CBS Corporation, MSNBC, CBS Radio, Viacom, Westwood One radio, and Bernard McGuirk, citing slander, libel, and defamation of character. Vaughn was the only player to pursue legal damages brought on by the controversy. Vaughn dropped the lawsuit against Imus on September 11, 2007, citing her desire to concentrate on her studies and basketball training.

Return to radio and television

On July 8, 2007, the Drudge Report indicated that Imus would return to the air before the 2008 presidential election. The New York Post reported on July 16, 2007, that Imus was in search of a black comedian to join the show upon its return to help cushion racially insensitive comments he might say on the air. The same paper reported on July 27, 2007, that CBS was close to a buyout of Imus's contract. The report also said Imus's representatives had contacted Buckley Broadcasting, Citadel Broadcasting, and Clear Channel Communications. On August 14, Imus reached a settlement with CBS Radio over his contract, leaving him free to pursue other media opportunities. On November 14, the New York Times reported that Imus had agreed to terms with cable network RFD-TV to air a video simulcast of the new radio program. Charles McCord and Bernard McGuirk have joined Imus in the new version of the show. On December 3, Imus returned to the airwaves on ABC Radio and RFD-TV. When asked about Imus's return to radio, Al Sharpton said in an interview, "We’ll monitor him; I’m not saying I’m going to throw a banquet for him and say welcome home. He has the right to make a living, but because he has such a consistent pattern with this we are going to monitor him to make sure he doesn’t do it again." On April 4, 2008, Jesse Jackson appeared on "Imus in the Morning" to discuss the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King--a booking that would have seemed impossible nearly a year before, when Reverend Jackson joined 50 demonstrators in Chicago demanding that "Imus Must Go." Many media commentators declared Don Imus's rehabilitation complete.

In 2008, Little Richard appeared as a guest artist on "The Imus Ranch Record," to help raise funds to benefit sick and dying children, as well as to debunk the notion that Imus was racist. In September of that year, Imus signed a multi-year deal with Fox Business Network to simulcast his radio show Imus in the Morning. The program airs Monday through Friday from 6–9 AM ET and was first broadcast on October 5, 2009.

Cancer Diagnosis

In March 2009 Imus was diagnosed with stage 2 Prostate cancer although a report stating his condition was released and a story about his condition was reported in the national media outlets, No further information has been made available or has been reported to the public as of late 2010.

Reaction from presidential candidates

On January 11, 2007, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), an occasional guest on Imus in the Morning, announced his candidacy in the 2008 Presidential Election while speaking with Imus on his daily program. Less than three months later, Dodd would publicly chastise Imus during the Rutgers controversy. Dodd later returned and appeared on-air for Imus's first broadcast following his return on WABC, though nothing was mentioned of his prior criticism of Imus. In addition to Dodd, the first week of Imus's return to broadcasting also saw the return of presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain, Governor Mike Huckabee, and Governor Bill Richardson to his show. 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry also appeared. A politician notably lacking in support was Harold Ford, Jr., whom Imus had supported during Ford's losing 2006 Senate campaign. Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both voiced their distaste for Imus's remarks, and both publicly supported his firing.

Adam "Pacman" Jones Controversy

On June 23, 2008, controversy again surrounded Imus when he made the following statements regarding the suspension of Cowboys' cornerback, Adam Jones.

In response, Jones said, "I'm truly upset about the comments. Obviously Mr. Imus has problems with African-Americans. I'm upset, and I hope the station he works for handles it accordingly. I will pray for him."

Imus said his comments were misinterpreted. Through his spokesman, Imus said, "I meant that he was being picked on because he's black."

Joe Barton

For two weeks in the Fall of 2006, Imus delivered ongoing 'rants' against Texas Congressman Joe Barton, describing him as "a lying fat little skunk from Texas", a "pipsqueak" and a "coward and a crybaby". Imus also called Barton a "congressional dirtbag", because Barton used his position as a committee chair to prevent passage of the Combating Autism Act, which would authorize funds for autism research. In the weeks before Congress recessed on September 29, 2006, Barton used his chairmanship to prevent the legislative proposal from coming to a vote in the House, rousing the ire of Imus and his wife, staunch supporters of autism research. The bill already had been passed unanimously by the Senate, but Barton opposed the Senate bill's stipulation that centers of excellence investigate environmental factors.

Lawsuits

Imus was sued by the wife of Boston Herald columnist and radio talk show host Howie Carr in 1998 after Imus made sexually explicit remarks about her and boxer Riddick Bowe. Imus reportedly made the remarks after being told that Carr had said that Imus "would die before his kid got out of high school"; Carr denies making those remarks. Carr, represented by Alan Dershowitz, received an out of court settlement from Imus.

Imus also attracted public attention due to two lawsuits. On November 29, 2004, a former nanny, Nichole Mallette, sued Imus for wrongful termination and defamation after a Thanksgiving 2003 incident in which she was allegedly fired and escorted off his property at 4:15 AM. Don and Deirdre Imus were allegedly upset over Mallette's possession of a cap-gun and pocket knife on ranch property.

On July 8, 2005, Dr. Howard Allen Pearson sued Imus for slander and civil assault. Pearson accused Imus of threatening him during a July 13, 2004 confrontation at the ranch, and Imus subsequently referred to him on air as "an arrogant fucking doctor who doesn't mind letting a child suffer".

Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner speech

On March 21, 1996, Imus delivered a speech at the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C., which Imus later called "The Speech From Hell".

The dinner was attended by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton. The initial line of Imus's speech was considered a direct reference to Hillary Clinton, who was at the time involved in a specific aspect of the Whitewater scandal concerning billing records that were discovered just a few weeks before on a table in the resident section of The White House.

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Later on, Imus commented on the President saying "Go baby!" while doing radio play-by-play at an Orioles game, and added, "I remember commenting at the time, I bet that's not the first time he's said that."

Accusations of defamatory speech

As "shock jocks", Imus and his crew, mainly Bernard McGuirk, repeatedly made controversial remarks through skits and character impersonations in what they considered a comical format which critics labeled as racist, misogynist, homophobic and anti-semitic. He has also been accused of making offensive remarks off the air. Some examples include:

In a 1984 interview, answering a question about Howard Stern, Don Imus said: "yes, Howard's a slut too, Lloyd...Plus a Jew bastard, and should be castrated... put in an oven" A clip of this interview was played by Howard Stern in the news section of his November 5, 2007 show. Imus referred to African-American sports columnist Bill Rhoden as a "New York Times quota hire". In 1993, Imus referred to PBS anchor Gwen Ifill (then with the New York Times) as a "cleaning lady." As reported by New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, in the course of a 1998 interview with Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes, Imus told a producer off-camera that McGuirk was hired to perform "nigger jokes." Robin Quivers claimed that when she worked with Imus at WNBC, he called her a "nigger" to her face. Both Howard Stern and Quivers have also claimed that he screamed "Nigger, nigger!" at a black secretary named Brenda during their time at WNBC. Imus has also repeatedly referred to Arabs as "ragheads." He has berated many female newsreaders, most recently Contessa Brewer, which caused her to leave the show. After she left the show, Imus went on a tirade, saying, "With that fat ass she's got, she wouldn't be one of 'em," [a news 'babe'.]. Imus said on the air, "That skank has to spend three hours with makeup in the morning." The tirade was allegedly tied to comments overheard from Contessa's calling Imus "a cantankerous old fool" at a 2005 dinner in a restaurant when she was still a newsreader. During a show a producer also made fun of poet Maya Angelou. The show's routines sometimes contained derogatory epithets for homosexuals, including "faggot" and various terms describing homosexuality. Imus has also made fun of Irish, Jews, Italians, other ethnicities and all political positions.

Business interests

Don Imus was also a part owner of Autobody Express stores with his brother, Fred (a frequent caller to the radio show, commenting on NASCAR races, the NFL and related pop culture matters). The Autobody Express stores were located in Santa Fe, and inside the Mohegan Sun Native American Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. In 2003, the company failed and both stores closed.

Imus still owns a small coffee/pastry store also located in the Mohegan Sun casino. The Autobody Express became Imus Ranch Foods, which offers its signature chips and salsa via online sales and in Northeastern stores. The proceeds from Imus Ranch Foods help fund the work of the Imus Ranch.

Honors

Imus won three Marconi Awards, two for Major Market Personality of the Year (1992 and 1997) and one for Network Syndicated Personality (1994).

Imus was named one of the 25 Most Influential People in America in Time magazine (April 21, 1997).

He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1989. In 2002, Talkers magazine ranked Imus as one of the 25 greatest radio talk show hosts of all time.

Books

Awkward, Michael. Burying Don Imus. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009.

*What the furor surrounding Don Imus shows us about unresolved race relations in the United States.

Imus, Donald. God's Other Son. Simon & Schuster, 1994. (ISBN 0-684-80166-3). (Originally published in 1981 (ISBN 0-671-22537-5).)

Imus, Donald, and Imus, Fred. Two Guys Four Corners: Great Photographs, Great Times, and a Million Laughs. Villard, 1997. (ISBN 0-679-45307-5).

Imus, Deirdre. The Imus Ranch: Cooking for Kids and Cowboys. Rodale Press, 2004. (ISBN 0-87596-919-4).

Reed, Jim. Everything Imus: All You Ever Wanted to Know About Don Imus. Birch Lane Press, 1999. (ISBN 1-55972-504-4).

Tracy, Kathleen. Imus: America's Cowboy. Carroll & Graf, 1999. (ISBN 0-7867-0608-2).

Notes

External links

Official Web site

77WABC Radio-New York

Imus In The Morning Podcast

Imus on WKIP

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