Roger Federer, or Fedex, won his 4th Australian Open title against Andy Murray 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (13/11). This is his 16th Grand Slam title and shows he’s still on top. Andy Murray on the other hand, remains unenviably lacking a single Grand Slam title. Federer holds the longest Grand Slam streak, two ahead of Pete Sampras. After last year’s defeat to Rafael Nadal, which saw him sobbing uncontrollably, this victory meant no tears.

The game saw Murray exhibiting a passivity that led Roger to not break a single set, despite the longish third set. After the first set, which was somewhat mixed and Murray had three break points, Federer upped the ante in the second, pouring on the pressure until Andy couldn’t bear the burden and Fedex took the set. The third was nail-biting, and Andy could have taken the set at least five times, until Roger broke the stalemate and took his third match point.

It is now 74 years since the British have won a Grand Slam title, since Fred Perry beat Don Budge in 1936. Roger Federer acerbically termed the period “150,000 years” ahead of the match Friday. As master of the Grand Slam, he might be excused this grandiloquence.

Thomas Kent, six other youths ranging from teens to early twenties, arrested in 100-person street fight in Northwest Side, Chicago. Cops injured in melee.

According to the Chicago Sun Times, police have arrested seven people and several police officers were injured during an early Saturday morning street fight that involved more than 100 people on the Northwest Side of Chicago. Thomas Kent, 18, was charged with felony aggravated battery to police, one misdemeanor count of reckless conduct and three counts of resisting/obstructing a peace officer. Yeah, I can hear his mother now, “Thomas is a good boy, who wouldn’t harm a fly!” Six other youths, including a female, ranging from teens to early twenties were also arrested.

Police responded to the large disturbance near the 5600 block of West Grand Avenue around 1:45 a.m., and several officers sustained “non-life threatening injuries” while trying to break up the fight, police News Affairs Sgt. Antoinette Ursitti said.

Several of the suspects refused orders to quit fighting and verbally and physically assaulted officers responding to the disturbance, Ursitti said. Police also used tasers and pepper spray to quiet the disturbance, she said.

George Jernigan, 20, of the 1800 block of N. McVicker Ave., was charged with reckless conduct, three counts of resisting/obstructing, and battery. Jeremy Reed, 18, of the 5700 block of W. Ohio St., was charged with reckless conduct and two counts of resisting/obstructing a peace officer. Aramie Kent, 20, of the 2100 block of S. 11th Place, was charged with reckless conduct and two counts of resisting/obstructing a peace officer. Keisha Lemon, 21, of the 700 block of N. Menard Ave., was charged with reckless conduct. Orlando Edwards, 21, of the 5700 block of W. Ohio St., was charged with reckless conduct, battery, and two counts of resisting/obstructing a peace officer. Dishai Reed, 20, of west suburban Bellwood was charged with reckless conduct. Source: Chicago Sun Times

This is shameful and is disgraceful how little regard some of our young people have for law enforcement. Absolutely shameful.

Photo credit:  Thomas Kent, Chicago Sun Times

Terri Chilton, 41, Jefferson City, MO, grandmother charged for drugging one-year old granddaughter with blood thinner.

Terri Chilton, 41, a Jefferson City, Mo., grandmother, has been arrested and charged with first degree endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly feeding a blood thinner to a one-year old girl. According to the News Tribune, Chilton, who resides on 720 Route T, committed the crime on January 12.

Chilton reportedly engaged in a series of attempted deceptions, between Dec. 28, 2009, to January 12, to make the parents believe the baby had ingested a rodent poison, with the active ingredient being a blood thinner. This reportedly caused the child to bleed uncontrollably from her mouth, nose and two minor scratches. She survived, but it’s not yet known if there was long-term organ damage.

She claimed she did this in the hopes of having the child’s parents, who are in the process of getting a divorce, to reconcile due to the child being ill.

Australian Open Final

Trophy Presentation – January 31, 2010

TENNIS CHAMPION Roger Federer, who is also the world number one has won the men’s singles final at the Austrailain Open to regain the crown he lost to Rafael Nadal last year.

Roger Federer defeated No 5 seed Andy Murray (United Kingdom) in three hard-fought sets, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (13/11) in two hours 41 minutes.

This was Federer’s fourth Australian Open win, which now takes his total Grand Slam count to 16. His victory also meant an end to Andy Murray’s quest for British tennis history. Federer had won the Australian Open men’s singles title in 2004, 2006 and 2007.

It was Murray’s second Grand Slam loss to Federer following his defeat to the him in the 2008 US Open final and continued Britain’s frustrating chase for the first time Grand
Slam winner since Fred Perry last won 74 years ago.

Federer said after extending his record to 16 Grand Slams, two more than Sampras and a whopping 10 more than nearest current challenger Rafa Nadal,

“ I always knew I had it in my hand. The question is (did) I have it in my mind and in my legs,”

List of all-time grand slam
winners
16 — Roger Federer
4 Australian, 6 Wimbledon, 1 French, 5 US
14 — Pete Sampras
2 Australian,
7 Wimbledon, 5 US
12 — Roy Emerson
6 Australian, 2 French, 2 Wimbledon, 2 US
11 — Bjorn Borg
6 French, 5 Wimbledon
11 — Rod Laver
3 Australian, 2 French, 4 Wimbledon, 2 US
10 — Bill Tilden
3 Wimbledon, 7 US
08 — Andre Agassi
4 Australian, 1 French, 1 Wimbledon, 2 US
08 — Ivan Lendl
2 Australian, 3 French, 3 US
08 — Fred Perry
1 Australian, 1 French, 3 Wimbledon, 3 US
08 — Ken Rosewall
4 Australian, 2 French, 2 US

Did former President George W. Bush’s grandfather, Prescott Bush, help Adolf Hitler rise to power? Well, an article in the U.K. Guardian seems to make that claim. Here’s an excerpt from the article, entitled “How Bush’s Grandfather helped Hitler’s Rise to Power.”

George Bush’s grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany. The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.

His business dealings, which continued until his company’s assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave laborers at Auschwitz and to a hum of pre-election controversy. The evidence has also prompted one former US Nazi war crimes prosecutor to argue that the late senator’s action should have been grounds for prosecution for giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

The debate over Prescott Bush’s behavior has been bubbling under the surface for some time. There has been a steady internet chatter about the “Bush/Nazi” connection, much of it inaccurate and unfair. But the new documents, many of which were only declassified last year, show that even after America had entered the war and when there was already significant information about the Nazis’ plans and policies, he worked for and profited from companies closely involved with the very German businesses that financed Hitler’s rise to power. It has also been suggested that the money he made from these dealings helped to establish the Bush family fortune and set up its political dynasty.

Read more:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar

I can’t say it is very often (if at all in the past) that I would find myself saying “Amen” to something that Christopher Hitchens, the author of God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, would say.  In an interview between atheist Hitchens and Unitarian minister Marilyn Sewell he says something I can wholeheartedly agree with:

Yes there is a distinction, and no people who reject what Hitchens brings up really can’t call themselves a Christian.

Amen and amen.

HT: Melinda Penner st Stand to Reason

SHOCK: Photos surface of Puerto Rican aid mission doctors drinking, mugging for the cameras and brandishing firearms amid suffering Haitians, causes uproar.

Puerto Rico, which is a self-governing commonwealth of the United States, has launched an investigation into a group of its doctors in Haiti who posed for pictures with guns and earthquake victims, according to BBC News.

Health Secretary Lorenzo Gonzalez said ethical guidelines prohibited taking pictures of patients or operations other than for medical purposes. Some photos showed the medics with guns, smiling and drinking during what appeared to be an operation. The pictures were posted on Facebook, but were later removed from the site. Other photographs showed a doctor holding a saw next to a victim’s leg.

‘Unfortunate events’

“My main concern is the transmission of a pictures of a patient not knowing whether there was an attempt for informed consent,” Mr Gonzalez was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. The Puerto Rico Association of Physicians and Surgeons said in a statement that some Puerto Rican doctors “displayed behaviour… that did not meet the highest standards of the medical profession”.

“We wish to respectfully ask forgiveness… for the unfortunate events described and widely disseminated, which we are sure added pain and sadness to the enormous suffering,” the statement added. It said that more than 60 doctors had been sent to Haiti to treat the victims of the devastating earthquake on 12 January. However, the association did not say how many doctors had appeared in the photos. Source: BBC News

This is a major embarrassment in Puerto Rico and the doctors’ behavior can be considered as reprehensible. The ethics committee is investigating whether the doctors involved should be disciplined. Er, yes they should! Some of the pictures were reportedly taken in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic after the group had operated on 70 patients who were in critical condition.

For a woman romance is very important indicator of the health of a relationship. A woman in love continually looks for verbal, written and

SHOCK:  A Bellport school bus driver has been fired for using duct tape to quiet an unruly and loud student.

The incident occurred two weeks ago on a bus serving Frank P. Long Intermediate School in Bellport, NY. The names of the driver and student have not been released.

The school district terminated the driver last Friday. Board of Education President Gregory Miglino Jr. said, in a media interview, that the driver was not being malicious. He just used poor judgment.