Adam

She got it in 3 sets! I saw the first set, she looked very uncomfortable, especially serving. The wind was not doing her any favours.

It should be an exciting tournament. On the women's side, will Serena successfuly complete her comeback with a grand slam title? On the men's side will Djokovic continue his dominant year, or will Nadal or Federer take a run at him? Federer needs to win the US Open to keep his streak of winning at least one grand slam title every year since 2002.

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I am surprised Christine didn't put a spell on Piers. I had meant to watch that interview, sorry I missed it. I agree with Carl though, why is she getting press now? Seems odd. Did she write a book or something?

I still think Romney is the most "electable" so hopefully reasoning trumps blind faith and he is selected. But this is the Republican Party we are talking about..... I still think against any of them Obama gets a 2nd term, but at least with Romney I believe he'd have to fight for it.

Looks like its going to be the Romney, Bachmann and Perry show from here on in. Is it just me, or does Bachmann have this evil look to her? Her smile just seems so fake to me.

Bachmann won that straw poll thing in Iowa. Sarah Palin and her travelling roadshow showed up in the state yesterday to draw the media focus to her. Will this opportunist just declare her intentions already.

*sigh* I came late to the party due to my 1985 birth, so by the time I was old enough to follow AMC's Phoebe's heyday had long passed, but her character defines what AMC was, at least the humour tied to the drama. She stands apart from the typical soap opera matriarch.

S&P has downgraded the USA's credit rating to AA+ from AAA, first time ever. http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/05/news/economy/downgrade_rumors/index.htm?iref=BN1 Damn! The White House and Treasury Dept. is calling bull [!@#$%^&*] on their analysis (as expected), but regardless the optics of this look terrible.

The Dow lost 500 points today, apparently shedding all 2011 gains in the process. Default or not, things are getting shaky.

No problem! He's a fascinating character. Even just browsing his wikipedia article I am sure will give you even more interesting information! Look up some clips of him speaking on youtube too. He was definitely this country's Obama, and his legacy, while tainted in some areas, is quite positive. Over his 16 years in power (minus a 9 month reprieve where he "retired" after an election defeat, only to come back and win the next election handily) he accomplished alot. He is best known for his social reforms to welfare, EI, and of course "bring the constitution home" as until 1982, Canada still technically did not have full sovereignty from the British government. He is most reviled for his economic policies, which it would appear will be Obama's eventual downfall too.

The same thing happened here (Canada) in the late 60's-1970's when Pierre Trudeau was Prime Minister. He was worshiped by millions for his charisma and very non-traditionalist approach. Sure, it coincided with the era of free love and peace for all and he definitely played into that, but he was made out to be nothing short of a political god, much like Obama is. Now I did not live through the Trudeau era, I am basing my opinion purely on research and talking to my parents, but I can honestly say Trudeau for as many supporters as he had, he probably has 2x the detractors, and not just detractors. He's been out of power for over 25 years, dead for a decade and in certain parts of the country just mentioning his name incites anger in people. The one thing though that separates Trudeau from Obama is that he was not afraid to do something unpopular for what he believed in.... Hearing Obama walked out in anger out of the debt meetings, while maybe irresponsible, does give me hope that he does actually have a spine....

Yeah, most pundits continue to write him off. As Max said, Bachmann has the momentum right now.... its between her and Romney as of right now..... Bachmann's claim "God talks to her" is justification enough that this individual cannot be trusted with the capability to order a nuclear strike.

I think this is true, it kind of got out of hand and kind of set Obama back from the outset as I said, he was never ever going to be able to live up to the hype. If I was an American voter, I would have voted for him... because I think the country needed change direction.... and if Obama had been able to SUCCESSFULLY maneuver his policy ideas through the system, then I think we might be getting somewhere. The point of the matter is he has not been successful. Almost every major thing he promised during that "Change" campaign has been side-stepped, or seriously watered down. Obamacare, Gitmo, the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan... and of course economic issues. I don't doubt Obama has strong convictions, he just doesn't have the political skills or experience to transfer them into legitimate policy. He is of course further hampered by the fact the Democrats do not control the house and do not have a filibuster-proof majority in the senate, but with alot of Democrats publically speaking out against Obama on his handling of the debt crisis.... I am not so sure that can be used as a legitimate excuse. IF Obama does go down, which I am still highly skeptical of..... Hillary 2016.

Obama is a friggin coward so I totally agree with this viewpoint. He was never ever going to be able to come close to the pedestal he, his campaign and his mob of supporters put himself up on. There was no chance, and I was willing to cut him a break because of that, but it goes beyond that now. Imagine, a democrat WILLING to toy with social security cuts in a game of political chicken with his opponents. I think it makes a STRONG case for the democrats to go against popular conmvention and run a legitimate candidate in the primaries. If the Republican Party itself wasn't in such shambles and divided and actually had a candidate worth getting behind he'd easily be a one-term president. I think Obama may set a precedent here because usually when the economy is bad, and its BAD right now and probably only going to get worse, that usually spells instant death for an incumbent... probably not. here The only aspect of his presidency that does seem to have a bit of credibility is the foreign policy aspect, but I think you can pretty much thank Hillary for that... and soon he won't even have her. Isn't she going to head up the World Bank once her term as Sec of State expires?

Thanks Ron! I have always enjoyed tennis, I was disappointed due to my work schedule I wasn't able to see as much of Wimbledon this year as I would have liked. Great to see Novak beat Nadal for the trophy. I really was hoping Murray would have knocked Nadal off (and after that 1st set it looked as if he might...) but then he fell apart.

Maria Sharapova into her first Grand Slam final in more than 3 years. Really great story for her!

The Lady Gaga of Tennis!

Both Williams Sisters are out. Maybe Maria Sharapova can finally get back to a Grand Slam Final?

You've hit the nail right on the head. Especially the bolded part. Whether intentional or not, she has created it herself. Quite the smart move on her part. She though will have to walk a fine line the rest of her career and not alienate that rabid, crazy fanbase of hers. They could just as easily turn on her.

I think its going to be the next single too, based on the promo she seems to be doing for it. And for fun: <iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ss_BmTGv43M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This chick should just stick to her voice and piano. <iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z2AxFPN63Cs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Be nice to see Murray win.... assuming he's in the draw?

Judas was SUCH huge hit.... I mean.... it went straight to #15 on the Pop charts!!!!!!! It was so not a flop!!! Even though 7 out of her 8 first singles reached #1 on the charts..... Lesson learned for Gaga: don't sing religiously charged lyrics over the beat of your signature song.... I love Judas, but I can totally see why he flopped so bad. So should not have been a single. Speaking to how Born This Way (single) is old news... it reminds me of Michael Jackson's chart success post-Thriller. Following Thriller most of his songs would shoot straight to #1 and be all by forgotten within a month or two. When you start off with the insane amount of hype that single (and now the album) that was attached to it, it is bound to fizzle out. She still would have sold over 700,000 I think. But yes, its great to see what Adele is doing. I love it!

Maria as a stand alone character was probably one of the best ones to come out of the 1990's period, and Edmund and Maria were awesome together during that first run. That of course all changed when she returned in 2002. Adding such a huge family though on top of Maria kind of dragged her down. It really got quite ridiculous. But Maria will always be one of my favourite characters. Eva also always showed up for her scenes (even when the writing was terrible).