Finding Nemo- Winter Storm Bears Down on New England, New York

Michael S Gordon- Springfield Republican

Forecasters are warning that New Englanders and New Yorkers could expect to see a record amount of snowfall accompanied by high winds sweeping into the area heading into the weekend.

Apparently naming winter storms is a thing now, and the one bearing down on the northeastern corner of the country is called Nemo. Nemo is expected to dump anywhere from 2 to 3 feet across the region overnight and may also have wind gusts as high as 70 MPH.

Dave Roback- Springfield Republican

In Massachusetts, Nemo's approach is being taken seriously by the Commonwealth, where Gov. Patrick has declared a State of Emergency ahead of the storm's arrival and imposed a statewide travel ban on the Bay State's roads by 4 PM on Friday. The order left many streets and highways throughout the Commonwealth looking like ghost towns during what should've been a busy Friday afternoon commute.

Airlines throughout the region have cancelled more than 2000 flights as Nemo moved in as Boston's Logan Airport, Newark, NJ's Liberty Airport and New York's JFK and LaGuardia airports shut down on Friday. The delay also had a ripple effect as these airports as many flights were unable to continue on to their final destination, stranding thousands of passengers.

Boston's commuter agency, the MBTA, had announced the shut of down all subway, bus and commuter rail service effective 3:30 on Friday afternoon while Amtrak is halting all service on the Northeast Corridor between New York and Boston and is expected to suspend regional services on the Vermonter and Downeaster trains.

Ferries to and from Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard were also suspended on Friday afternoon, although a timetable for returning to service was much more ambiguous as The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority's website simply stated services would resume "as soon as sea conditions improve".

The United States Postal Service announced that Post Offices throughout Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine would be closed on Saturday and there would be no mail delivery due to the storm [the "No Saturday Delivery" thing has been proposed as a likely cost-cutting measure for the USPS already- NANESB!].

UPDATE- The Associated Press is reporting that as many as 375,000 utility customers in Cape Cod and Eastern Massachusetts are without power as wet, heavy snow and wind gusts of 75 MPH or more were reported.

New Regulations May Lead to Collapse of New England's Fishing Industry

Gretchen Ertl- New York Times

The New England Fishery Management Council this week approved drastic cuts in the catch limit of cod off the coast of New England, adding the the already beleagured industry's woes.

The New England Fishery Management Council on Wednesday approved a year-to-year cut of 77 percent on the Gulf of Maine cod limit and 61 percent for Georges Bank cod.

The cuts come on top of a slew of other reductions, ranging from 10 to 71 percent, on the catch of other bottom-dwelling groundfish species, such as haddock and flounder.

Fishermen say now they're staring at industry collapse because they've been left with far too few fish for most boats to make a living.

"We are headed down the wrong course here, of exterminating the inshore fleet, for no good reason," said David Goethel, a New Hampshire fisherman and council member.

The cuts, in effect May 1, are expected to be backed by federal managers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA's top federal fisheries regulator, John Bullard, acknowledged the reductions will be devastating. But he said the fish stocks are struggling and the industry's steady, excruciating decline must be reversed.

"The first thing we have to do is put denial behind us," he said.

The cuts hit an industry that was crucial to the nation's early economy and remains imbued with the risk and romance of man versus nature -- depicted in the famous "Man at the Wheel" statue in Gloucester of a fisherman facing the sea.

The new low limits reduce the cod catch to just a fraction of what it once was and prevent fishermen from landing more plentiful species, such as haddock and pollock. That's because fishermen can't pull up the healthier groundfish without catching too much of the cod that swim among them.

An economic analysis by the council projected that the cuts would reduce overall groundfish revenues by 33 percent, from about $90 million in 2011 to about $60 million in 2013. But fishermen said the projection is far too optimistic.

"It's fantasy. ... I mean, I'd rather go to Disney World. I've got a better chance of meeting Peter Pan," said Goethel, who predicted the entire New Hamsphire fleet would be eliminated.

Fishermen have consistently disputed the accuracy of the science that drives regulation and that indicates the stocks are in bad shape. And they noted the industry has generally fished at or below levels recommended by science in recent years, but the advice has proven wrong.

"I've done everything they told me to do, and all of the sudden I come up here to a meeting today, and they're going to send me in a coffin out of this place," said New Bedford fisherman Carlos Rafael, who said he may have to sideline half of his fleet of 20 groundfish boats.

Federal regulators have been contemplating deep cuts or a near-total prohibition on cod fishing by New England's fishing, despite some uncertainty over whether or not there's a sustained decline of the cod population offshore.

Fishermen insist that there are plenty of cod and that the real problem is fuzzy science. They say the data are grossly inconsistent, pointing to a 2008 federal report that concluded that Gulf of Maine cod, though historically overfished, were well on the way to recovery.

The news is causing high anxiety in Massachusetts, where a wooden “Sacred Cod” has hung in the State House for more than 200 years and the fishing industry, though struggling, still figures prominently in the state’s identity.

“I can’t think of another fishery shutdown that would have the economic consequences of this,” said Steven Cadrin, a scientist at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, who helped with the assessment.

From May 2010 to April 2011, commercial fishermen caught about nine million pounds of Gulf of Maine cod, according to the New England Fishery Management Council, earning more than $2 per pound on average.

Last year NOAA officials put more than 2100 square miles of prime fishing ground off limits to New England fishermen in a move to protect an estimated 90,000 harbor porpises. Despite their relatively abundant numbers, the species is under the protection of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Today's Train of Thought- Over the Hills We Go, December 15, 2012

Although in this case, the 'hills' in question are New Hampshire's rather formidable White Mountains.

It's that time of year again- where tourist railways, shortlines and even the occasional Class 1 begin operating seasonal Santa Trains for the public or their employees.

Originally built in 1872, the rail line into Conway, NH  carried seasonal visitors in the Boston area to the resorts in northern New Hampshire. The line continued to be in service for about 100 years until the last of the freight customers dried up for the Boston & Maine in 1972. Although much of the line south of Conway was torn up, the Conway Scenic Railroad began operations out of the ornate Victorian-style depot in North Conway a few years after the B&M left town. The excursions were fairly short, but featured a former Canadian National 0-6-0 Baldwin steam engine for power [which is still in operation today- NANESB!] as well as older diesels such as GE 44 tonners and ALCo S Series switchers.

By 1984, Guilford Transportation- the parent company of Maine Central, Delaware & Hudson and the Boston & Maine- had decided to abandon the MEC Mountain Division between Portland, ME and St Jonsbury, VT. This was the only other line through N. Conway and left the Conway Scenic isolated from the rest of the nation's rail network for a time. However, instead of being torn up, the line was instead transferred to the New Hampshire Department of Transportation where it was eventually reopened in the late 1990s as the Conway Scenic acquired a pair of former VIA Rail Canada F units to haul trains through the scenic Crawford Notch northwest of Conway. The F units were on the property as recently as 2010, when the Conway Scenic and Guilford successor Pan Am negotiated a trade. Pan Am would get the F units for office car specials and VIP trains while the Conway Scenic would get two newer GP units- a GP35 and a GP38- that were equipped with dynamic braking, something needed on what the Conway Scenic calls the Notch Trains.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Ian McMillan caught Conway Scenic GP7 #573 trundling across Boulder Creek on the Mountain division at Bartlett, NH on January 5th, 2007. The #573 has been on the property since 1996 and was reportedly the preferred locomotive for Maine Central's then-president, E. Spencer Miller, to handle office car specials and was said to have powered the last OCS over the Mountain Division in 1984. Here, she's seen with an excursion from the Massachusetts Bay Rail Road Enthusiasts 'Steam in the Snow' excursion, inferring that the coal-burning former CN 0-6-0 isn't too far away.

Maine Earthquake Rattles Much of New England

Residents throughout New England felt some shaking in the evening hours on Tuesday when the region was rocked by a temblor that had a preliminary measurement of 4.0.

“I literally thought my furnace was exploding,” said Portland resident and Brewer native Holly Barber, a guidance counselor at Lake Region High School in Naples. “I live in Deering Center on Pleasant Avenue, and I was right here in my room.”

The quake was centered 3 miles west of Hollis Center and 13 miles northwest of Biddeford, according to the United States Geological Survey, and was just over 4 miles deep. The service notes the quake occurred at 7:12 p.m. Tuesday.

Reports of the quake spread like wildfire through social media. A Facebook group created shortly after it struck, called “I survived the 10/16/12 earthquake,” was liked by more than 38,000 people by approximately 8:20 p.m. On Twitter, users reported feeling the tremors from around the state.

While there were no immediate reports of physical damage, some users reported problems with cellphone providers AT&T and Verizon Wireless and phone provider Time Warner after the quake.

The Maine Emergency Management Agency had no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Spokespeople for AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless said their towers were not damaged.

Andrew Russell, manager of communications at Time Warner Cable, said “there were intermittent service outages after the quake” but service was back to normal late Tuesday night.

But high call volume may have caused problems with service, according to the AT&T spokeswoman

While not unheard of on the east coast, quakes that powerful are relatively rare for New England. In August of 2011, much of the Mid-Atlantic region including Washington DC was rocked by a magnitude 5.8 quake centered near the small town of Mineral, VA.

While I missed out on what was shaking today, I remember growing up as a lad in Western New England and being at a relative's house that was built in the 1770s. Local lore claimed that the residence was haunted and one night, a female relative not much older than me came flying down the stairs, panicked and swearing up and down that one of the rocking chairs in the hallway began rocking back and forth on its own. Not prone to flights of fancy and exaggeration, her claims were taken at face value, and the grown-ups were scratching their heads over some sort of a non-paranormal explanation.

It came on the front page of the next day's newspaper when the headlines announced a magnitude 6 earthquake up in Quebec. We figured that while we may not have actually have felt the quake, it was still strong enough to shake the floors of the old house and make the rocking chair look like it was rocking back and forth on its own.

Iron Horse Roundup for September 2012

Ontario Northland GP38-2 #1805 seen heading north at Huntsville, ON with The Northlander in March 2011 WD Shaw photo

CANADA- After announcing upcoming cutbacks in service earlier this year, Ontario Northland's Northalnder made its final scheduled run from Toronto to Cochrane, ON this week.

Critics predict 1,000 employees face layoffs in remote, economically strapped communities served by Ontario Northland, the provincial Crown-owned rail service.

As people wept and reminisced on the Northlander's last run, several regional mayors and MPPs vowed to maintain full-steam ahead lobbying of the province to restore rail service and stop undermining far north residents, industries and tourism.

At Cochrane's busy station -- where Polar Bear Express trains to the northernmost Moosonee terminus still operate for locals and tourists -- passengers joined Mayor Peter Politis on the last morning train after a protest rally. A similar afternoon rally was held in North Bay.

In a news release inviting final riders, Politis criticized the government for ignoring "all pleas for reasoning, all rationale on environmental impacts and all exclamations by Northerners for respect of their way of life and their right to determine their futures for themselves."

Some northerners rode converted one-level former GO Transit coaches south on business, to visit families and doctors in the centre of Ontario's universe. Trains were also popular with Toronto-area cottage-owners seeking to avoid traffic gridlock

Some northerners rode converted one-level former GO Transit coaches south on business, to visit families and doctors in the centre of Ontario's universe. Trains were also popular with Toronto-area cottage-owners seeking to avoid traffic gridlock.

This March, the government announced it would wind down its Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC), citing $100 million annual subsidizes plus stagnant ridership.

The province of Ontario, which owns the Ontario Northland, publicly announced 12 years ago that they were seeking to divest themselves of the railroad. Canadian National had reportedly expressed an interest in acquiring the line, but talks ultimately fell through. While the Northlander will be discontinued, the Cochrane-Moosonee Polar Bear Express shall continue operating.

The Ontario Northland Railway also operates rail freight service between Cohrane and Moosonee. The company also operates ferry and motorcoach service in the northern part of the Province as well as the telecommunications firm Ontera. The provincial government had also recently announced they were looking to sell off Ontera to a private bidder.

PAKISTAN- With Pakistan's rail network crumbling and in disarray Pakistan's Railway Minister has decided none of that is as important as weighing on on the Innocence of Muslims controversey by offering a $100,000 bounty on the head of the California filmmakerearlier this month.

Despite international condemnation, Pakistan's railways minister says he isn't backing down from his $100,000 bounty offer to anyone who kills the maker of the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims.

Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, the slight, silver-haired minister, says he was angry when he saw the video and that he's a man of great faith, passionately devoted to the Prophet Muhammad.

Bilour says he could not tolerate any insult to Muhammad and felt he had to do something about it. At a news conference last Saturday, he made the $100,000 bounty offer to anyone — including Taliban and al-Qaida members — who kills the maker of the video, who has been identified as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.

Nakoula was detained Thursday in California and is being held on charges that he violated his probation regulations

"I thought the U.S. and Europe would make some law prohibiting any insult to any prophet but that did not happen," Bilour says. "Since they did not make the law then I thought this is the way to stop it."

Pakistan's government and Bilour's own secular political party have distanced themselves from the Cabinet minister. Bilour says he doesn't care.

"I said it in my personal capacity, and not as a member of the government, and because of the fact that I have political vision and I think that was important," Bilour says.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani Taliban have embraced him. Bilour's bounty offer has also garnered support from some Islamist politicians in Pakistan, such as Hafiz Hussain Ahmed. Ahmed says he's a political opponent of Bilour's, but he agrees that if someone ridicules the prophet, the punishment is death.

But Muhammad Malik, senior editor of Dunya News, one of the leading news channels in Pakistan, sees things with a more jaundiced eye. He says Bilour's offer is a desperate attempt to get publicity, that as the minister of Pakistan's decrepit railway system, Bilour has been a failure.

Malik also points out that Bilour also owns a theater in his home district of Peshawar. Beside western diplomatic missions, cinemas in Pakistan were also reportedly subject to protests from angry mobs rioting over The Innocence of Muslims.

Newly acquired Montreal, Maine & Atlantic C39-8 #8202 leads Iowa, Chicago & Eastern SD40-2#6450 and MM&A B23-7 #2003 lead a westbound mixed freight and empty oil tank train through Brookport, Quebec on September 6, 2012. Frank Jolin photo

MONTREAL MAINE & ATLANTIC- Two years after laying off nearly half og its workforce and selling more than 230 miles of track to the state of Maine, the Montreal Maine & Atlantic is experiencing a rebound of traffic, hiring additional crews as well as purchasing and leasing locomotives.

In July, the Montreal Maine & Atlantic purchased a pair of former Norfolk Southern (nee Conrail) six-axle GE C39-8s- six axle equivalents to the B39-8s the MM&A already has on roster. The units were being stored in eastern Pennsylvania on the New Hope & Ivyland where they were to be refurbished for a proposed luxury train called the Greenbrier Express. However, plans for the service changed from operating an independent trainset to attaching a few luxury cars on already existing Amtrak trains out of Washington DC.

In addidtion to the newer, burly six-axle GE's, the MM&A has also been borrowing SD40-2s from the Canadian Pacific and Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern. The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic has also been posting openings for conductors and engineers on their website as well as the jobs board of the Railroad Retirement Bureau page.

Earlier this year, the JD Irving refinery in East St John, NB began refining crude oil from the Bakken oil shale in North Dakota and Saskatchewan. The lack of any significant east-west oil pipelines in the USA or Canada means that shipping the oil by rail was the next logical choice. From the Bakken shale, the line either moves by BNSF to Chicago or Canadian Pacific to Montreal- from Chicago, the oil is shipped via CSX as far east as Rotterdam Jct where it is handed off the Pan Am Railroad where it makes its way through New England to the New Brunswick Southern at Mattawamkeag, ME for the final leg of its journey to E. St Johns.

The other option is for the oil to travel as far east as Montreal on the Canadian Pacific where it's handed off to the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic where it travels across southern Quebec and the north woods of Maine before the MM&A hands the oil off to the NBSR. The empties are routed back via the MM&A or Pan-Am as well.

A trio of Gulf, Colorado and San Saba GP15-1s pass through Lometa, TX with a trainload of frac sand in January 2011. Ryan R/Jim R photo

TEXAS- The 68-mile central Texas shortline Gulf, Colorado and San Saba has filed for bankruptcy over the summer. Faced with a court-ordered liquidation of the railroad's assets, Gulf, Colorado & San Saba owner Richard McClure sought to avoid such a scenario by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a company is protected from its creditors while it continues operating under the supervision of a court appointed trustee.

The bankruptcy filing by the GCSR came just before the sale of the company was to take place on the steps of the San Saba Courthouse. The sale was the result of a $1.7 million court judgement against it by BNSF railroad.

GCSR owner, Richard McClure, told the Brady Standard Herald the bankruptcy filing was a strategic business decision that would allow them to reorganize and pay off debt.

Locally, customers of the railroad have met to to review how the bankruptcy potentially affects their businesses, and what steps they might need to take to ensure the continuation of rail service to the area.

McClure told the Brady Standard Herald there would be virtually no change in service to the area during the bankruptcy.

The GCSR started up in the 1992 after purchasing the former Santa Fe branchline between Brady and Lometa, TX. Although traffic was initially agricultiral products, in recent years drilling around the Eagle Ford Shale has picked up and the line has seen a dramatic increase in sand for use in hydrofracking.

Despite the increase in traffic, the line is reportedly suffering from deferred maintainence, a lack of capacity at their Brady, TX yard and problems paying the bills. One unsourced review on Yahoo dated May 2011 claimed the company was months behind on a $60,000 bill.

That Was Then, This Is Now- March: Obama Holds $30K Per Ticket Fundraiser in Maine. April- Feds Set To Cripple Maine Fishing Industry

Less than a month after President Obama held a $30,000 per-ticket fundraiser in the state of Maine, a series of shutdowns off the coast by federal regulators is poised to deal a huge blow to New England's fishing industry.

In a move to protect the estimated 60,000 to 90,000 harbor porpoises that live in the Atlantic waters between North Carolina and the Canadian maritime provinces, NOAA officials have ordered the shutdown of a busy fishing ground that extends off the coast of Glouchester, MA to southern Maine that will take effect on October 1st- peak time for New England fishermen. According to federal statistics, fishermen in the region pulled in about $4 million during that time.

The loss is huge in an industry that’s fighting for its future as it faces significant cuts in key stocks such as cod in the Gulf of Maine and yellowtail flounder in Georges Bank. There’s also no obvious end to the annual closure to protect porpoise, since the requirement to reduce accidental porpoise deaths down to 70 per year looks a long way off. The team of regulators, fishermen and environmentalists that devised the closure could conceivably decide there are better alternatives to shutting down the area, but they don’t meet until this fall. 

The industry has been battered by a variety of regulatory actions starting with a rough 50 percent cut in catch limits mandated by Amendment 16 two years ago and right up to the recent 22 percent reduction in the amount Gulf of Maine cod that can be landed in the 2012 fishing year beginning May 1, a result of a 2011 benchmark assessment that contradicted the previous benchmark assessment from three years earlier.

According to the NOAA, a total of 2,103 square miles of prime fishing ground will be off-limits to fishermen effective October 1st, 2012.

While the porpoise population off the New England coastline is abundant, the species is considered protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Although the law reportedly takes into account that a certain number of porpoises would be accidentally snared in the fisherman's gillnets, that total number that have recently been killed will trigger a provision in the law that would put the waters off limits.

To minimize the number of dolphins or porpoises snagged in the nets, a device that emits an intermittent sound to ward off the mammals called 'pingers' are required to be attached to the gillnets. However, regulators and environmentalists claim that the fishermen in the region have failed to comply with these requirements. The fishermen counter that it's difficult to tell whether or not a pinger has broken down.

The NOAA ruling comes about two months after the Natural Resources Defence Council successfully petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service list the Atlantic Sturgeon as a threatened species- a ruling that could leave even more of the New England coastline off limits to fishing.

Ron Smolowitz of the Fisheries Survival Fund, a scallop industry group, warned the council that restrictions to protect the fish could affect many fishermen who don’t use sink gillnets. Under the Endangered Species Act, certain areas can be designated as “critical habitat” if those areas are seen as essential to conserving the species.
Such critical habitat designations can come with restrictions that “could wipe out the entire fisheries of the East Coast of the United States,” he said.
Brad Sewell, an attorney for the National Resources Defense Council, which petitioned to have the sturgeon listed under the Endangered Species Act, said in a phone interview said it’s extremely unlikely new sturgeon restrictions will have such a broad effect.
Changes to sink gillnet fishing will be the focus, and there are affordable, sensible measures can make it less of a danger to sturgeon, such as pulling up the nets more often or raising them off the ocean floor to avoid sturgeon, he said.

If you think the name 'Natural Resources Defence Council' sounds familiar, this is the same outfit of litigous enviromentalists who decided to sue BNSF and Union Pacific Railroads over deisel emissions in rail yards out west.
In January, Maine's Department of Marine Resources challenged a National Marine Fisheries Service ruling that required fishing boats in the state to be equipped with "rock hopper" bumpers on their nets in the middle of shrimping season.
Interesting that as federal regulators continue to crack down Maine's commercial fisherman (in addition to a number of paper mills shuttering- which in turn puts a number of truckers and railroaders out of work) the President shows up at a fundraiser whose price of admission is worth more than 60% of the state's median household income asking for another four years in office.

Today's Train of Thought- Cold Turkey, March 29, 2012

Today's Train of Thought takes us to the White Mountain State and seems determined to show us that not all birds head south for the winter.

The turkey was said to have disappeared from New Hampshire back in the 19th century, but was reintroduced in the 1970s after a previous failed attempt. According to the New Hampshire Deparment of Fish and Game, the turkey population in the state is at an estimated 25,000 give or take a few toms that wander in front of freight trains.

Here, NE Rail Photo Archive Contributor Jerimiah F Cahill catches a rafter of wild turkeys waddling across the tracks ahead of Pan Am Southern local NA-1. GP40 #328 is in charge on a snowy February 17, 2009 at Merrimack, NH as future thanksgiving feasts try and clear the tracks.

Blue State Graft Watch: One-Time Breitbart Protege Releases Video Alleging Voter Fraud in Green Mountain State

State officials in Vermont are calling for a criminal inquiry after conservative activist and one-time Andrew Breitbart protege James O'Keefe released a video purporting to show people walking in to Vermont precincts and voting under the name of deceased or nonexistent voters. Not surprisingly, state officials have called for a criminal probe stemming from the video- not surprisingly, the Democrat Secretary of State and Attorney General want O'Keefe to be the focus of the probe instead the ease with which the video's participants were able to voter under somebody else's name.

State elections officials are sharply criticizing an undercover video that surfaced Tuesday and purportedly shows individuals using the names of dead or living people in order to obtain ballots for Vermont elections, including this year’s presidential primary.

The video, released via the Breitbart.com website by conservative activist James O’Keefe, shows a series of exchanges at voting precincts where an individual identifies himself as a person whose name is on the voter checklist. The individual, however, is not asked to show identification to prove who he is before being given a ballot.

“You said who you are,” one local voting official tells the individual when asked why no identification had to be shown. “Your name is on there.”

At least seven people, six described in the video as “living” and one as “dead,” are named in the video as the people whom the individual is impersonating as he goes through the process of obtaining a ballot. It’s unclear where all the incidents took place, but two polling sites, in Essex and Winooski, are recognizable.

Secretary of State James Condos, who learned about the video from the Burlington Free Press, said Tuesday afternoon that he hopes the Attorney General’s Office will investigate the video to see whether a crime had taken place.

“My next phone call is to Bill Sorrell’s office,” Condos said, referring to the state’s top prosecutor. The crime of voter fraud is punishable in Vermont by a fine of up to $100 and/or up to one year in jail.

Condos said Vermont and federal law do not require people to produce identification when they show up to vote, and efforts to mandate such identification recently have been rejected or struck down in several states.

“I denounce any type of voter fraud or any assault on the integrity of the voting system,” Condos said. “Voting is a constitutional right and the basis of our democracy. Real voter fraud is preventing people eligible to vote from being able to vote.”

Actually- if I may interject for a moment, Secretary of State Condos- REAL voter fraud is elected officials doing something like systematically something like forging other people's signature on absentee ballots.

The release of O'Keefe's video comes one day after Eric Holder's Justice Department struck down a recently-passed Texas voter ID law on Monday.

O'Keefe filmed a similar video in New Hampshire earlier this year, prompting the State Senate to pass a voter ID law that was heading to the State House last week.

Monday Night Sports Chowdah for Dec 5th- March on the Penguins; Pats Barely Avoid Indy Trap; Colonial Football's Maine Event; Spartan/Badgers Redux

Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

NHL: The Bruins winning ways continue as the calendar flips over from November to December, with Boston beating the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Garden for Game 2 of the home and away series over the weekend.

The Bruins won by a 4-1 final with Tukka Rask turning aside 21 of the 22 shots he faced from the team that drafted him on Saturday night. Currently the Bruins are 4-0 against the Maple Leafs and won't be seeing them again until March 2012.

Saturday's win was a preamble to an important matchup on Monday night that would pit the Bruins against the top team in the Eastern Conference- the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were in the lineup for the Pens on Monday and had gone 5-1-1 since Crosby's return.

After a scoreless 1st period, Greg Campbell got the Bruins got on the board with a goal at about the 3 minute mark in the 2nd period, beating Marc Andre Fleury.

However, shortly after taking the 1-0 lead, the Bruins would find themselves having to kill a 5-on-3 penalty for 50 seconds- a power play that Pittsburgh ultimately was unable to cash in on.

Benoit Pouliot would then score for the Bruins to give them a 2-0 lead, but late in the second, the Pens would have another 2-man advantage as Pouliot went to the bin for goaltender interference and Rich Peverly would get two minutes for hooking. Once again, the Bruins were able to successfully kill both penalties, shutting out the Pens 2-0 and heading into the 3rd period with a power play on a Jordan Staal interference penalty.

The Pittsburgh penalty would lead to Boston's 3rd goal of the night, this time off the stick of Tyler Seguin. The Pens would end Thomas' shutout bid with about 11 minutes to go in the 3rd period, but Boston would go on to win by the 3-1 final. Tim Thomas stopped a season-high 45 of 46 shots, Thomas' 10th consecutive win between the pipes. The Bruins went 1 of 5 on the power play for the night as well.

Monday night's win pulls the Bruins to within one point of the Eastern Conference leaders- which at this time is still the Penguins.

From Pittsburgh, the Bruins will be heading to Manitoba for the first time December 1995 to take on the Winnipeg Jets. This will be Boston's first-ever visit to the MTS Centre. Currently, Winnipeg has an 11-11-4 record and is riding a 2 game win streak.

MLB: Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine's departure from ESPN created an opening on that network's Baseball Tonight program. Within days, that opening was filled by Valentine's Red Sox predecessor, Terry Francona.

ESPN announced on Monday that Francona would be joining the network as a baseball analyst for Baseball Tonight, Sunday Night Baseball as well as contributing to shows on the ESPN radio network and ESPN.com.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Well, the Army/Navy game notwithstanding, the regular season pretty much wrapped up this weekend with various championship games and a few belated 'rivalry' games.

Championship weekend kicked off with the inaugural PAC-12 championship game on Friday night, pitting #Oregon against UCLA. This one was pretty much all Oregon as the Ducks blew UCLA out of the water by a 49-31 final.

In a much closer but more overlooked contest on Friday night, Northern Illinois rallied late, scoring 23 unanswered points in the second half to win the Mid-America Conference Title Game by beating the Ohio Bobcats 23-20.

Things got off to a pretty turbulent start on Saturday, with Southern Mississippi upsetting #7 Houston in the Conference USA championship, upending the Cougars by a 49-28 final.

After trailing for most of the first half, the #1 LSU Tigers came back strong in the second half and ran roughshod over the #12 Georgia Bulldogs, winning that one by a 42-10 margin.

Over in the ACC title game, the Clemson were matched up against the #5 Virginia Tech Hokies after the Tigers lost three out of their last four contests (including a 37-13 drubbing by NC State and a 34-13 beating from in-state rival South Carolina). After a 10-10 tie at halftime, Clemson went on to score 28 unanswered points against the Hokies to runa away with the ACC Title.

The closest Championship contest on Saturday afternoon was no doubt the inaugural Big 10 Championship Game, which was pitted Wisconsin against Michigan State. This was a rematch of a regular season game that saw the Spartans win on an improbable Hail Mary from QB Kirk Cousins as time expired back in October.

Although the Badgers got out to an early 21-7 lead in the 1st at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the Spartans came right back on two TD Passes from Cousins and another TD from RB LeVeon Bell to make it 29-21 Spartans at the half.

With the Spartans leading 39-34 in the 4th, the Badgers got to start from their own 36 after a good return. The Badgers started a 10-play drive, including converting on a 4th down and 6 to take the 42-39 lead (the 2 point conversion was good).

After a 3 and out by the Spartans, the Badgers would get the ball back with just under 3 minutes left and bleed away the clock, getting a pivotal first down on a Michigan State penalty. Badgers win the first-ever Big 10 football title game by a 42-39 final, avenging the earlier loss to Michigan State.

AP Photo

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: It wasn't Championship Saturday everywhere, though. There were still some regular season games to be played in the Big East, Mountain West, Big 12 and Western Athletic Conference.

UConn was playing for bowl eligibility while the Cincinnati Bearcats were positioning themselves for a share of the Big East title in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon.

The Bearcats took advantage of some early UConn errors to get out to an early 14-0 lead thanks to fumbles and interceptions by Huskies QB Johnny McEntee. It would be a 28-6 halftime lead for the Bearcats at the half, with Uconn getting on the board thanks to two David Teggart FGs.

UConn would start to make a game of it in the 2nd half, ultimately closing the gap to 35-27 thanks to a pair of Teggart FGs in the 3rd and two TD passes from McEntee in the 4th, but Cincinnati would go on to win by the 35-27 final.

This leaves UConn with a 5-7 record meaning that just one year after going to the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona, UConn Football will be staying put for Bowl season. This also sets up a curious scenario where Cincinnati, West Virginia and Louisville are all co-titleholders in the Big East.

AP Photo

NCAA FOOTBALL- FCS: The FCS championship got underway in late November, and heading into the weekend, two New England schools from the Colonial conference were still very much in the hunt.

At first, the Maine Black Bears looked like they had a tall task of taking on the Appalachian State Mountaineers on the road in Boone, NC. However, after taking a 13-6 lead into the half, the Black Bears broke the game wide open in the second half, with RB Pushuan Brown's 31 yard TD run serving as the exclamation point in Maine's 34-12 win over Perennial FCS/Division I-aa favorite App State.

The victory eliminates the Mountaineers and sets up a showdown with the Georgia Southern Eagles in Statesboro, GA at 2 PM ET on Saturday. Georgia Southern had already beaten the Old Dominion Monarchs (another CAA team) to advance and face the winner of Maine/App State.

ELSEWHERE IN THE FCS: The Montana State Bobcats survived a late scare from the UNH Wildcats in Bozeman, MT on Saturday. Montana State's Darius Hones intercepted a pass from UNH's Mark Becker at the Bobcat 3 yard line. A shanked punt then gave the Wildcats the ball back with 17 seconds remaining in the 4th, Becker connected with WR Justin Mello to make it a 26-25 game with 7 seconds to go in regulation. However, instead of tying the game up on the point after, Mike MacArthur's kick clanged off the upright, allowing Montana State to squeak by.

This sets up a meeting between the Bobcats and Sam Houston State university in Huntsville, TX this weekend.

NFL: Altough they got out to an early 31-3 lead over Indianapolis, the Patriots ended up sneaking by the hard-luck Colts on Sunday. With no Manning in sight, Indy nevertheless managed to put up 21 unanswered points in the 2nd half, including two TD passes from current Colts QB Dan Orlovsky to WR Pierre Garcon. Still, New England managed to hang on for the 31-24 win.

Tom Brady went 29-38 with 289 yards and 2 TDs while Orlovsky went 30 for 37 with 353 yards, 2 TDs and an interception.

Boston Hearld Photo

An interesting side note to Sunday's game was that injured Colts QB Peyton Manning showed up at Gilette Stadium before the game and briefly chatted with rival QB Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick before talking with fans and some of the minutemen in period cosutmes along the sidelines.

“I signed a tons of autographs for Patriots fans before the game and they couldn’t had been nicer,” Manning said. “They were all wishing me a healthy recovery and missed seeing me out there and I really do appreciate that. I’ve been getting a lot of support from my Colts fans and people across the country. But when it comes from fans of probably your biggest rival, and I’m sure some of them have probably said stuff that wasn’t so nice over the years, I thought it was pretty classy.”

[I could've told you that, Peyton- but then again, I'm incredibly biased- NANESB!]

Of course, anybody in Foxbourough on Sunday could see for themselves that the Colts/Patriots rivalry had lost much of its luster without the Colts MVP quarterback.

The Patriots have one more NFC East opponent in the regular season- the 4-8 Washington Redskin, who they'll take on this Sunday at 1 PM ET on CBS.

Today's Train of Though- WAAY Out There, November 27, 2011

Today's train of thought takes us to the Southeastern corner of the Granite State on the former Boston & Maine line between Billerica, MA and Rigby Yard in Portland, ME. While not part of the Norfolk Southern/Pan Am Patriot Corridor, the line has seen a marked increase in traffic over the last decade. While aggregates from Ossippe, NH bound for Boston's Big Dig as well as improved connections with CSX, Canadian Pacific and Norfolk Southern with Pan Am west of Ayer, MA no doubt accommodated an increase in freight traffic between Maine and the rest of the nation, the most high profile trains using this stretch of the Pan Am are the 5-daily Amtrak Downeaster trains departing out of Boston's North Station.

The 116-mile trip between Boston and Portland, ME consistently enjoys the highest ridership rates on the Amtrak system and is expected to undergo a 30 mile expansion east to Brunswick, ME in the near future.

With all that said, it is still freight that pays the freight on the former B&M Eastern Line. Pan-Am and Amtrak have begrudgingly learned to coexist over the last 10 years, and both railroads are better off for it.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Stephen Arata caught Pan Am symbol freight WAAY [WAterville, ME to AYer, MA] slowing down as it rounds a curve in Newfields, NH under a canopy of New England fall color on November 5, 2011. SD40-2 #609 and two other Pan-Am units are grinding to a halt as the freight train awaits the passage of one of the Downeaster Amtrak trains.

Attack of the Cobalt Crustaceans! Electric Blue Lobster Pulled From Scottish Waters

An azure lobster pulled from the waters off the east coast of Scotland has found a home at the London Aquarium after being purchased from a fish market.

The buyer, Rex Goldsmith, said he paid market price for the pastel lobster at a London fish market, but rather than cook it, he contacted researchers from the Natural History Museum who confirmed that it was a European Lobster but developed the darker blue tone due to a rare genetic variant. The European lobsters are fairly common and can be found in the Atlantic waters anywhere from the UK and Norway to the Azores and Morocco. However, they are normally a much darker shade of blue- almost indistinguishable from grey or light black.

In 2009, a cobalt-blue lobster was caught off the coast of New Hampshire before being turned over to the New England Aquarium. Researches at the New England aquarium attributed the odd hue to an antioxidant known as astaxanthin that bonded with the lobster's shell.

Still Reeling From Irene, Northeast Braces For Arrival of Additional Rain

Brattleboro Reformer Facebook Page

As National Guardsmen and utility crews were working to reach some of Vermont's isolated, flood-ravaged towns by air and damaged roads, forecasters were predicting additional thunderstorms to come in from the west over Labor Day weekend. While dozens of roads remain closed to through traffic throughout the Green Mountain state, the village of Wardsboro, VT is reportedly the only town that's completely inaccessible by land on Thursday.

AP Photo

Complicating relief efforts in the Green Mountain state was the fact that 55 Guardsmen and all six of the Vermont National Guard's Blackhawk helicopters are presently deployed to Iraq. In the immediate aftermath of Irene, the New Hampshire National Guard sent two Blackhawks to Vermont and assistance came from as far away as Illinois when six CH-47 and two Blackhawk helicopters were dispatched. Food, water and other supplies were previously being made by the Vermont National Guard's much smaller Kiowa and Lakota helicopters.

Up and down the East coast as many as 900,000 utility customers from North Carolina's Outer Banks to the Green Mountains remain without power and farmers were assessing damage to their crops and livestock.

As the state government and individual Vermonters launched online appeals for donations and volunteer workers on Thursday, the Obama Administration approved emergency aid and funding for the Green Mountain state.

Today's Train of Though- The Weather Outside? Still Kind of Frightful, March 27, 2011

One sure sign that spring is right around the corner? We're less than a week away from the start of baseball season!

But don't let that lull you into a false sense of security, as the weather in New England is always subject to dramatic change with no warning. One minute you could be enjoying tempratures higher than those in Florida or California, and the next you could be reduced to a shivering, soggy mess by an abrupt snowstorm or freezing rain.

Of course, railpictures.net contributor Ryan Parent likely didn't have that problem when he snapped this picture of northbound New England Central train 323. Since this picture was taken at the beginning of February 2008, Parent likely knew he was in for at least another month of inclement weather before 'mud season' but braved a snow squall to catch NECR GP38 #3849 and two other Rail America GP38s heading north through Cornish, NH.

The unassuming Granite State town of about 1600 was home to the reclusive author JD Salinger and two covered bridges, including the 1866-built 450 ft-long Cornish-Windsor covered bridge spanning the Connecticut River between Cornish and Windsor, VT. Traversing the former Central Vermont Railway line to White River Jct and north to Burlington and St Albans, VT, train 323 will cross the Connecticut River into Windsor a few hundred yards to the south of the Cornish Windsor bridge on a steel trestle.

Championship Chowdah To Go Update- Red Sox Go Gonzo; Huskies Go to a Fiesta; B's Go to Shootout; C's Go For 7 Straight; Colonial Goes for FCS Monopoly

MLB: The Padres and Red Sox Have agreed to a trade that would send San Diego's All Star 1st Baseman Adrian Gonzalez to Boston in exchange for prospects Casey Kelly, Anthony Rizzo and Reymond Fuentes as well as a player to be named later. The two clubs are expected to formally announce the deal on Monday.

During the 2010 season, Gonzalez hit for a .298 BA and 31 homers in San Diego's pitcher-friendly PetCo Park. On the road, Gonzalez was batting .315 with 20 HR and .279 with 11 HR at San Diego. Defensively, Gonzalez won two Gold Gloves with the Padres.

The Red Sox are also reportedly working on extending Gonzalez's contract beyond 2011 due to the high-level prospects Boston is giving up as part of the trade. The first baseman was entering the final year of a 5 year $15 million contract with San Diego. Although no formal agreement to an extension had been reached with Gonzalez, his agent and the Red Sox had exchanged parameters and were hoping to work out a deal from there. There's also the matter of some minor surgery Gonzalez had on his shoulder this fall, but he is expected to be ready by Spring training, whether it's in the Grapefruit or Cactus League.

Boston had previously tried to acquire Gonzalez in the 2009 offseason, but instead signed Adrian Beltre from the Mariners. It was considered likely that the Padres would deal Gonzalez at the trade deadline in the middle of the 2010 season, but the team remained atop the NL East and were in need of his services for the whole year.

For those of you who remember back to the Beltre deal last winter and were somewhat alarmed by his .266 BA in 2009, supporters of the deal pointed out that Beltre spent at least half the season in a pitcher-friendly park such as Safeco.

Now....apply that same line of thinking to Gonzalez and his .298 average at cavernous PetCo Park. Or better yet, take a look at his spray chart for home games in San Diego.

Then take a look at his spray chart overlaid with Fenway Park's dimensions.

Umm...yeah. I'm just a little bit giddy right now.

NCAA FOOTBALL: The UConn Huskies managed to get by the South Florida Bulls on Saturday night to win their final regular season game of 2010 and be guaranteed the Big East's automatic BCS Bowl by virtue of their tie-breaker over West Virgina. The only touchdown UConn scored in the game came late in the 2nd period as LB Lawrence Wilson intercepted a pass from South Florida QB Bobby Eveld and ran it back 55 yards to paydirt. The pick 6 put UConn up 10-3 heading into the half.

Connecticut and South Florida traded field goals in the 3rd quarter, and while the 4th quarter opened up on a Dave Teggart FG for UConn to make it 16-6 the Bulls would come storming right back thanks to a 28 yard TD reception from Eveld to WR Dontavia Bogan and a game tying FG from the 22 off the leg of USF's Maikon Bonani to make it a 16-16 game with 1:19 left in the 4th.

After a good kickoff return that gave UConn starting position on their own 40, Huskies QB Zach Frasier was able to drive the ball as far as the USF 35 yard line, setting up Dave Teggart for his game-winning 52 yard FG with only 23 seconds left in regulation.

The win means that UConn will now face the Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan 1st in Tempe, AZ. This will be UConn's first ever BCS appearence since transitioning from Division I-AA in 2002.

BIG 12: The #13 Nebraska Cornhuskers and #10 Oklahoma Sooners met in Arlington, TX for what would be the last time they'd match up as members of the Big 12- as well as the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday night.

The Sooners held on to win by a final of 23-20, guaranteeing them a berth in the BCS (against UConn, as it was revaled a day later). The Cornhuskers, meanwhile, would be joining the Big East conference at the start of the 2011 Football season.

ACC: No Boston College Football this week. Instead, the ACC Championship game took place on Saturday night at Charlotte, NC pitting #20 Florida State against #12 Virgina Tech. The Hokies won this one handily by a final of 44-33, giving them a berth in the Orange Bowl on January 3rd against the Stanford Cardinals.

Boston College did manage to secure a bowl bid and will be heading back out to AT&T Park in San Francisco just like last year for the Emerald Bowl- Except this year it's being called the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. and will take place the second weekend in January. The Boston College Eagles are expected to go up against the #14 Nevada Wolfpack. [I should have a comprehensive list of Bowls and matchups in the next couple of days- NANESB!]

COLONIAL/FCS: Although William & Mary Tribe finished the regular season atop the Colonial Athletic Association, their season is over now that they were upended by the Georgia Southern Eagles on Saturday by a final of 15-31.

That said, three of the remaining four teams in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision hail from the CAA and will play to advance to the FCS Finals in Frisco, TX on January 7th, 2011 [remember what I said about the Colonial Athletic Association last year?- NANESB!].

The Delaware Blue Hens, who finished 2nd in the CAA this season, took down Lehigh by a 42-20 final on Saturday while the Villanova Wildcats downed Stephen F Austin by a 54-24 margin.

The sole remaining New England team in the FCS is the New Hampshire Wildcats, who finished tied for 3rd with Villanova to end the regular season. They brought down Beth-Cook by a 45-20 final and will go on to face Delaware on Friday night, Dec 10th.

Defending FCS Champions Villanova will take on 3 time Champion Appalachian State on Saturday.


NHL: The Boston Bruins got out to the early lead on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday, but the Maple Leafs rallied to tie the game with less than a mintue left in the 3rd period and force overtime and then a shootout. And if you really savor irony, it was former Bruin Phil Kessel who netted the game winner in the shootout.

Nathan Horton got the first goal of the game unassisted in the first period, although the Leafs would manage to tie it by the time the 1st intermission rolled around. Boston would take a 2-1 lead on a goal from Gregory Campbell early in the 3rd before Toronto rallies late in regulation to tie the game. Out of the three shooters for Boston in the shootout, only Tyler Seguin was able to get the puck past Jean-Sebastian Guigere while Nazem Kadri and Kessel both got the puck past Thomas in the shootout.

The win halts the Leaf's 4 game skid and is Boston's first loss in the last three games. Toronto wins by the final of 3-2, although Boston was able to get a single point before leaving Toronto. Thomas stopped 38 of 40 shots faced in regulation and OT while Guigere stopped 25 of 27 faced.
The Bruins head back to the Garden to take on the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night at 7:30PM ET. The game is scheduled to be broadcast on Versus.

NBA: Seemingly in the blink of an eye, the Celtics have put together a pretty impressive 7 game winning streak. Game #6 of the current strak took place in Friday night with their 104-92 home win over the Chicago Bulls.

Sunday night, the C's made a fairly quick road trip to New Jersey and made pretty quick work of the Nets (Nate Robinson led scoring for the C's with 21 points) and cut New Jersey down by the curiously-divisible-by-25 margin of 100-75.

The next game for the C's will be at the Garden against Carmello Anthony and the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night, with a tipoff at 7PM ET. ESPN is scheduled to be carrying the game that night.

A Very Special New England Iron Horse Roundup

Dan Nelson/NE Rail.org

PAN-AM RAILWAYS: Pan Am and New Hampshire's Conway Scenic Railway agreed to a locomotive swap earlier this year, with Pan Am getting FP9's #6506 and #6516 (ex VIA Rail, nee Canadian National) in late may and Conway Scenic getting high hood former Norfolk & Western GP35 #216 and former Maine Central GP38 #252 painted in Maine Central's 'Harvest gold' scheme.

The FP9s were released from the Waterville, ME shops in late June and have been assigned to the Pan Am's business car specials, which had been previously handled by available freight locomotives.

The GP35 and Gp38 acquired by Conway Scenic were equipped with dynamic brakes, something the FP9's lacked, while Pan Am is simply following the example of other railroads like Norfolk Southern, Canadian Pacific or Kansas City Southern and having a pair of classic streamlined diesels available to haul office car specials.

ELSEWHERE ALONG THE PAN AM: In early July, Pan Am Railways ran a pair of light engines from Ayer to the junction of the dormant Revere Branch on the MBTA line while crews began clearing brush and overgrowth along the line. This has led to speculation that the Pan Am is looking to reopen the neglected B&M line in order to bring unit ethanol trains to the tank farms along Route 1A past Logan Airport.

PROVIDENCE & WORCESTER: The P&W has reportedly sold off GP40-2's #3001, 3002 and 3003 to the Luzerne & Susquehanna Railway in North-Eastern Pennsylvania. At the end of September, the EMDs were moved to the Pan Am interchange in Gardner, MA still in P&W paint, but with all Providence & Worcester markings removed and L&S markings stenciled in instead.

And while the BNSF was divesting themselves of some former Santa Fe C40-8Ws, Providence & Worcester decided to buy up a trio of their four-axle counterparts, with former BNSF B40-8Ws #561, 562 and #582 arriving on the property by mid-September as the GP40s were getting ready to leave the property.

DOWNEAST SCENIC: A portion of the 127 mile Calais Branch has experienced a revival with the startup of the Downeast Scenic Railraod between Washington Jct and Ellsworth, ME. So far, four miles of the line are being used with volunteers working to clear the line for future excursions to Green Lake, ME. Power for the line includes a former Belfast & Moosehead Lake GE 70-tonner and an ex-Portland Terminal Alco S4.

Two more former Belfast & Moosehead Lake 70-tonners are being maintained by the Brooks Preservation society on ex B&ML trackage in Brooks, ME.

The Calais Branch ran through Eastern Maine to the border town of Calais until Guilford decided to abandon the branch in 1985 and serve what remaining customers there were in the area by using trackage rights over then-Canadian Pacific (now New Brunswick Southern) line east of the interchange at Mattawamkeag, ME.

Dan Nelson

AMTRAK: Amtrak's Downeaster service between Portland, ME and Boston's North Station will see an expansion of service. A 30-mile extension of service over the former Maine Central line between Portland and Brunswick, ME got underway in the beginning of August and is expected to be completed by the Fall of 2012. Once at Brunswick, the Downeaster will connect to passenger service between Brunswick and Rockland offered by the Maine Eastern Railroad. Improvements include new signals, passenger platforms and continuous welded rail.

Above, Pan Am GP40-2LW #516 is seen trundling past the train full of continuous welded rail it has just dropped off in Brunswick on Aug 1st. Brunswick is also where the Pan Am and Maine Eastern interchange freight.

Matt Rooks

CONWAY SCENIC: As mentioned earlier, the Conway Scenic and Pan Am exchanged motive power so that Pan Am would have dedicated old school streamliners assigned to business train duties while Conway Scenic would obtain locomotives with dynamic braking for their excursions to the Crawford Notch. As it turns out, GP38 #252 was of Maine Central background and believed to have hauled the last revenue train over Crawford Notch before through service on the line was discontinued by MEC in 1983.
The Conway Scenic also sold former Portland Terminal Alco S4 1055 to the Downeast Scenic in Maine back in late May.

[Hat tip: Vermont Rail System & Rutland Yahoo Group]

New Hampshire Democrats Apologize, Quit After Sarah Palin Death Wish Posted on Facebook

Ah....the joys of anti-social networking.

One Granite State Democrat is in trouble after posting on a state representative's Facebook page that they were sorry former Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her former son-in-law Levi Johnson weren't on board the plane that crashed and killed former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens and four others on Monday.

In a posting on New Hampshire state Representative DJ Bettencourt's (R-Salem) Facebook page, NH State House of Representatives candidate Keith Halloran said of the fatal crash "Just wish Sarah and Levi were on board". Ironically, Bettencourt's post seemed to be lamenting the tendency for people to dogpile on a public figure and their legacy after their death.

State representative Tim Horrigan (D-Durham) weighed in on the crash by wishing Palin good health for his own less-than-altruistic reasons:

Just for the record, I don't wish Sarah Palin dead... but not merely for compassionate reasons. I also want her to live because a living Sarah Palin is less dangerous than a dead one. Her rise to the status of Head Tea Partier had nothing to do with anything she ever said, did or accomplished--- but as long as she lives she might be able to say or do things which could serve as a moderating influence. And she also might commit a gaffe bad enough to shock her followers, though that is unlikely. Unless of course she endorses Obama for President in 2012.

A staffer for Democrat Congressman Paul Hodes (NH-2) weighed in and tweeted "I wonder if & when Sarah Palin will learn the meaning of our state motto 'Live Free or Die'".

After initially dismissing his comments as a 'tempest in a teacup' Halloran announced Thursday that he was pulling out of the state House race and issued the following written statement:

After consulting with the secretary of state's office, I am withdrawing as an active candidate for the New Hampshire House. I urge registered voters to consider supporting and voting for the truly progressive candidates on the ballot on Sept. 14 and Nov. 2

That's a crying shame, because from what little I know about Halloran, he seems like the picture-perfect little progressive. Soothing and pretty words about justice, equality and helping the middle class while masking an angry, petulant, condescending, whiny, duplicitous individual who gleefully wishes for others to die for the high crime of not agreeing with their worldview. Or maybe he didn't put enough effort into his boilerplate progressive 'I'm for the little guy' speak hence the mask slipping and him not caring- at least in that moment- what other people thought about what he had to say.

Horrigan also announced his resignation and the suspension of his re-election campaign on Thursday. Representative Horrigan sent a formal letter to House speaker Terrie Norelli and later made an apology to Palin via Facebook.

Full disclosure- anybody paying attention knows that my politics lean to the right of center. And as much as I agree with her on a number of issues, there's still the fact that Palin quit halfway through her first term as governor. Quitters tend to be unappealing. With that said, I find the amount of obsessive hatred and vitriol directed at what is now a private citizen and her family by this country's institutional left bordering on the comical. Of course, she does make a nice big juicy distraction from the current administration pile-driving this nation into the ground.

As for the whinging about Horrigan and Halloran's freedom of speech, I actually wish they would stick around some more. I'm trying to see where, in all the criticism of their comments, somebody said that they DID NOT have the right to say it.....granted it's early, but so far- nothin'. It's classless and vindictive, but I have yet to hear somebody say they don't have the right to say it. These two were gotten rid of because they would be a distraction and liability to other Democrat candidates in New Hampshire. To even imply that the two are now some sort of martyrs for free speech would a transparent ruse that would insult the intelligence God gave a kumquat.

Sports Chowdah Recap Thanksgiving Weekend Version- Boondock Saints; Tiger Trap; Bowden Bowin' Out?; Shaq Steps Up Big Time, Naughty and Weiss

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

This was the game that everybody had been waiting for- one of those Monday Night games where even if you weren't a fan of either team, you were still looking forward to. The undefeated New Orleans Saints taking on the 7-3 New England Patriots at the Louisiana Superdome.

Now....the first quarter was pretty good. The Saints moved the ball pretty effectively on their first possession, but were held to a field goal that John Carney banked in off the upright once they got into the Pats red zone. The Pats moved the ball much more slowly and methodically, capitalizing on two 4th down attempts, including one inside the Saints red zone that Laurence Maroney took in for the Pats first TD.

From there on out, the Pats D might as well taken the rest of the night off and helped themselves to some po'boys and Jambalaya. In all fairness, there were at least 4 long passes by Saints QB Drew Brees that were absolutely flawless- no way they could've been defended against short of drawing a pass interference call- and two of them resulted in touchdowns if I'm remembering correctly. It was all Drew Brees and all ___________ { <--insert name of any number of Saints receivers} all the time. Except for Reggie Bush- he sat this one out.

Long story short, New Orleans cajun stomps all over New England 38-17 [and it wasn't even that close- NANESB!] and some of us are left to wonder if Teddy Bruschi or Rodney Harrison couldn't have stuck around for another year. New Orleans clearly was the better team and played accordingly. If there was any notion that their 11-0 record was some kind of fluke, that's dead and in a hole deeper than Deval Patrick's approval ratings.

No way to sugar-coat this one. The Pats were embarrassed and they get to chew on this for another few days. I'm not going to despair too much, though. One would be tempted to think that last night's game provided other teams a template or blueprint with witch to stymie the Pats. But missing in that line of speculation is the fact that most teams don't have Drew Brees calling signals.

(nolesports.com)

ELSEWHERE: After 34 seasons, 80 year old FSU head football coach Bobby Bowden announced that he's retiring effective whichever bowl game the Seminoles get invited to. The Seminoles lost to #1-ranked Florida 37-10 Saturday and finished the season with a 6-6 record.

Former Patriot's offensive coordinator Charlie Weiss has been fired as Notre Dame's head coach. Weiss finished with a 35-27 record over five seasons with the Fighting Irish. The Irish lost to Stanford 38-45 on Saturday and, like FSU, finished with a 6-6 record. Weiss' dismissal has already led to speculation regarding his replacement at South Bend and which NFL team might be interested in his services as an offensive coordinator.

The Boston College Eagles outlasted the Maryland Terrapins for the final regular-season game, winning by a score of 19-17. Montel Harris ran for 142 yards, Colin Larmond has 3 receptions for 105 yards- including the Eagles only TD- and Steve Aponavicius was 4 for 5 in field-goal attempts, missing his first of the season in the 3rd quarter, but scoring what would prove to be the winning 3 points with just under four minutes left in regulation. With the win, BC finishes the season at 8-4 and is bowl-eligible.


The Division I-AA Football (official name- NCAA-FCS) playoffs are underway, and as predicted earlier, the Colonial Athletic Association is very well represented and doing quite well. Out of 16 teams eligible, four teams from the conference were selected, and all four advance after the first round. In other words, 25% of the teams playing for the FCS Championship are from the CAA.

The finals from Saturday:

Elon 13-Richmond 16

Holy Cross 28- Villanova 38

Weber State 0- William & Mary 38

New Hampshire 49- McNeese State 13

Richmond will go on to face Appalachian State on Saturday, while New Hampshire and Villanova will play each other and William & Mary advances to face Southern Illinois.

Tiger Woods reportedly faces a $164 fine and reckless driving citation from the Florida highway Patrol after an accident just down the street from his Florida home. The golfer has backed out of the Chevron World Challenge in California this weekend, reportedly due to injuries suffered in the one-car accident.


Cleveland Cavaliers center Shaquille O'Neal announced late last week that he would pay for the funeral of 5-year old Shaniya Davis of Fayetteville, NC. Investigators say the child was kidnapped, raped and murdered after she was reported missing on Novmeber 10. Shaniya's mother will be charged with human trafficking, as police believe the 'mother' was prostituting the little girl. {If I can editorialize for a moment, I've always felt that Shaq was all about, well....Shaq. I still feel that way, but Shaq being all about Shaq and doing something very generous like this are not mutually exclusive. Way to step up, Mr. O'Neal- I don't have as much money at my disposal as you do, but if you want to go halfsies on the lethal injections for the monster who murdered little Shaniya and the so-called 'mother' who was pimping out her pre-pubescent daughter, feel free to contact me via this blog}.

The German Track and Field association this week decided to reinstate a 1936 high-jump record set in 1936 at Stuggart to 95-year old Gretel Bergmann, now known as Margaret Lambert of Queens, NY. The athlete had her record-tying 5ft 3in jump stricken from the record books by Nazi officials who learned of her Jewish background. Mrs Lambert was on the German Olympic team from 1934 to 1936 before fleeing the Nazis and arriving in America in 1937.

The Boston Bruins overcame yet-another 2 goal deficit against Ottawa on Saturday to win on the strength of 3 power-play goals and a Michael Ryder shootout goal. The Bruins were in an 0-2 hole at the first intermission on goals by Daniel Alfredsson and Milan Michalek, but came back with a goal from David Krejci (Mark Recchi and Dennis Wideman w/the assist) and Michael Ryder (Zdeno Chara and Mark Recchi with the assist). Dennis Wideman scored his power-play goal at the 9:19 mark of the third (David Kejci and Blake Wheeler credited with the assist), but Tim Thomas allowed a goal from Milan Michalek with 20 seconds left in regulation to get by after Ottawa pulled their goalie for the extra attacker. Ryder's goal was the only one scored by either team in the shootout and Tim Thomas stopped 19 of 22 shots faced during the game.

Boston remains a point behind the Buffalo Sabres in the Northeast Division:

Sabres- 32 points; 15-7-2 record overall

Bruins- 31 points; 13-8-5 record overall

Senators- 30 points; 13-8-4 record overall

Canadiens- 26 points; 12-13-2 record overall

Maple Leafs- 21 points; 7-12-7 record overall

This week, the Bruins will take on the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow and Montreal on Friday. The Bruins also announced that they are close to reaching a 7-year extension with forward Marc Savard.

The Celtics routed the Charlotte Bobcats 108-90 tonight at Charlotte. Ray Allen seems to be doing just fine, scoring 27 points with 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Kendrick Perkins had 21 points and 12 rebounds and Kevin Garnett was 5 for 8 with 16 points and seven rebounds. The C's have won their last 5 games in a row and are currently atop the Atlantic Division. They face the Spurs at San Antonio Thursday night on TNT.