Today's Train of Thought- Garden Spot in the Garden State

Today's Train of Thought takes us to New Jersey, although thankfully it's quite a ways removed from the filming venue for The Jersey Shore.

Although many people from the NYC/tri-state area have been known to flock to northern New England or upstate New York during autumn to take in the fall colors, some might be surprised to learn that New Jersey has its share of foliage. Back in the late 1980s and through most of the 1990s, the New York, Susquehanna & Western would run excursion trains through its lines in Northwestern New Jersey via Sparta Jct. Today, the NYS&W Technical & Historical Society operated excursions year-round over the Belvedere & Delaware River railroad in the western corner of the Garden State.

Of course, the business of hauling freight doesn't stop just because the leaves are changing color [altho' enough leaves accumulating on the rails can lead to slippery rails- NANESB!] and eastern New Jersey is home to some very busy yards and intermodal facilities.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Nick Anshant caught Norfolk Southern C40-8 #8705 heading eastbound through some of the Garden State foliage at Neshanic Station, NJ on October 25, 2009. The burly 4000 HP standard-cab GE is powering St Louis to Elizabeth, NJ intermodal train 22V under a canopy of green-orange-gold leaves on the former Lehigh Valley line linking New Jersey with eastern Pennsylvania.

Sports Chowdah Update- Rask 'em! Tukka Gets 1st Win Of Season; Giant Letdown in Foxborough; Boxing Great Fraser Passes Away; OSU/KSU Shakes Things Up

Elsa- Getty Images

NHL: Don't look now, but the defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins have been on a tear lately, breaking up the Ottawa Senator's 6-game win streak last week and shutting out the Maple Leafs 7-0 thanks to Tyler Seguin's first career hat trick over the weekend before returning to Boston to host the New York Islanders on Monday night.

The Bruins opened up the scoring with a tally from Benoit Pouliot barely 90 seconds into the 1st period, although the Isles Matt Moulson would knot up the score about 4 minutes later with an even strength goal. The B's were then able to convert a power play opportunity on a Nathan Horton tally at the 13:38 mark, followed by a Tyler Segiun even strength goal about 30 seconds later to make it 3-1 Bruins.

By that point, the Islanders decided t pull goalie Evgeni Nabakov- who had allowed 3 goals on 9 shots- for Al Montoya. Then, with just over 90 seconds remaining in the 1st, the Isles Michael Grabner made it a 1-goal game with a shot that beat Tukka Rask at the 18:36 mark.

After a scoreless 2nd period, the Bruins broke it open in the 3rd with goals from Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton and Davic Krejci (the latter coming on an empty netter) to seal the 6-2 win for Boston's 3rd straight win.

Not even one week into November, the Bruins have won as many games as they have for the month of October. Tukka Rask turned aside 24 of the 26 shots he faced for his first win of the season and the B's converted on their only power play opportunity of the evening.

The B's will next take on the Edmonton Oilers at the Garden on Thursday night with a 7 PM Start time.


BOXING: Olympic gold medalist and former undisputed world heavweight boxing champion Joe Frazier passed away due to complications from liver cancer on Monday.

Born and raised on South Carolina, Frazier became interested in boxing when his parents purchased a black and white TV and relatives compared his build to Joe Louis. At age 15, he moved in with relatives in New York City and after winning some amateur titles, he tried out for the US Olympic team, being the only American to win the gold medal in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Frazier is perhaps best known for the 1971 'Fight of the Century' at Madison Square Garden where he took on Mohammed Ali. In a contest between two undefeateds, Frazier managed to best Ali in 15 rounds.

Frazier was diagnosed with liver cancer at the end of September this year and entered hospice care a week ago.

NFL: This had Deja-vu written all over it.

The rematch of Superbowl XLII got off to a pretty slow start. For the first time in nearly 5 years, the Patriots were held scoreless at the half (thanks in part to a missed Gostkowski FG attempt from the Giants 27 before the end of the 2nd quarter). However, the visiting Giants were also held scoreless in the first half, leading to very few highlights with an 0-0 score for the halftime report.

In the 3rd quarter, the Giants would get out to a 10-0 lead before the Pats would get on the board thanks to a Gostkowski FG from 32 yards to make it 10-3.

Most of the game's action would take place in the 4th quarter, where just 32 seconds in, Brady would connect with Aaron Hernandez for the Patriots forst TD of the day to tie things up at 10-10. The drive started when Giants QB Eli Manning threw an interception to New England CB Kyle Arrington in the end zone.

The Patriots would take their first lead of the day on the next possession, with Gostkowski connecting on a 45 yard FG attempt to make it a 13-10 game. However, the Giants put together a 4-minute drive to go up 17-13 late in the 4th. The Patriots and Tom Brady would respond with a drive taking all of a minute and 22 seconds off the clock, capping it off with Brady connecting to Gronkowski on 4th and 9 to make it a 20-17 game.

With 1:36 left in regulation and starting from their own 20 (and aided by some awfully goddamned stupid penalties from the Patriots D) the Giants responded by moving the ball down the field, taking up huge chunks of yardage and finding themselves on the New England 1 with all of 30 seconds remaining in regulation thanks to a pass interference penalty. With 15 seconds remaining, Manning would connect to TE Jake Ballard to put the Giants up 24-20.

And that would be the final, as New England couldn't do anything with the remaining time in regulation. The Patriots fall to 5-3, setting up an important contest next Sunday night between the Jets and Pats.

Although both the Jets and the Bills have an identical 5-3 record, New England is still in first place heading into the Sunday Night game against the Jets. Sunday's home loss was their first regular season loss at Gillette stadium in nearly 3 years.



NCAA FOOTBALL: You'd think for a "Game of the Century", somebody would've managed to have found the end zone!

Keep in mind we're only 11 years into this century, but this was the first time since the 1966 Notre Dame/Michigan State game that a #1 and #2 ranked team played each other in the regular season.

So with all eyes on Tuscaloosa, AL, the game of the 21st century kicked off Saturday night in what turned out to be a rather low-scoring affair, with both teams headed to the locker room with the game tied at 3-3. Unbelievably, regulation would end with each team tied at 6-6, forcing OT.

Alabama's 1st possession of the OT featured them losing 5 yards on offense, QB AJ McCarron getting sacked for another 5 yard loss and a missed FG attempt before turning it over on downs and giving the LSU tigers a chip-shot FG for the win (this was after a TD call was overturned by officials, saying that the reciever was out of bounds).

According to CBS, this was the highest viewed NCAA football game they began tracking viewership in the 1980s. I don't find that difficult to believe, since during the first half I was having dinner in a venue not know for it's affinity for sports, but alot of regulars were clustered around the one TV in the place watching the game....probably hoping SOMEBODY would score a TD (altho' to be fair, the 1966 'Game of the century' was even more anticlimatic).

Brett Deering/ Getty Images

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: I was actually getting bored with the LUS/Alabama game, so once in the car, I was randomly scrolling through games on XM and came across the Kansas State/Oklahoma State game. This one turned out to be a polar opposite of the LSU/'Bama game, with 32 points being scored in the 4th quarter. Down 45-52 with 2:16 to go in regulation and starting from their own 29, Kansas state managed to drive all the way down to the Cowboys 5 yard line, but was unable to manage to find the end zone on three consecutive plays and with less than 5 seconds on the clock.

#2 Oklahoma State hangs on to win by the 45-52 margin and will face the Texas Tech Red Raiders this upcoming Saturday.

PENN STATE: Penn State Athletic Director Mark Curley and Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz have been charged with perjury and failure to report after former Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was arraigned on charges of sexual assault. Sandusky set up a charity in 1977 called Second Mile to encourage troubled or neglected youth to achieve in sports and academic. Sandusky is accused of coercing or sexually assaulting a number of children from the Second Mile program over the years.

BOSTON COLLEGE: Well, that 38-7 spanking administered by the Florida State Seminoles at Chestnut Hill was broadcast on ESPN for all to see last Thursday.

Boston College hopes to put on a better performance against the 5-4 NC State Wolfpack on Saturday afternoon at 12:30 at Chestnut Hill.

UCONN: The UConn huskies headed into their Bye week with a 28-21 win over the Syracuse Orangemen on Saturday. After taking this weekend off, tehy'll host the Louisville Cardinals at E. Hartford on November 19th.

Oklahoma Jolted By Magnitude 5.6 Earthquake

Sue Ogrocki/ AP

The Sooner state isn't the first place that springs to mind when one think of seismic activity, but a magnitude 5.6 earthquake that was felt as far away as Wisconsin and Tennessee shook the region on Saturday night.

“The picture by the TV fell off the wall, and we jumped up because we thought somebody had hit the house,” Noeh Morales said.

“It was like a roaring noise. I’ve never one that bad over here,” he said.

Morales said he was asleep at his home near SW 69 and Pennsylvania Avenue in Oklahoma City.

“It woke me out of a dead sleep. I felt the whole house shaking. I jumped and ran outside to see what was going on,” he said.

The strongest earthquake previously reported was April 9, 1952, in El Reno, according to the geological survey. Its magnitude was 5.50.

Michelann Ooten, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, said no injuries were reported to emergency management officials and she had no reports of major damages.

The Lincoln County sheriff’s office said late Saturday that damage has been reported across the county, but officials still were responding to calls and were not sure of the extent of damage.

"It was a pretty ornery little earthquake," said Joey Wakefield, Lincoln County's emergency manager.

The Oklahoma City Fire Department reported no injuries or serious damage as of 11:15 p.m.

The Saturday night tremors were part of a series of fore and aftershocks throughout the day. In addition to reports of scattered damages to various residential structures, the quake also toppled one of the spires of the Benedictine Hall at St Gregory's University in Shawnee (pictured above) and buckled portions of US Highway 62 in Lincoln County.

The epicenter of the quake was reportedly some 70 miles northeast of Oklahoma city in the town of Sparks in Lincoln County. Interestingly, ESPN indavertently caught the quake on camera when correspondent Kirk Herbstreit was doing a postgame show from the Oklahoma State/Kansas State football game in Stillwater, OK.

Iron Horse Roundup For October 2011

Providence & Worcester B40-8W #4005 traverses the P&W Willamantic branch in Lisbon, CT pulling a joint office car special with officials from Canadian Pacific, Vermont Railway, New England Central and the P&W on October 19, 2011. Photo, Tom Nanos.

NEW ENGLAND: Some of you might recall back in late August that officials from Guilford/Pan-Am and Norfolk Southern [NYSE: NSC] observed progress on the Patriot Corridor project and using a joint office car special, inspected intermodal facilities in Ayer, MA and one under construction in Mechanicsville, NY before Hurricane Irene struck.

A second, separate office car special for officials from the Canadian Pacific [NYSE: CP], the Vermont Railway, Rail America's [NYSE: RA] New England Central and the Providence & Worcester [NASDAQ: PWX] was supposed to take place on the Green Mountain Gateway in late August as well, but was postponed indefinitely because of extensive flood damage both the Vermont Railway and New England Central sustained due to Tropical Storm Irene.

Powered by a General Electric locomotive from Providence & Worcester and with two passenger cars from the Vermont Railway in tow, the OCS got underway departing east out of Whitehall, NY and continuing on towards Bellows Falls, VT on October 19th over the recently-reopened Green Mountain Railway line which was pummeled in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene. From there, it continued south over the New England Central to Willamantic, CT via Palmer, MA. At Willamantic, the train continued east over Providence & Worcester's Willamantic Branch to Plainfield, CT.

Reopened in 2007, the Willamantic branch was plagued by a series of derailments in 2010 and the FRA ruled that the line would be downgraded to 'excepted', limiting speeds on the line to 10 MPH and preventing more than 5 cars of hazardous materiel from travelling the line. At Plainfield, CT, the Willamantic Branch intersects with the P&Ws Worcester, MA to Groton, CT line and from these, the OCS headed back north into Massachusetts. Since the derailments, many of the unit ethanol trains that traverse the Green Mountain Corridor simply travel all the way south to the NECR/P&W interchange at New London, CT before continuing on to Providence via Worcester, MA.

Besides unit ethanol trains, the railroads that make up the Green Mountain Gateway hope to compete against Norfolk Southern/Pan-Am's 'Patriot Corridor' and CSX's Boston line for autorack and intermodal traffic. In 2006, the Green Mountain Gateway saw unit trains of imported coal from South Africa being offloaded in Providence, RI with a final destination of Johnson City, NY- just west of Binghamton, NY- via Canadian Pacific's former Delaware & Hudson Bridge Line for a few weeks as the power plant there was test burning various grades of coal. While there is no more unit trains of imported coal for Johnson City, the P&W does still handle unit trains of imported coal to First Light's Mt. Tom, MA power plant and Northeast Utilities [NYSE: NU] Bow, NH plant.

LIRR commuter trains meet at Huntington Station- Photo, Jospeh Meade

NEW YORK: Hundreds of Long Island Railroad Employees may have scammed New York City's MTA and the US Railroad Retirement Board out of more than $1 billion in a pension and disability fraud scheme dating back to at least the late 1990s. Eleven people, including two doctors and the former President of United Transportation Union Local 645, have been charged with the decade-long scam bilking the pension of the nation's largest commuter railroad.

Janice Fedarcyk, the head of New York’s FBI office, called it a “game where every retiree was a winner.” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the disability pension program was not designed to be “a feeding trough for the truly dishonest,” but authorities say that’s what happened.

Hundreds of LIRR employees falsely declared themselves disabled to collect more pension money from the ages of 50 to 65, when they would otherwise qualify for full benefits, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The complaint said a retired engineering manager who complained of severe hand, knee, shoulder and back pain often played tennis and golf while collecting about $105,000 yearly in combined pension and disability payments.

Another former employee said she suffered neck, shoulder and hand pain from computer work and couldn’t stand more than five minutes without leg pain. She was “surveilled shoveling heavy snow for approximately one and a half hours,” the complaint said. She gets about $108,000 a year in combined pension and disability payments.

The complaint said many workers who retired with disability benefits worked unusually high amounts of overtime in the five years before retirement because pensions are calculated based on earnings during that period. The heavy workloads often continued “right up until the very day when they and their physicians claimed they were utterly unable to continue doing their railroad jobs,” the complaint said.

The complaint also seemed to place some of the blame for the scandal on the pension system itself, saying the “exceptionally high rate of occupational disability applications for the LIRR can be attributed to the fact that the LIRR, and the LIRR alone, offers a pension to employees as young as 50 years old.” The complaint said unscrupulous employees lie about their physical condition so they can retire at an earlier age with a salary almost equal to what they got when they were working.

Three doctors, one of whom has since died, were responsible for 86 percent of the railroad’s disability applications before 2008. One doctor recommended at least 839 LIRR employees for disability from 1998 to 2008, the complaint said.

Authorities said the doctors collected $800 to $1,200 in fees from each patient as they built disability cases by prescribing unnecessary medical tests and physical therapy. They said the doctors then fabricated or grossly exaggerated medical assessments and built illness narratives to show the employees were unable to work.

The charges stem from a September 2008 investigative report in the New York Times which pointed out that nearly 90% disability attriton rate of the LIRR personnel. The claims were not just limited to engineers, conductors or track workers, either- the former deputy general counsel and claims manager were seeking disability according to the New York Times report.

The MTA claimed that it had no say-so in awarding the fraudulent disability payments and that the RRB was acting as a rubber stamp for any claim that came before it. The FBI and RRB's Inspector General have filed charges against the 11 participants in the scheme where they feel they have the strongest evidence. Since its creation in the 1930s, the RRB is the government agency that administers disability, unemployment, retirement and survivor benefits to railroad workers and their families.

Southbound Alaska Railroad freight train at Hurricane Gulch, AK- Photo, Ted Smith-Peterson

ALASKA: The Alaska Railroad broke ground on their 80 mile Delta Jct Extension at the end September by beginning construction of a bridge spanning the Tanana River in Salcha, AK.

The first phase of the project includes the construction of a 3300 ft bridge and 11,000 foot levy. The construction is expected to cause intermittent delays and congestion for the next two years (no work will be done in the dead of winter) but project managers are hoping some 75 truckloads of firewood donated to area residents will offset any inconvenience. The new extension will give the Alaska Railroad access to the US Army's Fort Wainwright as well as potential shippers in the agricultural, mining and petrochemical sectors.

New England Central Rock Train passing Winooski Gorge with Toldeo Peoria & Western GP40-2LW #4053 in the lead at Winooski, VT on November 1, 2011. Photo, Matt Powell

VERMONT: While the railroads throughout the Green Mountain state have reopened in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene, the same can't be said for the state's road network. Hit particularly hard was Vermont Route 107 to the west of Bethel. Surging floodwaters from the nearby White River have obliterated sections of the road.

The state of Vermont is hoping to have the highway up and running by mid-December, and to that end they're enlisting the aid of the Vermont Railway and New England Central to do some of the heavy lifting.


The rocks are loaded onto the side-dump gondola cars on the Vermont Railway outside of Burlington and then handed off to the New England Central, where they turn south at Essex Jct and continue about another 50 miles over the newly reopened former Central Vermont mainline to Bethel, where they're dumped down an embankment for trucks to haul the rest of the way to the construction site.

Knoxville Locomotive Works Photo

TENNESSEE: Gulf and Ohio has officially entered the low-emissions diesel market with the unveiling of their KLW20B prototype in October. The Knoxville Locomotive Works website claims a fuel savings of up to 30%, lower rate of oil consumption and compatibility with already-existing components from EMD (the locomotive was made from the frame and carbody of a Norfolk Southern GP38).

Reportedly, the locomotive underwent testing on Gulf and Ohio's Knoxville and Holston River, which is also home to the G&O's 1890 built 2-8-0, Southern #154 that had been fully restored in 2010.

TVRM's Southern 2-8-0 Consolidated #630 leading an excursion on Norfolk Southern's Atlanta North District at Chattanooga, TN over the Labor Day weekend. Doyle Massey photo

ELSEWHERE IN TENNESSEE: Norfolk Southern's 21st Century steam program began in earnest over the Labor Day weekend with Tennessee Valley Railroad Musuem's Southern 2-8-0 #630 powering mainline excursions over the Norfolk Southern's North Atlanta District

The Labor Day excursions over the Norfolk Southern also coincided with the TVRM's 50th anniversary, which featured a number of static displays and some diesel excursions [as well as the largest Moon Pie; no foolin'- NANESB!]. Although Tropical Storm Lee put a damper on some of the celebrations, the TVRM's Labor Day railfest was well attended and the #630 is expected to power another mainline excursion over the Norfolk Southern- this time to Knoxville, TN on November 14th.

Blue State Graft Watch: Securities Firm Run by Former New Jersey Governor and Obama Bundler John Corzine to be Probed by FBI

The MF Global Securities firm run by former New Jersey Governor and Goldman Sachs [NYSE: GS] chairman John Corzine will be investigated by the FBI to determine if the firms actions violated criminal laws after filing for bankruptcy protection on Monday. MF's bankruptcy was reportedly the 8th largest filing in US History.

After taking over MF Global last year, Corzine led MF Global to make more trades for the company's own profits, a practice known as proprietary trading. Proprietary trading helped turn Goldman into a trading powerhouse in recent years.

Under Corzine's leadership, MF Global bet $6.3 billion on debt issued by Italy, Spain and other European nations with troubled economies. Those bonds have lost value in recent weeks as fears have intensified that some European countries might default.

Regulators said in September that MF Global was overvaluing some of its European debt investments. It required the company to raise more cash, according to court papers filed on Monday.

Corzine reportedly continued to use clients money as losses from the European sovereign debt MF invested in increased.

Reports had also been circulating as recently as a few months ago that Corzine was a possible replacement for current US Treasury secretary Tim Geithner should President Obama win a second term. In fact, these rumors led to an oddly specific stipulation in a $325 million bond offering from MF.

MF creditors were so concerned that Corzine might quit to take a White House post that they demanded an “Obama clause” be inserted in a $325 million bond offering -- in which MF would shell out an extra 1 percent in interest if Corzine left for a government post by 2013.

Oddly, the regulator in charge of investigating the wreckage of Corzine's securities firm worked at Goldman Sachs with Corzine and donated $10,000 the the Democrat party of New Jersey when Corzine was running for governor in 2005.

In 2009, Corzine lost re-election to Republican challenger and former US Attorney Chris Christie despite a number of high profile campaign appearances with President Obama stumping on behalf of the incumbent.

More recently, however, Corzine has gone on to become one of the top bundlers for Obama's 2012 campaign, raising at least $500,000 by many estimates.

A recent list of top “bundlers” or elite fundraisers released by Obama’s campaign listed Corzine in the highest category -- reporting that he had raised more than $500,000 for the campaign. A substantial chunk of those funds were collected at a $35,800 per ticket fundraiser that Corzine hosted at his wife’s spacious Fifth Avenue apartment last April -- an event that was touted at the time as part of a concerted effort by the president’s campaign team to reach out to well-heeled Wall Street donors who had been alienated by some of his policies and previous public comments.

In the meantime, an estimated $700 million in funds from MF Securities remains unaccounted for.

The Obama Administration had promised to return monetary donations from Corzine [although they didn't clarify if it was Corzine's $5000 maximum individual contribution or the contributions in excess of $500,000 that Corzine helped bundle from other wealthy donors- NANESB!] earlier this week.

I find it quite telling that the whole #Occupy Wall Street movement claimed they had taken to the streets to protest nationwide about the greed and excess on Wall Street embodied by Corzine's actions at MF Securities, but have remained remarkably silent about Corzine and the primary benefactor of his largess, President Obama.

Nancy Pelosi's Jobs Plan: Shut Down Non-Union Plants in Right to Work States (Except for GE's)

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi has weighed this week in on the ongoing dispute between Boeing and the National Labor Relations Board, stating that the aircraft manufacturer's South Carolina facility should shut down if it can't unionize [video at link- NANESB!].

Interestingly, Pelosi's comments come more than two years after workers at the Charleston, SC plant voted overwhelmingly to decertifty their union.

In a move that seemingly went under the radar back in May, General Electric [NYSE: GE] announced that they were constructing a new 500,000 square foot facility to build locomotives in right-to-work Fort Worth, TX- shifting production from closed-shop Erie, PA with no apparent objection from either Congresswoman Pelosi or the NLRB.

Other venues under consideration included Lynn, MA and Mexico. With rival Caterpillar's [NYSE: CAT] subsidiary Progress Rail opening up a new facility in Indiana, GE and Local 201 of the International Union of Electrical Workers were unable to come to any sort of agreement regarding wages.

While GE's Railway unit CEO Lorenzo Simonelli disclosed that a Mexican site had been under consideration by GE they ultimately chose the Ft. Worth site for largely political reasons.

The Fort Worth choice saves Immelt from the potential embarrassment of having the facility go south of the border while he serves as chairman of President Barack Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

The Obama Administration had previously lavished Immelt's General Electric with millions in stimulus money and 'green energy' grants while the conglomerate continued to outsource jobs overseas. Prior to January of this year, GE was also the parent company of NBC/Universal entertainment, whose networks frequently act as the Obama Administration (or Obama campaign's) unofficial mouthpiece. Earlier this year, Comcast [NASDAQ: CMCSA] gained a majority control of the NBC networks.

Since the May announcement about the Texas locomotive facility, General Electric has announced they are breaking ground on two more projects in right-to-work states.

Last month, the conglomerate announced that they will be building a $95 million 236,000 square foot facility that will make components for mining equipment- also in Ft Worth, TX.

Meanwhile, in Auburn, AL, GE is breaking ground on a new jet engine component factory this month. Like the two facilities in Fort Worth, the NLRB apparently sees no problem with Immelt's GE setting up shop in right-to-work states as they've remained conspicuously silent on the matter.

[Hat tip: Director Blue, Lonely Conservative, Eat it or Wear It]

Greek Defense Minister Dismisses Military Leaders Ahead of Referrendum

Greece's ruling Socialist government was reeling and on the verge of collapse as several lawmakers and ministers called for a referendum over the bailout package that Prime Minister George Papandreou had managed to secure from the European Union.

Several ministers and lawmakers called for an emergency meeting of the governing Socialists in parliament, where Papandreou has convened a cabinet session for noon.

His shock referendum decision Monday angered European leaders and many of his own party lawmakers, several of whom have called for the prime minister to step down and a cross-party national unity government to be created in order to safeguard the bailout.

Speculation that the referendum pledge may be abandoned alongside a caretaker government has helped calm frayed nerves in the markets. Athens main stock market outperformed its peers, rising by over 3 percent by midday trading.

Though the leaders of the world's economic powerhouses were gathered at the chic French resort of Cannes for the Group of 20 meeting, most attention in the financial markets was focused on Athens and the mounting political crisis, which erupted earlier Thursday when Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos broke ranks with Papandreou on the referendum proposal.

Papandreou's referendum proposal horrified Greece's international partners and creditors, triggering turmoil in financial markets as investors fretted over the prospect of a disorderly debt default and the country's exit from the eurozone.

In perhaps an even more disturbing development out of Athens, Greek defense minister Panos Beglitis announced the summary dismissal of the heads of the Greek Army, Air Force and Navy on Thursday. Beglitis is an ally and confidant of PM Papandreou.

Neither the minister nor any government spokesman offered an explanation for the sudden, sweeping changes, which were scheduled to be considered on November 7 as part of a regular annual review of military leadership retirements and promotions. Usually the annual changes do not affect the entire leadership.

“Under no circumstances will these changes be accepted, at a time when the government is collapsing and has not even secured a vote of confidence,” said an official announcement by the opposition conservative New Democracy party.

“It has no moral or real authority any more, and such surprise moves can only worsen the crisis currently sweeping the country”.

The party said it will not accept the new nominations and will take its own decisions on armed forces changes if it comes to power at the general elections that are expected to take place in Greece if the government loses the vote of confidence on Friday night.

The left wing SYRIZA party said that the government’s decision “gives the impression that it wants to create a highly politicized armed forces that it can control at a time of political crisis”. It called on the President of the Republic not to proceed with the formal ratification of the defence minister’s decree and to wait until new general elections take place.

Similar statements were made by all smaller political parties from the extreme right to the hard-line communists.

From the late 1960s the the mid 1970s, Greece was ruled by a military junta, although many experts feel that this week's moves were what could be a final opportunity for Papandreou to fill the military's top slots with candidates of his choosing, as his government could be looking at a no-confidence vote in Parliment on Friday.

While some think that either a coup or declaration of martial law would be farfetched, between the clashes between the government and protesters, the ongoing economic crisis and the top brass being dismissed, the table seems obligingly set for some of the more unpleasant scenarios.

Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- B's Beat Senators By a Landslide; McCourt-ing Disaster? LA Dodgers Up For Sale

NHL: Despite an awful October and falling behind early to the white-hot Senators early, the Boston Bruins were able to rally and snap Ottawa's 6-game win streak on Tuesday night at the Garden.

Nick Foligno got the Sens on the board about 5 minutes into the 1st before Milan Lucic evened things up for Boston with a power play goal two minutes later. However, about 15 seconds later, a shot from Ottawa's Stephane DeCosta found its way past Thomas and into the back of the net to give the Sens the 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.

The Bruins would go on to tie up the contest at 2-2 when Patrice Bergeron beat Sens netminder Craig Angerson just over 4 minutes into the 2nd period before taking a 3-2 lead with 2 minutes remaining in the 2nd on a Chris Kelly even strength tally.

Ottawa would knot things up at 3-3 however thanks to Jared Cowan's goal 5 minutes into the 3rd before the B's would take the lead (for good) on a Johnny Boychuk tally about 90 seconds later. From there, the Bruins would get some insurance in the form of a Danny Paille tally 7:18 into the 3rd.

So the Bruins turn the page on a crappy October by stopping the streaking Sens with a 5-3 final at the Garden on Tuesday. The B's actually outshot the Sens by a 41-26 margin, with Thomas turning aside 23 of the shots he faced. Boston also was able to convert one of their five power play opportunities while the Sens were held scoreless with the extra attacker on the ice.

The Bruins next game will be against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Toronto on Saturday night. The puck drops at 7 PM ET and the game will be televised on both NESN and CBC's Hockey Night in Canada.



MLB: Just days after the final out in Game 7 of the 2011 World Series, St Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa announced his retirement. The surprise announcement ends a 16 year managerial stint with the Cardinals that saw at least six NL Central Pennants, three National League pennants and two World Series titles.

LaRussa's 33 year managerial career also saw him managing the Oakland Athletics to a Worls Series title during the 1989 'earthquake series' against the San Francisco Giants. Between his time with the White Sox, A's and Cardinals, LaRussa has 2728 career wins to his credit.

Random thought: Would that be ironic if Terry Francona ended up replacing LaRussa as the Cards manager?

RED SOX: The Red Sox conducted two separate interviews for the managerial opening left by Francona's departure. On Monday, the Red Sox interviewed Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin. On Wednesday, the Red Sox interviewed current Brewers hitting coach (and former Red Sox 3rd base coach from 2004-05) Dale Sveum. Sveum has some postseason experience as manager, dating back to 2008 when the Brewers fired Ned Yost with 12 games remaining in the regular season.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: 1B Adrian Gonzalez, 2B Dustin Pedroia and CF Jacoby Ellsbury became the first trio of Red Sox to win Golden Glove awards in 32 years. The winners were announced by Rawlings on Tuesday night.

In 1979, outfielders Right fielder Dwight Evans, Center Fielder Fred Lynn and Shortstop Rick Burleson each won the Golden Glove award while with the BoSox.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS: The Dodgers and MLB announced they had entered into an agreement for a court-supervised sale of the franchise. Reportedly the interested parties include Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle as well as a number of Asian investors.

Even if a buyer is quickly found, it could take anywhere from 6 months to a year and a half for MLB to approve the transaction.

NY Mayor Bloomberg Donates $150,000 to Pro Gun Control Virginia Politicians- After NYPD Cops Nabbed In Gunrunning Sting

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has opened up his checkbook for six Democrats running for the state office in Virginia ahead of Old Dominion's November 8th elections for state Senate and House of Delegates.

Bloomberg has donated $25,000 apiece to the campaigns of six Democratic candidates for the Virginia state Senate who share his strict beliefs on gun control, officials told the Daily News Friday.

The deep-pocketed mayor, who drew the ire of the Virginia attorney general when he ran gun stings there five years ago, will travel to Old Dominion to campaign for the candidates next week, the officials said.

What happens in the Virginia Legislature will directly affect the public safety of New Yorkers, said John Feinblatt, the mayor s Criminal Justice Coordinator.

Bloomberg was slammed by Virginia's then-attorney general - and now governor - Bob McDonnell for the 2006 stings.

The announcement comes a few days after 8 current and former NYPD officers were arrested by the FBI in a gunrunning sting where the officers are accused of trafficking in stolen property and purchasing guns from an undercover FBI agent before filing off the serial numbers.

The investigation into the conspiracy began in 2009, when an FBI informant was introduced to one cop, William Masso of the 68th Precinct, "as a person who could 'fix' the [informant's] traffic tickets," according to court papers obtained by the Post. But a law-enforcement official tells the tabloid that the probe was "totally unrelated" to the NYPD ticket-fixing scandal currently under investigation by the Bronx DA, who is expected to charge 16 officers soon.

In this case, the officers are accused of buying inoperable weapons, including an M-4 assault rifle, from an undercover FBI agent. They then allegedly filed off the serial numbers so they couldn't be traced, and transported them over state lines. Masso allegedly told his conspirators that they should carry their police badges, and if they ran into trouble with non-corrupt cops, to say they were cops working off-duty "delivering items purchased at auction."

"The criminal complaint lays out a scheme of brazen misconduct that include the illegal transportation of stolen cigarettes and stolen slot machines, the illegal transportation firearms, and the illegal transportation of defaced firearms," FBI's Special Agent in Charge, Diego Rodriguez, said in a statement this morning. "All of these crimes were seemingly committed for one simple reason: money. For their participation in the various schemes—cigarettes, slot machines, guns—the defendants were paid handsomely."

Interestingly, while the news of crooked NYPD cops allegedly trafficking black market guns with the serial numbers filed off was the most dramatic accusation made against them, the cigarette smuggling scheme the accused were reportedly involved in was their most lucrative.

The demand for cheap cigarettes in New York—which has the nation's highest tax levy, $6.46 a pack in the city—has fueled a burgeoning underground market that costs the city about $200 million a year and the state $525 million, city, state and federal officials said.

"Over the past decade we have seen a marked increase in contraband cigarettes coming into the greater New York area," Joseph Green, a spokesman for the ATF's New York office, said Wednesday.

The cigarette-smuggling operation actually made the defendants more money: Undercover investigators paid the defendants about three times as much money—about $92,000—for moving cigarettes than for the guns, the complaint said.

And unlike the guns the defendants sold in the federal sting operation, some of the 2.4 million cigarettes they allegedly smuggled appear to have made their way into the New York market, the complaint suggests.

According to recorded conversations cited by federal prosecutors, Mr. Masso was long familiar with cigarette smuggling. He told undercover investigators that he used to acquire cigarettes from a woman who bought them from Native American reservations and put bogus tax stamps on the cigarette boxes, a criminal complaint said.

He allegedly told the informant that he made $5,000 a week on the scheme and ruminated about again finding the woman and getting a tax stamp.

By May of this year, Mr. Masso and the group of officers and civilians he recruited allegedly had participated in the smuggling and sale of more than $600,000 worth of cigarettes, moving them from Virginia and New Jersey into the New York City area, authorities said. In one case, a group broke into box trucks in Virginia and stole the cigarettes, authorities said.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg's felon-riddled gun control advocacy group has begun lobbying in earnest against national conceal-carry reciprocity legislation that has been working its way through Congress. Members of the organization claim the legislation would undercut state's rights, which is pretty interesting considering how much Bloomberg himself had attempted to influence firearms legislation in Virginia and Arizona.

LOT Polish Airlines 767 Touches Down With No Landing Gear At Warsaw

A Boeing 767 from Polish carrier LOT airlines enroute from Newark International made an emergency landing at Warsaw's Chopin International Airport on Tuesday with the landing gear stuck.

WARSAW, Poland – A Boeing airliner carrying 231 people from the U.S. landed on its belly Tuesday in Warsaw after its landing gear failed to open, triggering sparks and small fires. No one was hurt, but passengers described feeling severe stress as they prayed for a safe landing.

Capt. Tadeusz Wrona, who handled the descent so smoothly that many on board thought the Boeing 767 landed on its wheels, was instantly hailed a hero in Poland and online, where within hours he was the focus of several Facebook fan pages

"I was praying for the pilot not to lose control because we started to make circles over the airport. It was terrible," passenger Teresa Kowalik told reporters at the airport. "We owe everything to the pilot. He really did a great job."

LOT said the plane suffered "a central hydraulic system failure," indicating that the hydraulics used to extend the landing gear, or undercarriage, failed. The failure of an entire undercarriage was unprecedented for a Boeing 767 and highly unusual overall, according to aviation data and experts.

The pilots discovered there was a problem about half an hour after leaving Newark, said LOT president Marcin Pirog. They circled the plane above the airport for about one hour before descending, partly to keep trying to release the landing gear, and partly to use up fuel to lessen the risk of a blaze.

The pilot told passengers four hours into the flight that the plane faced technical problems, said a passenger who gave only her first name, Malgorzata.

"The pilot addressed us a number of times and said we should follow instructions. Later, a flight attendant said there might be a fire, and at that point people began to get nervous and uncertain," she said.

By the time the plane landed, escorted by two F-16 fighter jets, its fuel tanks were nearly empty, LOT spokesman Leszek Chorzewski said.

A fire brigade laid out special flame retardant foam for the plane to land on. On landing, sparks flew from the engine and small fires erupted under the plane but were immediately put out by firefighters.

The landing itself was so smooth that "we all thought we had landed on wheels," said Andrzej Pinno, a 68-year-old passenger.

Passengers even applauded, but then grew alarmed when sparks and black smoke rose from the plane. "This is the moment where we realized this was not a normal landing," added Pinno.

Passengers were then evacuated using emergency slides. They were taken to a medical center where they were kept several hours before being released.

"We were waiting for a crash, and we waited and waited and waited -- and thank God it never happened," said Greg Cohen, a passenger from Livingston, New Jersey. "It was a very lucky flight, a very, very great pilot. We are very fortunate."

Relatives of passengers waiting at the airport sought information as the emergency unfolded.

Joanna Dabrowska, 29, managed to speak to her mother-in-law, a passenger, via mobile phone after she evacuated the flight. "She was in shock, but she was fine," Dabrowska said.

Meanwhile, Polish officials and media declared the pilots and crew heroes. LOT said there were 11 crew and 220 passengers on the LO 016 flight.

LOT airlines president, Pirog, told reporters that Wrona and co-pilot Jerzy Szwartz carried out a "perfect emergency landing," which prevented anyone from being injured. "Unfortunately it rarely ends this way," Pirog said.

Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski congratulated and thanked the crew and emergency workers for ensuring no one was hurt.

"I thank everyone with my whole heart in the name of Poland," Komorowski said.

Within hours, at least six Facebook fanpages devoted to Capt. Wrona had appeared. On Twitter, admiration was profuse. One Tweeter insisted, "Give that pilot a medal!" Others drew comparisons to Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who became a national hero in the U.S. when he landed a crippled US Airways jet in the Hudson River and saved 155 lives.

Warsaw's Chopin International Airport was shut down overnight due to the plane coming to a rest near a spot where both of the main runways intersect. Flights are being rerouted to the airports at Lodz, Gdansk and Krakow while officials and rescue workers are clearing the runways in Warsaw.

Poland had experienced a number of aviation disasters in recent years, the most recent of which was the April 2010 crash in Smolensk, Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others on board.