Today's Train of Thought- Range Rovers, September 24, 2012

Today's Train of thought takes us to the coastal range of western Oregon and Genesee & Wyoming's Portland & Western and their 75-mile Toledo district between Toledo and Albany, OR. It's safe to say that the 520-mile Portland & Western is perhaps the most diverse line in the Genesee & Wyoming family, featuring everything from scrap metal, brick, grain, chemical, aggregates and forestry products to steam-powered excursion trains and Portland's TriMet Westside Express commuter trains.

The remote, rugged former Southern Pacific branch in Western Oregon features dense forests, sharp curves and an average running speed of 10-12 MPH. Despite the sluggish economy and downturn in the timber industry, Portland and Western's Toledo Hauler keeps busy serving the Port of Toledo as well as the large Georgia Pacific mill in town. Train length out of Albany can usually range anywhere from 30-50 cars- the respectable size requires alot of horsepower, so six locomotives- including cabless slugs- aren't unusual.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Charles Bonville catches the eastbound Toledo Hauler crossing the secluded trestle over the Marys River outside of Philomath, OR in October 2009. Although it apprears as though GP39-2 #2301 is leading, the former Santa Fe locomotive is actually the trailing unit on today's consist- power is a mix of rebuilt GP40s, road slugs and GP39-2s- all in GWI industries orange and black.

US Army Debuts His And Hers Body Armour

US Army Corporal Kristine Tejada keeps watch while securing the site of the ancient Sumerian Ziggeraut in Ur, Iraq. SSgt. Jeremy J. Fowler photo

Ladies of the Unites States Army- Tired of trying to stop bullets and shrapnel with a 40 year old flack jacket that was clearly made with somebody a foot taller and 80 lbs heavier than you in mind?

The you're in luck! The US Army is getting ready to begin field testing of body armour specifically designed for female soldiers this month. The GIs in question are part of the Ft Campbell, KY based 101st Airborne Division.Think of it as the 'Secret' of body armour- Stong enough for a man, but made for a woman.

"Most females tend to have a narrow or thinner waist as it relates to the chest area, so we pulled the waist area in," said Lt. Col. Frank J. Lozano, the product manager for Soldier Protective Equipment.

"Some women will want more room in the waist area, so we allowed for adjustability in the cummerbund in the back, which can be pulled in tighter or let out more than on the standard [Improved Outer Tactical Vest]."

Bringing the shoulder area closer to the neck helped accommodate narrow female shoulders and opens the area around the armpits. That opens up the mobility for the shoulders and upper arms so that female soldiers can properly hold their weapons against the shoulder

The female body armor also has a shorter bottom for a better fit, since the average torso length of women is shorter than that of men. That shorter length prevents the armor from chafing the hips female soldiers as they walk, and also avoids the blood circulation issue caused by the front armor plate.

A group of 30 female soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division will get 100 prototypes to try out in September or October. Their suggestions will then help finalize the body armor that deploys more broadly by next summer.

Another satisfied customer!

According to the US Army's own estimates, women currently make up 14% of all active-duty personnel. While women aren't technically allowed to serve in any combat arms fields (i.e. infantry, armour, artillery) there are a number of support MOS's where female soldiers do serve and are considered high-risk; such as Military Police or Combat Medic.

The female-only body armor is not to be confused with 'tactical corsets' which purportedly seeks to combine the practicality and convenience of a modern-day Load Carrying Equipment (LCE) harness with the Victorian era grace and elegance of a corset.

Bloomberg: South Dakota Mining College Grads Can Expect to Earn More than Harvard Grads

The massive Freeport McMoran open pit copper mine at Morenci, AZ. A run on commodities in recent years has created shortages of qualified workers and higher wages for those entering the mining industry. Kresge86 photo

After a nearly decade long bull market for commodities, mining companies throughout the United States have found themselves short of qualified personnel while attempting to keep up with market demand. This has translated to recent graduates from smaller mining colleges earning more than their Ivy-League counterparts right out of school.

A study tracking employee compensation data determined that recent graduates of the 2300 student South Dakota School of Mines and Technology made an annual salary of nearly $57,000.

Those leaving the college of 2,300 students this year got paid a median salary of $56,700, according to PayScale Inc., which tracks employee compensation data from surveys. At Harvard, where tuition fees are almost four times higher, they got $54,100. Those scheduled to leave the campus in Rapid City, South Dakota, in May are already getting offers, at a time when about one in 10 recent U.S. college graduates is out of work.

“It doesn’t seem to be too hard to get a job in mining,” said Jaymie Trask, a 22-year-old chemical-engineering major who was offered a post paying more than $60,000 a year at Freeport- McMoRan (FCX) Copper & Gold Inc. “If you work hard in school for four or five years, you’re pretty much set.”

A fourfold gain in commodities in the past decade reflects both surging demand and the industry’s failure to keep up. While new mineral deposits are getting harder to find, companies also are struggling to add enough skilled workers. That’s partly a legacy of U.S. colleges cutting back on mining programs. There were fewer than 28,000 people employed in U.S. metals mining in 2004, from 58,000 in 1993, the National Mining Association estimates. By 2011, it had rebounded to 40,000.

As many as 78,000 additional U.S. workers will be needed by 2019 to replace retirees, the Society of Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration said in a report in January. In Australia, the largest shipper of coal and iron ore, there will be a shortfall of 1,700 mine engineers, 3,000 geoscientists and 36,000 other workers in the five years ending in 2015, the report said.

Demand for mining-school graduates is exceptional in the U.S., where the unemployment rate for 20-to-24 year olds with Bachelor’s degrees was 11.8 percent in July. The jobless rate across the economy held above 8 percent for a 43rd month in August, government data show.

The total number of schools in the United States that offered mining degrees in 1982 was thirty- today that number is down to fourteen. Tuition for South Dakota School of Mines and Technology runs between $8400 and $13,000. By contrast, with a student body of nearly 27,000 tuition for Harvard averages in the neighborhood of $40,000.

This week also marks the one year of the anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement. One of several reasons cited for the protests was the rising costs of college tuition. In fact, Harvard professor, Massachusetts Democrat senate candidate and faux Native American Elizabeth Warren claimed to have been the intellectual brainchild behind the Occupy movement in an interview last year, but has had little if anything to say about the movement since then.

Yet, it somehow turns out the nation needs more mining engineers than it does unemployable Ivy-league Philosophy or Gay, Lesbian and Transsexual Studies Degree holders camped out in parks wondering why tuition for their diplomas are so high.

Blue State Graft Watch- Feds Arrest Trenton, NJ Mayor on Corruption Charges

After July's FBI raids on City Hall and the Mayor's residence in Trenton, NJ, many observers figured it would be only a matter of time before the Feds pressed charges against Democrat Trenton mayor Tony Mack and arrested him.

And they would be correct.

On September 10th, Mack was arrested by federal agents at his home on corruption charges linked to a city development project. Also taken into custody were Mack's brother Ralphiel and a prominent Mack campaign donor, Joseph "JoJo" Giorgianni.

"The investigation revealed evidence of a conspiracy among the defendants and other to corrupt certain functions of Trenton City government in favor of a purported developer seeking to building a parking garage on City-owned property in exchange for cash payments totaling approximate $119,000, a total of $54,000 that the defendants actually accepted in one way or another and another $65,000 that they anticipated accepting," according to the criminal complaint filed today.

The complaint indicates the FBI had been investigating Mack since September 2010, just a few months after he took office. At least two cooperating witnesses are cited in the complaint and the FBI made extensive use of wire taps on the phones of Mack, Giorgianni and the cooperating witnesses.

An informant working with the FBI, identified in the complaint as "CW-1," first met with Giorgianni on Sept. 14, 2010 claiming to represent a developer who wanted to build a parking garage on East State Street in the city. The confidential witness asked for Mack's help in securing the property in exchange for cash and Giorgianni agreed to broker the deal, the complaint states.

That conversation, which occurred two months after Mack's election, was recorded by the witness, according to the complaint.

"We want this," Giorgianni said, according to the complaint. "What do you think we did all this for? I like to make money for my friends. I like to do it like the Boss Tweed way. You know Boss Tweed ran Tamany Hall?"


Numerous meetings and conversations followed regarding the parking garage, but the project discussions slowed last year when a citizen's group mounted an effort to recall Mayor Mack. The recall fell short of the signatures needed.

"On April 18, 2011 at JoJo's Steakhouse, Giorgianni stated that Tony F. Mack was interested in engaging in the corrupt transaction previously discussed 'once this July thing's over,' referring to the efforts by certain Trenton citizens to recall Tony F. Mack," the complaint states. "Giorgianni stated 'Once that's over, we're ready to roll."

The bribes started to flow on Oct. 27, 2011 when Giorgianni accepted two envelopes with $1,500 each from the cooperating witness "with the express understanding that Giorgianni would give one of the envelopes to Tony F. Mack in exchange for Tony F. Mack's support of the development of the East State Street lot."

The July raids on City Hall, the mayor's home and Giorgianni's steakhouse reportedly stemmed from a phantom parking garage which was actually a paid parking lot in downtown Trenton that was sold to the city for $1 in 2000. The informant at Giorgianni's steakhouse had reportedly offered cash to both Giorgiani and Mack to arrange a meeting and help expedite the permit process for converting the current lot into a garage.

So far, Tony Mack faces just the single corruption charge, but more charges could be pending depending on what subsequent searches of City Hall, Mack's residence and Griogriani's steakhouse turn up.

Since taking office in 2010, Mack has been accused of using the city payroll as how own personal piggybank as well as steering larded up city contracts to friends, hiring and promoting unqualified relatives into various municipal positions. Earlier this year, Mack's half-brother who was appointed supervisor of Trenton's water utility pleaded guilty to using city employees and city owned equipment to carry out private work at the city's expense. A Mercer County judge had decided to revoke Mack's half brother's bail at the end of August.

It should also be worth pointing out that Mack is also a member of New York mayor Michael Bloomberg's 'Mayors against illegal guns' coalition.

Trenton is New Jersey's state capitol and 10th largest city.

Sports Chowdah Update For September 20th- Cardinals Have Pats Seeing Red; UMass Gets Rolled Big Time in the Big House; Fading Rays? Sox Show Signs of Life vs Tampa

AP Photo/Tony Ding

NCAA FOOTBALL- To hardly anybody's surprise, the UMass Minutemen walked into the Big House at Ann Arbor last weekend and got slaughtered by #17 Michigan. The Wolverines jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter before UMass got on the board thanks to a Brendon Levengood FG to make it 14-3. After the Wolverines made it a 21-3 game, Minutemen Freshamn DB Christian Brit picked off Michicgan QB Denard Robinson and ran the ball back for 32 yards for what would be the Minutemen's only TD of the game.

Although Levengood would get another FG before the half, there was just no stopping the Wolverines offense and that would be all the scoring UMass could muster as the Wolverines cruised to an easy 63-13 win.

I seem to remember not too long ago that UMass was capable of putting up a much more spirited game in the face of overwhelming odds at Ann Arbor while the Minutemen were still in the Colonial Athletic Association. For now, however, their promotion to the FBS and the Mid-America Conference has gotten them an 0-3 record and 'home' games on the opposite end of the Bay State from the Amherst campus. In their first three games as an NCAA FBS program, the Minutemen have been outscored 145-19.

This upcoming weekend, UMass will play yet another road game in the Midwest as they travel to Oxford, OH to take on the 1-3 Miami Redhawks. Kickoff will be at noon eastern and the game will be streaming on ESPN3. Saturday's game also marks the Minutemen's Mid-America Conference debut.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: BOSTON COLLEGE- Turns out UMass wasn't the only FBS team from the Bay State that could only muster 13 points against an opponent in the Midwest last weekend. Althought the Boston College Eagles briefly took the 10-9 lead against the Northwestern Wildcats in the 2nd quarter of Saturday's game at Evanston, IL, Wildcats special teams kept the Eagles pinned deep in their own end late in the game. With Boston College trailing late in the 4th by a score of 15-13 and after a three and out with the ball on their own 1 yard line, Northwestern got the ball back on the Eagle's 44 and managed to capitalize on their excellent field position thanks to a Mike Trumpy 27 yard TD rush with less than two minutes to go in the 4th to make it 22-13. That was actually the only touchdown on the day for Northwestern as they go on to sport a 3-0 record. The Eagle's only TD came late in the first half when QN Chase Rettig connected with Jonathan Coleman for a 31 yard pass and run.

The 1-2 Eagles have this upcoming weekend off before hosting the (currently) undefeated Clemson Tigers on Chestnut Hill on September 29th.

AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
UCONN HUSKIES- So out of all the FBS teams in New England, currently the UConn Huskies are the only ones with a winning record after their weekend trip to College Park, MD.

The Huskies Scott McCummings and Lyle McCombs each rushed for a TD, while Nick Williams returned a punt for a TD and Chad Christen's 34 yard FG would prove to be decisive in Connecticut's 24-21 road win over Maryland on Saturday. The Terrapins had closed to within a FG and got the ball back on their own 42 yard line with 3:37 to go, but the drive fizzled on the UConn 40 when Terps QB Perry Hills was unable to convert on 4th and 18.

Next week, the Huskies will travel to Kalamazoo, MI to take on the 1-2 Western Michigan Broncos- their second Mid-America conference opponent of the young season. Kickoff is at 2:00 PM Eastern time.

OTHER UCONN HUSKIES NEWS- The Boston Globe and the New London, CT The Day are reporting that officials from both UConn and the University of Notre Dame may be interested in playing a regular season game at Fenway Park during the 2014 season [might as well, since its not as though they're currently playing baseball at Fenway- am I right? NANESB!].

The Day has learned that the schools are in negotiations to play again in 2014, but this time at Fenway Park in Boston.

Discussions between both schools could produce a football game between the University of Connecticut and Notre Dame at Fenway Park in Boston in 2014, two UConn sources said told The Day on Monday.

The sources said that personnel changes in both athletic departments have slowed talks somewhat, but that "there's definitely some traction there," alluding to a potential Notre Dame-UConn game.

Red Sox general manager Larry Lucchino told the Boston Globe the Red Sox are "actively" looking for a game at Fenway as early as 2013. Lucchino said he wasn't aware of specific talks with either UConn or Notre Dame, but that's the type of game in which they are interested.

Sources from both schools reportedly agreed that if it happens, this would be considered a 'home' game for Notre Dame. A number of Notre Dame 'home' games have taken place away from South Bend, including this year's season opener against Navy at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.

In recent years, Fenway Park has played host to concerts, English Premier League soccer, the 2010 NHL Winter Classic and NCAA Hockey matches. Throughout its 100 year history, Fenway has also played host to football games from the Patriots, Redskins, Boston College, Boston University, Dartmouth and Holy Cross. The last time Fenway Park hosted football was the 1968 regular season finale of the then-Boston Patriots where they beat the Cincinnati Bengals by a 33-14 final- one of only four wins that season.

If UConn and Notre Dame do agree to play on Yawkey Way, this would not be the first time a purpose-built ballpark hosted a college football contest. In 2010, the University of Illinois and Northwestern Wildcats played at Wrigley Field. In the Bronx, Yankee Stadium played host to a regular season game between Notre Dame and the Army Black Knights- this is in addition to hosting the Pinstripe Bowl at the end of December. On the West Coast, San Francisco's AT&T Park was home to the Cal Golden Bears during the 2012 season as the on-campus stadium was undergoing rennovations and also hosts the Kraft Foods Fight Hunger Bowl at the end of December.

MLB- On the major-league level, there really hasn't been alot taking place since the Red Sox had their disastrous 1-8 road trip that effectively ended any lingering notion of sneaking into the playoffs- despite the expanded format this year. The subsequent homestand was just as unkind, with the Blue Jays coming in and sweeping Boston and the Yankees taking two out of three. Despite standing on the bottom rung of the ladder to the AL East cellar, the Sox seemed to snap out of life over the last week, taking two out of three from the Blue Jays at Toronto's Rogers Centre and winning the first two of a four game set with the struggling Tampa Bay Rays. However, after shellacking Boston by a 13-3 final on Wednesday, the Rays have a shot at salvaging a splot of the series and reviving their rapidly wilting playoff aspirations- currently the Yankees and Orioles are within a half game of each other for the AL East lead while Tampa Bay trails by 6 and a half games.

Thursday night's contest will see Clay Buchholz [11-6; 4.33 ERA] against David Price [18-5; 2.54 ERA]. The Game gets underway at 7:10 ET and will be televised on NESN.

NFL- It's not often that New England loses early in the season, let alone at Gilette stadium, but that's exactly what happened at Foxbourough in Week two when the Pats plaed host to the Cardinals.

This was a constest that was largely won and lost on FGs, with the Cards getting on the board early on a 38 yard Jay Feeley FG. Brady's first pass of the game was picked off at the 36 and although the Pats kept them out of the red zone, Feely was able to nail another long FG to make it 6-0 Arizona. Gostkowski was able to put New England on the board with a 46 yard FG of his own late in the 1st and then tie things up at 6-6 with a 34 yard FG in the 2nd. While the Pats took a 9-6 lead on a 51 yard Gostkowski FG to open up the second half, the Cardinals were able to take advatage of a blocked punt on the Pats 11 yard line and punch it in from there for the game's first TD. The Cardinals then closed out the 3rd quarter marching the ball down a much longer field where QB kevin Kolb rushed up the middle for another Cards TD to make it a 20-9 game. With just under 8 minutes to go and good field position, the Pats got as far as the Arizona 35 yard line before Gostkowski made good on a 53 yard FG attempt to make it 20-12.

After forcing Arizona to go three and out on the next posession, one almost had the feeling that Brady and the Patriots offense had something special in the works as the methodically marched down the field from their own 18 and hit paydirt with a pass from brady to Gronkowski with just over 2 minutes remaining- although the 2 point conversion failed, it was still a two point game.

Still, what are the odds New England would get the ball back? I mean, one first down frmo Arizona and it was all over- right? Except big Vince Wilfork recovered a fumble from Cards RB Ryan Williams. With a little over a minute to go and the ball on the Cardinals own 30, the Patriots ran a couple of plays to pick up 6 yards. That brought in Gostkowski once again- who had already made FG's from 51 and 53 yards- to try and give the Pats a 1-point edge with just one second left. However, his 42 yard FG attempt sailed wide left and the Cards- who had led the NFL in blocked FG attempts in the last three seasons- came away with the 18-20 win.

New England will next travel down to Baltimore to take on the Ravens for this weekend's Sunday night game. Both teams head into the contest sporting an identical 1-1 record after the Ravens' Sunday afternoon loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. The game kicks off at 8:20 ET Sunday night and will be televised on NBC.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL NFL Films producer Steve Sabol passed away from terminal brain cancer on Tuesday at the age of 69. Steve and his father Ed were both New Jersey natives who started out as cameramen for the National Football League. The father and son duo got their break in 1962 when they secured the rights to the NFL Championship Game between the Packers and the Giants. In his college years, Sabol was an all Rocky Mountain Conference running back who majored in Art History. An avid film buff who studied cinematography and art history and wanted to portray the best values represented in the game, Ed says his son was 'uniquely qualified' to helm what would eventually become NFL films. In the early years of NFL Films, Steve would serve as camerman, editor, head writer and narrarator [I own a couple of the Patriots Super Bowl DVDs and I must tell you the production values are top notch- doesn't hurt that they're narrarated by the late Harry Kalas, too- NANESB!].

Featuring montage editing, dramatic soundtracks and slow-motion film or video, Sabol's NFL Films Presents productions were sometimes more compelling than the actual games they highlighted. Sabol's NFL films also pioneered wiring coache sand players for in-game audio, the best of which would be featured in an NFL Films Presents production. These were some of the innovations that helped Sabol win more than 30 Emmys throughout his career at NFL Films. At the very beginning, ESPN signed a contract with NFL films to gain access to their archives while Steve Sabol himself played a role in the 2003 founding of the NFL Network.

The NFL announced that each stadium in the league will play a brief tribute to Steve Sabol before kickoff in Week three.

President Obama's Latest Victory in the War on Coal: Virginia-Based Coal Miner Alpha Natural Resources Announces It's Laying Off Nearly 10% Of Its Workforce

Norfolk Southern train seen backing up the Gilbert branch in Wharncliffe, WV to serve the Alpha Natural Resources Premium highwall mine in July 2008. JB Lockard photo

Bristol, VA-based Alpha Natural Resources [NYSE- ANR] announced on Tuesday that they would be shuttering at least eight mines and laying off approximately 1200 employees- nearly 10% of the company's workforce.

Alpha CEO Kevin Critchfield cited a lack of coal-fired power plants being built in the country and increased regulatory burdens from the EPA on both mining companies and utilities that use coal as contributing to the announced layoffs.

During a 2008 video interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, then-candidate Barack Obama promised to bankrupt anybody who built a coal-fired power plant in the United States. He also promised that energy prices would 'neccesarily skyrocket' under a cap and trade system that he was in favor of.

In June 2009, the Waxman-Markey Cap And Trade act passed the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, but never made it to the Senate as both the House and Senate focused on getting 0bamacare passed. However, the White House was able to impose a number of restrictions on utilities and coal-fired power plants by way of regulatory fiat through using the Environmental Protection Agency as its enforcement arm.

The impending Alpha closures will affect at least eight mines in three different states- Virginia, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Work at those facilities will continue until current contracts are fulfilled.

Spokesman Ted Pile says the affected West Virginia operations are the Alloy deep mine near Powellton, the Alloy surface mine near Boomer, the Premium highwall mine near Gilbert and the White Flame Surface Mine near Wharncliffe.

The Virginia mines are Guest Mountain deep mines No. 8 and No. 9 near Norton, and Twin Star Surface Mine near Hurley.

In Pennsylvania, Alpha will close its Dora deep mine in Jefferson County.

With the EPA regulations in place and no new coal-fired power plants being built, many companies have shifted from mining thermal coal typically burned at power plants to produce electricity to metallurgic coal which is in demand for steelmaking overseas.

In June of 2011, Alpha had acquired competitor Massey Energy in a deal worth $7.1 billion. Some of the facilities being closed down include former Massey properties.

Alpha isn't the only coal mining company that has been struggling in the current economic and regulatory environment. In July of this year, Patriot Coal had filed for bankruptcy protection thanks in part to a weaker economy, cancelled contracts as well as the same hostile regulatory environment. Out west, environmentalists have rallied and attempted to obstruct coal trains and export terminals from even passing through their cities- even filing nuisance lawsuits against railroads over diesel exhaust and coal dust.

Massachusetts Democrat Calls Cops on GOP Rival With Bogus Drug Buy Story

Consider this reason #774 I don't trust the Democrats anywhere near the levers of power.

A Democratic state representative in Massachusetts who narrowly survived a 4-way primary earlier this month is now facing questions after sending police to her Republican opponent's home, reportedly relaying concerns from an anonymous constituent to the local police chief about a possible drug buy.

Massachusetts State Representative Denise Andrews [D- Orange] had contacted Athol, MA police chief Timothy C Andrews- purportedly to follow through on an unnamed constituent's bizarre story that her GOP rival and Athol Board of Selectmen chair, Susanna Whipps Lee, had purchased cocaine from them.

Ms. Andrews contacted police and said she was told by an informant in the Police Department, whom she called a constituent, that Susannah M. Whipps Lee, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, had allegedly purchased cocaine and a police officer went to her home on Aug. 10 and took the drugs from her after police received a call from a person who claimed to have sold the drugs to Ms. Lee.

After an investigation, the chief said the allegations were false.

Ms. Lee, a Republican challenging Ms. Andrews in the November election, denied the allegations and called them “disgraceful and dishonest.”

Representative Andrews is named as a confidential informant in an Athol police report that was leaked to the public.

Artists rendering of Massachusetts State Representative Denise Andrews' confidential source.

Citing confidentiality, Andrews declined to name the source of the allegations against her opponent. A number of inconsistencies became apparent in the story she told the Athol police chief. Lee was out of state on the day the alleged drug buy took place and Athol's only narcotics officer was off-duty the day of the alleged bust. The story crumbled altogether when Chief Anderson compared dates and times on the department's radio logs and sign in sheets with those provided by Andrews' alleged informant.

Chief Anderson said “the false report of a crime to police” matter is under investigation. He said it would be a grave situation “if it is a member of our department.”

Asked if anyone from the Athol Police Department is under scrutiny, the chief said, “I am not going to comment at this point.”

On whether there may be a coverup, Chief Anderson said: “We have policies about chain of command; that means a member of our Police Department has to follow our chain of command; when they come across information of this nature, they are required, if they have information there is a violation of department policy ... to notify their supervisor.”

The chief also said the rank and file “are not allowed to release records of a confidential or sensitive nature.”

The boundaries for Andrews' District- the 2nd Franklin District- was recently re-drawn and includes the towns of Athol, Orange, Royalston, Erving and Gill in Franklin County in the north-central part of the Bay State as well as parts of Belchertown in Hampshire.

Post Benghazi Update- State Department Insists Deadly Consulate Attack was 'Spontaneous' Demonstration; Filmmaker Identified, Questioned by Authorities

Violent protests and attacks on American embassies throughout the Middle East continued on Friday and over the weekend. Demonstrators in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan and Yemen had stormed the grounds of US diplomatic missions, set fires and tore down the stars and stripes while hoisting a black islamist flag with arabic script.

The continued unrest comes as the White House and State Department repeatedly denied that the deadly attack on the Benghazi consulate was premeditated in any way. The attacks that killed US Ambassador Chris Stevens, Diplomatic Security officers and former Navy SEALS Tyrone Woods and Glenn Doherty and information officer Sean Smith took place on the 11th anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks.

While President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton maintain that the mob that had stormed the grounds of the US Consulate in Benghazi had formed 'spontaneously' in response to a short anti-Islam film that appeared on YouTube, Libyan officials have claimed otherwise. In an interview with NPR, Libyan president President Mohammed el-Megarif said the Benghazi assault was a military-style attack that used heavy weaponry such as RPGs and mortars to assault the consulate and safehouses as well as keep reinforcements at bay. Such an attack, el-Megarif points out, would require comprehensive advanced planning. Egyptian PM Hesham Kandil said that at least some of the rioters in Cairo who were arrested after clashes with police in front of the US Embassy there had confessed to being paid to show up. In the face of all that, White House Press spokesman Jay Carney claimed that the protests, arson, looting and murders directed at American diplomats throughout the Middle East and arab world somehow aren't directed at the USA, but rather a visceral reaction to the anti-Muslim video circulating online.

Curiously, a few days prior to the American consulate in Benghazi being overrun, Canada had announced they were closing down their embassy in Tehran and expelling all Iranian diplomatic personnel from Canada. The Canadian government cited their official designation of Iran as a terrorist-sponsoring state, their continued support of the Syrian regime's military crackdown on its citizens and an attack against the British Embassy in Tehran that the UK insists was orchestrated by Iran's ruling mullahs. I thought Canada's Foreign Affairs ministry was newsworthy in and of itself at the time, but it's taken on greater significance since the murder of American diplomats on September 11.

Meanwhile, the Obama Administration, State Department and US Media's response to the slaughter in Benghazi has been disheartening at best.

While insisting that an attack utilizing heavy weaponry such as RPGs and mortars WASN'T pre-planned, the Obama Administration and American media outlets quickly went on the counterattack- not against the people who murdered our ambassadors and torched our diplomatic posts, but rather Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the purported filmmaker.

A number of press outlets immediately jumped on Romney shortly after he issued a statement criticizing a message from the State Department that the Administration themselves had backed away from. So as Obama flew out to a Las Vegas campaign fundraiser as American embassies throughout the middle East were burning, there was the matter of a compliant media coordinating questions shortly before a press conference former governor Romney's non-existent gaffe and 'jumping the gun' to the point while President Obama briefly issued a statement and took no questions before leaving to continue his re-election campaign in Nevada.

However, that paled in comparison to what took place in Southern California on Friday night when Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies showed up at the house of one Nakoula Basseley Nakoula to take him into custody. Nakoula, who made The Innocence of Muslims film under the pseudonym Sam Basile, was identified as a Coptic Christian who emigrated here from Egypt and was sentenced to 20 month in prison after being arrested in a 2009 check-kiting scam. Nakoula had also reportedly agreed to become a government informant after his 2009 arrest in exchange for a sentence reduction. Reportedly the deputies were there to escort him to an interview with federal probation officials. However, the late night visit by deputies only came after calls from Islamist groups like Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to prosecute the filmmaker for insulting the prophet Muhammed.

Over the weekend, images of Nakoula with his face hidden and flanked by deputies had circulated throughout the web. Curiously, some of Obama's more prominent supporters [in the entertainment industry of all places- NANESB!] had come out in favor of prosecuting Nakoula on ambiguous 'hate crimes' charges.

Meanwhile, the press had thoughtfully taken it upon themselves to reveal Nakoula's face and home address to the world. Unsurprisingly, Nakoula and his family have fled their Cerritos, CA home to an undisclosed location. Google- which is the parent company of YouTube- has since rejected a White House request to take down the offending video.

UPDATED 9/17- Democrats Honor Veterans And Military at Charlotte Convention With Russian Warships, Turkish Air Force Jets in Backdrop

May or may not be the actual backdrop image used at the DNC 2012 convention in Charlotte

The Democrat Party's national convention in Charlotte, NC has been over for more than a week, but the gathering still made headlines when four massive warships used prominently as a background image as a retired US Navy Admiral addressed the delegates in a speech paying tribute to veterans were in fact Russian.

Having grown up in a dark blue state, I can clearly hear the inevitable scorn and incredulity in the voice of your garden-variety Democrat and Obama supporter- sneering 'Jeez Fenway- what batshit insane right-wing fringe blog did you hear that from?'

Try The Navy Times

On the last night of the Democratic National Convention, a retired Navy four-star took the stage to pay tribute to veterans. Behind him, on a giant screen, the image of four hulking warships reinforced his patriotic message.

But there was a big mistake in the stirring backdrop: those are Russian warships.

While retired Adm. John Nathman, a former commander of Fleet Forces Command, honored vets as America’s best, the ships from the Russian Federation Navy were arrayed like sentinels on the big screen above.

These were the very Soviet-era combatants that Nathman and Cold Warriors like him had once squared off against.

“The ships are definitely Russian,” said noted naval author Norman Polmar after reviewing hi-resolution photos from the event. “There’s no question of that in my mind.”

Naval experts concluded the background was a photo composite of Russian ships that were overflown by what appear to be U.S. trainer jets. It remains unclear how or why the Democratic Party used what’s believed to be images of the Russian Black Sea Fleet at their convention.

The veteran who spotted the error and notified Navy Times said he was immediately taken aback.

“I was kind of in shock,” said Rob Barker, 38, a former electronics warfare technician who left the Navy in 2006. Having learned to visually identify foreign ships by their radars, Barker recognized the closest ship as the Kara-class cruiser Kerch.

The background — featured in the carefully choreographed hour leading up to the president’s Sept. 6 speech accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination — showed four ships with radar designs not used in the U.S. fleet.

For example, the ship in the foreground, on the far right, has a square radar antenna at the top of its masthead. That is the MR-700 Podberezovik 3-D early warning radar, commonly identified as “Flat Screen” for its appearance, a three-dimensional early warning radar mounted on the Kerch, said Eric Wertheim, editor of “Combat Fleets of the World.”

Similarly, the third ship has a MR-310 “Head Net” air search radar, shaped like two off-set bananas, at its masthead and is mostly likely the guided missile destroyer Smetlivyy. The first two ships seem to be Krivak-class frigates, but it’s hard to discern from the silhouette, experts said.

But the fact they are Russian ships is not in doubt. In addition to the ship’s radar arrays and hulls, which are dissimilar from U.S. warships, the photo features one more give-away: a large white flag with a blue ‘X’ at the ships’ sterns.

The blue cross on white background has been part of the Russian Navy's insignia since czarist times. The vessels in the photos have been identified by experts as belonging to Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

DNC officials apologized for the error, blaming 'vendor error' in failing to catch the oversight [Democrats blaming others for their mistakes? I know- toally shocking, isn't it?- NANESB!]. The nationality of the ships also hearkened back to a March conversation between President Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev that was caught on an open microphone where Obama promised the Kremlin 'more flexibility' on a missile defense treaty after the 2012 Presidential election.

UPDATE- 9/17 - It gets even better, though. Apparently the Democrats thought that Turkey's military should be represented at the 2012 convention.

According to an Austrian editor of a military aircraft journal, the planes depicted flying in formation above the Russian Black Sea Fleet are F-5s from the Turkish Air Force.

Martin Rosenkranz, a military aircraft expert and editor-in-chief of a military aviation journal in Austria, revealed the fighter jets’ origin to The Daily Caller.

“The aircraft in this image displayed are not U.S. [operated] aircraft,” he told TheDC.

“The jets are most likely from the Turkish air force [because] the formation and the type (F-5) flown is very typical of the seven-ship formation flown by the Turkish Air Force Display Team known as the ‘Turkish Stars,’” said Rosenkranz.

“There is no other display team worldwide” that uses a similar seven-aircraft formation.

Rosenkranz’s argument is bolstered by two other factors.

The aircraft shown at the Democrats’ convention are old F-5 aircraft. They were were designed in the United States and sold to many countries, including Turkey — whose display team uses that same model.

Also, the planes depicted in the Democrats’ Sept. 6 photo montage display an unusual red and white striped pattern painted on the underside of their fuselages — most visible on the lowest and best-lit of the F-5s in the image.

The Russian Ships and Turkish jets as backdrop fiasco was reminiscent of another election year debacle where the Democrat party accompanied an article about US combat veterans on their website with an image of a Canadian soldier in 2006.

Today's Train of Thought- Pour Some Sugar on Me, September 16 2012

Today's Train of Thought takes us to south-central Florida and provides us a glimpse at America's only sugarcane hauling railroad- the South Central Florida Express.

While sugar can be extracted from beets growing in more moderate climates in the Northern Plains, Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions, cane sugar is grown in relatively few places throughout the United States- Texas, Puerto Rico, Louisiana, Hawaii and Florida. A 2008 University of Minnesota study determined that the state of Florida led the United States in total sugarcane production and refining with 433,000 acres harvested and 7 mills.

This includes the mill in Clewiston, FL- reportedly the largest in the nation. Both the cane fields and refining facilities, operated by US Sugar corporation, are large enough to require two seperate railroads to bring in the cane and haul the finished product out to interchange with the CSX to the east and Florida East Coast to the east.

Besides US Sugar's 'in-house' 119-mile sugarcane hauling line- which is treated as a seperate entity by US Sugar- there's the South Central Florida Express which started up in 1990 with the purchase of nearly 90 miles of former CSX [nee Atlantic Coast Line] track west of Lake Okeechobee. The initial purchase was actually made by Lukens Steel [now ArcelorMittal] subsidiary Brandywine Valley, but was sold to US Sugar corporation in 1994. In 1998, South Central Florida Express and the Florida East Coast entered into a haulage agreement that would let the SCXF use the FEC's Lake Harbor-Ft Pierce 'K Branch'. In 1999, the line was awarded honors from Railway Age magazine as Shortline/Regional of the Year.

Besides sugar and sugar byproducts, the South Central Florida express also hauls fertilzer, farm equipment, lumber and machinery to various other customers along the line.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Christopher Blaszczyk caught South Central Florida Express' Ft. Pierce Turn trundling past the cane fields as well as a discarded pile of tied and across the State Route 835 crossing outside of Clewiston, FL. SCXF GP11 #9030 is in charge of the short 5-car train in February 2010.

The future of US Sugar in south central Florida has been up in the air in 2008 after then governor Charlie Crist announced to great fanfare a land-purchase deal from the Clewiston-based company. An estimated 180,000 acres of land used for growing sugar would be transferred to the state as part of an ongoing Everglades wetland restoration project. However, by 2010 that estimate had been sharply revised downward to less than 75,000 acres amid funding shortfalls and a worsening economy.