MSNBC's Chris Matthews: West Point 'Enemy Camp'

As I mentioned earlier, the MSNBC network is about as credible as certain Middle Eastern terrorist regime mouthpieces but truth be told, I thought some of these alleged journalists would be 'smart' about concealing their leftist bias.

Turns out I was wrong. They're nowhere as intelligent as I gave them credit for.

After discussing the rather lukewarm reception from the cadets during President Obama's tepid and way-too-long speech, Chris Matthews likens it to the president visiting 'the enemy camp'. For good measure, Matthews also decides to revisit the 'neo-con' boogeyman by discussing how Paul Wolfowitz to 'rabble rouse'. For the three or four MSNBC viewers who feel compelled to apologize for Matthews, explain to me how it was all 'taken out of context' or reassure me that my eyes and ears were lying to me, don't bother.

So not only is MSNBC just as reliable as Hezbollah's Al-Manar mouthpiece or Iran's PressTV, but apparently they feel they have a common enemy- the United States military.

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.

Meter Maids Down Under

(seabreeze.com.au)

Say hello to the meter maids of Australia's Gold Coast.

As it turns out, they have very little to do with parking enforcement but are part of a 45-year tradition in Queensland. In Surfers Paradise, the gold bikini and jaunty Outback hat-clad meter maids actually put money into the parking meters for motorists and leave a calling card on the windshield for the local businesses that sponsor them. Reportedly the practice was started by the city itself to alleviate bad publicity stemming from a substantial increase in parking fees in the 1960s, and as time passed along local businesses stepped in and began paying or sponsoring the maids.

The local businesses benefit from their sponsorship and advertising. The tourists and drivers in Surfers Paradise benefit by not getting a parking ticket and....well....if the photo is any indication, all of us guys benefit.

Happy Thanksgiving

Just a quick post wishing the visitors to NENESB! a safe and happy Thanksgiving! Giant inflatable cartoon characters floating down 42nd street, turkey and copious amounts of football beckon.

Today's Train of Thought- Full Circle; November 24, 2009

Today's Train of thought comes to us from way down south courtesey of railpictures.net contributor Joe Blackwell. Here, he caught Kansas City Southern train MSHME (M = Manifest; SH = Shreveport, LA; ME = Meridian, MS) cruising eastbound across the Big Black River viaduct just outside of Bovina, MS on an April 2007 day. KCS SD40-2 #3138 leads a duo of leased former LMX B39-8s across the graceful arches of the viaduct as it's reflected in the river below.

BREAKING: Lazy, Inept Blogger Manages to Scoop The Washington Post

Not that I was trying very hard, mind you:

From the November 7th edition of the Washington Post website:

In Peshawar, State of Denial Over Market Attacks

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN -- When terrorists last week blew up the Mina Bazaar, a market for women and children, they detonated a car bomb so powerful it left more than 100 people dead and 15 missing in a nightmarish scene of scattered limbs, charred corpses and victims trapped alive under mounds of debris

The bombing crossed a new line of callousness, uniting Peshawar in grief and fear and unleashing a tide of anger. But most of the outrage expressed by survivors, witnesses, religious leaders and other residents this week was not directed at Islamist extremist groups, whom the government has blamed for the attack, but at the countries many Pakistanis see as their true enemies: India, Israel and the United States

It seems that until pretty recently, Pakistanis in general had no problem with their Taliban proxies killing foreigners in Afghanistan or Kashmir. Now that they've spent the last month or so biting the hand that fed them in the most brutal, brazen and public manner possible, it borders on amazing to see their benefactors work overtime to try and deflect blame from their Talibani proxies.

Oh yes.....and the Talibans' first-ever benefactors (the Pakistani military and ISI Directorate) have nukes.

Whee!

Any wonder why I refer to Pakistan as the world's first failed nuclear state?

G.I. Jill- From Combat Medic to Miss Utah

(army.mil)

When I was in the Army, a good rule of thumb regarding some of the female soldiers was 'if she looks good in BDUs, she can look good in anything'. Sounds sexist, but think about it- the uniform wasn't designed to be particularly alluring or flattering to the female form; it was designed to be....well, uniform.

(utvet.com)

My earlier entry about Lance Corporal Katrina Hodge being awarded the Miss England crown got me to wondering whether or not there were any beauty pageant winners in the USA who had served in the Armed Forces. As it turns out, the answer is 'yes' and I don't have to go that far back to find one.

Meet Sgt. Jill Stevens of the Utah National Guard's 1st Battalion, 211th Aviation Regiment. Sgt. Stevens is a decorated veteran of Afghanistan, a combat medic and....oh yes, Miss Utah 2007. Most likely the only Miss Utah able to field-strip an M4 Carbine for the talent competition and do push-ups in an evening gown.

Sgt Stevens graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Southern Utah University's Nursing Program and finished 16th overall in the 2008 Miss America pageant and named the "America's Choice" semi-finalist.

Granted I'm nearly 2 years behind on this, but congrats to Sgt. Stevens-a credit to the Utah National Guard (and the Army in general) as well as being pretty damn easy on the eyes. I'd take one Jill Stevens over a hundred bipolar kleptomaniac pathological liar pageant winners any day.

Iron Horse Roundup- O Canada Edition: Week of November 16-22

(Cor VanSteenis)

Canadian National announced that it intends to file for abandonment with Transport Canada of it's Drumheller Subdivision, roughly 178 miles of trackage between Lyalta, AB (just east of Calgary) and Oyen, AB (just west of the Saskatchewan border), this week. Up until earlier this year, this was part of the CN's Calgary, AB-Saskatoon, SK line that snaked through eastern Alberta's badlands. Canadian National announced that they intended to discontinue through service and locals would only operate as far as Lyalta from the west or Oyen to the east. A consortium of online communities and shippers is lobbying to purchase the line if CN's abandonment is approved.

Also, one of the communities along the Drumheller Subdivision is home to an abandoned-but-intact 10-stall Canadian National roundhouse. The roundhouse in NHL Hall-of-Famer Lanny MacDonald's hometown of Hanna, AB dates back to 1913 and had additional stalls added in 1929. CN abandoned the structure in 1961 and it occasionally saw use as an auction house. Now the historic structure is in the running for a grant of up to C$250,000 for restoration. I encourage NENESB! readers to go over there and read a more detailed history of the Hanna Roundhouse courtesy of the Hanna Roundhouse Restoration project and if they're so inclined, go ahead and vote as well (registration is required- but you can vote more than once).

(Rocky Mountain Rail Society)

Of course, as soon as I heard about CN's pending abandonment of the Drumheller subdivision, I couldn't help but wonder how this beauty would look hauling visitors and railway enthusiasts through Alberta's badlands behind some vintage coaches- maybe even using the roundhouse at Hanna as a turning point.

The beauty in question shown here is former Canadian National 4-8-4 Mountain class #6060, built by the Montreal Locomotive works in 1944 and nicknamed Bullet-nosed Betty or Spirit of Alberta. She is kept in good running order by the Rocky Mountain Rail Society and will often see service hauling excursion trains over Alberta Prairie Railway's Stettler-Big Valley, AB line.

The RMRS and East Central Railway Society recently announced that they had secured funding to restore the previously abandoned tracks between Stettler and Donalda, AB- a distance of roughly 20 miles. This will effectively double the operating trackage for the Alberta Prairie and RMRS out of Stettler.

(Cal Murray/railroadforum.com)

Saskatchewan's Last Mountain Railway started up operations on the former Canadian National line between Davidson and Lumsden, SK- a total of 108km. The Last Mountain will also be leasing an additional 27km of trackage from CN between Lumsden and Regina, SK where the shortline will connect with both the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railways. Power for the line is a pair of General Electric B23-7s. This would be at least the second shortline to start up operations in Saskatchewan this year- the Great Sandhills Railway began operating the former Canadian Pacific Empress subdivision in June 2009.

The Quebec, North Shore & Labrador Railway has placed four of their rebuilt SD40-3s up for sale. They are listed as being in running condition, although it has not been specified whether or not they're still on QNS&L property. The QNS&L is an isolated mining railway that serves various iron ore mines in northeastern Quebec and Labrador- they have no rail connections with the rest of the North American continent.

Pirates 0, Alabama 2; Slow-Learning Pirates Attack MV Maersk Alabama....AGAIN!

However, it seems like the vessel was ready for them this time around:

The MV Maersk Alabama has thwarted another attack by Somali pirates, according to European Union and U.S. Navy officials.

"Pirates fired automatic weapons on MV Maersk Alabama who responded with fire," said an EU Naval Command Statement, "The crew managed to repel the attack and no casualties were reported."

The pirates' assault was countered by gunfire and a high-decibel noise device from a security team that is traveling aboard the Alabama to defend it from pirates.
Maersk spokesman Kevin Speers told reporters the ship was headed to Mombasa, Kenya, carrying food aid for war-torn Somalia when it was fired upon by a pirate boat carrying four gunmen.

Navy officials tell ABC News that all 20 members aboard the Maersk Alabama are now "safe and secure," and have resumed their journey.

Of course, given how poorly the pirates fared last time they tried going after the Maersk Alabama, it shouldn't be too surprising that she'd have a bigger bullseye on her this time around.

I LOVE a Parade II- Australia Strikes Back!

Within days of nearly 300 bikini-clad South African women setting the completely gratuitous 'World's Largest Bikini Parade' record [that NANESB! wholeheartedly approves of], Australians gathered in Sydney on Nov. 12th in an attempt to break the record.

This attempt- like many sequels- came up short. For starters, the Johannesburg parade was 'women only' while this was a co-ed event. Naturally, this means that people will be showing up in speedos and briefs who we don't want to see in speedos and briefs.

Secondly, attendees and organizers considered this a trial balloon for a second attempt with higher turnout in the not too distant future.

Note to the Aussie's in charge of any subsequent efforts: Less 74-year old blokes in speedos and more women next time around.