'Safe' Dem-Held Districts Suddenly Not As Safe As Anticipated

Remember THE LIST from last week where I included the caveat about how races categorized by the Cook Political Report as 'Leaning D' might actually more favorable to the GOP than it would appear at first blush?

Looks like this could also apply to some races that were believed to be completely safe for Democrat incumbents. As I was compiling THE LIST, I came across some reports of Republican challengers seemingly gaining ground on entrenched Democrat incumbents in solidly blue districts. Lest you think this was idle happy-talk from hopelessly out-funded Republican candidates, the Cook Report (which apparently didn't get their reputation by getting suckered by idle campaign bluster) has changed the ratings of at least five Democrat-heavy districts from 'Solid D' to 'Likely D'.

These representatives would include Raul Grijalva (AZ-7), who is facing a spirited challenge from rocket scientist Ruth McClung after the Congressman called for a boycott of his own state immediately after the Arizona state legislature passed SB-1070.

Last month, 30-year Congressman and House Financial Services Committee chair Barney Frank (MA-4) arranged to have Bill Clinton campaign on his behalf in the Bay State, a move many observers feel would not be necessary if his GOP opponent- 35 year old ex-Marine Sean Bielat- was closing the gap in the polls.

Maurice Hinchey (NY-22) could also be in danger of losing his gerrymandered district going up against what some say is his first serious challenge to his seat since 1992 in former teacher and congressional aide George Phillips.

Over in Minnesota, internal polling has shown Jim Oberstar (MN-8) only a few points ahead of challenger Chip Cravaack. Naturally, this most recent poll has the 18-term Democrat crying foul.

Of course, it's entirely possible that all of the above challengers will end up losing in a landslide. However the fact that people are having discussions about normally reliable Democrat bastions as though they were swing states or swing districts would mean that resources being drawn off from more competitive districts for the Democrats, putting them at a disadvantage.

And given the way they've been governing since January 2007, I wouldn't lose much sleep if all of the aforementioned embattled Democrats found themselves out of work in January.

Week Off Sports Chowdah Update- Bruins Split Czech; Braves Chopped Out of Playoff Picture; Pats Family Tree Gets Familiar Branch

NHL: The puck dropped on the 2010-2011 Bruins regular season in Prague this weekend with a two game series against the Phoenix Coyotes. After losing the opener by a 5-2 margin, Tim Thomas made an impressive regular season debut and 2010 first round draft pick Tyler Seguin scored his first NHL goal on Sunday's game in the Czech capital. Thomas stopped all 29 shots he faced while Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton got the Bruins out to a 2-0 lead in the 2nd period before Seguin's goal sealed the 3-0 win over Phoenix.

Boston's next game isn't until Saturday where the NJ Devils will host them at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

MLB: And then there was one......well one division series remaining. After the Yankees finished off a sweep of the Twins on Saturday while the Reds were eliminated by the Phillies Sunday night. The Braves managed to stay alive in the NLDS matchup with the Giants and the series headed to Atlanta with the series tied 1-1 after Rick Ankiel splashed a solo homer into McCovey cove in the 11th inning to cap off the Braves Friday night win.

However, the Giants were able to take advantage of Atlanta miscues as the series went back to Turner Field tied 1-1. Perhaps most the most agonizing for moments for Braves faithful came after an Erick Hinske pinch-hit 2-run homer briefly put the Beaves up 2-1. In the top of the 9th, Aubrey Huff drove on, bringing home Travis Ishikawa to tie the contest up at 2-2. Giants Catcher Buster Posey scalded what looked like sharply hit groundout to 2nd base to end the inning, but in a moment eerily reminiscent of Bill Buckner, it went right under Brooks Conrad's glove and into center field to put the Giants up for good 3-2.

Monday night's game at Turner Field turned out to be Bobby Cox's last as Braves manager, as the Giants held on to a 1-run lead even when Giant's closer Brian Wilson allowed back-to-back walks to Rick Ankiel and Erick Hinske with one away. The Londonderry, NH born pitcher then managed to get Melky Cabrera to ground out into a double-play. San Francisco wins the Division series 3 games to 1 and Game 4 by a final score of 3-2.

ELSEWHERE: Game 5 of the ALCS Between the Rangers and Rays is set to take place tonight in Tampa/St. Pete at 8PM ET. The series is tied at 2 games each and Cliff Lee is expected to get the start against David Price. Curiously, the home team has yet to win in this series.

NFL: For those of us wondering 'Who's Brady gonna throw to now that Moss is gone?', wonder no more as the Patriots announced that they reacquired WR Deion Branch from the Seattle Seahawks last night (See!? Pats news even during the bye week!). The Seahwaks will get a future draft pick from New England in exchange for Branch and acquired a WR from another AFC East team, Marshawn Lynch, last week. Superbowl XXXVIII MVP Branch reportedly practised with New England on Tuesday. New England takes on the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday.

Oh yes....there was some sort of Monday night contest involving Randy Moss and the NY Jets on the air, too. Man....I tuned in for that right after the Braves/Giants game....what a snooze-fest until the late 3rd quarter. Rain rain rain, Vikings 3 and out, rain rain rain Jet's field goal....lather, rinse, repeat....you get the idea. So fast forward to the third quarter where Brett Favre manages to get the Vikings on the board with a 3rd and 17 completion to Randy Moss for career TD #500 and became the first QB to eclipse the 70,000 yards mark....and parhaps more importantly make it an interesting game at 12-7. Brett Farve came up short [or insert your own Farve-centric joke- NANESB!] after a late interception sealed the win for the Jets, their 4th in a row, by a final of 29-20.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Boston College had their bye a few weeks ago, but they've been playing like they still have had every weekend off since then. This past weekend, it was a 44-17 loss to North Carolina state, which makes them 0-2 against ACC opponents. After averaging 10 points in their last three games, I'm not very optimistic about their chances against #16 Florida State at Talahassee on Saturday afternoon

To the South (or is it north, since both were away games?), UConn squandered a 24-17 halftime lead and were shut out by the Rutgers Scarlet Knights for the entire 2nd half to lose by a final of 27-24 on a Friday night game. The Huskies have a bye this weekend and will travel to Louisville on Oct. 23rd for another Big East matchup.

Scrappy Division 1AA UMass had the weekend off, but will be playing another FCS/Colonial Conference team that not only acquited itself against a FBS/Division 1A team (Virginia), but actually won- the Richmond Spiders. Since their close game against the Wolverines, the Minutemen have gone 2-0 and has an overall record of 4-1 (second only to 6-0 Delaware in the CAA).

Quebec Women's Group: Canadian Soldiers 'Cannon Fodder'

Isn't that something? Apparently they don't have their own Cindy Sheehan up there, so anti-war and anti-military groups have to make up their own.

MONTREAL— A feminist coalition in Quebec has come under fire for placing on YouTube an anti-war video that compares military recruits to “cannon fodder.”

It shows an actress playing the part of a grieving mother. As she fills a military-issue bag with her children’s personal belongings, including a rifle, she explains that her eldest son has died in Afghanistan and, as she places a red, flowery bra in the bag, that her youngest daughter has just been recruited in school.

“People say, ‘Make love not war,’” the actress begins. “But you should say, ‘Make love for war,’ because you need a lot of children to make an army.”

“If I’d known that in giving birth I was going to supply cannon fodder,” she continues, “I might not have had kids.”

When challenged by real-life mothers of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, the Quebec-based group was initially defiant before issuing a tepid non-apology apology and editing the video.

“I can understand why some women and mothers of military officers felt hurt but it was never and still not our intention to question them or the role of their children,” Conradi said. “What we’re trying to do is make the government responsive to a critique.”

There are different perspectives that need to be heard, Conradi reasoned. “What we’re saying is that the army is using our children. We’re not saying that women shouldn’t have had those children.”

For Céline Lizotte, these words strike at the heart of what it means to be a mother, and particularly the mother of a soldier.

Lizotte’s son, Corporal Jonathan Couturier, died in September, 2009 after his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the Panjwaii district near Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was 23.

“It’s a huge lack of respect, an insult,” Lizotte said in an interview. “I don’t consider my son as cannon fodder. What were they looking to get across with this video? It has nothing to do with feminists.”

Lizotte, who is demanding the video be removed from the web, said you can’t criticize the government by “going after someone’s grief.”

No mother can know what her child will grow up to be, she added. “It’s the career my son chose and it’s the career I respect.”

This story was actually brought to my attention on another news outlet's website, but the sheer, willful idiocy and malice directed at some of these military mothers in the comments section was staggering....starting with a basic reading comprehension problem (many commenters in favor of the group failed to realize the woman in the video was an actress) and followed up with a selective application of Freedom of Expression- i.e. the Quebecois women's group was within their rights to make the video, but the military families had no business objecting to it.

Today's Train of Thought- Berkshire Revival; October 11, 2010

Perhaps no railroad in New England could better personify the revival of rail freight in Western New England than the Housatonic Railroad. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, I had relatives who lived in towns along the weed-choked and forlorn Canaan running track between Canaan, CT and Pittsfield, MA which the Boston and Maine received during the formation of Conrail in 1976. A decade of neglect under B&M successor Guilford Transportation didn't help matters much: the outlook for the former New Haven Railway line was bleak and it looked as though western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut would get yet another sorely needed bike trail.

To the south, the most recent incarnation of the Houstaonic Railway started up service in 1983 between New Milford and Canaan, CT. It was expected that the Housatonic would do reasonably well hauling excursion trains on the weekend, but these plans were undone by the line's 10 MPH speed limit. However, there were a number of freight customers available that allowed the railway to continue operating.

In 1991, the Housatonic took over operations on the 35-mile former B&M/Guilford section of the Canaan running track between Canaan, CT and Pittsfield, MA. In that time, the line has gone from once-a-week service to weekday freight trains to and from the CSX interchange in Pittsfield as well as excursion trains in Berkshire County and the occasional circus train. Freight traffic includes lumber, plastics, limestone, paper products, construction debris and contaminated soil. The railway has even begun doing feasibility studies for restoring regular passenger service along the route.

Most of these duties are handled by the Housatonic's fleet of dapper green and yellow rebuilt GP35s. Here, railpictures,net contributor John Ryan snaps Housatonic GP35M #3600, heading southbound from the CSX interchange at Pittsfield, MA with symbol freight NX-13 at the village of Housatonic, MA on a sunny November 2007 afternoon. The line between Canaan, CT and Pittsfield, MA follows its namesake river pretty closely.

Crimson Tide: Hungarian Villages Inundated With Red, Caustic Slurry From Collapsed Reservoir

(AP/Bela Szandelszly)

At least six people were killed, 116 hospitalized and a half dozen other missing when the walls to a reservoir at an alumina plant in Western Hungary collapsed, inundating adjacent towns with a fast-moving tsunami of toxic red slurry.

Authorities in Hungrary have also evacuated the nearby village of Kolontar over fears that the remaining walls on the reservoir at the MAL Hungarian Aluminum facility in Ajka could collapse when cracks were discovered. As of early Monday (Hungarian time), Inspectors say that the cracks haven't expanded yet, giving workers time to try and shore up the reservoir's walls.

Meanwhile, Hungary's top investigative agency has opened a criminal probe of MAL's Ajka facility and seized documents related to the maintainence of the reservoir's walls. The wave of sludge reached the Danube river via one of it's tributaries, although observers say that Europe's second largest river is abosrbing it without much inital damage so far. However, there are concerns about the residual sludge along the path drying up and turning into a highly metallic dust that might be inhaled.

Quicke Cuppa Sports Chowdah Update- Phil In The Blanks, Doc Holliday Throws No-No in NLDS Game 1; Pats Gather No More Moss

AP Photo

And there we were watching history with the sound off.

Long story short, I get together with some friends at the friendly neighborhood cantina for some Sam Adams and so I can show them the pricey and tax-free goodies I picked up while I was in New Hampshire last month. There's a flat screen over the bar that's showing the NFL network, and almost as an afterthought I ask the bartender if they can change it to the Reds/Phillies game. The barkeep obliged and we tuned in just in time to see Shane Victorino steal third and come home on a Chase Utley sac-fly in the bottom of the first.

By the time the bottom of the second rolls around, it's pretty clear that Cincinnati's Edinson Volquez isn't long for this game as he put two runners on with two away and facing his counterpart, Roy Halliday. The Philly starter helped out his own cause with the lumber when he hit an RBI single to shallow left to make it a 2-0 game. Volquez then walked Jimmy Rollins to put the Philly ace at 2nd and load them up once again. Shane Victorino then hit a 2-RBI single in which a jacket-wearing Halliday scored from 2nd before Reds manager Dusty Baker decided to pull Volquez for Travis Wood.

For those of us at the cantina who no longer had a dog in the fight, our attention began to turn to the more mundane such as the pricey shit I purchased in New Hampshire (did I mention it was tax-free) and vacation pictures that came out alot better than I thought. With the sound off, none of us gave the game on the TV much thought....until I happened to look up and see that TBS was flashing a graphic that pointed out the last time a postseason starter threw 7 no-hit innings was the Red Sox's Jim Longborg in Game 2 of the 1967 World Series against St. Louis. We figured that they wouldn't bother pointing that out unless Halliday was throwing a no-no.

Sure enough he was. The only runner he allowed was Reds outfielder Jay Bruce with a 5th inning walk. Halliday successfully continued mowing 'em down into the 9th, where he faced Reds 2B Brandon Phillips. Phillips chopped an 0-2 offering in front of home plate and sprinted towards first as Philly C Carlos Ruiz tore off his mask and deftly plucked the ball up from next to the bat laying down on the infield and managed to throw to 1B Ryan Howard in time for the final out of the game.

This marks the first postseason no-hitter since October 1956 when Don Larsen threw a perfect game for the Yankees against the then Brooklyn Dodgers in the '56 World Series.

OTHER MLB PLAYOFF GAMES: DJ Kitty was unable to weave his magic for Game 1 down in Tampa Bay. Cliff Lee got out of some early jams against the Rays and the Rangers win game one of that series 5-1.

The Yankees came from behind to win the first playoff game at Target Field in Minnesota by a 6-4 score.

Game one of the Division series between the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves get underway tomorrow night at 9:35PM Eastern time.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: Not surprisingly, there's been some managerial shakeups with the end of the regular season upon us. Ken Macha's been dismissed as Brewer's manager while the Pittsburgh Pirates fired manager John Russel after 3 seasons. In New York, Mets GM Omar Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel were fired on Monday.

NFL: The biggest bit of sports news before Roy Halliday got Brandon Phillips to ground out in the 9th inning was the departure of WR Randy Moss from New England. The mercurial wide receiver departed for the Minnesota Vikings on Wednesday in exchange for their 3rd round draft pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. So now he's the Viking's problem.

Moss was likely dissatisfied with his current contract status (a 3 year deal that would've finished up at the end of the year) while Brady, Banta-Cain and Gostowski among others received contract extensions. This in turn lead to all sorts of speculation about his future in New England and reportedly some loud exchanges with teammates and coaching staff. On the Minnesota end of the deal, Brett Farve was reportedly lobbying the Viking management to put in an offer for Moss.

Randy Moss is expected to start in time for the Monday Night game against the NY Jets and will return to Foxboro with the Vikings on Halloween [I used to scoff at the notion that the NFL is scripted, but nowadays, I sometimes pause- NANESB!].

Personally, I'm not glad to see him go, but if he doesn't want to stay then why bother forcing the issue. The Krafts managed to get a few relatively drama-free years from Moss, which was a few more than I anticipated when the trade from Oakland was announced in 2007.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: The Buffalo Bills traded RB Marshawn Lynch to the Seattle Seahawks for a pair of undisclosed draft picks earlier this week.

Blue State Graft Watch: Bay State Congressman's Wife Pleads Guilty to Tax Charges in Offshore Gambling Outfit

The wife of Democrat Congressman John Tierney pleaded guilty Wednesday in a Federal Courthouse in Boston to charges that she aided her brother in covering up his $7 million ownership stake in an illegal offshore gambling business based in Antigua.

The wife of Democratic incumbent Congressman John F. Tierney pleaded guilty today to charges she helped cover up her brother’s $7 million ownership stake in a Caribbean gambling operation by falsifying his federal tax returns.

With her husband by her side - and former U.S. Attorney Donald K. Stern heading up her defense - custom jewelry designer Patrice Tierney, 59, appeared before U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young and copped to four counts of aiding and abetting the filing of false federal tax returns for the years 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Prosecutors reccomended a sentence of three months house arrest followed by two years probation [and straight to bed with no dessert- NANESB!]. Just imagine if you or I were actively participating in falsifying somebody's tax records to the tune of seven million over a 3-5 year period. You think the Feds would basically ground us and give us a 'timeout' of two years?

A commenter on the Boston Herald's online version of the article thoughtfully provides a link to HR 4411, a bill restricting internet gambling that passed by a 317-93 margin in July 2006. The eleven-term Congressman Tierney (MA-6) was one of the votes against the bill.

[Hat tip- Spitfire Murphy]

While I Was Away Sports Chowdah Update- Sox Put Away For The Winter; Pats Celebrate Diversity, Rout in Miami; Uh-Oh and Two- BC Stumbles After Bye

Hey there everybody. Just because the last couple of weeks have been forgettable as far as New England sports have gone doesn't mean that I've suddenly forgotten about them. As a matter of fact, I got to see some of the train wreck against Baltimore firsthand at Fenway two weeks ago. If I were the kind of person to drop names, I could say that I attended the game with reigning Miss USA (and Ground Zero mosque opponent) Rima Fakih, documentarian Ken Burns and radio host Howie Carr. Of course, if I was 100% honest, I would mention that while my seats were good (by the Pesky Pole), they weren't that good, so I missed out on the VIP treatment.

O Captain My Captain! AP/Jim Rogash Photo

One had the feeling that missing out on October baseball in New England was inevitable once it was announced Youkilis was out for the season (or Pedroia, or Ellsbury or when the Sox dropped a bunch of game against division opponents or....take your pick). They were technically still in it until screwing the pooch against Baltimore and the White Sox, but they managed to play tough against the Yankees, taking two out of three at Yankee stadium the last weekend in September before hosting them for the season finale this past weekend.

John Lackey went seven and 2/3rds innings against the Yankees on Sunday and got plenty of run support thanks in no small part to homers by JD Drew and Jed Lowrie. Lowrie was 2-3 with two homers and 3 RBI while JD Drew went 1-4 with 2 RBI. Lowrie's 2 run shot broke a 2-2 deadlock in the bottom of the fifth before Ryan Kalish put an exclamation point on a 3-run 6th inning by stealing home to give the Red Sox a 7-2 lead. Daniel Bard would come on after Rich Hill couldn't get a batter out in the top of the 7th and Papelbon would close out the game, giving up a run in the process.

I got to catch the game on TBS Sunday afternoon and while the win didn't help the Red Sox secure anything, the loss cost the Yankees the AL East pennant as Tampa Bay rallied to beat Kansas City that afternoon for their regular season finale.

It was a good game considering there was nothing to look forward to the following week. Mike Lowell already announced his retirement effective Sunday and we're left to speculate about the futures of longtime Sox like Jason Varitek, Tim Wakefield or Big Papi. There's also the matter of free agents like Adrian Beltre and Victor Martinez.

Boston finishes the season with an 89-73 record, which might've been good enough for a postseason berth in seasons past, but only gets them third place in the AL East behind Tampa and the Yankees.

ELSEHWERE IN MLB: The first round matchups are set for the Division series, all but one of which will get underway tomorrow afternoon.

Rangers at Rays: 1:30PM ET
Reds at Phillies: 5:00PM ET
Yankees at Twins: 8:00PM ET
Braves at Giants: 9:30PM ET (Thursday)
[All Games broadcast on TBS]

With the Padres 3-0 loss on Sunday, we narrowly missed having a series of one-game playoffs to determine the national league wild card winner and NL West winner, since the Padres a game out of the NL Wild card and two games out of the division.

NFL: Wow....the first half was a real snoozer, but New England got creative in second half down in Miami on Monday night.

All the Pats offense had to show in the first half was two Gostkowski field goals, but as soon as the second half kicked off, it was clear that variety is the spice of life. To get things started off, Brandon Tate returned the kickoff 103 yards to paydirt to put the Pats up 13-7. But things were just getting started, as Patrick Chung blocked Miami's punt on the ensuing Dolphin's possession, giving New England the ball at Miami;s 25 yard line, which in turn made the Pats made it a 20-7 game with a 12 yard TD run from BenJarvus Green-Ellis.

The Dolphins came right back to make it 14-20 game after Chade Henne found Ricky Williams to just shy of the 9-minute mark in the third. New England responded with that with a 4+ minute drive capped by a Brady pass to RB Danny Woodhead for a 27-14 game.

If that didn't break it open, then the blocked field goal attempt run back 35 yards by Kyle Arrington for a TD. The exclamation point came when safety Patrick Chung intercepted a Chad Henne pass and ran it back 51 yards to make it 41-14 New England. Tom Brady went 19-24 for 153 yards with a touchdown. It was kind of a slow night for Moss and Welker, but that was more than offset by special teams plays from Chung and Tate.

It was so bad that the special teams coordinator for the Dolphins was fired the following day. No, really....he was. So the Pats make it two wins in a row against AFC East opponents (last week's game against the Bills turned out to be more of a nail-biter than this one) and head into the bye with a 3-1 record.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Speaking of byes, the BC Eagles have yet to win a game since their weekend off a few weeks back. Granted they weren't playing Kent State or Weber State, but had instead graduated to Virginia Tech and Notre Dame as opponents. Boston college has scored no more than 13 points in the last two games after getting shut out by the Hokies on Chestnut Hill by a score of 19-0 and this week to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish by a final of 31-13. The 2-2 Eagles will travel to Raliegh this weekend to take on the NC State Wolfpack.

UConn has had it a little better than BC, managing to beat the Buffalo Bisons 45-21 and the Vanderbilt Commodores 40-21 at East Hartford. The Huskies will travel to Piscataway, NJ to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights before getting the following weekend off.

Exclusive Sneak Peek at Lisa Kelly's Tatas...

And by 'Tatas', I mean the company that manufactures trucks and other vehicles in India [NYSE: TTM]....jeez, get your minds out of the gutter already. You'd think that was a sugestive or misleading headline or something.
Last night marked the debut or the History Channel's IRT: Deadliest Roads where some of the ice road truckers from Alaska and Canada travel all the way to Delhi, India to haul cement and construction supplies to a hydroelectric project in the Himalayas. To get there, they have to traverse the clogged, chaotic streets of Delhi before heading to a narrow mountain road hewn out of the mountainsides with little or no protection from a sheer 1,000 foot drop in many places. The company assigned spotters to each of the drivers (Alex Debagorski, Rick Yemm and Lisa Kelly) not because they're foreigners (although being unfamiliar with the road rules could play a role) but apparently that's a requirement in India to help the driver negotiate congested areas or parts of the roadway with tight clearance.

The most experienced truckers in the trio, Alex Debogorski, didn't last one day after getting into two accidents before he even left Delhi....and with some of the driving habits in that part of the world, it would be something of a stretch to say he was at fault. Then again, with 30+ years on the northern ice roads, it's not as though Alex has anything left to prove.

The thing I took away from the first episode was that truckers in India must belong to a particularly despised caste. How else could you explain jamming them into wooden-framed trucks with no air conditioning that wouldn't survive any significant impact and then sending them up mountain roads almost narrower than the trucks?

U.S. Postal Service Going to Pot.....Literally

Seven U.S. Postal workers are in custody this week after the DEA suspected them of shipping narcotics through the mail to the continental USA.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Seven U.S. Postal Service workers in Puerto Rico have been indicted on charges they shipped thousands of parcels of heroin, cocaine and marijuana through the mail.

The Drug Enforcement Administration says the mail carriers are among 20 people charged in the case.

Puerto Rico is a favored transit point for drugs from South America, because packages that arrive in the U.S. territory do not have to clear customs to reach the American mainland.

Federal agents began executing arrest warrants for the defendants in pre-dawn raids around the San Juan area.

The DEA alleges the trafficking ring smuggled at least 100,000 pounds of marijuana worth more than $150 million into Puerto Rico over the last three years.

The mail carriers also are accused of facilitating the shipment of guns from the U.S. mainland to Puerto Rico.