Wise County Landmark Destroyed

I learned with great sadness that High Knob's tower was burned by arsonists the night before Halloween.

It is really tragic for someone would lay waste to such a historic and frequently used local landmark. More information can be found at The Coalfield Progress and The Kingsport Times-News.

I did a post on the tower sometime back on Hillbilly Savants. While the tower might be gone for now, I have a feeling I am not alone in saying one day it will be restored to its original glory.

Obama: Reappraise Wall Street values

By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told Wall Street investors Monday that several of them have been too focused on their own gain at the expense of struggling Americans and echoed Franklin Delano Roosevelt's call for a "reappraisal of values."

Obama prides himself on delivering tough messages directly to the source, and his address at the NASDAQ Marketsite was another example. He said a "what's good for me is good enough" mentality has crept into parts of the business world while working men and women toil longer hours and still struggle to pay for health care, tuition and taxes.

"If we are honest, I think we must admit that those who have benefited from the new global marketplace — and that includes almost everyone in this room — have not always concerned themselves with the losers in this new economy," the Illinois senator said.

"The danger with this mentality isn't just that it offends our morals, it's that it endangers our markets," Obama said.

The full story is available here.

Former Va. Gov. Warner Set to Seek Senate Seat

The Washington Post broke with the story this morning.

It is hardly surprising, but great news nonetheless. Warner promised he was not through with politics when he ended speculation of a presidential run. He was a great governor and will make an excellent senator. Rumors of Tom Davis and Jim Gilmore running against Warner is great news, too. I don't think either has a snowball's chance against him.

The full article is linked below:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/12/AR2007091201150.html

Warner Calls for Iraq Withdrawal

Virginia's senior Senator is the latest to call for withdrawal from Iraq:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/23/warner.iraq/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Something Else Making Me Nervous

I find this troubling:

Russian bomber jets resume Cold War sorties
By Dmitry Solovyov
Reuters

Russia's strategic bombers have resumed their Cold War practice of flying long-haul missions to areas patrolled by NATO and the United States, top generals said on Thursday.

A Russian bomber flew over a U.S. military base on the Pacific island of Guam on Wednesday and "exchanged smiles" with U.S. pilots who had scrambled to track it, said Major-General Pavel Androsov, head of long-range aviation in the Russian air force.

"It has always been the tradition of our long-range aviation to fly far into the ocean, to meet (U.S.) aircraft carriers and greet (U.S. pilots) visually," Androsov told a news conference.
"Yesterday we revived this tradition, and two of our young crews paid a visit to the area of the (U.S. Pacific Naval Activities) base of Guam," he said.

President Vladimir Putin has sought to make Russia more assertive in the world.
Putin has boosted defense spending and sought to raise morale in the armed forces, which were starved of funding in the chaos that followed the fall of the Soviet Union.

Androsov said the sortie by the two turboprop Tu-95MS bombers, from a base near Blagoveshchensk in the Far East, had lasted for 13 hours. The Tu-95, codenamed "Bear" by NATO, is Russia's Cold War icon and may stay in service until 2040.

"I think the result was good. We met our colleagues -- fighter jet pilots from (U.S.) aircraft carriers. We exchanged smiles and returned home," Androsov said.

COLD WAR CAT-AND-MOUSE
The bombers give Russia the capability of launching a devastating nuclear strike even if the nuclear arsenals on its own territory are wiped out.

During the Cold War, they played elaborate airborne games of cat-and-mouse with Western air forces.

Lieutenant-General Igor Khvorov, air forces chief of staff, said the West would have to come to terms with Russia asserting its geopolitical presence around the globe.

"But I don't see anything unusual, this is business as usual ... like it is normal for the U.S. to fly from its continent to Guam or, say, the island of Garcia," Khvorov said, referring to a remote Indian Ocean atoll used as a military base by the U.S.

On Wednesday, young pilots of strategic bombers passed a series of tests, including missile launches. "We fired eight cruise missiles, and all hit bull's eye," Khvorov said.

He said one crew had taken off from Engels in southwestern Russia, hit a target in the north and then flown thousands of kilometers before finally landing in the Far East.

Engels is home to Russia's supersonic Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers, in service since 1987 and codenamed "Blackjack" by NATO while called "White Swan" by Russian pilots.

The generals said under Putin long-range aviation was no longer in need of fuel, enjoyed better maintenance and much higher wages -- not the least because the Kremlin leader once made a five-hour sortie as part of a "White Swan" crew.

"The president learned about the pilots' work the hard way," Khvorov said. "This one flight yielded an awful lot."

I respect every nation's ability to protect its sovereignty, but I fear this sort of posturing by the United States and Russia is heading in the wrong direction. As Mr. Solovyov points out, this is behavior reminiscent of the Cold War era. U.S. foreign policy regarding Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea is increasingly making the world nervous. This is yet another demonstration of the short-sightedness of our current foreign policy. We must consider the ramifications of that policy beyond the one-dimensional view of fighting terrorism before we spark another global arms race.

Vineyards in NYC??

Apparently so. This story from NPR caught my attention, telling how they're growing grapes from the rooftops of Manhattan's building.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9182492

A Bahamian View

Just got back from a little vacating the lower latitudes of South Andros Island, Bahamas. Here are a few pictures from the place where we stayed:







All of our pictures can be seen on flickr.