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A Russian political analyst is predicting the break-up of the United States:

Igor Panarin, a professor at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian foreign affairs ministry, said the economic turmoil in the US had confirmed his long-held belief that the country was heading for extinction in its present form.

In an interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia, he outlined how the US would divide along ethnic and cultural lines.

They are: the Pacific coast with its growing Chinese population; the increasingly Hispanic South; independence-minded Texas; the Atlantic Coast; a central state with a large Native American population; and the northern states where – he maintains – Canadian influence is strong.

We're writing an editorial for Monday about whether university campuses should have their own voting precincts.  The Lynchburg City Council rejected creating one for Liberty University on Tuesday.

For now, we think the council made the right call. With a fresh U.S. Census coming up in a couple of years, not to mention a General Assembly ban on drawing new precincts, the city should hold off. Come 2011, though, Lynchburg, Radford and Montgomery County should all take hard looks at campus-specific precincts. Virginia Tech voters, for example, faced long lines at inconvenient sites in last November's election. A campus voting place would resolve that.

Note: these are not districts for school boards, supervisors or anything like that, simply the precincts for where people cast their ballots.

An immigrant's thanksgiving

An Iraqi immigrant still waiting for his green card is already so American, he might remind us of the freedom we should be thankful for.

Obama rides to the rescue

Reginald Shareef
Shareef is a professor of political science/public administration at Radford University. He lives in Roanoke.

Professors who teach in the organization sciences love to use metaphors that help explain observed social phenomenon. Consequently, Barack Obama's presidential campaign provided ample opportunity to use historical religious figures to illustrate the power of charismatic leadership.
Read more.

Read Wednesday's letters here.

TGIW? Heading into what is, for many, a four-day weekend, what do you want to talk about?

If you're traveling by car for Thanksgiving, you might want to check out the Virginia Department of Transportation guides to historic highway delays. There's a map that shows the highlights and individual charts for specific highways that reveal when the best and worst times are to drive on specific stretches. The full press release is below.

And drive safely. Your family or friends will save you a drumstick if you're running late.

(All files pdfs)

• Statewide map
• Text descriptions
• Interstate 395
• Interstate 495
• Interstate 64
• Interstate 66
• Interstate 77
• Interstate 81
• Interstate 85
• Interstate 95

Read more »

For Friday: The day after Thanksgiving has been fondly known as Black Friday because retailers expect huge sales by holiday shoppers that traditionally move them from red ink into black. This year, forecasts are so sluggish that Black Friday might take on a more ominous meaning.

It's no surprise, in the current credit market, that the defunct Explore Park's potential developer might need a second extension of his option on developing the land for a vacation resort. The recreation authority that has continued oversight of the property may be inclined to go along. But, at last, the authority board has decided it had better prepare a backup plan, just in case Florida developer Larry Vander Maten can't come up with the $90 million he needs. We'll write Sunday on our hopes that "Plan B" will clarify what alternatives the region or state might have for using the 1,100 acres straddling Roanoke and Bedford counties just off the Blue Ridge Parkway.

How many children live in a school system is an important question in Virginia because it affects how much money the schools receive from the state. There's only so much cash to go around, and it's divided up based on youth population.

Researchers at the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia have found that most school systems report incorrect numbers. Some overcount, some undercount. That means some schools get more money than they should and some less.

We're working on an editorial for later this week that will urge standardized counting methods and perhaps impartial third-party (like the Weldon Cooper Center) oversight.

View the center's report. (pdf)

For Sunday, we're writing about Rep. Virgil Goode's decision to call for a recount. This was an extremely close election, and it is well within Goode's rights to ask for a recount. Unfortunately, recounts in Virginia generally consist mostly of checking the math, not actually recounting ballots. That makes it unlikely the outcome will change (which is not unfortunate, in the least).