Bobby Fischer Redux

So my witnessing of the Jeremy Schaap/Bobby Fischer debate, and the subsequent traffic on the site, made me decide to delve into Fischer's issues a little deeper. I found some rather interesting things, including the Fischer family FBI files, courtesy of a report the Philadelphia Inquirer did in 2002. One of the remarkable things is that Fischer was correct, he was being watched, only not as part of some grand zionist conspiracy, because his mother was sympathetic (supposedly) to some of America's enemies. The files the Inquirer obtained through the Freedom of Information Act are an interesting look into the life of Regina Fischer and the early life of her son. It also has information on Bobby Fischer's father, but not very much. While it's an interesting look into the other side of the "conspiracy" against Fischer, it's hard to see the FBI acting maliciously against Fischer, as he claims. There are a lot of documents and there is a fair bit of information blanked out, but like I said, it's interesting. It also still leaves some questions about Bobby's lunacy unanswered. I'm going to continue looking into this and will probably report any more interesting information.

FBI Fischer Files

Original Inquirer Report

Ahh America's Youth

Betamax, a highly underrated video format...

Here we have a good old fashioned protest. This is all about truth, justice, the American way and saving technogeeks everywhere money on their downloads. Well at least for this girl here. Notice two other young ladies protesting to save Betamax. That's right Betamax. Who would have thought that a video format only 37 people admit to owning, there could be thousands of undocumented cases, would be worth a protest in favor of it? Okay now let's look at the subjects in our picture here, we've got this girl in the front, who doesn't want people touching her iPod. I guess that shuts the door on casual petting. Now in the back we've got Harold & Kumar flirting with these four girls who seem more interested in the permutations Harold is dropping than fighting for the issues of the day. This is America's youth, rather than fighting for the important issues of the day, they decide to bundle a group of lesser issues together. This clearly allows the opportunity for otherwise uninteresting people to get together and have a lesser discussion, likely on how they're going to flout the government and download a sweet peer to peer filesharing bot. Shine on you crazy diamonds!

The noose is closing?

According to the Drudge Report:

Zarqawi Surrounded

Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Nakib announced today that AbuMusab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Mesopotamia (Iraq), hasbeen surrounded.

The Sofia News Agency reports the Interior Minister as saying, "He is surrounded in a certain area, and we hope for the best'...

Hopefully this is more certain than the numerous times Bin Laden was "surrounded" in the early days of the war on terror. I'll update this story as it becomes clearer, or if it gets refuted.

UPDATE: Apparently there was nothing to this story, because Drudge has now removed it from the site. How do rumors get started?

Jeremy Schaap Rules

Okay, I just watched ESPN's coverage of Jeremy Schaap interviewing chess crackpot Bobby Fischer in Iceland, and I must say Jeremy Schaap is a better man than I thought he was. To go back a bit, Jeremy's father, Dick Schaap, the great sports reporter, once took young Bobby Fischer to some Knicks games when Fischer was about 12 or 13, and then reported on the young phenom. Years later, Schaap Sr. reported that he didn't think Fischer had a sane bone in his body. This was well after Fischer went off his rocker. So tonight ESPN showed Jeremy's questioning of Fischer in Iceland (screw them, by the way). So in the midst of his questioning Fischer goes off on his conspiracy tangent, and recognizes Jeremy Schaap. Fischer talks of the time he spent with Dick Schaap and then lets loose with a few nuggets. I believe he said "...in typical jew fashion he turns on me and writes complete falsehooods about me, you must not have read the article." To which Jeremy responds, "I'll admit I didn't read the article, but I heard what he said, and you haven't done anything today to disprove anything he said." And then Schaap turned his back on Fischer and walked out. Jeremy Schaap you deserve kudos for your actions, If I'm the only person who says it, it still wouldn't matter, you're message was sent. Good work!

Attention Chessninja.com types: I linked to a really good article about Fischer from "The Atlantic" in my post Searching for Bobby Fischer. Check it out if you haven't read enough about him. Who knew a little drunk Sportscenter would pay off?

My 4 cents

Okay, so everyone and their brother feels the need to comment on the Schiavo/Schindler tilt. So here comes my commentary. The whole problem with this thing is that the only evidence that Terry Schiavo doesn't want to be kept alive is hearsay from her "husband." This is a man who can only say that it came up in conversation about 14 years ago. This is also coming from a man who has since fathered 2 children with another woman. He has lived with this woman for a long enough period for the government to consider them married in common law. I can certainly understand his position, well I could until a number of hospice nurses came forward and alleged abuse on the part of Michael Schiavo. Okay so here's the point: Michael Schiavo has moved on with his life, why can't he just let the Schindler's care for their daughter as they see fit? Is it that he wants her to die so he can get re-married? Is there some variety of Insurance claim he is entitled to only if she dies? The whole think stinks, people can fault congress for getting involved, but they at least have better intentions for Terry than her "husband." So that's that.

March Madness

Well the NCAA tournament this year has probably been more exciting than many that I can remember. It seems like there are a lot more upsets this year than in year's past, but I don't really have any evidence of that, and I don't feel like looking. At any rate, while my brackets stink, I still have my championship game teams in the mix. Carolina and Arizona. Duke will lose because they have little to no depth, and I think Kentucky is capable of outrunning them. Especially after playing against Michigan State. I have a tough couple of games with Arizona going up against OK State and then Illinois, but people are vastly underestimating the Wildcats. They're better than people think. Carolina has a depleted bracket and can easily beat both Wisconsin and NC State. This is the best time of year, the overlap of March Madness and Spring Training. Oh and let's not forget Lacrosse season. Perennial contender Princeton is having a rough early season, but don't count them out, and Army is moving it's way up the polls. Currently at #6, I'll be attending the Army-Duke Showdown on April 23rd with my father (USMA '68, C-3). One of his roommates at the academy was a fine goalie by the name of Donald "Donnie" Workman, unfortunately he was KIA in Vietnam. Okay well that's all for now folks, maybe if someting moves me, I'll check in later.

The short term memory of John Kerry

Normally I don't really like to pile extra rancor onto a beaten man, but for the rest of his life, John Kerry will hold a special spot in my list of really idiotic people. He is a throwback politician who will talk out of any side of his mouth that people will listen to. When I say throwback, I mean Tammany Hall. So during the 2004 election runup, John Kerry took the conservationist's view when debating the environment, while at the same time gauranteeing union jobs for the building of an ANWR pipeline. A Flip-Flop in the truest sense. Want some proof? I thought you'd never ask.

First is a discussion between Chris Matthews and Jimmy Hoffa Jr. concerning a discussion Hoffa had with Le Senator:

MATTHEWS: How about ANWR? You guys want to see ANWR because you want to see guys working in your business. I guess there‘s a lot of Teamsters jobs up there lined up and organized, if you could put a pipeline up to the Alaska wilderness. He is against that.
HOFFA: Well, we talked about that. He says, look, I am against ANWR, but I am going to put that pipeline in and we‘re going to drill like never before. (CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: What, are they going to run water through it? (CROSSTALK)
HOFFA: ... more jobs than the ANWR would have...

Wow, so Kerry is against ANWR, but thinks putting in a pipeline and drilling like never before is a good idea? Wait for it people, it gets better. Today, the Senate voted to allow drilling in ANWR, as part of an ongoing effort to maintain supply as well as to help stabilize oil & gas prices. For those of you interested in investing and commodities, T. Boone Pickens says Liquified Natural Gas is the way to go, but I digress. Most conservationists believe that a pipeline will ultimately harm the wildlife refuge, but have no details to quantify such a hypothesis. At least none that I've seen. So back to my original vitriol, today Kerry came full circle on his "beliefs": "The fact is (drilling in ANWR) is going to be destructive," What an astute statement. The real fact is that there are approximately 10.4 Billion barrels of oil in the refuge, which would certainly diminish our dependence on the Saudis, or any other foreign suppliers. Isn't that one of Master Kerry's campaign themes? So in truth he was for it when it was convenient to get Union votes, while at the same time being against it to get the conservation votes.

Here is another point that not many people even know about: Residents of Alaska have a rather sweet deal as far as oil is concerned, each year they receive a dividend payment based on oil production and sales. It's called the Alaska Permanent Fund and here's how it works: In 1976, the state constitution was amended such that 25% of all oil income is put into an account, the Alaska Permanent Fund. Some of the money is invested in order to offset years with lower income. Each year, 2 months before Christmas, the fund sends a check to the state government and the money is then dispersed to every citizen, even the kids.
Here's a link to the fund- Money for Oil
I imagine that drilling in ANWR will only increase the amount of this dividend, and if anything, boost the local economy, such as it is. I know it's a lot to read and I got off track, but I think my point has been made. It's not about what specific lobbyists want, it's about helping Americans. Thank you and good night.

Social Security

This is the voice of reason?

So Drew Carey was on the Tavis Smiley show on PBS, don't ask why I watched it, but I did. He mad the finest point on Social Security that I've ever heard. If Social Security is so good, then why isn't it voluntary? If it's such a good thing then why don't people have the option to subscribe to it or not? Some people are astute enough that they can put money into investments and outperform Social Security. Some people are astute enough that they can put money into a savings account or trust and outperform Social Security. I'll go even a step further, some people could stuff money under their mattress and outperform Social Security. Why on earth would we want a mechanism designed for the post-depression era to work for us, when a mutual fund manager can beat it. Why put money into an albatross when a money market fund can kick its butt? Most non-Social Security retirement plans could outperform 50 years of Social Security in 25-30 years. The problem I have with this entire debate is that as soon as voluntary accounts were brought into the debate, opponents of the idea went from civil discourse to misdirection. It is also disingenuous of people in the 40-50 age range to be debating this. Apparently the solvency of SS will last long enough for them to use it, but in the event that I might need that money, the program will be in the "defunct" stage. It has to be fixed at some point if the government is going to force us to put money into Social Security.

Are we in bizarro world?

Did I wake up in an alternate reailty? Could it be that Muslims are starting to get wise to Al-Qaeda's act? Have they finally realized that they're being exploited rather than empowered? This article from Yahoo Spain may, at the very least, signal a start. At least somebody is starting to think clearly

Spanish Muslims issue fatwa against Al-Qaeda's Osama Bin Laden

Updated Yahoo version

Update: The real meat of the Fatwa comes in this portion: "Inasmuch as Osama bin Laden and his organization defend terrorism as legal and try to base it on the Quran ... they are committing the crime of 'istihlal' and thus become apostates that should not be considered Muslims or treated as such."

Istihlal is the what it's called when muslims make up their own laws.

You're Next, Shamil!

"That's a hell of a hat that you're wearing..."

I might not agree with the Russian version of democracy, in it's current form. Putin's government tends to overextend its power to protect itself from controversy, whether real or imaginary. However, I can give their security services more credit. The above picture is Aslan Maskhadov, Chechnya's de facto leader. He is generally considered the planner of terrorist attacks such as the school attacks in Beslan, and the theatre attacks in Moscow. Well today we receive the news that Maskhadov has been killed in a Russian Special Forces operation. There are scant details about the operation, but there are indeed 2 stories. The only elements of each story that seem to be confirmed are these: He was killed in Tolstoy-Yurt, a village in Northern Chechnya, and that three of his loyalists had been detained for planning an attack, in Tolstoy-Yurt. One of the differing facts is that Maskhadov may have been killed by his own bodyguards, either intentionally or because they mishandled their weapons while trying to defend him. It doesn't really matter, he's dead. Next on the list is Shamil Basayev, the Chechen Warlord. It almost seems like Schadenfreude (I speak German, too!) to celebrate anyone's death, but in this case, I can make a special exception. This guy was top grade scum and should be in a Siberian prison, but he does have a special place in Hell waiting for him.

Searching for Bobby Fischer

I've always been sort of interested in the odd intellectual combination that is Bobby Fischer. The man who upended the Russian's dominance of the Chess World, has in short, gone loony. Well he may not be totally loony, but he's certainly picked up a misguided view of the world since his days as the world's best player. People aren't really sure what happened to Fischer, but he has, in short order, gone from a phenom, to a recluse, to a self hating Jew, well you get the idea. I can remember how the world watched when he finally came out of hiding in 1992 to take on Boris Spassky in a rematch. At the time it was momentus, mostly because the chess establishment basically gave him a pass on some of his paranoia. Well the news today is that Japan will not be allowing Bobby to leave so that he may take refuge in Iceland. I can't say that it's a surprise, Fischer has spent the last 30 years disparaging America, the CIA, Dunkin Donuts (I'm not kidding), the Rothschilds, the Bekins moving company, clock manufacturers, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, and Israel. What is the connection all of these people or places have? According to Fischer, they all advance some variety of worldwide Jewish conspiracy that essentially controls everything that happens on the planet. Especially if it has anything to do with money and why he doesn't have any. It's a shame a man of such great potential has devolved into such a whacko. C'est la vie.

This article from The Atlantic is a great summary of Fischer's decline:
Bobby Fischer's Pathetic Endgame

No news is no news

I've been busy planning my escape from Jersey, and my diabolical plan is nearly complete, so I've been ignoring the news lately. Well not ignoring, more like withholding my opinion. And I've been reliving my High School and early College music listening, mostly the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Rancid and Luscious Jackson. UNC-Duke is on at 4, so I'm eagerly waiting for tip-off. Ohio State managed to knock Illinois into the ranks of the defeated, in the immortal words of George Costanza, "that's a shame."
I've also done a little reading on the Druze and Walid and Kamal Jumblatt. The Druze are an interesting group. Islam doesn't tend to recognize them, although officials claim that Druze is an islamic religion. Some Druze claim to be Arab, while some don't. Specifically Lebanese Druze consider themselves Arab, while Israeli Druze do not. The basic tenets of the Druze are based on some of the Gnostic, Greek philosophical and Christian traditions. It was created in the 10th century. Orthodox Muslims see the Druze religion almost as a form of sacrelige since they have a different incarnation of God. The Jumblatt's are probably the most famous of the Druze politicians. Kamal was a Lebanese Druze politician, a social reformer in the Post-World War II middle east. He held a number of posts in Lebanese government prior to being assassinated by Syrian forces. Walid is Kamal's son, and currently recognized as the head of the "Cedar Revolution." He's also recognized as having made anti-American remarks during the war in Iraq, I can't find the quote, but in essence he said Arabs cheered when they would see the American death toll on a daily basis. Following the murder of Harari, and the subsequent uprising, he credited the Iraqi elections and to a lesser degree America for creating an environment in which the thirst for freedom is something many Arabs are willing to demonstrate for. This is not a self congratulatory pat on the back for America, but it certainly shines a bright light on our efforts to free the world. What an amazing resource Wikipedia is.

Unrest is breaking out all over

It's a regular revolution

I'm not being self congratulatory, but there is something profound going on in the Middle East. Following the murder of their former leader, the Lebanese people took to the streets. And they took to the streets en masse. It led to the resignation of the Pro-Syrian government, but unfortunately not the President. Today, thousands of Iraqis took to the streets to protest against the local insurgents. It's sort of nice to see Arabs and non-Arabs alike protesting without burning an American flag. I had a great uncle who was Lebanese. That doesn't make me an expert on the region, but I do know that he despised the Syrian occupation and the Syrians for it. It would seem that the Assad regime is ripe to be taken down. Not violently or with our prodding, but by their own people. There is a certain domino effect that is likely to create a movement by people who are on the sidelines while the nations around them reform. One of the amazing things was the remarkably poor attendance at a Pro-Syrian rally. I have to believe that the only people at that rally were people on the Syrian payroll. Oh well, when you live by the sword, you die by the sword. Now get those troops out of the Bekaa Valley!