Saturday, September 30, 2006

Pissgate: Day 2

Not surprisingly, no match today. It has been postponed so that FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov can work with Kramnik and Topalov to try to resolve the impasse. I actually feel bad for Kirsan: the guy set up a really cool match, and these two spoiled brats are ruining it for him. If I were him, and had dictatorial powers, I'd throw these primadonnas into the gulag and not let them out until they've played 100 games. The winner gets freedom. The loser is forced to listen to Bobby Fischer discuss his views on the Middle East for three hours a day.

Our resident barrister over at Chessforblood has cut through the noise and provided an excellent analysis of the contract. He makes a compelling case that Kramnik's contract has not been violated, thereby undermining Kramnik's argument. Highly recommended. In fact, it makes me want to enter litigation just so I can hire Patrick to represent me.




Topalov and Kramnik pushing wood in the gulag.

14 Comments:

Blogger Temposchlucker said...

The loser is forced to listen to Bobby Fischer discuss his views on the Middle East for three hours a day.

I heard that the American congres ratified the torture of prisoners lately. Is this a legal method?:)
How about not allowing someone to pee?

9/30/2006 12:34:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Tempo,

Of course we didn't ratify the torturing of prisoners. That's a lot of left-wing media nonsense.

We just don't recognize this scum as having the same rights as American citizens, but they still have rights.

BTW, coercive interrogation has always been allowed.

For the record, these non-uniformed combatants we capture are in violation of international law and technically we could shoot them for war crimes and no one would have any legal argument against it.

9/30/2006 12:55:00 PM  
Blogger Blue Devil Knight said...

Perhaps FIDE should retain Topalov and Kramnik at Guantanamo Bay until they reach an agreement.

9/30/2006 01:43:00 PM  
Blogger Temposchlucker said...

Jim, it's not easy to get an objective picture of what is happening in the US. It looks like America has a PR problem, to say the least.

9/30/2006 04:06:00 PM  
Blogger Calvin said...

"left-wing media nonsense." what??? i'd hate to get into a political debate here, but suffice to say many would also say there is a predominantly right-wing media. the bush administration has violated quite a bit of international law, and concern for human rights isn't left-wing nonsense. that's all i have to say.

10/01/2006 03:13:00 PM  
Blogger Blue Devil Knight said...

From the Boston Globe:
In crafting a legislative response, Bush initially wanted Congress to re-interpret the Geneva Conventions and allow the CIA to continue its special interrogation program of top terror suspects, which reportedly has included harsh techniques such as simulated drowning, forced hypothermia, and sleep and food deprivation.

But after a rebellion by McCain and other GOP senators, the White House agreed to changes in the War Crimes Act, instead of the Geneva Conventions. The bill passed yesterday outlaws torture, sexual assault, biological experimentation, ``mutilation or maiming," and the intentional causing of ``serious bodily injury," but allows the White House to draw the boundaries.


The new law is vague, and your reaction to it will be a function of how much you trust the Bush Administration to draw the right line between justified and unjustified interrogation techniques.

Fox News is too liberal for my tastes.

10/01/2006 04:05:00 PM  
Blogger Temposchlucker said...

Sorry guys, I didn't want to inflict you with political discussions. A chess blog is not the right place for that. But an inquiring mind needs to know, and as said it's not easy to weight the news from a distance.

10/01/2006 04:51:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

GK,

You're young. Don't mean to be patronizing, but there is an old saying:

If you're under 30 and not a liberal, you don't have a heart. If you're over 30 and not a conservative, you don't have a brain.[grin]

BTW, you are familiar with the political surveys taken of the media?

Over 80% of them consider themselves liberal Democrats. . .and it shows up in their presentation. . .

10/01/2006 09:55:00 PM  
Blogger Calvin said...

sorry to stir up the debate again, jadoube, but i did a whole report on bias in the media in my us history class. and while it is true that in isolated incidences there is a liberal bias, the vast majority is right-wing. i could give you several websites, which prove my point, for you to peruse if you so desired. and please don't dismiss my opinion because i am young it's pretty elitist and annoying.

and btw jadoube, i completely respect your chess method and follow your blog daily. i look forward to reading about what you have to say on your chess training, but we just have different political opinions I guess.

-GK

10/01/2006 10:15:00 PM  
Blogger Blue Devil Knight said...

Here is a study that conducted polls of people in news organizations from several sources. It isn't close to 80% liberal.

This is a controversial topic, though, and the results of these surveys tend to be correlated with the politics of the people doing the analysis (according to Wikipedia anyway). Conservatives tend to find a liberal media bias, and vice versa.

Clearly there are brilliant liberals and conservatives. They just have different values. Conservatives tend to favor small government and many have strong religious beliefs, while liberals want the government to help the poor and needy individuals in society even if it means taking money in the form of taxes from everyone else (and many fewer liberals are strongly religious).

GK, I know plenty of older liberals who have lots of brains. Indeed, in 10 years floating around in neuroscience (both academia and industry), I've only run into a handful of conservatives.

I am an independent, incidentally, and have a fairly strong libertarian streak that I owe to the great state of New Hampshire: "Live free or die." I don't like political parties, as they too easily become an 'Off' button for critical thinking.

10/01/2006 10:59:00 PM  
Blogger Temposchlucker said...

In the Netherlands liberal, right-wing and conservative is the same. Is that different in the US? What about the democrats?

10/02/2006 06:35:00 AM  
Blogger Blue Devil Knight said...

Tempo, in the US liberal is the left (Democrats/Green/Libertarian), and conservative is the right (Republicans/Libertarian).

The Green party is truly liberal by European standards. The Democratic party is liberal in comparison to the Republicans, but is rather moderate in comparison to global sentiments.

Libertarians are in both categories as they are fiscally conservative and culturally liberal (they want to reduce government intrusion in both the fiscal and social spheres (e.g., don't tax me, and don't tell me who I can or can't marry)). They have the most consistent ideology, even if it is a bit barbaric.

10/02/2006 10:28:00 AM  
Blogger Temposchlucker said...

So the saying of Jim means: as long as you have no money you can permit to be idealistic?

10/02/2006 11:17:00 AM  
Blogger Calvin said...

I actually was going to quote from the fair site as well, but from a different study. well, interesting to hear about topalov and kramnik. i didn't even know that they were playing let alone that they had a silly dispute.

10/02/2006 10:41:00 PM  

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