| The Kensington Review |
4 August 2004 |
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Latest Commentary:
Kerry-Edwards Campaign Releases Surprisingly Republican Book -- The complaint that the candidates never address the issues took a huge beating on Monday when the Kerry-Edwards campaign posted a book-length policy paper on its website. Love it or hate it, it's there for the entire country to read and argue over. While much of it is photo-op pictures and previously delivered speeches, the section ending on page 123 is a detailed statement of objectives. And it has a few surprisingly Republican twists to it. SNP Financial Trouble Raises Call for Public Funding of Scottish Political Parties -- The Scottish National Party is in debt to the tune of £900,000. To American political hacks, that isn't even a good TV buy, but in the thriftier world of Scottish politics, it's a huge amount. While the other British parties in Scotland can call on their English branches for funds as the need arises, the Nats are on their own. With elections of one sort or another coming every year, demands on the party purse are rising. One solution some SNP leaders have suggested is public funding of political parties. While it might level the playing field, the law of unintended consequences suggests this is the wrong solution. SEC Closes Fountainhead Asset Management -- Between November 2001 and the present, Fountainhead Asset Management raised about $5 million from 18 private investors. In Wall Street terms, the fund based in Wayne, Pennsylvania, is very small potatoes. However, now that its investor assets are only $1.7 million, one of two things must be true. Either the guys running it did a bad job, or they were crooked. The Security and Exchange Commission has decided the latter is the case, and the agency claims that the partners "sent false quarterly statements and newsletters to investors, consistently overstating the fund's value and performance." It appears the SEC is underlining the need for registration of hedge fund managers here. Remembering Why Bobby Fischer Mattered -- Bobby Fischer has applied for political asylum in Japan to avoid extradition to the US, where he faces charges of breaking the sanctions against Yugoslavia by playing chess for money against his archrival Boris Spassky. He is undoubtedly a nut and always has been. His statements about the world, from his anti-Semitism despite having a Jewish mother to his approval of the 9/11 attacks, suggest a man whose paranoia is getting the best of him. And back in 1972, he was just as imbalanced. No one cared, then, because he was the greatest chess player of his generation -- he was clinical, ruthless, and nothing short of brilliant. |
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