ISP versus hated Riverside...

Yesterday was Noah's second real soccer tournament - the first was last month at the British School. ISP hosted this one, and the only other participant was Riverside - a small Christian school for expats. Noah's team played two 30 minute games, and there are so many kids on the team that they basically each played one of the games. Noah played the second game that ended in a 2-2 draw. Unfortunately, he failed to convert on an early penalty kick and so he was unconsolable. Some of his teamates blamed him for failing to win and he took it very hard. The lessons of team sports are many, and he learned some yesterday. I guess it was "character building". Anyway, today it's forgotten and we're on to the next shiny object.

Fred Thompson on Radio Free Europe...

He hasn't announced that he is running for president (yet) but he has been utilizing the internet to generate quite a bit of buzz. This is a shrewd move, since it gets his name out, he can control the message, and the cost is just about zero. A couple of weeks ago he posted a short video on YouTube responding to criticism from Michael Moore, and it was one of the most watched videos for days. Now, he has posted an article at townhall.com that praises "the Radios" - Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty - and asks why we don't have something similar broadcasting into Venezuela. It's an interesting question and an interesting read.

Well, he's done it. Hugo Chavez was already systematically silencing criticism of his autocratic rule through threats and intimidation. Journalists have been threatened, beaten and even killed. Now he's shut down the last opposition television networks in Venezuela and arrested nearly 200 protesters – mostly students. It’s a monumental tragedy and the Venezuelan people will pay the price for decades to come. Americans are also at risk as he funds anti-American candidates and radicals all over Latin America.

It’s equally tragic that the U.S. is in no position to provide the victims of this emerging dictator with the truth. There was a time, though, when Americans were on the front lines of pro-freedom movements all over the world. I'm talking about the “surrogate” broadcast network that included Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, often called "the Radios."

When Ronald Reagan was elected, he greatly empowered the private, congressionally funded effort and handpicked the Radios’ top staff to bring freedom to the Soviet Union. Steve Forbes led the group.

Cynics still say that the USSR fell of its own weight, and that President Reagan’s efforts to bring it down were irrelevant, but Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev say differently. Both have said that, without the Radios, the USSR wouldn't have fallen. The Radios were not some bland public relations effort, attracting audiences only with American pop music. They engaged the intellectual and influential populations behind the Iron Curtain with accurate news and smart programming about freedom and democracy. They had sources and networks within those countries that sometimes outperformed the CIA. When Soviet hardliners and reformers were facing off, and crowds and tanks were on the streets of Moscow and Bucharest, the radios were sending real-time information to the people, including the military, and reminding them of what was at stake.

Then we won the Cold War. The USSR collapsed in 1991, and America relaxed. Military downsizing began and the Radios began to reduce broadcast air time to target countries.

Now, of course, we know that the Islamofascists, many trained by the old Soviets, were making plans and plots of their own. Unfortunately, the plans to broadcast a pro-freedom message into Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Kurdistan and Ukraine were shelved or diluted. Reagan's ideological audacity was replaced with a more "diplomatic" tone.

And see where it's got us? Not only has Islamic totalitarianism spread without a true ideological challenge, many of the freed Soviet bloc countries are slipping back into repression. Russia is making the same old threats and even protecting Iran's efforts to build nukes.

We'll never know if Afghanistan might have rejected al Qaeda if America had actively engaged that country as we did those Eastern Europeans. We can't know if Venezuelans would have chosen liberty over the false security of authoritarianism if they had been challenged to face the issues. I do know, though, that it's time for a new generation of Americans to stand up for freedom -- like others before us. And this time, we’ll have a whole new set of media technologies.


Since President Bush isn't visiting us, maybe we should invite Fred Thompson.

The sites of Horomerice...

Horomerice, where we live, is a nice little village. It even has it's own squash and tennis club. It's right down the street from our house, and in addition to having a decent restaurant - good food but absolutely no ambience - it has some neat whimsical ketches/drawings on the outside walls of the building.

Bee Hive...

Here is a picture from a park near our church - St. Thomas. I took it on a Sunday walk with Kathy last month while Noah attended Sunday school. I didn't post it at the time - I used other pictures of peacocks in the park instead. Anyway, this is a pretty neat bee hive. You can't tell from the picture that there are a LOT of bees coming and going from this hive. They enter and exit from the slot under the "chin". I didn't linger after snapping the picture.








The second picture is just that of a vine covered chimney of a greenhouse that is very near the bee hive.

Another party for Noah...

It's hard to believe that we are in the last three weeks of school, and that Kathy and Noah will be heading back to MN for the summer soon. The after school activities are winding down, too. There are still things to do - Noah attended a birthday party for a friend over the weekend that featured wall climbing and soccer. A dozen 9-year old boys playing sports and eating sugary snacks for three hours. Kathy and I decided to leave and have lunch and do a little exploring.

The streets of Prague...

Last week we went to look at some furniture that a young American girl was selling. She had spent a year here teaching English and was heading back soon. We have been keeping an eye out for some furniture items since we have 5 bedrooms and some look a little spartan. Also, European houses don't have closets so you need wardrobes - and we are a few short. Anyway, we saw what she had and decided to buy a sofabed (from IKEA) for about $50. On the walk back to the metro station we saw this cafe with Louis Armstrong's picture. It looks interesting and we plan to go back and try it out. It was also on Cermakova street - Cermakova is the feminine version of Cermak, which is the surname of my brother-in-law and sister. We've come across the name a few times so far.

No more 11 minutes...

When Noah could first talk he would always try to convince us to let him stay up longer when we told him it was bedtime. He asked for an extra 30 minutes and I countered with an offer of 5 minutes, then it went to 20 and 8. Eventually, we settled on an agreed to 11 minutes of extra time. So, since he was 3 or so he and I have spent the last 11 minutes before his bedtime doing something that he wants to do (that was also part of the deal).

Noah, being Noah, almost always wants to do something sports related. When he was smaller it was tackle football in the living room. This resulted one time in his breaking my finger. As he ran by me towards the loveseat (his "endzone") I dove and grabbed the elastic band of his pajama bottoms. My finger got under the elastic band, but as I rolled it didn't release and my finger snapped like a dry twig. It's still bent at about 15 degrees. If it wasn't a football game then he would have me throw the football to him as many times as possible in 11 minutes. "Make me dive!" was alway his plea, and I would grade his catches - from 1 to 10. Hockey was also a big sport for 11 minutes.

Since we moved to Prague last summer, he has gotten very interested in soccer - which he insists on calling football (despite the fact that real football is played with a quarterback and oblong ball). We play soccer in the living room - he used to want me to shoot on him, but lately he wants to shoot on me.

I have a bad back and as he has gotten bigger the sports we played during 11 minutes has often left me worse for wear. I was usually relieved when the 11 minutes are up, but I also enjoy the time with him. Even if we got home late from going to a movie, or out to see friends or relatives, he would always ask for 11 minutes. This would lead to further negotiations and usually result in a shortening to 5 minutes. But time playing together is always something he insisted on.

Or at least he did. One day last week he didn't mention 11 minutes and ended up going straight to bed. I figured that it was an aberation and that he would get mad when he realized he had forgotten and missed out on 11 minutes for the night. But no, the next evening he again went up to bed without thinking about 11 minutes. It's now been a week and I suspect that 11 minutes is gone for good. We have done it nearly every night for over 6 years - most of his life - and it suddenly has just stopped. I now can sleep through the night because my back doesn't ache, but I don't think the tradeoff is worth it. I miss my special 11 minutes with him every evening.

I am hoping that the time spent together playing for 11 minutes every night will be replaced by other things that we do together, albeit less regularly. We have talked about taking road trips to see three baseball games or three hockey games in other cities. That would be fun. But I also dread the day - and I know it will come - when he won't want to spend time with me at all. I'll just be the embarrasing, very uncool, dad. Sigh! There's a good chance that we will get close again when he is older - after he has his own experiences and realizes that his dad (and mom) knew more than he gave them credit for. But for now all I know is that I've lost 11 minutes every evening with Noah, and those were the best 11 minutes of my day.

Venus, the Moon and the Castle...

I know that header sounds like the album that Cat Stevens would have made if he hadn't converted to Islam (new name "Yusaf Islam") and given up pop music. This picture was taken from the balcony of the apartment of a co-worker (the director of HR) in Mala Strana (Lesser Town). She had invited Kathy and I and another couple over for dinner. After dinner there were some fireworks at a nearby park so we went on the balcony for a look. I don't have pictures of the fireworks, but I noticed the striking image of the moon and Venus (I'm assuming it's Venus because of how bright it is) close together in the sky in the vicinity of the castle. The picture is a little blurry because of the exposure time used - and I didn't have a tripod. Anyway, I think it's still a pretty neat picture.

Trip to Poland..

On Monday Kathy made a day trip to Poland - actually just a little town not far from the Czech border - to shop for pottery. Pottery is a specialty of the area and you can get a lot of the same patterns that you can in the US, just at much cheaper prices. It's sbout 3 hours each way so Kathy and her friends left about 9:00 in the morning and got back about 8:30 in the evening. Kathy found some nice pieces, but hers was more of a scouting trip for us to go back later and get some things to take back with us. On the way to Poland they went through the Czech city of Liberec, which has a big waterpark. We're thinking of taking a weekend and spending one night in Poland for shopping and then the next night at the waterpark. It's the only sure way to get Noah to put up with an afternoon of shopping.

The President is coming...

I just left our daily editorial meeting where it was announced that President George W. Bush will be visiting Radio Free Europe during his upcoming visit to the Czech Republic. He will be here in the afternoon on Tuesday, June 5th, and will give a speech to our staff in our Hall of the People - where the former Czechoslovak parliament used to convene (our building is the former Czechoslovak parliament building). Also in attendance here will be members of an international dissdent conference being held in Prague from 4-6 June. Information on that conference is below. While I imagine that the security for this visit will be horrendous, it is very exciting news. I'm glad I came to work here.

From the web site abcprague.com:

Prague will host an international conference on “Democracy and Security: Core Values and Sound Policies” attended by leading dissidents, human rights activists, academics and world leaders. Its aim is to discuss the importance of democracy and to find the ways how to promote it in totalitarian regimes.

The conference is an initiative of three people concentrating on human rights and democracy – human right activist and political leader Natan Sharansky, former president of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel and former Prime Minister of Spain Jose Maria Aznar.

The conference, scheduled for 4th – 6th June 2007 in Prague, is hosted by the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at the Jerusalem-based Shalem Center, the Prague Security Studies Institute and the Foundation for Social Analysis and Studies in Madrid. One of the speakers at the conference will be the U.S. President George W. Bush.

What I don't do...

I have working on the blog for over six weeks now, and I haven't yet dealved in any detail about what I do, or even very much about the company I work for - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. I will get to all of that eventually, but for now let me tell you what I don't do.

I'm not a spy! There are many of you who have - quite independently - come to the conclusion that I work for the CIA. Well, I'm not a spy. I'm not one now and I never have been one. That being said, I guess I understand how some of you could get that impression. I did take Russian and political Science in college. I have worked in the general area of "defense" either with the U.S. Government or on the private side, for over 25 years. And it's also true that I have been to many places in the world just before or after a significant event. Saudi Arabia in 1991 after the Gulf War and back again in 1996 after the bombing of the U.S. Army installation where I had worked. Moscow in 1993 just after the failed coup attempt against Boris Yeltsin. Israel in 2000 just before the start of the first Palestinian intafada. Egypt in 2003 just a couple of days after the Iraq War started. And, to be fair, I did interview with the CIA back in 1985. I didn't get the job [them: "Have you ever used marijuana?" me: "You mean 'ever'?"] and never tried again to work there (or the NSA or the FBI or Homeland Security). And it's also another coincidence that the company I work for now, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was clandestinely funded by the CIA for more than 20 years.

From Wikipedia: "RFE received its funds from the Congress of the United States and until 1971 they were passed to RFE through the CIA. During the earliest years of Radio Free Europe's existence, the CIA and the U.S. State Department issued broad policy directives, and a system evolved where broadcast policy was determined through negotiation between the CIA, the U.S. State Department, and RFE staff. This system continued until the controversy surrounding Radio Free Europe's broadcasts to Hungary during the 1956 revolt. There is some evidence, however, that the CIA did involve itself in RFE projects at least through the mid-1950's.[6] The CIA funding of RFE was not publicly acknowledged until 1971 at which point the organization was rechartered in Newton as a non-profit corporation, oversight was moved to the Board for International Broadcasting (BIB), and the budget was moved to open appropriations."

After re-reading what I have written, I've almost convinced myself that I must be a spy (but I'm not - but that's what you would expect me to say, isn't it?). Next time I'll go into what I do do...

Music Video Theatre - Veronica by Elvis Costello...

I am a HUGE Elvis Costello fan and have been since 1977. I remember his performance on Saturday Night Live when he stopped playing his planned song (sorry, I don't remember which one) and switched to Radio Radio, an indictment of the radio industry. Because of that he was banned from Saturday Night Live for many years. Anyway, for as good a songwriter and performer as he is, he is not known for his music videos. Somehow, I think he felt that music videos were just commercials for the songs and wasn't that interested in them.

There is one that is very good, and it's Veronica. It's the story of an old woman (aunt? grandmother?) that he knows and the song is her dealing with Alzheimers and living in the past with little making it through to the current outside word. Elvis does a good job of personalizing the song before and after the song, but you will notice while most artists lip synch to the song he is purposely singing along slightly out of synch, like you or I would do if we were singing along with a song on the radio. Ah, always the rebel. I don't know who the woman is who plays the old Veronica, but she does a good job. The song is from 1986 - has it really been that long? Elvis has never been a Top 40 artist, but this is probably his second biggest commercial success, after Every Day I Write the Book.

Little known fact: The song was co-written by Elvis and Paul McCartney at a time that they were doing some collaborating - Elvis co-wrote two songs from NcCartney's album of the time, Flowers in the Dirt. But to my ear it sounds so much like a Costello song that I personally doubt that McCartney had much input.




Veronica

Is it all in that pretty little head of yours?
What goes on in that place in the dark?
Well I used to know a girl and I could have sworn
that her name was Veronica
Well she used to have a carefree mind of her own
and a delicate look in her eye
These days I'm afraid she's not even sure if her
name is Veronica

Chorus:

Do you suppose, that waiting hands on eyes,
Veronica has gone to hide?
and all the time she laughs at those who shout
her name and steal her clothes.
Veronica, Veronica, Veronica


Did the days drag by? Did the favours wane?
Did he roam down the town all the while?
did you wake from your dream, with a wolf at
the door, reaching out for Veronica
Well it was all of sixty-five years ago
When the world was the street where she lived
And a young man sailed on a ship in the sea
With a picture of Veronica

On the "Empress of India"
And as she closed her eyes upon the world and
picked upon the bones of last week's news
She spoke his name outloud again

Chorus:

Do you suppose, that waiting hands on eyes,
Veronica has gone to hide?
and all the time she laughs at those who shout

her name and steal her clothes.
Veronica, Veronica, Veronica


Veronica sits in her favorite chair
she sits very quiet and still
when they called her a name that they never get right
and that they'l know nobody else will

well she used to have a carefree mind of her own
with a devilish look in her eye
saying you can call me anything you like
but my name is Veronica

Chorus:

Do you suppose, that waiting hands on eyes,
Veronica has gone to hide?
and all the time she laughs at those who shout

her name and steal her clothes.
Veronica, Veronica, Veronica

Danny's race car update...

The mini-F1 car competition continues until tomorow. The SAE has posted some pictures from the event so far at their web site, but no results have been posted. One of the pictures is of Danny with the car that he and the rest of the engineering team at Marquette built. Here it is (Danny is in the green shirt standing over the driver). We'll post more pictures and results - hopefully tomorrow.

Another vintage Radio Free Europe PSA...

Isn't YouTube amazing? Here is another vintage public service announcement (PSA) for Radio Free Europe, and it stars Ronald Reagan! It doesn't give the year, but a quick search of google (isn't google amazing?) yields that World Freedom Bell mentioned in the PSA was dedicated in 1950, so that would put this ad probably in 1951.



Upon doing a little more research on google I found that the symbol of RFE/RL until recently was the World Freeddom Bell. I had assumed that the logo represented the Liberty Bell. Our RFE/RL web site has some historical information, and it says:

"It starts with an account of how Radio Free Europe (RFE) came to take the bell as its symbol. It was not, as some people mistakenly believe, America's famously cracked Liberty Bell. The origins of RFE's logo are a 10-ton bell especially made in the British foundry Gillett and Johnston and decorated with a frieze of five figures representing the five races of mankind passing the torch of freedom. It arrived in New York in 1949 and traveled to 21 cities in the United States as part of the "Crusade for Freedom" drive to raise money to found and promote Radio Free Europe. More than 16 million Americans responded with contributions and RFE and its bell logo were born. Instead of the five figures, the RFE bell logo had a vertical divide into a darker and lighter side, generally interpreted as the divide between the democratic West and the communist East. But for many years now, Europe has been whole and almost free and both the dividing line and the bell have lost their meaning. The original Freedom Bell was permanently installed in West Berlin in 1950. Few people today know where it is, why it is there, and what it represents."


The web site Bells of Peace and Freedom says of the Freedom Bell "(it) has chimed every day at midday from the tower of Rathaus Schöneberg. Its sound has become the symbol of freedom in our city, the expression of American support for Berlin and the symbol of German-American friendship." One other note, the Rathaus Schoenberg (city hall) where the Feeedom Bell resides is where President Kennedy gave his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in June 1963.

The Berlin Mauer...

Just a final note on our trip to Berlin. We discovered, thanks to our interest in the Berlin Wall, that the German word for "wall" is "mauer". So Twins' catcher Joe Mauer is really Joe "The Wall". That's a fitting coincidence for the best catcher in baseball.