And on the subject o the week..

.. half week.. day or 2.

Everything is back to normal today, got some work done, walked a bit, got some food.. (snore)

This is kind of interesting, if my interesting you mean infuriating, pitiful, scary and hilarious all at the same time.

Barack Hussein Obama

The link is for the Conservapedia article on said figure. If you're wondering what Conservapedia is, it is in their own words "The Trustworthy Encyclopedia". You might have guessed from the name it's a site with a conservative slant, ie without the liberal bias that all those reality based info sites are burdened with.. anyway, the article is what I like to refer to as a doozy,

Barack Hussein Obama II (allegedly born in Honolulu Aug. 4, 1961) is the 44th president of the United States, and previously served as a first-term Democratic Senator from Illinois (2004-2008). Obama and his running mate Senator Joseph Biden won the presidential election after 23 months of campaigning, raising an unprecedented $750 million and spending over $700 million of it, most of which came from anonymous donors. Post-election, Obama's aides surprised some by indicating that he would make an unprecedented speech within his first 100 days from a Muslim capital. Obama used his Muslim middle name when sworn in as President, and chose not to use the Bible for his real, private oath. Elected by claiming he's a Christian, Obama has since avoided attending church on Christmas and Sundays.

Bonus points for mentioning only the most relevant stuff right off the bat... this is how we get introduced to the President.. and well.. you can guess where it goes from here. No he doesn't fix the cable.

Obama refers to America in the third person, as a foreigner would. In his first television interview after becoming president, Obama declared that "all too often the United States starts by dictating."

Shocking.

Obama has espoused the socialist idea of "spreading the wealth,"^[11] in other words raising the tax rates on business and the wealthy to a burdensome level in order to redistribute their income to low income individuals... ...To announce his trip to Berlin in July 2008, Obama used posters which show a marked similarity to posters of Lenin and Che Guevara.

Shit, I could do this all day. You really should go and read it for some hilarious paranoia.. here's a sample of the contents list

* 1 Obama is likely the first Muslim President
* 2 Obama and Elitism and Ayers
* 3 Insights
* 4 Charitable Giving
* 5 Aunt is in the United States Illegally

And now I'll stop. Actually this was supposed to be a quick and easy post and run, but after.. a few hours ago.. writing the intro the damn site was down! Can you believe it, you think such a trustworthy website could be depended on to be online most of the time at least.

Well, I "saw" him..

I did it... I went today to see Barack Obama make a speech at Hradčanské náměstí, here in Prague. I actually got up at 6.. well the alarm went off at 6 and we got up a got going at the time that we did, I had my camera around my neck, phone, wallet and foodie stuffs in the pocket, no bags as they weren't allowed... and for the same reason we didn't bring umbrellas, structures, laser pointer or dogs. Too bad.

We stood on the crowded tram all the way, got off the tram and rambled with the crowd down the hill to the square, where we stood with the crowd for about an hour, edging a few centimetres here and there, until we finally went through security and joined the crowd inside. We managed to find ourselves a spot squashed in the middle of the crowd where we couldn't really see the podium, and could barely see the screen but if you're tall enough, like Erik, you can sometimes catch a glimpse of something if you stand on your tippy toes and people's heads just happen to be out of your particular way at that point.

We milled around for an hour and a bit, taking photos of the crowd, of anti radar balloons and banners (they weren't allowed either by the way) one guy who climbed up a statue with one, but was curiously left alone. Being in such close proximity with people you get to overhear a lot, some of it funny, especially without context.. some examples:

"we need a periscope just like they have in submarines" (funny cos of the way it was said, in a dorky American guy voice.. which obvs does not come over in the written form.)
"I wish I was a sniper, they get to see him properly"

and others which I noted at the time and intended to remember but didn't.

After listening to some bluegrass band for an hour, Mr Obama showed up to stage at about 10:19, having been scheduled for 10:00. There was cheering, waving, people raising up taller with their cameras up in the air... lots of snapping going on.

He introduced his speech by saying he's come to appreciate Czech humour and food over the years from living in Chicago... so nice that he's actually heard of us, something I wasn't expecting :) ..that good a pretty big cheer.

After the intro which got a big cheer, he talked a little about history, said the name "Masaryk" with a pretty good accent, talked some about the connections between our nations, (there are actually a few) the Prague Spring, the Velvet Revolution etc. When he mentioned "And few would have imagined that the Czech Republic would become a free nation, a member of NATO, and a leader of a united Europe." there was a snicker from someone near us in the crowd.

He talked about NATO, nuclear weapons, climate change, North Korea's new shenanigans, Iran and the missile defence system, which.. I'm afraid to say he came across as being "pro" or at least sorta. He spoke about freedom, and terrorism but neither word was used more than a couple of times and in ways that were relevant to the subject. I thought the alliteration used when he listed cities when speaking of potential nuclear bombs ("Tokyo or Tel Aviv, Paris or Prague") a little cliched, but certainly a good speech. grandiloquent than most and a lot more relevant, meaningful, and generally listenable than any by a certain predecessor of his.

I tried to snap some shots but he was too far, too many people in my way and there was this thing in front of his face.. I have a couple of blurry, far off shots from when Erik lifted me up a bit but his face is obscured by it in every one that I have... it's bloody annoying. I did get to see him for real with my real eyes though. Looked very small but he was there. Didn't really pick out Michelle from the group the split second I was able to look at the podium, but I hear she wore a pretty dress. And kitten heels.

When the speech was over we milled forward a bit, as some people streamed out, we got forward a bit as he left the stage shaking hands and saying goodbye to everyone, but not enough people left and I'm afraid I didn't see any of it. So we left.

I must say I was very pleased to go to the beergarden afterwards, just to sit down. Standing, straining and edging no more than a few centimetres at a time is not good for your legs or back. And it was good to have beer.

Erik has more. And he got better photos.

Oh how fucking embarrassing..

You know, sometimes I'm quite happy that hardly anyone has heard of this country and pays no attention to what goes on here.. but this weekend the leader of the free world is visiting, and for a fleeting moment all eyes will be on us, just long enough to absorb an opinion resembling "oh those post Soviet Eastern Europe countries are so backward" before relegating us back to oblivion. I mean if "my" (soon to be ousted) leader knew how to conduct himself in formal surroundingss, we might get away with "oh, that's nice, one of those former Soviet Eastern European countries is in the EU and seems normal and stuff", before being forgotten about until the next important person visits.

But no.. after describing the US stimulus package as the way to hell, inspired by ACDC apparently :) it may not be such a pleasant meeting. I think they were going to go to a pub, but who wants to go to a pub with a dick like Topolanek.. seriously. He's (said dick) also pro the missile defence shield, which wins him no points with normal people.

Yes, the "soon to be ousted" bit has a lot to do with it.. And yes, it's embarrassing to realize that my country is a laughing stock and considered by many to be ill suited to the EU presidency. All I have to say is that living here, as long as you pay absolutely no attention to politics, which I usually don't, you wouldn't be able to tell the country is in turmoil. Really, the beer gardens just opened, everything is real cool.

So, yes. I do intend to go see him tomorrow, nice of you to ask. It's strange, if I'd met myself now a few years and told myself then that I'd be going to see a US president speak, (and it wasn't some kind of huge protest) I would have told myself "are you having a laugh? is she having a laugh?" but.. well I might as well, this will be a cool event and photo op.. and though it's in a place that's difficult to get to on a normal day by metro and tram, and more than half the roads around the place will be closed tomorrow and it's quite near the place I recently was thwarted from going straight to and ended up wandering around aimlessly for hours by some regular roadwork, even though it was a place I used to live near and know very well... I think it sounds like a good idea.

Obligatory post noting delight in start of Obama Presidency/end of Bush reign

As a citizen of the world. I am pleased to note that today (soon) the free parts of said world will be getting a new leader. And getting rid of the old one. The getting rid of the old one is a very important part of the equation, but of course, there is much more significance to it than that as we all know. As I said I'm quite pleased, but those of you in the US (the reasonable sane ones anyway) must be downright chuffed! What a fine day!

About 9 minutes to go till things start kicking off so I'll celebrate with making fun of those people who are not exactly delighted at this turn of events. American Conservative Dickheads, otherwise known as "wingnuts". One of these wingnut organizations took issue with this:

“Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD) is honoring American’s sense of
pride and freedom of choice on Inauguration Day, by offering a free doughnut of
choice to every customer on this historic day, Jan. 20. By doing so,
participating Krispy Kreme stores nationwide are making an oath to tasty goodies
— just another reminder of how oh-so-sweet ‘free’ can be.”

Oh my god the horror! Free doughnuts! People might get fat! And they used that word "choice" which means, something bad.. obvs. Yeah I know, what the fuck and why the fuck? Maybe someone from the American Life League can explain it:

“Just an unfortunate choice of words? For the sake of our Wednesday morning
doughnut runs, we hope so. The unfortunate reality of a post Roe v. Wade America
is that ‘choice’ is synonymous with abortion access, and celebration of ‘freedom
of choice’ is a tacit endorsement of abortion rights on
demand.
“President-elect Barack Obama promises to be the most virulently
pro-abortion president in history. Millions more children will be endangered by
his radical abortion agenda.
“Celebrating his inauguration with ‘Freedom of
Choice’ doughnuts - only two days before the anniversary of the Supreme Court
decision to decriminalize abortion - is not only extremely tacky, it’s
disrespectful and insensitive and makes a mockery of a national tragedy.

Oh I get it. They hate the word choice. They hate all choices and the very concept of choice because it's tied up with the whole abortion thing. Well at least they're being honest. Oh that and they don't like the particular free choice that their country made. Oh well.. watching these fuckers squirm will be as satisfying as everything else about the whole thing. Have a lovely Tuesday all :)