We might be in with a chance.

The rain falls as the weekend rolls along. Today is Den vítězství or Liberation or Victory Day, the day we celebrate kicking the nazis out on their asses at the end of WWII. It used to be celebrated on the 9th, to commemorate the day the Red Army showed up to liberate/help with the process of liberating, but they changed it in 1989 to suit the new politics of the time. Along with other nations, also celebrated in France, and they, in a manner entirely appropriate for the holiday and time of year, as well as for being basic decent humans, voted against electing a far right nationalist in their recent election. I quite approve. So good on em. Could this just mean the trend is broken? Might we not be quite doomed yet? Time can only tell, but take note rest of world, please don't fuck up now.

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 :)