Bush Gets First Warm European Reception in Slovakia

Reuters ^ | Thu Feb 24, 2005 | Peter Laca

[AGreatPer]

My Slovak grandma wanted to buy some swamp property in Florida back in the late 40's. Everyone in the family laughed. Today, it is Doral Country Club.

[Verginius Rufus]

I have a 1929 Baedeker for Austria which includes some material on places in Czechoslovakia and Hungary. For Bru"nn, Czech Brno, it mentions a marble statue set up in 1910 in honor of Gregor Mendel (1822-84) "an abbot of the monastery famed for his discovery in 1865 of some of the fundamental laws of heredity in plants."

His statue is opposite the monastery in question, which they refer to by its German name, the Ko"nigin-Kloster, originally a Cistercian nunnery but since 1782 taken over by the Augustinians.

According to another source, Mendel was born in Heinzedorf, Austria.

[Verginius Rufus]

A long time ago I read a book called The Deliverance of Sister Cecilia, the memoir ("as told to") of a Slovak nun who had opposed the Communists and then managed to escape from the country. There was a lot of interesting material about what it was like to grow up in Slovakia, and also about how the Communists consolidated their control, and some humorous stories.

I don't know what happened to the copy I read but I think there are libraries with a copy, so it may be possible to get on interlibrary loan.

[kittymyrib]

Mr. President, instead of casting pearls before swine by befriending and supporting the nasty Canadians and Mexicans, I vote for supporting and befriending the Slovaks and Poles and others who actually like and respect us. To do otherwise is simply being taken for a punching bag, while our nation could do wonders to put these new democracies on a firm footing for the future. It's time for some new thinking in this direction.

[Thorin]

Thanks for the tip. I'll look for the book.

[ohioWfan]

Of course, Chirac edged in the front row trying to be an equal to President Bush (which he isn't).

Taller, but MUCH smaller.........

[Malesherbes]

"smart, well-educated, hard working people who were very poor." Exactly right. Eastern Europe is full of them. I visit Poland a lot, and the young people there put the western European youth to shame. The young Poles know that they have to study hard and work hard to make it in a world that will not coddle them. Youth in the west, spoiled, relatively rich, and protected for a half century by the U.S.A. have never learned that.

[ohioWfan]

I know what you mean, lawgirl.

Wonder why all these sophisticated Euros want to be photographed with such a stupid cowboy.

(Maybe because the 'cowboy' is going down in the history books as one of the strongest leaders the world has ever known??)

[ohioWfan]

Ya gotta love it when the leader of the free world smirks at an EU meeting.................but at least he didn't giggle. :o)

[Verginius Rufus]

I remember one story which was about the Five Year Plan. It went something like this:

When the Communists began the first Five Year Plan in Czechoslovakia, the man picked to be in charge of implementing it in one village happened to be illiterate. Since he didn't understand what the Five Year Plan was all about, he went to the big city to talk to an official. The official tried to give him some literature to read, but he explained that he was illiterate.

The official was stumped for a moment, but then called the man over to his office window and pointed out the window.

"Do you see that streetcar?" he asked. "The Five Year Plan means that five years from now, instead of one streetcar, there will be one hundred streetcars. Now do you understand what the Five Year Plan is all about?"

The man nodded and went back to his village.

He called a number of the men of the village to his office to explain the Five Year Plan. He motioned for them to come over to the window. But when he looked out the window, he didn't see any streetcars, because it was just a small village and there weren't any streetcars. But then he saw a beggar walking down the street.

So he turns to the men in his office and says, "Do you see that beggar? The Five Year Plan means that five years from now, instead of one beggar, we'll have hundreds of beggars!"

[Sender]

LOL, I love your story about the Five Year Plan! That reminds me of a story (joke) I heard in Moscow.

A rich, successful Moscow businessman was being driven in his plush Zil when he spied an old classmate sitting destitute on the curb. He pulled over to chat.

Pasha, what has happened to you? You were always the brilliant one in math and science. How come you're in the gutter?

I don't know, things didn't work out. But Sasha, you failed every class you ever took. How come you're being driven around in a limo?

I don't know either, I'm a simple businessman. I buy cigarettes for a ruble a pack, sell them for three rubles, and live off my two percent profit.

[SunkenCiv]

Ping!

[BushisTheMan]

Yep, but we are not talking the size of Chirac's brain (small), we are talking about height. lol

[ohioWfan]

And you can throw in his courage as being small by comparison............or the body parts that guys tend to use as an expression of what makes one courageous....... :o)

[Stultis]

An NRO story about Reagan at the Berlin Wall said, "The and picked crowd was there to cheer and the subway station had been closed." Referring to the not very happy EU types of the 80s that protested against the USA, our cruise missiles</p>

Bush would have had the same, adoring, crowds IF Germany wanted him to have them.

Good point! If Chiraq or Schroeduh ever visit America the Whitehouse should salt the receiving crowd heavily with Freepers, Jews, Ivory Coast expats, Iraqis, etc.