I suppose I could attack someone with a corkscrew, but it would take some time to screw it in and there would have to no resistance. Nonetheless, our corkscrew was confiscated by alert security personnel here at Prague airport, and wrestled to the ground.

We have time to kill, and Internet is free here, and better than Internet that they charge for at American airports. To fly from here we had to go through some questioning by a very nice lady who is trained to look for signs of deception. We are presumed innocent and breezed through. Then we presented passports and headed to our gate.

No problems, we thought. We passed many gates to many destinations, and there are no further security checks for other desitinations, however … Gate B9, New York. Here we were scanned and patted down and our carry-ons manhandled, and that is when we were caught with …. da-dahhhhh … corkscrew!!! Call security. We so scared! We so scared! Passenger has corkscrew!!!

Here’s Glenn Greenwald, citing John Mueller, talking about the threat we face:

“The number of people worldwide who are killed by Muslim-type terrorists, Al Qaeda wannabes, is maybe a few hundred outside of war zones. It’s basically the same number of people who die drowning in the bathtub each year.”

Yes, America this is what has your collective panties in a knot. You’re a bunch of pussies, that’s what you are. Home of the brave, my ass.

Agitprop. They want you to be scared. That is all this is about – to convince you that you have enemies.

The following are hasty notes I scribbled down with my wife’s input last night, no time to edit as we are traveling today. Make of them what you will.

“Very nice conversation with young waiter, not young, 37. Talked to him two nights. Standoffish, reluctant totalk too much, not interested we’re just tourists. I asked him about 1989′ and he expressed no interest as if that too was a tourist thing. Sort of wrote him off disinterested, nothing wrong with that as we are no one of importance to him. tonight reengaged him further, and he was very communicative with my wife and slowly talked more about CZ. Says that borders are easy, too many people come from Romania, Hungary and that we have to be careful, and of course watch out for gypsies. He says that streets are dangerous at night, to be careful. He says there is a national park in CZ that is very pretty. 

He asks about USA, I say it is very big and that people are very afraid. I said that is why we bomb people and he understood. He wants to visit US, see nature.Wants to see NYC. Told him that Canada very big and wild, and that if he wants to see nature in US, that he has to come out west. Also told him people are very nice and that we do not control our government. Being 37 he understood that. 

He said there were cameras all around the square, motioning up there, that we were in, watching for criminal activity, but the way he said it seemed to indicate that he felt watched as well. We said that the US has many security cameras and metal detectors  as well. 

Went to Senato where they gave a pictorial history of events leading up to removal of Soviets in 1991. Almost all credit goes to Gorbachev, and Reagan was only pictured and mentioned once, along with SDI. MG is highly thought of, Reagan not thought of much as far as I could see,but not mentioned in negative light. interesting that they said that the pullback of Russian ground troops eliminated the threat of conventional war in Europe. they saw Soviet troops as a provocation, and not a defense. This is contrary to my view of situation. Must adjust thoughts. 

It’s hard to know the general sentiments of a people being tourists. General impressions when visiting tourist areas are worthless. The feel, police presence, attitude of non-interactive workers are all useful but not that much. Secret presence of cameras really bothered waiter, and he mentioned them with only eye movements. Arms folded in defensive position, yet ingratiating and interested in our thoughts as we were his. Is this hangover, or is this the present? It is as if 1989 did not change his life much. Waiter seemed to want something better. Had bad teeth, and NY to him seemed a bit of an unachievable goal, like a pony. I Felt sad for him.

We talked for long time. He did not look over shoulder, and no one hounded him to get back to work. He offered hand of friendship before we did though we surely would have. 

Tunisian man we met wanted to go back to his home. “

What happens to a person to turn him so sour on the land of his birth? What happened to the starry-eyed notions I had even in my late 30’s? Lisa told Bart Simpson one time that knowing things was not necessarily a good thing. Bart knows better than to know anything. Most Americans simply don’t know anything.

It’s not mere knowledge, but also an intransigent American population, heavily managed and deeply indoctrinated. To break away from that for a while has been a treat. That has been the freedom, the elation I have felt on this trip.

Continue reading “Alien nation” →

This is from a guide book, a place we will visit today if only to mourn once more:

John Lennon Wall

After is murder on December 8, 1980, John Lennon became a pacifist hero for many young Czechs. An image of John Lennon was painted on a wall in a secluded square opposite the French Embassy (there is a niche on the wall that looks like a tombstone), along with political graffiti and Beatles lyrics. Despite repeated coats of whitewash, the secret police never managed to keep it clean for long, and the Lennon Wall became a political focus for Prague youth (most Western pop music was banned by the communists, and some Czech musicians were even jailed for playing it).

Post-1989 weathering and lightweight graffiti ate away at the political messages and images, and little remained of Lennon but his eyes, but visiting tourists began making their own contributions. The wall is the property of the Knights of Malta, and they have repainted it several times,, but it soon gets covered with more Lennon images,peace messages and inconsequential tourist graffiti. In recent years Knights have bowed to the inevitable and now don’t bother to whitewash it anymore.

The imagery is potent. John Lennon was entering his home in New York when a hidden gunman stepped forward, crouched in military fashion, pumped five bullets into him, and then calmly sat down and read as he waited for police.

I don’t know what to make of Lennon the man. He was often angry and incoherent. His music was potent at times, and at other times merely a mush of drug-inspired lyrics. But Lennon the symbol has meaning for me. Somehow this complicated and confused man came to symbolize human freedom.

And this has more meaning for me than anything about him before: The communist culture could only paint over him, and he always reappeared. American culture murdered him, gone forever from life, but never from our memories.

The trip draws to a close in two days. We are sad about that. It has been wonderful and eye-opening. Prague is amazing, charming, and has moderate temperatures. The people we meet are friendly and relaxed. The “Czech Republic” part of former Czechoslovakia appears to have emerged from the Soviet era with its culture undamaged. They have reverted to a freer lifestyle with ease. They are rebuilding, repainting, and keeping it clean. 

There is some Western pollution – Subways, McDonalds, Burger King, KFC and Starbucks are here and there. A trolley car that rolled by this AM was littered with Citibank graffiti – excuse please – advertising. Western capitalism has penetrated without the usual bombs. But most of what we see is local business and lively commerce. Prices are moderate. It’s bustling and beautiful. This would be a wonderful place for a young couple to fall in love. 

Continue reading “Expatriate Games” →

We’re in Prague today, ambling around.

Budapest was not pleasant, but one memory sticks. Of all the many statues of war heroes, statesmen and high horses, names unrecognizeable to us, there was one that stood out. It was a monolith outside parliament with four numbers on it and nothing else. It said: “1956.”

It’s cooler today, and there is a breeze. Last night we crossed the Danube over to Pest. It’s a touristy thing to do, but we walked down embassy row. There are elegant restaurants and people, and regular tourists like us. There’s lots of arm candy and no doubt some expensive hookers, as embassy rows are like that. (Aside from wealthy Americans and Europeans, are there any more privileged people on the planet than upper eschalon embassy people?)

We crossed over on the Chain Bridge, bombed by the Allies in WWII and rebuilt in 1949. (There is also a seat-of-government type palace on Castle Hill that was bombed and rebuilt after the war.) We just meandered and crossed back on a newer bridge, perhaps Soviet era, as it was Ayn Randian square and practical. (Rand had a thing for 1950’s industrial architecture, with utlitarian square buildings.)

Continue reading “Budapest 2” →

We are in Budapest. Unfortunately, we are only going to see parts of Buda, and not Pest. The heat and humidity are oppressive. The only other time I remember it this bad was on Long Island in September of 1976. So we are going to stick close to the hotel, maybe take in a mineral water bath tomorrow. (I was reminded after writing this that it is very hot to begin with.) We’d like to see and do more, but it’s not pleasant in the August doldrums.

There is a lot to take in here. We in the west through our propaganda media had an image of life behind the iron curtain as gray, the women plump and the news in black and white. As we rode through the streets today that feeing certainly came through. We are just out of Italy, France and Switzerland, where there is widespread prosperity. Here there is not. The buildings are gray and run down and the cars are old.

Continue reading “Budapest” →

We are sitting in a park in Interlaken, Switzerland. I pulled out the IPad to make some notes and on the screen popped up a message that an Internet signal was available. That happens sometimes in the US. In Denver there is public Internet, but the signal is weak and undependable and once you negotiate the pages and the word-barf contract to log in you find that they want your credit card and $10. Here the signal is part of the commons.

Imagine! A public utility offered without lining the pocket of some investor!* **

Anyway, the news and blogs are alive with Obama’s triumph in Libya, the usual. Another conquest. Soon the ports and harbors will be alive with ships arriving with loot, and there will be parades where military heroes are taken down the streets in large golden chariots. Perhaps Gaddafi will be pulled down Wall Street in a cage pulled by elephants so that he can be jeered and derided. Man I love this country!
Continue reading “Booty on the way from Libya!!” →

We noticed in passing by cemeteries over here that grave markers often use the official Superbowl numbering system, XXXIIV, etc. I guess it makes the people buried there seem more significant than they really were.