Do you think it's time to add world geography to the American curriculum?

Quick, somebody ask John McCain what's the name of the country that used to be called Burma. See if he gets it right. Here is a highly entertaining story in the Huffington Post about McCain getting razzed by NONE OTHER than George Bush for his ignorance in continuing to call the Czech Republic Czechoslovakia. Even George knew that Czecho was no more.



The other item in the campaign today that is ALL the talk is the satirical cover of the New Yorker magazine portraying the Obamas as Osama acolytes. The New Yorker says it's satire of right-wing fearmongering, the Obamas say it's tasteless. Gee, they're both right. Ain't freedom grand?



On a non-satirical note, the good people of Denver are really, really excited preparing for Obama's acceptance speech which will take place in late August at Democratic convention in Denver. The convention is being held at the Pepsico Center, a basketball venue. It holds 20,000+ people. The Democratic National Committee is moving the speech to Invesco Field (lovingly known by locals as Mile High Stadium, home of the Denver Broncos football team).

Invesco Field holds 77,000+ people, plus they'll be able to put more seats on the actual field so as many people as possible will be able to witness this historic moment.

The part that truly makes me pause, pause with both reverence and appreciation for the flexibility of our democracy, is Senator Obama's acceptance speech will take place 45 years to the day that Martin Luther King uttered "I Have a Dream Today" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The wonderful world of Miroslav Sasek

Yesterday I came across a delightful set of children's books created in the late 1950s/early 1960s that could awaken wonder and resolve in any child to see the world. They were done by a Czech illustrator, a native of Prague, named Miroslav Sasek. The books are being reissued.

Besides the whimsical illustrations, the text introduces children to great figures from history such as Christopher Wren or Napoleon. The books celebrates people, architecture, and things as everyday as lamp posts or transport tickets. I appreciated how he communicated through his text that a child would want to know who all these people were and also, would want to observe and celebrate differences in cultures. These books talk "up" intellectually to a child in a way I'm not sure today's books always do.

I could not find a "This is Prague." Does anyone know if one exists?

What's the missile treaty fallout?

Two Czech stories in two days in the New York Times: the paper reports that the Czechs suspect the Russian oil valve has been shut off in retaliation since the missile treaty was signed. Link to the article via the title.

Czech Rock Jumping

In today's New York Times is an article that begs for a soundtrack such as Tarzan-like yodeling or "Wipeout." It's about the nascent extreme sport of rock jumping in Adrspach, Czech Republic. Click on the title to read the whole story and access the video. Is there fun and crazy Czech music that would be perfect for this?

Airplane Admiration

Last night I saw this glorious DC-3 parked out at the airport. It flies out of Alaska. I have always had a thing for DC-3s, because these planes represent all of the romance and emotion of early aviation. The sound of those engines!

I know I am not alone in loving these things. Barnes&Noble has a whole bunch of retro Pan Am paraphernalia for sale. There must be a lot of people who would love taking the Pan Am Clipper to Cathay.

There are some way cool DC-3 tourist rides offered around the globe. One web site advertised DC-3 African safaris. Now if that doesn't get a daydream started, I don't know what does.

Are Czech women some of the least-stressed in the world?

A write-up of the Global Women's Conference in Hanoi, Vietnam in this month's Expat Women's Newsletter shares research presented by Xiaoyan Zhao, Senior Vice President & Director, Global Research & Consulting, Gfk Roper (USA).

According to Expat Women, Gfk Roper conducts annual studies throughout the world, with 30,000 respondents per wave. A PDF file of the entire presentation is at the Expat Women website.

• Eastern European women score the highest, in terms of the percentage wanting more money, versus more time.
• The percentage of women reporting the highest frequency of stress are in: 1. Australia; 2. Poland; 3. Japan; 4. Egypt; and 5. United Kingdom
• The least stressed women (self-identified) are in: 1. Indonesia; 2. China; 3. Czech Republic; 4. India; and 5. Taiwan.
• Television is the medium preferred most in Thailand. People in India read the most. Those in Argentina listen to radio the most. And people in Taiwan spend the most time on computers.
• Bargain hunting is greatest among Brazilians, Americans and South Africans. While Russian, Japanese and Polish consumers are least likely to look for or be satisfied by deals.

So, Czech ladies, are you surprised by this or did you know it all along? What contributes to making your life so stress-free?

I'm surprised ladies in Oz identify themselves as the most stressed. Heck, there's only 20 million people on that great big piece of land. What is stressing Aussies out?

Expat Women is a wonderful resource, by the way. I get the newsletter mailed to me every month. My favorite part of the site is the blog directory of expat female blogs around the globe. It's how I discovered Czech off the Beaten Path and Adventures in the Czech Republic.

My favorite freedom

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Still in a mood to celebrate July 4th, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate my favorite freedom guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States. The Bill of Rights is a list of 10 amendments to the constitution that specifically list rights that Americans citizens are guaranteed.

I have a friend who's Austrian who told me that every single Austrian paycheck has a deduction for the Catholic church and that citizens do not have a choice in the matter. This would be unthinkable in America. Christian culture predominates in America (not always graciously) simply because that's the majority, but I have met Agnostic, Atheist, Bahai, Buddhists, Confucian, Hindi, Jewish, Muslim, Pagan, and Wiccan people about town. I don't know any Janists or Zoroastrians but, who knows, my circle of friends may be too narrow.

A fun way I experience other cultures is to visit and worship in other people's churches. My very favorite places to go are African-American churches because the music and the clothes and the joy are fantastic. Next would be Catholic Churches that are drop-dead gorgeous where passionate believers are engaging in all of their favorite rituals.

My own church is Congregationalist, which is very, very American, because it is governed from the bottom up. Barack Obama, until he parted ways with his minister, was a Congregationalist. Besides that grass-roots lack of hierarchy, what I fell in love with was the music (gorgeous, traditional hymns) and the strong sense of progressive social justice that runs throughout the history of my denomination.

But anyway, freedom from state religion is not my favorite American freedom. I got sidetracked. My favorite freedom is the freedom of speech and press. I think the healthiest measure of a democracy is the ability to say "the emperor has no clothes."

When bad ideas are allowed to hit the air, they can be quickly rejected. I was reading a book the other day about a culture that is known for people saying one thing and doing another. Why won't they say what they actually believe? Because political correctness is so powerful, that to say out loud what you actually believe, is unacceptable. There must be no correlation between speech and actions. Talk about a way for kids to become confused and believe lies. How does a culture move forward, grow, and be flexible if ideas can't be talked about?

A big part of free speech that is hard to live with is speech that is tasteless, irresponsible, and/or hateful. But hateful speech spoken out loud, in freedom, can be countered. Hateful speech, whispered, can not.

I've had a couple instances in my life where I had the opportunity to stand up and defend free speech. One time, when I was serving on my local library board, Madonna published her book "Sex." Fundamentalist Christians showed up at our board meeting demanding we remove the book from the public library. If we caved into their very emotional and vocal demands we would have been violating our own standards of selection. Our originally adopted selection policy required purchasing every single title that was on the New York Times bestsellers list. Madonna was #1 on that list. I made the motion to stick by our policy. I believe it passed unanimously.

Most of the time, I feel lonely in my appreciation of this freedom. Not very many Americans seem rabidly passionate about it. The erosion of civil liberties that is taking place in my country does seem, frankly, un-American.

For example, reading that our Guantanamo interrogation techniques had been borrowed from Chinese communist torture techniques seemed 100% plausible because it's so alien to our values. It all seems so insane. This isn't the way Americans do things! Which brings us back to the question: why then, ARE WE DOING IT? And I ask that with the greatest respect and appreciation for the mission of the people who keep us safe.

Until the present administration came into power, I never once thought about "does the Constitution apply to everyone who is physically present in the geographical boundaries of America or just the citizens? Does it still apply to American citizens when they go overseas? Does it apply to the way we expect our government to behave outside of our geographical boundaries to non-citizens?