Free Republic

PRAGUE (AP) -- They're the Czech Republic's fourth-largest political party, but the hardline Communists could soon be outlawed if the center-right government has its way. It's more than two decades since communism collapsed here, but the survivors and ideological heirs to the party that ruled from 1948 until the "Velvet Revolution" of 1989 are under increasing political pressure. Petr Necas' government has taken the first step toward a possible ban by asking the Interior Ministry to work on a legal complaint to make it happen. A study commissioned by a Senate committee compiled numerous complaints from lawmakers about their conduct....

African artists make images of the Blessed Virgin Mary out of butterfly wings!

It looks like the death penalty will remain an option in the Cheshire home invasion trial, as key lawmakers who supported abolition last year say they will cross over to the other side. Dr. William Hawke-Petit, the sole survivor of a highly publicized 2007 home invasion in which his wife and daughters were followed home, raped and murdered, has led a lobbying effort against abolishing the death penalty in Connecticut. State Sen. Edith Prague, who voted in favor of abolition last year, said she will switch sides this year. She made a strong statement to watchdog website CT News Junkie....

Hello all! Wesołych świąt Wielkanocnych! Happy Easter! Šťastné Velikonoce! Joyeuses Pâques This Easter my wife and I spent Easter in Prague. Normally Poles like my wife spend Easter and Boże Narodzenia (Christmas) with family, but we had a company training in Prague until Maundy Thursday/Wielki Czwartek so decided to spend Easter in Prague. This is a gorgeous city, filled with more beautiful buildings than any other. Paris does not compare, Rome has more history, but less variegated, beautiful buildings and Florence's buildings are beautiful but far less.However, for a Christian this can be a sad place -- and it was...

A former CIA officer was arrested on Thursday on charges of illegally disclosing national defense information about Iran to a New York Times reporter who wrote a book. The U.S. Justice Department said Jeffrey Sterling, 43, was charged with six counts of unauthorized disclosure of national defense information and one count of unlawfully keeping national defense information, mail fraud, unauthorized conveyance of government property and obstructing justice.

PRAGUE — I had just left university when I first visited Communist Europe — crossing the wall into East Berlin and immediately being smothered by that choking cloud of oppression that hovered over Marxist states like some clinging miasma. We’re told today that under Communism there was no unemployment, no homelessness and complete equality. It’s true that everybody did work, often in soul-destroying and dangerous jobs. True that everybody had a place to live, usually in an over-crowded apartment without privacy or dignity. As for equality, this is absurd. The elites may have changed under Marxism, but they were still...

SNIPPET: "Quebec provincial police have arrested four people in connection with an alleged fraud ring that appears to have international ties. Officers with la Sûreté du Québec carried out a handful of search warrants in and around Montreal Wednesday morning. Police said they have seized almost $50 million in assets. While no biker gang members were among those arrested, police alleged the fraud ring is tied to the Hells Angels." SNIPPET: "Police say Wednesday's arrests are also tied to a money-laundering plan. However, in this case, police allege the money being laundered was subsequently lent to companies and individuals based...

Arms Deal: President Obama signs away U.S. nuclear security and gives the Russians a veto over whether we can defend ourselves. Our nuclear umbrella is in tatters as another piece of paper proclaims peace in our time. Completing a process of disarmament and appeasement that manifested itself in the dismantling and defunding of U.S. military power that began with his inauguration, President Obama signed a new strategic arms limitation treaty with a grinning and very happy Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday in the Czech capital. How fitting this document was signed in Prague, which isn't far from Munich where...

On Tuesday, the Obama admin istration released its new nu clear strategy; today, the prez will ink a new nuke treaty with the Russians in Prague. Next week, he'll host an all-world atomic affair in Washington. It's a veritable "no-nukes-palooza." Problem is, not all nuclear cutbacks are wise. Next week's DC summit makes sense: It's focused on securing nuclear materials -- making it harder, for example, for terrorists to acquire an A-bomb. But the other two "events" raise serious concerns. The new nuclear strategy aims to create a smaller nuclear force. But that force is already aging, and thus growing...

Note: The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-president-barack-obama-release-nuclear-posture-review Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release April 06, 2010 Statement by President Barack Obama on the Release of Nuclear Posture Review One year ago yesterday in Prague, I outlined a comprehensive agenda to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and to pursue the peace and security of a world without them. I look forward to advancing this agenda in Prague this week when I sign the new START Treaty with President Medvedev, committing the United States and Russia to...

My wife and I, and our two teenagers are off on a well-earned vacation to Mittersfeld (Black Forest/Bavaria) and Salsberg on Christmas Day thru New Years. I'd appreciate any feedback from my second family as to what to see (or don't bother to see), as well as some out of the way places to visit.

Biden Blasts Back: 'Who Cares' About Cheney? Vice president calls his predecessor "absolutely wrong" on the question of whether the new administration was "dithering" in setting a fresh course for the war. The Washington Times FOXNews.com Saturday, October 24, 2009 PRAGUE - Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. waved off recent attacks from Dick Cheney about President Obama's handling of Afghanistan with a "Who cares?" and called his predecessor "absolutely wrong" on the question of whether the new administration was "dithering" in setting a fresh course for the war. "I think that is absolutely wrong," the vice president said of...

Pope Benedict XVI leads an ecumenic meeting in Prague September 27, 2009 PRAGUE, Czech Republic, SEPT. 27, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Gospel is not an ideology, but rather, illuminates the dignity of the human person generation after generation, says Benedict XVI.The Pope affirmed this today in an ecumenical meeting held in the context of his three-day apostolic journey to the Czech Republic. He returns to Rome on Monday.The Holy Father told the representatives of Christian religions that "as Europe listens to the story of Christianity, she hears her own.""Her notions of justice, freedom and social responsibility, together with the cultural and...

Pope Benedict XVI Prague, Czech Republic, Sep 25, 2009 / 05:39 am (CNA).- Just days ahead of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the Czech Republic, Vatican analyst John Allen is saying in an essay for the Prague Post that the papacy’s social and political influence is one of the most unique and far-reaching in the world today. From the fall of communism to Western-Muslim relations to the AIDS crisis, he says, the Pope is a key international player.Describing the Catholic Church in “purely empirical, sociological terms,” Allen likens the Catholic Church to a “lone superpower” whose involvement is necessary...

The Pope and the Child Jesus in Prague September 22nd, 2009 by ACN-USA News Pope Benedict XVI’s upcoming trip to the Czech Republic will include a special visit to the image of the Holy Child Jesus in Prague — one of the most venerated and visited religious images in the country – on September 26, 2009.The Prior of the Carmelite monastery of the Holy Infant of Prague, Father Petr Sleich, spoke last week to international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) about the Pope’s forthcoming visit to the Czech Republic. Its aim, he said, is to...

Czech archaeologists have uncovered a unique 1000-year-old mark engraved into an oak tree the remains of which were found near Celakovice in Prague, which is probably the oldest preserved sign of this kind in the world. According to a report from the Czech News Agency, the real meaning of the 10-cm star-shaped mark on the oak trunk is not certain. Experts say it may have marked the territory or serve some iconic purposes. This find is rare as so old engraved signs were not previously mapped and they are not systematically searched for either, archaeologist Jana Marikova of the Academy...

AN understaffed Prague clinic has signed up nurses by offering boob jobs, liposuction and tummy tucks as a bonus. Nurses, doctors and secretaries who sign up with the small private clinic for three years can choose their free plastic surgery. "It has been a success," Jiri Schweitzer, a manager at the Iscare clinic, said, adding the establishment was now fully staffed and had to reject dozens of beauty-hunting job applicants. Petra Kalivodova, a 31-year-old nurse who has been working at the clinic for four years, has had a breast implants - the most popular choice among nurses - so she...

PRAGUE — They say the Golem, a Jewish giant with glowing eyes and supernatural powers, is lurking once again in the attic of the Old-New Synagogue here. The Golem, according to Czech legend, was fashioned from clay and brought to life by a rabbi to protect Prague’s 16th-century ghetto from persecution, and is said to be called forth in times of crisis. True to form, he is once again experiencing a revival and, in this commercial age, has spawned a one-monster industry. There are Golem hotels; Golem door-making companies; Golem clay figurines (made in China); a recent musical starring a...

Just don't mention the golem. According to legend, Prague's most famous rabbi, the 16th-century Judah Loew ben Bezalel, magically made a mute clay being who alternately protected and rampaged through the Prague ghetto where Jews were required to live. But ask Czech Jews about the golem and you most likely will be met with eye rolling and heavy sighs, especially if you’re asking about plans for the upcoming 400th anniversary of the death of Loew (pronounced LEV). “Everyone hates the golem,” said Peter Gyori, a Prague Jew. “Loew was one of Europe's most famous teachers and, sadly, people come here...

PRAGUE -- Michelle Obama's whirlwind tour of Prague turned into a love affair with a city and its people. "I'll be back," she said. Crowds of young Czechs and tourists chanting "Obama! Obama!" waved at the first lady as she walked the cobblestones of the Jewish Quarter. She waved right back, and there were no angry faces as far as the eye could see. "She was totally with them," said Michaela Sidenberg, her guide.

PRAGUE (AFP) – Barack Obama flew into Prague on Saturday for a summit with EU leaders, making his first venture behind the erstwhile Iron Curtain on the third leg of his maiden European tour as US president. Obama will be using his visit to the Czech Republic -- current holder of the rotating EU presidency -- to deliver a keynote speech on nuclear proliferation, as the world awaits a threatened North Korean missile launch. Together with Poland, the Czech Republic is to host elements of a nuclear missile defence shield, initiated by Obama's predecessor George W. Bush, that Russia regards...

The construction of the road tunnel Blanka that is underway in Prague's Střešovice has been under the supervision of archaeologists. The tunnel, which is to be part of the planned Prague ringroad and connect Malovanka with Pelc-Tyrolka, is being built on a site that used to be inhabited in prehistoric times, the news site iDnes.cz reported on Thursday. "Trained colleagues are watching the excavator digging earth, and they halt the work whenever they notice something that does not belong there," archaeologist Kateřina Tomková told iDnes.cz Archeologists expect the site, where a meandering river used to flow some 300,000 years ago,...

A Renaissance mystery is beginning to unravel in Prague. A team of experts from Denmark have asked the authorities for permission to open and explore the grave of the Danish-born astronomer Tycho Brahe who died in Prague in 1601. They are hoping to learn more about one of the most famous scholars of the time – and perhaps to throw more light on his mysterious death. Tycho Brahe story of alchemists and assassins might soon be added to the annals of one of the most glorious eras in the history of Prague. A team of experts from Denmark would like...

Prague - Czech President Vaclav Klaus' meeting with leaders of the European Parliament Friday ended in a rift, a transcript of the meeting released by his office showed. The president, who is an outspoken critic of the European Union and its reform treaty, was angered by questions from Daniel Cohn- Bendit, the head of the European Greens. Klaus' aide told reporters after the meeting that the president considers Cohn-Bendit's behaviour 'a big provocation.' According to the transcript, Cohn-Bendit first presented Klaus with an EU flag, which the president has so far refused to hang at his seat, Prague Castle. The...

Russians March Into Czechoslovakia - go to link, the article desired may be dragged onto the page to see it all, pretty good.

Archaeologists have uncovered parts of Prague's oldest ramparts, dating back to the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries, thus verifying the then Jewish globetrotter Ibrahim ibn Jaqub's description of Prague as "a town made of stone and lime," the daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) wrote Monday... The archaeologists uncovered the remnants of wall in the cellar of the Academy of Performing Arts building, 5 metres underground. A thousand years ago the walls were part of one of Prague's main entrance gates, though which the town was entered from the western and souther directions... Prague, including its ramparts, attracted Ibrahim...

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- A Swedish citizen wanted in the U.S. on suspicion of plotting to set up a terrorist camp there was extradited Tuesday from the Czech Republic, officials said. Czech Justice minister Jiri Pospisil ruled on Sept 18 there was no reason to refuse a U.S. extradition request for Oussama Kassir, spokeswoman Zuzana Kuncova said. Kassir left the country by plane on Tuesday bound for the United States, said Kuncova. Kassir was arrested on Dec. 11, 2005, at Prague's Ruzyne international airport while flying from Stockholm, Sweden, to Beirut, Lebanon. He has been held in a Czech prison...

jdkf dkPRAGUE, Czech Republic: Codex Gigas, also known as the Devil's Bible — a medieval manuscript said to have been written 800 years ago with the devil's help — has returned to Prague after an absence of 359 years. And Czechs were eager to see it, officials said Friday.The priceless piece, considered the biggest medieval book, was taken from the Prague Castle by Swedish troops at the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648. It is in Prague on loan from Sweden's Royal Library in Stockholm. It was put on display under high security at the Czech National Library.Its...

The "massive influx" of UK stag and hen parties to Prague has made the Czech Republic a hotspot for British travellers in trouble, figures suggest.

The Czech story Custody bill aims to protect kids: Kidnapping cases show a vague interpretation of international law (The Prague Post, 7/25/07)[see article here: http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2007/07/25/custody-bill-aims-to-protect-kids.php] is pro-feminist mainstream journalism at its finest. The mother is wrong in practically every aspect of this case, yet the article portrays her as a heroic victim. Worse--but typical--the case has helped prompt the Czech government to come up with legislation to help mothers in this position, even though she's wrong. In the case, a Czech woman married an Argentine man and they lived in Argentina together. Apparently they became estranged (though they're still married)...

Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 Democracy & Security Conference Prague, Czech Republic Ladies and Gentlemen: I have come to Prague to ask for your solidarity with the people of Iran against a common enemy: Islamist preachers of intolerance who turn young men and women into walking bombs, shouting death to America, death to Israel, death to whosoever resists their murderous ideology. To the realpolitik cynics who say Islamist theocracy is a reality we have to live with, I respond: funny – they never said they can live with YOU! To those who say the theocrats can reform if we are nice...

Czech president Vaclav Klaus has criticized the UN panel on global warming, claiming that it was a political authority without any scientific basis. In an interview with "Hospodárské noviny", a Czech economics daily, Klaus answered a few questions: Q: IPCC has released its report and you say that the global warming is a false myth. How did you get this idea, Mr President?• A: It's not my idea. Global warming is a false myth and every serious person and scientist says so. It is not fair to refer to the U.N. panel. IPCC is not a scientific institution: it's a...

"A 39-year-old Swede accused of terrorism by the United States has been arrested in Prague, Swedish tabloid Expressen reported on Tuesday. The man, who was not identified, is wanted by the US CIA spy agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which accuse him of being terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden's "man in Sweden", Expressen wrote. The US has tried to obtain his extradition for several years, accusing him of setting up Al Qaeda training camps in the US state of Oregon in 1999, but Sweden has refused to hand him over, the paper said. The man was on a...

Security at Czech capital’s streets, Jewish sites beefed up following report on Islamic extremists’ plot to kidnap, murder dozens of Jews in synagogue; Chabad rabbi: Jewish communities in Europe used to threats and actions against them; now it has reached us Tensions are running high among members of the Jewish community in Prague on the eve of the Sukkot holiday, this following the publication of the report on an Islamic extremists’ plot to kidnap dozens of Jews in Prague and hold them hostage before murdering them. “Unfortunately, the Jewish communities in Europe are used to threats and actions as well,”...

According to Czech paper, Islamic extremists plot to kidnap, then kill Jews in synagogue in nation's capital Islamic extremists planned to kidnap dozens of Jews in Prague and hold them hostage before murdering them, the daily Mlada Fronta Dnes reported on Friday. The Czech Republic's leading newspaper quoted unidentified sources close to intelligence agencies as saying the captives would have been held in a Prague synagogue while the captors made broad demands that they knew could not be fulfilled. When those demands - which were not specified by the sources - were not met, the extremists would blow up the...

Excerpt - PRAGUE (Reuters) - Islamic extremists planned to kidnap dozens of Jews in Prague and hold them hostage before murdering them, the daily Mlada Fronta Dnes reported on Friday. The Czech Republic's leading newspaper quoted unidentified sources close to intelligence agencies as saying the captives would have been held in a Prague synagogue while the captors made broad demands that they knew could not be fulfilled. When those demands -- which were not specified by the sources -- were not met, the extremists would blow up the building, killing all who were inside, the paper added. ~ snip ~...

Paul Pillar Speaks, Again The latest CIA attack on the Bush administration is nothing new. by Stephen F. Hayes 02/10/2006 4:15:00 PM IN A BREATHLESS front-page, above-the-fold article in today's Washington Post, Walter Pincus reports that a former senior CIA official named Paul Pillar accuses the Bush administration of "misusing" intelligence to take the country to war in Iraq. According to the Post account, Pillar uses a forthcoming article in Foreign Affairs to claim that the Bush administration "politicized" the intelligence on Iraq. Bush administration policymakers did this subtly, Pillar says, by repeatedly asking the CIA questions about Iraq, its...

Less than a week after taking office, the Czech Republic's new minority government is embroiled in a major political row with opposition parties over a US project to base missiles on Czech territory. Washington wants to deploy 10 interceptor missiles and a radar in Europe to reinforce its defences against the threat of a ballistic missile attack from North Korea or Iran, and currently has its eye on either the Czech Republic or Poland as the favoured home for the new system. The Czech Republic's new right wing Civic Democrat government, which finally took office on September 4 after three...

On today's episode of Meet the Press (Sunday, September 10, 2006), Tim Russert interviewed Vice President Cheney. In the interview, Russert took issue with the fact that the Vice President once stated on his show that it was "pretty well confirmed" that Mohammed Atta, one of the 9/11 hijackers, met with Iraqi intelligence in Prague in April 2001. Here's the craftiness by Russert: Mr. Cheney made the "pretty well confirmed" remark in a December 9, 2001, appearance, over four-and-a-half years ago. Russert failed to inform his audience this morning when the remark was originally made. In addition, in three following...

Lopez: In sum, how many times did Bill Clinton lose bin Laden?Miniter: Here's a rundown. The Clinton administration:1. Did not follow-up on the attempted bombing of Aden marines in Yemen.2. Shut the CIA out of the 1993 WTC bombing investigation, hamstringing their effort to capture bin Laden.3. Had Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a key bin Laden lieutenant, slip through their fingers in Qatar.4. Did not militarily react to the al Qaeda bombing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.5. Did not accept the Sudanese offer to turn bin Laden.6. Did not follow-up on another offer from Sudan through a private back channel.7. Objected to...

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight. After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930. The new definition of what is — and isn't — a planet fills a centuries-old black hole for scientists who have labored since Copernicus without one. Although astronomers applauded after the vote, Jocelyn Bell Burnell — a specialist in neutron stars...

This Day In History SOVIETS INVADE CZECHOSLOVAKIA: August 20, 1968 On the night of August 20, 1968, approximately 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia to crush the "Prague Spring"--a brief period of liberalization in the communist country. Czechoslovakians protested the invasion with public demonstrations and other non-violent tactics, but they were no match for the Soviet tanks. The liberal reforms of First Secretary Alexander Dubcek were repealed and "normalization" began under his successor Gustav Husak. Pro-Soviet communists seized control of Czechoslovakia's democratic government in 1948. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin imposed his will on Czechoslovakia's communist leaders, and...

Conservative leader Mirek Topolanek was named as the Czech Republic’s new prime minister yesterday following the politically brokered resignation of outgoing premier Jiri Paroubek and his cabinet. Topolanek, 50, was appointed prime minister by President Vaclav Klaus as a first step toward forming a minority government, a job that will require negotiations with Paroubek and could take more than a month. Paroubek, 54, handed his resignation to Klaus and was “entrusted to temporarily lead the Czech Republic government until the time that a new government is designated”, said presidential spokesman Ladislav Jakl. The transfer of power capped a 10-week power...

Moscow calls provocation incident involving diplomat in Prague MOSCOW. April 19 (Interfax-AVN) The Russian Defense Ministry has described as a provocation an incident involving Russian Military Attache in Prague Col. Alexander Sketin. "This is pure provocation and a result of military-political intrigues on the Czechs' part," Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Vladimir Fyodorov told Interfax on Wednesday. "All the circumstances of the incident are being scrutinized now, and I hope the results will become known in the near future," Fyodorov said. A number of media outlets reported earlier that Sketin had scuffled with police following a dinner with Stanislav Bradka, director...

"More details have emerged about the arrest in Prague on Sunday of a person described by the Swedish media as "Osama bin Laden's man in Sweden." The man, a 39-year-old Swede of Lebanese origin, is now in custody awaiting a decision on whether extradition proceedings can begin against him. " ~snip~ "Mr Kassir was on a Czech Airlines flight from Stockholm to Beirut, where he hoped to be reunited with members of his family. The plane had a brief stopover in Prague, and as soon as he stepped onto Czech soil he was approached by members of an elite police...

Cracow tops Prague in popularity 07.03.2006 Cracow has topped Prague in popularity. For the first time ever, more tourists visited Cracow than Prague in 2005. Some 8 million tourists came to Cracow and 3.5m of them stayed at least one night in hotels. According to Andrzej Kozlowski, the former head of the Polish Tourist Organisation, this increase in popularity is the result of promotional and marketing efforts, as well as the plethora of budget airlines flying to Poland. "Prague was trendy - so everyone went to Prague. Now the trend has moved over to Cracow," says Mr Kozlowski.

Russia morally responsible for 1968 invasion: Putin Wed Mar 1, 2006 2:47 PM ET PRAGUE (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday his country bore a moral responsibility for the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, but stopped short of offering an apology that many Czechs have long sought. The invasion ended the pro-democracy movement known as the "Prague Spring" and put the country firmly under Moscow's thumb. "We do not bear any legal responsibility, but the moral responsibility is there," Putin said at a news conference in Prague after arriving on Wednesday as part of a trip to...

E-mail Author Author Archive Send to a Friend Version January 13, 2006, 8:11 a.m. The Butcher with the Terror Ties The evidence mounts. Drip, drip, drip. Drop by drop, isolated news stories and emerging documents are eroding the popular myth that Saddam Hussein had no connections to Islamofascist terrorists. These revelations undermine war critics’ efforts to whitewash Baghdad’s ancien regime — such as when Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid declared: “There was [sic] no terrorists in Iraq.” Likewise, Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.) describes a “nonexistent relationship between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.” Reid, Levin, and others who dismiss...