Last week 26/08

Summer began. Sales invaded shops. A temperature of -4º C was measured in Horská Kvilda in the Šumava Mountains. A summit was held in Brussels where representatives of the European Union member states resolved what to do now that Ireland has failed to ratify the new European treaty. Czech President Václav Klaus left Prague’s Bulovka Hospital with a new hip joint designed for sportspeople. “I agree with you. I’m trying – in my own way – to uncover that,” responded Petr Uhl, Právo daily commentator and one of the one-day “hungerstrikers” against the U.S. radar base in Brdy, in an online discussion on Ne základnám (No Bases!) movement web site when asked, “Isn’t it time to reveal to the public that Topolánek’s clan is a criminal group that is turning the Czech Republic into a Trojan horse for the current U.S. administration while shattering the EU’s security integrity, and that the Bush and bin Laden families have been doing business together since the 1970s? Thank you, Rastislav Kavický.” Wabi Daněk, Ivan Mládek and František Nedvěd sang songs from the compilation album 16 nej od táborových ohňů (16 Campfire Hits). The Jadran high-speed train departed on its regular summer route between Prague, Brno and Split. Income tax rose. Sixty-six years passed since the valiant instigators of the successful military attack on Nazi Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich perished in the crypt of Prague’s Sts. Cyril and Methodius Church as they battled against the superior strength of the Nazis and their Czech collaborators. “They hit a wall with the warm-up exercises. The wave of resistance was too great,” said Irena Štětinová, HR Director of the Brno-based company Daikin, describing to Mladá fronta DNES (MfD) how the Czech employees used passive resistance to compel the Japanese owner to withdraw their plans to hold collective morning warm-up exercises; the article in MfD headline, “The Japanese Back Down to Czech Culture.” Fees for infants’ doctor’s visits were cancelled. Cuban television sold images proving that Fidel Castro is still alive to the media, including the Czech media. Professional military pilots from the Přerov helicopter squadron announced their departure from the military after they learning they could be sent to Afghanistan to provide air transport for the Czech reconstruction team in the province of Logar; after the media criticized the professionals for fleeing in the face of danger, the air force commander, Ladislav Minařík, pronounced that the exodus of his warriors had been “overdramatized.” The European currency dropped below 24 crowns per euro. French President Nicolas Sarcozy visited Prague.

“I run out of Politických věznů at five a.m., cross Jindřišská, jog down Panská, come out on Na Příkopě, and then run along 28. října to Národní třída to the National Theatre, where I hang a left to Mánes and then run back again. Along the way I meet some drunken Brits who call out: This is no time for jogging, have a beer!” replied actor Jan Tříska when asked by reporters, “You like to run. How does your morning route look?” Newborn Arctic wolf cubs underwent their first vaccinations in the Brno Zoo. Rents stopped rising. Newspapers reported that Iran, fearing possible sanctions in retaliation for its continuing efforts to build a nuclear bomb, had withdrawn its savings from European banks and shifted them to safer havens in Asia. U.S. logistics and fire protection experts came to the military area in Brdy to examine the location of the planned U.S. radar base. Parliament decided that war veterans would be able to dine in army cafeterias for free. “I want to try the unbearable lightness of being,” said Karel Brückner, commenting on his decision to end his career as coach of the Czech national football team coach after the team’s elimination from the Euro 2008. The railway authority agreed on the deployment of the quickest locomotive in the world—the Taurus made by Siemens—on Czech tracks. Senate Vice Chairman Petr Pithart received the Great Cross of Merit with Star and Shoulder Ribbon from Germany’s president for his efforts to form reciprocal dialogue. Obsequies for Zdeňek Urbánek took place in Prague. The Czech Government Council for Human Rights recommended that the government not adopt a draft bill banning slapping and corporal punishment of children in families; the Council concurrently recommended that Minister Džamila Stehlíková explain to Czech families how they should raise their children without physical punishment before submitting her controversial law again. It surfaced that the state’s original coat of arms had been lost and that either those in Parliament or at the Castle are to blame. Petr Kellner, the wealthiest Czech, left for Russia to mine for gold. Meteorologists announced that this summer would be cool.