Interview 2

My very first blog was about my forthcoming interview at the Air traffic control center in Prague. Nobody answered nor provided any tips, but I hope it didn't matter. Today, I can already say, how I felt about the interview. Every time I go to an interview, I try to be as relaxed as possible and this time, it was even more important, because my other skills were proved in other parts of the recruitment process. I feel good about my "performance", let's wait until tomorrow and see if the commission agrees. Let's hope it goes well in the end, I wish everyone that they get a chance to do their favorite dreamjob.

A press release of the CDU/CSU

This time, I'm writing this blog in both English and German, as it concerns a press release I found on Google News, issued by the CDU/CSU party fraction. Here in the Czech Republic, there is a strong negative attitude aganst all that includes a word christian or catholic, mainly in politics. We use not to forgive anyone, including the Roman catholics in the medieval era. The Czechs are the most atheist people in Europe, if not in the entire world. Me including, although I know that faith is one of the most important things in one man's life, there is simply no, I mean zero, tradition in my family, community or place to believe in God. The communist governemnt did a truly good work in removing the remainings of the christian faith in the majority of Czech society and current representatives of the Catholical church miss the charismatics, that great moral leaders have. Thus, the biggest party in wester Europe, the Christian democrats and their derivatives, are a marginal polical force in the Czech republic, I guess that partly thank to their name, because the real politics of the Christian democrats is moderatelly right wing and theological issues play no role in their program. When I read the press release of the CDU/CSU, I liked that tone and could sign every thought in the text. But the second thing is, that I knew right from the first moment, that it doesn't hit the nail on the head here in the Czech republic. Both our greatest political parties (I don't include the communists, for me they don't exist) have very populist programs regarding the attitude to the darker times of our past. They tell what the public wants to hear. Altought I am neither a German nor a christian, I must absolutelly agree with the statements of CDU/CSU and the Czech evangelic church and Christian democratic party.

Nachdem ich heute in einer Pressemitteilung der CDU/CSU gelesen habe, dass die Deutschen eine Entschuldigung der tschechischen Seite zu den Sudettendeutschen begrüssen würden, sage ich, für mich selbst, dass mir die tschechische Aufstellung zu der Vertreibung der Sudettendeutschen nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg sehr tut leid und für die tschechische Position möchte ich mich ehrlich entschuldigen. Dass die Benes Dekrete immer noch gelten, ist für mich unkazeptabel, und auch wenn ihre Beseitigung nach fast 60 Jahren keine Rechtliche Folgen haben kann, wäre es eine positive Gäste von unserem Staat sie endgültig in die Geschichte zu schicken.

Communists, president, gypsies and concentration camp

The European parliament issued a resolution that urges the Czech republic to remove the pig farm, that stands on a place, where 60 years ago died hundreds of Czech Romes in a Czech concentration camp. It begins to be a simple matter of fact, that the Czechs are unable to face the darker parts of their history. I already once mentioned our inability to apologize to the Germans which had to pay for the faults of others during the postwar expulsion. This time, our polititians try to figure out as many apologies as possible, but in a different way - they defend the existence of the former concentration camp of the Romes in Lety at Pisek. Those are not just the Czech communists, but also our president, the most popular polititian according to the recent public opinion data. They try to explain, mainly with the same arguments, that the camp wasn't a regular concentration camp, it should have been a labor camp for the people, who refused to work as other normal people. And I keep asking: And the point is? Is it normal, that there existed a labor camp, which collected in 90% Romes and where 300 of those died? And is it normal, that nowadays there is on of the biggest pig farms in the CR?

Our president showed another intellectual outburst this weekend - he criticized nongovernmental and civil organizations, that they influence our public life more than they deserve. By his opinions, only political parties and their members (BTW, there are just about 100 000 members of political parties in the CR, except the communists, who still have many, mainly old members) have the right to state opinions and publish their insightful comments in the media. Our president starts to be ridiculous. I never liked that old arrogant man, but now I slowly start to mind him a lot.

Social democrats and their populism

For a long time I have had a very unpleasant feeling, that a party that has ruled our country for not less than 7 years, is swimming on a wave of the harshest populism a democratic party can provide. Not only do they change their prime ministers as often as a regular man his underwear - exactly four till this day, but today they beat all my expectations with another spectacular announcement. In the forthcoming general elections, they will choose their leader according to his popularity among all citizens in the Czech republic, for which purpose they will ask a public meaning agency to make them a survey about the popularity of leading social democrats in the whole society. Where do we stand? Everyone knows, that the most popular polititians are those who don't lead but just follow public opinions, at least it has been so since 1990. O my god, I can't wait till the day they get dismissed, no matter how good or bad the other parties are. In my eyes, we need political leaders, not followers of public opinions, such as 100% free healthcare, early retirement or loopholes for various interest groups. Such leaders could be Miroslav Kalousek or Mirek Topolanek, although they also have their flaws and particularly Topolanek has some really radical companions at his side (or behind his back).

New Printer

On Monday I bought a new printer. Everytime I want to buy some alectronic equipment I spend several hours reading reviews and comparing several choises. Since I moved to my current appartement, the only brand that dissappointed me is Electrolux from which we bouht the fridge and microwave. Those were our first on-line purchases and I chose them just because my favourite shop had them on sale. After a couple of years I can see that every minute you spend reading reviews and comparisons is a well spent one. This time I chose a printer from Canon, namely a Pixma IP4000. This printer looks awesome, has every feature one can imagine, including duplex printing and CD imprint, makes excellent pictures, is quite cheap and its cartridges can be easily refilled. Since early May it even has official Linux drivers, which the Japanese Canon developers put online, so there is no reason to by another printer. The main feature for a home printer is for me the economy of printing. This is something one can't judge for himself, but Toms' Hardware put together several printers and Canon won hands down - with original cartridges. So far, I didn't regret a single minute for buying this jewel. The only thing I discovered since buying it is the fact, that I don't have a single picture of myself that would be worth printing.

Hockey and European constitution

As it has been every other year since 1996, the Czechs won the World championships in Ice Hockey. We are a hockey nation, the attendance in the czech hockey league is even higher than in the football league. Considering the smaller arenas and the fact, that many of them use to be sold out, it's rather surprising in the eyes of other europeans where football is way ahead of any other sport. How does this relate to the issue of european constitution? Well, although there are much more hockey experts in our country than constitution experts, and the average avareness of the quality of czech players is very high, nobody would ever consider to ask the public, who should get to the national squad and who should stay home. It's entirelly up to the coach and his assistents. In contrast, just a fraction of Czechs have read the European constitution and just a fraction of those who read it know all the procedures and reasons that lead to their approval in the European parliament. And still, most of the polititians and the public insist on the referendum. I am in absolute oposition against direct democracy in a system, in which the parliament and not all citizens elects the president of the country, as is the case in the Czech Republic. Regarding the european constitution itself, I haven't read it and don't plan to do so, but what Europe needs most is simplification of its internal procedures and legislation, therefore I hope that our representatives vote for it.

Benes, the Germans and postwar expultion

Today, the Czechs managed to upset some Germans one more time. We should show much more generosity and not celebrate polititians who failed in their role during and after the war. We uncoverd a statue of president Edvard Beneš and our leading polititians took part of it. Dr. Beneš was a great political personality in 1918-1938, but his achievements after that period belong in the worse that our polititians managed to do during the 20th century. The Germans behaved awfully during WWII, but we have not much to be proud of when we expulted them after the war. Let's hope, that our future representatives will have the balls for complete and not hesitating appologies towards the old Germans who had to leave our country just because of collective guilt of the german nation.

Interview

Today I've been announced, that I was invited for the last part of the recruitment process for the course of the Air traffic controller. I must admit, till today it has been rather chalenging. After a test in written and spoken English, computer tests and simulations, several psychological tests and interviews and medical scan, what is still ahead of me is the interview in front of a commision. Unfortunatelly I have no idea what could I expect, so anyone who should read this, please cross your finger for me. In fourteen days I quit my current job and in case they hire me to the airport, I'll have two months of paid vacation, which would remind me of those lucky days at highschool. Should anyone have an experience with the interview, leave me a notice.