What Is Behind The EP Election Bummer
Last weekend Czechs and Slovaks attended the EP elections. Well, attended might not be the correct term. In the Czech Republic the estimated turnout is some 28 percent.
And here is the possible explanation: long time before the actual elections Czech media informed about the "payments" that the parties and political formations get for the votes they receive. In simple terms, if a party gets a certain percentage of votes, then it gets some 30 Czech crowns, which is about 1 Euro, for every popular vote. So if a certain rag party which also appointed some candidates for the EP elections and which is named after a radio station got some 30,000 votes then the "reward" they would get from the pockets of the taxpayers would be 900,000 crowns. And that is not bad.
The reason why so few people decided to cast their votes is that they didn't want to take part in these parties' fortune-making. The party which gets the money can announce its "shutdown" next week and nobody can take the money away from them.
Czech MPs are to blame here. They passed a law on EP elections which sets very easy requirements for a political entity which wants to take part in the elections. Only a couple of signatures and 15,000 guarantee/bond.
To be fair, the biggest reason for such low turnouts in Czech elections in general is a common thought "my vote alone couldn't change anything". It is not a surprise [for me] that people who don't vote complain the most about the government that comes up from the elections -- also thanks to their absence in poll stations.
Yep, Czechs.
EP Elections In Slovakia
Christian Democrats*: 3
KDH*: 3
Movement for Democratic Slovakia: 3
SMER: 3
Hungarian Coalition*: 2
-----------------------------
Total: 14
* denotes governing coalition party, other are opposition
TURNOUT = 16,2% !!! which is the lowest of all EU member countries. Italy and Cyprus report over 70-percent turnout.
EP Election First Results -- UPDATE
Original post updated
According to this story from Czech News Agency:
...Civil democrats (ODS) won the first EP elections in history of the Czech Republic. Communist Party ended up second [yikes / PB], Social Democrats were third. Union of Independent Candidates was fourth. The 5-percent limit was beaten also by The Independents (Nezavisli) and Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL). Their sixth place is a surprise. Only 27 percent of voters are said to have attended the elections...
Estimated numbers of chairs in the EP:
Civil Democrats [web] : 9
Communists [web] : 5 6
Social Democrats [web] : 3
Union of Independent Candidates [web] : 3 2
The Independents : 2
Christian Democrats [web] : 2
------------------------------
Total : 24
EP Elections
I am keeping an eye on the European Parliament elections. More to come during the weekend, as some partial results are published...
M.A. ~ M.A. ~ M.A.
Tommy: Did you hear I finally graduated?
Richard: Yeah, just a shade under a decade. Alright!
Tommy: You know, a lot of people go to college for seven years.
Richard: I know. They are called doctors.
~ Chris Farley and David Spade in "Tommy Boy"
Well, not only doctors but some journalists, too.
After seven years of academic life, I passed the finals at
Department of Media Studies and Journalism at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic.
The topic of my final oral exam was
Semiotics as a methodology for social sciences. What does it have to do with journalism? Almost nothing. But don't tell me. I was very shocked to hear the assignment from the Head of the department.
The students have twenty minutes to prepare and twenty minutes to talk. In fact, I was in front of the exam committee for 48 minutes.
So for those who know me well, I am now [name], M.A.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a bottle of wine to drink with my friends.
Tornado! My Very First One
If this is not a proof of global warming, then what is?
Yesterday it was a very nice sunny day. But only until 1600, or 4 p.m. for our American readers. It was a matter of minutes. First I thought it was going to be just a very heavy thunderstorm. It started this way. But then it got worse and I got a message saying that in the town of Litovel, which is some 25 kilometers from my home town, people saw a tornado.
It was supposed to be a T3 (according to the T1-T5 scale), which is a usual thing in Oklahoma.
But not here. Hell, no. The countryside is very flat here, but the weather and landscape conditions aren't like those where tornados usually occur. I say usually, because there are some, but only twice a year and plus they are very tiny and hard to spot. And they almost never touch the ground.
I live one block away from Olomouc city parks which host flower exhibition every year. I was sure many trees, which are way over 80 years old, wouldn't survive. Soon after the storm started I heard in the emergency frequency that a tree fell on a parked car in which the owner was hiding. He died.
In the aforementioned town of Litovel the tornado went through the town. The damages are estimated at 3 million Euro, which is a lot for this kind of weather phenomenon. Four houses were declared untenantable. They are brick houses! Not those wooden things that people build on the Great Plains.
Olomouc city parks are now in the enter-at-your-own-risk state. Some branches of huge trees are accidents waiting to happen. Yet you can meet young women with baby carriages going for walks and sitting on benches.
Meteorologists warn that heavy rain is expected to cause damage in the days to come. Given that these days usually start with extremely high temperatures...
BTW, the weather stripping in the windows of my parents' apartment pretty much sucks (as does the whole design of the windows) so when the raindrops hit the window, the water sooner or later appears inside, on the window sill. From which it gets down on the carpet or wood-block panel flooring.
How can people in the Midwest survive those and not move out?
Almost There
The reason for neglecting this blog over the past few days is called statnice, or finals. If everything goes just right I should get my M.A. by the end of this week.
Today I had the final written exam in mass communication which included basically everything we have learned so far in the mandatory courses: especially theories of mass communication, audiences, media effects, etc. etc.
Oral test coming up on Friday.
And strip club with my girl friend on Saturday. Yeah!
Ronald Reagan Is Dead
Update: This post was written 7 minutes after this story appeared in the AP wire service, while major Czech news servers iDnes.cz and Ceske noviny haven't noticed it yet. [-Ed.]
Former U.S. president Ronald Reagan died several hours ago in his home in Bel Air, CA.
It is strange how fast things happen and/or change. Just three hours ago, Czech Television ran a piece in its evening news broadcast, saying that Reagan only has few weeks to live. And then, three hours later...
I think Reagan was the first contemporary [meaning: living at the same time as me] U.S. president whose existence I have acknowledged. It is not surprising that it was in a connection with former Russian Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev [they didn't have presidents back then]. Before 1989 we had to learn names of Russian presidents so I knew there were some named Khruschev [spelling?], Anthropov, Chernenko.
And I knew there were the U.S. president Reagan and his Russian counterpart Gorbachev. The act of signing a treaty on the end of the Cold War was broadcast in the former Czechoslovakia, too. If I were older back then, I am sure I would have said "it is about f----- time".
A few years ago I was convinced for a while there must be two men of this name, since the FAA renamed Washington National Airport after a man named Ronald Reagan. It took me some time to realize that the airport was named after a living person.
In 1981 Reagan won Razzie Award in the category Worst Career Achievement. So he was not a good actor, according to some people. Or was he? He does have his star on the Walk of Fame.
I am pretty sure Central Europe would be different now, if it wasn't for him.
The Horror: A Grammatical Mistake In My Column
As a journalism professional I should confess to a mistake: in my recent column in Lidove noviny [link provided in the post below] I used the expression pardon my language which is in Czech s prominutim. When I read that article, to my shock I discovered I wrote, by accident of course since the key S is right above the Z key, Z prominutim which is a huge mistake.
Why?
The preposition S means with, while Z means from. Their usage is taught in first grade.
My apologies to the readers who took the time to click on the link, and especially to those who bought the paper.
Of course, the spelling checker will not find syntax mistakes for you. What a lame excuse, heh?
Naked Soldier-gate
In my today's column in Lidove noviny I dissect the issue of two female military academy students who posed naked or half-naked for a foreign newspaper. Somehow the dean of the academy got hold of the photos and the girls were expelled.
My #1 point is that posing for a magazine [even a soft porn] is a part of freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by our Constitution [or Bill of Rights, article 17, to be exact].
WWTBM: Two Correct Answers
A contestant in the Slovak edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire was kicked out of the hot chair even though he answered correctly, informs Novy Cas daily. The question he was asked had two correct answers, which the creators didn't know. He was asked what the word CIS meant in Latin, two of the four choices were LOOK OUT and TAKE A LOOK [the Slovak equivalents are more accurate].
The contestant's correct answer wasn't accepted, Novy Cas goes on informing, and he was given a substitute question which he didn't answer correctly. So instead of winning 400,000 Slovak crowns he only won 100,000.
FT Makes Mistakes, Too
Even professionals like The Financial Times make mistakes. I wonder if this one was made by the reporter who is in Prague [which is worse] or the editor in London. Czech names are tough for them.
Say Hi To Marc C. Johnson
A link has been added to my Fav List. A freelance writer from Arlington, Virginia has his own blog called Captive Nation(s).
Talented Mr. Ripley Tew
It has been over 11 years since I attended a high school in the U.S. I stayed with a host family that had four children. One of them, Alan, had a passion for computer games [duh!] and, more importantly, for sketching and drawing.
So I wasn't surprised to find out some time later that he was involved in computer game industry. He is the one to invent and draw computer game characters. Utah-based daily newspaper Deseret News informs about his latest contribution to the industry: the story of Van Helsing is now available for Playstation and GameBoy users.
I used to play StreetFighter with this guy!
When The Hard Work Is Worth It
Today's program: I have to "glue" my colleague's show [production mix], I have to pre-record two shows for the next week [I am taking one week off and nobody can do it for me, so basically there will be just reruns] and I have to prepare for my Wednesday show [tomorrow].
I think this is the busiest week since I came to work here.
About an hour ago I was on my way to our cafeteria which in on the first floor [I work on 7th]. The elevator door opens on the 6th and the boss of the human resources steps in. A very powerful woman. How do you like it here?, she asked. I said I love my job. [of course, but it wasn't a lie]. I have been hearing only the most positive things about you, she added. You're doing a good job.
Now, that would give you much more energy than ice tea that I was going to buy.
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