Free Beer and Chillin’ with President Vaclav Klaus

A couple of weeks ago my wife got an unexpected invitation to a reception at the Czech Embassy in Washington D.C. The reception was going to be a celebration of the twenty years since the Czech Republic’s ‘Velvet Revolution’ where communism was defeated. The highlight of the event would be the visit of Czech President Vaclav Klaus.

Obviously this was exciting for Tanja as she is a Czech native, born and raised in Prague, but this was exciting for me as well because a) I had never been to a reception of this type before and b) Klaus is an interesting guy being a bit of a hell-raiser in the European community. And Lord knows the EU can always use a bit ‘o hell raisin’.

Klaus’s latest book ‘Blue Planet in Green Shackles’ shows how much –if not most –of the agenda behind the ‘Climate Change’/ ‘Global Warming’ movement is a political one, NOT a scientific or true humanitarian one. Needless to say this really chaps the rest of the European community as they line up like lemmings when it comes to all things ‘green’ – regardless of the true costs involved in trying to collectively yank this planet back to computer-model friendly temperatures. Oh yeah, and forget about the correlations between solar activity and Earth temperatures too. Facts = confusion ‘round ‘dem parts.

And it’s words like ‘collective’ that alarm Mr. Klaus as they are attached to this climate change debate – if in fact you are even allowed to call it a debate as folks like Al Gore say there no longer is one. The debate is over. Al says so.

But it’s not primarily scientific data Klaus addresses. It’s the striking similarity in the logic, arguments and propaganda used in the ‘Climate Change’ movement and the old Communist tactics of the Soviet Union that he is well acquainted with, having lived most of his life under hardline Communist rule. He discusses some of those issues in this interview with Glen Beck (not my favorite squawking head but he’ll do):

He is obviously not an extremist about the issue and in fact chastises Beck for using the word ‘Fascism’ in his description of many of the climate change proponents. He merely throws up red flags and discusses how the idea of us ‘all’ coming together to ‘fight this nebulous enemy that transcends us’ is the same type of idea the Communists used to motivate the masses and eventually used as a vehicle to block democratic process. He also points out that they do not want to have a conversation -it is not a scientific debate. It’s alarmism that is becoming a tool to motivate people and policies.

So with a guy like this whom I would like to meet, and Tanja would love to meet, I bellowed from my rooftop, “Arise my Czechly wife! The heck with it –let us throw skymiles to the wind, fly first class and go!” Not really knowing what to expect and not really knowing if we would even meet him.

So we get to the event –which was a freaking nightmare, driving in D.C. is horrifying –along with 700 other people. OK, so maybe we won’t meet him but who knows. When we actually get in the embassy it’s surprising how small a group of 700 seems when you pack them into a room, so then we are like, “Oh, maybe we will meet him.” So after a little free beer (Czech of course –can you imagine if it was Bud Light?) there was a little commotion out in the patio area and there he is giving a speech. Which was absolutely 100% inaudible. Wasn’t a speech though, really, it was just a thanks for coming kind of thing. So when he finished, half of the crowd started walking back into the main part of the building for the free food and beer. But more about that later.

So the first thing we thought was they must have just ushered him out of the building because of course everyone would want to get in a meet and greet right? Apparently not, because there he was, in the crowd shaking hands and taking pictures. So we dove in like a couple of wet Czech Phelps and went for it.

The crowd that surrounded him was a tad enthusiastic so it was a bit of a frenzy the closer we got. Our main objective was to get a picture with him and Tanja so she could write about it in her blog (which you should read –she details the fact we almost didn’t get in) –which is all about the Czech –so we fought our way in.  After a couple of mean elbows from a few old ladies we finally got face to face…for about 8 seconds. Just enough for a picture, a handshake and for Tanja to tell him they went to the same grade school. I was hoping to get in some eloquent four liner about how there are many Americans who think our treatment of our allies is a cause for great concern (as the US just reneged on the missile defense treaty with the Czechs and Poland) and also what a great job he is doing in exposing much of the scam behind the Global Warming scare. But…in the flurry of activity I could barely get in a handshake and a, “Pleasure to meet you”. Oh well. We got the picture with Tanja and that was the main objective. You really should go to her blog and get her version of the story.

So back to the main part of the building we went looking for food. Along with 700 other people.

So what were the topics of discussion in this prestigious event? The fall of communism and the freedom of the eastern bloc countries like the Czech Republic? The controversy of Klaus’s position on Global Warming? His signing of the Lisbon treaty the day before?

Nope. It was, “Does the foodline start here?” “Are there anymore plates?” “Do you know where they are serving the beer?”

That, mixed with everybody checking everybody else out to see if they were ‘somebody’.

I swear it was high school all over again.

So the biggest thing I got out of all this was this- You can dress it up in a suit, put it in Washington D.C., invite a leader of a former-communist-now-free country to it and hold it on a twenty year anniversary of a revolution and it all comes down to the same things-

Where’s the free food.

Where’s the free beer.

And where is somebody I can meet that will do something for me and my image.

Wow.