With the Czech election right around the corner (to be announced soon), I wrangled our party hacks down for our weekly meeting to lay out several policy initiatives for the coming quarter (April -- June 2008, inclusive).

A theme we couldn't stop yammering about was the so-called "youth agenda" in the Czech Republic and the short shrift it's been receiving from our current Civic Democrat -- ODS -- Administration.

Rather than filibuster and cause a general Parliamentary ruckus in the Press Gallery over on the touristy Lesser Side -- making a mockery of the Czech "democracy" and turning off a host of would-be return tourists who finance the hefty incomes of many a business-owner on that side of the Vltava -- we laid out some of our own novel ideas for how to address the youth conundrum in the Land of the Crater.

So, in short:

** young Czechs are inspired by the concept of change, but to actually get them to invoke any of the lofty changes they kvetch about, or to engage in some sort of serious societal asskickery, is something they're patently unprepared for. The kind of change they're demanding is the pub equivalent of complaining about anything and everything you can get your hands on, albeit with a more intellectual edge. We even gave a name to this futility: "Hockey Goons with Two College Degrees."

** there are a host of Czech NGOs who pay lipservice to youth change, but they're too locally-focussed, they bleat out the usual stream of local stereotypes, and they're generally lead by docents or moderators who reinforce old habits.

** while the present Czech Administration continues to get its US White House-asskissing mojo on, a whole generation of Czech and Slovak young people are being forsaken. The time for tending to these various young peoples' needs is in the here and now. The CIP wishes to fill in that gap. Two projects were introduced as possibilities, to be announced soon, with a tekkie flair. Watch this space, Citizens!

** the CIP has recently fielded several disgruntled emails from members of Czech civil society that went along the lines of: "Who gave CIP the right to call our society idiotic?" Well, our answer to that salvo is as follows: Here in Cesko -- despite appearances to the contrary -- we live in a globalized context. That means, to all the splendid isolationists out there, that we Czechs are connected to the global grid -- ALL of us. It also means the planet's inhabitants are permitted at any time to come here, legally and safely cross our frontiers, interact with us, live here, run businesses, raise their children here, have homosexual relations with any of our homosexual citizens (read: gays and lesbians of the Czech persuasion), speak Farsi in the streets, speak English at work, complain from the unacceptable lack of customer service, complain and swear like a sailor when a waitress thinks she's in the right and the customer is in the wrong, et cetera. They can even call us Czechs all manner of vile disgusting names, if they so desire, and if they wish to risk getting bitchslapped by Igor and his buds.

All in all, this is part and parcel of life in a free country.

If the Czech Immigrants Party's detractors don't like that, we have a simple two word formula for y'all: FUDDLE-DUDDLE!

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Next week's meeting's set to be a beaut!

(For meeting minutes, please email me off the blog or contact me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/gtowna).

As always,
I love you,
and wish for you many good things,
ADM