Man, an awful lot of questions there, Earl. I wish I could get through to you and a lot of people who seem to think I am down on the U.S. (just because of articles like the one above to this blog) that my love for America goes much deeper to me, personally, from having lived abroad, than if I had stayed. I think actually the core of the problem in this is in defining whats we mean by "America". A lot of miscommunication is at heart about assuming we are both using the same words with the same meanings. Anyway, I think your description of me as a rabble rouser is incorrect, and I think you have so widely pieced together some questions and observations that frame a discussion that sets up some agenda, that it is quite difficult to answer all your questions (points, accusations?) Plus, it is unfair that others have not read those book chapters. But quickly: I stopped and waited for a prolonged period obviously waiting for the man to shut his door so I could park, so he obviously knew that, then I parked sideways so as not to inconvenience him, then he started insulting me and saying I didn't know how to park. However, you have picked one episode in a long chapter and pulled it out of the context of the entire story.
The same with the Foreign Police building. Have you never felt utterly frustrated to the point of explosion? Sure you have. I described that feeling. Now then, Earl, why don't you finish the story instead of picking out that little detail and acting like I am a terrorist: I wrote a letter to the Ombudsman and a well-known human rights lawyer who worked for the government agreed to come with me incognito to file a government report about corruption in the Czech Immigration Office. Surely you also read that, so why didn't you mention it? The same with that other scene, later on I describe another situation and have my own moment of understanding and recognition, but you don't talk about that, now why is that EARL? Because you want to make me out to be some kind of "rabble rouser". Man, I sure do get tired of these kinds of exchanges. Why don't you talk about what you think of my ideas about the article of this blog and my thoughts on the Jeffersonian view of freedom of speech? Isn't that a little more relevant?

I have written many different books than what you describe. For example, I am the author of the Comprehensive (1200 pages) bilingual American-Czech dictionary, I spent five years every day writing that, sounds like the perfect job for a rabble rouser (patient, precise, methodical), don't you think?

I am not going to answer your other personal questions about me, I might have, but you have shown me you are kind of bent on some negative agenda. But do I seem bent on verbal confrontation? Please reread your comment to me, the one to which I am answering this, and consider who seems more confrontational.

In fact, if you look at my answer to your first comments, I sought to find the answers and agreed you had found the right case, and did not think I wrote anything disagreeable in tone or attitude toward you, yet then I get this agenda setting cherry-picking back from you, which I just don't understand why that is. Dear Lord, give me more patience...

Sinclair

It was a few years ago that I researched this plus used what some citizens in Buffalo told me about it. I cannot find that court case I directly quoted, or much info at all anymore about this on the net, but I did find this:

"Darrell David Alford, 56, of Buffalo (MO), is accused of threatening to kill President George W. Bush by flying a radio-controlled model plane into an area where the president was recently speaking. The US Attorney's Office in Kansas City said the threat was made on August 4th."

So you are right about the circumstances. However, that is why I quoted Jefferson at the beginning. He means that we should not find someone guilty based on words only, for they can be misconstrued, or pressure can be put on people to shape their testimony according to how a prosecutor wants a judge or jury to perceive things, or a few enemies could even outright lie, which is important to consider. Though I have not found any printed info on this, the Buffalo sources said he was in a restaurant when he said this, and that the context was hyperbolic, but that someone reported it as a threat and suddenly it was a big conspiratorial plot of a domestic terrorist.

I found this as the legal parameter on a usgov website:

Threat or Criticism
Where is the line drawn? When does a critical remark become a threat? On one extreme is the off-hand comment, the letter to a friend, the email to a co-worker, or message posted in a newsgroup. On the other, the twisted psychotic plot. Clearly, the circumstances of delivery make a great deal of difference. A "letter to the editor", or speech intelligently attacking the President's every action and policy is our right and should never be construed as a physical threat. Screaming obscenities in the President's face, sending threatening mail to the White House, or publicly stating a desire to see the President harmed are not only acts of shameful disrespect, they should always be considered threats under the law.

What this means is that I could be given a five year's sentence for what I just wrote, if it were construed out of conext. This is exactly the reason Jefferson believes that the current system and legal parameter in the U.S. is entirely unconstitutional and infringes on freedom of speech. I can understand the possibility of the police questioning him, searching his home etc, especially since this rally of which you speak was a relevant event. What I cannot agree with, and what the founding fathers cannot agree with, is the idea that this man should be sent to prison for five years because:

“…everything is confounded if words are construed into a capital crime, instead of considering them only as a mark of that crime.” – Thomas Jefferson

Everything becomes confounded because drawing the line at words is the loss of freedom of speech. Suddenly there arise situations of misinterpretations, mishearings, false testimony etc. and people begin to fear even making a joke that could be is in such a way that it is obviously an innocent statement. Should I be arrested and given five years in prison for my above line where I say that at a pub in the Czech republic, "I...do not believe, that I would be arrested for saying, or even writing, that I am going to shoot that arrogant, ass-of-a-President who is running this country." Now, first of all, I am saying I do not believe I would be arrested for writing it, meaning there is an obvious context that I am not saying I am going to do that, and that is very obviously not the meaning. Also, if I am in the Czech Republic, and we are speaking of the President, am I speaking about the Czech or the American president? There are actually millions of ways that this statement can be said that make it clear that the speaker is not serious, and according to Jefferson, even if he were truly angry and serious, everything nevertheless becomes confounded if words are construed into a capital crime. It is simply wrong to ever prosecute a person for saying that. What Jefferson means is that words must be used in the context of a legal case, but certainly not as the sole basis. If that man had had a toy airplane and plastic explosives in his home, then quite obviously they have a very good case, because those words in context of possessing the means to do what he said corroborate well. But to prosecute based on words only, according to Jefferson, is a very big mistake and an infringement of free speech. I think the reason for Jefferson's bothering to write about this is that he feared that one day the government might do exactly what it has done today, it has convicted a man for telling what many might consider an inappropriate joke, but does this man deservve to spend five years in prison as though he had insulted the King, as though we lived as serfs who must fear freely speaking. I remember Solzenitzen (sp?) the great Russian writer who bravely wrote about the gulag system in Russia, and he talked about a man who had taken a dump, and of course the Russians didn't have much toilet paper, so this guy wiped his butt with a magazine on which there happened to be a picture of Stalin, which someone somehow saw and construed as as "shameful disrespect" (see USGov words above) to the fearless leader, so he was serving time in a slave labor camp for that. Really sad comedy if you think about it. This situation is in essence the same, because today a man could tell some joke, be misinterpreted etc, and find himself doing five years of his life for one statement. I think that is insane, and I think Jefferson feared that one day the government could do this. Please let us remember why Jefferson wrote so much about these basic rights like freedom of speech: He wrote the Bill of Rights to protect us from the Federal government, he directly states that, and he told Americans that if they are true Americans then they must revolt if they see these rights being taken away, because it will mean the loss of democracy and a transition to totalitarianism. That is why I think that court case and many others like it, should have been a very central issue that was challenged in the supreme court, but instead this guy is quickly sentenced by King George while everyone is following the Michael Jackson case.

That is why I was so disappointed to see Americans agree that this poor man should face a five year prison sentence for speaking out freely. I suspect that some of you think I should be prosecuted and sent to prison for my above statement, but that is a very blind point of view, and you would probably not agree with that point of view if some friend at a party made some joke like this man, and suddenly you found yourself interrogated and felt fear and knew that your friend OF COURSE had no intentions of injuring the President, but there it is, he is doing five years because the Federal Government prosecuted him for a mere statement that was even misconstrued so as to find him guilty of something he didn't even do. Jefferson knew this kind of case would come up once they made a law like they have made, and he wrote that sentence to warn us to see that the law is wrong, it is unconstitutional, it is a violation of free speech as he intended it in the bill of rights. That's my take on it, and I think this is a very important issue at present.

Did you notice it said you cannot even "state a desire to see him injured", I'm telling you, that is a very dangerous phrasing of the law. If you are sitting in a restaurant, you can't even jokingly say, "maybe we'll get really lucky and he'll get hospitalized from a golf ball next time he's doing nine holes with Bin Laden's family" or "Damn, sure is too bad that wasn't Cheney and Bush duck-hunting together." Those jokes express the desire to see him injured, and this fulfills the conditions to be prosecuted. I'm curious, do you think a person should be prosecuted for saying or writing the above jokes? I mean, you can say that will not happen because it isn't reasonable to prosecute a person for such a stupid thing, but I think we should be VERY aware of where the law is, what the recent cases are, what the Constitutional viewpoint on this should be according to Jefferson, and not presume it will never happen. The defilement of his image is the next logical step in protecting him from "shameless disrespect" (careful what you wipe your butt on next time you go camping).

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

heavy industry, agriculture, knowledge-based economy, services industry, tourism industry, good beer

No.

No.

How is the pollution in the cities?

Right after the revolution it was pretty bad in the industrial cities of the north on the German border, and Prague also, but they have by now converted from coal to natural gas and the cities are about as clean as American cities, not quite, but the EU has set standards and every year it gets closer. Prague is similar to Paris or Vienna these days, which is about like KC Missouri in terms of air quality. I wonder, is it still that when you are in KC MO crossing the bridge to KC Kansas, you smell roasted coffee beans that gradually fades to the smell of a dog food factory by the time you hit KC Kansas? Just wondered. That was always kind of my metaphor for the difference between those twin cities.

Why did you leave Kansas City, didn't you like it here? Did you grow up in Independence? Do you have a current passport? Are you going to visit in the near future. What did you like here and where are your parents from? Did you attend school here?

Your questions are getting a little intense, and are a bit off topic, don't mean to be rude to you, but the basic answer that should suffice is that I love America, my answer to whether I vote above is that I care enough to go to the American embassy and vote on everything by absentee ballot. I once tried to get dual citizenship, and the Czech office told me I could if I gave up my American citizenship, which I found very insulting and left in less than one second with the words "no thanks" on my lips. Now in three years I can request from the Czech department of the interior what they call an "exception" and I can get Czech citizenship without giving up my American citizenship. Look, I was born in America, and I am very proud of that fact, the fact of being American, but not the way a lot of Americans seem to feel proud about it. I feel proud of those damned fierce individualists who refused to let a government order them around, they rebelled (one man's rebel is another man's terrorist) and fought to the death to make America what it is-- was-- and my patriotism is to remain loyal to the founding fathers and their vision, their American Dream was that men were free and did not fear their government, they ruled the government, and from that experience the founding fathers did everything they could to put the reigns of government in the hands of American citizens, we the people established it, and now it has the right to bust your door down if someone so much as claims you said you were going to kill the president, when you really said you were going to kid the president. I am telling you, if Jefferson were alive right now, those guys would arrest him or kill him, for we have allowed them to remove those rights he knew had to be protected above ALL ELSE. That's my patriotism, that kind of deep love and belief in what we stand for, freedom, fearlessness, belief in self-determination and a fierce since of Independence, yes Independence, a town that ought to consider its name. End of speech :-)

Some of these people who blog with complaints, do not have ALL the facts, just because they say it is so doesn't mean it's true.I have read posts where the facts are wrong and they continue to go and on, never satisfied with anything. A small number who blog do have real issues, but you may get the wrong impression, so many people are happy with the way things are going.Not to say they want some changes, however. You seem interesting. Don't you miss traveling and going to a beach or the Grand Canyon. Do you have children? You seem quite intelligent wouldn't you have been more successful in the United States, with you intellect?

Norwayfever, I sure wish kindness was at the heart of everyone blogging here. Why is it so hard to show kindness, encouragement, a little love like MMinnoe for his cookie monster. I would not be who I am if I had stayed, and I have gained so much that isn't just about book knowledge from having left. I wouldn't understand and see America and the world the way I do if I had stayed and got real paid. I came here originally to teach Czech children English for a hundred dollars a month. Some people just have to keep confusing themselves, getting lost in their cultural assumptions and experience the high of cognitive dissonance as they come to understandings about things that they never could if they weren't a restless soul. Successful? I am a success because I love life, try to show kindness, seek God perpetually and long for the day I can join him and feel that oneness once again, and this time have an I at the same time. Another reason I have no regrets about leaving America, is that it takes an enormous amount of courage to be a great writer, and belonging to neither culture, being deprived of American culture and being obviously an outsider in the other culture, puts you somewhere in between where you can find that voice and much more easily speak with the courage that a real writer must. That is probably part of the reason I keep hitting hostility, it somehow relates to that I think. I come on frighteningly strong, perhaps annoyingly so to some, and so passionately seeming to others like you if you do intend that genuinely, which I infer from tone and a sense of your offering me some misgivings, though yes this line confused you a bit and yet you completely understand.

Last summer I went to the Adriatic sea, Southern Europe is great and I hitched hiked three times all over America and Canada when I was a college student, so I know the land from when we come. I was in London for a week last week, working with a publisher, I have been to many European cities, rode my mountain bike from Prague to England and across France and Switzerland and into Austria and back up to Prague for a summer after that first year in Europe. I do visit American sometimes as I have family there, Ozarkan Hillbillies these days, opted for the country life. I have three children, a patient wife, a good life, how about yourself?

What is your profession, were you born in Independence like I was?

Your life is much more interesting than mine.I have been a few places though. I am happy with my life, patient husband, a good life, and one child, work part-time, I'm also community minded,and belong to several organizations. I love to work out and try to eat right. Don't smoke, and yes, People should be more tolerant with other people, I try to be, but no one is perfect. Ozark hillbillies,Yikes, doesn't sound like you. Tell me please, where are they from. Do they have an accents? I wasn't born in Independence.

At the same time, don't we all sometimes hate where we wound up (thinking of REM & Michael Stipes, who sings that, some fabulously wealthy and famous Rock Star sings that, and I bet it is true at times for him, and me, and you). Many times I have longed to live among my relatives and friends back there with you all, have felt so isolated and lost at times, everything's a trade off, as you know. Having time to do what you love is important. I worked with three beehives today, I am a beekeeper these days, and a sheepkeeper, recently researched the American Indian methods of making leather and can now make my own leather. You know what I wish? That I could get back to the point that all I do is tend the vinyard and the sheep, do some logging in the forests, live off the land and forget this insane jungle we have built called civilization. I will get there, am getting there, just set your goals and have some dreams, don't look at others with a jealous or superior eye, find some things that make you cry from a curious mix of sorrow and joy, compassion. You see, the reason I can write those kinds of things is I know they are true and believe in them, and do not fear to say what I think, which is my freedom of speech, and from this physical and psychological distance I write whatever comes to mind and I don't even have to worry about getting trampled underfoot from throwing pearls before swine.

Another guy here attacked me and says I am like David Koresh, looking for some followers, but I got to thinking about that and realized it's completely false, I am looking for a few friends, which has mutual respect, appreciation, no sense of having some "followers". Hey don't follow me I'm not really going anywhere. I must make myself format and edit this 600 page book, I have been putting it off for a few days by blogging like this, but these battles of the mind to win some free and easygoing space seemed intriguing, I know not why.

I am going to post one last blog, a modern epic poem, and drop the below the radar, it must be done...

and anyway, I wasn't looking to have these conversations, I was hoping a group would discuss my thoughts about our having wandered as a nation off the track that our Founding Fathers mapped out for us. But see, we have to be able to separate or define the notion of America. Yes I admit I do not like George Bush, not one bit (not from the start, I saw all this coming years ago), but that does not mean I am a traitor or do not dearly love so many things about America and Americans, some things annoy me, the same can be said about the Czech nation, they are great and far from perfect, and a lot of Czechs hate to hear anything about their nation that points out a fault or weakness, and Americans likewise, it's funny because Czechs call me astoundingly perceptive about American culture, then get upset and defensive about my less noble observations on their nation, and guess who does the same thing?
Good luck with finding a few moments in your day where you look up at the sky, stop moving to get this done and take care of that, and feel a sense of rest and peace.

Sinclair

I think I read in your ramblings you are reside in the Czech Republic right?

You make several incorrect assumptions. The US did provide substantial assistance to the Czech Republic and still does to many indigenous people in your country through USAID. The US also provides military aid however, they recently have not agreed with US terms, so they have not been provided with missle defense as other countries in the region have.

The Secret Service investigates such threats made to the President, not the CIA. Obviously someone present thought he sounded serious enough to report him and bear witness to his statements. So your assumption and implication that the government hunted him down and harrassed him are incorrect. The Secret Service was simply doing their job. And don't be surprised if you find you are placed on a watch list when trying to re-enter the US after what you just posted.

It has been illegal to make such threats since this country was founded. Just as the 1st Amendment's freedom of speech doesn't provide for an individual's right to shout "fire" in a movie theater. Your friend's intent aside, only an idiot would make such statements, in public, even if they are in a joking manner, and it seems you too share similar traits of your friend; one being liking to hear yourself ramble on. It seems the US Constitution and the US Courts hold a high respect for the office of president no matter who is serving in the position, as should its citzens. Making the same threats to another citizen is also a crime here in the US. If such threats were made against me or any other citizen, they would expect the same diligence in investigating the matter.

I can see why you had to seek refuge outside of the US, as your arrogance and self-proclaimed-all-knowing enlightment as to the lives of those in the US, would not allow you to survive long in the good 'ol Heart of America.

Of course we cannot shout fire, that truly does endanger people by causing people to panic. Never mind, I can see I need to just give it up, and I am. I think too many Americans are no longer even bothered that this attempt to discuss the meaning of freedom of speech has placed me on a watch list. Truly sad to me, tragic, but I do give up. Goodbye to you all, I wish you well.

About your beehives and sheep.

Farewell.